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Marisa's avatar
Marisa Y Community Member

Upwork Fees

Is this information true on Upwork rates? 

They charge you 20% for just the first $500 earned.  Then they charge you 10% up to $10,000 earned.  Then 5% after that.  Pls reply asap.

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Brigot's avatar
Brigot Y Community Member

This is per client:

 

As a freelancer, you’re charged a sliding fee based on your lifetime billings with each non-Enterprise client. This includes all contracts you’ve ever had with that client. Service fees are the same whether the contracts are hourly or fixed-price.

  • $0-$500: 20%
  • $500.01-$10,000: 10%
  • $10,000.01 or more: 5%

Example: On a $600 project with a new client, a freelancer’s service fee would be 20% on the first $500 and 10% on the remaining $100. Their earnings after fees would be $490.

You can check your progress towards payment milestones under Reports  Lifetime Billings by Client.

Note: If you worked with someone under two different companies, those are considered different relationships and your lifetime billings with each company will be counted separately. However, working with someone under two different teams within the same company is considered a single relationship and therefore combined in your lifetime billings.

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54 REPLIES 54
Benjamin's avatar
Benjamin B Community Member

It's been that way since i started here 3 years ago, and pretty sure it's the same.

Marisa's avatar
Marisa Y Community Member

Pls confirm the following:

That will mean I will get $9 instead of $10 (agreed per hour amount) for the first 55 hours (only). 

Then I will get $10 until I work 1000 hours (this is 6.5 months). Then Upwork will no longer get a fee?

 

Wes's avatar
Wes C Community Member


Marisa Y wrote:

Pls confirm the following:

That will mean I will get $9 instead of $10 (agreed per hour amount) for the first 55 hours (only). 

Then I will get $10 until I work 1000 hours (this is 6.5 months). Then Upwork will no longer get a fee?

 


No. At $10 / hour, you'll get $8 / hour for the first 50 hours, $9 / hour for the next 950 hours, then $9.5 / hour after that. The fee never stops completely. That assumes all of this is for the same client.

Kristina's avatar
Kristina S Community Member

So, Mr Wees, 

 

Those 500+ dollars has to be from the same client, and not in total? For decreasing the fee to 10 percent. 

 

Thanks,

Kristina

Maria's avatar
Maria T Community Member


Kristina S wrote:

So, Mr Wees, 

 

Those 500+ dollars has to be from the same client, and not in total? For decreasing the fee to 10 percent. 

 

Thanks,

Kristina


Yes, with the same client.

Johnathan's avatar
Johnathan M Community Member

Upwork used to take a much more reasonable 10%. Then, when they had a large stable of freelancers who'd pretty much become dependent on work through Upwork, they DOUBLED their fee - charging more now than a personal literary agent, who would go out and GET work for you, charges.

Phyllis's avatar
Phyllis G Community Member


Johnathan M wrote:

Upwork used to take a much more reasonable 10%. Then, when they had a large stable of freelancers who'd pretty much become dependent on work through Upwork, they DOUBLED their fee - charging more now than a personal literary agent, who would go out and GET work for you, charges.


I only depend on UW for part of my living. That said, I get excellent return on the fees UW charges. The platform DOES, essentially, "go out and GET work for" me. There's no way I could find or be discovered by the clients I've connected with here, without spending far more in marketing than I spend in fees (average 11-12% of gross earnings across each year). And there's no upfront investment, I pay as I go. 

Johnathan's avatar
Johnathan M Community Member


Phyllis G wrote:

The platform DOES, essentially, "go out and GET work for" me. 

Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Phyllis. I, respectfully, disagree. The platform gets you OPPORTUNITIES for work, but it doesn't actually procure any work for you. You still have to search through the opportunities and submit proposals, and you may or may not get any work. Whereas a personal literary agent does actually go out and find and secure work for you - and doesn't charge more than 10-15%.
The other aspect of Upwork fees that I see as being designed to help Upwork at my expense is their applying the sliding scale to your work for each individual client, rather than to your work as a whole - I don't see any logical reason for that other than Upwork wanting to get 20% of your income as long as they possibly can.  🙂

Phyllis's avatar
Phyllis G Community Member


Johnathan M wrote:

Phyllis G wrote:

The platform DOES, essentially, "go out and GET work for" me. 

Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Phyllis. I, respectfully, disagree. The platform gets you OPPORTUNITIES for work, but it doesn't actually procure any work for you. You still have to search through the opportunities and submit proposals, and you may or may not get any work. Whereas a personal literary agent does actually go out and find and secure work for you - and doesn't charge more than 10-15%.
The other aspect of Upwork fees that I see as being designed to help Upwork at my expense is their applying the sliding scale to your work for each individual client, rather than to your work as a whole - I don't see any logical reason for that other than Upwork wanting to get 20% of your income as long as they possibly can.  🙂


You're right, UW provides me with opportunities, not contracts. It acts as an escrow agent and otherwise, stays out of my business (for the most part) which suits me. If a literary agent is what you want and need, someone to represent your business interests while you focus on creative work, then you are in the wrong place.

 

Of course UW's business model is "designed to help Upwork at my expense", that's the way fee-for-service businesses make money. Set your fees to account for UW's cut and if the ROI is not there for you, then find other ways to promote your business. UW doesn't suit everyone but there's nothing predatory about it and nobody is forcing you to use it. 

Johnathan's avatar
Johnathan M Community Member

Well, if you can offer me a reasonable reason for Upwork doing their 20-10-5% scale on each client you have - rather than just on your total billing - I'm open to hearing it.

But consider the following scenario:

- One freelancer, a writer of moderate talent, has managed to land a whopping ONE whole client - after about a year, they've billed that one client enough so that they're only getting clipped 5% by Upwork on their current and all future work (as they will likely continue working for the one client indefinitely)

- Another freelancer, a supremely talented graphic designer who primarily offers website design services, has garnered literally dozens of clients over the course of a year, and has delivered outstanding work for all of them - However, because the nature of their work is such that it tends to be a "one-off" thing (e.g., "create a website for me"), even though their TOTAL billing is more than $100,000, they're still having to cough up to Upwork 20% of every payment they receive - and they'll likely never see Upwork's cut of their earnings drop from the 20% level down to the 5% level, just because the nature of their freelance work doesn't lend itself to recurring billings to the same client

QUERY: Does that strike you as being even remotely fair? And I'll repeat my earlier question: What train of logical thought (if any) somehow justifies that disparity in pay percentages between freelancer #1 and freelancer #2?

Phyllis's avatar
Phyllis G Community Member


Johnathan M wrote:

Well, if you can offer me a reasonable reason for Upwork doing their 20-10-5% scale on each client you have - rather than just on your total billing - I'm open to hearing it.

But consider the following scenario:

- One freelancer, a writer of moderate talent, has managed to land a whopping ONE whole client - after about a year, they've billed that one client enough so that they're only getting clipped 5% by Upwork on their current and all future work (as they will likely continue working for the one client indefinitely)

- Another freelancer, a supremely talented graphic designer who primarily offers website design services, has garnered literally dozens of clients over the course of a year, and has delivered outstanding work for all of them - However, because the nature of their work is such that it tends to be a "one-off" thing (e.g., "create a website for me"), even though their TOTAL billing is more than $100,000, they're still having to cough up to Upwork 20% of every payment they receive - and they'll likely never see Upwork's cut of their earnings drop from the 20% level down to the 5% level, just because the nature of their freelance work doesn't lend itself to recurring billings to the same client

QUERY: Does that strike you as being even remotely fair? And I'll repeat my earlier question: What train of logical thought (if any) somehow justifies that disparity in pay percentages between freelancer #1 and freelancer #2?


What one FL pays has nothing to do with and no relevance for what another FL pays. In any case, you've been offered "reasonable reasons." The bottom line is that UW's model is what it is. Either it works for you or it doesn't. I don't really understand it when FLs who don't like it and don't find it profitable, nevertheless remain invested enough to come here and complain about it. (You're not the first, believe me, nor will you be the last, I expect.)

 

Petra's avatar
Petra R Community Member


Johnathan M wrote:

And I'll repeat my earlier question: What train of logical thought (if any) somehow justifies that disparity in pay percentages between freelancer #1 and freelancer #2?


Very simple.

Upwork analyzed their returns and found that they had the least problems, least disputes, least need for support personel being imvolved, and therefore by far the least costs associated with long term relationships between freelancers and their clients. Freelancers and their clients who have been working together for ages and where a lot of money has changed hands are generally just getting on with it happily and need no help. No support. No Upwork money spending in them. Upwork rewards that. They pass on the savings they make by not having to deal with issues on tiny contracts that earn them next to nothing.

 

Every new client - frelancer relationship is a risk and creates the potential of money having to be spent or costly issues that require support to step in, disputes, chargebacks etc. Small contracts cost them more. Hence they charge (essentially) a premium of up to, but a maximum of,  $50 on such contracts.

 

At a fee of 10%, Upwork would only earn $10 on a contract with a value of $100. If even the slightest thing goes wrong, that measerly profit turns into a loss in the blink of an eye.

 

Johnathan's avatar
Johnathan M Community Member

Thanks for your thoughts, Petra, but I don't think they actually address the discrepancy and different treatment of some freelancers that I pointed out.
To reiterate, some freelancers, just because of the nature of the work they do, are very rarely going to ever be able to establish long-term relationships with clients - they're nearly always going to be getting work that is a "one-shot" thing - for example, someone who does wedding photography. They're always going to be getting hit with the 20% fee, without any chance of working it down to the 5% level, because they can't possibly be hired on an ongoing, long-term basis . Again, I just don't think that's fair to them, and that it would be much more fair if Upwork applied the sliding scale percentage to the TOTAL amount of billing someone does, rather than figuring it separately for every client.
Jack

Natalie's avatar
Natalie B Community Member

That and they went public.......... Wall St. ruins everything.

Brigot's avatar
Brigot Y Community Member

This is per client:

 

As a freelancer, you’re charged a sliding fee based on your lifetime billings with each non-Enterprise client. This includes all contracts you’ve ever had with that client. Service fees are the same whether the contracts are hourly or fixed-price.

  • $0-$500: 20%
  • $500.01-$10,000: 10%
  • $10,000.01 or more: 5%

Example: On a $600 project with a new client, a freelancer’s service fee would be 20% on the first $500 and 10% on the remaining $100. Their earnings after fees would be $490.

You can check your progress towards payment milestones under Reports  Lifetime Billings by Client.

Note: If you worked with someone under two different companies, those are considered different relationships and your lifetime billings with each company will be counted separately. However, working with someone under two different teams within the same company is considered a single relationship and therefore combined in your lifetime billings.

Johnathan's avatar
Johnathan M Community Member

Yeah, the "each client" bit is particularly aggravating - You could have $10,000 in billings, but still be getting hacked for 20% on everything because you've billed multiple clients rather than just one or two.

Johnathan's avatar
Johnathan M Community Member

A fact worth noting is that while Upwork charges freelancers 20%, they only charge clients a measly 3%. THAT burned me up when I learned about it. How is that fair? Why isn't it, say, a 10% fee for freelancers and a 10% fee for clients?

And if there is going to be such a huge discrepancy between what Upwork charges freelancers and what they charge clients - well then, just looking at it from a purely practical angle - Who can probably more easily AFFORD to pay 20%? - a COMPANY hiring a freelancer...or the freelancer?

 

**Edited for Community Guidelines**

Petra's avatar
Petra R Community Member


Johnathan M wrote:

A fact worth noting is that while Upwork charges freelancers 20%, they only charge clients a measly 3%. THAT burned me up when I learned about it. How is that fair? 


Clients actually pay 100% of the fee anyway. You (if you have any sense) factor the fees into your rate and prices, and in reality every Cent that is paid to Upwork out of the payment for the work is paid by the client.


Johnathan M wrote:

 Why isn't it, say, a 10% fee for freelancers and a 10% fee for clients?


The freelancer would end up getting the same, but from far less clients. Lots of clients would go elsewhere.

At the end of the day, if the client has a budget of $100, that's what they'll pay. Including fees. So whether, on paper, the freelancer or the client pays the fees, the end result is exactly the same: The feelancer ends up with $80. The fee is paid (in reality) by the client. ALL the money (what Upwork takes and what the freelancer gets) comes out f the client's pocket.

 


Johnathan M wrote:

**Edited for Community Guidelines**


That is an incredibly inappropriate and offensive comparison.

Woodrow's avatar
Woodrow Q Community Member

It simply amazes me the bellyaching after the fact.

 

You're a Business Owner providing freelance services to clients.

 

That's the cost of doing business. 

 

What surprises me the most is that Upwork's knowledge base is open for anyone to read and understand the rates long before they sign on. 

 

There is literally no room to say, "I didn't know," or worse, "It's unfair!"

 

 

Woodrow's avatar
Woodrow Q Community Member

Thank You, Thank You, Thank You, Petra!

 


Petra R wrote:

Johnathan M wrote:

A fact worth noting is that while Upwork charges freelancers 20%, they only charge clients a measly 3%. THAT burned me up when I learned about it. How is that fair? 


Clients actually pay 100% of the fee anyway. You (if you have any sense) factor the fees into your rate and prices, and in reality every Cent that is paid to Upwork out of the payment for the work is paid by the client.

Petra just handed every freelancer the BEST operational business advice you must understand when it comes to pricing one's services!

 

Read the highlighted section over and over, and repeat it to yourself over and over until it fully sinks in!

 

 

 

Preston's avatar
Preston H Community Member

Jonathan, I believe that you are sincere, that you aren't just trolling us. But it really seems like you don't understand how these numbers work. You are fixating on one factor, fees "charged" to freelancers, rather than looking at the totality.

 

You should consider Dan and Ben, who are twins and roommates, living in the same town. Both work on different freelance work platforms.

 

Ben's platform only charges a 1% fee.

Dan's platform charges a 40% fee.

 

Last month Ben earned a net take-home amount of $500.

But Dan earned a net take-home amount of $5000.

 

Yet they worked the same number of hours, doing the same type of work.

 

Jonathan: How do you explain this?

Johnathan's avatar
Johnathan M Community Member

Preston,
Let's see...they both worked the same number of hours, doing the same kind of work, but Dan somehow netted $5,000 after a 40% fee, while Ben only netted $500 after a 1% fee.

How to explain that? Hmm...it would appear that Ben does the same kind of work as Dan, but somehow only gets paid about $25 an hour (for example, assuming both worked 20 hours), while Dan manages to get paid around $400 an hour for the same kind of work....
Jeez, I don't know, Preston - that big a disparity for "the same kind of work", same number of hours...  **Edited for Community Guidelines**.   🙂

JB


Petra's avatar
Petra R Community Member

Jonathan, the trick is to specifically go after bigger contracts and foster long term relationships. I'm up to 77% long term clients now. all at 10% with one at 5% and a couple more about to hit the 5%.  

 

My niche (translation) isn't THAT dissimilar to yours. The big relationships are out there, You just have to find them and then hang on to them. 

 

It is no harder to win one bigger contract than 5 smaller ones. It actually takes less time, costs less and is less risky.  Every Dollar I earn from my long term clients comes at 0 aquisition cost.

 

If you could just stop whining (which you have been doing since 2017) about the fee and concentrate on the opportunties and make a plan how to exploit those opportunities, you'd be a hell of a lot happier and you and Upwork would get on so much better.

 

You want to try it.

Jennifer's avatar
Jennifer R Community Member


Petra R wrote:

Jonathan, the trick is to specifically go after bigger contracts and foster long term relationships. I'm up to 77% long term clients now. all at 10% with one at 5% and a couple more about to hit the 5%.  


Finally something I beat you in.Smiley Tongue

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