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gilliansanger
Community Member

Long-term client started new business; service fee has therefore gone from 5% to 20%

Hi there,

 

I have a long-term client who recently started a new business and has made a new Upwork account for it. I have worked with him for a long time and have reached the point where the fee is only 5%. Since he has a second account, however, I am being charged 20% for work done for this second business.

I was trying to contact Upwork support directly but I cannot find out how to do that. When I go to Customer Service, I can only chat with a bot; I see no option to message a human. https://support.upwork.com/hc/en-us

 

I'm hoping a moderator might be able to assist me so that I can speak with an Upwork support person about this.

ACCEPTED SOLUTION

Hi Gillian,

 

To request help, you can click the question mark icon (see screenshot) located at the bottom right corner of this page and provide information about your account type as well as the issue you need help with. *Note: you must be logged in to see this option. If you don't receive the information you're looking for, you can click the "thumbs down" button and you'll see more support options.

 

We'll have one of our agents reach out to you directly via a support ticket to assist you further with this.

 

Thank you.

~ Aleksandar
Upwork

View solution in original post

12 REPLIES 12
petra_r
Community Member


Gillian S wrote:

 

I'm hoping a moderator might be able to assist me so that I can speak with an Upwork support person about this.


Unfortunately, because the client created a new account, it is a new business, and the new contract will be charged at the 20% fee.

There isn't anything support can or would do about it.

 

So if it is considered a new business, I should be able to work with them outside of Upwork.


Petra R wrote:

Gillian S wrote:

 

I'm hoping a moderator might be able to assist me so that I can speak with an Upwork support person about this.


Unfortunately, because the client created a new account, it is a new business, and the new contract will be charged at the 20% fee.

There isn't anything support can or would do about it.

 


Can you tell me how I can speak to a support person about this? If they are considered a new business, then I would be able to work with them outside of Upwork.

When I go here - https://support.upwork.com/hc/en-us - to contact Upwork Support, there is no option to do so. Does anyone know why or another route?

Hi Gillian,

 

To request help, you can click the question mark icon (see screenshot) located at the bottom right corner of this page and provide information about your account type as well as the issue you need help with. *Note: you must be logged in to see this option. If you don't receive the information you're looking for, you can click the "thumbs down" button and you'll see more support options.

 

We'll have one of our agents reach out to you directly via a support ticket to assist you further with this.

 

Thank you.

~ Aleksandar
Upwork


Aleksandar D wrote:

Hi Gillian,

 

To request help, you can click the question mark icon (see screenshot) located at the bottom right corner of this page and provide information about your account type as well as the issue you need help with. *Note: you must be logged in to see this option. If you don't receive the information you're looking for, you can click the "thumbs down" button and you'll see more support options.

 

We'll have one of our agents reach out to you directly via a support ticket to assist you further with this.

 

Thank you.


Thank you for your help Aleksandar! It is much appreciated.


Gillian S wrote:

If they are considered a new business, then I would be able to work with them outside of Upwork.

You can do that anyway as you've been working with them for over 2 years.

The 2 year exclusivity period ended last month.


Petra R wrote:

Gillian S wrote:

If they are considered a new business, then I would be able to work with them outside of Upwork.

You can do that anyway as you've been working with them for over 2 years.

The 2 year exclusivity period ended last month.


Sorry Petra. I am a bit confused. How do you know about how long I have been with this client?


8Gillian S wrote:

Petra R wrote:

Gillian S wrote:

If they are considered a new business, then I would be able to work with them outside of Upwork.

You can do that anyway as you've been working with them for over 2 years.

The 2 year exclusivity period ended last month.


Sorry Petra. I am a bit confused. How do you know about how long I have been with this client?


Perhaps she looked at your profile job history and saw only one job with $10000+ earnings, and therefore only one with 5% fee rate.

 

That said, I'm often surprised at the information Petra is able to discover.  I think she either has a back door into Upwork's system or a very accurate crystal ball. 


Richard W wrote:

8Gillian S wrote:

Petra R wrote:

Gillian S wrote:

If they are considered a new business, then I would be able to work with them outside of Upwork.

You can do that anyway as you've been working with them for over 2 years.

The 2 year exclusivity period ended last month.


Sorry Petra. I am a bit confused. How do you know about how long I have been with this client?


Perhaps she looked at your profile job history and saw only one job with $10000+ earnings, and therefore only one with 5% fee rate.

 

That said, I'm often surprised at the information Petra is able to discover.  I think she either has a back door into Upwork's system or a very accurate crystal ball. 


Ah, I see! Well, that's actually not the client in question. My long-term client I was referring to sets up individual contracts and closes them. But it's good to know that this is how she may have drawn the conclusion that she did. The back door into Upwork's system would be worrying.


Gillian S wrote:

The back door into Upwork's system would be worrying.

Oh sorry! I really didn't mean to worry you! You worked with that client for over two years as well. I certainly don't have a back door, I just know what to look at on a public profile.

 

The point was that you are not bound to use Upwork (I do with my long term clients because it's just so much simpler) anymore as you've worked with the client over 2 years.


Petra R wrote:

Gillian S wrote:

The back door into Upwork's system would be worrying.

Oh sorry! I really didn't mean to worry you! You worked with that client for over two years as well. I certainly don't have a back door, I just know what to look at on a public profile.

 

The point was that you are not bound to use Upwork (I do with my long term clients because it's just so much simpler) anymore as you've worked with the client over 2 years.


No but my concern is that you don't actually know the client I am referring to. You said that the two year exclusivity period expired last month, which is not the case for my client in question (I will not say whether I've been with them for longer or shorter than that). Your statement would be true for the ongoing contract I have that Richard was referring to, but in any case you have made assumptions.

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