Zeko Freelance

Freelance marketplace for the Zeko ecosystem: project listings, bidding, contracts, milestone-based escrow payments, disputes, portfolios, and reviews.

Description

Zeko Freelance is a freelance marketplace for the Zeko ecosystem. Clients post projects, freelancers bid, and work is paid out milestone-by-milestone through escrow backed by Zeko Pay.

Features

• Project Posting — Rich project listings with budgets, categories, and required skills
• Marketplace Filters — Browse projects by category, budget, and skill
• Bidding — Freelancers submit proposals with cover notes and quoted amounts
• Awarding & Contracts — Clients award projects and work moves into a formal contract
• Milestone Payments — Submit, review, and approve milestones; funds are held in escrow and released via Zeko Pay
• Disputes — Raise and resolve disputes with a refund/rollback path for escrowed funds
• Portfolios — Freelancer portfolio pages to showcase past work
• Verification — Freelancer verification badges
• Reviews & Ratings — Post-contract reviews between clients and freelancers
• Commission Engine — Configurable platform fee deducted at milestone release

Shortcodes

• [zeko_freelance] — Marketplace landing page
• [zeko_freelance_projects] — Project listings with filters
• [zeko_freelance_project] — Single project view with bidding
• [zeko_freelance_post_project] — Project posting form
• [zeko_freelance_profile] — Freelancer profile
• [zeko_freelance_portfolios] — Portfolio showcase

Installation

1. Upload the zeko-freelance folder to /wp-content/plugins/
2. Activate the plugin through the 'Plugins' menu in WordPress
3. Activate Zeko Pay to enable escrow, milestone releases, and commission journaling
4. Create pages and add the shortcodes above

Frequently Asked Questions

Is escrow required?

Milestone funding and release use Zeko Pay escrow by default. When Zeko Pay is not active the plugin degrades to manual milestone tracking.

How are fees calculated?

A configurable platform fee (default 10%) is deducted from the freelancer's milestone release and journaled as a fee via Zeko Pay.

Dependencies

Zeko Freelance runs standalone. Zeko Pay powers escrow, milestone releases, and commission journaling; without it the plugin degrades to manual milestone tracking.

Privacy

Data stored includes projects, bids, contracts, milestones, disputes, portfolios, reviews, and payment references. Project view counts use a hashed identifier derived from user ID/IP; no raw IP is stored for views. Data you submit is removed when you request erasure and on uninstall (see below).

External Services

Zeko Freelance makes no outbound requests. Escrow and milestone money movement are handled locally through the Zeko Pay SDK and gateway configuration.

Uninstall

Deleting the plugin drops all Zeko Freelance tables, clears the daily cron, removes only the pages it created, and deletes its options.

Troubleshooting

• Escrow not capturing funds? Confirm Zeko Pay is active and the client funded the milestone before work starts.
• Milestone auto-approved in error? Disable auto-approve under Zeko Freelance > Settings > Milestone SLA timers.
• Dispute wants refund? Use the dispute refund/rollback path so escrowed funds are returned via Zeko Pay.

Screenshots

1. Freelance dashboard with proposals and escrow milestones

Changelog

0.5.0

• Milestone SLA timers — review and submission deadlines with daily cron processing
• Auto-approve overdue review milestones (configurable, skipped on disputed contracts)
• Auto-dispute overdue funded milestones (admins notified)
• Idempotent review/submission reminder emails
• New "Milestone SLA timers" admin settings section (days/hours + toggleable automation)

0.4.0

• Demo data seeder — generate/clear realistic marketplace data from the admin settings page (Zeko Freelance → "Demo data" section)
• Idempotent seeding via version flag

0.3.0

• Initial marketplace release
• Project posting, browsing, and bidding
• Awards and contracts
• Milestone-based escrow payments through Zeko Pay
• Disputes with refund/rollback
• Portfolios, verification, and reviews
• Commission engine

Upgrade Notice

0.5.0

Milestone SLA timers: overdue milestones are auto-approved or disputed per the new settings. Review the default timeframes under Zeko Freelance > Settings > Milestone SLA timers.

0.3.0

Initial release of Zeko Freelance.