What's the difference between exclusive vs. non-exclusive agency members?

Learn the difference between exclusive and non-exclusive agency members — how payments, Connects, and proposal branding work for each type.

• Your profile and proposals are branded with the agency to make the agency’s part in the work relationship clear to clients
• We pay out all contract payments to the agency, not you. They will then pay you directly
• You will not have to purchase or be able to purchase Connects as you will use agency Connects to submit proposals
• Your profile hourly rate, profile visibility, and earnings privacy can only be managed by the agency owner or an agency member with the Account admin role. An Agency manager cannot manage these settings unless they also have the Account admin role.

What's a non-exclusive agency member?

Non-exclusive members can be hired on their own or as part of an agency. As an non-exclusive agency member:

• You have the option to submit proposals as an individual freelancer or as an agency member
• When the contract is through an agency, the agency gets any payments and then pay you. For your individual freelancer contracts, you are paid directly 
• You can purchase and use Connects on your individual account, but not as part of the agency (the agency will have its own Connects).

Why do I see “User has active job applications” when inviting a freelancer?

This message appears when you invite a freelancer as an Exclusive agency member while they still have active individual proposals.

You can either:

• Invite them as Non-Exclusive by turning off Exclusive agency contractor and resending the invitation. They can join immediately and keep their active proposals.
• Keep the invitation Exclusive. The freelancer must first go to Find Work → Proposals and offers and withdraw all active individual proposals; then the Agency Owner can resend the invitation.

Active proposals do not block Non-Exclusive agency invitations.