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3ctechnologies
Community Member

No matter what project, Upwork would only charge 1 connect ?

Is this the right news? and we can also boost our proposals by spending additional connects.Thats heaven for freelancers then..A big thanks to Upwork.

ACCEPTED SOLUTION
VladimirG
Community Manager
Community Manager

Hi everyone,

As many have already pointed out, some of you may have noticed an option to boost proposals by spending additional Connects. This is an anticipated test we plan on releasing soon; however, the curtain was pulled back a little too soon! The features mentioned here will be halted until further notice when this test is ready to roll out. We're working on this new feature and will share all the details when they are finalized prior to launch in September.

~ Vladimir
Upwork

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153 REPLIES 153
martina_plaschka
Community Member


Muhammad U wrote:

Is this the right news? and we can also boost our proposals by spending additional connects.Thats heaven for freelancers then..A big thanks to Upwork.


I resent the concept of gambling on jobs. I don't believe it's the right idea to rank proposals based on how many connects a freelancer is willing to spend. 

well, its an opportunity for those who spend some time on quality proposals rather than sending standard proposals..So, i really wont have to worry about standing last when i am bidding..I can take a bit of time ...Prepare a detailed proposal for the client and may just use few more connects to stand out..So, idea isnt that bad , i think 🙂


Muhammad U wrote:

well, its an opportunity for those who spend some time on quality proposals rather than sending standard proposals..So, i really wont have to worry about standing last when i am bidding..I can take a bit of time ...Prepare a detailed proposal for the client and may just use few more connects to stand out..So, idea isnt that bad , i think 🙂


Proposals where never ranked by time they were sent, so the whole concept that you have to be fast to be first was never true. Lots of people seem to believe it, but they are wrong. You could always take your time. Now you have to worry about spending enough connects to show up on top.

awww, Help me find some thing positive some one 🙂


Muhammad U wrote:

awww, Help me find some thing positive some one 🙂


That every job costs only 1 connect now 😉

For me, writing customised and to-the-point proposals is the norm. I can't see why I should spend more connects.


Muhammad U wrote:

well, its an opportunity for those who spend some time on quality proposals rather than sending standard proposals..So, i really wont have to worry about standing last when i am bidding..I can take a bit of time ...Prepare a detailed proposal for the client and may just use few more connects to stand out..So, idea isnt that bad , i think 🙂


You've never had to worry about that. Proposals aren't displayed in the order they're received, and clients get email notifications about the ones Upwork considers good matches.


Martina P wrote:

Muhammad U wrote:

Is this the right news? and we can also boost our proposals by spending additional connects.Thats heaven for freelancers then..A big thanks to Upwork.


I resent the concept of gambling on jobs. I don't believe it's the right idea to rank proposals based on how many connects a freelancer is willing to spend. 


Well said. This is the absolute last thing that needs to be "gamified." First-time clients already have enough trouble trying to navigate this platform as it is. 

petra_r
Community Member


Muhammad U wrote:

No matter what project, Upwork would only charge 1 connect ? Is this the right news? and we can also boost our proposals by spending additional connects.

Absolutely dreadful.


Upwork has decided to show clients the freelancers who pay enough rather than the best freelancers. 

 

Muhammad U wrote:

So, i really wont have to worry about standing last when i am bidding..I can take a bit of time ...


Currently proposals are NOT shown to clients in the order they come in, but in best match order... so the better a match you are and how good your metrics are, the higher you are shown. Now you have to pay.

 

Your metrics are absolutely excellent, so you would have been shown further up anyway. So now you have to pay to get where you would have been or even lower.

I have just bee through the explanatory video and opened a job post. What actually happens is that now sending a proposal costs 0 connects, and the actual previous cost of the proposal is indicated in brackets. I would consider either to use 0 connects, or to use those in brackets, the actual cost, depending on how many proposals the job post is likely to attract. Not one connect more for the time being. I verified that usually clients who need the assistance of a professional, and have a budget, tend to respond if you share your common sense in a proposal. They can tell if their product/service can be put in the hands on someone unqualified and cheap or not. The valuable ones 😉 Let's see what happens


Deborah P wrote:

I have just bee through the explanatory video and opened a job post. What actually happens is that now sending a proposal costs 0 connects, and the actual previous cost of the proposal is indicated in brackets. I would consider either to use 0 connects, or to use those in brackets, the actual cost, depending on how many proposals the job post is likely to attract. Not one connect more for the time being. I verified that usually clients who need the assistance of a professional, and have a budget, tend to respond if you share your common sense in a proposal. They can tell if their product/service can be put in the hands on someone unqualified and cheap or not. The valuable ones 😉 Let's see what happens


I tried it out, and while it says 0 connects, and that the job would have cost 2, it doesn't work anyway. I was still charged 2 connects. I'm tempted to open a new thread lamenting the loss of my precious ones. 


Martina P wrote:

Deborah P wrote:

I have just bee through the explanatory video and opened a job post. What actually happens is that now sending a proposal costs 0 connects, and the actual previous cost of the proposal is indicated in brackets. I would consider either to use 0 connects, or to use those in brackets, the actual cost, depending on how many proposals the job post is likely to attract. Not one connect more for the time being. I verified that usually clients who need the assistance of a professional, and have a budget, tend to respond if you share your common sense in a proposal. They can tell if their product/service can be put in the hands on someone unqualified and cheap or not. The valuable ones 😉 Let's see what happens


I tried it out, and while it says 0 connects, and that the job would have cost 2, it doesn't work anyway. I was still charged 2 connects. I'm tempted to open a new thread lamenting the loss of my precious ones. 


Did you open the job in a new window before you applied?

No, and I did not apply, I was just testing the system without committing


Jennifer R wrote:

Martina P wrote:

Deborah P wrote:

I have just bee through the explanatory video and opened a job post. What actually happens is that now sending a proposal costs 0 connects, and the actual previous cost of the proposal is indicated in brackets. I would consider either to use 0 connects, or to use those in brackets, the actual cost, depending on how many proposals the job post is likely to attract. Not one connect more for the time being. I verified that usually clients who need the assistance of a professional, and have a budget, tend to respond if you share your common sense in a proposal. They can tell if their product/service can be put in the hands on someone unqualified and cheap or not. The valuable ones 😉 Let's see what happens


I tried it out, and while it says 0 connects, and that the job would have cost 2, it doesn't work anyway. I was still charged 2 connects. I'm tempted to open a new thread lamenting the loss of my precious ones. 


Did you open the job in a new window before you applied?


No, but I just tried it, and it still costs 2 connects, and I don't see where bidding would take place.

Uh, good to know! 😄

Same here! How does this boosting proposals even work? There’s no increase connects bid section or anything new.


Deborah P wrote:

I have just bee through the explanatory video and opened a job post. What actually happens is that now sending a proposal costs 0 connects, and the actual previous cost of the proposal is indicated in brackets. I would consider either to use 0 connects, or to use those in brackets, the actual cost, depending on how many proposals the job post is likely to attract. Not one connect more for the time being. I verified that usually clients who need the assistance of a professional, and have a budget, tend to respond if you share your common sense in a proposal. They can tell if their product/service can be put in the hands on someone unqualified and cheap or not. The valuable ones 😉 Let's see what happens


Can you share the video?

I wouldn't know how to share the video, it appeared and then, once concluded, disappeared 😞 If it pops up again, I will see if it has a link that I can copy


Petra R wrote:

Muhammad U wrote:

No matter what project, Upwork would only charge 1 connect ? Is this the right news? and we can also boost our proposals by spending additional connects.

Absolutely dreadful.

 


Totally agree.

 

So many questions:

How does this look on the client side?

How are boosted and unboosted proposals separated on the client's view?

What do they need to do to see non-boosted proposals?

Are clients clearly informed that the boosted proposals are first in line due to payola rather than the match to their needs?

Are boosted proposals that don't meet the client's stated requirements still flagged as not meeting them?

How does this affect proposals submitted through invites?

Who on earth thought this was "simpler", which I think is the wording used on the popup?

Are you going to be implementing other aspects of Fr*r.com's proposal system like highlighted bids and open vs sealed bids?

Absolutely need answeres for all of these questions.

You will have to pay. But, you will have to pay way less than you used to. And still, you can stand out on the projects you decide to bet into!

 

I think it is definitely a great decision made by Upwork


Ricardo Jose B wrote:

You will have to pay. But, you will have to pay way less than you used to.


No, you won't. Whatever gave you that idea?

aleksej7734
Community Member

Keep this up and I'm out of here.

So something weird happened when I went to bid for a job just now. I got a message telling me that Upwork had a new system, whereby all jobs cost just one connect but you can spend extra to "boost" your bid. Depending on what other people bid, your bid might get boosted to the top. But I think they must have been just testing the feature out because when I moved to my desktop computer to do the proposal properly, it didn't happen again. Has anyone else seen this message today?

_jenny
Community Member

Yes, same happens to me. 

I just had a popup but it is gone and not comming back again. I wanted to find out how and what I could win.

Open the job as pop-up:

 

Skjermbilde 2021-08-12 15.05.44.png

Open the same job in a new window:

Screenshot 2021-08-12 at 15-07-00  upwork job-details-nuxt.png


Jennifer R wrote:

Open the job as pop-up:

 

Skjermbilde 2021-08-12 15.05.44.png

Open the same job in a new window:

Screenshot 2021-08-12 at 15-07-00  upwork job-details-nuxt.png


It's not fully functional yet. I'm assuming. 

Jennifer, how do you open a job as a pop-up? - please.


Gary wrote:

Jennifer, how do you open a job as a pop-up? - please.


If you click on the job advertisement, a pop up will open. In it, you can choose to go back or open it in a new window.

Screenshot (3).png

ETA: It is not actually a pop up, it is a screen that appears from the right.

Kudos, Jennifer. Thanks for the screengrab.

Unless I'm doing it wrongly, I get the same cost (4 connects) both ways. Maybe it's still rolling out or was in a geo-limited test area or...

 


Gary wrote:

Kudos, Jennifer. Thanks for the screengrab.

Unless I'm doing it wrongly, I get the same cost (4 connects) both ways. Maybe it's still rolling out or was in a geo-limited test area or...

 


Hi Gary, I'm not Jennifer, but thanks.

Don't keep trying to find it. They released it early due to a bug and deactivated it in no time.
It is supposed to be released in September.

I'm not Jennifer either, as it happens.

Well, we can't have everything, can we?

 

Anyway Maria T. - thanks for your helpful comment.

 


Jennifer R wrote:

I just had a popup but it is gone and not comming back again. I wanted to find out how and what I could win.


You can win another chance of tearing your hair out over this hare-brained idea. 

Hi,

About 3 hours ago, there was a popup on my Upwork website show that I don't have to use connect to submit a proposal. I just have to pay if I want my profile stand out for the client easier to see (or something like that...). I tried some job and it showed 0 connect to submit.

However, at this moment I log in back to Upwork but can not find that funcion any more. 

Anyone know about this?

how can I boost my connects or my proposal ..

Today morning I saw a video before sending a Proposal to a job explaining that you can boost your proposal and stand first by using 1, 2 ,upto 8 connects. 

I then noticed that every job costed 0 connects if u dont want to boost which is good part of it. But when now I am applying it still costs the some connects which was supposed to be zero.  

Is everything OK on your side? Moreover how u see this decision? 

decs
Community Member

Seems like it is in the experimental process and Upwork is offering it on some of the jobs.

Its same here. It shows that the connect needed is zero but then it says it would have been a 2 connects jobs and deduct the connects without asking to boost it or not.

It is a good decision as a person with skills and their proposal is at the top will increase the chances of winning the projects.

At the same time a proposal at the top with no skills (just due to boosting connects) may be a nuisance for the client.
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