100 Bids Per Month for $10

[#1]

All freelancers need  to 100 Bids Per Month for $10

[#2]

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Debroto H wrote:

All freelancers need  to 100 Bids Per Month for $10

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No, they do not. The ones who do are the reason we have paid connects now.

The point is to protect clients from spam proposals, not to make them drown in them.

[#3]

There are many more ways to protect a spam proposal.

[#4]

well, you can speak for yourself 😉

I was on premium membership and cancelled it, because each month I was stuck with 200 connects... 

[#5]

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Debroto H wrote:

All freelancers need  to 100 Bids Per Month for $10

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Sorry, but if you need to make 100 bids per month, then you're doing something wrong. You don't need more connects, you just need to learn how to use them more effectively.

[#6]

"if you need to make 100 bids per month, then you're doing something wrong."

That might be a little unfair to say when you don't know what field the freelancer is, how competitive that is and how much Upwork experience they have amassed. It takes time to reach certain milestones like 1000 hours and 100 jobs, so not all jobs are available. If a freelancer is seeking a first job, they might reel about for a few months before figuring things out, and even then there is pretty much no strategy now that the tests have been scrapped to build a reputation.

I don't understand why 'nasty' is the first thing people on these forums like to engage with. Really, what does it get you?

[#7]

Not sure how you think 100 bids can be made for $10 ?? jobs are a minimum of 2 connects so that would mean 200 connects for $10 (assuming your only going for low price fixed cost jobs) 

I agree with what others have said, in that, you should work on using what you have more effectively - i myself also need to do this as i am struggling to find quality work here recently but that is not something i put down to client or Upwork fault.

Having said that, i have seen a HUGE increase in proposals to jobs since the introduction of paid connects and i fail to see how Upwork think it will reduce proposals when previously everyone was limited to 60 connects a month but now they can just purchase as many as they please (or register a new account and get 90 connects (rather than the 60 it previously was)for free)

[#8]

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Jonathan H wrote:

...or register a new account and get 90 connects (rather than the 60 it previously was)for free)

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New freelancers get 20 free connects, not 90, and most won't win their first project unless they purchase a lot more than that. 

[#9]

Well, if 20 is the case then that is good and certainly sounds like a reasonable amount - Im going from certain videos i have seen from creators in my sector that seem to advocate starting new accounts to gain connects and taking clients off the platform to complete payment. I apprciate its not for every niche, but it does seem common in my sector. 😞

[#10]

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Jonathan H wrote:

Well, if 20 is the case then that is good and certainly sounds like a reasonable amount - Im going from certain videos i have seen from creators in my sector that seem to advocate starting new accounts to gain connects and taking clients off the platform to complete payment. I apprciate its not for every niche, but it does seem common in my sector. 😞

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Where did you see these videos? You might want to send the links to Upwork to investigate.

[#11]

This is one......

**Edited for Community Guidelines**

Now i realise this guy doesnt come over as the most professional person ever, but with over 140K subscribers watching his videos and his constant recomendations for people to basically ignore Upworks terms, i think there is a real impact.

some of his regular recomendations....

"make multiple accounts"

"take clients to skype and explain the fees of upwork and try to get them to pay through Paypal"

More recently...

"make fake client accounts and see peoples proposals to the job so you can see how others do it and replicate it in your own proposals"

Im not sure how much is said in the above video, but his channel has hundreds of videos, many of them making these kinds of claims.

[#12]

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Jonathan H wrote:

This is one......

some of his regular recomendations....

"make multiple accounts"

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Wahaha, google the name + Upwork. Endless accounts from all over the globe (mostly not approved, in fairness)

[#13]

Yep -

"mostly not approved" - but many many that have been - he has made accounts during live videos to show how easy in is to get approved for a duplicate acount. 

not to mention gawd knows how many people that have 'followed' his advice

[#14]

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Jonathan H wrote:

"mostly not approved" - but many many that have been -

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Really? I only found 1 I could have hired, all the rest were not approved (when it says "This freelancer is not available...") but obviously I only checked a random dozen or so.

I couldn't watch his video to the end, found him so super annoyingly "fake-gangsta"

[#15]

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Petra R wrote:

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Jonathan H wrote:

"mostly not approved" - but many many that have been -

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Really? I only found 1 I could have hired, all the rest were not approved (when it says "This freelancer is not available...") but obviously I only checked a random dozen or so.

I couldn't watch his video to the end, found him so super annoyingly "fake-gangsta"

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yeah, sorry i didnt mean many approved on that search, just that he has had many (maybe active and later removed/deleted/restricted by either him or upwork?)

I am not suprised you couldnt watch to the end 

[#16]

Hi Jonathan,

Thank you for sending the video. I will make sure to send it to our team for investigation.

Thank you.

[#17]

Jonathan,

Thanks for the fill-in and the heads up. I think I accidentally violated the TOS once in my first month. The more interesting thing was I contacted support as requested and asked for a reason. They refused to give me the reason. They told me to read the TOS, which I did, and 'sign here' saying that I understood it -- which I did. I believe my egregious error was to let a person posting a job that their rates were obscene. Honestly, I still think that should be a thing...

In any case, the link you posted is gone but in my email. If it is all true, they should shut down this person's account for promoting TOS violations. I've had clients ask to go off the platform and refused because I have enough invested here that I'd like to keep it.

It is ridiculous behavior. I don't know how long it took you to ferret that information out, but this guy must be either really brazen, if the videos contain that information, or really not very bright if he's making money on Upwork at all.

You are awesome.

[#18]

Richard,

In all honesty i have no idea if he still makes much money from Upwork, he has a succesful youtube channel that i assume he earns significantly from and as such is now more of a content creator than a freelancer. I have no doubt however, that even if they do close his account he will reopen a new one without much trouble - He is very open on his channel about the fact that he doesnt bother trying to get feedbck on here as he always tries to get the client off the platform. As such i dont think a closed account would be much more than a mild inconveinience for him.

For me the more concerning thing is the 140000 subscribers he has that may be taking his advice and using the same tactics to create multiple accounts to gain free connects, take clients off platform and post 'fake' jobs to see how others make proposals.

[#19]

Jonathan,

I'm guessing this guy is just manipulating everything...including that subscriber count. He just went from 140k a moment ago to 141k. Meanwhile, he has 700 views. Those numbers don't add up.

"I've never had a review and I still get jobs..." but which ones? And right now I'm going to reel back a little on what I said to Tiffany, because if he's just looking for $20 jobs then closing and opening a new account, that isn't just being in the wrong business. It is being a manipulative horror who gets jobs, has no credibility, and is bad for the community.

You seem like a pleasant, honest guy. You are pretty new here and I'm wishing you some success with the platform. Keep at it! 

[#20]

Richard,

   I can see your point, and why you may think that - maybe you are right. However, whilst 700 views does not appear much for a 140k sub base, he posts daily, and has many videos with much higher view count. 

Just to reiterate, my concern is not so much with his personal activity on Upwork per sè but more the effect it has on the community he has built. even if he just has 700 solid followers hanging on his words and doing as he says, each of them posts a fake job to gain some 'inside knowledge' and they all submit a few proposals a week before making a new account. - Thats potentially quite an impact! 

Im not saying any of what he says is correct, or true - but he does have a large following and its those followers that are of concern. Especially to me as, like you say im 'pretty new here' and i have had to rely on some lower budget work in order to try and build both experience and history. Whilst i am now able to apply for jobs at slightly higher levels i am still at the 'low end' and as such i feel this has quite an impact. I have no doubt that this individual and his followers would have much less impact on someone more experienced and looking at higher budget jobs. 

Anyway, i will carry on regardless and hopefully develop my portfolio and experience to a point where this has little to no impact.

You seem like a pleasant, honest guy. You are pretty new here and I'm wishing you some success with the platform. Keep at it! 

Thank you - This is a new career path for me after finiding myself unemployed after many years in an unrelated industry. I am working hard to learn new skills and make things work as i really love what i am now doing (when im not stressing about not having enough work  ). So i appreciate your words. Thank you.

[#21]

Any freelancer who is making 100 bids per month is probably in the wrong profession.

[#22]

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Tiffany S wrote:

Any freelancer who is making 100 bids per month is probably in the wrong profession.

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Such a person is also significantly better off now than during the days of free connects, when 100 bids a month would have cost $ 140 a month: $ 10 for the membership with 35 bids, and $ 130 for the 65 bids at 2 connects each, costing 65 x $ 2...

[#23]

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Such a person is also significantly better off now than during the days of free connects, 

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Unless of course there is now a big rise in the number of proposals being submitted, meaning that they didnt previously need to submit nearly so many!

Personally i have seen a big rise. However, its a little early to tell if its the 'new system' or just a slump combined with more part timers making bids over the holidays. Only time will tell - i genuinely hope it is the latter. 🙂

[#24]

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Jonathan H wrote:

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Such a person is also significantly better off now than during the days of free connects, 

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Unless of course there is now a big rise in the number of proposals being submitted, meaning that they didnt previously need to submit nearly so many!

I am having a hard time seeing how paid connects would lead to more proposals, it would be ironic if that was the case, but I doubt it.  There have been a lot of people late to this party and maybe they are all blowing them in one last hurrah but I can't see how charging for connects would lead to more proposals.

But if it did, that would be incredibly ironic.

[#25]

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Mark F wrote:

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I am having a hard time seeing how paid connects would lead to more proposals, it would be ironic if that was the case, but I doubt it.  There have been a lot of people late to this party and maybe they are all blowing them in one last hurrah but I can't see how charging for connects would lead to more proposals.

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Well, i hope i am wrong - but after the 'switch' there was an obvious drop in proposals for a week or so (for my sector anyway) since then things have gone crazy, im seeing $5 fixed price jobs from unverified clients getting 10 - 20 bids, usually within half hour or so of being live, let alone any jobs that actually sound like they have some promise (reasonable fixed price and/or clients with a decent history).

I hope it is just a last hurrah as you say, i really do - but it makes sense to me that people would send more proposals....(I know i have had to - though i am looking into ways to improve my proposals so i can limit this.)

The 'ones upwork seek to weed out' with this measure were previously limited to 30 proposals a month, from that they may be lucky to get a job or 2, after that they are stuck until the following month. Now Upwork have made it ultra easy to top up your connects and make as many proposals as you like!

For the record, i actually think the paid connects system is a good idea (though i think it needs a few tweaks). But, i dont think it has acheived the purpose that it is supposedly in place for (to reduce proposals on clinet jobs). I am however open to the fact that what i have experienced could be relevant only to my niche and i also realise its still early days so hopefully things will level out 🙂