What is the Best Time to End an Old Contract!

[#1]

Hello Upwork Experts,

Take my best regards. Could anyone please tell me the best time to end an old contract where the client doesn't respond for a long time and end the contract. I mean, how many days or months I should wait for the client's response so that I can save myself from JSS Drop?

Note: I just have completed two jobs successfully and the clients end the job and gave me the best feedback. So, if I end two of my old contracts (unresponsive for 3 months) now, can I save myself from JSS Drop? Thanks in Advance! 

[#2]

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Rafsun S wrote:

Hello Upwork Experts,

Take my best regards. Could anyone please tell me the best time to end an old contract where the client doesn't respond for a long time and end the contract. I mean, how many days or months I should wait for the client's response so that I can save myself from JSS Drop?

Note: I just have completed two jobs successfully and the clients end the job and gave me the best feedback. So, if I end two of my old contracts (unresponsive for 3 months) now, can I save myself from JSS Drop? Thanks in Advance! 

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Neither open jobs that go idle nor jobs that close without feedback have any  impact on your JSS provided money was paid under them and you don't have too big a percentage of such contracts, so it simply doesn't matter and you are worrying for absolutely nothing.

[#3]

But I heard that the contract without feedbacking effects on JSS. And even an idle contract for a long time also can effect JSS! And I heard that from here...from this community...from some community Guru! 

[#4]

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Rafsun S wrote:

But I heard that the contract without feedbacking effects on JSS. And even an idle contract for a long time also can effect JSS! And I heard that from here...from this community...from some community Guru! 

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It is not true. There are people with dozens of inactive contracts and people with dozens of no feedback contracts and 100% JSS

Some people like to pretend their JSS is poor because of that when really they had poor private feedback or "nothing earned" contracts, or they are simply ignorant how it works.

As long as money has been paid and as long as you don't have a huge number of such contracts, they have absolutely no effect and that is all there is to it.

[#5]

Thanks for the information, Petra! Also please tell me, how long I should wait to end if there are a "nothing earned" contract? Thanks again! 

[#6]

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Rafsun S wrote:

Thanks for the information, Petra! Also please tell me, how long I should wait to end if there are a "nothing earned" contract? Thanks again! 

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"Nothing ever earned" contracts will always hurt your JSS if they are idle or end without feedback, so it does not matter. They will hurt left open (after a couple of months+) and will hurt if closed without feedback,so you might as well get out of them.

In future, do not have those. They are very easily avoided.

[#7]

I once had a client go quiet for eight months, then they came back and gave me work for four more months. It happens.

[#8]

It doesn't hurt to give unresponsive clients a polite nudge, though, if you haven't done so already. If I haven't heard from a client for several weeks, I'll send a message like, "I just wanted to follow up with you about your project. Is there anything more that I can do for you? Please let me know."

[#9]

Yes, I am also very careful about my clients and I respect them very well however the client and the budget and I believe everyone should do this. 

[#10]

Yes, in an ideal world, you'd get a "thank you" from the client and they would close the project properly and leave feedback. But you could also take the position that "no news is good news"; people are usually pretty quick to complain if they're NOT satisfied.

You submitted the work, you got paid, and they didn't leave you bad feedback; I would still count that as a "win" and not worry about it.