Mar 3, 2018 02:24:55 PM by Joe M
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
Solved! Go to Solution.
Mar 3, 2018 02:34:23 PM by Phyllis G
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.
Mar 3, 2018 02:34:23 PM by Phyllis G
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.
Mar 3, 2018 02:37:23 PM by Joe M
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!
Mar 3, 2018 02:42:25 PM by Rene K
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.
Mar 3, 2018 02:58:07 PM by Joe M
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 ^_^
Mar 4, 2018 05:29:54 AM by Phyllis G
@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.
Mar 3, 2018 02:35:30 PM Edited Mar 3, 2018 02:37:02 PM by Rene K
@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.
Mar 3, 2018 03:04:29 PM by Rene K
@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.
Mar 4, 2018 09:45:21 AM by Prashant P
@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.
Mar 3, 2018 03:26:03 PM by Kathy T
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.
Mar 3, 2018 07:33:04 PM by Bill H
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.
Mar 4, 2018 08:58:37 AM by Wendy C
You might also want to search for BRANDING experts with some history of naming products.
Mar 4, 2018 06:10:34 PM by Kevin C. N
Mar 4, 2018 07:40:30 PM by Prashant P
@Kevin C. N wrote:
Going to have such a good time, long live crowdsourcing!
It should be called 'Crowdfleecing'