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destudiovanjanet
Community Member

Active Proposal - New to Upwork

I'm new to Upwork and I recently got my first active proposal and have been working on a project for my client (it isn't an hourly project).

 

Is there something the client must do on Upwork to show this project in the "my jobs" section or any type of movement they need to do on their end when this shows as an "active proposal" that I'm working on for them (and yes I have been in contact with this person)?

At what point do they pay me?

Does anyone request a certain % of the payment upfront or during their progress on a project?

32 REPLIES 32
petra_r
Community Member


Janet P wrote:

I'm new to Upwork and I recently got my first active proposal and have been working on a project for my client (it isn't an hourly project).

 


An "active proposal" is meaningless - it's just an interview, really,  and you certainly should not have started working!!

 


Janet P wrote:

 

Is there something the client must do on Upwork


Yes. Hire you

 

STOP working immediately, familiarise yourself with how the platform works, then proceed.

 

If it is a fixed-rate contract the client has to fund the project and send you an offer, which you can check and accept if the contract is funded in Escrow (to the agreed amount.)

 

Thank you, Petra, Your feedback helped me too

Hello Petra, I am a new at upwork and submitted a proposal and the client interviewed me(active proposal) in it he said he was interested to hire me but i have to sign an agreement and pay him security deposit which are to be refunded after completion of 40% work. I am confised and dont know how to reply


Harsh D wrote:
Hello Petra, I am a new at upwork and submitted a proposal and the client interviewed me(active proposal) in it he said he was interested to hire me but i have to sign an agreement and pay him security deposit which are to be refunded after completion of 40% work. I am confised and dont know how to reply

This "client" is a thief, planning to steal the "security deposit" he's hoping to take from you. A freelancer never has to pay any  money under any circumstances. Anyone who asks them to do so should be reported to Upwork immediately.


Harsh D wrote:
Hello Petra, I am a new at upwork and submitted a proposal and the client interviewed me(active proposal) in it he said he was interested to hire me but i have to sign an agreement and pay him security deposit which are to be refunded after completion of 40% work. I am confised and dont know how to reply

Just to understand how these scammers operate - what did he request a security deposit for? What needs to be insured?

Hi Harsh,

 

Thank you for reaching out to us. I will send your report to our team for further investigation and appropriate actions will be taken according to our internal processes.

 

I would like to clarify that as a freelancer you are not required to pay any security fee. Please know that you were not hired for this job and shouldn't provide any work until your client sends you an offer and a contract is created under your My Jobs tab. Please note that any request for free work is not allowed on Upwork, and it is a violation of Upwork's Terms of Service.

 

Additionally, please note that sharing contact information before a contract has started is against Upwork’s Upwork's Terms of Service and that all communications prior to the contract starting must take place on Upwork. We also encourage you to let us know if a TOS violation has happened by using the Flag as Inappropriate option throughout the platform. You can learn more about user reporting here.

 

You may want to check this post for the freelancer resources and tips for avoiding questionable jobs that we put together to help freelancers make decisions whether to work with a client or not. Here you can find more information on how to stay safe on Upwork.  

 

~ Nikola
Upwork
36d233d8
Community Member

Hello, please I need clarification on something.

I sent a proposal and the client sent me a message so now, it's showing active proposal. What must the client do for it to get to invitations? Because it isn't showing under invitations.

Or it's nothing to worry about?

Hi Debbie,

 

Thank you for your message. Your proposal will be under Invitations when a client invites you to apply to their jobs. You will need to accept the invitation and submit your proposals if you would like to apply. When you submit a proposal on the jobs first they will always appear as Submitted Proposals and they will be moved to Active Proposals when the client responds to your submitted proposals. Hope that answers your questions.

 

Thank you,

Pradeep

Upwork
bb26b8e0
Community Member

I am new in the platform, I applied for a job and the guy asked me to talk with him on telegram. I did, but everything seems suspect, so I came here and now I am pretty sure it's a scam how can I report this person? 

Hi Winnie,

 

We truly appreciate you reporting this suspicious activity here. I would like to let you know that sharing contact information before a contract has started is against Upwork's Terms of Service and that all communications prior to the contract starting must take place on Upwork.

 

I'll make sure that this will be reviewed by the appropriate team and take action with the client's account if necessary. We also encourage you to let us know if a TOS violation has happened by using the Flag as Inappropriate option throughout the platform. You can learn more about user reporting here. You may also want to check this help article and this thread for more information on how to stay safe on Upwork.

 

~ Arjay
Upwork
7b922fed
Community Member

and what if it is hourly based contract?

VladimirG
Community Manager
Community Manager

Hi Janet,

 

I checked your account and can confirm Petra's statement that you are not yet hired for the job. Please ask the client you're communicating with, who also appears to be new on Upwork, to verify their billing method and send you an offer directly by selecting the green "Hire Now" button on your profile (you can send her the link) or by selecting the same button next to your proposal under the 'Review Proposals' tab in the job post. Make sure to confirm the offer includes the terms you agreed on previously before accepting it, and you should be able to see a contract under "My Jobs" tab afterwards. 

Please review these resources in order to successfully use Upwork as a freelancer and share this help article with your client. Feel free to send me a private message if you or your client need additional assistance with completing these steps and I'll be happy to guide you through the process. 

~ Vladimir
Upwork

Hi Vladimir,


My proposal for https://www.upwork.com/jobs/~01cee6f170b47f6e7d was accepted but I am concerned.

The client -**edited for Community Guidelines** said the entire project is 35000 words for editing broken into 6 installments and they would pay $290 for each installment. This particular posting is the first out of 6 installments.

Client said that they came across issues and the rest of their article was rewritten except the the first installment. So they claimed to pay the opt out fee on UpWork, so that this particular project can be completed outside upwork.

They want to pay me directly for this first installment. They would be willing to send me a check directly for this, then rest of 5 projects would be done through UpWork. I confirm that they did send me an Employment Offer Letter by e-mail stating the above pay per installment.

I asked if they contacted UpWork about this and asked confirmation that the remaining 5/6 installments would be on Upwork (I'm aware of UpWork ToS).They confirmed this is the case and that they will be posting the remaining 5/6 installments/jobs on UpWork.


Can someone at Upwork confirm? Have they paid an opt-out fee for this job? Is this a legitimate business? Can someone help mediate? Can Upwork ensure they go back to UpWork for the remaining 5/6 installments? What should I do? 

 

Note I also sent an e-mail to **edited for Community Guidelines** about this but community searches also led me here.

 
Thank you,
Bart


Bart S wrote:

 


Can someone at Upwork confirm? Have they paid an opt-out fee for this job? Is this a legitimate business?

 

I don't work for Upwork, but there is virtually zero chance that they did, since the minimum opt-out fee is about twice as much as they've said they would pay you for the entire project.


Bart S wrote:

Hi Vladimir,


Client said that they came across issues and the rest of their article was rewritten except the the first installment. So they claimed to pay the opt out fee on UpWork, so that this particular project can be completed outside upwork.

They want to pay me directly for this first installment. They would be willing to send me a check directly for this, then rest of 5 projects would be done through UpWork. I confirm that they did send me an Employment Offer Letter by e-mail stating the above pay per installment.

I asked if they contacted UpWork about this and asked confirmation that the remaining 5/6 installments would be on Upwork (I'm aware of UpWork ToS).They confirmed this is the case and that they will be posting the remaining 5/6 installments/jobs on UpWork.


Can someone at Upwork confirm? Have they paid an opt-out fee for this job? Is this a legitimate business? Can someone help mediate? Can Upwork ensure they go back to UpWork for the remaining 5/6 installments? What should I do? 


If you're aware of the TOS, then you should be aware that ALL payments have to go through Upwork. A client cannot pay you by check for the first instalment, or any instalment.

 

There IS such a thing as paying an opt-out fee, but this usually happens when a client and a freelancer have worked on at least one contract together and have formed a good relationship. It wouldn't make sense for any client to pay a huge opt-out fee in order to do a first job with a total stranger. And if they did pay the opt-out fee, why would they need to pay for the remaining instalments via Upwork? None of this makes sense, and you're almost certainly being scammed. 

AveryO
Community Manager
Community Manager

Hi Bart, 


I looked into this further for you and can confirm that actions have been taken against the job post and the client's account for violating the Upwork User Agreement. As it has already been mentioned, offerring and accepting payments off the website is a violation of the Upwork User Agreement.

 

I highly recommend that you read up on the freelancer resources we have compiled, for great tips and insights on how you can work successfully on the platform. Please don’t forget to read the Safety First! section of the resources, and these tips for avoiding questionable jobs for more information about working safely through Upwork.

 

Please also read this help article for more information about what actions may cause your account to be permanently or temporarily put on hold. I would suggest that you refrain from communicating this client off the platform so that you can avoid being scammed.


~ Avery
Upwork
bjscreate
Community Member

Thanks all for the insight and thanks, Avery for the confirmation. I have sent my termination and will be stopping all communication with this client off UpWork.

 

The status of this posting never went to "offered" and as of now is still in "Active Propsoal", so I hope this post will go away soon as you've mentioned actions have been taken against this client and post.

 

Thanks,

Bart

what should i reaaly ask the client -  to send me a job offer instead of  proposal  ? is that so, looking forward of your reply !?

mehwishjaved1243
Community Member

Hi..I m new to Upwork...I need active proposal...I will do my best...

Hi Mehwish,

 

You might want to consider completing your profile so you can increase your chances of winning jobs. Check out these articles to help you create a profile that stands out and improve your profile title and overview.

 

As a reminder, your profile must represent you as an individual and that all the information in your profile including your profile photo needs to be accurate, truthful, and verifiable. Please check this help article for more information on how to update your profile photo.

 

Thank you,

~ Luiggi
Upwork


Mehwish J wrote:
Hi..I m new to Upwork...I need active proposal...I will do my best...

No, you don't need an active proposal. Nobody needs that. What you need is a real pic of yourself.


Martina P wrote:

Mehwish J wrote:
Hi..I m new to Upwork...I need active proposal...I will do my best...

No, you don't need an active proposal. Nobody needs that. What you need is a real pic of yourself.


If only I'd uploaded a picture of George Clooney to my profile, I'd be drowned in job offers.

s221502149
Community Member

the is a week for review and another week has to pass so that you can receive the payment on the next wednesday

 

kc001
Community Member

there are so many stages if thats the correct wording to get the job. it seems to take a while to win the job

juggofaqeer
Community Member

Hi Janet!
My name is Shireen. I got my first job on Upwork (Hourly basis). Nut when I click on MY JOBS, it is not sowing in the Active proposal section It is showing under Starting soon section. So I'm not able to add hours to it. What should I do to make it active and add hours?

**Edited for community guidelines**

Hi Shireen,

 

I checked your account and it looks like this is already an active contract. When working on hourly contracts, you log your hours using the Upwork Time Tracker App. You might want to read this help article for steps on how you can use the Time Tracker.  

~ Joanne
Upwork
03354cab
Community Member

Hi,

My proposal has been accepted by the client through Telegram. However, they have not accepted it through upwork, it has now disappeared from my proposals and is not listed in my jobs. They want this job completed within the next three days and I'm not sure what to do?

I have also messaged the client asking them to accept the proposal. They said they could not do this as they are having disagreements with Upwork, their company name is **Edited for Community Guidelines**

Hi Beth,

 

Thank you for reaching out to us. As a gentle reminder, please know that communicating outside Upwork prior to a contract starting is a violation of our Terms of Service and your account could get suspended for this.

 

Since no contract is in place in Upwork, we have no way of securing the payment from the client for your work. I highly advise you to stop communicating with them and not provide any work or service.

 

Moving forward, please utilize our Message Center in order to protect yourself from scams. Additionally, you can send us a flag if you encounter any suspicious user activity so we can investigate.

 

You may also want to read this post by one of our Community members about top red flags for scams to protect yourself moving forward.


~ AJ
Upwork


Beth L wrote:

Hi,

My proposal has been accepted by the client through Telegram.


No, it hasn't - you've been dealing with a scammer. Other freelancers have lost hundreds - sometimes thousands - of dollars this way, plus you're risking your account by communicating outside of Upwork before you have a contract in place. 99% of the project posts on Upwork that have just a one-sentence job description such as, "We need jpgs retyped in Word" or "We need jpgs converted to pdf" or "simple typing job" are scams. Sorry.

 


Beth L wrote:

it has now disappeared from my proposals and is not listed in my jobs.


That's because somebody else realised that it was a scam, and reported the "client" to Upwork.

 


Beth L wrote:

They said they could not do this as they are having disagreements with Upwork, their company name is Marin Software inc.


That's a lie, and they don't really work for that company. 

 

You need to read this: https://community.upwork.com/t5/Community-Blog/Top-Red-Flags-for-Scams-From-Community-Member-Wes-C/b...

 

A word of advice: data entry is poorly paid and highly competitive. If you're going to charge $8/hour, minus Upwork's 20% fee, then converted from dollars to pounds, you'll be making around £3 less per hour than the UK minimum wage, and it could take you months of effort just trying to land a job here (it might never happen, since there are thousands of experienced data entry freelancers who are available for $3/hour). You'd be much better off joining a temp agency or looking for a summer job in your town.


Beth L wrote:

They said they could not do this as they are having disagreements with Upwork, their company name is **Edited for Community Guidelines**


I bet they do, since they are scammers.

ef9604b4
Community Member

Hi,

I'm new in upwork and had an interview 17 days ago. The client didn't hire me (he hasn't hire anybody) but the proposal is still active. It has been active for 17 days.

What does it mean?

Thank you in advance 

ee8f82de
Community Member

Hello Community , 👋🏻 

I'm AI researcher & I've this common yet confusing doubt. ( Yes , I'm new to Upwork . ) 

I've been actively discussing with this client and besides the contract I've applied for , she has been asking & sending me these few small task to complete & then she'll also pay me for those , as well . ( She has " payment verified " tag . )

But , there's no official sign regarding the work . 

She told me to review & then improve one of her research paper , in between the ongoing project I've applied for . Also , she told me that this second given task must be my priority to work on for now . 

She has unofficially discussed few other contracts like Research Paper Reviewer, Paper format converter, etc. 

But , I have not been notified anything serious about this first task . The drawback is I've selected complete, one time payment for my first research paper writing & publishing contract . 

So my question is , what should I do or ask her ? 

Shall I start with my work or I should tell her to hire me first . 👀

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