Will L wrote:I have had clients for whom payment verification took 2 or 3 days.
If you do work for this client before Upwork notifies you of verfication of the client's payment method, there is a possibility you will not get paid.
At the very least, don't deliver any work you do for them until their payment method is verified.
If they don't understand your reluctance to deliver work prior to verification, tell them you're just following Upwork's protocols. If they push too hard for work before verification, it's possible they are planning to disappear soon after you submit work to them, meaning you'll never get paid.
I'm not sure if I'm misunderstanding the above; if so, my apologies.
Meawhile, OP: I wouldn't go this route (or what it sounds like): accepting the job but simply not submitting any work until the payment is verified. Once you've accepted the job, you're stuck there. If the client wants to be pushy as described above and you dig in your heels saying you won't deliver any work until the payment is verified, the client could easily close the contract, and that will be a no-work, entirely unpaid project that dings your JSS but good (as my mama used to say).
My advice (this is just me, remember): don't accept the job until the payment is verified. Don't make a big deal of it, just say, "Thanks so much for sending the job offer. Don't worry about the two-day delay in payment verification. I'll remain available during that time so as soon as that verification goes through, I can accept the job and start working on the project right away. I look forward to working with you." If the client hems and haws from there, I would simply stop answering. There's NO good excuse here, IMO. If the client needs to wait two days to have verified payment set up then he can wait those two days to send a job offer that doesn't scare the potential freelancer so much that that freelancer has to go on a forum to ask what to do.
Now if you already knew this client, had worked for him before, etc., or if you could risk a huge ding to your JSS, either of these could make the difference, but if you don't want the risk and potential headache...move on, in my opinion. Don't accept the job offer.
FWIW, I've seen this question before, and I've seen one or two answers to the effect of "Oh fine, just pass by what might be the absolute best offer of your life, but heck, that's up to you...personally, if I'd passed up one particular unverified-payment job I'd never have had this uh-MAY-zing multi-zillion-dollar contract that has allowed me to retire on the Riviera, but oh well...it's up to you, now isn't it?" And that's great for them. I myself have ALWAYS passed up such "opportunities" disguised as disorganized clients who put out jobs before they have all their ducks in a row, and while I may have missed up on some amazing gold nugget, I've also avoided the total, utter debacles such situations pose as. Ultimately it's up to you, but there you have it. 
