Improvements in Freelance work conditions

kastigao25 · ‎04-05-2023

Hello to the whole community, I have been a member of Upwork (formerly odesk), for 10 years. Top Rated plus, 100% score, generally good connection with all clients. There are always exceptions. But generally good.

But lately I am seeing that the quality of job offers is plummeting, at least as far as my area of work is concerned (3d art in general), and little more than that it is accepted that anyone open a job offer that usually it will never get anywhere.

This opens two complaints. On the one hand, the Bids that we invest in ghost offers (those that never go anywhere), which is money that the freelancer is losing. I guess upwork is interested in hundreds and hundreds of bids as long as we freelancers invest in the buy of new Bids, but this is starting to annoy me to extreme levels. I have hundreds of proposals that are there, in my history, that neither go forward nor go back, they just stay there for months. Job offers, which are opened without any intention of hiring anyone. WhY? Does upwork think about doing something, or is it just a good way to earn money for them at the expense of the new bids that freelancers invest?.

Another point that bothers me a lot is that the client is allowed to lie blatantly. That is to say. The client posts a job offer, where in his offer he states that it is for hours (usually very high ranges), to make his offer juicy in the eyes of the freelancer, the freelancer invests his money in that offer, and once the client contacts you , his proposal is a fixed price that borders **Edited for Community Guidelines**. Why is this allowed? Why is no one raising their voice?

And now for finish. When will freelance contracts be fair and proportionate? This week I have experienced in my own flesh this example:

Client sends me a job offer to make a character. I accept his offer, and plan my entire week to make his character. · days later, before starting the project, the client says he has personal problems, and cancels the project before starting. And nothing, he goes to the beach to continue with his life. And the freelance is stranded, losing basic money for him. What is Upwork waiting for to create penalties so that this does not happen? How can someone open a contract and close it like this, without any penalty? Is this serious? Can we really allow this?

I really hope that you, my fellow freelancers, also understand what is happening and do something about it before this becomes an outdated platform, full of garbage.

Best regards,

uysimty · ‎04-06-2023

I though I am the only 1. Last year, I won a big client and I put my profile in private. I opened my profile back since February and I got almost 0 views and invites. I used to have massive of this. With all the connects and boots, it less likely client will reply. I got 4 interviews which client behavoir look strange. And they even change the payment term when seding offer. I am not sure what is happening.

kastigao25 · ‎04-06-2023

The fact that no Upwork moderator has responded is indicative of something going on.

d9fc6d8d · ‎04-06-2023

At this point, I wouldn't even ask Upwork to improve, I'd be happy if they just didn't make everything worse with every change they make.

kochubei_valeria · ‎04-06-2023

Hi Marc,

I'm sorry to hear you're not seeing the value you expect in your job feed. You can use filters while searching to exclude the type of jobs you’re not interested in. Also, keep in mind that a lot of jobs on Upwork are posted privately – clients fill these by searching for the essential skills they need and invite freelancers who fit the bill to submit a proposal.

Ultimately, the terms of any contract, including the rate, are for clients and freelancers to decide upon together as they discuss the project and interview. Any freelancer dissatisfied with the rate offered can negotiate a higher rate or find a project they consider to be more suitable.

If you come across any jobs that you believe violate Upwork TOS, feel free to flag them so that the team could review.

Marc F wrote:

Client sends me a job offer to make a character. I accept his offer, and plan my entire week to make his character. · days later, before starting the project, the client says he has personal problems, and cancels the project before starting. And nothing, he goes to the beach to continue with his life. And the freelance is stranded, losing basic money for him. What is Upwork waiting for to create penalties so that this does not happen? How can someone open a contract and close it like this, without any penalty? Is this serious? Can we really allow this?

As for the experience you described here. Could you please clarify if this was an hourly or fixed-price contract? If hourly, you would still get paid for the time you works provided that you tracked it using Upwork Desktop App. If fixed-price and the client requested a refund from Escrow when cancelling the project, then you should have an option to dispute client's request.

~ Valeria

kastigao25 · ‎04-06-2023

Thanks for your answer Valeria. I understand that you have to defend the interests of Upwork, and it is legitimate. I defend those of the Freelancer, which seems that lately we have been completely abandoned. It is curious that you say this, when I am Top rating plus, 100% score, 10 years on the platform, more than 300K earned and none of these private companies that you mention contact me. I must be invisible. And the few interview offers that come my way are offers that no one with experience would accept. The fact that my profile is not well updated and that kind of thing is not an excuse either. The problem is that Upwork is giving way to junk offers. Another example of an hourly range job offer (I never bid on fixed price offers), the offer is attractive, an attractive hourly range, a client who seems to have a good rating. Well, I invest bids in it and this is the client's response, it is worth it:

Hi, The scope of this project has narrowed, and now looking to buy any off-the-shelf realistic human head with arkit blendshape rigging in fbx format for testing. Ideally with one or two textures. But not a custom build yet until we have a working prototype. Let me know if you have anything off the shelf to sell, looking at $50 or so. Arkit blends shapes critical so we can test the idea.

So from a offer of work of various weeks with a good hour range, to 50$ for all work!!. Do you think that would I have bid on this offer if the client had said that all this amount of work is for 50 dollars? Well, that's it. And if I have reached this extreme, it is because this is what is happening on a regular basis. While Upwork has implemented this absurd Bid system, the only thing they want is to make money, for that to happen hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of jobs must be published, otherwise nobody would bid and nobody would spend their money on more Bids. Honestly, the only thing that Upwork is doing is harming the veterans and the most qualified, and that we are the ones who have all raised the prestige of this page with our efforts. And that's how they reward us?

best Regards,