Preferred Freelancer Program Service Level Agreement

As a Preferred Freelancer, we ask that you adhere to the following agreement.

You will:

  1. Be able to apply for the Program, which is subject to evaluation. Please note that acceptance into the Program is based on our assessment. Additionally, participants should understand that admission to and continued participation in the Program is at the discretion of the organizers, and you may be asked to leave without prior notice.
  2. Maintain the minimum requirements of entry to the Program. We reserve the right to remove you from the Program if your performance falls below our minimum requirements. These include the following:
    • Successfully passing the Preferred Freelancer SLA Exam with a score of 80% or higher.
    • Completion of at least 10 projects.
    • Email, Phone, and KYC verified.
    • Absence of active penalties.
    • Achieving a review rate of 4.8 or higher.
    • Having received fewer than three 1-star reviews in the past 365 days.
    • Ranking within the top 3% percentile in one or more of your skills.
  3. You will have a complete profile, including a professional headline, photo, detailed bio and a portfolio displaying your best work.
  4. Maintain a paid membership.
  5. Remain a Verified by Freelancer member.
  6. Respond to messages in a timely manner, as this increases your chances of being recommended. If you bid on a Recruiter project, let the Recruiter know that you are interested and why you should be recommended.
  7. Inform the client of your availability and ensure that you are responsive during those times.
  8. Provide an outstanding level of customer service at all times (we expect you to be polite, not demanding, easy to deal with).
  9. Help to guide your client through the process of completing a project and ensure that they have an excellent customer service experience.
  10. Provide work of excellent quality.
  11. Deliver work on time.
  12. Maintain an 85% project acceptance rate.
  13. Maintain a dispute rate below 10% (with no more than 3 serious disputes in the last 6 months).
  14. Maintain a completion rate no lower than 85%.
  15. Keep communications and payments on-site only.
    • Any cases of communication or payment going off-site will result in expulsion from Freelancer.
  16. Maintain a good relationship with all Recruiters; make sure you respond politely, accurately and with a high degree of professionalism. Any language abuse, spamming or threatening statements will not be tolerated.
  17. Switch off your Preferred badge whenever you are unavailable to take projects, too busy, or wishing to take a break from the Program. If you are planning to take a break from the Program for more than two weeks, please contact preferred@freelancer.com.
  18. Contact Preferred Freelancer Support and your Recruiter, should you have any problem with your client.

You will not:

  1. Communicate with clients in any unprofessional way, for example speaking badly about a Recruiter, Freelancer, or other freelancers.
    1. Unprofessional communication, spamming, rude or threatening behavior, or blackmail of a client will result in your immediate removal from Freelancer.
  2. Discuss fees with clients (project fees or Recruiter project fees).
  3. Request upfront payments from your clients.
    1. If for any reason you break this condition and request upfront payments, we reserve the right to freeze withdrawals on your account until work has been delivered to the client or the funds have been returned.
  4. Request ratings & reviews before project completion.
  5. Exchange personal email addresses, phone numbers, Skype, or any other form of off-site communication.
  6. Mention your profile on any other freelancing site or attempt to bring a client over to any other site. If you have your own portfolio site that you'd like to share with the client, please send it to your Recruiter and have them share it.
  7. Bid on projects you are not able to complete, either because of skill or time constraints.

If your initial connection with a client was established on a Recruiter project, any subsequent projects connected to the original work will also need to be Recruiter upgraded.

Any attempt to circumvent or avoid the 15% project fee will result in a 30% penalty fee and a warning. Repeated attempts will result in expulsion from the Program. If in doubt, check with the recruiter or Preferred Freelancer Support.

Further Information: