Help Center article: Contracts Gone Dormant
Clients and freelancers will be notified with a 2-week notice if money is still in escrow after 76 days of inactivity per escrow instructions for fixed-price contracts and for client security. If no action is taken at that time, they also receive a 2nd 1-week notice stating if action is not taken, their contracts will be closed automatically.
Clients can “opt-out” via the link in their email, but they only have the opportunity to “opt-out” up to 2 times before the contract is closed UNLESS they can make a payment (bonuses included) or a milestone update.
“Inactivity” is defined by:
- no business term or milestone updates
- no FP escrow funding / release / refunds
- no funding / release requests
- no engagement cancellation requests
- No status report submittals or actions under the Fixed Price Dispute Assistance Policy
Once the contract is closed:
- the escrow account process will begin, but by default, will send a refund request to freelancers on the client’s behalf
- freelancers will have 7 days to dispute
- clients are notified in-product to leave final feedback for these closed contracts
Frequently Asked Questions
I’ve been messaging with my client! Why do you think my contract is inactive?
Messaging alone with a client does not constitute activity. We consider contracts that have logged one of the following actions as active: payments, bonuses or milestone updates.
You closed this contract without warning!
We notified both clients and freelancers 2 weeks prior to this closure. Clients were provided with opt-out links in their email and freelancers were encouraged to contact their client to kick off new activity on the contract if they wished to keep it open.
Can the client still leave Feedback if Upwork closes the contract?
When your contract was closed, your client was notified in product (on their Contracts tab) to leave final Feedback. This provides clients with a two week timeframe to provide you with feedback. Internal note - freelancers should be able to go into that contract after the 2-week period and click a box to request feedback, which sends a notification to the client.
Will this (the auto-closing of Fixed Price jobs due to 90 days of inactivity) affect my Job Success Score?
Technically, no. That’s because “how” a project was closed has no bearing on your JSS. To provide more clarity, we should revisit how “idle” projects (jobs without activity) count towards your JSS. Here are a couple of different scenarios: Counted positively towards JSS: Projects in which you were active for a long period of time, receiving payments and delivering work. But, in the most recent 90 days there hasn’t been activity. Even if it’s closed without Feedback and final ratings, recall that you’re getting the benefit of “long-term relationships” in your JSS calculation. Counted negatively towards JSS: Projects that remain on your profile without any activity towards them can be counted negatively towards your JSS. This happens when the project starts but nothing happens (i.e. no payments).
But won’t I be negatively affected in my JSS if I have a lot of jobs without final Feedback?
Yes, that can be true. But recall again that if these jobs were long-term engagements in which you did work and receive payments from clients for some time, you are benefitting from having “long-term relationships” and as result, not having final ratings on these projects won’t negatively affect you.
What are you going to do about the jobs that are now showing on my profile as closed without Feedback?
When your contract was closed, your client was notified in product (on their Contracts tab) to leave final Feedback. This provides clients with a two week timeframe to provide you with feedback.
But you keep telling us that having a lot of jobs without Feedback will hurt our reputation. Aren’t you counting these against us now?
Yes, that can be true. But recall again that if these jobs were long-term engagements in which you did work and receive payments from clients for some time, you are benefitting from having “long-term relationships” and as a result, not having final ratings on these projects won’t negatively affect you.