Contra Tips

For freelancers

Verify your identity before you need the money. Six Trustpilot reviewers describe verification failures or stalls between July 2025 and October 2026, and neither help article gives a review time. Start early. ^{[2] [3] [1]}

Match your wallet name to your bank account name. A personal wallet paid to a business account fails, and a mismatch needs Contra support to fix. Fixing it early avoids a delay on a payout that is already due. ^[4]

Plan cash flow around the clearance. A standard payout waits out the four-day hold, and a faster payout skips it for a fee of 2% on the free plan. Use the faster payout only when waiting costs you more than the fee. ^{[5] [6] [7] [19]}

Check the processor fee before you withdraw. Fees depend on country and currency, and currency conversion adds 0.40% or 1.00%. The withdrawal screen shows the processor fee before you confirm, so read it. ^[7]

Agree the contract and its fee before work starts. Contra adds payment terms and e-signatures to any contract option, but the contract fee is $15 per payment on $1–$499 and $29 on $500 or more on the Free plan, and $0 on Pro. Confirm it in writing first. ^{[10] [11] [12] [7]}

Prepare for a slow start. One six-month account had no inbound work for two months and its first completed project in month six. Claims of two to four weeks to a first sale come with no method, so plan in months. ^{[17] [18]}

For clients

Request ACH or SEPA access early, and keep a card as the fallback. Access needs a request and an eligibility review, and the decision is emailed to you. Card payments are the default route. ^{[7] [6]}

Check the fee on each payment, not on the project. The client fee is $15 on payments under $500 and $29 at $500 or more, so splitting a project into many payments changes the total. ^{[8] [7]}

Hold payments on Contra for fixed and milestone work. Escrow applies to those project types. Hourly invoice billing holds no upfront funds, so the freelancer carries the risk of non-payment. ^{[10] [13]}