Protection from credit card chargebacks

Once you're paid... you're paid.

We know some providers have been tempted or duped into working and accepting payment outside the oDesk system. It's a violation of oDesk policy, so obviously our stance is 'don't do it'.

Working outside the system can be risky, but you don't have to take our word for it. Check out this great article from FreelanceSwitch about the risks of credit card chargebacks and accepting payments via PayPal. Please give it a read to help you understand the hazards you can run into going it on your own without the protection of the oDesk hourly payment guarantee.

And just to make this explicitly clear: YES, oDesk protects you from credit card chargebacks on all properly logged hourly work. So long as you are meeting the requirements of the guarantee, you will be paid, and we won't take the money back from you if a dubious buyer does do a credit card chargeback on your assignment.