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jasontorpy
Community Member

current freelancer - new agency

I am a freelancer with an agency set up. There is a new freelancer who could be independent but could work through my agency. I'm trying to understand the cost difference.
If I have a basic freelancer account and a free agency account, that's like $15/mo plus per-job fees.

If the new freelancer sets up an account, is that automatically $15/mo or is there a free signup?
Can the new freelancer sign up only through my agency and not have a separate public account? would that be free?
What are the fees like for agency-based work rather than independent work?

ACCEPTED SOLUTION

Hi Jason,

 

When inviting a member to join your agency you'll actually be able to set up their roles and permissions, you can then set their status as an exclusive or non-exclusive member. Regardless if they're non-exclusive or exclusive, if they have a contract under the agency, all payments made by the client on that contract will be sent to the agency account, not to the freelancer individual account. Agency account will also be charged for Service Fees for those payments as well as Agency Plus Membership and any Connects purchases. It is then up to the agency to arrange how they will be paying the agency member who worked on that contract as those payments aren't facilitated on Upwork. For more information about agency finances, please see this article.

~ Joanne
Upwork

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7 REPLIES 7
JoanneP
Moderator
Moderator

Hi Jason,

 

Agency members can either be Exclusive or Non-Exclusive members. Agency members who are exclusive work on Upwork only as part of their agency, while Agency members who are non-exclusive can work on Upwork independently or as part of an agency. You can check this help article for more information. 

~ Joanne
Upwork

I'm not sure how exclusive or non-exclusive addresses my question. I appreciate the attention, but can you comment on the cost to the freelancer versus the agency - monthly + per job?

Hi Jason,

 

Thank you for following up. In order to be able to add any team members to your agency, you will need to upgrade to an Agency Plus Membership for $20.00 (USD) per month. It's not possible to add team members to your agency if it's on Agency Basic Membership.

 

As for the Service Fee, agencies working with non-Enterprise clients are subject to the same pricing structure as freelancers. Please check this help article for more information. 

We calculate agency service fees based on total agency billings with a client across all contracts. This means that all agency contracts that any of the agency’s freelancers have had with a single client count towards an agency’s lifetime billings with that client.

 

~ Nikola
Upwork

This is helpful. Thanks. I see that agency fees and freelancer fees are the same but they are either/or not both.

 

I still have a question about monthly fees. Let's say someone isn't on upwork now. They want to work with my agency exclusively and be able to browse jobs normally. Do they need to sign up as a regular freelancer first or should I invite their non-upwork email to my agency from my agency profile as a first step?
If they are exclusive, will they be billed a separate monthly fee or will they have a free personal account linked to my agency and the agency pays all the monthly fees?

Hi Jason,

 

Freelancers you invite to join your agency will be asked to create a freelancer account. As an Exclusive member of the agency, they will not be billed monthly as they are not able to avail of the Freelancer Plus Plan. As Exclusive members, they only work as part of the agency. All payments will be made through the agency and it is up to the agency to arrange how they will be paid. If in case they also want to work as an individual freelancer, they need to have an approved profile. Their membership should also be set to Non-Exclusive Agency members. 

~ Joanne
Upwork

Thanks. I think I got it. What about costs? It sounds like I invite them from my agency to their personal email. Then they set up a freelancer profile. They're set up as exclusive in this scenario. They pay nothing and the agency pays all fees, monthly and per-job, and the agency pays the freelancer (upwork processes the payment through the agency to the freelancer). Is that right?

And as an exclusive freelancer, can I through the agency allow them to search for and submit proposals for any jobs?

Hi Jason,

 

When inviting a member to join your agency you'll actually be able to set up their roles and permissions, you can then set their status as an exclusive or non-exclusive member. Regardless if they're non-exclusive or exclusive, if they have a contract under the agency, all payments made by the client on that contract will be sent to the agency account, not to the freelancer individual account. Agency account will also be charged for Service Fees for those payments as well as Agency Plus Membership and any Connects purchases. It is then up to the agency to arrange how they will be paying the agency member who worked on that contract as those payments aren't facilitated on Upwork. For more information about agency finances, please see this article.

~ Joanne
Upwork
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