Cheap clients

[kat303]

I'm seeing an increase of cheap clients who are circumventing the fixed rate minimums here on Upwork. For example. there's a job description with a budget of $10 that needs to have a two-hour video typed up into text. From what I understand 1 hour of video/audio equals 4 hours of typing and work. So, doing the math, and adding on the 20% fee would come out to just $1.00 an hour or $8.00 for 8 hours of work.

I personally don't care about these jobs, but I was wondering if anyone else has see an increase of jobs like this. I can't wait to read a post where freelancers are now PAYING clients for the privilege of working for them.

[pandoraharper]

I recently added some new keywords to my job searches. I'm now seeing a lot of "small jobs", many like you described, that pay super low. I'm not paying huge attention to these jobs, but I have noticed that Coaches generally don't pay very well (thats one of the keywords). 

Most of these could be considered general VA type jobs, and most are not US freelancers only. 

[sergio-soria]

The funniest part is that sometimes they look for "experts" at that rate. Then they wonder why those experts give them garbage. And yeah, I have seen an increase of those jobs.

[bobafett999]

I am certain that many of those posters had roots that went back to plantation owners.  They didn't have to pay nothing to those slaves.

[renata101]

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@Kathy T wrote:

I'm seeing an increase of cheap clients who are circumventing the fixed rate minimums here on Upwork. For example. there's a job description with a budget of $10 that needs to have a two-hour video typed up into text. From what I understand 1 hour of video/audio equals 4 hours of typing and work. So, doing the math, and adding on the 20% fee would come out to just $1.00 an hour or $8.00 for 8 hours of work.

I personally don't care about these jobs, but I was wondering if anyone else has see an increase of jobs like this. I can't wait to read a post where freelancers are now PAYING clients for the privilege of working for them.

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Hey Kathy,

Yes, to preponderance of cheap clients (diminutive budgets and massive expectations). 

I just flag those extreme low-ball fixed-price jobs by filling out the "it's something else" section with my calculation about the estimated amount of work the client is suggesting. Hopefully that will cause some part of the databank somewhere to back up and eventually they'll have to send someone out to fix it.  

[prestonhunter]

It is inappropriate to flag jobs that do not violate Upwork rules / ToS, simply because they don't meet your personal expectations.

It is inappropriate to flag fixed-price job postings based on their suggested budgets (which may have nothing to do with how much the client will end up paying) and based on your personal estimates of how long the work will take (which may have nothing to do with how long other freelancers will take to do the work) to come up with numbers that don't relate to fixed-price contracts anyway. Because fixed-price contracts are based on an agreed-upon deliverable. They are not based on the amount of time worked.

[bobafett999]

Also, many of these kind of jobs are for "friends & family".  They get long work history with 5 star ratings.  I seem to recall a buyer who was scammed (it was a fun thread to read).  She was a lawyer, but she was doing gigs for $20 visiting beauty websites.

[maks08]

Yes, I have noticed this tendency. I don't have a lot of clients who work with me often, and I have problems with job search because of such cheap clients. Sometimes I see a very interesting project, but I see the price and it's very cheap and I should move on to next. But the same situation with the next client. 

Some time ago there were projects, where clients put 5$ as a placeholder. That's why I'm looking through all jobs in my category. But looks like I should change the way I'm searching for the jobs. 

[richard_wein]

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@Maxim B wrote:

Some time ago there were projects, where clients put 5$ as a placeholder. That's why I'm looking through all jobs in my category. But looks like I should change the way I'm searching for the jobs. 

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Yes, I didn't use to filter by price, for the sake of the occasional job where a client would use a $5 placeholder budget. But eventually I gave up on that, and started filtering out jobs under $100. I just wish I could apply the same filter to invitations.

I've started to notice another way that clients use to avoid setting a budget in advance: they list the job as hourly, and then ask for a fixed price. This way is probably better, as they don't risk being filtered out.

[raina5]

There are a lot of cheap clients around, yes.  I had read here once that some clients just put in that low amount but expect to be negotiated up. But, I pass those right on by. If you are a serious client who respects the work and commitment it will take for me to make good designs for you,  you will not be playing around to see how low you can go, rather, you will be looking for a capable professional who will partner with you to develop what you need. Those low proposed budgets just scream to me of disrespect and that all you care about is spending as little as possible. Not someone I want to work with. OR, put in the project description that you have extremely limited funds, but hoping you can find someone anyway, or it is for an awesome non-profit, or something like that, to address that you know the rate you're proposing is ridiculously small, and here's why...

[krystal3446]

This is old and I do agree. There has been an increase in cheapskate clients. I just ignore their job posts and flag those that sound suspicious.

I don’t normally see this as an issue in the chemistry and production arena (I think clients know that chemists will NOT formulate a unique product, buy the ingredients, make it, AND ship samples for $5!).

The cheapies are out there though, but as I suspected, chemists would rate these projects at reasonable high rates and ignore the client’s low budget (I look at the highest and lowest bids). I did notice clients offering $5 for writing projects however. I’ve just received an invite to apply for a medical writing assignment for dirt-cheap, which was declined faster than the invite!