Someone got his complete project from my side and reverse the project funds after work

[arssal]

I am very confused. A client got a complete project from my side and release the funds of almost $420. He gave me positive feedback. After few days all funds were reversed to the client from my earnings without any notification to me about the clear issue. I am trying to understand the issue and I am watching all issues like a movie. How's Upwork is safe for freelancers? What is doing Upwork for freelancers? I lost my hard work payment of $420 and waiting for help couple of weeks. How possible for that client to reverse all funds after the complete project?

[AleksandarD]

Hi Muhammad,

I'm sorry to hear about what happened. I see the team is already assisting you on your support tickets here and here so please allow more time for them to follow up with you. If you have any questions, feel free to post them directly on the tickets.

Thank you.

[prestonhunter]

re: "I am very confused."

I, too, am confused about this new "catalog project" thing. I have read many threads describing situations similar to yours.

re: "A client got a complete project from my side and release the funds of almost $420. He gave me positive feedback. After few days all funds were reversed to the client from my earnings without any notification to me about the clear issue. I am trying to understand the issue and I am watching all issues like a movie. How's Upwork is safe for freelancers?"

Based on what you said happened to you, it certainly doesn't seem that Upwork is safe for freelancers when they do catalog projects.

re: "What is doing Upwork for freelancers?"

From what I read in your post, and other threads, I don't know if Upwork is doing aything for freelancers when a client doesn't pay for catalog project work. It seems like a risky prospect for the freelancer.

re: "I lost my hard work payment of $420 and waiting for help couple of weeks. How possible for that client to reverse all funds after the complete project?"

My best guess is that the client used a fraudulently-obtained credit card, and the payment the client made had to be clawed back when the bank didn't honor that payment. In theory, a client could have issued a chargeback. What I HOPE is that Upwork didn't let the client simply click a button to get all his money back. That woud mean that project catalogs don't even try to protect freelancers a little bit. But whatever the case, you clearly got a bad deal out of this.

Sorry.

It would not surprise me if some freelancers reading this thread (and similar recent threads) decided that using catalog projects is too risky, and decided to stick with hourly contracts, which offer Upwork Payment Protection.

[martina_plaschka]

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Preston H wrote:

re: "I am very confused."

I, too, am confused about this new "catalog project" thing. I have read many threads describing situations similar to yours.

re: "A client got a complete project from my side and release the funds of almost $420. He gave me positive feedback. After few days all funds were reversed to the client from my earnings without any notification to me about the clear issue. I am trying to understand the issue and I am watching all issues like a movie. How's Upwork is safe for freelancers?"

Based on what you said happened to you, it certainly doesn't seem that Upwork is safe for freelancers when they do catalog projects.

re: "What is doing Upwork for freelancers?"

From what I read in your post, and other threads, I don't know if Upwork is doing aything for freelancers when a client doesn't pay for catalog project work. It seems like a risky prospect for the freelancer.

re: "I lost my hard work payment of $420 and waiting for help couple of weeks. How possible for that client to reverse all funds after the complete project?"

My best guess is that the client used a fraudulently-obtained credit card, and the payment the client made had to be clawed back when the bank didn't honor that payment. In theory, a client could have issued a chargeback. What I HOPE is that Upwork didn't let the client simply click a button to get all his money back. That woud mean that project catalogs don't even try to protect freelancers a little bit. But whatever the case, you clearly got a bad deal out of this.

Sorry.

It would not surprise me if some freelancers reading this thread (and similar recent threads) decided that using catalog projects is too risky, and decided to stick with hourly contracts, which offer Upwork Payment Protection.

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I find that confusing too. From many recent threads, it seems a client can cancel a catalog project without any input from the freelancer? If it's true as people have described, this seems like a terribly bad concept. They should offer payment protection in the same way as for other fixed price contracts. I wonder if the freelancer is advised that there is no protection like in other cases?

[wescowley]

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Martina P wrote:

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I find that confusing too. From many recent threads, it seems a client can cancel a catalog project without any input from the freelancer? If it's true as people have described, this seems like a terribly bad concept. They should offer payment protection in the same way as for other fixed price contracts. I wonder if the freelancer is advised that there is no protection like in other cases?

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I've also seen reports that sound like can happen with the project catalog. But in this case, it sounds like the money was released and clawed back, which sounds more like a chargeback that can happen on normal fixed-price contracts.

[prestonhunter]

I don't even know if Upwork intends for catalog projects to be something that clients can cancel payment for at any time (including after delivery of the project) or if what we are reading about is the result of technical glitches in the system.

[martina_plaschka]

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Preston H wrote:

I don't even know if Upwork intends for catalog projects to be something that clients can cancel payment for at any time (including after delivery of the project) or if what we are reading about is the result of technical glitches in the system.

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Hence my confusion. But I'll go with it being a glitch or a charge-back for now, since I don't want to believe there is no payment-protection. 

[lysis10 · Accepted solution]

this is why my project catalog just says "go make an hourly contract" lol

[martina_plaschka]

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Jennifer M wrote:

this is why my project catalog just says "go make an hourly contract" lol

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I looked it up and it doesn't say that! Gonna call you click-bait-gurl now. 

[lysis10]

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Martina P wrote:

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Jennifer M wrote:

this is why my project catalog just says "go make an hourly contract" lol

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I looked it up and it doesn't say that! Gonna call you click-bait-gurl now. 

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wat? for real that's what I put! lmao Now I gotta go look at it. For real that's what I created just to have something up there but I don't want to deal with escrow. Upwork tricked me.

[tlbp]

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Jennifer M wrote:

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Martina P wrote:

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Jennifer M wrote:

this is why my project catalog just says "go make an hourly contract" lol

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I looked it up and it doesn't say that! Gonna call you click-bait-gurl now. 

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wat? for real that's what I put! lmao Now I gotta go look at it. For real that's what I created just to have something up there but I don't want to deal with escrow. Upwork tricked me.

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The "go make an hourly contract" part is way down in the "steps for creating a project" section. 

[arssal]

your suggestion is great, I deleted my project catalogs.