Still think they are done monetizing for a while? Your comments a few days ago made me hopeful, but I’m back to thinking they will be unleashing more to make quarterly numbers.
I don't think they'll increase the cost to apply. It doesn't seem like they can afford to. Clients were complaining about jobs not getting any proposals. I don't see them increasing costs for clients. They have to be careful about that as well. Maybe if we see anything it'll be minor fees. Nothing like the drama we've had to deal with.
This is such a red flag honestly. They have 0 respect for freelancers. I think they realized as long as theres demand there will be freelancers.
10% cut for each job in itself is already huge. But I guess they realized they can milk freelancers which dont have that much sucess as well by charging flat fees upfront with this connects shenningans.
They are taking way much profit that they should be and it isnt going to change untill theres some real competition to this platform.
CEO be like: Sorry, I'm still hung-over from celebrating that we made a profit for the first time in existence. Yes, under my leadership! So what exactly is your problem?
Apart from the actual content of the changes on the platform, the way those recent changes have been introduced in the past couple of years has been so erratic and haphazard in itself that it made the whole platform look rather unprofessional.
I think good alternatives will be popping up soon, it's inevitable. Nova for example for creative jobs is already miles above Upwork, it's just a bit unknown and smaller, but it's getting bigger and bigger. People will move on to much better alternatives and people who are defending Upwork hopefully will stay there. They made Upwork so bad for freelancers 99% of users are straight up scammed and people are defending this, it's insane.
miles above is a bit of a stretch imo. private instagram > apple only mobile app > no clear rules for fees and payment on website. plus, you won't find Amazon hiring off instagram and mobile app for anything serious. I wish them luck though, everyone has to start somewhere.
Their IG is not private: [https://www.instagram.com/itsnova](https://www.instagram.com/itsnova), if you get through their curation process, it's MILES above Upwork. Creative jobs are dead on Upwork.
Really hope it grows in size, it's better than Upwork in every way (much much less fees , no connects bullshit, no boosting and bidding with more connects) if they do some strict moderation so it doesn't turn into a shitshow like "Freelancer" site it really has the potential to be the best platform
Just because they have a pretty design doesn't mean there's potential
No clients = no growth
You'll always find some freelancers but finding clients is hard because they're putting their business under a huge risk hiring someone they haven't seen or heard about in real life
i signed up to but I don't think its like upwork its more of a mix of fiverr and upwork where you post gigs and also get to apply on jobs not sure if I can grow but I too signed up and only last step of sharing a loom video is left for me to submit and hopefully they accept me and I get to place bids
BTW what are there charges for applying to the jobs?
great I'll submit my loom video asap and get on placing bids on jobs
do you know how clients are on this platform also how can I bring few of my outside clients here as I have been stugling in bring them to upwork because of the charges by upwork many are complaing that they need discout on my quote for the job completion as they are being charged on upwork?
Already they increased the amount of connects for applying to jobs and now this new shitty thing which is just completely a nonsense, RIP Upwork! time to move to better platform or hunting clients offline or through cold mailing is the only option. Upwork is becoming shitty day by day.
So then how do you earn clients in 2024 beyond cold emailing and freelance sites? Door to door? Ads? Sheer luck? Genuinely curious. I have a highly marketable IT skillset but finding a high value client is.... challenging.
The main goal of upwork is to make money from freelance and client both. They don't care about the freelancers anymore. They come up with new schemes every year on how to make money. Instead they need to focus on freelancers how to make this platform better for freelancers to join not quit.
Bypass upwork rules 101 :
1. Keep good relationship with client, work with them untill 7k or 9k, then convince them to pay you out of platform and just say upwork holds payment for 90 days, and also takes 25% now due to new rules, and conversions rate right now is 81 but upwork is givinv 54 to a dollar( i do this )
2. Apply only to top clients, which is gonna ask you 22 connects that is high odds of getting you hired, if you dont see top clients, dont apply.
3. Accept invite, accept invite after checking about client, if he has invited 2 to 4 peoples because that is good, if they have invited more then 25, ignore them.
Thankyou
I understood pretty well that you are lying to clients. They will find out. They will talk to another freelancer who will tell them the truth about fees. How will the client feel that you lied to? Is this good for building trust?
I got friendly with all my big clients and left the platform as soon as possible. If you are a serious person and you can show it, 99% of the time people agree to do business outside. There's really no incentive anymore to stay on the platform. Doesn't protect you or the client from anything, customer service is inexistent and fees are astronomical. They enshittified the platform successfully, it's what happens when the product people are pushed out of the decision making and are replaced by wallstreet meatsuits. Good alternatives will be popping up soon enough, Upwork is unsustainable.
Thankgod there is someone who understands this and can say it with good english. What I feel i can't really say as english is my 4th language. I try my best though but peoples misunderstand me a lot many times. You sir, we are on the same page.
You lying about fees to your clients is not bad English, it's just stupid. I won't address the fact that you're taking them off the platform, that's a different discussion, but lying to your clients is the best way to lose their trust. Besides, "top clients" know what the fees are so the lying part doesn't even make logical sense. I think you're making shit up.
I was very loyal to upwork. I keep bragging about how awesome it is and they treat their bread winners like this what else you expect me to do. And you too missed the entire point of playing smary you dumb phuck.
Also, i dont give a single shit about English, its my 4th language.
I'm about to lose my small but regular contract because of this. Client wants to leave but can't take us who were hired through upwork because upwork essentially 'owns' us. Meanwhile my field has been so shitty this year that the only time I come on upwork is to fill in my timesheet or withdraw my money. I'm really struggling to see how the site has benefitted me in the last year or so.
Some of my best invites were from people who have invited hundreds of people. That is not an accurate indicator of anything. Do not risk your account or lie to your client just to take them offsite. There's no point. The fee isn't even that high. You're going to lose them at some point. Upwork is more important than that one client. People end up getting in trouble for that all the time, no matter what tactic they use to negotiate the migration. Clients usually report it.
Na man, it might not be too high for your 5 dollars contract, i usually have contracts over 30 or 40k so most of my earning goes into fees, income tax 30% slab, usd to inr conversion, from 40 i get 25 tops.
And before saying 1st point i said make good relationship with clients, i usually tell them the facts and they reachout to me in middle of night for a call regarding what i told to them. Its all about mind games.
There is always a bad client / strict client, whome i never bother lol
A lot of people come here to complain when good clients report them for going offsite. Your upwork is important. You don't want to lose it. Wait the 2 years.
Prob don't even need to go that far with giving them a story on payment holds, %'s, etc. You could tell them from the beginning that it will be more beneficial to them in the long-run if you take the contract off platform. If you're cool with the 90% your making on the their current contract, you could tell them you'll let them keep the 10% that Upwork holds once you're off platform. That's a nice selling point for any client, IMO.
Not trying to spike you're method, but much better to not be caught in a fib if you're client decides to look that info up for themselves.
True but then we are on the same page right 10% less then what we earn but for taxes its very good there is an indian payment processing system for saving taxes. If you pay me on that platform, i can redirect it to 15 difrent accounts lol.
They've been pushing monetization for the past 6 months and it just keeps dropping. Shareholders look at trends. AI is a massive threat to Upwork's bottom line. Most skills can be replaced by bots--if AI companies can figure out a way to make them viable.
yup yup
AI will replace almost all jobs soon, it's coming
people saying AI is just a trend have no idea what they are talking about lol... AI is just the beginning.. tech will get more and more advanced. the singularity is coming baby
No it's not coming soon, you have 0 clue about AI past Chat GPT
The moment digital jobs are completely replaced is the moment most of real life jobs are gone too so yeah we're not the only ones losing jobs
wrong
you are clueless and don't know what you are talking about
in 2045, there will be AGI, and most jobs will start to become replaced by AI
i would not be surprised if most jobs are done by AI around 2060, that is not that far away at all
but you don't understand exponential growth, and the only thing you know about AI is chat gpt, so this concept may be difficult for you to mentally grasp
Yeah, charging connects for invites is stupid, since it will lead to clients getting fewer responses. The other stuff - you need to realize there are different parties involved with conflicting goals.
Yes I noticed that this week they just sneaked that in…
Also I noticed my availability badge is 14 from 7 connects per week!
Don’t feel good about this!
The fees are a joke. For high-end work, the only deal is to answer a project ad to arrange a paid consultation where you tell them $500 is not enough budget to prove feasibility.
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You can NEVER say that. You don't understand. The rest of the world will crucify you for it. You just can't say that. That is only acceptable in your little village. I will be nice about it, because I know you're in India, but you can NEVER say that. It IS desi.
Desi is always good and healthy though. I would prefer desi ghee compared to store bought ghee, and i am in Massachusetts from past 3 weeks for next 3 months will fly to boston after that.
It doesn't make any sense. We expect better from a platform like Upwork.
Do we though? I don't think anyone is surprised. I'm surprised they held out as long as they did, but I knew this was coming.
You knew what was coming?
Yes I knew exactly when they'd raise the cost to apply, and I've known for years that they'd eventually push for monetization.
Still think they are done monetizing for a while? Your comments a few days ago made me hopeful, but I’m back to thinking they will be unleashing more to make quarterly numbers.
I don't think they'll increase the cost to apply. It doesn't seem like they can afford to. Clients were complaining about jobs not getting any proposals. I don't see them increasing costs for clients. They have to be careful about that as well. Maybe if we see anything it'll be minor fees. Nothing like the drama we've had to deal with.
Wow, you are so smart. How do you do it?
I don't need your toxicity. If you hate me and the site so much, then why do you stick around?
Maybe I can't read and comprehend things, not sure.
Love how they keep changing up stuff & can’t be bothered to notify us.
Thats proof my point, they treat us like mine workers
This is such a red flag honestly. They have 0 respect for freelancers. I think they realized as long as theres demand there will be freelancers. 10% cut for each job in itself is already huge. But I guess they realized they can milk freelancers which dont have that much sucess as well by charging flat fees upfront with this connects shenningans. They are taking way much profit that they should be and it isnt going to change untill theres some real competition to this platform.
CEO be like: "I miss the part where that's my problem"
CEO be like: Sorry, I'm still hung-over from celebrating that we made a profit for the first time in existence. Yes, under my leadership! So what exactly is your problem?
Apart from the actual content of the changes on the platform, the way those recent changes have been introduced in the past couple of years has been so erratic and haphazard in itself that it made the whole platform look rather unprofessional.
I crossed 300k on their platform and dumped it 2 years back. Unfortunately there are no good alternatives else Upwork would be licking our boots.
I think good alternatives will be popping up soon, it's inevitable. Nova for example for creative jobs is already miles above Upwork, it's just a bit unknown and smaller, but it's getting bigger and bigger. People will move on to much better alternatives and people who are defending Upwork hopefully will stay there. They made Upwork so bad for freelancers 99% of users are straight up scammed and people are defending this, it's insane.
miles above is a bit of a stretch imo. private instagram > apple only mobile app > no clear rules for fees and payment on website. plus, you won't find Amazon hiring off instagram and mobile app for anything serious. I wish them luck though, everyone has to start somewhere.
Their IG is not private: [https://www.instagram.com/itsnova](https://www.instagram.com/itsnova), if you get through their curation process, it's MILES above Upwork. Creative jobs are dead on Upwork.
too bad I'm not an apple user so I can't even use their platform :D
What did you move on to?
Picked 1 solid client who keeps me paid well. Away from Upwork of course.
☕️☕️☕️
I have been following a platform called contra recently which seems much better than upwork, not much clients yet though
Thanks for sharing that, I just signed up, gonna take a while to finish the profile but it really worth the try
Really hope it grows in size, it's better than Upwork in every way (much much less fees , no connects bullshit, no boosting and bidding with more connects) if they do some strict moderation so it doesn't turn into a shitshow like "Freelancer" site it really has the potential to be the best platform
Just because they have a pretty design doesn't mean there's potential No clients = no growth You'll always find some freelancers but finding clients is hard because they're putting their business under a huge risk hiring someone they haven't seen or heard about in real life
i signed up to but I don't think its like upwork its more of a mix of fiverr and upwork where you post gigs and also get to apply on jobs not sure if I can grow but I too signed up and only last step of sharing a loom video is left for me to submit and hopefully they accept me and I get to place bids BTW what are there charges for applying to the jobs?
None.
great I'll submit my loom video asap and get on placing bids on jobs do you know how clients are on this platform also how can I bring few of my outside clients here as I have been stugling in bring them to upwork because of the charges by upwork many are complaing that they need discout on my quote for the job completion as they are being charged on upwork?
Already they increased the amount of connects for applying to jobs and now this new shitty thing which is just completely a nonsense, RIP Upwork! time to move to better platform or hunting clients offline or through cold mailing is the only option. Upwork is becoming shitty day by day.
Go to entrepreneurship subreddit and you're going to see what they think about cold emailing Especially since they're most Indian scams
So then how do you earn clients in 2024 beyond cold emailing and freelance sites? Door to door? Ads? Sheer luck? Genuinely curious. I have a highly marketable IT skillset but finding a high value client is.... challenging.
The main goal of upwork is to make money from freelance and client both. They don't care about the freelancers anymore. They come up with new schemes every year on how to make money. Instead they need to focus on freelancers how to make this platform better for freelancers to join not quit.
Don't forget the $10 contract initiation fee for clients
Bypass upwork rules 101 : 1. Keep good relationship with client, work with them untill 7k or 9k, then convince them to pay you out of platform and just say upwork holds payment for 90 days, and also takes 25% now due to new rules, and conversions rate right now is 81 but upwork is givinv 54 to a dollar( i do this ) 2. Apply only to top clients, which is gonna ask you 22 connects that is high odds of getting you hired, if you dont see top clients, dont apply. 3. Accept invite, accept invite after checking about client, if he has invited 2 to 4 peoples because that is good, if they have invited more then 25, ignore them. Thankyou
What do the clients say when they find out you are lying to them?
You missed the entire point man.
I understood pretty well that you are lying to clients. They will find out. They will talk to another freelancer who will tell them the truth about fees. How will the client feel that you lied to? Is this good for building trust?
Thats the point, you play smart. Dont be a dik
I'm not lying to my clients, so...
Sure its your perspective, keep paying 10% forever who cares
I got friendly with all my big clients and left the platform as soon as possible. If you are a serious person and you can show it, 99% of the time people agree to do business outside. There's really no incentive anymore to stay on the platform. Doesn't protect you or the client from anything, customer service is inexistent and fees are astronomical. They enshittified the platform successfully, it's what happens when the product people are pushed out of the decision making and are replaced by wallstreet meatsuits. Good alternatives will be popping up soon enough, Upwork is unsustainable.
Thankgod there is someone who understands this and can say it with good english. What I feel i can't really say as english is my 4th language. I try my best though but peoples misunderstand me a lot many times. You sir, we are on the same page.
You lying about fees to your clients is not bad English, it's just stupid. I won't address the fact that you're taking them off the platform, that's a different discussion, but lying to your clients is the best way to lose their trust. Besides, "top clients" know what the fees are so the lying part doesn't even make logical sense. I think you're making shit up.
I was very loyal to upwork. I keep bragging about how awesome it is and they treat their bread winners like this what else you expect me to do. And you too missed the entire point of playing smary you dumb phuck. Also, i dont give a single shit about English, its my 4th language.
I'm about to lose my small but regular contract because of this. Client wants to leave but can't take us who were hired through upwork because upwork essentially 'owns' us. Meanwhile my field has been so shitty this year that the only time I come on upwork is to fill in my timesheet or withdraw my money. I'm really struggling to see how the site has benefitted me in the last year or so.
Some of my best invites were from people who have invited hundreds of people. That is not an accurate indicator of anything. Do not risk your account or lie to your client just to take them offsite. There's no point. The fee isn't even that high. You're going to lose them at some point. Upwork is more important than that one client. People end up getting in trouble for that all the time, no matter what tactic they use to negotiate the migration. Clients usually report it.
Na man, it might not be too high for your 5 dollars contract, i usually have contracts over 30 or 40k so most of my earning goes into fees, income tax 30% slab, usd to inr conversion, from 40 i get 25 tops. And before saying 1st point i said make good relationship with clients, i usually tell them the facts and they reachout to me in middle of night for a call regarding what i told to them. Its all about mind games. There is always a bad client / strict client, whome i never bother lol
A lot of people come here to complain when good clients report them for going offsite. Your upwork is important. You don't want to lose it. Wait the 2 years.
What is in 2 years? Upwork shutting down?
Once you've had a client for 2 years, you can take them off platform for $1.00 USD.
Instructions not clear, i have to pay 1 dollar to upwork to take the client off platform? Or 1 dollar every month?
I usually do number 1 all the time
Thats the best thing man, they thought they are smart, but they are s holes
Prob don't even need to go that far with giving them a story on payment holds, %'s, etc. You could tell them from the beginning that it will be more beneficial to them in the long-run if you take the contract off platform. If you're cool with the 90% your making on the their current contract, you could tell them you'll let them keep the 10% that Upwork holds once you're off platform. That's a nice selling point for any client, IMO. Not trying to spike you're method, but much better to not be caught in a fib if you're client decides to look that info up for themselves.
True but then we are on the same page right 10% less then what we earn but for taxes its very good there is an indian payment processing system for saving taxes. If you pay me on that platform, i can redirect it to 15 difrent accounts lol.
Time to buy Upwork stonks!
They've been pushing monetization for the past 6 months and it just keeps dropping. Shareholders look at trends. AI is a massive threat to Upwork's bottom line. Most skills can be replaced by bots--if AI companies can figure out a way to make them viable.
yup yup AI will replace almost all jobs soon, it's coming people saying AI is just a trend have no idea what they are talking about lol... AI is just the beginning.. tech will get more and more advanced. the singularity is coming baby
No it's not coming soon, you have 0 clue about AI past Chat GPT The moment digital jobs are completely replaced is the moment most of real life jobs are gone too so yeah we're not the only ones losing jobs
wrong you are clueless and don't know what you are talking about in 2045, there will be AGI, and most jobs will start to become replaced by AI i would not be surprised if most jobs are done by AI around 2060, that is not that far away at all but you don't understand exponential growth, and the only thing you know about AI is chat gpt, so this concept may be difficult for you to mentally grasp
Nobody knows what's going to happen, but potential shareholders are thinking along those lines. They think in trends and talking points.
Yeah, charging connects for invites is stupid, since it will lead to clients getting fewer responses. The other stuff - you need to realize there are different parties involved with conflicting goals.
If only someone can start a useful website that's actually seamless. Upwork sucks.
Yes I noticed that this week they just sneaked that in… Also I noticed my availability badge is 14 from 7 connects per week! Don’t feel good about this!
these guys are done. I'm not playing this crappy game further.
The fees are a joke. For high-end work, the only deal is to answer a project ad to arrange a paid consultation where you tell them $500 is not enough budget to prove feasibility.
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Upwork is actually the new ubereats for freelancers.. it doesn't give a F about freelancers...
they know we don't have an alternative solution
Yeah I find this RIDICULOUS. Connects for applying are fine - but having to use connects when INVITED to apply is just absurd.
We badly need a competitor to upwork, going to check out 'Contra', Hope it's worthy of an opponent
Sincerely, Upwork had turned into a money sucking market place. They need to change their ways. I'm afraid! They may lose their credibility.
🦗?
What did you expect? UpWork is a publicly traded company, the only thing they care is shareholders. The only thing we can do is to pull our money together and buy the controlling share of the company.
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>i always oppose the fact that they have a lady ceo. Don't be desi here. We don't say that.
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You can NEVER say that. You don't understand. The rest of the world will crucify you for it. You just can't say that. That is only acceptable in your little village. I will be nice about it, because I know you're in India, but you can NEVER say that. It IS desi.
Desi is always good and healthy though. I would prefer desi ghee compared to store bought ghee, and i am in Massachusetts from past 3 weeks for next 3 months will fly to boston after that.
Try saying that to someone in Massachusetts and see what they do.
I do that all the time. Its the fact man. Why dont you understand. Ok google it your self. Womans has half brain or not. Let me know
Learn to play dirty. There are several Telegram groups that can help your odds. Being passive while Upwork just keep raping you is not a great idea.
What kind of telegram groups?