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workwithjoe
Community Member

Brand Name Proposals - Is this allowed?

Hi there,

 

Fairly new to upwork and right now I'm looking to use the service as both a freelancer and a client.

 

Haven't yet got any experience with the client side and I'm not sure I'm actually allowed to post the job I'd like to post... so I'm checking here first and hoping someone with more experience will know!

I'm looking into Amazon FBA and need to come up with a brand name before I can start. Ideally, I want hundreds to pick from. I'd like to post a fixed contract with a few details about the business, for freelancers to then come up with suggested names in their proposal. Whichever name I choose from the poposals, I'd then like to give that person the contract and pay them for the job - so they wouldn't actually need to do any work once the contract is granted, they'll kind of be 'winning' the payment in a sense.

 

Would this be a breach of Upworks terms? I don't really want to hire one person if they then... don't come up with any good ideas!

 

Thanks,

 

Joe

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gilbert-phyllis
Community Member

If I understand you correctly, you want to invite several hundred freelancers to put in the work of coming up with viable names for your business, but only pay the one you pick. That's called working on spec and it doesn't fit within Upwork's ToS. That's not to say you wouldn't find FLs desperate enough to try it, but I wouldn't expect a very high level of quality in the results.

 

 

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15 REPLIES 15
gilbert-phyllis
Community Member

If I understand you correctly, you want to invite several hundred freelancers to put in the work of coming up with viable names for your business, but only pay the one you pick. That's called working on spec and it doesn't fit within Upwork's ToS. That's not to say you wouldn't find FLs desperate enough to try it, but I wouldn't expect a very high level of quality in the results.

 

 

Thanks Phyllis, when you word it that way it does sound pretty bad! haha

 

I'm aware of other websites where you pay a set fee and then hundreds of their 'creatives' submit suggestions and you essentially choose the winning entry, so there are other places I can do it I was just hoping to keep everything tidy by keeping all of my payments through Upwork.

 

Definitely do not want to upset the ToS though so it looks like I may need to use another tool for this task! 

Yeah, another tool. Indeed.

 

I'm just trying to imagine yourself working in a company and your boss comes one day saying: "Ok guys, this company now has an new policy. Work hard you guys, because at the end of the month/week, I will be paying only one of you, the one which work I love the most. Have a good day team". 🙂

 

Great concept. We should generalize it. Totally.

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"Where darkness shines like dazzling light"   —William Ashbless

Hmmm, I think comparing crowdsourcing to weeks of sweatshop labour is somewhat antiquated but horses for courses! 

 

Thanks again both for clearing up my question ^_^


@Joe M wrote:

Hmmm, I think comparing crowdsourcing to weeks of sweatshop labour is somewhat antiquated but horses for courses! 

 

Thanks again both for clearing up my question ^_^


 If you want to crowdsource a name for your new business, then put it out there: on Facebook, Twitter, in your local thrifty shopper circular, in your church bulletin, wherever. Crowdsourcing theory holds that enough random people will generate enough raw material to answer your need. I have my doubts about the quality of input you would get, without sharing quite a lot about the new venture, which would be problematic for obvious reasons. But that is the "something for nothing" model.

Hi Joe,

They're all correct, it will be a violation to Upwork's ToS. You may find some helpful information here on Upwork's ToS. Thanks.

~ Jo-An

Untitled
versailles
Community Member


@Joe M wrote:

 

 

Would this be a breach of Upworks terms? I don't really want to hire one person if they then... don't come up with any good ideas!

 

 


This is definitely a breach of ToS. And a very questionable practice. You can't hire people and only pay one or few of them. There are advertising and marketing companies that do this kind of work. Big brands use them all the time. They are very expensive.

 

You can lower down the costs by hiring some creative talent on Upwork and have them work on your naming project. But there is no way you would have people work for you and pay them, well if you feel it.

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"Where darkness shines like dazzling light"   —William Ashbless

Gosh, people are so inventive to get free work.


@Prashant P wrote:

Gosh, people are so inventive to get free work.


 C'mon Prashant, it ain't free work. They call it crowdsourcing. 🙂 That's how it is called when you work for free for a dude who will make money out of your work. Crowdsourcing.

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"Where darkness shines like dazzling light"   —William Ashbless


@Rene K wrote:

They call it crowdsourcing. 🙂 That's how it is called when you work for free for a dude who will make money out of your work. Crowdsourcing.

Well based on what I know is that unless there is a 'guaranteed big bribe' at the end - they don't work. Some other sites offer this option - a marketing ploy to lure propspective buyers, but I have observed that even the hungry desperate freelancers are not that stupid. These contests don't draw too many or hardly any entries. 

 

And you are correct.  Companies often spend lots of money for a name and logo to go with it.

kat303
Community Member

If you want to do what you're explaining, that would be considered a violation of Upworks TOS and can get your account suspended.

 

You can do 1 of 3 things.

1. post a job and hire multiple people and pay each one regardless of what name you choose.

2. post a job and hire just one person for the job, considering their proposal and the info in their profile, and pay that person.

3. Look for another site that will best suite your needs.

resultsassoc
Community Member

You've already gotten the common reaction. There's another option.

 

I posted a fairly large job, and offered three freelancers two-hour paid tests at their standard rates to estimate the hours needed to complete the job. Two refused, claiming I was trying to get the big job done for two hours' pay. The job became overcome by events, but my client needed a far larger job done in the same domain. He invited the three I recommended (which did not include the names of the two who refused). Each will make several hundred dollars from his paid test, and several tens of thousands from future needed work.

 

You can do this by posting a job for how to maximize value of a brand. Offer a paid test for a name, then select a few. The long term job goes to the one you like best. That meets ToS.

You might also want to search for BRANDING experts with some history of naming products.

I only wish I had learned earlier that this is what 'crowdsourcing' means! I think I'm about to go crowdsource myself a few beers, I'll go for a walk and stop at a few pubs, I will happily pay for my drink but, of course, only at the place I like the most: I wouldn't want to pay for my beer if I don't happen like the bar, right?

Going to have such a good time, long live crowdsourcing!


@Kevin C. N wrote:


Going to have such a good time, long live crowdsourcing!

 It should be called 'Crowdfleecing'

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