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schardo
Community Member

Switching clients?

I've already submitted a ticket for this issue, but I thought I'd ask here too. I was doing some work for a client, and the milestone was completed. The contract was still open. He sent me a message asking to continue with another account (in a completely different country). This new client sent me an invite to interview with an identical proposal. 

 

I didn't have any issues with this client originally. I did the work, he paid, all was well. 

 

Is there anything wrong with accepting a new contract from a new client? There's a bit of a language barrier, and I don't want my client to get in trouble if he's not doing anything fishy. But it seems fishy. Does anyone have any advice?

ACCEPTED SOLUTION

re: "I guess my question is more about whether or not clients can operate under different accounts. Or if it's something that I should even care about."

 

Those are two different questions.

 

As a practical matter, client accounts simply are not verified or confirmed in the same way that freelancer accounts are. Upwork cares about clients' ability to pay. Upwork does not try to confirm client identities.

 

Many clients DO have multiple accounts on Upwork. This is NOT a violation of Upwork rules.

 

There are valid reasons for this. A person may work for a company which hires Upwork freelancers, and have an account through that company. That same person may decide to hire freelancers to work on personal projects, and create a separate account through which to do so.

 

Upwork allows ANY user to have MULTIPLE "client companies" within a single login account.

 

And Upwork does not have a rule agains clients having more than one login account.

 

If clients are setting up multipe accounts, for different companies or unrelated projects, then I don't see that as a problem at all. Clients setting up accounts and hiring people to work for them is good for freelancers, and it is good for Upwork.

 

Should you even care about it? I don't care about this, personally. Freelancers are not required to police client accounts, or care about client policies. It's up to you whether you care abou this or not.

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3 REPLIES 3
prestonhunter
Community Member

re: "Is there anything wrong with accepting a new contract from a new client?"

 

Generally speaking?

 

No.

 

I don't know all the details about your specific situation. Is the client doing something fishy? Possibly.

I guess my question is more about whether or not clients can operate under different accounts. Or if it's something that I should even care about.

re: "I guess my question is more about whether or not clients can operate under different accounts. Or if it's something that I should even care about."

 

Those are two different questions.

 

As a practical matter, client accounts simply are not verified or confirmed in the same way that freelancer accounts are. Upwork cares about clients' ability to pay. Upwork does not try to confirm client identities.

 

Many clients DO have multiple accounts on Upwork. This is NOT a violation of Upwork rules.

 

There are valid reasons for this. A person may work for a company which hires Upwork freelancers, and have an account through that company. That same person may decide to hire freelancers to work on personal projects, and create a separate account through which to do so.

 

Upwork allows ANY user to have MULTIPLE "client companies" within a single login account.

 

And Upwork does not have a rule agains clients having more than one login account.

 

If clients are setting up multipe accounts, for different companies or unrelated projects, then I don't see that as a problem at all. Clients setting up accounts and hiring people to work for them is good for freelancers, and it is good for Upwork.

 

Should you even care about it? I don't care about this, personally. Freelancers are not required to police client accounts, or care about client policies. It's up to you whether you care abou this or not.

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