Clients Breaking Policy on Payment

[7ae3bb1d]

I'm new to Upwork, but I'm trying to understand if trying to get potential freelancers to break Upwork policy and be paid through a 3rd party system outside of Upwork is normal? I have submitted proposals for several jobs where the client would then message me on Upwork and request to not do any of the payment through Upwork because of the fees. I was even told multiple times that the position or project, that was posted on Upwork, was not related to Upwork and that's why I shouldn't have an issue accepting payment through Venmo, ACH, etc. 

Because this happens so often I'm starting to wonder if I misunderstood the Upwork policy, is submitting a proposal, but then working with a client outside of the Upwork payment system allowed? I have rejected all of these offers as I think it's kind of unprofessional to post one thing but mean another, but I just wanted to see if anyone else was having this issue frequently.

[AndreaG]

Hi Sienna,

Offering and accepting payments off Upwork is a violation of Upwork TOS. Upwork requires all payments to go through our platform and offers Upwork Payment Protection for both hourly and fixed-price contracts. You can refer to Section 7 of the User Agreement for detailed information.