May 17, 2020 11:36:06 PM by Porsche S
May 17, 2020 11:43:38 PM by Petra R
Porsche S wrote:
Us freelancers scroll through hundreds of potential gigs daily, and to see that about 80% of them have unverified payment methods
80%???
Porsche S wrote:
I think it would just be easier and safer for all if payment methods were verified.What do you all think?
No. It would result in significantly less real jobs and real clients and hurt all freelancers.
Things that hurt freelancers are never a good idea.
In fact, they are a terrible idea.
I would not want to lose income just so you don't have to see job posts fom clients who have not YET verified their payment method.
I make too much money from such clients to ask for anything that will make them go to another platform.
As long as clients verify their payment method before I accept their offer there simply isn't a problem.
Simply use the filter and leave such clients to those of us who like working with new clients.
Why would you want something that would directly hurt many, many freelancers when you can just filter those clients out?
May 17, 2020 11:49:38 PM by Porsche S
May 17, 2020 11:57:15 PM Edited May 18, 2020 12:02:36 AM by Petra R
Porsche wrote:
You've made money from unverified clients???
10s of thousands of Dollars. Multiple.
I just don't start working until the payment method is verified. Problem solved, not that there ever was a problem in the first place.
Porsche wrote:
I've always been too afraid to apply to these jobs.
"Afraid" of what?
Maybe 80% is an exaggeration. But a majority seems to be unverified.
Well, I just checked the first 100 unfiltered job posts. 21 job posts were from clients with an unverified payment method. 79 from clients with a verified payment method.
May 18, 2020 12:01:38 AM by Porsche S
May 18, 2020 12:04:32 AM by Petra R
Porsche S wrote:
Afraid of it not being protected by Upwork's payment protection thing.
Well, you wouldn't be if you started working before the payment method was verified. I've never even had to prompt a client to do so, they are prompted (strongly) during the hiring process.
May 18, 2020 12:07:38 AM by Porsche S
May 18, 2020 12:13:30 AM by Petra R
Porsche S wrote:
Well, that answers that then! I'm currently reprimanding myself for passing
up on jobs that I deemed "too good to be true."
A word of caution: If something smells strongly of "Too good to be true" then it often is. However, you have little to lose (connects and a bit of time) if you dig deeper.
The fact remains that most scammers have an unverified payment method. But the majority of job posts from clients with an unverified payment method are just clients who are new or haven't verified their payment method YET.
It's very hard to get scammed if you follow Upwork policies to a letter.