If clients choose, they can provide you a due date on your order. Selecting a due date will open up more communication options for your order.
You’ll be able to let clients know whether you have room in your queue to take on a new project. It also gives you the flexibility to politely decline working on projects you’re not interested in.
The other side to this tool is commitment. Direct orders are special, it’s the clients’ way of saying “Hey I love your work, I’d like to work with ONLY you on this order”. As part of that, we want to provide writers with a timely response to their direct orders.
See the chart below for more info:
| Client Selects Due Date | Client Does Not Select Due Date |
| The due date is the timer (might be 3 days, 2, weeks, a month, etc) (The timer will still count down, but it will not matter) | Standard platform timer used (24 hours for every 500 words) |
| The writer has 24 hours to accept /suggest changes/decline | The writer has 5 days to accept/ suggest changes |
When you are sent a direct order from a client, you will see three buttons when you have the order open:
Review & Accept Order
- Review the order instructions
- See what the client-specified due date is
- Accept the order and it becomes part of your My Work tab.
- Ex: If your claim limit is 5, and you claim a Marketplace direct order, your claim limit is still 5.
- It does not occupy a space in your claim limit.
Suggest Changes
- Review what the client-specified due date is
- Suggest a new due date if you can’t complete it by the date the client is asking for
- Look for a response from the client in your account.
Decline
- Leave a message about why you can’t complete the order.
- No penalty is applied — only the client sees what you write, and it doesn’t get held anywhere in your account (so no other clients will see it, for instance)
More Direct Order Information
If you take no action on a direct order placed to you, the order is removed from your queue within 24 hours (if there is a due date specified) or 5 days (if there is no due date specified) and in either case, no penalty is applied.
We encourage you to take action on a direct order as soon as possible because it lets the client know they need to find a new writer or a lot more time in their content calendar.
Direct Order Deadline FAQ:
Do direct orders count toward my claim limit?
No. Claimed direct orders do not count toward your claim limit. If your claim limit is 5, and you claim 2 direct orders, your claim limit is still 5. If your claim limit is 1, and you claim 1 direct order, your claim limit is still 1.
Does this apply to Managed Projects?
No. These changes are only for the Marketplace, where clients place orders themselves. One similarity, though, is that claimed direct orders also don’t expire on Managed.
Do these changes apply to team orders and open orders?
No. These are ONLY for direct orders.