Opt Out Fee?

[b3f77697]

I submitted a proposal and received a message within an hour. I exchanged a few messages with the person who then instructed to me to continue the conversation on Skype with their head of department. This already started to seem like a red flag to me. They said the company is called Zinnia. 

I just joined Upwork today, so I am still learning what normal requests look like. After messaging the head of department, he responded saying "The charge will be bi-weekly and we will not pay via Upwork because we have paid them the opt out fee.
The explanation is we're actually shifting the job to an extended commitment and trying to offer a long term deal as an independent contractor. We will make you work remotely and still do some other freelance work if you're available at your defined hours of work."

This did not seem right to me, but was not sure if this is a legitimate way of being paid?

[a_lipsey]

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Graciela S wrote:

I submitted a proposal and received a message within an hour. I exchanged a few messages with the person who then instructed to me to continue the conversation on Skype with their head of department. This already started to seem like a red flag to me. They said the company is called Zinnia. 

I just joined Upwork today, so I am still learning what normal requests look like. After messaging the head of department, he responded saying "The charge will be bi-weekly and we will not pay via Upwork because we have paid them the opt out fee.
The explanation is we're actually shifting the job to an extended commitment and trying to offer a long term deal as an independent contractor. We will make you work remotely and still do some other freelance work if you're available at your defined hours of work."

This did not seem right to me, but was not sure if this is a legitimate way of being paid?

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You violated the TOS when you communicated off platform with them without a contract. 

This is a scam. Report it to Upwork and stop talking to them. 

[JoanneP]

Hi Graciela,

Amanda is right. It is a violation of Upwork TOS to communicate outside the platform before a contract is placed. All conversations before a contract is started must be through Upwork Messages, where you can send messages, have video calls, and more.

If a client is asking you to take communications outside of Upwork, please let them know that sharing contact information before a contract has started is against 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.