Getting a service listing approved
A listing needs evidence you have done this before, a specialty specific enough to match against, and a demonstrated ability to reply.
Listings are reviewed before they go live. The bar is not quality of writing — it is whether a buyer reading your listing would be able to tell what they are getting and whether you have done it before.
Three things are checked, and the first is the one most rejected listings are missing.
1. Evidence you have built this
Your listing has to point at work, not describe it. A verified proof of work in the same area is the strongest form; a walkthrough video of something you built is accepted where a proof is not yet in place.
A listing with neither is the common rejection. It is not a judgement about your skill — it is that nobody reviewing it, and no buyer reading it, has any way to tell the difference between you and someone who has never done it.
2. A specialty specific enough to match against
"Automation" is not a specialty; it is a category. What gets you matched is the narrow version: the system you integrate, the workflow you replace, the stack you know. Matching runs against that, so a vague specialty does not lose you points — it loses you the match entirely, because there is nothing to match on.
Include a concrete example of the work in your own words. Short is fine; specific is not optional.
3. That you reply
Responsiveness is part of vetting rather than something measured afterwards. If a reviewer sends you a clarifying question about your listing, answering it is part of the review.
48 hours to answer a reviewer's question
The clock starts when the question is sent and stops when you answer. Answered questions never expire, however long they took - the window only matters while a question is still open.
An unanswered question does not reject you — the listing is held rather than refused, and answering releases it. But a held listing is not earning, so the turnaround is worth treating as real.
If you are early in your career
Being new is not a rejection reason. A listing from someone with little history is held for a closer look rather than refused, and one solid proof of work is usually all it takes to move it. The check is for evidence, not for seniority.
After approval
Your listing appears in the marketplace and becomes matchable. From there the things that move it up are the same ones that move your Rework Score: verified proofs, delivered work, and replies that arrive quickly.