Don't be confused. Just come to the community forums and read the different posts in both the client and freelancer sections. You'll begin to understand why some (many) people feel the need to bid on jobs using rediculous amounts of connects.
Some possibilities:
1. New freelancers trying to land their first client - if this is the case, there will always be a stream of overbidding that heavily skews the bidding feature. The good news is that new freelancers won't have any reviews or work history and that will offset their overbidding. Freelancers with history and reviews still have a chance in landing the client. The unfortunate part, is that this stream of new freelancers overbidding on jobs will lead to seasoned freelancers spending 2-3x the connects just to get a spot in the client's top 3 roster.
2. Some freelancers are likely to believe that by bidding with connects, the highest bid determines who wins the job. In an effort to "buy" work, they overbid and create an atmosphere where legitimate bidding can not take place. This causes seasoned freelancers who do not "bid to buy" stop participating in the bidding process. This also likely runs counter to what Upwork intended for this feature.
This is the resulting condition that I believe we are seeing. I arrive at this opinion due to the overwhelming number of freelancer posts that are desperate for work.
3. Upwork claims that the bidding feature is to "help freelancers who have a particular interest in a job or project be more visible to the client". This is a terrible narrative. Just because a freelancer bids 200 connects on a job does not mean they will get the job. It only puts them on the top of the pile for review by the client. The client is going to select the best fit for the job, regardless of who is on the top of the pile or not.
And for the elephant in the room...
Upwork implemented this bidding feature in an attempt to provide greater visibiity to freelancers who are interested in some jobs. Upwork's primary business model is the derivation of profit and revenue from clientele hiring freelancers - nothing more and nothing less.
By implementing the bidding process, Upwork has introduced an additional roadblock to that profit and revenue stream. When freelancers with good reviews and work history start seeing a decline in the amount of work they are able to secure, they are faced with three options - 1. bid more on each proposal, 2. stop bidding altogether, or 3. leave the site altogether.
When seasoned freelancers regularly see jobs with 20, 50, 100, or even 200+ connects, outbidding becomes impractical and discouraging.
When seasoned freelancers stop bidding, it creates additional and unnecessary work for the client to review each proposal (from what I understand). This slows the turnover of contracts on the site, slows the revenue and cashflow for Upwork, and can easily drive clients from doing additional business on the site.
When freelancers leave the site, other freelancers win by having a smaller pool of competition. However, the supply of freelancers is so great that this is an unreasonable way to thin that supply. When clients leave the site, so does Upworks revenue and profits. Losing clients hurts both freelancers and Upwork - this also causes there to be a greater ratio of freelancers to clients which negates the purpose of thinning the freelancer supply through bidding.
If you were a client that needed to get a job or project done, your primary concern should be hiring the best fit for the job. I think most clients would agree that they would rather hire someone with experience and good reviews that provides them with value over someone who simply spent 100 bids to be on the top of the pile.
In order to remain competitive, Upwork needs to stop trying to manipulate supply and demand. As with economics, the supply and demand of both freelancers and clients needs to be allowed to reach equilibrium. This is the optimal point in which both freelancers and clients are most successful. Tipping the scale in either direction results in price ceilings and floors, which can severely damage markets and labor pools.
