Buyers Confusing Fix Price for Hourly When Setting Up Jobs

[randymyers]

I have recently noticed something strange that I don't remember ever happenig before.  Buyers are setting up hourly jobs with a range of what they are willing to pay per hour.  For instance $10 to $30 per hour when what they really meant was that they are willing to pay somewhere between $10 to $30 total for a fixed price job.

This has been happening on a regular basis for about a week or more when I don't remember it ever happening in the past.  This leads to me ask, has something changed on the buyer's side of the Upwork software that is confusing them about how to set up the jobs?  Has anyone else taken notice of this phenomenon?

[prestonhunter]

Randy:

I think it's a coincidence.

I sincerely do not believe that there have been any recent changes that have led to clients thinking that an hourly rate is the total amount they should expect to pay for a contract.

As always, freelancers should be aware that clients may be new, clients may be too impatient to read the directions, and clients may post jobs without understanding everything. For many clients, any Upwork freelancer they interact with represents Upwork as a whole. So we need to be patient, but firm, as we deal with clients.

Obviously we need to help clients use Upwork properly, and sometimes that means we need to explain things to them, such as the fact that an hourly contract is based on how much they will pay a freelancer PER OUR, and not for the entire job.