Limit on invites or bug?

[varpness]

I am trying to invite freelancers to my job posting, but after my third invite the system pops up with a message to boost visiblily, with no mention of increasing the number of invites I can have (see attached image). If I select "No Thanks" the pop-up disappears, but returns every time I try to invite a fourth freelancer, so I'm stuck at three. Is this a new limit? In the past I have been able to invite over 10 freelancers. I have had multiple successful jobs, so it can't be related to not filling jobs.

All polite responses are welcomed.

[sergio-soria]

Unfortunately it's not a bug. There is a limit of 3 invitations for basic plans.

[dzadza]

I believe you have an option to feature the job (that's the popup) and then you'll be able to invite more freelancers. Also - there are 2 client plans (monthly payments) that will allow clients to invite more freelancers. 

[BojanS · Accepted solution]

Hi Mat,

Since you have the Upwork Basic plan, you can invite up to three freelancers to submit a proposal for your job. To be able to send unlimited invites for a job post, you can upgrade it to a Featured Job for a one-time fee of $29.99. To be able to send 15 invites per job post, you can upgrade to our Upwork Plus plan. 

Thank you.

[varpness]

Ah, okay, this must be a recent change. I suppose it also explains why I started receiving fewer invites myself as a freelancer.

[6a2bb701]

As a result of this change, we're getting a lot more qualified freelancers elsewhere.  I highly recommend UpWork change this policy if they wish the site to be used for high volume work.

[odeskbuilder]

I have to agree. Charging $29.99 to invite more is daylight robbery. I refuse to pay that.

$5 for more but you want me to pay $29.99 or go on a monthly plan to invite people. Please I will just use a different service.

[kbadeau]

Yes, it is a recent-ish change and a very bad one in my opinion. This summer it seems like they were considering raising the limit to 6 or maybe even 10. I think we need to keep making sure Upwork is aware that both clients and freelancers feel that rather than enticing clients to pay the $30 for more invites, this new policy is simply causing clients to use platforms other than Upwork to find freelancers.

Three is simply not enough given that many freelancers simply do not respond to invitations at all, and clients are the bread and butter of the platform.

[peter_bangkok]

This is whats happens when limit minded people gets gready and ending up losing money at the end... So instead of having a free flow of working frelancers making UW a healty profit, they strangle the flow and are aming for 30 bucks instead. AND of cause the "Upgrade to Featured" button does not work either... Such a great team they are 😄

[BojanS]

Hi Peter,

I'm sorry to hear about the trouble this caused. I checked this for you and was not able to replicate the issue with the "Upgrade Now" button. Could you please clear your cache and cookies or log in with another browser to check if you`re still experiencing the same issue?

Let us know if the issue persists.

Thank you.

[odeskbuilder]

Bojan you need to tell the powers at be they need to lower the price from $29.99 to like $2.99 as no way is anyone going to pay $29.99 to invite a few more people. Ridiculous price. They will just go elsewhere and use a different platform

[bf563f2c]

I bit the bullet and tried it out and paid the $30. It defintentaly is not worth it. I've been on Upworks a very long time and thought maybe it would give me access to a better pool of candidates, but it doesn't it's the same as before, only now you have to pay $30 each time to contact the same pool of candidates. I think Upworks didn't plan on a few things like:
1. What happens if the person doesn't respond to your invite? (wasted invite)
2. What happens if they decline your invite? (wasted invite)
3. What happens if they accept your invite, but give you some ridiculous price? (wasted invite)
4. What happens if they accept your invite, but don't respond to any of your questions for interview? (wasted invite)

I can list many more, but you get the idea. I think paying $30 for a recruiter to hire someone for you is acceptable, but paying the same amount to do all the work yourself is ridiculous. I think until they change the rule back to what it was originally, where you had unlimited invites, I'll use other platforms for hiring.  

[VladimirG]

Hi Morris,

I'm sorry about your experience in terms of the response you received on your featured job post. We'll share your feedback with this feature with our team.

I reviewed your job post, the invites you sent and the response you received on them from the freelancers you invited. I'll ask a member of our team to reach out to you directly to discuss your experience and share a few tips which, in my opinion, might help with receiving a greater number of proposals specifically related to your project, from freelancers with the related skill set. Our team member will also offer further assistance in regards to your open job post.

As a side note related to the invite limit you mentioned, please note that Featured Jobs do give clients unlimited invites on that job. However, Upwork has a daily security limit on invites to avoid spam and fraudulent activity. If you hit your daily limit you will be able to send additional invites in 24 hours. We often hear from freelancers who are frustrated because they receive too many job post invitations for jobs that don’t match their skills, rate, etc. By limiting invitations we reduce spam and better ensure that freelancers are receiving invites that are relevant to their skill sets.

Please feel free to follow up in the Community if you have further feedback or questions and feel free to share any additional information with our team member directly. We're here for you and would like to help ensure our features are working as expected and clients are benefiting from the services we offer as part of the featured job post option.

[e640726d]

Hi,

If I upgrade the project to featured, I suppose I get an unlimited number of invites for a lifetime of a job posting? Is that correct even if I hire multiple freelancers for the same posting and have the project as on-going basis?

Please kindly advise.

Thanks.

[AleksandarD]

Hi Beata,

Thanks for reaching out to us. I shared your concerns with the rest of our team and one of our agents will reach out to you directly via a support ticket with more information.

Thank you.