Profile details

chitchcox · ‎05-12-2020

Why oh why does my profile keep getting suspended.

I paid for credits .......... I have applied for jobs, yet now after 1 month you have made my profile private?

This is getting confusing and making me cross!

It is not my fault no one wants to hire me or if they do they want me to click on links outside of 'Upwork"

Maybe I am too experienced?, maybe my profile isn't clear? maybe the costing calculations aren't clear ? but I still don't understand when Freelancers are looking for work we seem to get penalised.

I look forward to your reply

gilbert-phyllis · ‎05-12-2020

Collette, whenever any FL goes 30 days without being paid anything, their profile switches to Private automatically. The email notification includes a link to request that it be switched back (to Public or UW Members Only, however it was set) and that is typically done within a day -- sometimes a few hours. In the meantime, any client who receives a proposal from you can access your profile but you won't show up in search results.

The reason they do this is because the platform is overrun -- absolutely swamped -- with profiles of FLs who have never earned anything and many that have been abandoned. It's to everyone's benefit to help clients avoid having to slog through all of that when they are searching for FLs -- whether they are looking for prospects to invite, or just scanning the environment to see what kind of talent is here. So, it's a bit of an inconvenience but it's for the greater good. It feels like you're being penalized, especially given the imprecise and clumsy language in the notification. But it's really just a housekeeping thing for the platform.

g_vasilevski · ‎05-12-2020

Hi Collette,

I understand your frustration with this and would like to confirm that I`ve already updated your visibility. Just so that you are aware, profiles of freelancers with a history of earnings on the platform will remain public unless they have not earned in more than 2 years. Profiles of new freelancers who haven’t earned on Upwork will be set to private after 90 days.

You can check out more info about this here. Thank you.

~ Goran

chitchcox · ‎05-16-2020

I do appreciate your feedback and tried to amend my profile with a bit more
detail, however, please can you explain now why I no longer receive free
credits on a 'basic' account and now have to buy them?

I am looking for work as have no income but my credits are not getting
refunded if I withdrawn a proposal or just the monthly free credit and
cannot afford to buy anymore.

Please advise.

Kindest regards Collette!

petra_r · ‎05-16-2020

Collette H wrote:
the monthly free credit and cannot afford to buy anymore.

free connects were discontinued a year ago.

You have to either buy them or take out a paid membership.

chitchcox · ‎05-16-2020

I have to say very disappointed then, as any freelancer at the moment
doesn't have a regular income and to be charged to find work right now is
just abhorrent. Why prey on the weak???
#

florydev · ‎05-16-2020

You are right, UpWork needs a “I am weak” setting so that they know which freelancers are weak and can not afford connects and which aren’t.

They aren’t preying on you, it’s just not a good fit for you. This change has been in place for over a year.

gilbert-phyllis · ‎05-16-2020

Collette H wrote:
I have to say very disappointed then, as any freelancer at the moment
doesn't have a regular income and to be charged to find work right now is
just abhorrent. Why prey on the weak???
#

Clients are here because Upwork spends millions of dollars each month advertising in order to attract them. The platform works -- provides a marketplace where clients and FLs can find each other, negotiate terms, execute contracts, communicate and exchange documents and other files related to project completion; takes care of the financial transactions including some degrees of payment protection (depending on contract types); and provides escrow service. All of that is ours to enjoy in exchange for a percentage of what we earn: 20% of the first $500 with each client, 10% of the next $9,500, and 5% after that. The primary reason we have to buy connects is to force bidding FLs to have at least a tiny bit of skin in the game, so clients don't get completely buried in junk proposals.

Nobody is "preying" on anybody.