Payment protectionDetails
- Revisions within the package are free.
- If you do not respond within 3 days of delivery, the work is accepted automatically.
The money is reserved when you pay and released only once you accept the work.
Example result
Contract review: a freelance designer's services agreement
One-page summary
You agree to design a logo, packaging for 6 products and a brand guide for a fixed fee of $9,500, paid in two parts. Overall the contract is workable, but four clauses shift most of the risk to you. The biggest issues are payment timing, unlimited revisions and the full transfer of rights before you are paid.
Risky clauses
| Clause | What it says | Why it matters | Risk |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4.2 Payment | Final 50% due "within 60 days of final acceptance" | Acceptance has no deadline, so payment can be delayed indefinitely | High |
| 5.1 Revisions | "Contractor shall make revisions until the Client is satisfied" | No limit on rounds; scope can grow without extra pay | High |
| 7.1 IP transfer | All rights pass to Client "upon creation" | You lose rights to unused concepts even if not paid | High |
| 9.3 Termination | Client may terminate at any time with 7 days' notice | No payment for work already done is mentioned | Medium |
| 11 Non-compete | No work for "any home goods company" for 12 months | Very broad; could block a large part of your market | Medium |
Missing protections
- No late payment interest or right to pause work if invoices are overdue
- No right to show the work in your portfolio
- No cap on your liability (currently unlimited under clause 10)
Suggested wording
Clause 4.2: "The final payment is due within 15 days of delivery of final files. If the Client does not raise written objections within 10 days of delivery, the work is considered accepted."
Clause 5.1: "The fee includes up to three rounds of revisions per deliverable. Further revisions are billed at $65 per hour."
Clause 7.1: "Rights to the final approved designs pass to the Client upon full payment. Unused concepts remain the property of the Contractor."
New clause: "The Contractor may display the final work in a personal portfolio after the product launch."
Questions to the other side
- Who signs off final acceptance, and within what time?
- Can the non-compete be limited to direct competitors named in a list?
This review is not legal advice. Have a qualified lawyer in your country check it before you sign.
Client: Lena Park, freelance brand designer, signing as the contractor. Document: "Design Services Agreement" from Brightwell Home Goods (a fictional retailer), 14 pages. What matters to her: getting paid on time, keeping portfolio rights, limiting unpaid revisions.
The client and all details are made up.
About this service
Clients' contracts are written to protect the client, and freelancers usually find out what they signed when a project grows, a payment is late or the client wants unlimited changes. Send the contract or statement of work as a PDF, Word file or photos, and we read it from your side: scope and change requests, payment terms and late fees, when the rights to your work pass to the client, liability and indemnity, and how either side can end the project. You see where you carry more risk than usual and what to ask for before work starts.
What is included
- What you getA Word and PDF report with a summary of scope, payment and rights, a table of risky clauses and questions for the client. This is a general reading of the text, not legal advice: have a lawyer in your country check large or long-term contracts.
- Scope and changesRevisions, extra work and sign-off
- Getting paidDeposit, milestones, late fees, kill fee
- Rights to your workWhen they transfer, portfolio use
- LiabilityIndemnity, caps and warranties
- Ending the projectNotice, payment for work done
How it works
- 1UploadYou send the contract and your priorities
- 2ReadingWe go through it clause by clause
- 3ReportYou get the Word and PDF report
What we need from you
The contract, statement of work or client terms as PDF, Word or clear photos, what you will deliver, how you are paid (fixed, hourly, milestones), your country and the client's, and whether you want to show the work in your portfolio.
We will ask you:
- What will you deliver and how are you paid?
- Are you working directly or through an agency?
- Do you want to show this work in your portfolio?
- Which countries are you and the client in?
Compare packages
| Packages | BasicContract up to 10 pages$19 | StandardUp to 25 pages with suggested wording$39 | PremiumUp to 50 pages with an email to the client$69 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Deadline | 1 day | 2 days | 3 days |
| Revisions | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Pages | up to 10 | up to 25 | up to 50 in total |
| Documents | 1 | 1 | up to 2 |
| Suggested wording | No | Yes | Yes |
| Email to the client | No | No | Yes |
| Order Basic | Order Standard | Order Premium |
Payment protection
You pay when you order, but the money is released only for accepted work.
- Fixed priceThe package price does not change after you pay.
- The money is reservedWhen you pay, the amount is only reserved. It is released to the service once you accept the work.
- Checked before deliveryEvery result goes through a quality check before it reaches you, and you see it on the order page before accepting it.
- Free revisionsAsk for changes within your brief as many times as the package allows.
- Acceptance after 3 daysIf within 3 days of delivery you neither accept the work nor ask for changes, it is accepted automatically. If you write in the order chat after delivery, the order waits; once we answer, we may start the 3 days again and will say so in the chat.
- Redo or a full refundIf the result does not match your brief and the revisions did not fix it, or the work takes more than twice its deadline, write in the order chat: we will redo the work or refund the payment in full.
Questions and answers
Is this legal advice?
No. It is a general reading of the contract from the freelancer's side. Have a lawyer in your country check large or long-term deals.
The client uses a marketplace's standard terms. Can you check them?
Yes, if you save the terms as a PDF or Word file. Note that marketplace terms usually cannot be negotiated, so we focus on what they mean for you.
Will you tell me whether to sign?
No. We show what you agree to, the risks and the questions to ask; the decision is yours.
My copy is a scan. Will that work?
A scanned PDF without a text layer is not accepted. Send clear photos of every page instead, up to 5 files in total.