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ainegreaney
Community Member

Working with a new client with no payment verifiction

I submitted a proposal to a new client-- a month on UpWork, about the same length of time as me (a new freelancer). He wanted to set up an interview outside of UpWork, but I redirected to the UpWork messaging system. Also, no jobs hired, no verified payment.  Should I be skepitcal?

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Aine G wrote:

Thank you so much for this info. All things considered--plus a Google search--I have withdrawn my proposal. 


Mary is correct - unverified payment is most definitely not a red flag. New clients come to the site every day to test the waters. The vast majority of jobs I apply to are with new unverified clients, and I've never had problems getting paid. It is also fine to communicate outside of Upwork, as long as payments are made through Upwork. As long as you don't start work until you are officially hired and payment method is verified, there's no issue. You'll miss out on good clients if you use unverified as your metric.

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andreag22
Community Member


Aine G wrote:

I submitted a proposal to a new client-- a month on UpWork, about the same length of time as me (a new freelancer). He wanted to set up an interview outside of UpWork, but I redirected to the UpWork messaging system. Also, no jobs hired, no verified payment.  Should I be skepitcal?



Hi Aine,

 

You should be skeptical, so far it does check the boxes for a known scam, but I wouldn't say for sure yet.

It is not a violation of the ToS to communicate outside of Upwork but it would be best if what you discuss about deliverables and scope of work is somehow acknowledged in messages here so if the project goes sideways Upwork has that information.

If it is a scam that interview will probably be very long and with a hiring manager or something of the sort, maybe try and tell them you can have a preliminary meeting before being hired but you can't invest 2+ hours before there is a contract.

 

Also, if it is an hourly contract and you are hired get them to verify their payment before tracking any hours, that way you will have payment protection.

https://support.upwork.com/hc/en-us/articles/211068288-Hourly-Protection

Thank you so much for this info. All things considered--plus a Google search--I have withdrawn my proposal. 

Unverified payment is NOT a red flag.  New clients often test the platform and don't want to put in their financial information if the platform doesn't work for them.  I just accept the contract but tell the client I cannot begin working until their payment is verified.

 

I often/ mostly interview with potential clients by telephone and/or email, not using the platform.  It's up to you whether you want to do that or not.


Aine G wrote:

Thank you so much for this info. All things considered--plus a Google search--I have withdrawn my proposal. 


Mary is correct - unverified payment is most definitely not a red flag. New clients come to the site every day to test the waters. The vast majority of jobs I apply to are with new unverified clients, and I've never had problems getting paid. It is also fine to communicate outside of Upwork, as long as payments are made through Upwork. As long as you don't start work until you are officially hired and payment method is verified, there's no issue. You'll miss out on good clients if you use unverified as your metric.

Aine,

You also need to remove your personal contact details from your portfolio. You are allowed to give them in your proposals, but not publicly on your profile page. 

 Thank you, Nichola, for your information. I will fix it now. 

I so much appreciate this thread. I was interviewed by a client with an unverified payment method. The client refused to offer me a contract at the same time refused to verify his payment method but want me to start working. I refused and told him to go ahead and verify his payment method. He ended up saying I wasted his time and so forth. What do you think of such a client?

David, that’s not a client, that’s a scammer who wasted YOUR time.
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