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Gbolahan's avatar
Gbolahan B Community Member

Direct contract

I tried to login into my account today to send someone who wanted to give me a job outside upwork a direct contract proposal, but to my disappointment I notice Direct contract is not functioning on my account again? What could be the cause?

Could it be that the upgrade/maintenance that upwork team want to carry out is the reason it's not functional, or the feature has been axed from my account.


Please I need a quick response.


Thanks
Regards
ACCEPTED SOLUTION
Goran's avatar
Goran V Retired Team Member

Hi Constantin,

 

I would like to clarify that the process you're referring to is working as designed. 

With Direct Contracts, you can create and send contract proposals to your clients that don't have Upwork accounts. Your client will be asked to create an Upwork account. Just like your other contracts on Upwork, your client deposits project funds in escrow before the contract starts. When you've completed the work, you'll request payment from your client.

 

To learn more about how Direct contracts work and how to manage them, check out this Help Article. Thank you.

~ Goran
Upwork

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250 REPLIES 250
Zabibu's avatar
Zabibu A Community Member

Can i use Upwork contract for my outside client of Upwork clients?

Pradeep's avatar
Pradeep H Retired Team Member

Hi Zabibu,

 

Thank you for your message. Direct Contracts makes it easy to get paid by your clients who don’t have a full account on Upwork and just need access to review your invoices and make payments. With Direct Contracts you also get the protection of escrow and if a dispute arises we will be happy to help. Check out this help page for more information. 

 

Thank you,

Pradeep

Xorlali's avatar
Xorlali A Community Member

Can a client who does not have an account on Upwork buy my project?

Mykola's avatar
Mykola A Community Member

Yes. Use dirrect contact option to start contract.

https://www.upwork.com/ab/flservices/contracts/

MRH's avatar
MRH K Community Member

Yes. It is possible. 

Jalil's avatar
Jalil S Community Member

Hello, I am trying to create a new milestone in a direct contract, however, the direct contracts section does not load correctly (attached screenshot)

 

Checking the browser console, I see that there are some requests with a 403 status.

 

 

Thanks,

Jalil

Arjay's avatar
Arjay M Retired Team Member

Hi Jalil,

 

I tried but wasn’t able to replicate the issue you’re describing. Could you please try using a different browser or the incognito mode of your current browser? You may also try clearing your browser’s cache and cookies. Also note that we only officially support the latest two versions of Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox and Apple Safari. Let us know if the issue persists and we'll look further into that for you.

 

~ Arjay
Upwork
Jalil's avatar
Jalil S Community Member

Hi Arjay, thanks for replying.

 

I just did a test clearing cache and cookies, but the problem persisted. I also did a test with Safari and got the same error.

 

The Chrome version that I am using is: Version 106.0.5249.103 (Official Build) (arm64)

Arjay's avatar
Arjay M Retired Team Member

Hi Jalil,

 

Thank you for your confirmation. I shared your report with our team and one of our agents will reach out to you using a support ticket to assist you further. You can access your support tickets and coordinate with the team here.

 

~ Arjay
Upwork
Kiara's avatar
Kiara P Community Member

I need to refund a client, he paid me using a direct contract, how can i do that? Please help me out! 

Arjay's avatar
Arjay M Retired Team Member

Hi Kiara,

 

I have escalated your concern to the relevant team and one of the members will be in contact via a support ticket. You can access your ticket and coordinate with the team here once been set up.

 

~ Arjay
Upwork
Vino's avatar
Vino U Community Member

Hi respected Upwork team.

My name is Vino.

I appreciate if you answer my question.

I would like to know "Direct Contacts".

If I have a client who I had an offer outside of Upwork, can I require working via Upwork and then send the direct contact?

Thanks for reading my post.

Arjay's avatar
Arjay M Retired Team Member

Hi Vino,

 

With Direct Contracts, you can create and send contract proposals to your clients that don't have Upwork accounts. (However, you can also invite them to sign up at any time as well.) Just like your other contracts on Upwork, your client deposits project funds in escrow before the contract starts. When you've completed the work, you'll request payment from your client.

 

To learn more about how Direct contracts work and how to manage them, check out this Help Article. Thank you.

 

~ Arjay
Upwork
Vino's avatar
Vino U Community Member

🙏Thanks, Arjay

Pearl's avatar
Pearl H Community Member

That's it really?

 

Anyone know?

 

Thanks, Pearl

Pradeep's avatar
Pradeep H Retired Team Member

Hi Pearl,

 

Thank you for your message. Yes, Direct Contracts are available to freelancers and their clients in the 180+ countries where we operate.

 

Thank you,

Pradeep

David S's avatar
David S M Community Member

I am looking into Direct hourly contracts for one of my clients. They are a large global corporation, as such their payment terms are terrible, and they are consistently 10-15 days late paying my invoices. 

 

I'd like to hear from others who currently use or recently used Direct hourly contracts. Besides the lower 3.4% fee and Upwork's note that there is no Upwork time tracker, what are the differences between Direct hourly contracts and regular hourly contracts with clients found on the platform? What are issues that I may need to consider that Upwork support won't tell me? I'm not talking about technical glitches, I searched the community and saw a bunch of posts with isolated cases about  billing and payment glitches, so I don't need anyone to rehash any of those. 

 

Thanks, 

Dave 

William T's avatar
William T C Community Member

Hey David, I have billed $850k by using Milestones to avoid issues and billed only 3 hours separately. Yes, I have billed non-Upwork clients via Upwork's billing because most of my billing is now consolidated. Have a great day!

Umair's avatar
Umair H Community Member

Hello! Yesterday I sent a Direct Contract to one of my clients in Canada, But he's facing an error while funding this contract. "We're sorry! We are experiencing a technical problem and cannot process your request right now". He tried again today and he got a notification from PayPal that "You paid $***** USD to Upwork Escrow Inc. What is happening? Please help me with this problem asap.

Annie Jane's avatar
Annie Jane B Retired Team Member

Hi Umair,

 

Thank you for reaching out to us. I can see that you opened a support ticket regarding this issue and are now being assisted by one of our agents. Should you have more questions or concerns, please feel free to update the same support ticket.


~ AJ
Upwork
Md Aminul's avatar
Md Aminul I Community Member

I've recently got a client outside the marketplace and I want to contract with him using Upwork Direct Contract. But my question is, I don't know if the client has an Upwork profile. 

Now If I send him an invitation using Upwork Direct Contract, is it a violation of Upwork TOS? What if the Client has an Upwork profile? Does it suspend my account?

Arjay's avatar
Arjay M Retired Team Member

Hi Md Aminul,

 

With Direct Contracts, you can create and send contract proposals to your clients who aren’t on Upwork. There is no ability/need for a client to create an Upwork account with Direct Contracts. Clients can access the contract via email from Upwork. With that said, sending clients invitations for a Direct Contract will not violate Upwork's TOS.

 

You can start by choosing the Direct Contracts icon in your navigation bar. From there, you can create and send contract offers, request payments, and cancel contracts, as well as view all your Direct Contract details.

 

If a client decides to create an Upwork client account, new contracts with freelancers will be subject to freelancer service fees and client payment processing fees. Feel free to check this help article to learn more about how Direct Contracts work.

 

~ Arjay
Upwork
Md Aminul's avatar
Md Aminul I Community Member

What if the client provides me with an email that is already used in his Upwork Account?

Note: I don't know if he has an Upwork Account already.

Pradeep's avatar
Pradeep H Retired Team Member

Hi Md Aminul,

 

You cannot have a Direct contract with a client who already has an Upwork account. In that case, they will need to hire you from their Upwork account.

 

Thank you,

Pradeep

Rakibul's avatar
Rakibul I Community Member

Hi, can i get feedback from client if i send direct contract?? and is this will be visible as project in my profile?? please help?
thanks you so much.

Regards,
Rakibul islam