Nobody loses money on the clause with the scary heading. Freelancers lose money on the sentence in section 4.2 that reads like boilerplate and turns out to mean "you will work for free until we say stop." These seven show up again and again in the contracts freelancers run through Freelancer Shield. None of them looks dangerous at a glance. All of them are negotiable.
1. Net-90 payment terms
"Invoices are payable within ninety (90) days of receipt." Ninety days is a quarter. If you invoice on delivery and the client pays on day 90, you have lent them your fee interest-free for three months, and that is if they pay on time. Some large companies push for Net-120.
Long payment terms are often a matter of the client's accounts-payable habit rather than a deliberate squeeze, which is why they are frequently negotiable.
What to ask for: Net-30, a deposit up front, and a late fee (1.5% per month is common). If the client insists on longer terms, ask for a larger deposit or milestone payments so the exposure never grows past what you can absorb.
2. Unlimited revisions
"Contractor shall provide revisions until the Work meets Client's satisfaction at no additional cost." Two words do the damage here: "unlimited" and "satisfaction." Satisfaction is subjective, revision time is not billable, and a fixed-price project becomes an open-ended obligation. Watch for a survival clause that keeps the duty alive after termination.
What to ask for: a fixed number of revision rounds per deliverable, usually two, with further rounds billed hourly, and an acceptance process with a deadline: if the client does not respond within, say, five business days, the deliverable is deemed accepted.
3. Intellectual property that transfers before payment
"All Work Product shall be the sole property of Client upon creation." As written, ownership can move the moment the work exists, whether or not the invoice has been paid. If the client walks away, your only leverage is gone, and you may not even be able to show the work in your portfolio.
What to ask for: ownership transfers on receipt of full payment. Until then you grant a licence to use the work. Add a carve-out that keeps your pre-existing tools, templates, code libraries and know-how yours, and a right to display the finished work in your portfolio.
4. One-sided indemnification
"Contractor shall indemnify, defend and hold harmless Client from any and all claims arising out of or related to the Services." Read broadly, this can mean paying the client's legal bills for anything anyone alleges about the project, with no cap, potentially including things the client did. Mutual, capped indemnity is common in freelance agreements; one-way, uncapped indemnity is worth pushing back on.
What to ask for: make it mutual, limit it to third-party claims caused by your own breach or negligence, and cap total liability at the fees paid under the agreement. If they will not cap, ask for a cap at some multiple of the fees.
5. The eighteen-month non-compete
"Contractor shall not provide services to any business in Client's industry for eighteen (18) months following termination." For a freelancer whose whole practice is one industry, this quietly bans your livelihood. Enforceability varies enormously by state, and some states restrict or prohibit non-competes for independent contractors, but you do not want to be the test case.
What to ask for: ask for it to be removed. If the client insists on protecting something, offer a narrow non-solicitation of their named employees and clients for six months instead, and confirm the state question with an attorney.
6. Termination for any reason, with no kill fee
"Client may terminate this Agreement at any time, for any reason, upon seven (7) days' written notice." Fair enough on its own. The problem is what the contract does not say: what you are paid for work completed to that point, and whether you get anything for the two months you turned down other work to be available.
What to ask for: payment for all work performed through the termination date, payment for any milestone in progress, and a kill fee, commonly 25% to 50% of the remaining contract value, for termination without cause.
7. Unpaid change requests
"Client may request reasonable changes to the Scope of Work from time to time." Reasonable is undefined, changes are unpriced, and the clause sits next to a fixed fee. This is scope creep with the client's signature on it.
What to ask for: a change-order process. Any change to the scope is described in writing, priced, and agreed by both sides before work starts. Small changes can have a pre-agreed hourly rate.
Read the whole thing
These clauses are dangerous because they are boring. They sit in the middle of long paragraphs, they borrow the tone of the harmless clauses around them, and they are easy to skim on a Friday afternoon. The fix is not paranoia; it is reading every page with a checklist, and asking a licensed attorney about the ones that carry real money.
Freelancer Shield reads the whole contract, quotes each of these clauses back to you with a suggested ask, and gives you a list of questions for your attorney. It is not legal advice, and it is not a substitute for a lawyer, but it does mean you will never again discover the survival clause after you signed. Review a contract.
This article is general information for US freelancers and is not legal advice. Laws vary by state; confirm anything important with an attorney licensed where you work.