Why do I have an 88% success rate when all my clients current feedback have given me a 5-star rating

[62497aac]

I've been working on Upwork for several months as a book editor. A while ago my status changed from Rising star to regular. Yesterday I was looking at my profile and I was surprised to see that my success rating was  88% but all my feedback are 5-star ratings. 

Is it because there are contracts/jobs still open with no feedback or apparent completion. I thought of closing them--one client didn't want to continue because his concept was changed, another kept saying they were going to send me next chapter but it never came.  I was worried about one client blaming for what was his pivot on content.

What is the best approach to OPTIIMIZING my success rating?  Thank you so much for responding!

Sally Wolfe

[abdulrazaq89]

Dear Sally, 

I also have open contracts with no more work for many months. If we close the contracts, ourselves and client do not provide the feedback in return then what will happen? Will it be worse than keep contacts open we have now? 

What do you think?

Best

Abdul

[chumki1]

Hello Abdul,

As much as i know, it is very bad to have open contracts with no activity. If you end the contract from your end and client do not provides any feedback, there will be very little affect. But it is good than having a bad rating. It means null feedback is better than bad feedback.

So you should end the inactive contracts now. Because it is better to have short term loss than long term. And having the inactive jobs will harm you for long term.

Please feel free to ask any more questions as well.

Thanks

[abdulrazaq89]

Sultana - You are absolutely right, and I will follow your instructions. 

Should it not be harmful to clients than freelancers. At last, they are responsible for ending the contract and leaving feedback. 

Who will think about it?

Best 

Abdul

[chumki1]

Yes, It is because you have contracts/jobs still open with no feedback even after completion. It has a bad affect on your job success score. You should read this: https://support.upwork.com/hc/en-us/articles/211068358-My-Job-Success-Score to know more about job success score. 

Please feel free to ask anymore questions. 

Thanks

[yitwail]

Sally, do keep in mind that Job Success is somewhat like a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma. 

[tillymonster]

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@John K wrote:

Sally, do keep in mind that Job Success is somewhat like a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma. 

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That's right. There is no way to know what the *right* thing to do when it comes to JSS. Upwork says it's to keep from "rigging" the system when IMHO, it's useless. It's a wonder it works at all and I've been telling prospective clients that it's got many issues and they shouldn't rely on it either. I am just now noticing what it does and how unfair it is because I can't land *any* jobs despite great feedback for the most part. Good luck to you OP!

[62497aac]

Thanks for your enouraging support. I am very sorry to hear you're having trouble getting gigs!

Best, Sally

[62497aac]

Thank you so much, Sultana, for the info and the very valuable link -Sally

[colettelewis]

Sally, don't close all the dead contracts at once, because that could also affect your JSS. Close a couple at a time just after a job/jobs that you know will be closed by the client, and for which you will get positive feedback.