Free Sample

[mrgonz]

Im guessin I'm not the first and definitely will not be the last one, I made a proposal to this client, and he starts his response saying how great is my work and all that sugarcoated thing that makes me suspicious about this offer, then he asks for a free sample ( I'm a graphic designer and illustrator) because he needs to know how I work on command ( uhmm okay) so I asked can it be a draft? so his response was, "I'm not sure what you mean about draft" and i was like..what? how? if you work with design, art or anything related you do have to know what a draft is, so long story short he says that if this means doing a sketch then he would advice me not to do that since he has  A LOT of illustrator working on proposals as well so..

I'm sorry but I'm not buying it, I have more than 7 years working in the field of design so everynow and then comes this "amazing opportunity" this seems like one of those, what are you thoughts about this, should I do it? my thougth process is, I believe this guy is making this "offer" to get free samples to sell to his costumers without paying, I said to him that i was going to use watermark, that if that was okay? let's see how he comes back.

[petra_r · Accepted solution]

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@Luis G wrote:

Im guessin I'm not the first and definitely will not be the last one, I made a proposal to this client, and he starts his response saying how great is my work and all that sugarcoated thing that makes me suspicious about this offer, then he asks for a free sample

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 Asking for free samples is a violation of Upwork's terms of service.

Flag as "asking for free work"

There is a time and a place for investing some time to win a really juicy contract (as in: I would think about it for a contract worth several thousand Dollars) but in general, as a rule of thumb, if a client wants a sample they can set up a sample contract and jolly well pay for it 🙂

[mrgonz]

My thoughts exactly, thank you so much for this, I already flaged him

[627903dc]

What was his name. I disagree. By providing a sample it saves both parties alot of time and aggravation. People ask for samples all the time to see if the freelancer can do the work sought after. It weeds out who knowss the work and who doesnt.

[jcullinan]

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@Vincent D wrote:
What was his name. I disagree. By providing a sample it saves both parties alot of time and aggravation. People ask for samples all the time to see if the freelancer can do the work sought after. It weeds out who knowss the work and who doesnt.

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Paid samples are fine. Clients asking for free samples are violating the Terms of Service. Freelancers can offer them, but really shouldn't. This sets a poor precident that you're willing to work for free. If a client can't tell from your portfolio that you're qualified for the job, you need to work on your portfolio.

[martina_plaschka]

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@Vincent D wrote:
What was his name. I disagree. By providing a sample it saves both parties alot of time and aggravation. People ask for samples all the time to see if the freelancer can do the work sought after. It weeds out who knowss the work and who doesnt.

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 You want to know the name of the client? You know that's against community rules, right? If you want to evaluate a freelancer, look at his portfolio section. 

[ginny-tilby]

I'm in this very situation right now.  I asked him to set up a job for sample work and he said he was happy to do so.  Then he asked me to send him a custom link/invoice.  What is he talking about?

**Edited for Community Guidelines**

[kat303]

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@Ginny T wrote:

I'm in this very situation right now.  I asked him to set up a job for sample work and he said he was happy to do so.  Then he asked me to send him a custom link/invoice.  What is he talking about?

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 I don't know what he's talking about either. but, it works like this.

Fixed rate jobs. --

1.  Clients account needs to be verified. 
2.  Client needs to FULLY fund escrow (for entire job or for each milestone as they come up)

Both of the above has to be done BEFORE you start work. When you're finished with the requirements of the job/milestone, submit the work by clicking on the Submit Work/Request Payment button. 

And that's it. The client will either release the funds in escrow, will ask for edits or do nothing in which case escrowed funds will be automatically released to you in 14 days.

Hourly Jobs.

1. Clients account must be verified before  you start work.

And that's it  Upwork will automatically take payment out of clients account at the beginning of each week. You don't have to do anything else.

Of course, make sure you use Upwork's Tracker and annotate the screen shots Tracker takes. 

[barada00]

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@Ginny T wrote:

I'm in this very situation right now.  I asked him to set up a job for sample work and he said he was happy to do so.  Then he asked me to send him a custom link/invoice.  What is he talking about?

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 Ginny, all I can think of about "custom link" is "propose a new contract" link that replaces the green "view contract" on the top right of message window. However you can only propose new contract to previous clients.

[maerchen82]

I wish had listened to my gut instincts. I just got the same with my very first proposal. The guy wanted to see my work and asked me to rewrite an article. Feel pretty stupid now, but it's a learning curve and won't happen again.

[charles_kozierok]

"I said to him that i was going to use watermark, that if that was okay? let's see how he comes back."

I'm not a designer, but I'm not sure I'd do that either for a prospect (before contract is signed.)

He might not be able to use the watermarked item, but couldn't he take it and hire someone less skilled for less money and say "make this without the watermark"? I'd think duplicating an existing design is easier than making an original one.

[mrgonz]

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@Charles K wrote:

"I said to him that i was going to use watermark, that if that was okay? let's see how he comes back."

I'm not a designer, but I'm not sure I'd do that either for a prospect (before contract is signed.)

He might not be able to use the watermarked item, but couldn't he take it and hire someone less skilled for less money and say "make this without the watermark"? I'd think duplicating an existing design is easier than making an original one.

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well you're absolutely right, i've decided that I'm gonna pass on this one, I'm gonna trust my gut  

[petra_r]

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@Charles K wrote:

"I said to him that i was going to use watermark, that if that was okay? let's see how he comes back."

I'm not a designer, but I'm not sure I'd do that either for a prospect (before contract is signed.)

He might not be able to use the watermarked item, but couldn't he take it and hire someone less skilled for less money and say "make this without the watermark"? I'd think duplicating an existing design is easier than making an original one.

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 Exactly!

Plus, I am an absolute amateur in Photoshop (purely use it (reasonably competently for an amateur) for fun and to mess with my own photos) and with a bit of time and determination I can remove a watermark....

[serenityone]

Removing a water mark is illegal and can get you into trouble fast. Please check your copy write laws.

[kat303]

Luis - It's very easy. You can do 1 of 2 things, You can ask the client to set up a small job for $xx and you'll be happy to draw a draft of what he needs. If he likes it he can hire you for the rest of the job. Or, you can point him to your portfolio in your profile so he can see a sample of the Style of your design work. (or upload some samples that may not be included in your portfolio and attach them to your message/proposal.

As for doing design work and watermarking it, I wouldn't, unless you have already been hired and are showing the client what you have created so far. I have seen a few jobs posted just on this site, asking for freelancers to remove watermarks.

[mrgonz]

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@Kathy T wrote:

Luis - It's very easy. You can do 1 of 2 things, You can ask the client to set up a small job for $xx and you'll be happy to draw a draft of what he needs. If he likes it he can hire you for the rest of the job. Or, you can point him to your portfolio in your profile so he can see a sample of the Style of your design work. (or upload some samples that may not be included in your portfolio and attach them to your message/proposal.

As for doing design work and watermarking it, I wouldn't, unless you have already been hired and are showing the client what you have created so far. I have seen a few jobs posted just on this site, asking for freelancers to remove watermarks.

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 Well the thing is that everytime a propose for a job I always send some of my work so people get to see my work, so he already has seen it, now I'm really thinking about maybe that is some kind of scam, since the job post is asking for illustrator to work for childrens book, in the description it says, that they are on a budget and that we should'nt ask for more money, since they are not getting any money from this, it's supposed to be for charity or something like that, and then on the enterview he is asking me to do some illustrations for a bakery client that needs a design. should I flag him again ?

[martina_plaschka]

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@Luis G wrote:

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@Kathy T wrote:

Luis - It's very easy. You can do 1 of 2 things, You can ask the client to set up a small job for $xx and you'll be happy to draw a draft of what he needs. If he likes it he can hire you for the rest of the job. Or, you can point him to your portfolio in your profile so he can see a sample of the Style of your design work. (or upload some samples that may not be included in your portfolio and attach them to your message/proposal.

As for doing design work and watermarking it, I wouldn't, unless you have already been hired and are showing the client what you have created so far. I have seen a few jobs posted just on this site, asking for freelancers to remove watermarks.

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 Well the thing is that everytime a propose for a job I always send some of my work so people get to see my work, so he already has seen it, now I'm really thinking about maybe that is some kind of scam, since the job post is asking for illustrator to work for childrens book, in the description it says, that they are on a budget and that we should'nt ask for more money, since they are not getting any money from this, it's supposed to be for charity or something like that, and then on the enterview he is asking me to do some illustrations for a bakery client that needs a design. should I flag him again ?

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 It must be a charity bakery then!

I'm thinking this client has told you everything about himself you need to know. 

[barada00]

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@Luis G wrote:

...he says that if this means doing a sketch then he would advice me not to do that since he has  A LOT of illustrator working on proposals as well so..

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 Luis, in addition to what others wrote, "others are already working on it", "someone from your country already sent us money and started to work", "there are lots of people racing to work with us" and expressions like that are from the book FRAUD101. If someone tells you something similar, start to run and never look back. Don't work for people who say the next job will pay higher. It won't. Don't believe if they say they can do it in 5 minutes but they are swamped at the moment and need someone to do it. Don't even read the rest of their posts if they say what they ask is an easy task. If you're going to send a sample don't bother with watermarks and be ready to never hear back. Don't work for free!

[mrgonz]

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@Baris A wrote:

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@Luis G wrote:

...he says that if this means doing a sketch then he would advice me not to do that since he has  A LOT of illustrator working on proposals as well so..

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 Luis, in addition to what others wrote, "others are already working on it", "someone from your country already sent us money and started to work", "there are lots of people racing to work with us" and expressions like that are from the book FRAUD101. If someone tells you something similar, start to run and never look back. Don't work for people who say the next job will pay higher. It won't. Don't believe if they say they can do it in 5 minutes but they are swamped at the moment and need someone to do it. Don't even read the rest of their posts if they say what they ask is an easy task. If you're going to send a sample don't bother with watermarks and be ready to never hear back. Don't work for free!

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 thank you very much, yeah I'm 100% this a scam, should I report him again or something?

[hvzo]

Hi, I have similar experience. Client from Britain post the job (convert 30psd CVs into docx) and want free sample (he has 7 reviews 4.84). I have made sample then I have seen that he interviewed more than 10 persons, after they receive samples from everyone he cancelled job.

[jojomo]

Yep!

It happens to the best of us. I've had that happen with a translation a long time ago. Someone wanted a long document translated and they broke it up into segments and had all the people they were "interviewing" translate one segment/paragraph as a "sample" and then when they had what they wanted, they cancelled the job.

[b8c374aa]

Here is a just appeared "free sample" job. The client even posts it in the description of the job offer!

https://www.upwork.com/jobs/~0134b390aeda435ba1

Please, UpWork, could you directly decline this offer from "Find a Work" panel?

Thanks

[6f4f10a7]

I wouldn't agree i am freelancer and i have done samples for free and landed decent jobs for those sometimes client is telling me to take 5$ or so for the sample but I don't because usually they ask to show 5% of the work which is not useful for them but it shows them the quality of work we can produce and if you are confident with your work you can get the job easily!

[petra_r]

I wouldn't agree i am freelancer and i have done samples for free

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It doesn't matter whether you "wouldn't agree"! The terms of service are perfectly clear on the matter.

Clients are not allowed to ask for free samples. It is forbidden! That is all there is to it.

[ginny-tilby]

Cool. That makes sense. 🙂 Thanks!