Paid Connect System is not fair at all.

[Pawan K]

Paid Connect System is not fair at all.

I am top rated, extensive no. of hours, and plus membership.
98% we have to pay 6 connects to apply to the 1 job, unfair is that it does not matter if that is of $10 job or $1000 job, 6 connects are fixed, moreover, when we are following this now, reply ratio from clients end is drastically fell down, what is the use of paying to apply jobs and we are not getting replies from the client, even though the no. of candidates are limited, this system is working bad, I don't how others facing.

Upwork has to set the system to keep the job fair with it's needed connects, at the moment, it's working fine. Some clients are mentioning, we are looking for the long term and the job is like of couple days and over.
Some clients are mentioning, we need a web developer for our website, it does not matter if that job of 1 day, many such cases I have seen and we have pay 6 connects to apply to most of the jobs.
UPWORK has to re-think on this making connect system fair to get good leads as we used to get before.

I would say, it was better before when we used to have 60 connects, each job costing us 2 connects before and we were getting good no. of back replies from clients.

[Jonathan H]

Well in the instance you describe "getting less replys from clients" it IS totally fair - we ALL have to buy connects, so its just as fair for me to bid on a job and get no reply as it is for you to bid on the same job and get a reply!

Jobs are not all $6 or 6 connects as i suspect you ment, you will find the lowest value are 2 then 4 then 6 - i admit the pricing structure leaves alot to be desired, but if you are struggling for replys, maybe work on which jobs you apply to, and how you do it ( i have also struggled but have spent time figuring out which jobs to reply to and how to do it effectively)

[Pawan K]

Is there any way to find out 2 connects, 4 and 6 connect based jobs? 
I am also on upwork more than a decade, I know which job is right and relevant to my skill set and the same I am doing, but no luck in replies. Before, 60 connects we used to have, 30 jobs we could apply, now pay for connects and only 10 jobs we can apply, winning the project ratio is certainly very low, no problem for purchasing more connects but if there are no replies from clients, I am certainly losing my money then!

[Robin H]

The current system isn't working for me either, but for different reasons.  Clients are arbitrarily putting in $500, 6+ months and subsequently we, freelancers, are being charged the 6 connects.  However, when (if) a client responds to our proposal, many times I found out it is a one-time deal and they're looking at paying $500 but for many more deliverables than originally outlined.  

Other clients are more savvy and putting in $5, $50, $100 for 1-3 months (yielding 2-4 connects) and are willing to pay much more.  Those are the jobs I'm applying to...

[Pawan K]

I also worked before for big clients who paid me $30000 - $50000, and I am targeting such clients not big as these always like but I  still applying to clients whose budget is $300-500 is least, I was getting fair responses earlier but these days it becomes 0, seems they are not finding my application even from 5-10 applications. 

[Julie J]

You said you are a plus member so you get 70 connects a month and can rollover up to 140. Isn't this a sufficient amount to win jobs? You aren't paying extra for these.

[Tiffany S]

Upwork didn't design the system to be "fair." They designed the system to increase profitability of the company (which is, after all, their legal mandate now that they are a publicly traded company).

[Pawan K]

Yes, you are right.

[Francisco T]

Everything you said is absolutely true.

I wrote something similar in coffee break (I love upwork 3000) and now its getting suspended and I dont know why?

Please help me get this message to upwork

[Pawan K]

If you are genuine and real person, you should email them. Ask them to take your video interview to prove yourself.