Remember: You have 14 days to review milestone work submissions from your expert. You can accept the work submission or ask for updates before releasing the payment. If you don’t reply in the 14-day timeframe, the system will automatically approve the work and send the expert’s payment.
🚀 In this article
Add your milestones
You can ensure a smooth start to your fixed-rate job contract by discussing the milestones with the expert upfront. The primary considerations for milestones include payment amounts ($5 USD minimum), deadlines, and clear work expectations.
You can agree on milestones when you interview the expert and make changes to unfunded milestones after the job starts. If needed, you can add milestones, change future milestones and rearrange upcoming milestones.
📡 Remember: You can only make a payment for a single milestone at a time ($5 USD minimum). You need to approve and pay your milestone in progress before funding your job’s next milestone.
Approve milestone work submissions
You can approve and pay the expert’s milestone work submission if you are happy with the work.
Steps to approve and send payment:
- Contract: Visit Job contracts
- Approve: Click Review work & pay button
- Confirm: Click Submit payment button
Approve a milestone if an expert hasn’t sent a work submission request
You can still approve payment for a finished milestone if the expert didn’t submit a payment request.
Steps to approve and send payment:
- View contract: Visit Job contracts
- Approve: Click Pay now button
- Confirm: Click Submit payment button
📡 Remember: Only approve a milestone and release payment if the work is complete and meets your expectations. If you release the escrow funds or don’t reply to an expert’s work submission within 14 days, you agree to pay for work delivery. If you approve the work before the milestone tasks are finished, you will not be able to dispute the payment on the platform. If the work submission doesn’t meet your expectations, you can ask for revisions before releasing a escrow payment.
Approve milestone and add a bonus
If your expert delivers work that exceeds your expectations, you can add a bonus payment when you release the milestone payment. The bonus is a separate payment and part of the escrow funds.
Steps to approve payment and add a bonus:
- View contract: Visit Job Contracts
- Approve: Click Review work & pay button
- Bonus: Select Add a bonus > choose amount
- Confirm: Click Submit payment button
Pay a milestone amount that is less than the escrow balance
You can release a partial escrow payment for work submitted by the expert. The remaining funds in the escrow balance are applied to your next milestone payment.
Steps to approve payment for an amount below the escrow balance:
- View contract: Visit Job contracts
- Approve: Click Approve & pay button
- Change amount: Select edit (🖍️) icon > update amount
- Confirm: Click Submit payment button
Ask for changes before approving a milestone payment
You can ask the expert for changes if the work submitted is incomplete or doesn’t meet the requirements in your milestone description.
Steps to ask for edits to a milestone work submission:
- View contract: Visit Job contracts
- Review: Click Review work & pay button
- Ask for changes: Click Ask for changes button
- Message: Add notes that explain the changes > click Send message button
You can ask the expert for an escrow payment refund if the work is unsatisfactory. The expert has a 7-day timeframe to reply to your refund request. If the expert approves your request or doesn’t reply, the escrow payment is refunded to your account balance.
📡 Important: If you don’t approve payment for a finished milestone, the expert may submit a an escrow payment dispute. You have 7 days to reply to the dispute or the funds are automatically dispersed to the expert.
