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ยป Forums ยป Support ยป Re: Direct Contracts vs UpWork Contract
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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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255 REPLIES 255
Muhammad's avatar
Muhammad B Community Member

the contract is a fixed price contract

Nikola's avatar
Nikola S Moderator

Hi Muhammad,

 

Iโ€™ve escalated your community post to a support ticket. One of our agents will be in touch with you soon to assist.

~ Nikola
Ryan's avatar
Ryan M Community Member

I'm very confused about the contracting process. There were a lot of additional details I wanted to include as a client with a prospective writer, but I'm not sure if that's an option. How does that work? Attached is an example of what I'm wanting to do. 

Joanne's avatar
Joanne P Moderator

Hi Ryan,

 

I have requested the assistance of our team. One of our agents will assist you directly via a support ticket.

~ Joanne
Upwork
Ryan's avatar
Ryan M Community Member

no one ever reached out to me that I'm aware of

Pradeep's avatar
Pradeep H Moderator

Hi Ryan,

 

I checked your account and I can confirm that one of our team members did reach out to you via a support ticket here. You can also view and respond to support tickets from the notification sent to your registered email address.

 

- Pradeep

Vladimir-Saลกa's avatar
Vladimir-Saลกa S Community Member

My client paid for funds but I didn't get any "get paid" or anything else in my jobs/contracts. Next to my direct contract there is a label "Direct contract waiting to be accapted" and nonthing else.

Arjay's avatar
Arjay M Retired Team Member

Hi Vladimir-Saลกa,

 

I can see that you've raised a ticket about your Direct Contract concerns. Please allow our team time and you will get an update on your ticket on this page once your report is thoroughly reviewed.

 

~ Arjay
Upwork
Abir's avatar
Abir A Community Member

I have a client whom I want to bring on Upwork. I also want the payment to go through Upwork. I have worked with him few hours and now want to log these hours on Upwork so if I manually log these hours will it show on my profile as hours I have worked?

 

Currently my logged hours are 351 hours, if I log my new client's hour, for example 4 hours will it show as 355 hours?

 
 
 
Annie Jane's avatar
Annie Jane B Retired Team Member

Hi Abir,

 

Thank you for reaching out to us. Since you and your client will only be using Upwork for payments, any Direct Contracts will not impact your Upwork reputation metrics (for example your Job Success Score or Top Rated status). These contracts also will not be included in your other Upwork profile stats, such as total earnings, number of jobs, etc.


~ AJ
Upwork
Sana's avatar
Sana N Community Member

Hi, please let me know if I want to increase my earnings and reviews on Upwork as I'm starting a new Upwork profile so should I go with getting Direct contract clients? because upwork just charges you 3.4% fee for that but will it show any review or earning on my profile when I complete that job? if not, so what other way there can be to get review and earning increase by getting an outside client on to Upwork?

Luiggi's avatar
Luiggi R Moderator

Hi Sana,

 

Since you and your client will only be using Upwork for payments, any Direct Contracts will not impact your Upwork reputation metrics (for example your Job Success Score or Top Rated status). These contracts also will not be included in your other Upwork profile stats, such as total earnings, number of jobs, etc.

 

I noticed you don't have a photo of yourself in your profile. Please note that your profile must represent you as an individual and that all the information in your profile including your profile photo needs to be accurate, truthful, and verifiable. Please check this article for more information on how to update your profile photo.

~ Luiggi
Hamza's avatar
Hamza A Community Member

So I meet a client outside of upwork, We've been working for some time now, it's time to wrap up the project and get paid, I asked to give me a contract throught upwork, I want to get paid there. Is that legal? if it is legal do I also get the public review from him or should just take payment directly through our banks?

Patrick's avatar
Patrick T Community Member

Hi Hamza,

 

I think it's very legal and would work in your favor for any future upwork job prospects if the client leaves a good public review for you. However the upwork service fees will reduce the amout you would have received directly through the bank.

Hamza's avatar
Hamza A Community Member

Yeah, I'm fine with reduced amount. I'm hoping this step will lead into a stronger and a better upwork profile, I just had a little chat with upwork's support and they said this is legal.

 

Rahana's avatar
Rahana B Community Member

Hi,

Hope you are doing well. I'm not clear about withdrawal process for direct client funds. Do I need to give $3 charge if I want to withdraw funds (Earned from direct client contract) in my payoneer account?

Thanks

Joanne's avatar
Joanne P Moderator

Hi Rahana,

 

Freelancers are charged a 3.4% payment processing fee. For example, if your earnings are $100 you'll be charged a payment processing fee of $3.40 USD. We won't charge you an additional freelancer service fee, only the 3.4%. Please note that all transactions are in USD.

 

Upon withdrawing your earnings, you will be charged for the withdrawal fee associated with the payment method you choose. For more information on Payoneer fees and timings, please check this help article

~ Joanne
Upwork
Monisola's avatar
Monisola O Community Member

Pls can anyone assist me on how to Unarchive a completed Direct contract on my Upwork profile. 

Thank you for your prompt reply. 

Shailesh's avatar
Shailesh G Community Member

Hello Upwork Community,

 

I have a client whom I have worked with in the past and now wants to work with me via Upwork. They want me to send them an hourly rate-based contract. However, they have a start date that's 2 weeks from today.

 

The Upwork Direct Client contract page doesn't appear to have a Start Date column (only an End Date). The client wants to sign the contract within the next 2 days but wants me to start after 2 weeks. How do I make this work?

 

Thanks!

Richard's avatar
Richard H Community Member

I have faced this recently, although much more in the past.  Do not accept an offer until the client is ready for you to add time to the contract immediately.  In the past, Upwork penalized freelancers for zero-earnings contracts, which is a big risk with this contract.  Perhaps a bigger risk today, this client can also give you bad private feedback if you accept an offer and the client never moves forward.  

 

Think of this situation as a red flag, regardless of your past working relationship.  Unlike in a direct relationship situation (a contract with no payments or work just ceases to exist), there are real downsides for you to do this on Upwork.

Shailesh's avatar
Shailesh G Community Member

Thanks Richard. I appreciate your reply and the word of caution.

 

Actually this client is a direct client of mine and I have a good working relationship with them. They have asked me to initiate a Direct Contract so the ball is in my court. 

 

Since I'm sort of restarting with them after a bit of a gap they need 2 weeks to get my credentials set up on their system and ship me a laptop. I can understand their situation.

 

I guess I'll send them the contract today but start billing them in 2 weeks. That should do, I guess.

Muhammad's avatar
Muhammad A Community Member

Will the payments for direct contracts also be reflected in my Upwork profile earnings?

I look forward for the kind response of experts

Pravesh's avatar
Pravesh A Community Member

I am currently working with a client and it had 3 milestones. Till now I was able to see contratc on my profile, but once the first milestone was completed and I asked payment from client the payment was added to my account but now I am not able to view that contract in my profile can anyone please help me with this? 

Luiggi's avatar
Luiggi R Moderator

Hi Pravesh,

 

I see that the contract you're referring to is a Direct Contract. It can be found by clicking this icon on the top right corner of your screen. 

 

Since you and your client are only using Upwork for payments, this contract will not impact your Upwork reputation metrics (for example, your Job Success Score or Top Rated status). It also will not be included in your other Upwork profile stats, such as total earnings, number of jobs, etc. Feel free to check this article for more information. 

~ Luiggi
Pravesh's avatar
Pravesh A Community Member

Thanks LuiggiR for the help!

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