To help consultations go smoothly for both you and your clients, we’ve developed some specific policies to guide the process:

Requirements to offer consultations

To create a consultation in any category, you’ll need to be Rising Talent, Top Rated, Top Rated Plus, or Expert-Vetted. You can create up to three consultations total, and they can be in any work category available.

Confirmation policy

You have 24 hours to send a message to the client after they submit their requirements to confirm the consultation or clarify their requirements. If you don’t send a message, it will impact your responsiveness score.

Canceling a consultation

You can cancel any time before the consultation. If you cancel more than 24 hours before the consultation, the client will get their money back and they won’t be able to leave you feedback.

If you cancel within 24 hours of the consultation, the client can leave you feedback which may impact your Job Success Score.

If the client cancels more than 24 hours before the consultation, they’ll get a full refund. If they cancel within 24 hours, they won’t get a refund and you’ll get paid.

Late policy

While we encourage you to be on time, we understand things come up. You or the client can be up to 5 minutes late for your scheduled consultation.

No-show policy

If the client doesn't show up, you’ll still get paid. If you don’t show up or are more than 5 minutes late, the client can file a dispute and ask for their money back.

If something happened or you had an emergency, we’re happy to talk with you about your options. Please reach out to customer support.

Payment Protection

We provide Payment Protection for consultations if the following eligibility requirements are met:

• The client canceled the consultation less than 24 hours prior to the start time, or,
• You are less than 5 minutes late for the consultation and you send the documents you agreed to provide to the client within your set delivery time, which might include a project plan, time and cost estimate, or meeting summary, or the client opts out of receiving documents after the consultation and chooses to approve and pay without receiving them.

Harassment policy

We won’t tolerate harassment or violence toward other Upwork users. You can report harassment or violence by reaching out to customer support or using the report flag throughout the site. You can review all prohibited behaviors, including our prohibition on harassment and violence, in our Terms of Use.