If you’re ending a fixed-price contract with remaining funds in escrow, you can request an escrow refund from the freelancer and choose to either pay nothing or to release a partial payment. The freelancer has seven days to approve or dispute your request. If approved or the freelancer doesn’t respond, the refund is processed within five business days. If disputed, both parties must provide details, and Upwork will offer a non-binding resolution. Further disagreements can proceed to arbitration. Escrow refunds are returned to the original payment source. On active contracts, partial payments can be released while using leftover funds for future milestones. — AI summary
Projects don’t always go exactly as planned and budgeted. If you end a fixed-price contract with remaining funds in escrow, you can request an escrow refund from your freelancer.
If you don’t want to end the contract, you can use the remaining escrow funds for the next milestone.
Good to know: If you’re paying a milestone on an active contract and don’t want to release the full amount, you can release a partial milestone payment. You can then use the leftover funds for the next milestone, or you can end the contract and request a refund.
How to request an escrow refund
Note:
This process applies only to fixed-price contracts with funds still in escrow. For refunds on fixed-price contracts where the funds have been released, go here. For refunds on hourly contracts, go here.
To request an escrow refund, you must end the contract and choose whether to release some funds to the freelancer or pay nothing. If your final payment is less than your escrow balance, an escrow refund request will be sent to your freelancer or agency, who will then have seven days to respond and either approve or dispute your request.
Follow the steps below to end the contract and request your escrow refund:
- Go to All contracts to locate the contract
- Open the (...) options menu and select End contract
- Choose Pay nothing and request a refund or Pay another amount and enter the amount you want to release
After you submit an escrow refund request
The freelancer or agency has seven days to respond. They can either approve the refund or submit a dispute if they disagree with the amount paid. Select a dropdown option to learn more.
If your freelancer approves the refund or does not respond within 7 days, we will refund the money in escrow. Refund credits can take up to 5 business days to appear.
Your freelancer or agency can submit a dispute if they believe they are owed additional funds for the work. They will specify the amount they are requesting and provide reasons for the dispute. If this happens, we will send you a notification and an email and you will have five days to respond.
- If you approve the response or don’t respond within five days, we will release the funds requested to the freelancer or agency
- If you decline the response, you will need to describe how the freelancer didn’t meet requirements and attach any supporting evidence. IMPORTANT: this is your opportunity to provide all the necessary information and documents to support your dispute claim. You won’t be able to edit details after submission.
Once you reject the response, we will review the dispute details provided by both parties and provide a non-binding resolution (typically within 2 business days).
Freelancers and clients are usually able to reach an agreement. When you and the freelancer receive the non-binding resolution, you each have two calendar days to accept or reject it
- If you both accept, we will move funds accordingly
- If you or the freelancer doesn’t respond within 2 days or one party rejects the non-binding resolution, you will receive a Notice of Non-Resolution. The final option (should you choose to pursue it) is to proceed to binding arbitration (meaning the decision of the arbitrator will be final) by our neutral third-party arbitration provider. Learn more about arbitration here.
You can request a refund of released funds from the freelancer directly for up to 180 days after payment is released. However, you will only be able to get mediation assistance from Upwork for 30 days after payment is released by contacting Upwork Support.
Upwork mediation specialists serve as neutral escrow agents, meaning we cannot guarantee or enforce refunds or delivered work.
Remember to only release funds after you have received the work and feel satisfied with it. Once payment is made, the work is considered approved so your payment is not refundable unless the freelancer provides a refund directly.
Yes, when reviewing a milestone, you can choose to release a partial milestone payment. After that, you can either:
- End the contract and request a refund for the remaining amount
- Keep the contract open and use the leftover funds for the next milestone if you’d like to continue working with the freelancer
When your freelancer or agency submits a milestone for your approval, you have 14 days to review it. This is set in the fixed-price escrow instructions. During this period, you can release the full payment, release a partial payment, or request changes to the work. If you take no action during those 14 days, that is considered approval, and funds are automatically released to your freelancer or agency.
You still have the option to reach out to Support for mediation assistance as long as the funds were released within the past 30 days. We can’t guarantee or enforce any refund or work once funds are released, but we will contact your freelancer to discuss a resolution. After 30 days, you can request a refund for up to 180 days, but it is up to the freelancer or agency. You won’t be able to receive Upwork mediation assistance after 30 days.
Refunds can take 5 business days to appear.
The escrow refund will be returned to its original source. If it was charged to your billing method, it will be returned there.
