Freelancers can request changes to job offers—including payment terms, timelines, and scope—within seven days of receipt. These requests appear side-by-side with the original offer for easy comparison. Clients can approve, reject, or modify offers in response. Freelancers may submit up to three change requests per hour, maintaining flexibility in negotiations.
What are freelancer requests for changes in an offer?
When you send an offer, the freelancer might be interested but prefer different terms or have different ideas for completing the project. They can request these changes directly in the offer.
You'll see their request in a side-by-side with your original offer for easy comparison, and the freelancer can still see and accept your original offer as long as it’s active. Negotiating with the original offer available as a reference point helps you align expectations quickly, making sure you're both on the same page about scope, timing, and payment.
What changes can the freelancer request in an offer and when?
Only freelancers or agency managers can request changes — not agency freelancers. They can request changes on fixed-price or hourly contracts with Marketplace or Business Plus clients, but not on Enterprise, Payroll, or Direct Contracts offers.
Editable terms:
- Project type: They can request that the job be hourly or fixed-price
- Payment amounts: They can enter an hourly rate for hourly contracts or an amount for fixed-price contracts
- Payment schedule for fixed-price contracts: They can ask for the payment to be made all at once at the end of the contract or broken into milestones
- Other payment details: They can request scheduled rate increases or additional automatic weekly payments
- Scope of work: They can request edits to the job description
- Other contract details: They can request changes to the start date, contract or milestone due dates, the hourly limit on hours worked each week, and whether they can enter time manually
- Attachments: They can add attachments to the offer but cannot delete your attachments
Timing and limits for change requests:
- Seven-day offer period: Freelancers can make requests within seven days of when you send the offer — offers expire after seven days of inactivity. If you approve or modify an offer, the seven-day timer resets. Requests from freelancers do not reset the timer
- Request limits: Freelancers can submit up to three requests for offer changes within one hour
- Concurrent activity: If you’re sending an offer at the same time a freelancer is requesting new changes, we’ll let you know. You can decide whether to send it or review the new request first
How to view requested offer changes
You’ll get an alert in your notifications when you have requested changes to review, with a link to the offer. When you open the link, you can see:
- The proposed edits compared to the current offer terms
- The offer’s history of change requests
- Versions you've sent for consideration
You can also see change requests and history by going to your pending offers from either your dashboard or the main nav bar under Hire talent > Pending offers.
What happens next — responding to requested offer changes
Once a freelancer submits a request, you can:
- Approve changes: Accept their proposed changes and send a revised offer with those edits
- Reject changes: Reject their request, but keep the original offer terms active for their consideration
- Modify the offer with your own changes: Update the offer with different terms than your original or the freelancer’s request, and resend the offer
- Withdraw the offer: If you don’t want to move forward or have decided to hire someone else, you can withdraw the offer
The freelancer can continue to respond or take one of these actions:
- Make more requests: Submit additional changes, up to three change requests in a one-hour period
- Accept an offer: Accept or decline the original offer as long as it’s active, even after submitting a request for changes, until you submit a modified offer. They can also accept or decline modified offers that you’ve sent