Clients are eligible for Payment Protection if they cancel over 24 hours in advance or are on time and don’t receive promised documents, unless they opted out. Freelancers are protected if a client cancels late or if they deliver documents on time. Harassment or violence is strictly prohibited for all users.
Additional policies and guidelines for clients
Payment Protection
We provide Payment Protection for clients for payments to freelancers on consultations if you meet the following eligibility requirements:
- You cancel your consultation more than 24 hours before your scheduled meeting time, or
- You are less than 5 minutes late for the consultation, and
- You don’t receive the documents (e.g., meeting summary, project plan, time, and cost estimate) you purchased as part of the consultation. If you opted out of receiving documents when you purchased the consultation, you’re not eligible to request a refund over the payment after the consultation has occurred.
- Note: If you get a refund before payment has been released to a freelancer, such as due to cancellation by the freelancer or your own cancellation more than 24 hours before your meeting, we’ll also refund the Contract Initiation Fee. If you get a refund of a payment that was already released to the freelancer due to a dispute, we will not refund that fee.
Harassment policy
We won’t tolerate harassment or violence toward other Upwork users. You can report harassment or violence by reaching out to customer service 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.
Additional policies and guidelines for freelancers who are consulting
Payment Protection: We provide Payment Protection for consulting freelancers if the following eligibility requirements are met:
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- The client canceled the consultation less than 24 hours prior to the start time, or,
- The freelancer is less than 5 minutes late for the consultation and they send the documents agreed to the client within the set delivery time, 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 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.