Boosting a proposal is extremely exploitive for the freelancers

[fatimakazmii]

Why can't Upwork take down the feature of boosting proposals? This is extremely unfair to a person who is sitting there to wait for the jobs to be posted by clients and writing a proposal addressing all the issues the client wants to be solved, but when he/she sends the proposal to be at the top in line, he/she is pushed back by someone who comes later but puts tonnes of connects to boost a proposal. 

It is extremely unfair for freelancers who spend almost 8 hours on Upwork daily to be among the first 5 by applying for a job as soon as it is posted. However, it is disappointing to know that I can never be among the first 4 proposals in line for the clients to see unless I spend more than a hundred connects (yes, I have seen jobs with boosted proposals with 100 connects).

Being on top of the list of proposals for clients definitely impacts the chances of securing a job. The clients don't want to go all the way down to the list of proposals to see all of them. They always focus on the first few as they want to save time too. 

Upwork wants to earn more money through the purchase of connects by freelancers. How will Upwork earn money when freelancers leave the platform, or the newcomers won't join Upwork due to this exploitive feature of boosting proposals? 

[ericaandrews]

This statement is completely false:

"Being on top of the list of proposals for clients definitely impacts the chances of securing a job. The clients don't want to go all the way down to the list of proposals to see all of them. They always focus on the first few as they want to save time too. "

Sorry, but I have been interviewed and hired by clients after spending the MINIMUM number of connects needed even when I saw other people had already sent in 'boosted' proposals . In one case, all 3 'boosted' slots were filled, with one person wasting over 50 connects.  I sent a proposal for the minimum required 4 connects and got a message from the client within 20 minutes. The client only interviewed 3 people total, one of which was me, which means at least one of those 3 people 'boosting' simply wasted their connects and got nothing out of it. I was the one the client ended up hiring, so, no. Not all clients are foolish enough to just 'hire' whoever bribed their way to the 'top' of the list.  For many clients, boosting your resume has the opposite effect: A complete turn off.

In one case, the client I interviewed with told me they actually automatically DECLINE boosted proposals, because many times 'boosters' send irrelevant propoals and he thought it made the freelancer look too desperate for work. Another client told me they consider it a 'red flag' because he found people boosting often lie about their abilitiess, their location, or both.  Other clients have told me the feature irritates them and has caused them to close out some jobs without hiring anybody because they couldn't sort their proposal list by qualifications because 'junk' proposals were 'stapled' to the top of the list, even if they were irrelevant. Not all clients are 'tricked' or 'duped' by how much somebody paid to be at the top of the list: Boosting is like walking into a meeting room and screaming.  The person screaming or talking the 'loudest'  in the room doesn't always have the most intelligent things to 'say', and sometimes going 'out of your way' to get 'attention' just causes more serious people to ignore you.

Those 'boosted' proposals are becoming like those 'sponsored' ads you see at the top of every Google search you do online: Most seasoned internet users  are so use to seeing them and know those 'ads' aren't the 'real' search results and automatically scroll by them. Google can stick those ads at the top of every page and I will won't 'click' on any of them. I just ignore them.  That's what some clients do with boosted proposals

[fatimakazmii]

All that you have written is in favor of my arguments. If boosting a proposal isn't helping anyone, then simply abolish that feature. It's exploitive for freelancers and misleading/unhelpful for clients. 

[ericaandrews]

I agree the feature should be abolished and never should have been implemented to begin with.  I was included as part of the 'pilot' program a couple years ago when UW was trying out the feature, left very negative feedback about the 'feature', considered it a scam, and never used it again.  However, the statement you made that all clients just 'grab' from the proposals on the top of their list is FALSE. Every client is different, and not every client is dumb enough to just 'grab' whatever is on the top of the list. Some clients are SMARTER than Upwork gives them credit for.

[celgins]

Why can't Upwork take down the feature of boosting proposals?

They can, but they won't; not unless Boosting becomes a detriment to Upwork's business model. Boosting is a way for Upwork to generate more income while giving freelancers a false sense of control over their proposal positioning.

This is extremely unfair to a person...

It is extremely unfair for freelancers who spend almost 8 hours on Upwork daily...

It may seem unfair, but Upwork focuses more of its energies on the client experience than the freelancer experience. Upwork needs to retain its clientele and bring in new clients and this--in my opinion--is a higher priority than supporting its freelancers.

Being on top of the list of proposals for clients definitely impacts the chances of securing a job. The clients don't want to go all the way down to the list of proposals to see all of them. They always focus on the first few as they want to save time too.

As CJ pointed out, this isn't always the case. In fact, it may not even be the majority of cases. I have also heard many clients say that they automatically ignore boosted proposals.

How will Upwork earn money when freelancers leave the platform, or the newcomers won't join Upwork due to this exploitive feature of boosting proposals?

Upwork can afford to lose freelancers; it cannot afford to lose clients. If 2 million freelancers left the platform tomorrow, I am certain Upwork would not be too upset about it. Also, Upwork generates revenue from both freelancers and clients in many ways. Revenue primarily comes from freelancer service fees when getting paid for work, but Upwork also generates revenue from premium offerings, talent memberships, Connects, foreign currency exchange, and a few other ways.

I agree with you, though. Boosting is problematic in several ways and I wish it would go away, but it won't as long as Upwork does not see it as a long-term problem.

[abixbg]

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It may seem unfair, but Upwork focus more of its energies on the client experience than the freelance

Upwork can afford to lose freelancers; (...) If 2 million freelancers left the platform tomorrow, I am certain Upwork would not be too upset about it. 

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You can't be more wrong! Mainly because the first that would leave Upwork would be the high quality freelancers that do the actual work. Clients may have the money but they are not spending it if there is no one to do the work. Unfortunately I am sure your opinion is the majority including among upper management in Upwork. But if you think about it the relationship between freelancers and clients is much closer to B2B on so many levels. For upwork clients and freelancers are both partners and trust me someone will be very upset if they lose 10% of the workforce in a blink. Did you know how much they lost when they banned Russian and Belorusian freelancers? They were much less than 2M and that decision cost them over 10% of the total yearly revenue. I am not judgeing their decision I only give it as an example what will happen if you instantly lose huge amount of freelancers.

[celgins]

I understand your point, but I should have been clearer with the highlighted statement. I believe that "If 2 million low-converting, less talented freelancers left the platform tomorrow, I am certain Upwork would not be too upset about it."

Upwork indirectly stated in its Financial Results and Forecasts for 2023 that skilled freelancers are in more demand than less skilled ones. So, I'm referring to the less skilled freelancer accounts that Upwork can do without. If Upwork loses more unskilled freelancers, it will only benefit that B2B freelaner/client relationship you're talking about.

Freelancers are a big part of the Upwork marketplace and its ability to retain clients. However, Upwork has way more freelancers than clients, and Upwork has shifted its focus to retaining current client-spend and attracting new clients, as opposed retaining existing freelancers.

[abixbg]

Ok so it was a bit of misunderstanding then. Btw have you seen the recent Upwork Plus Ad?

I sense a lot of desaprate measures, I would call it even "panic mode"

• Attend weekly Upwork coaching office hours
• Enjoy a 0% service fee when you bring new clients to Upwork

But note that small text on the bottom the features themselves will only be included until June 30, 2023.

Looks like until Q3 they don't expect things to normalize... I hope I can afford to wait that long.

They have lost insane amount of Clients due to bad freelancers and to the influx of low quality freelancers spamming jobs with the boost gamble. I am afraid UW is now accepting any Client that wave a valid credit card... basically the same mistake like accepting any one that can apply as a Freelancer. 

[celgins]

Yep... I saw the Upwork Freelancer Plus additions and I also thought it was a semi-despearate measure. I don't know about panic mode, but couple this with the uptick in Connects requirements and it certainly looks like a combined effort to offset recent financial issues.

Upwork lost $89.9 million dollars in 2022 and they hope to become profitable in the second half of 2023. but I don't see that happening--not with the current state of affairs.

[abixbg]

Instead of improving the UX for both clients and freelancers they try to balance the very limited feature set they got. In gaming industry i am part of, this is never a good sign.

[ericaandrews]

I think that's why Upwork has recently changed the connects system so people can buy an unlimited number of connects, rollover an unlimited number of connects. Some jobs are now 8 connects minimum, and now 4 'boosted' slots are available. 

What they have been doing IS driving away lots of the GOOD clients that pay higher rates, do lots of hiriing, and offer long-term or big contracts.  It's not just that lots more freelancers keep joining, the overall QUALITY of the jobs being posted in recent months has been declining - noticiably . As an example: For programming jobs, several months ago, most of the job posts offered rates/budgets that were in-line with general market rates for particular programming skills.  However, recently, I've seen a noticeable increase in people posting jobs requesting those same skills and offering silly stuff like $5 or $10 'fixed price' for somebody to say, build an entire Android mobile app.  The changes over the past 1-2 years have started turning the platform into one of those low-quality 'cheap labor' platforms that I won't name here. Fewer of the GOOD clients offering the GOOD rates/budgets are posting jobs, and more random 'new' clients are joining and posting 'junk' jobs. So, to make up for driving away so many of the GOOD lucrative clients, they now have to try and 'extract' more and more money from freelancers buy convincing them that if they 'pay more' to bid on an shrinking pool of jobs, they 'increase' their 'chances'.   Now, you literally have some freelancers paying more in connects to bid than the job is worth.  I've seen people bidding 50-100 connects for jobs under $20.

How else can you explain that, while the platform knows they have fewer and fewer jobs being posted, they are - everyday - continuing to allow more and more 'new' freelancers onto the platform, knowing there aren't enough jobs available for everybody.  They are deliberately overssaturating the pool of freelancers to increase the number that might be willing to pump money into buying more and more connects, but never getting hired.  The result is that new clients that do try to post serious jobs get flooded and spammed with hundreds of 'junk' proposals within a few minutes of posting the job, causing them to abandon the job post, and go somewhere else to find talent.  Freelancers being able to buy and spend 'unlimited' connects per month is only going to make that worse, since people can now buy thousands of connects and simply relentlessly 'spam' every job post that hits the board with 'automated' proposals. The connects system is becoming a 'pay to spam' system.

I've personally started focusing more and more of my attention on 'niche' platforms specifically for tech that have a more 'selective' process for allowing new freelancers/businesses to join - with true 'vetting' of both freelancers AND clients.  I think if UW continues this 'downward spiral' of quality, the platform will no longer be a viable platform for serious freelancers and clients, so I already have contingency plans if/when that day comes.

[feed_my_eyes]

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Fatima A wrote:

It is extremely unfair for freelancers who spend almost 8 hours on Upwork daily to be among the first 5 by applying for a job as soon as it is posted. 

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You're mistaken if you thought that you were ever one of the first 5 just because you sent your proposal as soon as it was posted. Upwork has always put bids in the order of what their algorithms consider to be the "best match" for the job, so even if you bid first, you could have ended up at the bottom of the list by the time the client read the bids. Nothing has changed about that; the only thing that's changed is that more and more people are joining Upwork, so it's become more difficult to find work.

[imcaptain]

This platform turned into a SCAM one, they don't care about your feelings or worries and losings they just focus now on how to CONSUME your earnings far away from any professionality.

The priority on bidding now is for the guys with high budgets who are ready to pay their money to get a job, so if you dont have this big amount of money ready to pay it then you won't find any chance to compete with them even if you was SUPER PROFESSIONAL person in your job, they just dont care .