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franks_tim
Community Member

Budget $500 - Offers $15...

Hi Upwork community & mods

Something I've come across more and more recently, and is beginning to get on my nerves (especially when the application has multiple unique questions), are jobs that post a high budget and then make a ridiculous lowball offer. 

The final straw was a job post just now, whose budget was set at $500, experience set at intermediate, & a request for "quality and attention to detail", for an Editor position; including managing a team of writers. 
After going through and filling out the application, replying to the client's message, going through their documents, and having a look at the test document, they offered $15 per 2/3 hour job. 

How this $15 comes close to $500 is beyond me, and, quite frankly, comes across as a lie to get good freelancers to apply. So basically, let's say the best part of an hour has been wasted because of this lie. 

 

As you can probably tell I'm slightly frustrated as there seems to be very little I can do to ensure this doesn't happen again. 

Ideas? 

Mods, have any thoughts on this? Perhaps some new feature to put clients off doing this? 

ACCEPTED SOLUTION

Hi Timothy,

 

I understand your concern. We know clients at times do not provide accurate information, for a variety of reasons. As a freelancer, we recommend carefully reading the entire job post and using your own experience to determine whether you have enough information, you trust that information, and it’s worth to submit a proposal. We also suggest you look at other important details, such as any client history. On our end, we provide clients with tips to create complete, accurate job posts and will continue to look at ways to make sure freelancers have the information they need to vet a client.

~ Vladimir
Upwork

View solution in original post

10 REPLIES 10
AleksandarD
Community Manager
Community Manager

Hi Timothy,

 

I'm sorry to hear about this. At Upwork, the terms of any contract, including the rate, are for clients and freelancers to decide upon together. Any freelancer who is not satisfied with the rate offered can negotiate a higher rate or find a project they consider to be more suitable.

 

Thank you.

~ Aleksandar
Upwork

Of course, I did not imply Upwork has anything to do with negotiating fees. 

Upwork does have a responsibility to ensure the job posts are accurate and don't include lies. Otherwise, trust in the platform's ability to mediate will dwindle.  Questions like, "Why apply for any jobs here if 70% of them are lies?", will arise more and more. 

 

Would you consider it within Upwork's policy to allow inaccurate job posts?


Hi Timothy,

 

I understand your concern. We know clients at times do not provide accurate information, for a variety of reasons. As a freelancer, we recommend carefully reading the entire job post and using your own experience to determine whether you have enough information, you trust that information, and it’s worth to submit a proposal. We also suggest you look at other important details, such as any client history. On our end, we provide clients with tips to create complete, accurate job posts and will continue to look at ways to make sure freelancers have the information they need to vet a client.

~ Vladimir
Upwork

Thanks for getting back to me. 

I do read all the client's info, and don't apply to many jobs based on payment history, feedback history, etc. However, sometimes a client will look all right, with job posts that look professional, and budgets that seem suitable or me, then end up looking for the cheapest freelancers. I know Upwork is an international market, but if you want X type of writer, then advertise for X type of writer, don't adverse for Y writer then offer them an X writer positon.  (Forgive my over usage of X and Y haha)

It's a shame that there aren't any ways to really get around this. I hope you guys find a suitable solution to alleviate this issue soon. 

Anyway, c'est la vie 

I’ve had a very similar experience. The posting looked legitimate for an editing job needing quality and attention to detail, as well as publishing articles. The rate was $10 an hour. Sounded simple enough for my first UpWork job. I invested 40 hours for 3 articles, publishing them, editing, finding relevant photos and formatting them, editing descriptions and finally having to be a social media booster. This client has been like a baited hook. I’ve done all of this now for 3, 15 page articles and he reveals that the rate will now only be $10. Not $10/hour but $10 for ALL OF IT. I’m livid. 40 hours of work and he says it’s all “training boot camp”. He’s just manipulating new Freelancers into free labor. I see a lot of posts doing the same thing, overall it makes me highly skeptical of using UpWork in the future.
petra_r
Community Member


Cheyenne R wrote:
I’ve had a very similar experience. The posting looked legitimate for an editing job needing quality and attention to detail, as well as publishing articles. The rate was $10 an hour. Sounded simple enough for my first UpWork job. I invested 40 hours for 3 articles, publishing them, editing, finding relevant photos and formatting them, editing descriptions and finally having to be a social media booster. This client has been like a baited hook. I’ve done all of this now for 3, 15 page articles and he reveals that the rate will now only be $10. Not $10/hour but $10 for ALL OF IT. I’m livid. 40 hours of work and he says it’s all “training boot camp”. He’s just manipulating new Freelancers into free labor. I see a lot of posts doing the same thing, overall it makes me highly skeptical of using UpWork in the future.

If you were hired on an hourly contract, you would (or should) have logged your hours using the Upwork tracker.

If you were hired on a fixed rate contract, the hourly rate would have been irrelevant because there would (or should) have been clearly defined milestones with funding in Escrow.

 

If that is not what happened, then either you weren't hired at all, or didn't work the contract correctly.


Cheyenne R wrote:
I’ve had a very similar experience. The posting looked legitimate for an editing job needing quality and attention to detail, as well as publishing articles. The rate was $10 an hour. Sounded simple enough for my first UpWork job. I invested 40 hours for 3 articles, publishing them, editing, finding relevant photos and formatting them, editing descriptions and finally having to be a social media booster. This client has been like a baited hook. I’ve done all of this now for 3, 15 page articles and he reveals that the rate will now only be $10. Not $10/hour but $10 for ALL OF IT. I’m livid. 40 hours of work and he says it’s all “training boot camp”. He’s just manipulating new Freelancers into free labor. I see a lot of posts doing the same thing, overall it makes me highly skeptical of using UpWork in the future.


I mean, if you failed to read the post properly... and the contract... this is hardly the client's fault.

When someone posts a job, it very clearly states fixed rate or hourly. If he extended a contract based on your proposal, that means your proposal was for $10 fixed rate. You can't switch a job posting from hourly to fixed, they would have to make a whole new post.

Overall, even though this sucks and I feel bad for you, saying it makes you "highly sketptical of using UpWork" is ridiculous - if someone can't read a simple contract that's their own fault. Contracts are intended to be legally binding documents, why someone would not go through every aspect of it with a fine tooth comb is beyond me.

gina-herrera
Community Member

Also in regards to the original posting - A lot of clients have literally no clue how much things cost.

I try to focus on working as much as possible with people who send me invites, usually they are less clueless because they invited me after at least viewing my hourly rate, and plus they are more determined to work with me since I was hand-chosen to apply.

I had a couple of invites where the client "realised" that I am based in Italy only in the middle of our correspondence... and they were targeting very different markets and assumed that I was based there.... I'm not sure how they chose to invite me. I no longer assume anything 😉

07cde080
Community Member

Before investing time in applying for a job, thoroughly read the job description, requirements, and budget. If the budget seems unrealistic for the scope of work, it might be a red flag.

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