Connects | Is this really how it goes?

[championchan]

I've used all of my connects and bought some for 3 dollars. I also used them up. It's a bit useless to apply for projects and the clients are not even responding at all. I even see less than 5 proposals to the project without anyone being interviewed. It looks like I'm wasting money for purchasing connects and I heard that the connects are not even refreshing. Upwork could have tried to give back those connects for clients that are not responding at all.

Also, I made 2250 dollars on one project. They already deducted their commission of 275 dollars from it. And I just learned today that they converted dollars to peso for 47 pesos per dollar. The rate is 48 pesos per dollar. What a scam! They know that freelancers does not have much choice as they're one of the best in this type of industry.

[petra_r]

---

Christian Paul A wrote:

And I just learned today that they converted dollars to peso for 47 pesos per dollar. The rate is 48 pesos per dollar. What a scam! 

---

"Scam?" - Seriously? Whose rate is 48 Pesos? You do understand that Upwork don't exchange your money, the banks do? And that the mid market rate is not what banks charge retail customers, right?

---

Christian Paul A wrote:

Also, I made 2250 dollars on one project. They already deducted their commission of 275 dollars from it.

---

Right? And? 

---

Christian Paul A wrote:

It looks like I'm wasting money for purchasing connects and I heard that the connects are not even refreshing.

---

Look at your individual Return on Investment. If the money you spend is justified by the money you do or at least can earn, it's worthwhile. If not, don't buy any connects.

[championchan]

I checked my bank's rate and they only buy at 47.75, that's too far from 47 that they use for the exchange. What I'm saying is that they already took their commission out and why not give a fair exchange rate.

[petra_r]

---

Christian Paul A wrote:
I checked my bank's rate and they only buy at 47.75, that's too far from 47 that they use for the exchange. What I'm saying is that they already took their commission out and why not give a fair exchange rate.

---

Which part of THE BANKS are doing the excange are you struggling with? Upwork send the money to their bank in Dollars. What happens afterwards has nothing to do with them. If you don't like "direct to local bank" - use a different withdrawal method and see if that works out better for you.

[championchan]

You don't have to be so condescending. I'm just stating the facts here. If it has nothing to do with Upwork, then okay. Thanks for explaining and acting like a nagging mother.

[petra_r]

---

Christian Paul A wrote:
 I'm just stating the facts here. 

---

By calling Upwork "Scammers" and falsely claiming they set the exchange rate? What kind of "facts" do you call that?

[youssefbahaa · Accepted solution]

Hi Christian, I know it doesn't feel good when you are expecting to earn money and find yourself paying money just to apply for a job that you usually get no response for.

From another point of view, Upwork needs to minimize the Proposal spamming to prevent the freelancer from applying for jobs that he can't do, hence, improve the clients' experience in the filtering phase and qualified freelancers' chances to be hired and get noticed. [This explains connects purchase].

Also, the Connects thing is not that bad, I believe Upwork's team are doing their best to make it fair, by allowing the free monthly connects and the free connects that you get after the client responds to your proposal. I know it still needs more improvements for a better Freelancer experience. But I can understand how it is difficult to prevent spamming while keeping it fair.

There are a couple of tips to minimize the probability of applying for a job post whose client doesn't have the intention to hire anybody; By checking the client's history and hire rate. 

Regarding the Dollar exchange rate, it is because of your local bank, Upwork has nothing to do with the exchange rate.

I hope this helps, Wish you the best of luck.

[championchan]

I guess it's because I only started focusing on Upwork this month and though, I had an account years back, I really just checkin again this month. I guess that's another way to look at it. I have they improve more towards the freelancers as well. Thanks for the reply. I appreciate it.

[tlbp]

1. You won't get the connects back

2. You agreed to pay a commission in exchange for using Upwork's access to leads. If you hadn't benefitted by receiving a lead, you wouldn't have had to pay a commission. (If it is less expensive for you to find clients by other means, of course, you should use those methods first.)
3. The exchange rate is determined by your bank. Talk to them. 

Oh, and you may be responsible for paying self-employment taxes on your earnings, so be sure to deduct that from your net earnings as well. Freelancing has many costs and you, as the freelancer, bear most of them.