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The blog of Australian Front End / Aurelia Javascript Developer & brewing aficionado Dwayne Charrington // Aurelia.io Core Team member.

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Freelancer.com Withdrawals Are Severely Broken

Freelancing · September 15, 2014

When it comes to finding freelance development work, Freelancer.com seems to be the best choice out there. I have had pretty good success with it, despite the fact I keep getting undercut by outsource operations willing to build whole websites for $100.

One thing that really bothers me about Freelancer.com is the fact withdrawals are broken.

The first frustrating thing for new time users is the fact your first withdrawal is held for two weeks. This is presumably a security thing and subsequent withdrawals you do not have to wait to be processed. I can kind of understand this, but wouldn’t it be easier and more secure to ask users to just confirm their identities instead of holding the funds for a made-up period of time?

The second frustrating thing, and undoubtedly the biggest frustration I have with the site is the way withdrawals and balances work.

For some ridiculous reason, Freelancer.com will NOT lock funds. This means for example as I have discovered, if you’re in the two week holding period for your first withdrawal and you purchase an exam or your monthly account fee is due, it will be taken out of your current balance even if you have a pending withdrawal.

You have requested a withdrawal, but if anything that costs money like an exam is purchased, it will take it from the current balance and the pending transaction will fail citing insufficient funds.

This has happened to me three times now. I put through my first withdrawal request, and then got quoted the two week waiting period. Then I decided to do an exam, thinking the money would be taken from my linked credit card because I am withdrawing money, the funds would be locked, or so I thought.

The exam cost came out of my Freelancer.com balance and the withdrawal request failed because the funds dipped below the requested withdrawal amount. I had no option to choose to use my credit card or Paypal account.

Then it happened again… This time my monthly Freelancer.com membership fee was due, instead of using my linked credit card or Paypal account, it took it out of my balance and screwed up the transaction yet again.

Then there is the frustrating issue with the balance not reflecting pending withdrawal requests. If you have five hundred dollars in your account from a milestone payment, then you request to withdraw it and a few days later you get another five hundred dollar milestone payment, even though you already requested the first $500, your balance will display $1000. The balance being displayed in the header does not reflect pending transfers, a MASSIVE user interface fail.

If anyone at Freelancer.com is reading this, please fix your shit, this is a MASSIVE oversight and not how the withdrawal process should work. If I am just being naive and doing something wrong here, please let me know as I am sure there are others in the same situation.

Dwayne

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mon mohon singha
mon mohon singha
8 years ago

me too victim of freelancer.com withdraw funds.

0
John Doe
John Doe
7 years ago

We are on the same boat

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John Doe
John Doe
7 years ago

This has happened to me now. I put through my first withdrawal request, and then got quoted the two week waiting period. Then I accept one project that cost a lot, thinking the fees would be taken from my linked credit card because I am withdrawing money, the funds would be locked, or so I thought. Withdrawal request failed because the funds not enough!

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Ernest
Ernest
6 years ago

Well it’s a great website for freelancing but really the money is their problem. That first two week withdrawal delay is horrible. And they still didn’t fix that balance thing.

0
Martin
Martin
6 years ago

It is their way to keep the money for themselves. The longer it stays in their system the easier it is to take by nickel and dime the withdrawal.

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