Payment terms

These Payment Terms explain how money moves on FreelancerPeople — how you fund an order, how your payment is protected while work is in progress, how sellers are paid, and what happens when something goes wrong. Our goal is simple: buyers should be confident that their money is safe until they receive what they paid for, and sellers should be confident that they will be paid for work that is delivered and accepted.

These terms apply whenever you pay for, sell, or receive money through a packaged service (a "SERVE"), a custom contract, or a wallet top-up on FreelancerPeople. They form part of, and should be read together with, our Terms of Use, Privacy Policy, and Refund & Cancellation Policy. Where a number is involved — such as a fee or a clearance period — the live figure shown in the product at the moment of your transaction always governs. We avoid quoting fixed numbers here because they can change over time; the checkout screen is the authoritative source.

1. How escrow works, end to end

Every paid engagement on FreelancerPeople runs on 100% escrow protection. When you place an order, your payment is collected up front and held securely by our Payment Team in escrow — it is not released to the seller at the moment you pay. The funds stay protected while the seller does the work and remain protected through delivery and your review.

The lifecycle of an escrowed order generally follows these stages:

• You confirm and fund an order for a SERVE or a custom contract. The full amount, plus any fee shown at checkout, is captured and held in escrow.
• The seller is notified that funds are secured and begins work. Because the money is already held, the seller can start with confidence.
• The seller submits the delivery. You are given a window to review it, request revisions if your package or contract allows them, and either accept the work or raise a concern.
• When you accept the delivery — or when the review window closes without an open dispute — the held funds are released from escrow toward the seller's earnings.
• If you and the seller cannot agree, either of you can open a case in the Resolution Center, and the funds stay in escrow until the matter is resolved.

Escrow applies to both fixed-price work and weekly-billed hourly contracts. For hourly contracts, funds are escrowed and settled on a per-period basis as work is logged and approved, so the same protection covers each billing cycle rather than the whole engagement at once.

2. Funding an order and supported payment methods

To start an order you fund it at checkout. You can pay directly for a single order, or you can top up your buyer wallet in advance and draw from that balance when you place orders. Either way, the amount required is presented clearly before you confirm.

We support the payment methods displayed at checkout, which may include major credit and debit cards and other electronic methods made available in your region. The exact options you see depend on your location, your currency, and the capabilities of our payment processors. We may add or remove methods over time, and certain methods may carry their own processor requirements or verification steps.

By submitting a payment, you confirm that you are authorized to use the chosen method and that the billing details you provide are accurate. You authorize us and our payment processors to charge the method for the order total, any applicable fee shown at checkout, and any taxes that apply to your purchase. Payments are processed by trusted third-party providers; we do not store full card numbers on our own systems.

2.5. The platform fee

FreelancerPeople charges a platform fee that helps fund escrow protection, payment processing, dispute handling through the Resolution Center, and the ongoing operation of the marketplace. This fee is always shown to you before you confirm an order — there are no hidden charges added after the fact.

Because fees can change as the marketplace evolves, we do not state a fixed figure in this document. The amount that applies to your specific transaction is the amount displayed at checkout at the time you confirm, and that displayed amount is what you agree to pay. Sellers can review how marketplace economics affect their earnings in their seller earnings area.

3. Your buyer wallet

Your buyer wallet is a balance held within your FreelancerPeople account that you can use to pay for orders. You can add funds to it in advance, and amounts can also flow into it — for example, when a refund or cancellation results in money being returned to you rather than to your original payment method.

Key points about the wallet:

• Wallet funds are intended for use within the marketplace — to fund SERVEs, custom contracts, and other purchases offered on the platform.
• A wallet balance is not a bank account, does not earn interest, and is not a deposit or stored-value product beyond its use on FreelancerPeople.
• Refunds approved under our Refund & Cancellation Policy may be issued to your wallet for fast reuse, or returned to the original payment method, as described in that policy and as permitted by your payment provider.
• Our Payment Team may place a temporary hold on wallet funds, or decline a wallet transaction, where a review is needed to protect you and the marketplace from fraud or error.

You are responsible for keeping your account secure. Treat your login credentials as confidential, since anyone with access to your account may be able to use your wallet balance.

4. Seller earnings, the clearance window, and payouts

When a buyer accepts a delivery — or the review window closes without a dispute — the escrowed funds are released toward the seller's earnings, less the fee shown at checkout. Released earnings do not become immediately withdrawable. Instead, they pass through a short clearance window before they are available to withdraw.

The clearance window gives our Payment Team time to confirm that the transaction is complete and final, and to guard against chargebacks, reversals, and fraud. We do not state the exact length here because it may be adjusted over time; the current clearance period and the status of each transaction are always visible in your seller earnings area.

Once earnings have cleared, they become available for withdrawal to your connected payout method, subject to the verification requirements described below. Any minimum balance, payout schedule, or method-specific timing is shown in the product at the time you withdraw.

5. Withdrawals and the KYC verification requirement

To withdraw cleared earnings, sellers must complete identity verification — our Know Your Customer (KYC) process. This is a regulatory and anti-fraud safeguard that confirms you are who you say you are, that payouts reach the rightful person, and that the marketplace is not used for unlawful activity. Until KYC is successfully completed and approved by our Trust & Safety team, withdrawals cannot be processed.

What to expect with withdrawals:

• You will be asked to provide identity information and supporting documents during KYC. Provide accurate, current, and legible information to avoid delays.
• Your payout details — such as the account that will receive funds — must match your verified identity. Mismatches can cause a payout to be held or returned.
• Our Payment Team initiates approved withdrawals to your chosen method. The time funds take to arrive depends on the method and your financial institution.
• If a payout fails for reasons outside our control (for example, incorrect account details), the funds are returned to your earnings balance so you can correct the issue and try again.

We may re-verify your identity at any time, and our Trust & Safety team may pause withdrawals while a review is underway. Verified contact details that have been confirmed are locked for your protection and can only be changed with help from our Support team.

6. Currencies and conversion

Prices on FreelancerPeople may be displayed and processed in one or more currencies depending on your location and settings. When your payment method's currency differs from the currency of a transaction, a conversion may apply.

Please keep in mind:

• Conversion rates and any conversion handling are applied at the time of the transaction and may include a margin over the mid-market rate, as is standard for currency conversion.
• Your bank, card issuer, or payment provider may apply its own foreign-transaction fees or exchange rates, which are separate from FreelancerPeople and outside our control.
• Because of rounding and rate movement between the moment you view a price and the moment a charge or payout settles, small differences can occur.

Wherever possible, the amount you are about to be charged is shown before you confirm, so you can review it in the currency that matters to you.

7. Taxes — on your purchases and on your earnings

Taxes apply in two distinct ways on FreelancerPeople: an indirect tax (such as GST or VAT) that may be added to a buyer's purchase at checkout, and the income and business taxes that each user owes on their own account. This section covers both. Nothing here is tax advice — for your particular situation, consult a qualified tax professional.

7.1 Indirect tax on your purchase (GST, VAT or similar). Depending on your country and the law that applies there, we may add an indirect tax — for example Goods and Services Tax (GST) or Value-Added Tax (VAT) — to your order. When such a tax applies:

• It is calculated on the order subtotal — the service price plus the buyer service fee — at the rate set by the tax authority for your location.
• It is shown as a separate, clearly labelled line at checkout, before you confirm, and added to your order total. The amount displayed at the moment you confirm is what you agree to pay.
• Your location is determined from the country on your account and, where relevant, related signals; you are responsible for keeping your account country accurate.
• If no indirect tax applies to your location, none is added and no tax line appears.
• The rate is set by law and may change when the authority changes it; the live rate shown at checkout always governs.

7.2 Business reverse-charge (for example, EU VAT). In regions that operate a business-to-business reverse-charge mechanism — such as the European Union — a registered business buyer may enter a valid tax identification number (for example, an EU VAT ID) at checkout. Where reverse-charge applies, the tax is shown as zero-rated and you account for it yourself under the rules of your jurisdiction. We may check the format of the number you provide; entering a tax number you are not entitled to use, or doing so to avoid tax you genuinely owe, is prohibited and may lead to account action. Reverse-charge does not apply to consumers, and it does not apply where local law does not provide for it (for example, GST in India).

7.3 How collected tax is handled. Where we collect indirect tax from you, we do so because the law requires or permits it, and we account for that tax to the relevant authority where we are obligated to do so. Tax we collect is recorded separately from the seller's earnings and from our platform fee — it is never part of a seller's payout. A breakdown of any tax charged appears at checkout and in your transaction records, which serve as your receipt.

7.4 Tax and refunds. If an order is cancelled or refunded, any indirect tax charged on the refunded amount is returned together with it: a full refund returns the tax in full, and a partial refund or dispute settlement returns the tax in proportion to the amount returned to the buyer. Refunds follow our Refund & Cancellation Policy.

7.5 Your own income and business taxes. The indirect tax above is separate from the income, self-employment, business, or other taxes you may owe on your own account. FreelancerPeople is a marketplace and sellers are independent professionals, not our employees. As a seller, you are solely responsible for determining, collecting where required, reporting, and remitting any taxes on your earnings — including income tax and any GST, VAT, or business-registration and filing obligations of your own. We may be required to collect tax information from you, to withhold tax in specific situations, or to report transaction information to tax authorities; doing so does not relieve you of your own obligations. Unless a screen states otherwise, amounts shown as earnings are stated before any taxes you may owe.

8. Membership

FreelancerPeople has no paid plans or recurring subscriptions. Every seller participates in the same marketplace at no recurring cost, with the same features available to all. You only ever pay a platform fee when money actually moves on an order — never a membership charge. Your seller level (which can grow as you complete work) may affect certain limits, such as how many active SERVEs you can publish, but it is never something you pay for.

9. Failed or declined payments

Sometimes a payment cannot be completed — a card may be declined, a method may have insufficient funds, an authorization may expire, or your bank may flag the transaction. When that happens, the order is not funded and does not start, and no escrow is created until a successful payment is received.

If a payment fails, you can usually retry with the same method once the underlying issue is resolved, or choose a different method displayed at checkout. If you believe a charge was declined in error, your card issuer or bank is often the fastest place to check; our Support team can help if the issue appears to be on the platform side. You remain responsible for amounts genuinely owed for orders you have placed.

10. Holds, reviews, and fraud prevention

To keep the marketplace safe, our Payment Team and our Trust & Safety team may review transactions and, where warranted, place temporary holds on payments, payouts, or wallet balances. These measures protect buyers, sellers, and the integrity of the platform.

A review or hold may occur, for example, when:

• A transaction shows patterns associated with fraud, abuse, money laundering, or unauthorized use of a payment method.
• A chargeback or payment dispute is filed with a card issuer or bank against an order.
• Identity or KYC verification is incomplete, inconsistent, or requires additional confirmation.
• Account activity appears to violate our Terms of Use or Community Guidelines, or attempts to move payments off-platform to evade escrow protection.

Our Payment Team handles the financial side of these reviews — holding, releasing, refunding, or reversing funds — while our Trust & Safety team handles account safety and enforcement decisions. If a hold affects you, we aim to resolve it promptly and will request any information we reasonably need. Disagreements about the outcome of an order itself are handled through the Resolution Center, not through external payment disputes; filing an external chargeback while a Resolution Center case is open can delay a fair outcome.

11. Coupons and discounts

From time to time we, or sellers, may offer coupons, promotional credits, or discounts. These are subject to their own terms, which may include expiry dates, eligibility conditions, per-account limits, and restrictions on the SERVEs or contracts to which they apply.

General rules for promotional offers:

• Coupons and credits have no cash value, cannot be exchanged for cash, and cannot be withdrawn as earnings.
• Unless a specific offer says otherwise, discounts cannot be combined, are applied to the qualifying amount only, and do not reduce the platform fee unless expressly stated at checkout.
• If an order paid with a coupon or credit is later refunded or cancelled, the promotional portion is generally returned as credit rather than as cash, in line with our Refund & Cancellation Policy.
• We may modify, suspend, or end any promotion, and we may decline or reverse a discount obtained through error, abuse, or violation of its terms.

12. Changes to these Payment Terms

We may update these Payment Terms as our products, payment partners, and legal obligations evolve. When we make material changes, we will update the date shown on this page and, where appropriate, notify you. The version in effect at the time of your transaction applies to that transaction. Your continued use of FreelancerPeople after an update means you accept the revised terms.

13. Questions and contact

If you have a question about a charge, a payout, your wallet, a hold, or anything else in these Payment Terms, our Support team is here to help. For money-specific matters — payments, payouts, refunds, and holds — your request is routed to our Payment Team, while identity and account-safety matters are handled by our Trust & Safety team. Disagreements about the work delivered on an order are best resolved in the Resolution Center.

You can reach us through our Contact page. For related policies, see our Refund & Cancellation Policy, Privacy Policy, and Terms of Use.