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danny-slim
Community Member

20% Service fee even above 1000$ ?!?

Hello there,

 

I reached 500$ 1 or 2 contracts ago, and the upwork fee is still 20% (even 24 +VAT). Everywhere is mentioned that over 500$ is 10 % service fee and im above 1000 now. There is no live chat anymore, and nobody gets back to me since 3 days.... almost 25 % from our fee is ridiculous high percent! Can somebody answer me.  Thanks in advance 

 

Regards 

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hglewis
Community Member

Greeting Yordan!

 

It is confusing at first. Here is the easiest way to keep track.

 

The breakdown is simple to remember. It's PER CLIENT.

 

Client Paid $0-$500 = 20% Fee / $501-$10,000 = 10% Fee / $10,000.01 and Up = 5%

 

But remember, it's per client, not your total sum for all clients.

 

Here is the documentation from Upwork's Legal Center for an in-depth explanation.

 

Upwork Legal Center: Fees

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11 REPLIES 11
martina_plaschka
Community Member

It's per client. 

edesignmk
Community Member

The fee is 20% on the first $500 of earnings with a client, then starting with $501, the fee drops to 10% with the same client

15aae880
Community Member

I didn't get this either.
I also agree that the fee its A LOT.

I mean, I even have to pay the fee to currency and banking transfer. So It eats up almost 40% for me. Its terrible.

But its my main income nowadays, it's its even a few.

 

I would love to have less taxes.

Exactly 

Wise (formerly TransferWise) is available in Spain; you could open a multicurrency account, get paid in USD, then transfer USD to Euro at a much better rate. https://wise.com/es/multi-currency-account/pricing


Felipe A wrote:

I would love to have less taxes.


Just to clarify, these aren't "taxes" they're Upwork's service charges. You'll still need to register your business with the local government and pay taxes on your earnings. If your hourly rate isn't enough to cover these expenses, then you need to raise it. (Roughly speaking, as a freelancer, you need to charge at least double the hourly rate that you would require if you had a full-time job.) 

hglewis
Community Member

Greeting Yordan!

 

It is confusing at first. Here is the easiest way to keep track.

 

The breakdown is simple to remember. It's PER CLIENT.

 

Client Paid $0-$500 = 20% Fee / $501-$10,000 = 10% Fee / $10,000.01 and Up = 5%

 

But remember, it's per client, not your total sum for all clients.

 

Here is the documentation from Upwork's Legal Center for an in-depth explanation.

 

Upwork Legal Center: Fees

I see, thanks. If the same client work with me several times do they sum up, or should be over 500 $ for the particular job?

 

Regards

It's across all work with the same client, on the same contract or many contracts. One more reason to have long-term client relationships.

Hello Yordan,

 

Here's a recent example from me.

 

Last year a client hired me on Upwork for a project that lasted three months.

 

I wrote 148 landing pages for their clients in different industries.

 

When that contract ended, I was at 5% fees with this client.

 

Recently, the client reconnected, and we started a 5-month project.

 

Though it is a different contract, I'm still at 5% with this client.

 

Should I start a contract with a new client, that fee begins at 20%.

 

If they continue working with me, the fee structure will drop per Upwork's monetary terms.

 

My goal with each client is to get them past the $10,001 mark and keep working with them.

 

The key to working on Upwork is long-term client/freelancer relationships.

 

I hope this example has helped.

syren78
Community Member

I totally agree with you. I know that with new contract they take this high fee, but still! Maybe they should consider freelancers that have been working a long time at Upwork at least. I know they have all these great services that they provide for us, and, of course, they are not free of charge. But even so, everything has become for expensive, so maybe they should consider taking a lower percentage.

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