So tired of these LOW bid rates

[#1]

I am SOOOO tired of Freelancers bidding low rates. It's not fair to the rest of us that have been on Upwork for many years and have built up some experience for these people to under cut us. I have read other discussions about people from some other countries possibly doing this as money goes a lot futher there, but that is NO excuse. I believe the bids should at least start at a living wage of $15.00 an hour. I wanted to bid on this job and several others but get this a lot. See photo attached. I have also seen other bids that look like this. Bid range - High- $9.00 / Avg- $5.16 / Low- $3.00 

What are your thoughts?? Should Upwork change to a rule that bids can not be lower than a living wage?Upwork Low Bid 7-6-2019

[#2]

Hey Michael, 

I think I may understand a little of your frustration, although I don't agree with it.  That being said, you're asking how to get started on this platform. For me it was hard at the beginning and believe me I've worked in Corporate in the San Francisco Bay Area for a good number of years with companies such as IBM & Bechtel. My experience would have been enough to have anyone hire me on the spot. However, in my 2 years of freelancing, I've discovered, (again this is my personal experience) that you have to take on smaller jobs on this platform to build up your profile. It's easy for us to write down our experience, accomplishments, etc. Yet, clients don't have the time to research your resume in full and trust that you know what you claim to know, unless you have built up positive feedback, right? I'd encourage you to take on simple projects which you know you can efficiently work through, even if they take you 1/2 hour to complete and lower pay. Don't go for the big picture--yet. Just build up your reputation on Upwork and I guarantee you'll be happy on this platform and pulling in higher paying projects in due time. 

[#3]

"Mommy, I can't compete. You have to protect me."

[#4]

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Michael W wrote:
Then why IS UpWork a global platform? If it is US based, it should be a USA only platform, instead of driving "freelance rates" down. 

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I hope you're not missing the irony that most of the people who've responded in this thread aren't Americans, but all charge higher rates than you do.

[#5]

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Michael W wrote:

I think most of us understand markets; cheap vs high and low quality work vs high quality work.  Also, being smart and targeting your market.  

The issue of low paying job posts remains valid, in my judgement.  UpWork SHOULD raise their game by setting some minimums.  They would look better as a company that shows standards that freelancers could look up to.  With so many workers srtuggling these days, why make it harder on people?  

We all have standards in our work, why can't UpWork?  The U.S. is slowly raising minimum wage, for example for fast-food workers.  Let UpWork follow suit!  

A recent example I saw was for an employer in Malibu offering $2/hour!!  What?  In Malibu?  I reported it as inappropriate to UpWork.  Let us not forget-UpWork benefits from higher rates too.  

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I haven't earned a wage since 2015.

[#6]

And this is the BS I see today! This SHOULD NOT be aloud by Upwork!! What he heck are these bids about in Expert Level??!! 

[#7]

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Melinda M wrote:

And this is the BS I see today! This SHOULD NOT be aloud by Upwork!! What he heck are these bids about in Expert Level??!! 

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are you complaining about the job or the bids? That person is asking for someone to be available 24/7. **edited for Community Guidelines**freelancers bid on this stuff and then rage in the forum. **edited for Community Guidelines** clients think someone could actually be available 24/7. All I do is hope they show up here. I consider this entertainment.

[#8]

The bids are what I'm writing about. I what heck! Ya know. Yea. The 24/7 is rediculous too. 

[#9]

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Melinda M wrote:

The bids are what I'm writing about. I what heck! Ya know. Yea. The 24/7 is rediculous too. 

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**edited for Community Guidelines**

But anyway, someone always bids $3/hour. It's not really a big deal. Those people are the low end and not everyone is looking for people like that.

[#10]

Hi Jennifer, and Melinda, 

I have shared the job post with the team for their review. 

Please also know that we do not have control over the price of freelancer bids, as one rate may be high or low, depending on the freelancer's skill, experience, and personal circumstance.

[#11]

The problem is that some freelancers are bidding $3.00 an hour on the Intermittent and Expert level. That's not right I believe ANYTHING under $15.00 and hour should be Entry Level ONLY!

[#12]

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Melinda M wrote:
The problem is that some freelancers are bidding $3.00 an hour on the Intermittent and Expert level. That's not right I believe ANYTHING under $15.00 and hour should be Entry Level ONLY!

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The people who bid $ 3 an hour are not your competition. People bid $ 3 an hour on jobs I win at $ 45 an hour.

The people whose rates are in the same ballpark as yours are your competition, not those who charge far less or far more.

[#13]

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Petra R wrote:

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Melinda M wrote:
The problem is that some freelancers are bidding $3.00 an hour on the Intermittent and Expert level. That's not right I believe ANYTHING under $15.00 and hour should be Entry Level ONLY!

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The people who bid $ 3 an hour are not your competition. People bid $ 3 an hour on jobs I win at $ 45 an hour.

The people whose rates are in the same ballpark as yours are your competition, not those who charge far less or far more.

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Not always. A while ago I had a couple of prospective clients who ended up hiring someone at a small fraction of my rate. In one case it was a small fraction of her stated budget!

[#14]

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Richard W wrote:

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Petra R wrote:

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Melinda M wrote:
The problem is that some freelancers are bidding $3.00 an hour on the Intermittent and Expert level. That's not right I believe ANYTHING under $15.00 and hour should be Entry Level ONLY!

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The people who bid $ 3 an hour are not your competition. People bid $ 3 an hour on jobs I win at $ 45 an hour.

The people whose rates are in the same ballpark as yours are your competition, not those who charge far less or far more.

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Not always. A while ago I had a couple of prospective clients who ended up hiring someone at a small fraction of my rate. In one case it was a small fraction of her stated budget!

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In that situation, I figure the client is revealed as undiscerning about quality--by nature or by intention--and so would not be a good fit for me anyway. The ones who reluctantly pay more are often the most impossible to satisfy and the worst scope creepers.

[#15]

Is there any way Upwork can code the system so that the lowest bid is not $3 and put a starting bid at $10? I'm certain that can be done. 

[#16]

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Rocio G wrote:

Is there any way Upwork can code the system so that the lowest bid is not $3 and put a starting bid at $10? I'm certain that can be done. 

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This is not a coding question. There are indirect indications that the $3 minimum hourly rate is dictated by U.S. corporations who hire freelancers from countries where that rate represents a sweet spot on the competence-economy scale. Insofar as Upwork increasingly sees its future in servicing the corporate market, it has no incentive to rock that boat.

[#17]

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Rocio G wrote:

Is there any way Upwork can code the system so that the lowest bid is not $3??? Is there any way Upwork can code the system so that the lowest bid is not $3??? 

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Sure, they could. They chose not to. $3/hour is what they picked as a minimum.

[#18]

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Petra R wrote:

In your category, you can pretty much forget "Entry Level" job posts. They will never pay what you are worth and the freelancers who bid on them are not your competition, they are simply playing in a completely different market.

When you say "a living wage" then you have to remember that that differs dramatically from country to country.

Personally, I actually think your solution could be to up your rate rather than lower it,  and specifically go for the higher level, well-paid contracts so you remove yourself from the pool of the cheap freelancers. You can't beat them on price, so you have to change your approach.

There are clients for every segment of the market, so position yourself in such a way that you appeal to the higher end. Personally, I think you have such a strong and appealing profile that your low price might actually work against you.

You might want to look to go up to $ 20 (my gut says $ 24.99 but that might be extreme in one go) and make a concerted effort to go aggressively after the high end, high priced contracts.

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The ($$$) filter used to be useful to avoid ridiculous budget projects but now the clients can set $$$ and still put $5 as budget, so...

[#19]

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Melinda M wrote:

I am SOOOO tired of Freelancers bidding low rates. It's not fair to the rest of us that have been on Upwork for many years and have built up some experience for these people to under cut us. I have read other discussions about people from some other countries possibly doing this as money goes a lot futher there, but that is NO excuse. I believe the bids should at least start at a living wage of $15.00 an hour. I wanted to bid on this job and several others but get this a lot. See photo attached. I have also seen other bids that look like this. Bid range - High- $9.00 / Avg- $5.16 / Low- $3.00 

What are your thoughts?? Should Upwork change to a rule that bids can not be lower than a living wage?

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Think that we all agree that too many freelancers are bidding low. They shouldn't. Hurts others, hurts themselves.
They will come back to this community and post something like 'I can't get any work, please help'.

Clients aren't that oblivious to the fact that they will get subpar work for a ridiculous amount of $.

When I know that particular project is right for ME, I send my proposal, don't care about 'high|average|low' range.
That works for me.

[#20]

Melinda, going forward on Petra's comments - add exec level key words in your title - rather than leading with "Virtual Solopreneur"  try using terms that reflect the type of high level exec or entrepreneur you should be working with.

Re Rates: The more you value yourself, the more potential clients recognize your value.

[#21]

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Melinda M wrote:

I am SOOOO tired of Freelancers bidding low rates. It's not fair to the rest of us that have been on Upwork for many years and have built up some experience for these people to under cut us.

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But you should not have stayed static during that time. If you have years of experience, then that experience should give you skills that differentiate you from a new freelancer. If you don't, then you are doing something wrong. You should have stopped trying to compete on price a LONG time ago. 

If Upwork set a minimum rate, clients would not immediately begin paying that rate, they would simply migrate to a platform that doesn't set a minimum. A client who wants to pay $3 an hour is going to find someone to work for $3 an hour. If you are charging $20, that client isn't going to hire you whether there are competing freelancers on the platform or not. 

[#22]

Not much to add to all the excellent advice, but Upwork’s description of Entry level is “I am looking for freelancers with the lowest rates”, so don’t bid on those unless it’s for a really simple fixed price job.

[#23]

I am also facing lot of problems because of low bidders because now a days clients are also not going for experience and quality but they love the 1 digit bids. (Not all but some)

I get so frustrated and sometimes i do feel that i should also start doing this but still controlling myself and not compromising on the price. I hardly bid less than $50 but how long will i be able to control ?

And i don't think its because of the country they belong to. It is a cheap mindset they were brought up with. If i have to compete with a freelancer from USA they can never beat me in price because their living is more expensive but to be honest, they can also beat my price because i just don't compromise on quality of work and i always give a fair (usually higher if not highest) price.

Freelancing is not easy. We are not even sure what will we have in hands in end of the months. We should just not compromise on price and i think upwork should do something about this.

Even on other platforms things have become worst. They even allow $10 for a whole project which is not acceptable.

I know this post is too old to interact with but the issue is still valid and while i was here for the first time to post the same question, i thought i should just continue discussion here on this thread which is already available with same issue.

I think management of upwork should do something as they have already started new connects system which has also made things a bit hard and if low bidders are not going to be controlled then it will be very tough in near future.

[#24]

bro actually upwork cant do anything about this.. freelancers who bid so low need to rethink, sorry to say but these freelancers have simply killed the beauty of freelancing which was an absolute pleasure 3-4  years back.

what upwork can do is atleast keep some budget limit for different experience levels so atleast $10 projects are not posted under expert experience level..

[#25]

Completely agree with you Rahul, I see things like

"UX expert to rebuild my entire business from the ground  up". Level: Expert. Budget: $5

on a daily basis. Of course I ignore them, but it's insulting to the profession. And it's getting worse every day

EDIT:

point in case: do a search for UX. Just the first result:

And if you check teh task, they want 5 screens with Sketch and InVision in a few hours. This is something nobody would (should) charge under 200-300. Yet they pay 5 dollars per screen (minus UpWork 20% fee, you get a whooping 4 dollars per screen for expert work)

[#26]

Here is another example. I do think Upwork should have a rule that you can not bid this low if you are bidding on an Expert level. Only in Entry level. This is NOT right whatsoever!