Refund Policy

1How refunds are paid

All refunds are credited to your Wallet balance, not to your original payment method. This applies to every refund described in this policy, including canceled milestones, canceled contests, dispute outcomes, and any refund our Support team grants. Your account has two balances: a client balance (deposits and refunds, used to fund work) and a freelancer balance (earnings). Refunds are credited to your client balance.

• Refunds are automatic. When a refund is triggered, the money appears in your balance as soon as it is processed. There is no form to fill in.
• The original charge is not reversed. Your card or bank statement still shows the original payment. The refund appears in your Wallet history and Transaction Center as a credit.
• You choose what happens next. You can use the balance to fund other work on the Platform, or withdraw it to your bank account (Section 2).
• Refunds are made in U.S. dollars, up to the amount actually refundable under this policy, never more than you paid.

If applicable law or the rules of your card network require a refund to be made in a different way, we will follow that requirement, and nothing in this policy limits a right you have under law.

2Withdrawing refunded money to your bank

Clients and freelancers withdraw on the same terms, from the Withdrawals page. Withdrawals are paid out by our payment processor, Stripe, to a bank account connected to your payout account.

• Payout account. Your first withdrawal asks you to set up a Stripe payout account, which includes identity verification. Clients need one too, because refunds are paid out to a bank, not to a card.
• Fees. Each withdrawal carries a payout fee (currently 0.25% + $0.25). Your first withdrawal in each calendar month also carries an account fee (currently $2). Both are shown before you confirm and are deducted from the amount withdrawn. A withdrawal whose fees would use up the whole amount cannot be made.
• Timing. Once a withdrawal is sent, it typically reaches your bank in 1–3 business days, depending on your bank.
• If a withdrawal fails (for example, the bank rejects it), the amount and its fees are returned to your balance.
• Moving money between your balances. You can move money between your client and freelancer balances at no charge.

3Clients: what is refundable, and when

The table summarizes each situation. The subsections below give the details. In every case, a refund means a credit to your balance (Section 1).

3.1 Money you added to your Wallet

Adding funds to your Wallet carries no Processing Fee. Funds you have added but not spent stay in your balance, and you can withdraw them to your bank at any time under Section 2. They are not refunded to the card or account you added them with.

3.2 Canceling a project before you hire

You can cancel a project that is still a draft or open for proposals, as long as no freelancer has been awarded it. Posting a project does not put its budget into Escrow, so there is nothing held to refund. Any Upgrades you bought for the listing (for example Featured or Urgent) were applied when purchased and are not refunded.

3.3 Funded milestones (fixed-price projects and service purchases)

When you fund a milestone, its amount is held in Escrow and you pay a Processing Fee on top. Buying a freelancer's service works the same way: it creates a funded milestone.

• Cancel before delivery: full refund of the milestone, right away. If the freelancer has not delivered the work yet, you can cancel a funded milestone and the whole milestone amount returns to your balance. The freelancer is notified. The Processing Fee is not refunded.
• After delivery, a cancel is a refund request. Once the freelancer has delivered (including while a revision is underway), “Ask for a refund” sends them a request and the money stays in Escrow. They have 3 days to accept it (the whole milestone amount returns to your balance) or open a dispute. If they do not answer in 3 days, the request goes to dispute resolution automatically, with the freelancer to respond; if they still do not respond, the refund goes through. Releasing the payment instead withdraws your request.
• A milestone under an open dispute cannot be canceled. The dispute decides what happens to it.
• Approving releases the payment, and a release is final. Once you release a milestone, the money (less the freelancer's Platform Fee) belongs to the freelancer and is not refundable through the Platform.
• Only you release a milestone. A fixed-price milestone is never released on a timer: the money stays in Escrow until you release it, ask for a revision, cancel it as described above, or a dispute decides it. A freelancer who has not been paid for delivered work can open a dispute.
• Unfunded milestones (proposed but not yet paid) hold no money, so dismissing one refunds nothing because nothing was charged.

3.4 Hourly contracts

Hourly work is billed weekly, in arrears. Each week's hours are locked and charged to the card on the contract on the Monday at 12:00 p.m. Eastern Time after the week ends. The amount is held in Escrow while you review it.

• Review window. You can review a billed week until Saturday at 2:59 a.m. ET. At 3:00 a.m. ET that Saturday, the week is released to the freelancer automatically. Releasing it earlier yourself ends your right to dispute it.
• Disputing hours is how you get hourly money back. A billed week cannot be canceled. If you believe hours were billed in error, open an hours dispute on that week before its review window closes. You can dispute the whole week or specific minutes. The outcome can release the week, refund all of it, or refund only the disputed time (repriced at the contract's rate). See the Dispute Resolution Policy.
• Ending a contract stops future billing. It does not refund weeks that were already billed; those follow their own review windows.
• The Processing Fee on a billed week is not refunded, whatever the outcome.

3.5 Contests

When you post a contest, you pay the full prize into Escrow, plus the Processing Fee and any Upgrades.

• Fewer than 3 submitted entries: you can cancel, and the full prize comes back to your balance. The Processing Fee and any Upgrades are not refunded.
• 3 or more submitted entries: the contest can no longer be canceled. Freelancers have done work on the strength of your prize, so it must be awarded to one or more winning entries.
• Award within 14 days of the deadline. If you have not chosen a winner 14 days after the contest's deadline, the prize is split equally among everyone who entered (one share per person, however many entries they made), and paid out to them. If nobody entered, the prize comes back to your balance.
• An award is final. Once you award the prize, it is paid to the winners and is not refundable.
• Contests are not handled through the dispute process. If something has gone wrong with a contest (for example, you believe entries break the contest rules), email support@fastestfreelancers.com before you award it.

3.6 Upgrades, boosts and ad placements

Upgrades (Featured, Urgent, IP Agreement, NDA, Hide Contest Entries), boosts and ad placements are delivered when they are applied. They are not refunded, including if the listing is later canceled, closed or awarded.

3.7 AI generation charges

AI drafting features include a daily free allowance. Generations beyond it are charged to your Wallet at the price shown in the product. Once a generation runs, that charge is not refundable.

3.8 VIP plan

• Plan charges are not refunded. This includes a cancellation on the day you subscribe and any unused time in a billing period.
• Canceling stops renewal. You can switch back to Free at any time from the Plans page. Your plan stops renewing and stays active until the end of the billing period you already paid for. Each billing period starts on the day your payment goes through (the day you subscribe, for the first period) and renews on the same date each period.
• Refund requests. If you believe a plan charge should be refunded (for example, you were charged after canceling, or charged twice), email support@fastestfreelancers.com from the email address on your account. Plan refunds are granted only by Support, case by case. A refund that is granted is credited to your Wallet.
• If you cancel while your first payment is still processing, the plan never starts. If that payment then goes through anyway, it is returned to your Wallet.
• Card only. Plans are paid with a debit or credit card and renew on it. They cannot be paid from your balance or by bank transfer.
• Failed renewals. If a renewal payment fails, we email you and the plan is suspended until the payment succeeds. Nothing is charged for a suspended period.

4Freelancers: how refunds affect your earnings

• Released money is yours. When Escrow is released to you (by the client's approval, the close of an hourly week's review window, a contest award, or a dispute outcome), your share is credited to your freelancer balance, less the Platform Fee (currently 10%). A client cannot get released money back through a refund.
• Only money still in Escrow can be refunded to a client. Before you deliver, a client can cancel a funded milestone and the Escrow returns to them. After you deliver, a client can only ask for a refund. You are emailed, and you have 3 days to accept it or dispute it from the project's Milestones tab. If you do not answer, it goes to dispute resolution with you to respond, and if you still do not respond within the dispute's deadline, the client is refunded.
• Do not start work on a milestone until it is funded. An unfunded milestone holds no money, so there is nothing in Escrow to pay you or to dispute.
• Hourly weeks. A week you worked is released to you at 3:00 a.m. ET on the Saturday after it is billed, unless the client releases it sooner or disputes it. In an hours dispute, the disputed time is what is at stake. If you do not respond when it is your turn, the disputed time is refunded to the client.
• Contests. A host can cancel a contest and recover the prize only while it has fewer than 3 submitted entries. After that, the prize must be awarded. If the host has not chosen a winner 14 days after the deadline, the prize is split equally among the entrants, one share each.
• Dispute outcomes. If a dispute is decided partly or fully for the client, that share of the Escrow is refunded to the client instead of being released to you. The Platform Fee applies only to the share released to you.
• Withdrawals. Your earnings are withdrawn under Section 2, with the same fees.

5Refunds about the work go to the Dispute Resolution Policy

This policy covers refunds that follow from a rule: a cancellation, a deadline, a plan change. A refund that depends on whether the work was good enough is a disagreement between the client and the freelancer. That includes work not delivered, delivered late, outside the agreed scope, poor quality, or hours billed that should not have been. These are decided under the Dispute Resolution Policy, through the Resolution Center.

• Talk to the other party first. Many problems are fixed by a revision or a clearer scope.
• If that does not work, open a dispute while the money is still in Escrow, before you release it. Released payments cannot be refunded through a dispute.
• Whatever a dispute decides about money is paid the same way as every other refund: to the client's balance, never to a card.

6What is not refundable

• The Processing Fee, in every case, including a canceled milestone, a canceled contest, or a dispute decided in the client's favor. It covers payment-processing costs already incurred.
• Payments released to a freelancer, whether by approval, the close of an hourly week's review window, a contest award, or a dispute outcome.
• Upgrades, boosts and ad placements once applied.
• VIP plan charges, except where Support grants a refund (Section 3.8).
• AI generation charges once the generation runs.
• Dispute escalation fees, whatever the dispute's outcome.
• Withdrawal fees on a withdrawal that was paid out.
• Payments made outside the Platform. We cannot refund, track, or protect money that did not move through the Platform. Arranging off-Platform payment is also a breach of the Terms.

7Billing errors, duplicate and unauthorized charges

If you were charged twice, charged the wrong amount, or charged after you canceled, email support@fastestfreelancers.com with the date, the amount and the receipt or transaction details. Please do this within 60 days of the charge. We will look into it, and where we confirm an error, we will correct it with a credit to your Wallet.

If you see a charge you did not make, someone may have access to your account. Change your password, turn on two-step verification, and contact us right away so we can secure the account and investigate. Where the card network’s rules or the law require it, we return an unauthorized payment to the card it was made with, as an exception to section 1.

8Chargebacks and card disputes

Please contact us before you dispute a charge with your bank or card issuer. Most problems are resolved faster through this policy, the Resolution Center, or Support. Escrow exists so the freelancer can be paid fairly and you can be refunded fairly, and a chargeback goes around both.

If you do open one, your bank takes the payment back from us straight away. Here is what happens next, under the Terms:

• Your account goes on hold. You cannot withdraw, fund new work, bid, or release payments until the bank decides and anything you owe is paid. (If your card issuer only asks us questions and takes nothing back, only withdrawals are paused.)
• We recover the amount from your Client Account balance first, then from Escrow the same payment funded for work not yet delivered. Escrow for delivered work is held until the bank decides. We never take a Freelancer Account balance. We email you what was taken and from where.
• Anything not recovered is owed. Add funds to your account and it is collected automatically, or pay it from your balance on the Transaction Center.
• If the bank decides for us, everything we took is returned and the hold is lifted.
• If the bank decides for you, what we took stays with us, Escrow for delivered work it funded is also recovered, and the bank’s dispute fees are added to what you owe. Anything recovered beyond what you owe is returned to your Client Account. You will not also receive a refund under this policy for the same money.

Nothing here limits any right you have with your card issuer under law.

9Holds, delays and account closure

• Holds. Refunds and withdrawals may be delayed or held while identity or payout verification is incomplete, while we review suspected fraud, unauthorized activity or a balance discrepancy, while a dispute or chargeback about the same money is open, or where the law requires it.
• Closing your account. Before you ask us to close your account, withdraw your balance. Funded engagements and open disputes are handled to conclusion first: Escrow is released or refunded under this policy and the Dispute Resolution Policy, and any remaining balance is made payable to you, subject to verification and legal holds.
• Suspended or terminated accounts. If we suspend or close an account, any balance that belongs to its owner remains payable, subject to the same verification and to any amounts owed under the Terms.
• Unclaimed balances. If an account with a balance is inactive for a long time and we cannot reach its owner, state unclaimed-property law may require us to report the balance and send it to the state. Where the law requires notice first, we will try to contact you before we do.

10How to ask for help

Email support@fastestfreelancers.com from the email address on your account. Include the project, contest, milestone or plan involved, the date and amount, and what you are asking for. For a disagreement about work with a client or freelancer, open a dispute in the Resolution Center instead, under the Dispute Resolution Policy.

11Changes to this policy

We may update this policy. The “Last updated” date above shows when it last changed. A change applies to payments made after it takes effect. A payment made before a change is refunded under the policy in effect when it was made, unless the new policy is more favorable to you. If this policy and the Terms of Service conflict, the Terms control.