Strong relationships lead to great work, and mutual protection helps lay the foundation for the trust and security you need to build those relationships. That’s why we offer Roster to protect both Freelancers and Clients.

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Clients deposit the project payment into escrow on Roster before any work begins. We hold this amount in escrow to ensure that freelancers get paid for the work they do once completed and approved, and clients get the work they’ve paid for. 

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Upon receiving and approving the work, clients will mark the milestone or project as complete and this will trigger the release of the payment within 7-10 business days.

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Define and Pre-Fund Milestones

Before any work begins, the Freelancer and Client will agree on certain work milestones, which will determine how tranches the total project will be paid out in. This helps set expectations for both of you and lays the groundwork for a positive working experience.

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Good things to know:

• You can define, submit, and get paid for one portion of work at a time, or plan out all milestones ahead of time.

• For larger projects, a small first milestone can be a good way for both of you to work together and earn each other's trust before continuing on with the project.

• Before you start working on a milestone, the Client will pre-fund the payment for that milestone by placing a deposit with Roster.

• We collect this escrow deposit to confirm your client's ability to pay, but payment is dependent on your client's satisfaction with your work.

• Please note that only the money that's held in escrow is secure. We can't help you collect any funds that have been promised but not deposited into escrow, so please do not begin work until your client has deposited the full amount or you have renegotiated the price and work expectations.

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Submit Work

To make sure work progresses smoothly, we recommend that you discuss with your client ahead of time how you'll deliver your files or other work product. Once you have a contract, you can send files using any third-party solutions you prefer.

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To submit a milestone for approval

1) Go to My Activities and select the project you are working on by clicking "View project"

2) Write a message to your client describing the completed work. You can include a link to the work. 

3) Your client will be notified you have sent a message and you will be notified when they approve payment or request changes.

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Review & Approve Milestones

Once you submit your work, your client has 14 days to review and either approve the milestone or ask for changes. If they approve, the funds in escrow will be released to your pending payments. If your client takes no action for 14 days, the funds are automatically released to your pending payments and will be released to you after a 5-day security hold.

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While our goal is to help you build strong relationships, we recognize that sometimes things simply don’t work out. If a client requests a refund for a milestone that you’ve completed, you can file an escrow dispute by emailing support@joinroster.co. The disputed funds will remain in escrow until a resolution is reached. Learn more about the escrow dispute process here.

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IMPORTANT:

If you re-submit a milestone — for example, if you made changes that the client requested — the review and approval process resets. Your client will have 14 days from the time you re-submitted the milestone to approve it.

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