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cybermessiah
Community Member

Some reflections on the New Paid Connects Scheme

OK, so it is finally in action, I just felt the urge to share my thoughts on that move. 

1. Bigger picture:

The main issue is that if we get plenty of opportunities to work, it doesn't matter whether you are paying a small sum or not. I understand that you want to do away with low earning freelancers but not quite sure that gambling is a better substitute. 

2. Arbitrarily giving 6 connects for most projects:
Well, any person working on this platform (longer than a couple of months) knows that if a project is considered "long term" that doesn't mean a thing. So, I guess it is just because you want to take more money than actually required. 

3. I was on Odesk and after the merge the innovation on this site can be summarized with one sentence: give us more money. OK, as long as I earn I have no issue with that. But where are the improvements for the freelancers? 

4. In my case I have been top rated for quite awhile and although had small pause for several months am back on track. Only to realise that the quality of the jobs and their number have decreased (at least for me, feel free to share your take on that). Adding the paid connects I am starting to get worried it is not only the vacation time playing here. Here is my logic. After 1 month and a half my top rated status will be over. So, what I will do is buying some credits TILL that moment. Because, after all, any sane person will expect return on this "investment". Once, I have my status over (first time after all these years), there is no point in PAYING for the CHANCE of getting a project. Convince me that I am wrong? What if my case is not unique? 

 

 

28 REPLIES 28
sergio-soria
Community Member

What I am waiting for is an inprovement in job descriptions. Without good descriptions you don't really know if you could be a good match. I was very selective before, now even more. Those clients who don't include good descriptions or go "I'll send more information upon hiring" may be receiving pure trashy proposals now.


Sergio S wrote:

....Those clients who don't include good descriptions or go "I'll send more information upon hiring" may be receiving pure trashy proposals now.


"Will send more information/details upon hiring" is often a giveaway for an academic fraud job that the poster does not want to spell out in the RFP.

kashbell
Community Member

Jobs that have not verified their payment or have not had previous contracts should cost significantly less credits to submit a proposal for.  So many postings are abandoned after they are posted (Poster never logs back on to look at the job).  This results in me paying 6 credits for a potential gig that the owner never planned on using.  They were just curious what it would cost.  If the poster does not accept any proposals, applicants should get their credits back. 

rolludesig
Community Member

i guess freelancers will keep on complaining until the rotation policy or alogrithrm is not taken off... there is absolutely no need of this..keep everything transparent, right now everything seems to be hidden and these things do create some doubts when you are not getting any invitations or offers...

 

and rightly said the connect charges should be on the basis of level and budget...it makes no sense to charge 6 connects for entry level projects if it is long term one...

and make verfication of payment method compulsary before posting of project so non serious clients are out of the picture and atleast have some lower limit for budgets ie fixed price and hourly price..

 

have these things implemented you will notice difference in 1 week..if these are not done i am afraid jobs and budgets will keep on going down...

and forgot to mention remove this US only jobs restriction...clients preferring to get the work done from freelancers from a particular region is totally fine...but unable to view and bid on US only jobs is also not at all right.


Rahul V wrote:

and make verfication of payment method compulsary before posting of project


Please, not that again. You keep trying to push something that would mean fewer clients and fewer contracts for freelancers and less money in our pockets.

If you don't want to bid on job posts from clients who have not verified their payment method yet, simply don't bid on them and the problem is solved for you. You can even filter them out, so you never ever have to see them again.

Do not keep trying to deprive those of us who earn tens of thousands of Dollars from such clients (because they verify their payment method after choosing us) from them.

Clients (including clients with $ 100k and more spent on the platform) have confirmed over and over again that they would never have posted their first job had that been a requirement.

Anything that chases away clients is a really bad thing and directly takes money out of freelancers' pockets.

 

 

 

Every time I'm facing a situation in which I need to make a decision I ask myself "What would Rahul do?". I try to imagine what he would advise me to do and I do the exact opposite. It almost always work.

 

 

-----------
"Where darkness shines like dazzling light"   —William Ashbless

Alright, boys, I'm goin in tonight. gonna blow some sweet sweeeet connects. Should I let everyone know about the $50 jobs that cost 6 connects or nah?

Alright, boys, I'm goin in tonight. gonna blow some sweet sweeeet connects. Should I let everyone know about the $50 jobs that cost 6 connects or nah?

 

Nah, no one's interested.


Richard S wrote:

 

Nah, no one's interested.


well I'm gonna

 

Now that we pay for connects

Now that we pay for connects

Now that we pay for connects

Now that we pay for connects

 

Now that we pay for connects, I think we should get our connects back after we talk about the $50 job that costs 6 connects.

 

eta: nvm. Went into the open marketplace and walked right back out. It's yuck poo in there. I'm just too civilized and mature for these things.  Sorry boys. Wasting connects today is cancelled.

tlbp
Community Member


Jennifer M wrote:

Richard S wrote:

 

Nah, no one's interested.


well I'm gonna

 

Now that we pay for connects

Now that we pay for connects

Now that we pay for connects

Now that we pay for connects

 

Now that we pay for connects,


You're just trying to get me to drink, aren't you? 

lysis10
Community Member


Tonya P wrote:


You're just trying to get me to drink, aren't you? 


How are you able to drink when it takes SIX connects to bid on a job?


Rahul V wrote:

and make verfication of payment method compulsary before posting of project so non serious clients are out of the picture and atleast have some lower limit for budgets ie fixed price and hourly price..

 

have these things implemented you will notice difference in 1 week.


Agree...you will notice a dramatic drop in the number of new clients posting jobs on Upwork.

donnamackey
Community Member

It's absolutely ridiculous that Upwork is charging freelancers money just to propose for a job. My experience on this site has not been great. I've found that a large number of clients are offering ridiculuosly low pay for jobs and Upwork takes a large percentage of earnings from the freelancer, leaving the freelancer getting paid next to nothing. I've seen job postings paying $10 for an illustration and sadly, people actually send in proposals for it.

Upwork should spend more time weeding these people out and also have more control over clients who don't respond to freelancers and who don't follow through with job postings and close them. Maybe Upwork should have a pricing system in place for clients- you must charge within this price range for children's book illustrations, logos, etc. 

 


Donna M wrote:

It's absolutely ridiculous that Upwork is charging freelancers money just to propose for a job. My experience on this site has not been great. I've found that a large number of clients are offering ridiculuosly low pay for jobs and Upwork takes a large percentage of earnings from the freelancer, leaving the freelancer getting paid next to nothing. I've seen job postings paying $10 for an illustration and sadly, people actually send in proposals for it.

Upwork should spend more time weeding these people out and also have more control over clients who don't respond to freelancers and who don't follow through with job postings and close them. Maybe Upwork should have a pricing system in place for clients- you must charge within this price range for children's book illustrations, logos, etc. 

 


Donna, most of the people who make good money through Upwork are grown-up professionals who neither need nor want a babysitter deciding for us how to screen clients. And I, at least, have zero interest in seeing my fees dramatically increase so that Upwork can invest a huge number of new staffers in conducting screening for freelancers who can't be bothered to do it themselves.

 

There are junk jobs everywhere? So what? It takes two seconds to scroll past a job that isn't a good fit for whatever reason. 

10,000 kudos and more to Tiffany's comment. FLers are either professionals in their fields or need to get a job in the B&M world and become professional before 'experimenting' on a client's nickle.

 

"Donna, most of the people who make good money through Upwork are grown-up professionals who neither need nor want a babysitter deciding for us how to screen clients. And I, at least, have zero interest in seeing my fees dramatically increase so that Upwork can invest a huge number of new staffers in conducting screening for freelancers who can't be bothered to do it themselves.

 

There are junk jobs everywhere? So what? It takes two seconds to scroll past a job that isn't a good fit for whatever reason." 

totally agree...i am pretty sure few changes will definately come up in near future as the quality of jobs is going down at fast rate

 

if nothing is done i am afraid things will be like other freelancing sites where freelancers are working for literally peanuts...

tlbp
Community Member


Rahul V wrote:

totally agree...i am pretty sure few changes will definately come up in near future as the quality of jobs is going down at fast rate

 

if nothing is done i am afraid things will be like other freelancing sites where freelancers are working for literally peanuts...


The entire global economy is shifting. There are predictions that by 2030 half of the U.S. workforce will be contingent--temps, contract, freelance, consultants, etc. Other countries are dealing with their own changes in the way employment is viewed. So it is understandable that freelancing, like the rest of the economy, is feeling some growing pains. New entrants into the market aren't going to do things the way incumbents have. And, where there is money to be made in the margins, someone is going to try to make it.

 

You can be the premium brand or be the knock-off but you can't make the knock-offs go away. 


kfarnell
Community Member

Plus ça change...

 

As an old lady, I started freelancing in 1992, before freelancing was a verb. Right from the start, the world was going to end because people were charging stupid low rates and the standard of everything was going down. And employment was going to change soon, next week, next year...

 

Yes, there have been changes but almost all of them have been superficial.  Email instead of telephones doesn't make annoying people any less annoying (for example).

 

I fully anticipate similar conversations in five years' time.

 

 


Kim F wrote:

Plus ça change...

 

As an old lady, I started freelancing in 1992, before freelancing was a verb. Right from the start, the world was going to end because people were charging stupid low rates and the standard of everything was going down.

 

And people writing for free were RUINING THE BUSINESS FOR EVERYONE. Since the 80s (if not earlier). They are the slowest, most ineffective business ruiners in history.

grygiel_karolina
Community Member

Hey Guys and Gals

I'm responding for the first time ever, just wanted to give my general thoughts and feelings about paid connects. As much as I love Upwork and am very grateful for this platform, it does a great job for me, I've worked with really great clients and made some extra money here, the new connects policy seems not right to me. I do not feel like applying for jobs now. Upwork takes a significant amount of money from what we earn and I am fine with it, they do a great job and it is well deserved, but the connects paid new policy feels like a violation to me. It would be different if jobs cost 2 connects like before, then I guess I'd feel different, but not only the connects became paid but the jobs costs like 4 or 6 connects each most of them, and they are not well described, it is like blind gambling. I know it is a small amount of money to pay, and it is not that much about money, for me at least, it is just the fact... It is bothering me, just does not feel right.


Karolina G wrote:

I do not feel like applying for jobs now. 

...

It is bothering me, just does not feel right.


Don't then.

As the stated purpose of the whole thing was to save clients from drowning in proposals, by not applying you are doing exactly what Upwork intended a proportion of the platform's freelancers to do.

Seems like it's working.

Thanks for your response Petra and you are right, it is working and the purpose is good.
To me it seems that the change in the connects policy needs to also be reflected in the clients knowledge about their job descriptions, that they might need to give more details in their adds etc, that now it matters more than before - I do not know if they know that?

Besides I am not attacking the policy and I liked the idea when it was first announced, because that must have been hard for clients to try to pick someone from so many proposals. I just imagined it a bit different. Also I'm quite new to the entire freelancing thing and there might be a bigger picture that I might not be able to see just yet.
I just wanted to share my feelings around it and get it out of the system
I also thougt there could be maybe some reward system where you can get some connects for certain amounts earned for Upwork? That would be fun and motivating. This is just a thought I'm sure they've already exercised lots of ideas and this one too 🙂 it would be welcome

Someone tell me if I have the math wrong...

 

Before paid connects, each freelancer could apply to 30 gigs per month at no cost. 

If the joined the Plus Plan they could effectively get connects for $1 each so each proposal over the original thirty cost $2. So if someone wanted to apply to a total of 40 gigs per month, they would have to spend $20. 

Did I get it right?

30 proposals = free

40 proposals = $20

50 proposals= $40

60 proposals= $60

Now, each gig has a variable cost but the highest cost per proposal will be $0.90 (or 6 connects). 
Which means to apply for 30 of the highest cost gigs a person will need to spend $27.

To apply for 40, the cost will be $36, 50 will cost $45. 

Highest cost gigs
30 proposals= $27

40 proposals= $36

50 proposals= $45

60 proposals= $54

 

Someone who applies to 4-connect gigs will spend $18 for 30 proposals, $24 for 40, and $30 for 50. 
Medium costs gigs
30 proposals= $18
40 proposals= $24

50 proposals= $30

60 proposals= $36

 

So, the high-volume proposers are actually saving money under the new system. (Unless my math is wrong--which has been known to happen.)


This biggest cost increase is to those freelancers who relied solely on free connects to find gigs each month and needed to send proposals to find new gigs each month. They will now have to have "skin in the game" from the outset and adjust their business model accordingly. 

 


I'm not sure what I would have done if I had only been given a 20-connect head start when I joined Upwork. I remember buying connects to get started, but not until I had landed my first gig (which gave me some hope that I could make it as a freelancer).

 

My advice to those who are getting started now would be to consider whether the bet on yourself is worth the cost. And for those who already have a history on Upwork, it would be to adjust your fee structure to include the added costs you expect to incur from purchasing connects. If you have to send 10 proposals to earn one gig, make sure that gig is worth a $9 investment in connects. 

 

 

 

Personally, in my sector when the change first came in i noticed a HUGE drop in proposals - pages of jobs with less than 5 proposals (i thought it was great). However, now it seems that the most ridiculous jobs that are advertised for $10 for something that should be a couple of days work is getting 20-50 proposals (anything with a relatively reasonable budget seems to have 50+ proposals within an hour). I was getting a fairly consistent amount of interviews (and in turn work) prior to the change but, now i am submitting 3-4 times the amount of proposals and getting next to no interviews! 

 

I was keen for the new system, and even now like being able to buy connects as required, but i am seeing youtubers advertise that upwork gives new users 90 free connects now? (no idea if this is true) and basically telling people to just register new accounts to keep getting free connects. I think this is resulting in MORE proposals being sent. not less as apparently intended!

 

I really hope this is just a combination of the new system settling in and a slow summer.

 

Jon


Jonathan H wrote:

I was keen for the new system, and even now like being able to buy connects as required, but i am seeing youtubers advertise that upwork gives new users 90 free connects now? (no idea if this is true) and basically telling people to just register new accounts to keep getting free connects.


New freelancers only receive 20 connects, which is the same as nothing. And if Upwork detect previous suspended users creating new accounts the accounts are removed for ToS violation, or never approved since they need to use an ID to register. So basically what those youtubers are saying is BS.

Hi Tonya,

Took me a while to write, but just wanted to thank you very much for your kind response, advice and all the math you have done there for us, it helped to see your perspective.

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