Direct Contracts for pain-free payments
Use Direct Contracts and make paying global freelancers easy.
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How to pay freelancers
Why Direct Contracts?
We’ll hold your payment for safekeeping until the work is complete (it’s called ‘escrow', in case that term comes up in the future).
Pay talent by credit card or Paypal worldwide, and even ACH bank transfers in the U.S.
If your project hits a snag, we can step in to help.
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Frequently asked questions
With Direct Contracts, you and the freelancer get escrow protection in addition to the ability to easily make payments through Upwork. Freelancers feel assured because you’ve deposited the project funds into a third-party escrow partner and you don’t have to worry about paying for a project that doesn’t get completed or filing tax forms. If during the contract you want to cancel it, you can request to cancel and get your funds returned back to you.
Clients pay the fees described here.
Currently, Direct Contracts are only available to freelancers and their clients in certain countries. If you attempt to sign up and you or the freelancer are not eligible due to the country you live in, you’ll see an error message. We hope to expand Direct Contracts to more countries in the future.
With Direct Contracts, you and the freelancer get escrow protection in addition to the ability to easily make payments through Upwork. Freelancers feel assured because you’ve deposited the project funds into a third-party escrow partner and you don’t have to worry about paying for a project that doesn’t get completed. If during the contract you want to cancel it, you can request to cancel and get your funds returned back to you. You’ll also get dispute assistance should a problem arise.
Yes! You can fund Direct Contracts via credit card, ACH bank transfer, or PayPal account.
Learn how to file a dispute in this support article.