How to handle expenses

[naturehouse]

Hi,

A lot of times I need my client to purchase stock images for a project. I normally give them all the instructions, they purchase the photos  and send them back to me. I was just wondering if there was a way that I could purchase them out of pocket and then bill the image expense back through upwork without upwork charging a fee on an expense that is not a service payment?

How do other freelancers handle this when they need fonts, images, additional tools for a job a client pays for out of their budget? 

Thanks!

[prestonhunter]

re: "I was just wondering if there was a way that I could purchase them out of pocket and then bill the image expense back through upwork without upwork charging a fee on an expense that is not a service payment?"

No.

There is not a way to do that.

[prestonhunter]

re: "How do other freelancers handle this when they need fonts, images, additional tools for a job a client pays for out of their budget?"

a) client purchases the resources directly and sends them to freelancer 

b) freelancer purchases resources and tells the client what the costs were; clients pays money using the Pay Expense tool: freelancer pays the 20% Upwork fee herself

c) freelancer purchases resources herself; freelancer asks client to pay but adds fee to the amount, so client is paying extra money for expenses

d) freelancer charges enough in her fees, through her hourly rate or fixed-price rate, that she does not mind eating the cost of expenses herself; feeelancer never bills the client for the extra costs.