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d8012129
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I have an academic as a potential client and she asked me if I can become a vendor for the Universit

Good Afternoon, 

I am relatively new as a freelancer. One professor asked me if I can help with manuscript revision and she specifically asked me if I can become a vendor for the institution where she works. 

I guess this is required for her institution for issuing a payment method. Does anyone have experience with this? How would it work?

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researchediting
Community Member

In theory, it can work. It’s a notoriously slow and potentially convoluted way to get paid. There are inherent conflicts in doing this via Upwork: If your professor is not now and never has been on Upwork it would probably be a mistake to bring her here. The sticking points are the conflict between the exclusivity (non-circumvention) period, Upwork‘s insistence on payment by credit card, and most universities’ insistence on using a purchase order/invoice system.

In order to become a vendor you may have to register or regularize yourself as a business in some way with local or national authorities, if you have not already done so.

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researchediting
Community Member

In theory, it can work. It’s a notoriously slow and potentially convoluted way to get paid. There are inherent conflicts in doing this via Upwork: If your professor is not now and never has been on Upwork it would probably be a mistake to bring her here. The sticking points are the conflict between the exclusivity (non-circumvention) period, Upwork‘s insistence on payment by credit card, and most universities’ insistence on using a purchase order/invoice system.

In order to become a vendor you may have to register or regularize yourself as a business in some way with local or national authorities, if you have not already done so.

Thanks - this is what I thought - PO number is so annoying and such an old method for being paid. I have just started on Upwork as Freelancer. I am in between jobs because of COVID19. Freelancing is a temporary solution for me. The professor has never used Upwork and my guess is that if she creates an account she will not be able to pay me because the university would have to approve every expense. Unless they have a credit card, but not sure if they can use to pay it a freelancer on Upwork. 

If the professor can pay by credit card and then obtain reimbursement from the university, that could work. I've no idea whether that would be feasible. 


Phyllis G wrote:

If the professor can pay by credit card and then obtain reimbursement from the university, that could work. I've no idea whether that would be feasible. 


Most of my academic clients use that method in preference to my being paid directly by the university, if their circumstances permit. I know some have been reimbursed; some may simply be bearing the expense on their own.

If your professor is hoping to pay you out of already-budgeted editorial or research assistance funds, it may be necessary for those funds to be paid directly to you.

Thank you. We will discuss with the purchasing officer these options.
Best,


Douglas Michael M wrote:

Phyllis G wrote:

If the professor can pay by credit card and then obtain reimbursement from the university, that could work. I've no idea whether that would be feasible. 


Most of my academic clients use that method in preference to my being paid directly by the university, if their circumstances permit. I know some have been reimbursed; some may simply be bearing the expense on their own.

If your professor is hoping to pay you out of already-budgeted editorial or research assistance funds, it may be necessary for those funds to be paid directly to you.


I have also been paid by my academic clients on Upwork through their credit card, for which they request reimbursement from their University. They did have a university Upwork account but it would have been incredibly challenging to use, it sounded like. So the professor hired me on Upwork and paid out of pocket to get reimbursed. 

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