Wikipedia 2026 guide series · updated 11.2026 · 11 min
How to check an agency's contract for creating or editing a Wikipedia page in 10 minutes: which phrasings are risky, what to replace them with and what to ask in writing before you pay.
Services agreementContractor: Agency A · Client: Company N
cl. 2.3 · Deliverable
The work is deemed completed once the draft has been submitted for review.
✕ Full payment for a page that may never exist.cl. 5.1 · Refund
The Contractor will refund a reasonable portion of the fee if the project cannot be completed within a reasonable time.
✕ The agency decides the amount and the deadline itself.cl. 7.2 · Disclosure
The Client is solely responsible for compliance with Wikipedia's rules.
✕ The agency does not take on disclosure; deletion and blocks become your problem.cl. 2.3 · Deliverable
The work is deemed completed once the article is published and survives for 90 days after publication.
✓ yescl. 5.1 · Refund
If the article is not published or is deleted within 90 days of publication and the defense fails, the Contractor refunds 80% of the fee within N business days.
✓ yescl. 7.2 · Disclosure
The Contractor discloses paid editing as the Wikimedia Terms of Use require, on the account's user page and on the article's talk page.
✓ yes01 In short
A contract with a Wikipedia agency is checked on three points. The deliverable: a published page that survives a stated number of days, not a "submitted draft". Refunds: percentages and deadlines, without words like "reasonable" or "timely". Paid-editing disclosure: the agency's written obligation, not the client's risk. If any of the three fails, do not sign. A promise of guaranteed publication is a scam signal: Wikipedia's volunteers make the decisions, not the agency.
02 Why it differs
An ordinary services contract describes work the contractor controls from start to finish. A Wikipedia agency controls only part of it: the sources, the text, the disclosure and the submission. After that an independent community of volunteers decides, and it owes the agency nothing. A reviewer can decline the draft, any editor can nominate the published article for deletion, and no signature changes that.
✓What the agency controlscan be written into a contract
✕What the Wikipedia community decidescannot be promised in a contract
Wikipedia says this itself. Its scam warning page describes firms that promise guaranteed creation or retention of an article, charge for "protecting" pages or pose as administrators, and states plainly that no one can legitimately sell these things. When the platform publicly warns about the agency market, the contract stops being a formality.
A fair contract therefore contains only the left column: the agency's actions, deadlines and money if things fail. Any promise from the right column means the agency either does not understand Wikipedia or expects you not to check.
03 First check
Look for the answer to each in the text of the contract, without calling the agency. It takes about a minute.
Find the clause after which the work counts as done and the final payment is due. If it is "the draft has been submitted", "the work is completed" or "delivered for review", the agency is paid in full for a page that may never exist. The fair wording: publication plus the page surviving a stated number of days afterwards (90 days is a common period).
"We will refund a reasonable portion if the project cannot be completed in a timely manner" has three loopholes and no obligation. A real refund clause is arithmetic: if X happens within Y days, the agency refunds Z% within N business days.
The Wikimedia Terms of Use require paid editors to disclose their client and affiliation. A compliant agency writes this into the contract: which accounts do the work, and that each carries a paid-contribution disclosure. If disclosure is missing from the contract or appears as your risk, the agency plans to edit undisclosed. That is how client pages get deleted with the client's name in the discussion.
A "no" on any point means do not sign. Agencies that pass all three exist; this check is there so you stop spending time on the rest.
04 Clause teardown
Eight phrasings that appear in agency contracts and proposals. The risky part is highlighted; next to it, what it means in practice and what to write instead.
cl. 3.1 · Deliverable
The work is deemed completed once the draft has been submitted for review.
DemandThe work is deemed completed once the article is published and survives for 90 days after publication.
cl. 4.4 · Refund
The Contractor will refund a reasonable portion of the fee if the project cannot be completed within a reasonable time.
DemandIf the article is not published or is deleted within 90 days of publication and the defense fails, the Contractor refunds 80% of the fee within N business days.
cl. 5.7 · Non-refundable
All payments are final and non-refundable.
DemandA refund schedule: how much is returned if the project stops at each stage.
cl. 6.3 · Disclosure
The Client is solely responsible for compliance with Wikipedia's rules.
DemandThe Contractor discloses paid editing as the Wikimedia Terms of Use require, on the account's user page and on the article's talk page.
cl. 7.6 · Accounts
The Contractor does not disclose the accounts used to perform the work.
DemandEditor accounts are listed in an annex to the contract, each with a paid-contribution disclosure.
cl. 8.2 · Guarantee
The Contractor guarantees publication of the article and its retention.
DemandThe Contractor does not guarantee community decisions and commits to: 90 days of monitoring, a response to a deletion nomination within N business days, up to 3 defense attempts, an 80% refund.
cl. 9.5 · Page protection
The package includes setting up page protection and removing maintenance tags.
DemandThe Contractor does not sell page protection; it does not remove maintenance tags itself but fixes the text and asks for a review on the talk page.
cl. 10.1 · Reviews
A refund is made after the Client publishes a positive review.
DemandRefunds do not depend on reviews, ratings or the Client's silence.
| Topic | In the agency's contract | What it means | What to demand instead |
|---|---|---|---|
| Deliverable | The work is deemed completed once the draft has been submitted for review. | Full payment for a page that may never exist. | The work is deemed completed once the article is published and survives for 90 days after publication. |
| Refund | The Contractor will refund a reasonable portion of the fee if the project cannot be completed within a reasonable time. | The agency decides the amount and the deadline itself. | If the article is not published or is deleted within 90 days of publication and the defense fails, the Contractor refunds 80% of the fee within N business days. |
| Non-refundable | All payments are final and non-refundable. | The risk of failure, which the agency knows about in advance, is entirely yours. | A refund schedule: how much is returned if the project stops at each stage. |
| Disclosure | The Client is solely responsible for compliance with Wikipedia's rules. | The agency does not take on disclosure; deletion and blocks become your problem. | The Contractor discloses paid editing as the Wikimedia Terms of Use require, on the account's user page and on the article's talk page. |
| Accounts | The Contractor does not disclose the accounts used to perform the work. | Disclosure cannot be checked. Hiding accounts from the client makes sense only if the editing will be undisclosed. | Editor accounts are listed in an annex to the contract, each with a paid-contribution disclosure. |
| Guarantee | The Contractor guarantees publication of the article and its retention. | A promise about decisions the agency does not make. Wikipedia treats this as a sign of fraud. | The Contractor does not guarantee community decisions and commits to: 90 days of monitoring, a response to a deletion nomination within N business days, up to 3 defense attempts, an 80% refund. |
| Page protection | The package includes setting up page protection and removing maintenance tags. | Only Wikipedia administrators set protection, so no such service exists. A paid editor does not remove a maintenance tag themselves. | The Contractor does not sell page protection; it does not remove maintenance tags itself but fixes the text and asks for a review on the talk page. |
| Reviews | A refund is made after the Client publishes a positive review. | Your remedy becomes the agency's marketing. | Refunds do not depend on reviews, ratings or the Client's silence. |
Five clauses worth writing into the contract. All are reasonable; only agencies with something to hide refuse them.
The mirror list: four clauses whose only function is to stop you from checking the work.
05 Payment
The payment model splits risk between you and the agency. What matters is not only when you pay, but what happens to the money if the page is not published or is deleted.
| Payment model | Your risk | Agency's risk | When it is normal | Red flag |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full prepayment | High if the refund is not written down | Low | The refund is written in percentages and deadlines, for example 80% after three failed defense attempts | "100% before work starts, non-refundable" on a page-creation project |
| Milestones (for example 50% at the start, 50% after publication) | Shared | Shared | Milestones are tied to events that can be checked | Milestones tied to the agency's activity ("after the draft") rather than to verifiable events |
| On publication | Low | High: the agency carries the notability risk | Strong sources, a higher price for the risk it takes on | Payment on publication through undisclosed accounts: the page lives a week, then it is deleted |
| Escrow | Lowest | Moderate | Large projects with a genuinely independent escrow agent | "Escrow" held by the agency itself or a related company |
Escrow exists in this market: at least one agency, Maximatic, offers escrow payment. If you pay in instalments, tie the final payment to "the page is live 90 days after publication", not to "published". An agency paid for publication alone has a reason to push it through accounts that bypass review, and the deletion will land on you.
How WikiBusines does it
WikiBusines works on prepayment: payment before work starts, unless agreed otherwise. That is why in our contract the key term is not when you pay but the refund: 80% of the project fee if a published page cannot be defended after three attempts within 90 days.
06 Refunds
Refund terms show what the agency really expects. Three patterns documented in the market:
✕ trap 1
Some agencies exclude refunds entirely: WikiVerification's published terms describe payments as non-refundable. Read literally: if the draft is never published, the agency keeps everything. A failure the agency knows is possible is paid for entirely by the buyer.
✕ trap 2
Sounds fair, because finding sources really does cost money. The trap is the missing number: if no amount or percentage is stated, the "costs" are whatever the agency says. The fair version names the amount ("less the source research fee of €X") and hands you the source dossier you paid for.
✕ trap 3
Trustpilot reviews of the agency Elite Wiki Writers describe a $499 page that was deleted, with the refund allegedly promised only after a 5-star review (Trustpilot reviews). We cannot verify individual complaints, but a refund-for-praise scheme turns your remedy into the agency's advertising and corrupts the reviews the next buyer will rely on.
The fair alternative: a kill-fee schedule. It shows how much you pay and what you get if the project stops at each stage.
Stage 1 of 5First source review: "not yet"
You pay
Nothing, or a paid audit price named in advance
You get
A conclusion and a list of the sources still missing
✕ Red flag
A paid audit required even for an obvious case
Stage 2 of 5After source research, before writing
You pay
The source research fee named in the contract
You get
The source dossier
✕ Red flag
"Less costs" with no amount
Stage 3 of 5Draft declined after the agreed number of attempts
You pay
The partial fee named in the contract
You get
The draft and the source dossier
✕ Red flag
100% non-refundable
Stage 4 of 5Published, but deleted within the guarantee window despite the defense
You pay
The smaller part: the agency refunds the larger
You get
All project materials
✕ Red flag
A "guarantee" with no refund amount
Stage 5 of 5Deleted after the guarantee window ended
You pay
Restoration at a separate price or within an annual package
You get
A new defense or restoration attempt
✕ Red flag
A "lifetime guarantee" in a one-off fee with no deadlines or attempts
| The project stopped | You pay | You get | Red flag |
|---|---|---|---|
| First source review: "not yet" | Nothing, or a paid audit price named in advance | A conclusion and a list of the sources still missing | A paid audit required even for an obvious case |
| After source research, before writing | The source research fee named in the contract | The source dossier | "Less costs" with no amount |
| Draft declined after the agreed number of attempts | The partial fee named in the contract | The draft and the source dossier | 100% non-refundable |
| Published, but deleted within the guarantee window despite the defense | The smaller part: the agency refunds the larger | All project materials | A "guarantee" with no refund amount |
| Deleted after the guarantee window ended | Restoration at a separate price or within an annual package | A new defense or restoration attempt | A "lifetime guarantee" in a one-off fee with no deadlines or attempts |
Numbers in every row: that is the main thing to demand from this clause.
07 Guarantee
Agencies sell three different things under the word "guarantee".
financial remedy
A financial remedy. It says nothing about whether the page will exist, and the teardown above shows how often its terms make the refund unreachable.
scam signal
"Guaranteed publication", "guaranteed approval", "your page will never be deleted". This is a promise about decisions the agency does not make: nobody controls the volunteer reviewers or deletion discussions. That is why Wikipedia's scam warning treats such guarantees as a sign of fraud. An agency that guarantees the community's behavior is either misdescribing the risk or planning to bypass the process.
the fair version
The agency commits to watching the published page for a stated period, defending it against deletion a stated number of times and refunding a stated percentage if the defense fails. Every element is under its control: watching, responding, refunding.
0–90 days after publication
Monitoring, support and the guarantee are included in the price of creating the page. Up to 3 defense attempts; if the defense fails, an 80% refund.
up to 12 months
Any annual package extends the guarantee to 12 months. Annual Support €720 per year without continuous monitoring; Managed Protection €1,500 with continuous monitoring.
a "forever" term
A one-off fee, and the contract has no response time, no number of attempts and no refund amount. There is no way to check that such a guarantee is kept.
The window is written in days with a start date. The riskiest weeks are the first ones after publication: new pages are reviewed by patrollers, and most early deletion nominations fall in this period. That is why 90 days of monitoring is usually included in the price of creating a page. Longer protection is a separate service with a separate price and terms: at WikiBusines any annual package extends the guarantee to 12 months. The red flag is not a long period as such, but a "lifetime" or multi-year guarantee included in a one-off fee with no mechanics: no response time, no number of attempts and no refund amount. A wider list of promises after which the conversation should end: how to spot a fake Wikipedia agency.
WikiBusines guarantees →Annual support: packages and terms →
08 Fake services
Some proposals contain line items that sound technical and reassuring. None of them exists as a service you can buy.
A line item for a service that does not exist means one of two things: the agency does not understand Wikipedia, or it is billing you for the appearance of work. Either answer tells you how to read the rest of the proposal. What a real price is made of is shown in our pricing and in the Wikipedia page cost breakdown: audit, sources, writing, review, monitoring.
Commercial proposalAgency X → Company N
auto09 Our terms
This article tells you to demand terms in writing and before a call, so here are ours. Our offer agreement and refund policy are published on the site in full and can be read before any conversation.
Check our documents with the same checklist below.
10 Checklist
Twelve yes/no questions. The first three are mandatory: a "no" on any of them means do not sign. The rest show what to fix in the contract before you pay.
01Is the deliverable defined as publication and the page surviving a stated number of days, not "submission"?mandatory
02Does every refund clause have percentages and deadlines, with no adjectives?mandatory
03Is paid-editing disclosure written as the agency's obligation?mandatory
04Are the editor accounts named in the contract or an annex?
05Do the deliverables include the source dossier?
06Is there an obligation to defend the page against deletion, with a response time and a number of attempts?
07Is the monitoring window stated in days and with a start date?
08Is the final payment tied to an event that can be checked rather than to the agency's word?
09Is there a kill-fee schedule with numbers in every row?
10Does the work product pass to you on payment?
11Are refunds and other remedies independent of reviews, ratings or silence?
12Does the document name the agency's legal entity: name, registration number, jurisdiction?
Result
12 of 12 "yes"
mandatorythe rest
12 or 11 "yes", the first three "yes" The contract can be signed.
8–10 "yes", the first three "yes" Agree the "no" points before you pay.
Fewer than 8 "yes" or a "no" in one of the first three Do not sign this contract.
What to demand
| # | Question | If "no", demand |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Is the deliverable defined as publication and the page surviving a stated number of days, not "submission"? | A deliverable clause: publication plus survival for 90 days. |
| 2 | Does every refund clause have percentages and deadlines, with no adjectives? | The formula: if X within Y days, a refund of Z% within N business days. |
| 3 | Is paid-editing disclosure written as the agency's obligation? | A disclosure clause under the Wikimedia Terms of Use. |
| 4 | Are the editor accounts named in the contract or an annex? | An annex with the account names. |
| 5 | Do the deliverables include the source dossier? | The source dossier as a separate deliverable. |
| 6 | Is there an obligation to defend the page against deletion, with a response time and a number of attempts? | A response time in business days and a number of attempts. |
| 7 | Is the monitoring window stated in days and with a start date? | A period from the publication date, for example 90 days. |
| 8 | Is the final payment tied to an event that can be checked rather than to the agency's word? | A link to publication or to the survival period. |
| 9 | Is there a kill-fee schedule with numbers in every row? | A table of stages with amounts. |
| 10 | Does the work product pass to you on payment? | A clause on handing over drafts, the dossier and files. |
| 11 | Are refunds and other remedies independent of reviews, ratings or silence? | Strike out any conditions about reviews. |
| 12 | Does the document name the agency's legal entity: name, registration number, jurisdiction? | The details of the contracting party. |
After the checklist, send the agency three questions by email. Written answers can be held up later if practice drifts from the contract.
An agency that answers all three plainly earns a second meeting. An answer by phone instead of by email means the answers do not survive being written down.
Download: the vendor scorecard (PDF), to print and compare two proposals row by row.
Hello,
Before we sign the contract, please answer three questions in writing:
Thank you.
11 FAQ
Yes, if the contract writes down the refund: the percentage, the conditions and the deadline. The red flag is not prepayment but prepayment that is "non-refundable" or refunds "a reasonable portion". At WikiBusines payment comes before work starts, and we refund 80% of the fee if a published page cannot be defended after three attempts within 90 days.
No. Drafts are accepted by volunteer reviewers, and deletion is decided in community discussions. In its scam warning Wikipedia treats a guarantee of publication or retention as a sign of fraud. An agency can guarantee only its own actions: monitoring, answering a nomination, the number of defense attempts and the refund amount.
The riskiest weeks are the first ones after publication, so 90 days of monitoring is usually included in the price of creation. A longer period is possible as a separate service: at WikiBusines any annual package gives a 12-month guarantee. The period should be written in days with a start date, together with a response time and a number of attempts.
Whoever edits for money, which is the agency. The Wikimedia Terms of Use require paid editors to disclose their client. If the contract shifts this responsibility to you, the agency most likely plans to edit undisclosed. More: paid-editing disclosure.
No. Protection from editing is set only by Wikipedia administrators, and only against vandalism or edit wars. A paid "protection service" in an agency's proposal means you are being sold something that does not exist.
The ones the work will be done from. Each should carry a paid-contribution disclosure on its user page, so you can check that the editing is done openly. An agency that refuses to name its accounts does not let you check the most important point of the contract. How to check a portfolio: checking a Wikipedia agency.
Where next
Pricing
WikiBusines prices for Wikipedia pages, Wikidata and annual packages.→Guarantees
90 days of monitoring, 3 defense attempts and an 80% refund.→Pricing guide
What creating a Wikipedia page costs on the market, and agencies' add-on fees.→Article
What a Wikipedia page costs: the creation price and five years of ownership.→Comparison
Wikipedia agencies: working models and 7 criteria for choosing.→Author
Bohdan Dubylovskyi, co-founder and CBO of WikiBusines. Writes about notability, paid-editing rules and the real economics of an encyclopedic presence.
The contract is the one part of a Wikipedia engagement you fully control. What fair terms look like is shown on our guarantees page. If you want our contract and a written scope of work for your case, send us a request: we will send the price, deadlines and refund terms in writing before you pay.
