🐈
» Forums » Freelancers » Unverified Payment Method for Clients/Agencie...
Page options
porsche-steele
Community Member

Unverified Payment Method for Clients/Agencies

I love using Upwork, but I believe it would be better if payment verification was a requirement for agencies and potential clients.

Us freelancers scroll through hundreds of potential gigs daily, and to see that about 80% of them have unverified payment methods is a bit disheartening. I try to refrain from applying to those jobs as they are not protected by Upwork. Yet many of these individuals who post jobs have the ability to post outrageously high pay rates, getting freelancers excited.

For example, a client can post an editing job and set their budget at $2,000. Any freelancer would jump at that chance. But what if the payment is unverified and the client is just using that rate to get freelancers to apply but doesn't actually have the means to pay it? They end up wasting the freelancer's time attempting to negotiate a rate lower than they posted.

I've found myself tempted to submit proposals to numerous postings but am scared because it may not be real. I realize you can filter this with the search filter, but I think it would just be easier and safer for all if payment methods were verified. Us freelancers have multiple verification tests that we must pass in order to use Upwork. Wouldn't it be fair for clients to have to do the same?

We trust Upwork to protect us and it does a good job of that, but this may be one way to take that protection a step further and help streamline the search process leading to quicker connections from freelancer to client and ultimately resulting in faster hires.

What do you all think?
8 REPLIES 8
petra_r
Community Member


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?

 

 

You've made money from unverified clients??? I've always been too afraid to
apply to these jobs.

Maybe 80% is an exaggeration. But a majority seems to be unverified.

I hadn't thought about it like that. Thanks for letting me know and opening
my eyes a bit.


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.

 

 

Geeez.

Afraid of it not being protected by Upwork's payment protection thing.

I don't know, but I guess it hadn't occurred to me that they simply haven't
verified yet or that they would when the job begins.

DO YOU KNOW HOW MANY JOBS I'VE PASSED UP!?

Please type your reply above this line -##


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.

 

 

Well, that answers that then! I'm currently reprimanding myself for passing
up on jobs that I deemed "too good to be true."

Thank you. Lol.


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.

 

Yeah. Makes sense.
Latest Articles
Featured Topics
Learning Paths