Increase Connects

Ivan S · Jun 8, 2017 10:45:33 AM

I also think number of connects should be increased or should be limitless. I know it might be difficult but Upwork really needs to find a way to monitor abusive freelancers if there is no connect cap. It is not really decent upworkers problem if other freelancers apply to too many irrelevant jobs or spam. I think employers are missing out on a lot of good freelancers who used up all their connects because Upwork allows so few connects per month. By the way, in your experience is it worth purchasing additional connects?

Jennifer D · Jun 8, 2017 06:43:03 PM

@Ivan S wrote:
I also think number of connects should be increased or should be limitless. I know it might be difficult but Upwork really needs to find a way to monitor abusive freelancers if there is no connect cap. It is not really decent upworkers problem if other freelancers apply to too many irrelevant jobs or spam. I think employers are missing out on a lot of good freelancers who used up all their connects because Upwork allows so few connects per month. By the way, in your experience is it worth purchasing additional connects?

Except that it *is* your problem, because if clients get swamped with hundreds of spam proposals they won't see yours and may leave the platform. It is in your best interests for Upwork to protect clients from spam. "Good freelancers" learn to manage their connects.

Ivan S · Jun 8, 2017 07:34:12 PM

You missed my point. I think Upwork should look out for upworkers like they do for clients. There are spam clients too. I got a couple of invites that ended up to be a scam, they tried to get my bank account info. This is just one example. There are both good and bad clients and upworkers. I think that is not "my" problem but Upwork's and they are the owners of this system.

Fergus M · Aug 14, 2015 01:38:32 PM

"what of the new joiners! they apply for the job some get declined some unanswered"

Yes.

"client post the job and never bother to look after how many have applied on the job"

They're even less likely to look if the job gets swamped with rubbish bids. Pick your bids carefully. Look for clients with a history of awarding jobs. Steer clear of the cheap ones; they're less likely to award it.

"all the benifits goes to the client in this system here."

Not really. All the benefits go to freelancers who can pick the right jobs to bid on and write a decent proposal backed up with high quality work samples.

If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.― George Orwell

Shoaib A · Jan 28, 2020 06:18:15 AM

Since joining to upwork have applied on 5 jobs and connects have been ended what is substitue if person has not dollars to spent.

Brian E · Aug 14, 2015 12:57:17 PM

My issue with this is people, on every platform not just here, always ask for free. Clients are spending hundreds yet contractors have an issue with $10. Instead of more connects I'm pro-more barrier to entry.

Require a monthly fee for contractors. That'll do away with people bidding $2/hr as they'd have work 10hrs just to cover their membership fee. It'll do away with those clients also as no one would be bidding those jobs.

For higher paid jobs only allow those members to bid them and for the client to pay a job posting fee.

Everyone complains about how it won't work but Craigslist did just fine charging only major cities in their business. Five employees and few million later it's still not rocket science.

Jennifer M · Aug 14, 2015 01:11:52 PM

I'd be up for a monthly fee too if I could get better quality leads. It would kill off the lowballers. Or do something like a different fee schedule where higher end leads are seen by people paying the monthly fee and give the free subscriptions a list of lower quality leads.

Or give prime real estate to paying freelancers where their bids show up first and free members show up second. This way, if there is a good new freelancer with a great proposal, they can still be seen and compete.

I guess it's hard to say what will work. This is probably the reason for their poll regarding the commission hike.

I kinda wonder if they have data related to how many pages a client goes through when choosing a contractor. Since it's paged, I wonder if they keep track of clicks to keep scrolling through freelancers. They keep track of profile views too. I wonder if they have analytics on whose profile gets reviewed the most when a client goes through bids. That could then control search rank.

So many options! I kinda wish I had access to their data!

Mariska P · Aug 16, 2015 09:03:04 PM

Brian, I'm wondering why clients aren't being charged a fee of some sort to either advertise their jobs or a work fee like we pay Upwork.

Seems like freelancers do the grunt work and the clients (no offense intended to freelancers or clients, just my 2 cents) get the benefits of our labor. Whatever money some of them spend on a freelancer's work usually isn't a big expense for them compared to hiring someone in real life. I could be wrong but at this time I think I'm right.

I've always said I will never pay to get a job and I really don't want that happening here on Upwork.

Shushan A · Oct 25, 2017 01:18:55 AM

I had 60 avalable connects and applied 30 jobs. BUt 2 days later I had 6 connects? Who can explain how?

Joachim M · Oct 25, 2017 01:31:48 AM

@Shushan A wrote:
I had 60 avalable connects and applied 30 jobs. BUt 2 days later I had 6 connects? Who can explain how?

Probably some jobs you applied for expired or were cancelled.