Who is spending 25 Connects in these bidding wars??

[saunders096]

I've seen 25 Connects used in jobs that pay under $50? Who is using Connects this way in these bidding wars? I'd seems like I'm seeing it a lot...I'd hate to think UpWork has internal accounts driving up bid counts to make money...

What is going on with this system? I refuse to send more Connects for these gigs as to not encourage this. Hopefully this is short-lived...

[tlsanders]

I haven't bid on any $50 jobs, but I did just bid 25 connects on a job yesterday. Considered going much higher but figured it probably wasn't necessary.

If for whatever reason you really want to connect with a particular client, it seems silly not to spend a few extra bucks for prime placement.

[tjmisny]

I bid around 30-40 connects per job, but I am quoting thousands per job.... 

[feed_my_eyes]

If it's a $50 job, I suspect that newer freelancers are spending their connects, since they have 60 freebies (or more, if they took the readiness test). There are also people who've been fraudulently topping up their connects and aren't yet aware that Upwork has changed the rules to make this more difficult, but they'll soon burn through their connects and then the situation should improve.

[tomzilla1]

I didn't even know there's an option to bid. I don't bid and if it's less than 5 figures I don't bother.

[tlsanders]

Where'd all those three and four figure gigs on your profile come from?

[tarrier-design]

Haha!! Classic! 

[tomzilla1]

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Keith T wrote:

Haha!! Classic! 

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Why do I get a sense of passive aggressiveness from your statement. It's not polite to laugh at fellow freelancer.

[tomzilla1]

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Tiffany S wrote:

Where'd all those three and four figure gigs on your profile come from?

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3 figures most likely from testing out the consulting feature. 4 figures are milestones of larger projects or from my earlier years. With the 2 digit inflation rate and taxes, Upwork fees, operational costs, I barely make anything these days. And that's the truth. But please, I don't like talking about myself, let's focus on the bidding issue.

[tlsanders]

I was. I was focusing on what appeared to be a blatant misrepresentation of your bidding practices. Of course, what you bid on is none of anyone's business. But, if you choose to share, you should be honest. It's far less "polite" to mislead up-and-coming freelancers than to make a mild comment like Keith's that you objected to.

[feed_my_eyes]

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Tom Z wrote:

I didn't even know there's an option to bid.

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What do you mean? You've spent a fair amount of time in the forum, and commented in threads where people say that they're getting no response to their bids - what did you think they were talking about?

[the-right-writer]

As Christine mentioned, once the scammers realize the free for all with connects is gone, the unskilled will have to find another way to harass clients. Many freelancers refuse to use boosting. From the client's responses, it seems to be mostly unqualified and unskilled using the "feature."

[martina_plaschka]

Maybe someone burning a few connects before they expire or not roll over. 

[spectralua]

Possible some other loophole to collecting free connects found? I won't be surprised.

[martina_plaschka]

I don't think so. For the scammers farming free connects it does not make sense to actually hire each other and pay the upwork fee, it would be cheaper to just buy the connects directly. For the threshold of "has hired before", my guess would be $1000, the scammers would have to pay at least $150 in fees, plus the client charges. I hope the scammers are either buying connects, or giving up on their cheating. 

Look out for people complaining they didn't get free connects, they will do that until they realize the policy has changed. 

[tg_george]

I think fake clients and freelancers cartel is there. Fake unverified cleints may be posting jobs and inviting others int he group. By responding to interviews from fake jobs posts, freelancers may be getting free connects.

[tg_george]

I think fake clients and freelancers cartel is there. By responding to interviews from fake jobs posts, they will be getting free connects.

[7ba56d1a]

They stopped giving those 10 connects for interviews back once that bid window showed up.

[6bfcdaf8]

Just the fact that bidding option is there, people are self-convincing themselves that its key to success. And guess who's winning...

[designchampion]

The bidding system is a rip-off and a greedy tactic by upwork to earn more money. The reality is that only one person will win the job but potentially 20 people or more may spend $3-4 each just bidding try and get "top placement". This leads to upwork making a lot more money per job, freelancers making less money, and the whole process of the client finding the right person for the work even harder because you have amatuers and unskilled people at the top and clients start thinking this is the best choice. The whole bidding process is a horrible user experience and creates additional steps in each proposal and ruins my faith in upwork. What's the point of being top rated plus and making over 200K on upwork if upwork allows some scammers or amatuers to pay to be featured above me? If upwork wants to make more money, they should focus on bringing in more quality clients. The type of people that are drawn to upwork are mostly looking for cheap and yet high quality work. Upwork has devalued their brand and they should be looking to bring in quality clients where people can actually be paid a fair wage for their expertise.

[miriam-ocampo]

I don't think they are worried about their brand being devalued. I think they realized that they make more money with the boosting system they have right now than with the best freelancers doing the work for clients. The question is how long can the best freelancers go without work, and have they calculated that into their stats as well? Maybe they realized that there will always be new people doing the work, so it doesn't affect them. 

[tjmisny]

Well said, Chris.  Devaluing labor is the number one problem with this platform (and unfortunatley, devaluing labor is part of Upwork's busienss model) 

[tomzilla1]

let's cut upwork some slack. it's holiday season.

[tjmisny]

It's the end of September.

[tomzilla1]

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Thomas J M wrote:

It's the end of September.

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yea i know. but what gives, we've been starting topics about this since june. at this point I don't know what to say except to give support to Upwork and fellow freelancers by being as positive as I can be in a very tumultuous time. To be frank with you, I've made nothing this year so far - it's all going to paying fees and uncle sam. All I can say is tighten that belt and keep working.

[designchampion]

Tom you have a good mindset: always good to be positive. For me this issue is new so I didn't know people have been posting about it. I don't spend much time on these forums. Your profile looks great and you've had some success on upwork with over a million in earnings. Did you really not make much money this year?  I haven't made much either when it comes down to it working 80 hours a week to be the sales person, designer, and business developer. I hope you can make more money in 2023. For me I am expanding my focus on sales outside of upwork to eventually stop using this platform for leads.

[tomzilla1]

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Chris M wrote:

Tom you have a good mindset: always good to be positive. For me this issue is new so I didn't know people have been posting about it. I don't spend much time on these forums. Your profile looks great and you've had some success on upwork with over a million in earnings. Did you really not make much money this year?  I haven't made much either when it comes down to it working 80 hours a week to be the sales person, designer, and business developer. I hope you can make more money in 2023. For me I am expanding my focus on sales outside of upwork to eventually stop using this platform for leads.

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You are too kind sir. Thank you. Yes, this year has been lousy. With the upcoming tax code changes it's going to be a challenge to be profitable after all the operational costs. I remember last year was a great year and sure I was working 80 to 100 hours a week but I like working, and sounds like you do as well, so kudos to you sir. Many people on forums share your exact observation.

I don't spend much time on forums unless things are slow. But the bright side is I'm able to learn more about investments this year with more downtime. Your profile looks great - of course you already knew that. I'm happy for you and wish nothing but the best for you as a fellow freelancer.

[wertyfcd]

Very well said .

[81f2681a]

I don´t know who does it. Well, everybody spends their connects in the way they think it is wise. If this peson thinks spending 25 connects in a $50 job is worthy, thats up to him. I wouldn´t do it.

Anyway, I think boosted proposals is a feature that must be eliminated.

[7ba56d1a]

Oddly that bid window appeared right when they stopped giving us 10 connects for responding to interviews.

[tammymckinney]

25? I'm seeing a lot of bids at 80 or 100 connects for a job, and the number 2 and number 3 spots aren't much better. I can't afford to pay Upworks fees, my own taxes AND spend that kind of money on connects at a shot at getting noticed. It's just crazy because I've worked so hard to develop my skills and become a good freelancer, and then this bidding war comes along. 

[6a182ed6]

There are agencies being paid hundreds of dollars to __BID ON UPWORK CONTRACTS__.

For example:
> "Fantastic experience working with the team. The guys sent 54 proposals and I got 5 interviews. This is an awesome result for my niche. Will get more work done with them!"

$81.00

Fixed Price

> "I ordered a bidding service at the beginning of May. Within a month, these guys sent out 200 proposals. I received 29 interviews and already found several interesting projects. And I only spent $150. I am definitely going to hire them again! Amazing team, a job well done!"

$212.00

Fixed Price

See one such agency at: https://www.upwork.com/ag/proposalsforupwork/

I have been receiving quite a bit of spam applications and looking into who's spamming me.

[81f2681a]

As I said in another topic: bidding and searching for a job turned to be a real work. These new  agencies are well smart for earning money from this new "job categorie".