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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
Noman's avatar
Noman U Community Member

hi Bojan S

thanks for assisting here with me, and yes i tried my other browser, claered all cache and cookies and guess what it ran ok. thumbs up for a quick and robust support.

 

 

Thanks,
Noman

Mahrukh's avatar
Mahrukh K Community Member

Hi Goran, 

I have been trying to send a client a Direct contract via Upwork, but it's been 2 days, and the feature is not working. At first, I thought that maybe it was because of the maintenance and website update. But even now, the feature is inaccessible. When I click on the Direct contracts, I get a blank page and nothing else. 

Is the feature available, or has it been removed? 

Please respond, as the client is waiting for the contract proposal, and I only trust upwork. 

Thank you!


Arjay's avatar
Arjay M Retired Team Member

Hi Mahrukh,

 

I tried but wasn’t able to replicate the issue you’re describing. Here's what I can see from my end. 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. Let me know if the issue persists and we'll look further into that for you. Thank you!

 

~ Arjay
Upwork
Mahrukh's avatar
Mahrukh K Community Member

I tried everything, switched the browser, and cleared the cache. It's still not working. I also tried it from the mobile app; it's the same issue. 

Andrea's avatar
Andrea G Community Manager

Hi Mahrukh,

 

Thank you for following up. 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 here.

 

~Andrea
Mahrukh's avatar
Mahrukh K Community Member

Hey Andrea, 

Thankyou so much! For some reasons, I couldn't access Upwork support and direct contracts. I hope the issue gets resolved. 

Thank you!

Nikola's avatar
Nikola S Retiring Moderator

Hi Mahrukh,

 

Thank you for following up. I checked and it looks like you were able to respond to our team via a support ticket. Could you please clarify if you still experience any issues with opening your support ticket? 

 

~ Nikola
Mahrukh's avatar
Mahrukh K Community Member

The Support ticket is opening but I can't access without the link Andrea shared. 

Nikola's avatar
Nikola S Retiring Moderator

Hi Mahrukh,

 

Thank you for clarifying. I shared your report with our team and they will reach out to you via email to assist you further. 

 

~ Nikola
Jayvie's avatar
Jayvie C Community Member

How long should it take for the payment to be released? My client deposited the amount and now it is "processing payment" status. How long should I wait so that I can withdraw my earnings?

Goran's avatar
Goran V Retired Team Member

Hi Jayvie,

 

When you're working on hourly contracts your clients are billed every Monday for the hours you have tracked in the previous week. To learn more about how you're getting paid on hourly contracts, check out this Help Article. Thank you.

~ Goran
Upwork
Md Kamruzzaman's avatar
Md Kamruzzaman K Community Member

Hi
My client's direct contract first payment paid.
This client will pay for the next work.
Here's how to create a new milestone.
Please help.

Thanks

Kamruzzaman

**Edited for Community Guidelines**

Pradeep's avatar
Pradeep H Retired Team Member

Hi Md Kamruzzaman,

 

I see that your Direct contract is already ended. You cannot create a milestone on an already ended contract. You can create a new Direct contract with the same client instead.

 

Thank you.

Pradeep.

Md Kamruzzaman's avatar
Md Kamruzzaman K Community Member

Hi,
Many thanks for your reply.
I need to know.
It is possible to send the same client the same email offer multiple times.?

Thanks.

 

**Edited for Community Guidelines**

Pradeep's avatar
Pradeep H Retired Team Member

Hi Md Kamruzzaman,

 

You can initiate Direct Contracts only with Clients who do not have an Upwork account. The email address on your screenshot is already registered on Upwork and you cannot initiate a Direct contract with this client.

 

Thank you.

Pradeep.

Md Kamruzzaman's avatar
Md Kamruzzaman K Community Member

Hi
Many thanks for your reply
My problem solve

thanks
Kamruzzaman

Shamsa's avatar
Shamsa F Community Member

I need information regarding direct contracts. Please let me know.. if I invite my client on Upwork on hourly rate.
When I manually lock hours.. does these hours will be asked for time of day..that these should be different from upwork time tracker's time? Like in Upwork jobs case.. the time can't be same as the time locked in other job.
Do direct contacts time treated differently than upwork jobs?
Please make this clear.
Also please let me know other differences between direct contract and Upwork contract.

Thanks,
Shamsa
Bojan's avatar
Bojan S Community Manager

Hi Shamsa,

 

Thanks for your question. After you and your client agree to create a contract and set a weekly rate and time limit, we’ll estimate the weekly total and require your client to deposit that amount into Upwork’s secure escrow account. Once your client funds the deposit, we will notify you and you can confidently begin work knowing your payment is secure. Payment protection does not cover work additional hours beyond the set weekly limit or expenses.

 

The Time Tracker feature is not an option with Direct Contracts. With hourly Direct Contracts, you and the client agree to a weekly limit on hours. Before releasing payment, the client can also review the manual hours invoice so they can reach out to the freelancer with any questions and, if needed, file a dispute.

 

Here is the help article with more information.

~ Bojan
Upwork
Shamsa's avatar
Shamsa F Community Member

So it means.. there is no requirement of selecting the time of manual hours added in the direct contract. Right?

While in Upwork contracts we have to select the specific time for manually adding the hours on track sheet.
Bojan's avatar
Bojan S Community Manager

That is correct, Shamsa.

 

The freelancer can manually log hours without entering the exact time frame they worked during the day.

~ Bojan
Upwork
Ajay's avatar
Ajay S Community Member

I have a client approaching me to work with me again, used to work via upwork couple of years ago, (work with me for about 4 yeats at upwork). I want to know can i get him into direct contract without creating a project?

 

I sent out a direct contract to him and it went out okay and the client accpeted it. He is not keen on entering into regular upwork project, so I thought i should get into a direct contract.

Is this okay? are there issues in doing a direct contract with this client? If not then what should i do? I contacted the helpdesk but that was not of great help.

 

Best Regards

Ajay

Andrea's avatar
Andrea G Community Manager

Hi Ajay,

 

Direct Contracts cannot be used with clients who already have an account on Upwork. I can see your support ticket has been referred to the appropriate team. Please allow some time for our team to review and they will update you directly via ticket as soon as possible.

~Andrea
Ajay's avatar
Ajay S Community Member

Thanks Andrea, not sure what to do in this case, i did not realize a ticket has been raised. Meanwhile, what should i do with the direct contract I created (which was accepted by the client)? Shall I cancel it? To be honest, personally I do not think there should be any issues but would like to hear from experts here.

Subhan's avatar
Subhan G Community Member

why my client is asked to verify its identify for direct contract? As per upwrok words direct contract does not ask clients to register on upwork. Cann anyone help?

 

Thanks in advance

Martina's avatar
Martina P Community Member

Are you planning to have a direct contract at your current rate?