Inconsistent connects being "charged"

alexwilsonsblog · ‎02-08-2020

Found two identical posts from the same person earlier today. Word for word identical, same categories, both fixed price.

One had budget of $3000 for 4 connects.

One had a budget of $1500 for 6 connects.

Reported the first one and referenced the second because of the duplicate postings that were unfunded. The first one was removed.

Either way, the difference in the number of connects makes no sense. Then again, most of the tech related ones have been all over. Most are utter junk and only trying to hire someone full time or trying to get someone to work direct. I keep finding scammy ones that are also reaching out to me offline through other channels. You can't report them because there is no evidence of wrong doing yet on here. I wish there was a place where we could warn each other as I know many people that have been scammed by the firms.

tlsanders · ‎02-08-2020

Did you happen to notice the duration of the project and the number of freelancers who had already bid? Both of those things are factors in determining the number of connects, and I'm sure there are others we don't know about.

alexwilsonsblog · ‎02-08-2020

No duration. Both fixed rates. Number of bidders when I saw them were the same actually. Support told me they handled the one I reported but it is still listed as it was, so not sure what they did. Neither are funded.

I wish there was a way to flag jobs that are not properly listed. Like someone that has a 1-2 hour, one time tasking, showing it as a much longer opportunity. I find a lot of these in my line of work. I don't want to flag them as I am applying, but jobs like this cost more connects then ones are actually short and advertised properly.

ladyelexia · ‎02-08-2020

A client doesn't have to have a verified payment method before posting a job, they have never been required to either, since it seems you are unaware.

alexwilsonsblog · ‎02-08-2020

I am very aware of the fact they don’t have to fund it. Was just adding all the details on the posting. Two postings, six hours apart, identical wording, same number of invites, different budgets, neither funded, no history of hiring, member since 2018.

This is not my first rodeo on here.

I also know that the majority of unfunded/unverified ones in my line of work usually indicates scam or planning to fish for offline work, which they often don’t pay for. I know plenty in my line of work that have been duped and when we find the same ads on here as we find on other sites we can’t do anything about them until they violate TOS here.

The problem is every now and then there is a gem hidden in here that is worth it. Hard to weed through the garbage sometimes. Would be nice if they would update the categories too... have asked numerous times for “wireless” and “WiFi” so they could be filtered better.

tlsanders · ‎02-08-2020

Alex W wrote:

I wish there was a way to flag jobs that are not properly listed. Like someone that has a 1-2 hour, one time tasking, showing it as a much longer opportunity. I find a lot of these in my line of work. I don't want to flag them as I am applying, but jobs like this cost more connects then ones are actually short and advertised properly.

I wish they would just do away with tiered pricing for bids. There's little rhyme or reason to the way they do it, even improving the system wouldn't really help since clients rarely know the answers, and it causes a lot of stress and distraction for freelancers. If I could wave a magic wand and change one thing about Upwork...well, actually this would be # 2. But if I could wave a magic wand and change two things about Upwork, the second one would be to make all jobs cost the same.