Best & worst about Upwork?

Todd B · Jan 5, 2021 06:09:35 PM

In a couple words, what is the best and worst about Upwork? If you can take a couple minutes to give your best & worst along with your business, then I'd like to include your quote in the presentation. I'll come back next friday and share the prestentation.

Next Thursday, I'm presenting how I use Upwork to hire marketers & developers to help a group of small business owners grow their team or complete projects that continue to get pushed back. There are several different types of companies in the audience but it will be 25-30 owners with companies that offer home services, property management, industrial ecommerce, commercial cleaning, and construction services. Most are service not product companies.

Generally, the audience is new to Upwork with interests in:

How other companies use Upwork
What the pros / cons are using Upwork
How Upwork compares to other marketing, sales, & finance talent marketplaces
Lessons learned and how to get started

I've been a long time Upwork (and previously Odesk) client making 5-10 hires per year for me or my clients. I have my own biases on what works and what doesn't, and I'll enjoy reading how others are using the marketplace.

Luce N · Jan 7, 2021 02:09:36 PM

To me, the worst is the competition, bringing prices and level down: I'm a translator and have to compete with machine translation users who pretend to be translators.

The very best is the technical quality of the platform. For example, I'm amazed at how easy it is to download and upload very heavy files.

Another best side Upwork is the forum, where clients and freelancers can meet and exchange on all sort of topics. You can get very lonely when freelancing, and it's so good to be able to chat with other users of the platform, and learn from each other.

Jennifer R · Jan 8, 2021 01:48:47 PM

Luce N wrote:
To me, the worst is the competition, bringing prices and level down: I'm a translator and have to compete with machine translation users who pretend to be translators.

The very best is the technical quality of the platform. For example, I'm amazed at how easy it is to download and upload very heavy files.
Another best side Upwork is the forum, where clients and freelancers can meet and exchange on all sort of topics. You can get very lonely when freelancing, and it's so good to be able to chat with other users of the platform, and learn from each other.

They do not only pretend most of them claim to be translators.

The worst is that Upwork does not suspend freelancer that have been reported multiple times for scamming and using stolen profiles or porfolio items.

Todd B · Jan 9, 2021 12:08:52 PM

Jennifer R wrote:

The worst is that Upwork does not suspend freelancer that have been reported multiple times for scamming and using stolen profiles or porfolio items.

Is there anything you can do to protect your work? Also, any recommendation to people hiring on how to spot stolen profiles or items?

Jennifer R · Jan 9, 2021 10:15:53 PM

Todd B wrote:
Jennifer R wrote:

The worst is that Upwork does not suspend freelancer that have been reported multiple times for scamming and using stolen profiles or porfolio items.
Is there anything you can do to protect your work? Also, any recommendation to people hiring on how to spot stolen profiles or items?

First step is to search for some phases in freelancer profiles. Try this one: "I have developed a wide range of websites for industry related to eCommerce, Mobile, and Startups to corporate clients" and you get an idea.

For stolen portfolio item you just need Google search. You see a design you like? Do an imange seach just to find out how many other people like it and where to get it for free.

The fake translators are easy to spot if you know what to look out for and if you are a native speaker of the target language. The once I reported for selling machine translation as human translation are still busy scamming. One claims to be a certified translator (he is not), has a reported stolen portfolio item and the latest portfolio item is obviously a machine translation of a srt file.

Reporting these freelancers is hopeless because the are not removed. In the worst case they just have to remove their stolen portfolio item which makes it harder for clients to identify scammers.

Petra R · Jan 10, 2021 12:50:24 AM

Jennifer R wrote:
They do not only pretend most of them claim to be translators.

The worst is that Upwork does not suspend freelancer that have been reported multiple times for scamming and using stolen profiles or porfolio items.

Yesterday one of them posted why he isn't getting hired. When I went to his profile to take a look, he not only claimed "unlikely" language proficiencies (multiple ones), he had also stolen a chunk of **my** profile.

My response was deleted, his profile is still up.

Jennifer R · Jan 10, 2021 04:00:30 AM

Petra R wrote:
Jennifer R wrote:
They do not only pretend most of them claim to be translators.

The worst is that Upwork does not suspend freelancer that have been reported multiple times for scamming and using stolen profiles or porfolio items.
Yesterday one of them posted why he isn't getting hired. When I went to his profile to take a look, he not only claimed "unlikely" language proficiencies (multiple ones), he had also stolen a chunk of **my** profile.

My response was deleted, his profile is still up.

And don't we all love profiles including "Translation, Copywriting and Proofreading are my bread and butter" that just copy other peoples profile.

Mary W · Jan 10, 2021 07:48:34 AM

I am continually relieved that I work in a highly specialized field. In 8 years, I haven't found anyone trying to copy my profile. Whew.

Petra R · Jan 11, 2021 05:16:52 AM

Mary W wrote:
In 8 years, I haven't found anyone trying to copy my profile. Whew.

I have some dealt with once or twice a year when I remember to check. So far Upwork have removed them swiftly.

One of them was a reasonably regular forum participant who copied my overview entirely (not just a paragraph here and a paragraph there). The only thing he changed was German for Swedish...

Jennifer M · Jan 11, 2021 06:21:27 PM

Petra R wrote:
Jennifer R wrote:
They do not only pretend most of them claim to be translators.

The worst is that Upwork does not suspend freelancer that have been reported multiple times for scamming and using stolen profiles or porfolio items.
Yesterday one of them posted why he isn't getting hired. When I went to his profile to take a look, he not only claimed "unlikely" language proficiencies (multiple ones), he had also stolen a chunk of **my** profile.

My response was deleted, his profile is still up.

It's good they focus on the real problem....the people pointing out the fraud.