Connects are too expensive.

[#1]

Now , the connects are too expensive. This is the worst decision for freelancers. It's killing them.

16 connects for a job of 20 or 25 dollars. 50+ proposals on that job. How someone can get hired after spending 16 connects. After spending 200 connects worth of 30$, if someone gets a job, how it will be beneficial for him/her. Please take a look on this matter and revise your decision as it's not allowing us to work or to submit expensive proposals. If you can't do anything, please give some good package on buying connects.

[#2]

You are self-employed and responsible for everything, including an amount you pay to apply for jobs. There is no free ride in the world. Someone has to pay. It is only logical that it be the ones using the service. You have made 10K here, and you can't figure out how to pay for the tiniest amount of your obligations?

I'm tired of people whining about paying .15 for connects. If you don't

 have the money, you shouldn't be freelancing, where you pay for everything. It's called the return on your investment. Learn how to use them wisely, including boosting, and you will not lose so many.

[#3]

It isn't a question of how much we earned here. I earned 100K and have no intention to buy a single connect. I'm not asking Upwork to change its policy either. I just don't pay what is for me unjust to pay.

[#4]

That is your decision.

[#5]

If you're tired of it, why do you keep coming back and commenting on the issue?

[#6]

Sorry, no interest in deflection. You have to pay your way. Do you think you are the only person or region or country with serious problems? There is no way to level the playing field. That's why the rules are for everyone.

[#7]

Jeanne spends all her time commenting here on the community freelancer posts - I wonder if she actually is a freelancer herself - where does she get the time to do both? Its pointless arguing with her as she always finds a way to make freelancers feel like losers when real issues are brought up.

[#8]

Well, Julia, it is interesting that Jeanne's profile is avilable to see but yours is not.

[#9]

I know you'll find this hard to believe, but some of us really hate to see the freelancers who really want to be serious about building their businesses distracted, discouraged and derailed by the wailings of people who are more interested in having someone to blame than in succeeding.

[#10]

Since when freelancing requires money? Freelancing is offer of work, it is not an investment. Upwork was not like that, I worked on it for many years and with the current system it seems almost impossiple to get any new job. The prices of connects in relation to the connect price of each job are completely out of reality.

[#11]

Freelancing is running a business. You pay for your own supplies, you pay for your own tools, you pay for your own marketing, etc. If you don't want to run a business, you should seek employment.

[#12]

We are all freelancers here each one with his/her story and experience. The debate is not about giving lessons to each other but commentng about the current Upwork system. If someone disagrees with you this doesn't make him a bad freelancer. If for some of you this is a fair and healthy system, for me it seems completely unfair and without logic, and I am not new on it!

[#13]

for me it seems completely unfair and without logic

It's your point of view. There are also Client's, and Upwork's.

I'll put myself in Upwork's:

• Running an unprofitable business for almost a decade, consistent negative net income, every month...
• ... although I have an enormous member base.
• I'd rather monetize the member base. I'll rotate the perception of opportunity to my 12 million freelancers.

It's actually very logical from my POV.

What you or the client think is fair, does not bring profit to me. If you or the clients are happy in the past decade for using my "high quality freelance marketplace", sorry, but it's time to change.

--

I'll put myself back at the freelancer's shoes. I'll say, don't get caught in the game.

[#14]

I'm old here, since the time of the old good oDesk. Anybody remembers it? At those times the connects did not exist. If they would have existed I would have never started working here.
I've a solution for this issue: I never bought a connect and I never will.

[#15]

In general you are correct. There are no mandatory payments. If you don't want to buy connects, don't buy them, no one is forcing you.

[#16]

The talk is about the connects, not the connections.

[#17]

Yep, it was auto-corrected by phone. Fixed

[#18]

He surely meant connects. And in the good ol' times of oDesk, the platform was not flooded with the heterogeneous humanity it is now. The quality was different back then.

[#19]

What you say is true, but there is another big change that hapenned meanwhile. The bosses of Upwork are not those of oDesk. A big change on the way of running the business took place.

[#20]

They have never made a profit. They live with investor's money (which is not uncommon for startups) and perhaps the current bosses are contemplating something new to change that. We don't have a say in this, but we can ensure that we don't become "trapped" in the game. Some people reported that they're spending 'hundreds of dollars without getting a single job', well, don't do that.

We (freelancers) are an oversupply that are putting burden to the servers (cost) if we are not monetized.

[#21]

I bet there weren't so many stupids videos on YouTube about how to make a fortune on Upwork...

[#22]

And you don't need skills!

[#23]

All you have to do is join Upwork and ask for a job. It's a marvelous platform.

[#24]

I never buy anything here until 2 months ago. I came to a conclusion that it's impossible to continue without buying connects. It's for me specifically, because I've seen some people can still get quite a high visibility etc.

Less than $10 spent and I stopped.

[#25]

If connects had existed on oDesk, perhaps they could have stayed in business.

[#26]

Don't waste your money buying connects, and don't waste your connects boosting your proposals. If you do it, you are paying to Upwork for finding a job, and not receiving money from a client. Serious clients will evaluate your skills and not the number of connects you use. I suggest even not paying for a membership. Use the 10 free connects and only buy 10 connects more ($1.5) if you find a job that really fits your skills without boosting! If Upwork does not get money from the freelancers, maybe they will care to avoid the scammers, or do something about clients that post jobs and never hire anyone.