Clients pulling you out from Upwork!

[4144d0b3]

Hello, dear community!

Many clients on the platform are dragging you out from the platform by requesting your email, WhatsApp, Telegram, and so on, which is against the ToS (as far as I know).

So I am wondering, is providing my socials outside Upwork can get my account banned? I can't afford this.

The clients do not care about their accounts. However, I spent 20 Connects and 20 minutes writing a proposal, only to get declined because I didn't want to break the rules...

That's a big issue.

Any tips? What do you guys do?

[deborah-ponzio]

In my experience, if a client pulls out as you wish to adhere to the TOS, you aren't losing anything - serious and genuine clients would stay. Those who only wish to communicate outside are scammers or dishonest players. 

[wlyonsatl]

Just provide this link to Upwork's relevant rules when a client makes such a request.

Get to know each other before a contract – Upwork Customer Service & Support | Upwork Help

Even good clients new to Upwork don't bother really digging into Upwork's rules and procedures. They will comply once they know what's allowed and what isn't.

The bad "clients" will whine, moan, cajole, complain and otherwise refuse to play by the clearly written rules. Ignore them and move on. None will be worth risking your Upwork account for.

[feed_my_eyes]

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 wrote:

So I am wondering, is providing my socials outside Upwork can get my account banned? I can't afford this.

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No, you can't provide social media links.

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 wrote:

However, I spent 20 Connects and 20 minutes writing a proposal, only to get declined because I didn't want to break the rules...

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"Clients" who want you to go on Telegram, give them your email address etc. are 99.9% likely to be scammers. So, by refusing to go off the platform, you're not really losing any clients, you're just going to avoid wasting your time and keep yourself safe from viruses.

If someone asks for your contact details and then declines your bid when you refuse to provide them, make sure that you report this and then you'll get your connects back.

[deborah-ponzio]

Thanks for sharing this Christine, I was not aware that we could get our connects back in such cases. I contacted the Support Team yesterday about this.