Did someone ask to make a payment outside Upwork?
Getting paid outside Upwork is dangerous and against our Terms of Service. Help us keep Upwork safe by reporting it.
Circumvention is when a client and freelancer meet through Upwork but try to continue their relationship elsewhere. The most obvious example is trying to pay or get paid outside Upwork, but also includes people trying to contact you outside the platform, through Telegram, Whatsapp, etc.
It's a serious breach of our Terms of Service for two reasons.
- First, it can hurt you. Giving away your contact and billing details makes you vulnerable to scammers and fraudsters.
- Second, it hurts our business too. We can't keep running our marketplace without the fee we get when clients pay freelancers.
Is circumvention ever allowed?
It's allowed in three situations:
- If you've paid the Upwork Conversion Fee
- If you already had a relationship before working together on Upwork (including Bring Your Own Freelancer or Direct Contracts)
- If you've been working together on Upwork for more than two years.
If someone asks you to circumvent by moving payment off of Upwork, please let us know right away. Avoid giving clients your Whatsapp number, telegram account, or communicating off platform.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, even if the person who requests it doesn't go through with it.
Once the conversion fee has been paid, we'll let you know that you're both OK to work together off of our platform.
An Upwork relationship starts when a client and freelancer contract with each other for the first time. This is typically when a client purchases a project on Project Catalog or accepts a freelancer's job proposal.
If you have any doubts, you can always ask our team to confirm. If you've been working together for more than two years and you're planning to take a relationship off Upwork, we recommend giving us a heads-up first so we can make an official note of it.
Just let them know you'll have to decline since it's against our rules. Please also report it to us.