LegalLast updated: June 22, 2026
Privacy

Privacy policy

This Privacy Policy explains how FreelancerPeople (“FreelancerPeople,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) handles personal information when you use our premium freelance marketplace, including our website, mobile applications, and the services connected to them. FreelancerPeople brings together buyers who need work done and sellers who offer packaged services we call SERVEs, custom fixed-price contracts, and weekly-billed hourly contracts, all backed by full escrow protection so buyer funds are held until work is delivered and reviewed.

We have written this policy in plain English so you can understand what we collect, why we collect it, who we share it with, and the choices and rights you have. Please read it alongside our Terms of Use, our Cookie Policy, and our Payment Terms, which together describe how the platform works. By creating an account or using FreelancerPeople, you acknowledge the practices described here.

1. Introduction and scope

This policy applies to everyone who interacts with FreelancerPeople: buyers who purchase SERVEs or hire on contracts, sellers who publish services and receive payouts, and visitors who browse without an account. It covers personal information we collect through our public pages, your account workspace, the messaging system, the checkout and wallet experience, the seller payout flow, the Resolution Center, and related communications such as email or in-product notifications.

This policy does not govern the internal data practices of the third parties we work with, such as payment processors or identity-verification providers, beyond the limited information we share with them as described below. It also does not cover how buyers and sellers handle each other’s information once they choose to work together; we expect all members to handle the information they receive responsibly and only to complete their engagement.

2. Information you provide to us

Most of the information we hold comes directly from you when you sign up, build your presence, transact, or communicate on the platform. The categories below describe what we typically collect.

  • Account information. When you register we collect details such as your name, username, email address, password (stored only in encrypted form), and your chosen role as a buyer, seller, or both. We may also collect a phone number for verification and account-security purposes.
  • Profile and SERVE content. Sellers provide profile details such as a title, biography, skills, languages, work and education history, certifications, country, time zone, availability, and an advertised rate, along with the SERVE listings, portfolio samples, images, and videos they publish. Buyers may add a short biography and profile photo. Anything you choose to make public on your profile can be seen by other members and visitors.
  • Identity verification (KYC) documents. Before sellers can withdraw earnings, we require identity verification. To complete this, you may submit government-issued identification, a selfie or liveness check, proof of address, or similar documents. This information is sensitive, and we handle it with heightened care and restricted access, sharing it only with the identity-verification partners and reviewers needed to confirm who you are.
  • Payment and payout details. To fund your wallet, pay for orders, or receive payouts, you provide billing and payout information such as card or banking details, tax or business identifiers (such as a VAT ID or GSTIN) where you provide them — for example, to calculate or zero-rate tax, or for invoicing and business reverse-charge — and the information our payment partners need to process transactions. Full card numbers are handled by our payment processors and are not stored on our own servers.
  • Content, messages, and files. We collect the messages you exchange in conversations, the briefs and requirements you submit, the deliverables you upload, the reviews and ratings you leave, and any attachments shared during an order or contract. Disputes you raise in the Resolution Center, including the evidence you upload, are part of this category.
  • Support and correspondence. When you contact our Support team, respond to a survey, or report a problem, we keep a record of what you tell us and our replies so we can help you and improve our service.

3. Information we collect automatically

When you use FreelancerPeople, some information is collected automatically through your device and your activity on the platform. This helps us keep the service running, secure, and relevant to you.

  • Usage information. We record how you interact with the platform—pages and SERVEs you view, searches you run, categories you explore, items you save, and the orders and contracts you engage with. This activity also powers personalized recommendations and the work feed you see.
  • Device and connection information. We may collect your device type, operating system, browser, language settings, approximate location derived from your IP address, and similar technical details that help us deliver pages correctly and detect unusual or fraudulent activity.
  • Cookies and similar technologies. We and our providers use cookies, local storage, and comparable technologies to keep you signed in, remember your preferences, measure performance, and understand how the platform is used. You can learn more, and adjust your choices, in our Cookie Policy.

4. How we use your information

We use the information we collect to operate FreelancerPeople, to keep it safe, and to provide the marketplace experience you expect. In practice, this means:

  • Creating and maintaining your account, profile, and SERVE listings, and enabling buyers and sellers to find and work with one another.
  • Processing orders, custom contracts, wallet funding, escrow holds, releases, refunds, and seller payouts after the applicable clearance window, as handled by our Payment Team and our payment partners.
  • Verifying identity through KYC so that withdrawals can be enabled and so we can meet our legal and anti-fraud obligations.
  • Delivering messaging, notifications, file sharing, and the dispute process in the Resolution Center.
  • Personalizing what you see, including recommended SERVEs, talent, and the home work feed, based on your activity and stated interests.
  • Protecting the platform—detecting and preventing fraud, abuse, spam, and security threats, and allowing our Trust & Safety team to investigate reports and take account action where our policies are broken.
  • Reviewing and publishing listings, jobs, and content through our Marketplace Team to maintain quality and compliance.
  • Communicating with you about transactions, security, policy updates, and—where permitted—news, tips, and offers, which you can opt out of at any time.
  • Operating the FreelancerPeople marketplace, where every seller participates on the same terms at no recurring cost.
  • Analyzing and improving our features, measuring performance, and complying with our legal and regulatory responsibilities.

5. Legal bases for processing

Where data-protection laws require us to identify a legal basis for using your personal information, we rely on one or more of the following grounds depending on the activity:

  • Performance of a contract. We process information to provide the services you ask for, such as completing an order, funding escrow, or releasing a payout under our Terms of Use.
  • Legal obligation. Some processing, including identity verification and certain record-keeping, is necessary to comply with the laws and regulations that apply to us.
  • Legitimate interests. We process information to keep the platform secure, prevent fraud, improve our services, and run our business, provided those interests are not overridden by your rights and freedoms.
  • Consent. Where required, we rely on your consent—for example, for certain marketing communications or non-essential cookies—and you may withdraw that consent at any time.

6. When and with whom we share information

We do not sell your personal information. We share it only where it is needed to run the marketplace, meet our obligations, or protect our members, and only with parties bound to handle it responsibly. The main recipients are:

  • Other members. When you transact, the relevant profile details, messages, briefs, deliverables, and reviews are shared with the buyer or seller you are working with so the engagement can be completed.
  • Payment processors. Our payment partners handle card and bank processing, wallet funding, escrow movements, refunds, and payouts under the direction of our Payment Team. They receive the information needed to process and secure your transactions.
  • KYC and identity-verification providers. Specialist partners help us confirm identity documents and prevent fraud. We share verification data with them strictly for that purpose.
  • Infrastructure and service providers. We use trusted vendors for hosting, file storage, content delivery, email and notification delivery, analytics, and customer-support tooling. They process information on our behalf under appropriate contractual safeguards.
  • Legal, compliance, and safety recipients. We may disclose information to comply with the law, respond to lawful requests, enforce our policies, or protect the rights, property, and safety of FreelancerPeople, our members, or the public—including investigations led by our Trust & Safety team.
  • Business transfers. If FreelancerPeople is involved in a merger, acquisition, financing, or sale of assets, information may be transferred as part of that transaction, subject to the protections of this policy.

7. Cookies and tracking technologies

Cookies and similar technologies are small files and identifiers stored on your device that let us remember you between sessions and understand how the platform performs. We use essential cookies to keep you signed in and to secure transactions, preference cookies to remember your settings, and analytics cookies to measure and improve the experience.

You can control non-essential cookies through your browser settings and through any choices we offer in-product. Disabling certain cookies may affect how parts of the platform work. For a full description of the categories we use and how to manage them, please see our Cookie Policy.

8. How long we keep your information

We keep personal information only for as long as it is needed for the purposes described in this policy, and then for any additional period required to meet legal, tax, accounting, dispute-resolution, or fraud-prevention obligations. Account, transaction, and verification records are generally retained while your account is active and for a reasonable period afterward, in line with those obligations.

To manage storage responsibly, large files shared in chat or submitted as project requirements may automatically expire and be deleted after a retention window. This means very large attachments may no longer be downloadable once that window has passed, even while the surrounding conversation or order record remains available. We encourage you to keep your own copies of important deliverables and files. When information is no longer needed, we delete it or anonymize it so it can no longer be linked to you.

9. How we secure your data

We use a combination of technical and organizational measures designed to protect your information against loss, misuse, and unauthorized access. These include encryption of data in transit, encrypted storage of passwords, restricted and role-based access to sensitive records such as KYC documents, and monitoring to detect and respond to suspicious activity.

No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, so we cannot promise absolute security. You play an important part too: choose a strong, unique password, keep your login credentials private, and contact our Support team promptly if you believe your account has been accessed without your permission so our Trust & Safety team can help protect it.

10. Your privacy rights

Depending on where you live, you may have rights over your personal information. Subject to applicable law, these can include:

  • Access. Request a copy of the personal information we hold about you.
  • Correction. Ask us to fix information that is inaccurate or incomplete; you can update much of your profile directly in your settings.
  • Deletion. Ask us to delete your information, subject to records we must keep for legal or legitimate-business reasons. You can delete your account and associated data yourself at any time — see how to delete your account & data.
  • Portability. Receive certain information in a structured, commonly used format, or have it transferred where technically feasible.
  • Objection and restriction. Object to, or ask us to limit, certain processing, including direct marketing.
  • Withdraw consent. Where we rely on consent, withdraw it at any time without affecting processing already carried out.

To exercise any of these rights, contact our Support team through our Contact page and describe your request. We may need to verify your identity before we act, and we will respond within the time frame the law requires. You also have the right to complain to your local data-protection authority if you have concerns about how we handle your information.

11. International data transfers

FreelancerPeople is a global marketplace, so your information may be processed and stored in countries other than the one in which you live, including by the service providers and partners described above. Data-protection laws in those countries may differ from those in your own.

Where we transfer personal information across borders, we take steps to ensure it remains protected, including by using recognized safeguards such as standard contractual clauses or other legally approved mechanisms where they apply. By using the platform, you understand that your information may be transferred in this way so that we can provide our services.

12. Children and age requirements

FreelancerPeople is intended for adults. The platform is not directed to anyone under the age of 18, and we do not knowingly create accounts for, or collect personal information from, minors. You must be at least 18 years old (or the age of majority in your location, if higher) to register and use our services.

If we learn that we have collected personal information from someone under the applicable age, our Trust & Safety team will take appropriate steps to close the account and delete that information. If you believe a minor has provided us with personal information, please contact our Support team so we can address it.

13. Third-party links and services

Our platform may contain links to third-party websites, tools, or resources that we do not control, and members may share links with one another. This Privacy Policy does not apply to those external sites and services, and we are not responsible for their content or their privacy practices.

When you follow a link away from FreelancerPeople or use an integrated third-party service, we encourage you to review that party’s own privacy policy so you understand how it handles your information. Sharing personal or contact details with another party outside the platform is at your own discretion and risk.

14. Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our services, technology, legal requirements, or business practices. When we make changes, we will revise the “Last updated” reference on this page, and where the changes are significant we will provide a more prominent notice, such as an in-product message or email.

We encourage you to review this page periodically so you stay informed about how we protect your information. Your continued use of FreelancerPeople after an update takes effect means you accept the revised policy.

15. How to contact us and make a data request

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy, want to exercise your privacy rights, or wish to make a data request, our Support team is here to help. The fastest way to reach us is through our Contact page, where you can submit your request along with any details we need to assist you.

For questions about how the marketplace works alongside your privacy choices, you may also find our Terms of Use, Payment Terms, Refund & Cancellation Policy, and the Resolution Center helpful. We aim to respond to every privacy request promptly and to handle your information with the care it deserves.