Platform contract guide
Understanding Freelancer.com project terms
A Freelancer.com project combines the platform’s User Agreement with the project listing, accepted bid, milestone setup, and the parties’ recorded clarifications. Here, “freelancer” can mean a worker; “Freelancer.com” means the platform.
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Your contract stack
Save the project description, accepted bid, milestone descriptions, relevant messages, and any separate confidentiality or ownership terms. Read them with the current Freelancer.com User Agreement and, for milestone-fund disputes, the Milestone Dispute Resolution Policy.
What forms the agreement
A useful project record connects the original listing to the final accepted deal.
- Project and bid
- Compare the listing with the accepted bid. Note mismatches in deliverables, price basis, schedule, concepts, revisions, or handover format.
- Milestone descriptions
- A milestone should describe an observable output and its price, not just a date or percentage. Vague labels make release decisions and later evidence harder to assess.
- Changes after award
- Record a changed output, price, deadline, and affected milestone in one place. Do not leave a material variation spread across several messages.
Milestone payments and fees
Milestone protection depends on using the platform feature and following its current process.
- Funding and release
- Check whether a milestone is funded, what must be delivered before release, and who can request or release funds. A promised milestone and a funded milestone are not the same.
- Evidence
- Keep submissions, feedback, agreed changes, and acceptance messages on the platform where possible. The dispute process may assess project wording, correspondence, and uploaded evidence.
- Net amount
- Platform fees, taxes, currency conversion, and withdrawal rules can affect the final amount. Both sides should check the current fee schedule and payment screen.
Delivery, ownership, and privacy
Spell out what the buyer receives instead of relying on a broad project category.
- Delivery standard
- List final formats, source files, documentation, access credentials, and acceptance criteria. Define how bugs, corrections, or revision rounds are handled.
- Ownership
- Locate the terms covering transfer or licensing and when they take effect. Check unpaid work, rejected drafts, portfolio use, and pre-existing tools separately.
- Confidential material
- Identify what is confidential, permitted uses, security expectations, return or deletion duties, and how long those obligations last.
Disputes and project closure
The platform has a specific process for milestone disputes, with deadlines and evidence stages.
- Direct resolution
- State the disputed milestone, what was promised, what was delivered, and a practical proposed outcome. Keep the tone factual and attach the strongest record.
- Milestone dispute
- The public policy describes negotiation, escalation fees, evidence stages, and platform arbitration. Response windows can be short, so consult the current policy.
- Close-out
- Account for unreleased milestones, delivered files, account access, licenses, final invoices, and obligations intended to continue after the project ends.
How this guide is reviewed
Assemble the contract stack
Identify the accepted offer or order, project-specific terms, platform-wide terms, and any separate agreement.
Check current official sources
Open the platform sources linked in this guide and compare their effective wording with the version accepted for the engagement.
Review the wording that controls
Use the guide as context, then read the exact clause, milestone, order, or message before deciding what to do.
Check the source
This guide is a starting point, not a substitute for reading the version you accepted. Review the current official documents before making a decision.