🐈
» Forums » Clients » Re: Invited Freelancers
Page options
e212860f
Community Member

Invited Freelancers

I have invited freelancers to bid on a project, and after 48 hours have had no response. As i only get 3 invitations, Is there a way to recall the invitation so that I might invite someone else to bid on the project?

24 REPLIES 24
BojanS
Community Manager
Community Manager

Hello. Thanks for reaching out. Currently, canceling/declining invitations will not make them available for you to re-use. To be able to send 15 invites per job post, you can upgrade to our Client Plus plan. To receive unlimited invites, you can upgrade your job post to a Featured Job for a one-time fee of $29.99. Thanks!

~ Bojan
Upwork
e212860f
Community Member

That's not a great solution...Perhaps I can suggest making the invitations so that you can "unsend" them, and reuse.
BojanS
Community Manager
Community Manager

Hi M,

 

Thank you for your feedback about this, I will share this with our team.

~ Bojan
Upwork
ab89c422
Community Member

I used to personally use Upwork.  And I suggested it to my boss so i'm here now.
The fact that i just wasted my 3 invites because i had NO IDEA it was ONLY 3 invites really sucks.  And I declined them thinking I'd get to invite someone else.  THEN I got the notification that I get no other invites so my hands are completely tied.


We have to pay $30 for 12 more invites?
Uhm, that is ridiculous.  I have never had to pay to invite before.

It no longer makes sense to ever use Upwork again.


You do realize it cuts down on who will actually use Upwork, right?

 

This is the WORST service ever.

I am so sad about these changes.  I'll be sticking with your competition who doesn't charge me to invite freelancers.

 

Sheri


Ganz F wrote:

I used to personally use Upwork.  And I suggested it to my boss so i'm here now.
The fact that i just wasted my 3 invites because i had NO IDEA it was ONLY 3 invites really sucks.  And I declined them thinking I'd get to invite someone else.  THEN I got the notification that I get no other invites so my hands are completely tied.


We have to pay $30 for 12 more invites?
Uhm, that is ridiculous.  I have never had to pay to invite before.

It no longer makes sense to ever use Upwork again.


You do realize it cuts down on who will actually use Upwork, right?

 

This is the WORST service ever.

I am so sad about these changes.  I'll be sticking with your competition who doesn't charge me to invite freelancers.

 

Sheri


See, Upwork, what you've gone and done? We freelancers TOLD you this was a very bad idea!!!

 


Phyllis G wrote:

Ganz F wrote:

I used to personally use Upwork.  And I suggested it to my boss so i'm here now.
The fact that i just wasted my 3 invites because i had NO IDEA it was ONLY 3 invites really sucks.  And I declined them thinking I'd get to invite someone else.  THEN I got the notification that I get no other invites so my hands are completely tied.


We have to pay $30 for 12 more invites?
Uhm, that is ridiculous.  I have never had to pay to invite before.

It no longer makes sense to ever use Upwork again.


You do realize it cuts down on who will actually use Upwork, right?

 

This is the WORST service ever.

I am so sad about these changes.  I'll be sticking with your competition who doesn't charge me to invite freelancers.

 

Sheri


See, Upwork, what you've gone and done? We freelancers TOLD you this was a very bad idea!!!

 


+ 1000

What an absolute disaster!

Is it still only 3 invites per job?

This is really messed up.

This should definitely be fixed as soon as possible.

 

Doesn't need to be unlimited. Or 100 or something for unconfirmed basic clients.

But only 3 ????


Phyllis G wrote:

Ganz F wrote:

I used to personally use Upwork.  And I suggested it to my boss so i'm here now.
The fact that i just wasted my 3 invites because i had NO IDEA it was ONLY 3 invites really sucks.  And I declined them thinking I'd get to invite someone else.  THEN I got the notification that I get no other invites so my hands are completely tied.


We have to pay $30 for 12 more invites?
Uhm, that is ridiculous.  I have never had to pay to invite before.

It no longer makes sense to ever use Upwork again.


You do realize it cuts down on who will actually use Upwork, right?

 

This is the WORST service ever.

I am so sad about these changes.  I'll be sticking with your competition who doesn't charge me to invite freelancers.

 

Sheri


See, Upwork, what you've gone and done? We freelancers TOLD you this was a very bad idea!!!

 


But what do we know, right?  These client posts regarding unhappiness at this new policy makes me want to scream. Great job, Upwork ... let's keep pushing away the one asset Upwork needs to keep going ... the clients. And hey, while we're at it, let's keep adding thousands more freelancers every day. Lose one client, gain 1,000 freelancers wondering why they can't get work. Yeah, this all sounds like a great business plan.

Ganz and all commentators -  somewhere - in one of the threads about this untenable situation - a moderator said the 3 was being changed to 6 invites. 

 

Based on the the 2 clients commenting in this thread -

 - Either the mod was given incorrect info;

 - We were told the number of invites had  increased to try and mitigate the furor,

 -  or ____ feel free to fill in the excuse.

 

1,000 more kudos @ Phyllis's words - "See, Upwork, what you've gone and done? We freelancers TOLD you this was a very bad idea!!!"

 

 Well I agree  in principle - but who is Ganz and who is Sheri (as in the I, personally)? 


Nichola L wrote:

 Well I agree  in principle - but who is Ganz and who is Sheri (as in the I, personally)? 


Sheri is a person who previously had good experience hiring on UW. She convinced her current boss to use it and I assume that account name is Ganz. She didn't know about the new policy of limiting free invitations.

8a601cc6
Community Member

who is going to give them projects ?

Upwork implemented this so clients buy plans or options, period. It doesn't matter what people say. It never matters.

 

 

-----------
"Where darkness shines like dazzling light"   —William Ashbless
Anonymous-User
Not applicable

Clients that want it for free and treat FLs like they're free - I'm happy to see those people go. 

What will be left? Top Rated FL's and only their repeat clients?

 

Making popcorn and sitting back to watch it play out. 

 

 

Real world reality check:

 

I know that not every invite that every freelancer receives is welcome to them. I have seen the complaints.


But I like the invites.

MOST of the invites I receive are from real clients, for real jobs, which match my skill set and interest, and are from clients ready and willing to pay my posted rate.

 

Invites are a great thing, and I don't think it helps me (as a freelancer) to have a such a strict restriction on the number of invites.


Cairenn R wrote:

Clients that want it for free and treat FLs like they're free - I'm happy to see those people go. 

What will be left? Top Rated FL's and only their repeat clients?

 

Making popcorn and sitting back to watch it play out. 

 

 


I'm  a fan of charging for connects but I think it's a bad idea to limit clients to three invitations unless they pay. My best clients--most professional, most loyal, most profitable for me and for UW--have been first-time and/or occasional UW users. Making those folks feel nickel-and-dimed is counterproductive. A tiered subscription makes sense when the entry-level option is at least minimally worthwhile. A maximum of three invitations does not meet that standard, for many clients and many projects.

Phyllis wrote and I concur >

 

"I'm a fan of charging for connects but I think it's a bad idea to limit clients to three invitations unless they pay. My best clients--most professional, most loyal, most profitable for me and for UW--have been first-time and/or occasional UW users. Making those folks feel nickel-and-dimed is counterproductive. A tiered subscription makes sense when the entry-level option is at least minimally worthwhile. A maximum of three invitations does not meet that standard, for many clients and many projects."

 

 


Wendy C wrote:

Phyllis wrote and I concur >

 

"I'm a fan of charging for connects but I think it's a bad idea to limit clients to three invitations unless they pay. My best clients--most professional, most loyal, most profitable for me and for UW--have been first-time and/or occasional UW users. Making those folks feel nickel-and-dimed is counterproductive. A tiered subscription makes sense when the entry-level option is at least minimally worthwhile. A maximum of three invitations does not meet that standard, for many clients and many projects."

 

 


Concur x 2


Phyllis G wrote:

Cairenn R wrote:

Clients that want it for free and treat FLs like they're free - I'm happy to see those people go. 

What will be left? Top Rated FL's and only their repeat clients?

 

Making popcorn and sitting back to watch it play out. 

 

 


I'm  a fan of charging for connects but I think it's a bad idea to limit clients to three invitations unless they pay. My best clients--most professional, most loyal, most profitable for me and for UW--have been first-time and/or occasional UW users. Making those folks feel nickel-and-dimed is counterproductive. A tiered subscription makes sense when the entry-level option is at least minimally worthwhile. A maximum of three invitations does not meet that standard, for many clients and many projects.


I agree, invites generally lead to my best jobs. I hope part of the thinking behind this revised approach is to limit clients who send like 50+ invites. 

 

I wonder if there is a way to manage the number of "active" invites per job. So let's say a client can reach out to 5 FL for the first round. If they are selective and only invite FL who have a less than 24 reponse rate, they have the opportunity to send out additional invites if they have FLs decline.   

 

I want clients to have an effective way to reach out to FLs and I don't think charging for invites is the best approach, however I'm not inclined to respond to a client who has a high level of invites for a job pending.

 

Regardless, in the scheme of things these costs are nickels and dimes when compared with the costs of having a full time employee, there is no doubt Upwork provides a very cost effective way for businesses to outsource work. 

tta192
Community Member

Invitations are not mandatory. A well-written job post will make freelancers submit proposals on their own. Actively inviting users to a job is meant for urgent situations only, when time is critical. Abusing this would defeat its purpose.


Three invitations are more than enough to test the feature and determine if buying the extra credits it's worth it when the urgent situation arises.


Andrei T wrote:

Invitations are not mandatory. A well-written job post will make freelancers submit proposals on their own. Actively inviting users to a job is meant for urgent situations only, when time is critical. Abusing this would defeat its purpose.


Three invitations are more than enough to test the feature and determine if buying the extra credits it's worth it when the urgent situation arises.


With all due respect: sez you. Some clients use invitations to avoid having to plow through 50 bids from totally unqualified FLs to find a handful of viable candidates. Until UW does a reasonable job of qualifying FLs before admitting them to the platform, it's sensible to give clients tools to find who they need without undue time and aggravation.


Phyllis G wrote:


With all due respect: sez you. Some clients use invitations to avoid having to plow through 50 bids from totally unqualified FLs to find a handful of viable candidates. Until UW does a reasonable job of qualifying FLs before admitting them to the platform, it's sensible to give clients tools to find who they need without undue time and aggravation.


Maybe an optimized set of filters on the list of FLers that already submitted proposals for a job would have a better effect.

 

Offering unlimited invites will just move the clutter from the client to the freelancers having to deal with a high number of invitations to jobs unrelated to their qualifications.

 


Andrei T wrote:

Phyllis G wrote:


With all due respect: sez you. Some clients use invitations to avoid having to plow through 50 bids from totally unqualified FLs to find a handful of viable candidates. Until UW does a reasonable job of qualifying FLs before admitting them to the platform, it's sensible to give clients tools to find who they need without undue time and aggravation.


Maybe an optimized set of filters on the list of FLers that already submitted proposals for a job would have a better effect.

 

Offering unlimited invites will just move the clutter from the client to the freelancers having to deal with a high number of invitations to jobs unrelated to their qualifications.

 


Yes, but that kind of filtering is not typically the sort of thing UW prioritizes. And personally, I think they have hotter fires to put out. In any case, it takes me a few seconds to decline a poorly targeted invitation. I'm happy to do that many times a week, if it means not inconveniencing clients--especially ones who have not used UW much yet and don't yet see value that outweighs their annoyance.

 

Anonymous-User
Not applicable

I agree that 3 or even 6 seems low. They should get perhaps 10 to 20, maybe. Give them a little more wiggle room for their money, to interview legit FLs.

The whole thing is a mess. It will be interesting to see where it sits 3 months from now.





Latest Articles
Learning Paths