Surely Upwork cannot be serious!? Why would a provider even consider this?
For all of the reasons mentioned by other "Oh hell no!" providers, I see no professional value in bringing more clients here when we providers (and Upwork's clients, the people whose projects we complete) get so little in return.
Upwork deson't help new clients write decent project descriptions so I bypass most of them looking for ones that actually detail what's wanted (about one in ten) so I don't waste connects weeding out additional ones that aren't a good match for my skills. (Most job descriptions don't even list the parameters of the project or name the topic or target audience so there's no way to tell if the budget they've listed is adequate or of it's something I'd even be good at or want to do.) Upwork isn't serving their customers by allowing them to get away with providing too little information for a provider to make a decision as to whether or not to pursue a particular project.
I don't consider this a fair or particularly viable platform. (It serves Upwork very well--I'm sure it's extremely lucrative for them--but everyone else has to slog through quicksand to get anywhere on it.) It's clunky, slow, unresponsive, and downright infuriating because Upwork advertises itself as offering cheap labor so 99.9% of the clients who come here are looking for excellent-quality work at sweatshop prices...
Someone will come along someday who does this better and gives Upwork a run for its money. I'm only here because I have an excellent track record and am a Top-Rated provider after ten years so people invite me to bid on their projects. Upwork's percentages are outlandish for the scant services they provide: an intro to someone who probably only wants one project completed (if they're looking for a writer) and a financial accounting of what happened. 20% of a $500 writing project is ludicrous.
When I do look for work here, it takes literally HOURS to find decent-paying projects. Most of the ones that I submit quotes on fall to other providers outside the U.S. (most of whom aren't native speakers and learned the British way of writing, which doesn't sell well in the U.S.) who can afford to do the work for less since their cost of living is less where they live. As a sad result, I have to charge at least $100/hour for original copy and content work just to compensate for the shoddy, slow, unhelpful way in which this platform operates in order to make staying here viable. I might make $35/hour when I take into account the scores of project descriptions I have to sidestep and slog through to get to the handful that are right for me and pay well enough to make staying here viable.
Upwork should be PAYING its top providers to remain here (or allowing us to stay for free with unlimited connects and then taking its percentage of projects completed by us) if it wants to be fair. It shouldn't be asking us to bring more people in who can then look at other providers who can compete against us.
This looks like a BIG WIN proposition for Upwork and a big HA HA (LOSE) for its providers. Am I missing something?
That's my take on it, anyway...
