How to Secure Your Payment as a Freelancer

[Mika]

If you are working on freelancing sites like Fiver or Upwork, you don’t have to worry about your payment because the platform makes sure that you are paid. Before you are hired, the platform secures the payment from the client. However, when you are working independently, you are always at the risk of not getting paid. You might ask for advance payment but the client is also worried about getting scammed, therefore, he might not offer advance payment. So, how do you deal with a situation like this?

There is a payment management company called Escrow, which works as a bridge between the buyers and sellers mostly for digital goods and digital services. It secures payment for the sellers as well as the buyers. Escrow was started in 1999 and it is a very popular online payment processing company, even the freelance marketplaces like Upwork and Flippa use the Escrow service.

As a freelancer, you can use Escrow to secure your payment.

 

[Jasmine]

Every now and then I hear how a freelancer is scammed by an employer (refusing to pay after the service/work is delivered) or how a freelancer scammed an employer (not delivering the work after receiving payment). As long as I was working on freelancing platforms, I did not have any issue, however, the moment I started working independently, I was under the risk of not getting paid. That’s how I ended up using Escrow. If someone is buying a service or a product for the first time he cannot simply trust me because he has never done any transaction previously. I cannot also trust him because I have never worked with him. Therefore, instead of sending payment directly to me or delivering the work and wait for the payment, I ask him to send it to escrow in my name. Once I see that payment is in the escrow account, I deliver my work. Upon approval, Escrow will send payment directly to my bank.

 

[saoussen5765]

I remember such an option even on forums like the old forum called Jiba Ng but closed they introduced and some paid to post forum for services between members.