| Contact us | Help
Please Sign In
 
To avoid navigation issues, please see System Requirements.
IE users: Please display blocked content from the info-bar.
Click here if you are having trouble signing in.
Sign Up
It's fast and easy. You're done in minutes.

I want to hire professionals
  • Post your projects
  • Connect with service providers
  • Manage and pay for your work online

I want to find work on Elance
  • Get an Elance profile
  • Connect with employers & bid on projects
  • Receive new postings daily

Forgot Username?
Enter your registered email address, and we will send your username to you.
Email:
Forgot Password?
Enter your information below, and we will send you instructions to change your password.
Username:
Email:
Find Professionals
Find Work
Skills Central
MyElance
Water Cooler
search
> Elance Home > Main Help > Provider Help > What are milestones?
Still need help? Go back and look up other answers or send us a help request.
 Search Help
 
search
Resources

Questions/FAQs

Water Cooler

Employer Guide

Provider Guide

Elance University

Request Help

See Help Topics About

Help Overview
Buyer
Service Provider
MyElance
Billing and Payment
Terms of Service

What Milestones should I specify within the Job Terms?

Milestones are important points in the life of the project.  Elance's Terms feature allows you to create separate milestones to specify what will be delivered, when, and how much the service provider will be paid. You can specify one or as many milestones as needed. You can either link a payment with the delivery of the milestone, or setup milestones without payments for maximum flexibility. 

Examples of milestones:

Example: Logo design project Delivery Date Amount
Milestone 1: Start fee deposit (today's date) $75
Milestone 2: 6 concepts 10 Nov 2008 $75
Milestone 3: 1st Revision of chosen concept 15 Nov 2008 $75
Milestone 4: 2nd Revision of chosen concept 20 Nov 2008 $75
Final: Delivery of final print-ready files 24 Nov 2008 $100
Total: $400

 

Example: Microsoft Access project Delivery Date Amount
Milestone 1: Initial schema design 10 Nov 2008 $200
Milestone 2: Implementation                              15 Nov 2008 $200
Milestone 3: QA 24 Nov 2008 $200
Final: Release/Final Product 30 Nov 2008 $200
Total: $800

 

What if I need to increase or decrease milestone amounts after the job is active?

If payments have not yet been made for a milestone, any change can be made on the milestone (Description, Date, Notes, Amounts).  However, once payments have been made, there are some considerations on what can be changed for that milestone.   

These are various actions that are allowed per milestone, depending on whether there have been any payment activity for that milestone:

How Milestones can be changed
Scenarios: Want to Increase Milestone Amount? Want to Decrease Milestone Amount? Want to change Milestone Description or Date? Want to Delete a Milestone?

Standard Job:
Milestone has been paid

 Allowed Can decrease milestone amount as long as it is not below the already paid amount. Allowed Once the milestone has been paid, it cannot be deleted.
Escrow Job:
Milestone is funded only		 Not Allowed - Add a new milestone for the increased amount.

Allowed.

* The amount difference is automatically refunded to the buyer once both parties approve.

 Allowed

One cannot delete the milestone, but can reduce the amount down to zero.

* The amount difference is automatically refunded to the buyer once both parties approve.

Escrow Job:
Milestone is funded and released		 No changes are allowed after a Escrow payment release. No changes are allowed after a Escrow payment release. No changes are allowed after a Escrow payment release. No changes are allowed after a Escrow payment release.

NOTE: Both parties should use the Private Message Board (PMB) to negotiate and document any modification to the Terms.