Budget on fixed price jobs sucks Upwork-style!

[#1]

Did I already said that the mandatory nature of the budget field sucks? I did. But now, it's getting worse...

Posted a fixed price job yesterday. I have no idea how much it'll cost, so I put $5 and wrote at the top of the job that it's just a placeholder. It's an Intermediate job ($$).

The category is said to be saturated on Upwork. My hiring rate is close to 100% and I have a rating of 4.96. Only good feedback, given and received.

Six proposals so far. One removed by Upwork. Only newbies.

I think that since people have to pay for connects, when they see $5, they don't bother. They think you're a cheapo.

Upwork, it sucks that the budget is mandatory. It's stupid, beyond all logic and counter productive. It serves no purpose at all. I hate you.

[#2]

---

Rene K wrote:

I hate you.

---

There, there, have a lollipop!

[#3]

A lollipop may not be enough. This requires chocolate.

I'll see. Maybe I'll get proposals eventually. I have only one serious proposal left out of the five that were active. The other were cr.p. It's graphic design and man, they don't even have a portfolio.

If this doesn't work, it seems that I'll have to cough the $30 to invite more than three people. If they are invited at least they read your job post...

[#4]

The problem is that many of the quality freelancers won't even look at a $ 5 budget job.They'll never see that it's just a placeholder, they may even filter it out and won't see it in the first place.

$ 5 as a placeholder is a bad idea in some ways, a smart idea in others because it'll only cost two connects to apply. Write "PRICE IS ONLY A PLACEHOLDER" in the subject line maybe?

If it's any consolation, I applied for something yesterday that didn't have a budget and had "Propose your terms" instead.

[#5]

---

Petra R wrote:

If it's any consolation, I applied for something yesterday that didn't have a budget and had "Propose your price" or something like that instead.

---

WAT? How's that possible? You mean the budget field was empty? Why can't I do that?

Upwork, I hate you!

[#6]

What's wrong with newbies?  They could be awesome freelancers.  

[#7]

---

Robin H wrote:

What's wrong with newbies?  They could be awesome freelancers.  

---

Oh, I agree. It's just that so far, I'm getting only bozos. A tiny amount of bozos. When you put $5, people don't ever look at your job post.

[#8]

A seasoned pro would see the $5 and if you include "price is placeholder" in the subject line and within your job description, you should receive more applicants.  

Also depends on the job.  If it's a simple graphic design gig, there are plenty of freelancers.  

Oh, and if you post your job on the weekend, I assume fewer people apply.  Even fewer on a holiday weekend.  

[#9]

---

Robin H wrote:

A seasoned pro would see the $5 and if you include "price is placeholder" in the subject line and within your job description, you should receive more applicants.  

Also depends on the job.  If it's a simple graphic design gig, there are plenty of freelancers.  

Oh, and if you post your job on the weekend, I assume fewer people apply.  Even fewer on a holiday weekend.  

---

It's only a holiday weekend in the U.S.

Some people filter $5 job posts out of their search, I think. 

A client of mine uses one of the other platforms (begins with an 'f' and ends with an 'r') for quick, simple graphic design projects. Maybe this is why.

[#10]

Yeah, I think I'm done hiring on Upwork.

[#11]

I have set-up my filters to just consider jobs with a minimum budget of 50$, the reason is that in my field there are far too many job posts with a budget of 5 to 25$, and it's a huge waste of time to filter them out hoping to find the one that says "this budget is a placeholder".

[#12]

I filter out jobs under $100.

Two alternatives to a $5 placeholder: a $1,000,000 placeholder, or post the job as hourly. Obviously, in either case, make it very clear at the start of the description that this is just a placeholder.

[#13]

>> I filter out jobs under $100.

Yup. Can't imagine why anyone looking for serious work done would put anyting less than that as the opening budget, regardless of whether it's just a placeholder.

[#14]

---

Rene K wrote:

---

Robin H wrote:

What's wrong with newbies?  They could be awesome freelancers.  

---

Oh, I agree. It's just that so far, I'm getting only bozos. A tiny amount of bozos. When you put $5, people don't ever look at your job post.

---

experienced freelancers will know that the budget is a placeholder.... however, a few days ago, I applied to job with $5 budget. client wanted 3 logos made, so, naturally, I thought the budget was a placeholder. turned out - it wasn't. wasted connects (well, only two) and spent the rest of the evening laughing...

[#15]

So, to sum up all of the above comments, the 'budget' field available to clients posting new jobs has never been satisfactory from day one, has never been reconsidered in the meantime and will likely never be revisited again by the decision-makers upstairs.

Which, in turn, leads to such the faulty metric upon which paid connects are based, much to the dissatisfaction of all parties involved.

[#16]

re: "...and will likely never be revisited again by the decision-makers upstairs."

I'm holding out hope.

I have been using this platform since 2014.

I have seen MANY positive changes here that originated with requests and discussions among users.

[#17]

---

Preston H wrote:

I have seen MANY positive changes here that originated with requests and discussions among users.

---

It's rare. The odds for this happening are best described by the Schrödinger's equation. And also, when this happens, like a wish granted by an evil genius it almost always comes with a corrupted and twisted addition that makes you regret having asked in the first place.

[#18]

Yeah, I probably wouldn't have bid on it, ufortuantely for both of us.  Some clients put $5 and mean $5 for a week's worth of work.  The whole CONNECTS system sucks - big time.  I was just lamenting about it to my girlfriend and now she thinks **Edited for Community Guidelines** is a complete and total scam.  Just a con, nothing more.  I tried to explain but just seemed like a nut trying to justify my nutty behavior.

[#19]

I wonder why you don't put the fixed price of 5 billion dollars and note that it is just a placeholder price??