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steve_webadvisor
Community Member

On a fb or display ad campaign, will upwork let me collect the ad budget from the client first?

Because normally, I would obtain the client's billing info to charge them say for the 1st month (which includes the ad budget plus set up and management fee) and go from there. 

On upwork, am I expected to pay for those things out of my pocket for each potential client off upwork or will I still be able to collect at least the ad budget & fees for the ad/banner creative upfront or how does this work on upwork?

With Google/Adwords PPC, I imagine the client will just have their credit card info already set up in their Adwords account, so the upwork service provider will just set up and optimize their ads while managing the account. However, when a Service Provider may be using private/whitelable advertising software to send the client traffic that's meant to be more cost effective than paying the advertising rates on traditional platforms like Google Adwords or Facebook, we need to be able to obtain either their billing info or a lump sum, upfront payment to cover the ad budget.

So, does Upwork take fees on top of the client's ad budget also? Because this amount is not a payment to me; so how does Upwork separate and treat this?

1 REPLY 1
prestonhunter
Community Member

re: "So, does Upwork take fees on top of the client's ad budget also?"

 

Yes.

 

re: "Because this amount is not a payment to me; so how does Upwork separate and treat this?"

 

Upwork does NOT separate this.

 

====================================================

Steve:
This is not about Facebook. Or Google Ad Words.

This a general concept:

 

Yes, you can ask clients to reimburse you for expenses via Upwork.

 

In fact, IF you ask clients to reimburse you for expenses, they MUST pay via Upwork.

A client is not allowed to send you money using a check or PayPal or any other means. If a client sends you money, then they must use Upwork.

 

They can do this BEFORE you use the money, or AFTER.


That is up to you.

 

Keep in mind:

The same Upwork fees apply.

So if you have a new client, the fee is 20%.

 

If you want to spedn $100 on an ad campaign, then you can ask them to pay you $100 using the client-side "Reimburse expense" tool.

 

But Upwork keeps 20% (twenty dollars).

So YOU would receive $80.

 

Now... maybe that doesn't seem like such a good deal to you. But that is how it works.


So what many freelancers do is this:

They have the CLIENT set up payment for the expenses. Have the CLIENT use the CLIENT'S credit card number to pay for the Google ad campaign. That makes a lot more sense then you and/or the client LOSING money to Upwork fees.

 

Another alternative is to simply charge enough so that you can absorb the expenses.

 

You are a web designer. You need to buy a stock photo for $30.

But you don't ask the client to reimburse you because you charged $1500 for the whole job. So you simply absorb the cost, and don't pass that cost on to the client specifically.

 

Also:
It is permissible for a client to provide you with a company credit card, and you use that credit card to pay for ad expenses.

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