Idle Open Contracts

[#1]

Hello Everyone,

I'm wondering if any UpWork Team or fellow freelancers can answer my questions about "idle open contracts" below;

1. How many inactive/idle open contracts are considered as too many by UpWork?

2. Does the quantity of open contracts affect potential invitations?

I have not tried to send a message to the clients, yet. But now I'm starting to think about what will happen if I have more and more inactive open contracts.

Thanks in advance,

Candra

[#2]

1. Upwork doesn't care. 

2. Doubt it has any effect. 

But I think it's a good practice to ask your clients to close the contract if they don't have more work coming so they will leave feedback before they forget about you.  Unless you think the feedback won't be good. 

[#3]

Hi Julie,

Thanks for your prompt feedback.
However I have just found a freelancer's post which said that he received a notification from UpWork for an inactive open contract. Here is the link to the post if you don't mind to check it;

https://community.upwork.com/t5/Freelancers/Re-open-Contract-Ended-by-Inactivity/m-p/851226/highligh...

Thanks,

Candra

[#4]

I'm not sure about the exact rules that apply to that case, but it would only affect you if there is money in escrow that hasn't been released. Having a contract where you have received the money you earned isn't going to cause any problem. But, as Julie says, it's better to close it for the sake of getting feedback. Also, potential clients might think you're too busy to hire if they see a lot of open contracts on your profile.

[#5]

I don't think a lot of the clients (that are not also freelancers) ever look at jobs in progress unless you are new and there are no completed jobs.

[#6]

Hi Robert,

Thanks for the information. And well noted I will try to contact the clients one by one.

[#7 · Accepted solution]

I believe that's only the case for contracts with money in escrow (fixed price contracts) and the money has not been paid to you yet. 

It has happened to me, I was working on a fixed price contract, there was a second milestone funded (money in escrow) and I was waiting for the client to get back to me with documents so I could complete the second part of the project.  He never did, he couldn't find the information, so I received the message you posted from Upwork with a request for a refund of the waiting escrow money.  I think it was after 90 days? Of course I refunded since the project never proceeded to the second milestone.

If you don't have open contracts with funded milestones you are unable to proceed on then no it won't affect you and you won't receive any messages about it from Upwork, that I know of.

[#8]

I have 8-9 inactive contracts and one of them has been funded in Escrow, luckily I have already contacted the client and now the last funded milestone has done successfully.

Thanks, Julie!