Recieved an Email Attention: Upwork Marketplace Standards

[#1]

I just recieved the following email from Upwork. Do I need to worry?

Hi Tahir,

We received feedback from one of your clients that a recent project may not have gone as expected. While we understand that not every project will meet clients' expectations, it's crucial to learn and adapt from these experiences.

To prevent similar outcomes, take a moment to review your profile and proposals to make sure you're accurately representing yourself and your skills, setting clear expectations, and maintaining open communication with clients. You can also explore our Academy and Community pages for resources and support to enhance your skills and approach to freelancing on Upwork.

What's next?

We understand that not every client match will be perfect. However, we also want to ensure a quality platform for all users. If we start to see a trend of negative feedback, we may temporarily pause your ability to take on new projects. Rest assured, this outcome is rare and impacts less than 1% of freelancers working on Upwork.

We're committed to helping you thrive on our platform. We're here to support your journey to success and believe in your capability to overcome this hurdle.

Thanks, The Upwork Team

[#2 · Accepted solution]

I don't think you need to worry right now, but you should definitely be prepared for a potential drop in your Job Success Score (JSS). The negative private feedback left by your customer is what Upwork uses to calculate your JSS. Unfortunately, this is something we cannot change or influence. - This is what Upwork refers to in their mail. 

[#3]

It looks like your most recent project has resulted in a bad review, so you automatically get an email like that. But you've done 474 jobs and have a top-rated plus badge, so you don't need to worry; as the message itself says, Upwork takes action about bad reviews less than 1% of the time (I find that statistic worrisome, but that's a discussion for another time).

I'd leave feedback for the client right away so that you can see how much damage has been done, then you can decide whether you want to use your top-rated perk to remove it if necessary.

[#4]

Will removing the public view also remove the negative effects of the private feedback or no?

[#5]

No. 

[#6]

Hi Wei,

Your public work history will change, and your JSS may be adjusted. Natasha's correct, we'll hide the feedback rating and comment from your Work History and replace it with "This feedback has been removed," but any effects caused by private feedback will not be removed. It will be calculated accordingly.

[#7]

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 wrote:

Hi Wei,

Your public work history will change, and your JSS may be adjusted. Natasha's correct, we'll hide the feedback rating and comment from your Work History and replace it with "This feedback has been removed," but any effects caused by private feedback will not be removed. It will be calculated accordingly.

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Arjay, Wei is top-rated plus - if he uses his feedback removal perk, it should remove the impact of negative feedback on his JSS. This has always been the case, unless Upwork policies have changed recently? Could you please clarify?

[#8]

Arjay, I don't believe that is correct.

On rare occasions when I had a client from h***, I used my perk to remove both public AND private feedback, and the private rating was definitely NOT calculated.  I know this for a fact because I had knowledge what the private feedback was -- and the Upwork support team confirmed it would not be calculated into the upcoming JSS.  Over the years, this was confirmed by many different support agents. 

When I wished to use my perk, the support agent would ask me if I wanted the public AND private feedback removed from the calculations or just the public.  I'd tell them both and my JSS would remain unchanged.  So I know the private wasn't included in any JSS calculations. 

[#9]

If a client gave a good public feedback, but your job success score drops, and you suspect they gave you a bad private feedback, and if you ask support if the private feedback was bad or not before trying to remove it, will they tell you, or will you have to gamble and guess? Also, how often are we able to use this perk? Thanks.

[#10]

No, they definitely aren't allowed to tell you what the feedback is in advance!  Strict rule and for good reason. 

If a job ends before the next JSS update and it's the only contract you've closed, it would be obvious.  

But if you've closed more than one contract, yeah, you'll have to gamble and guess.  But you should know which client was problematic and perhaps not satisfied with the work. 

You can only use the perk every three months and 10 jobs. 

[#11]

All of my recent reviews are 5 stars. But recently, I received a marketplace standard email saying a client left a negative review. I'd like to know which client and why my JSS is affected when my public reviews are all positive. Can you please clarify?

[#12]

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 wrote:

Will removing the public view also remove the negative effects of the private feedback or no?

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Yes, it will, unless Upwork's policy has changed very recently. 

[#13]

If a client gave a good public feedback, but your job success score drops, and you suspect they gave you a bad private feedback, and if you ask support if the private feedback was bad or not before trying to remove it, will they tell you, or will you have to gamble and guess? Thanks.

[#14]

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 wrote:

If a client gave a good public feedback, but your job success score drops, and you suspect they gave you a bad private feedback, and if you ask support if the private feedback was bad or not before trying to remove it, will they tell you, or will you have to gamble and guess? Thanks.

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No, they won't tell you which client left bad private feedback - it's called "private feedback" for a reason.