Connects

[hoverlyn]

Why connects didn't refund when the job post is closed or expired? even the client did not hire anyone.

[arsalan-m]

No one is asking client to care about our connect neither any of us asks for a guarantee. It's upto the skill, communication, cost & many other factors counted to win the job. Secondly, the word was "unintentional" not intentional. If you could see i am not questioning clients here but asking the platform to favor Freelancers "only" if the job gets expired.

When the posted job get expired, no one is benefitted. Every platform has both skilled & non-skilled workers but it doesn't mean that the ones who actually know their business should bear their load. It's upto to the client who they interview, test & hire. Your profile, skill & review plays an important role i believe.

You're in the same queue until client indentifies & approach you as their required & qualified resource. You never know how many "unqualified" proposals client has received. Decreasing connects for everyone or complexing the process doesn't guarantee that the skilled one will get the job. 

[the-right-writer]

You wrote, " 2- I have applied to many jobs earlier, but many clients left it open, neither hired someone nor closed the job, after a month the job expired & my proposal went to archive, but i didn't receive any connect refund"

That is correct.

"i read the forum & they said connects will only be refunded when either client deletes the job without a hire or the upwork platform deletes it."

That is correct.

"That's unfair,"

No, it is not. The requirements and rules cover all freelancers.

"not every client is aware of this"

As I said, the clients don't care about your connects or what you pay for them.

" they are unintentionally wasting our connects if they change their mind"

Again, they don't care about the connects and are not thinking about them.

"& spammers are also at the peak posting fake jobs,"

True

"if the job get expired without a hire freelancers should get their connects back. Platform should consider refunding the connects on job expiry. Correct me if i'm wrong."

Your logic is faulty. While you see more connects as helping you get a job, they are not because the platform is inundated with free connects. Therefore, many freelancers are using connects they have gamed from the platform by using fake jobs from their friends and getting more connects. This flood of free connects, and interview connects is destabilizing the marketplace.

You may like getting free connects, but that doesn't help you when everyone is getting free connects and can apply and apply for jobs they are not qualified for, clogging the system and angering clients who can't find a decent proposal in the swamp of applicants.

[arsalan-m]

Let client decide this who they think are qualified for their job. I see nowadays upto 50% jobs has invites on them, noticing this atleast in my category (genuine clients) & they prefer interviewing their invited resource first most of them get hired as well. So client has already made up their mind & they prefer them over the others, unless something goes other way with their invited resource. So i dont see the logic behind your approach.

I wouldn't disagree with you completely but you should see that Upwork has already taken a major to control proposal's overflow by increasing the no. of connects you need to send your proposal which is vary for each job. It's not about getting "Free Connects" but  "Refunding" it so we can re-utilize them.

I didn't ask to refund if we don't win the job that logic might be faulty as it doesn't make sense, but what I'm asking, does! atleast to me.

That's it!

[AveryO]

Thank you for reaching out, Arsalan. 

Submitting a proposal has a financial cost, just like the other expenses you incur as a freelancer running your own business. If a client never hires but doesn’t close the job, your Connects is not returned. In this situation, we continue to encourage the client to hire or close the job, but ask that you consider the cost of Connects as part of your business expenses.

[arsalan-m]

Hi Avery,

That's exactly what i do. But in my opinion platform should consider refunding the proposal as freelancers already bear much expense from wining the job till getting the cash in hand/bank. That's what i was saying.

Thanks!

[aranasroan24]

Hi - According to my membership connects, I should be receiving 10 free connects every month. But, as per checking Connects History, I am not receiving any. Is it because I still have available connects? Can you further explain this benefit? Thanks in advance!

[PradeepH]

Hi Roan,

Thank you for your message. I see that your monthly billing cycle starts on the 22nd of every month. You should receive your monthly Connects within 24-48 hours from the start of the monthly cycle. I can see that you have already received monthly Connects for the last 3 months. You can check your Connect History page for more information.

Thank you,

Pradeep

[d9265d82]

Hi Upwork,

Each month I got my free 10 connects but this month I didn't get my free connects nor I got any email for free connects.

Please help.

Thanks.

[PradeepH]

Hi Mehreen,

Thank you for your message. I checked and I see that your monthly billing cycle starts on the 10th of every month. That said, your free monthly Connects will be credited within 24-48 hours to your Upwork account. I see that free monthly Connects for the last month were credited on June 10th.

Thank you,

Pradeep

[cba5b04a]

Hi,

I am not recieving my monthly free connects. Can you please help out with the same?

Thanks.

[759e32fa]

Hi Krishnan,

Thank you for reaching out to us. I checked your account and can confirm that you are receiving your free monthly Connects. They are credited to your account every 20th of the month. You can check your Connects History on this page.

[27e8bd16]

I have upgraded my monthly plan, in the monthly update plan, I should get 80 connections and other benefits at $ 14.99. But after renewing the monthly plan it gave me 76 connects.

What's the problem, why did I get  4 connects less?

[martina_plaschka]

Because they are pro-rated depending on when in the billing cycle you upgrade.

[d3555f0b]

if I withdraw proposal , will I get back my connects. ?

because some clients aren't responsive. 

Advanced Thanks

[martina_plaschka]

No.

[10342110]

Hi! I am very new to Upwork and I don't understand what Connects means. Can someone explain please, thank you in advance.

[AndreaG]

Hi Geraldine,

As a freelancer or agency, you'll use Connects to reach out and let clients know you're interested in their projects. When you find a project you're interested in, you can use Connects to submit a proposal. You can learn all about Understanding and Using Connects here. 

[c25e08b7]

Hi All, 

I am new to Upwork, as the new roads are always bumpy. But one must always keep his head up to tackle the bottlenecks. 

Anyhow, my current billing cycle is as follows:

11-Jun-2022 to 10-July-2022, 

As today is 22-July-2022 and it is already 12 days past since I haven't received my Monthly Free Connects. 

It would really be a helping hand to sort out this mentioned problem. 

Regards,

[PradeepH]

Hi Muhammad,

Thank you for your message. I'll have one of our customer support agents reach out to you directly and assist you further.

Thank you,

Pradeep

[6688031f]

Do we get free connects at the start of the month, like August 1 or July 1?

[luqman_mak]

You get them at the beggining of your..billing cycle is it?
So if you started using upwork on Jan 21, you get your next connects in Feb 21 and so forth.

[759e32fa]

Hi Tehreem and Luqman,

Thank you for reaching out to us. You receive your free monthly Connects based on your billing cycle. To check your billing cycle, kindly go to Settings > Membership and Connects > look for the Current Billing Cycle. The first day showing is when you receive your Connects.

You may also check this article for more information.

[6688031f]

Thanks!Annie.

My current Billing Cycle is 

Jun 21, 2022 — Jul 20, 2022.But i've not gt any connects yet please help me sort this problem out the problem.

[PradeepH]

Hi Tehreem,

Thank you for your message. I'll have one of our customer support agents reach out to you directly and assist you further.

Thank you,

Pradeep

[damico-sebastian]

Hello, I would like to know how to manage a Connects refund. I sent a proposal to a client and since I was very interested in the project, I boosted it with a good number of Connects so that my proposal is among the first places. The client contacted me but it turned out to be a trick. The client wanted to recruit me outside of Upwork, so I politely replied that good freelancers only work within the platform. The client did not respond again so I made the decision to withdraw my proposal thinking that I would recover the Connects invested but this did not happen. I would like some moderator to evaluate my case and take the corresponding actions.