Account restrictions, suspensions and appeals
What each kind of restriction actually stops you doing, why money already in escrow is never taken, how long a restriction lasts, and exactly how to appeal one. Every restriction is appealable and every appeal is read by a person.
If something on your account has been restricted, you will have been told: a notice appears on your dashboard with the reason, and you are emailed at the same time. This article explains what each restriction actually does, why it happened, and how to get it lifted.
The most important thing first, because it is what people worry about: a restriction never takes money that is already yours. Funds in escrow stay in escrow. A balance you have earned stays in your wallet. A restriction limits what you can do, not what you have.
The kinds of restriction
Restrictions are deliberately narrow. Rather than switching an account off, the platform limits the specific thing that caused concern, so everything else keeps working.
Posting restricted. You cannot create new job posts or listings. Existing contracts continue normally.
Hiring restricted. You cannot send new offers or order Drop-Ins. Contracts already running are untouched, and money already in escrow still releases to the freelancer as normal when you approve their work.
Funding restricted. You cannot add new money or fund new escrow. Usually applied while a payment dispute with a card issuer is being worked out. Existing escrow is unaffected.
Withdrawal restricted, or a payout freeze. You cannot withdraw for now. Your balance remains yours and continues to accrue. This is the one that alarms people most, and it is nearly always temporary and tied to a specific check.
Throttled. You can do everything, just less of it per day. This usually follows unusual volume rather than anything wrong.
Step-up required. Nothing is blocked permanently; you need to complete a verification step to continue. Do the step and it clears itself.
Suspended. Access is paused entirely, for a stated period or pending a review.
Why restrictions happen
Some are automatic, triggered by patterns the platform watches for. Some are placed by a person after a review. Common causes:
- A payment dispute or chargeback raised against a funded payment.
- Signals suggesting more than one account is operated by the same person, or that an account is not being used by the person it belongs to.
- Attempts to move an engagement off-platform, which removes everyone's protection and breaches the terms.
- Reports from other users that a review found substance in.
- Unusual velocity: many actions very fast, in a shape that does not look like normal use.
- Verification that was requested and not completed.
An automatic restriction is a signal, not a verdict. Systems that watch for patterns catch real problems and also catch people doing something legitimate that happens to look unusual. That is exactly what appeals are for, and appeals from people caught by an automatic rule are routinely upheld.
How long they last
Some carry an explicit expiry, shown in the notice, and lift themselves when it passes. Some last until a specific thing is resolved — a chargeback concludes, a verification completes, a review finishes. Some remain until reviewed on appeal.
The notice on your dashboard tells you which of these applies to you. If it names a date, that date is real and you do not need to do anything to make it happen.
Appealing
Every restriction can be appealed, including a suspension and a ban. Appeals are read by a person, not a system, and the person reading it can lift the restriction.
Open a support ticket. If you can still sign in, use the support section in your dashboard, where the ticket is automatically linked to your account. If you cannot sign in, use the contact form on the site and give the email address on the account.
What to include, in this order:
- The email address on the account. Without it nobody can find you.
- What was restricted and when, copied from the notice if you can.
- Your explanation of what happened. Plainly. What you were doing and why.
- Anything that supports it. If you were moving fast because you had a deadline, say so. If two accounts share an address because you and a colleague work in the same office, say that. If a client raised a chargeback after you delivered, reference the contract.
What genuinely helps: specifics, references, and directness. What does not: length, repetition, arguing about fairness in the abstract, or opening a second ticket because the first has not been answered yet. Duplicate tickets slow your own case down, because someone has to work out they are the same person before they can help.
What happens next
Your appeal is read and the account is looked at properly, including the events that triggered the restriction. You get a reply through the ticket. If it is lifted, access returns immediately and you are notified. If it is upheld, you will be told why, in terms specific enough to be useful.
Some decisions require two reviewers before anything changes, which is a safeguard so a single person cannot unilaterally end someone's account or unilaterally restore one.
Timeframes depend on what needs checking. A misfiring automatic rule is often resolved same-day. Anything involving a payment dispute waits on the card issuer, which is genuinely outside our control and can take weeks. You will not be left in silence — if something is waiting on a third party, you will be told that rather than left to guess.
While you are restricted
Keep working where you can. A hiring restriction does not stop you approving and paying for work in progress. A posting restriction does not stop existing contracts. Do not abandon live engagements because part of your account is limited; the other side is relying on you and abandoning them makes the review worse.
Do not open a second account. This is the single worst thing you can do. Multiple accounts are one of the things the platform actively detects, and doing it while under review converts a temporary restriction into a permanent one. If you need to keep working, appeal.
Do not move the work off-platform. Same reasoning. It removes escrow protection from both sides, breaches the terms, and if it comes up in the review it will be treated as confirming the concern.
If money is involved
If a withdrawal is frozen, your balance is intact and visible. It does not expire and it does not get absorbed. When the restriction lifts you can withdraw normally.
If escrow is frozen because of a dispute, that is a different process. See Disputes and mediation.
If your account is closed permanently, money you are owed is still owed to you. Ask about it in your ticket and it will be resolved as part of the closure, not silently kept.
If your account is closed permanently
This is the outcome nobody wants and it is worth being clear about what happens.
Money you are owed is still owed to you. A closure does not absorb a balance. Raise it in your ticket and it is resolved as part of the closure process, including arranging a final payout to a verified method.
Live contracts are handled rather than abandoned. Work in escrow is not simply left. Depending on the situation, work already delivered may be released, or funds returned to the client, or the matter moved through mediation. Both sides are told.
You may not open a new account. This is the point most people get wrong, and it converts a recoverable situation into a permanent one. A new account by somebody whose previous account was closed is detected, and it removes any prospect of the original decision being revisited. If you believe the closure was wrong, the route is an appeal, not a new sign-up.
Restrictions that are really a request
Some things that look like a restriction are simply an unfinished step.
Step-up verification means a check is needed before you continue. Complete it and the block clears itself, usually within a day.
An unverified payout method blocks withdrawal but is not a restriction on your account at all. Verify the method.
An unverified payment method blocks publishing work as a client. Add and verify a card.
None of these are marks against you, and none of them need an appeal. The notice will say which situation you are in — read it before assuming the worst, because the wording distinguishes between "we need something from you" and "we have limited this account".
Being restricted while the other side is waiting
If a restriction lands mid-engagement, the person on the other side is affected and knows nothing about it.
Tell them. You do not need to explain the detail — "I have an account issue I am resolving with support, here is where the work stands" is enough. Silence looks like abandonment, and it is what turns a temporary restriction into a poor review and a damaged record that outlasts the restriction itself.
If you cannot complete work because of a restriction, say so early enough for them to make other arrangements.
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Open a ticket and a person will read it. You do not need an account.