Payment reimbursement through Paypal

[mimsnichele1]

I just did my first project which was a quick survey. The survey is for an upcoming product and could be selected to beta test the new item. I got paid for the survey,  just don't see it pending yet. Now th client wants me to beta test the product by purchasing the product and through payal get reimbursed. I feel leery about this since I know this would be agaist upwork terms and ask if I could get paid through upwork and they replied what method is best. I haven't accpeted the offer yet. What to do?

[prestonhunter]

Nichele:
It is a serious violation of Upwork ToS for clients and freelancers to exchange money through PayPal, or thorugh any other means outside of the Upwork platform.

You could have your account suspended or terminated for doing that.

If a client says that he wants you to pay for something (such as by purchasing his product) and then he will reimburse you through PayPal, you need to tell him that Upwork doesn't allow that.

BUT: You can do this:
The client may use the client-side "Reimburse expense" tool to pay you money up front - before you purchase anything - and then you can use your own money to purchase the product. Remember that he will need to pay you extra, because Upwork will collect a 20% fee on the client's payment to you.

OR: The client can send you a valid coupon code or developer code which you can enter into the system in order to get the product for free.

REMEMBER THIS:
You already did some work for this client, and you think you were paid, but you aren't sure. You really should make certain that you were paid before you do anything else for this client. Are we sure that this is a real client, and not a schemer?

[mimsnichele1]

Thank you for the response. I figured that. So to confirm the client would have to upfront the costs on thier side? Since this is my first contract, I'm still learning on that. This client is an Upwork Plus client and have hired quite a bit of people. Do I report this company if they are scamming or uncomfortable with the project?

[JoanneP · Accepted solution]

Hi Nichele,

I have escalated this to our team for further check. I'll come back with an update once I have more information. 

Update: Nichele, I have checked with the team, and they have confirmed that this is allowed. You may discuss this further with your client if you are interested to accept the recent offer they sent you. Thanks!

[mimsnichele1]

Thank you for checking it out for me.