Sharing email to get access to merchant center and google ads account

[addtraction]

Hello! 

Can i share my email ID with client before starting a contract? I need access to her shopify store and merchant center account before I start working with her, before checking these accounts there is no way I can say yes. Please suggest. 

[NikolaS]

Hi Ajay,

Please know that sharing contact information before a contract has started is against Upwork’s Upwork's Terms of Service and that all communications prior to the contract starting must take place on Upwork. We also encourage you to let us know if a TOS violation has happened by using the Flag as Inappropriate option throughout the platform. You can learn more about user reporting here.

You may create a test project contract in order for you and your client to test whether the work relationship will work out. You may want to check this help article about sharing information on Upwork. Let us know if you have further questions. 

[addtraction]

Thanks, I also checked with Petra if I could give my email for getting access to the required accounts, Petra said yes if I informed the client that the email is only for getting access to the accounts and that all communication will have to be done via upwork till i have a contract. So I have informed the client accordingly. Is that a violation? Kindly help

[NikolaS · Accepted solution]

Hi Ajay,

Thank you for following up. I am sorry for the confusion in my previous post. Petra is right, this is one of the exceptions.

I would like to clarify that contact information may be shared for systems access.  An email address can be shared pre-contract under Upwork’s Terms of Service if it is needed to gain access to a system for the purposes of scoping a project. Pre-contract communications must still take place via Upwork. 

Thank you,

[f4ceb6f7]

Hi! I am an Amazon Consultant, and many times it happens that we have to see the client's problem by accessing into their account to analyze the problem and tell them if it could be resolved by me or not. And only then I can accept their offer if I am able to resolve the problem. So in this case customer has to give us user access by giving some account details which includes email address. So Is it allowed to share details before we are hired?

[prestonhunter]

Yes. That is allowed.

But you must state in Messages:

"All communication must take place within the Upwork Messages tool, until an official contract is in place. This email address is being provided only for the purpose of accessing and reviewing the system."

[todd_nevins]

Thanks Ajay for the question and Nikola for the details. I've had this same scenario so I will proceed under these explained terms. 👍