How bid for Fixed-price postings that clearly are for on-going work

[johntimbailey]

Context I've seen a few postings for projects that have a low fixed-price (e.g. $100) but clearly indicate looking for a long term engagement without indicating wthat the proposal (e.g. for the $100) is actually for.

Question How have you guys bid on projects like this that has no indication of the initial project (the one posted for $100) when the content in the posting is about a long term project?

Continued Explanation The content of these posts are things I do want to bid on but that are way over $100 in work. I'm used to Requests for Proposals being about the project but with an indication of pricing that comes close. My concern is bidding close to $100 for a project that is clearly not a $100 OR missing the actual project's scope.

Thank you community!

[jr-translation]

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Question How have you guys bid on projects like this that has no indication of the initial project (the one posted for $100) when the content in the posting is about a long term project?

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 Don't bid, just flag them: "There's no clear, defined deliverable"

If you really want to bid, just use your nomal rates. I once offered a fixed-price for an hourly job so my rate was slightly higher that everybody elses. I used the cover letter to explain that it is be a fixed price.

Personally, I ignore sentences promissing future jobs etc. They are often just a justification for lower rates.

[petra_r]

I largely ignore the stated budget completely and bid what it's worth to me to do the job.

If there is no clearly defined deliverable I simply tell them what their budget will buy them.

[prestonhunter]

John:

Many of my long-term contracts (for which I earned thousands of dollars) started out with job postings like that.

A proposal can be the start of a conversation.

I put myself in the client's position: They may be new to Upwork. They just want to get help from somebody to move their project forward. They're faced with all kinds of fields and buttons and they're getting asked to input numbers. They have no idea how much things should cost or what they should enter in order to get their job posted.

With a proposal (or an answer to an invitation) I can start talking about how I can help them with their project. Once the conversation has begun, I typically tell the client how to modify their contract, or how to create a new hourly contract.