Marketplace policy
Direct clients. Real project delivery.
Our rules protect fair access, disclosed delivery and accountable human decisions.
Who the marketplace serves
Respectfully Remote connects disclosed direct clients commissioning their own project work with independent freelancers and genuine freelance service teams or agencies that deliver that work. Service agencies are welcome; staffing agencies are prohibited.
Prohibited activity
No recruiters, staffing agencies, headhunters, candidate brokers, candidate resale, résumé harvesting or third-party posting for undisclosed clients. Professional profiles describe services and work evidence; they are not candidate inventory. There are no recruiter accounts or recruitment pipelines.
Direct-client verification and listing review
Clients must provide identity and authority evidence and attest that they are the owning direct client. Registration alone does not verify a client. An administrator reviews verification evidence and each listing before publication. Revoked verification hides listings and prevents new work from starting.
Teams and subcontractors
Service teams and delivery agencies must disclose their delivery type, team members and roles. Every engagement requires a current delivery disclosure. The owning direct client must approve the current subcontracting disclosure before work starts. Changing it invalidates previous approval. Another client or the provider cannot approve it. Delivery changes after work starts are restricted.
Reports, flags and human review
Freelancers can report suspicious listings. Clients and freelancers can also submit private reports about providers and engagements they participate in. Suspicious language, keywords, reports and AI classifications may raise flags for administrator review. These signals never automatically ban accounts. Human reviewers consider context and record reasons for decisions.
Independent appeals and audit history
Eligible participants can appeal adverse decisions through independent human review. Appeals reference the original decision; they do not automatically restore privileges or override newer decisions. Verification, attestations, listing reviews, delivery disclosures, approvals, reports and decisions are recorded in restricted audit logs.
Communication and privacy
Soliciting off-platform project payments to evade marketplace fees is prohibited. Legitimate project instructions and work samples need contextual judgment. Private messages are participant-only; appropriately authorized administrators may review relevant flagged context with an audit record. We do not monitor unrelated external communications or claim end-to-end encryption. Automated signals alone never prove misconduct.
Fair cancellations and fee protection
When marketplace contracting opens, clients and freelancers may request legitimate cancellations. Cancelling a project does not automatically erase approved work, create a refund entitlement, or permit either party to avoid agreed marketplace fees.
Clients and freelancers introduced through Respectfully Remote must not arrange private payment for the same marketplace-originated work to evade applicable fees. Suspected circumvention requires evidence and human review. Cancellation alone is not proof of misconduct. Any restriction period, exceptions and sanctions require final legal approval.
Completed-work review
The proposed standard client review period is five business days after a freelancer submits completed work, unless the project expressly agrees otherwise. Clients should approve the delivery or identify specific issues within that period. Nonresponse should trigger reminders and human escalation, not automatic approval, charges or payouts.
Country eligibility
Countries are either SUPPORTED or UNAVAILABLE, separately for clients and freelancers. Only verified supported countries may register and access the marketplace. All other countries are unavailable. Country support does not replace individual payment-provider verification. The public informational website remains accessible; it does not provide marketplace browsing.
Fair access and clear fees
Registration, browsing, unlimited applications, assessments, badges and retakes are free when available. No Connects, pay-to-apply credits, paid ranking, boosts or purchased badges. Planned fees on paid project work are 5% for direct clients and 7% for freelancers. Existing signed fee snapshots remain unchanged.
Hourly work is the default, with agreed weekly caps and manual time entries. Fixed-price work is also supported. There is no timer or activity surveillance. Delivery, time and disputes require the relevant participant reviews before billing.
These rules describe the planned marketplace. See our launch details for current availability.