Upset by new pricing - 15 invites limit

57aca58b · ‎07-16-2019

I'm really unhappy that I'm suddenly limited to 15 invites, and no way to buy more 😞

Also I've contacted upwork several times no to understand when the 500$ plan would make sense (at what revenue level), but still nobody was able to provide me with an answer 😞

I think the step for 50$ to a 500$ dollar plan is also too big, why is there nothing in between?

petra_r · ‎07-16-2019

Hubertus S wrote:
I'm really unhappy that I'm suddenly limited to 15 invites, and no way to buy more

In fairness, high quality, discerning freelancers decline invites from clients who invite hoards of freelancers.

My personal painpoint is 10. If I see that a client has invited more than 10 I decline it as spam.

I do agree the $ 500 plan is insane and harmful to clients and freelancers alike on several levels.

rolludesig · ‎07-16-2019

$500 plan? what for..didnt read it about anywhere?

florydev · ‎07-16-2019

It’s a client plan. All of the complaining about connects, this is what people should be more concerned with.

petra_r · ‎07-16-2019

Mark F wrote:
It’s a client plan. All of the complaining about connects, this is what people should be more concerned with.

Absolutely.

All those whining about the $ 0.15 price of connects are howling at the wrong moon.

Paying a few cents for connects is not what threatens your business, people, clients deserting the site because of those insane client charges is what is threatening your business.

But of course those who can't see the bigger business can not wrap their heads around the fact that "clients going elsewhere" DIRECTLY results in less money in the pockets of freelancers.

Maybe Upwork is introduced the paid for connects to get rid of layers on both sides: Freelancers who don't want to or can't afford to pay for connects and small scale clients, and are using the money earned with connects to pay for the loss of business caused by clients deserting the platform.

Either way, freelancers lose. They (or rather those we see bleating all over the forum about the cost of connects and refunding connects etc) just can't see the bigger picture.

researchediting · ‎07-16-2019

Petra R wrote:
....All those whining about the $ 0.15 price of connects are howling at the wrong moon.
Paying a few cents for connects is not what threatens your business, people, clients deserting the site because of those insane client charges is what is threatening your business.

But of course those who can't see the bigger business can not wrap their heads around the fact that "clients going elsewhere" DIRECTLY results in less money in the pockets of freelancers.

Maybe Upwork is introduced the paid for connects to get rid of layers on both sides: Freelancers who don't want to or can't afford to pay for connects and small scale clients, and are using the money earned with connects to pay for the loss of business caused by clients deserting the platform.

Either way, freelancers lose. They (or rather those we see bleating all over the forum about the cost of connects and refunding connects etc) just can't see the bigger picture.

We agree on the misguided focus of freelancers in complaining about connects charges, and on the ill-conceived client charges being a threat to Upwork's revenue stream.

I agree that Upwork is stratifying both sellers and buyers. I am baffled by the notion that they might actually be willing to jettison actual clients and discourage new ones. That is not to say I don't believe they're capable of it, just that it seems at odds with other, smarter moves they've been making lately. Like you, I am dismayed that it could seriously damage the client retention and revenue growth (as well as profitability analysis) they need.

I have to demur at the notion that connects revenue could possibly be intended to make up revenue from lost clients. I believe Upwork when they claim that connects revenue is projected to stay flat—which is consistent with both their intended aim and the number crunching done by the cooler-headed freelancers. Even if connects revenue were to rise, wouldn't it take orders of magnitude of increase for it to approach any significant loss of client revenue, across any segment of profitability?

williambernal · ‎07-16-2019

As an experienced freelancer, my personal painpoint is 5 (so I think 10 is quite generous). And if a client is already interviewing more than 2 invitees, I won't bother.

m_sharman · ‎07-16-2019

Petra R wrote:
In fairness, high quality, discerning freelancers decline invites from clients who invite hoards of freelancers.
My personal painpoint is 10. If I see that a client has invited more than 10 I decline it as spam.

I do agree the $ 500 plan is insane and harmful to clients and freelancers alike on several levels.

I'm curious, if a client invites 5 people and 3 decline, it still shows the 5 invites, right? I agree a high number of invites usually is a turn off, however I wish Upwork stats provided information on anything that is active vs. something that has been declined (which could be for any reason). So in my example, it would show 2 active invites/interviews, whatever state they were in.

gilbert-phyllis · ‎07-17-2019

Miriam H wrote:
Petra R wrote:
In fairness, high quality, discerning freelancers decline invites from clients who invite hoards of freelancers.
My personal painpoint is 10. If I see that a client has invited more than 10 I decline it as spam.

I do agree the $ 500 plan is insane and harmful to clients and freelancers alike on several levels.

I'm curious, if a client invites 5 people and 3 decline, it still shows the 5 invites, right? I agree a high number of invites usually is a turn off, however I wish Upwork stats provided information on anything that is active vs. something that has been declined (which could be for any reason). So in my example, it would show 2 active invites/interviews, whatever state they were in.

The problem is the reporting lags. I accepted an invitation earlier today and after submitting my proposal, noticed the job post screen indicated zero invitations had been sent.

richard_wein · ‎07-21-2019

Phyllis G wrote:
Miriam H wrote:
Petra R wrote:
In fairness, high quality, discerning freelancers decline invites from clients who invite hoards of freelancers.
My personal painpoint is 10. If I see that a client has invited more than 10 I decline it as spam.

I do agree the $ 500 plan is insane and harmful to clients and freelancers alike on several levels.

I'm curious, if a client invites 5 people and 3 decline, it still shows the 5 invites, right? I agree a high number of invites usually is a turn off, however I wish Upwork stats provided information on anything that is active vs. something that has been declined (which could be for any reason). So in my example, it would show 2 active invites/interviews, whatever state they were in.
The problem is the reporting lags. I accepted an invitation earlier today and after submitting my proposal, noticed the job post screen indicated zero invitations had been sent.

In my experience it takes several hours for the number of Invitations to be shown. This is frustrating, since, like others who've commented here, I don't want to respond to jobs with large numbers of invitations. (And of course it shouldn't show a figure of 0 during this time lag.)

visualstudio · ‎07-16-2019

What problems you had in past when you invited only 10 or 15 freelancers ?