Why does Upwork show what we charge other cli...

alidabell2011 · ‎10-20-2019

I really feel this undermines our ability to improve our rates. Is it really necessary to show this? How come the feedback given isn’t good enough?

pudingstudio · ‎10-20-2019

Alida B wrote:
I really feel this undermines our ability to improve our rates. Is it really necessary to show this? How come the feedback given isn’t good enough?

Why do you think that?
Clients don't know the scope of your past jobs, they can't understand why/for what you've earned XX amount.

Either way, you can hide your earnings.
Some people do that.

petra_r · ‎10-20-2019

Antun M wrote:
Either way, you can hide your earnings.
Some people do that.

She already does. It's pointless and counterproductive because clients you apply to see the rates anyway, as do those you already work with and often anyone who knows where to look.

It also leads to less invites because clients tend to view such profiles with suspicion.

Antun M wrote:
Clients don't know the scope of your past jobs, they can't understand why/for what you've earned XX amount.

That doesn't apply to hourly jobs (most of hers are hourly) or jobs where the scope is clear in the title or the job description, as it often is.

Alida, the trick is to increase your rates incrementally, consistently and sensibly.

I am not confinced having vastly different rates for different specialized profiles is a sensible strategy.

tlsanders · ‎10-20-2019

Alida B wrote:
How come the feedback given isn’t good enough?

Many reasons, but one of the big ones is that public feedback is pretty meaningless anyway and is even more meaningless without the context of rates.

If I'm hiring a writer to write a high-quality piece in the legal arena, I am of course completely uninterested in whether that freelancer has the ability to earn 5-star feedback from a client looking for high-volume, low-quality SEO content at $10/page. There are a lot of freelancers writing crap content complete with grammatical errors and getting good feedback from low-end clients who don't know the difference or don't care. And, feedback should take into account what was asked and paid for--if I ask someone to give me a quick logo sketch for $25*, I'm going to be rating them based on their ability to deliver a quick sketch without investing much time at all...but, 5-star feedback on that gig wouldn't tell other clients anything at all about their ability to deliver a quality finished product.

*I wouldn't--it's just an example.

moonraker · ‎10-21-2019

Only once has a potential client asked me why I have charged less in the past, to which I answered that I raise my rates as I gain more experience. I got that job.

I also raise my rates incrementally so there is not a great leap between the new fees and what I have earned recently.

florydev · ‎10-21-2019

Alida B wrote:
I really feel this undermines our ability to improve our rates. Is it really necessary to show this? How come the feedback given isn’t good enough?

Alida if a client every asks you why you rates were lower in the past you need to jump all over that question.

I would say well when I first started on Upwork I did not know what would be a good rate but once I started helping clients and seeing how happy they are with my work and hearing from them the challenges they had with other freelancers I decided that my value was higher than my rate reflected.

Overall though I think you are giving the clients too much power there. If you make a great pitch and have a great profile I would expect that to win the day and anyone who would look at something like that and cause an issue is probably not a great client for you.

tlsanders · ‎10-21-2019

As a freelancer who also hires a lot of freelancers, I don't think the issue is so much a freelancer charging higher rates (I have also never been asked about this, and my hourly rate has increased by $53/hour since I started using Upwork about 2.5 years ago).

There are two things that are red flags for me as a client, though.

First, if someone has or claims to have credentials like OP, but has charged $10/hour on previous jobs or done flat-rate work I know would have taken a few hours for $25, I doubt them. I don't make an assumption about where the problem lies, but do take that to mean that either they aren't highly qualified, they don't have good business sense, or they suffer from an extreme lack of confidence--none of those inspires me to work with a freelancer. I don't question them about their rates; I just pass them by.

The other is when someone has a high hourly rate posted on their profile, yet all of their jobs are at a fraction of that rate. I don't mean posting $75 and working for $60 (or even $50). I mean posting $125 and working for $18. When I see a dramatic mismatch like that, I don't consider that freelancer, for reasons similar to those described above.

alidabell2011 · ‎10-21-2019

IMO based on experience and as I have continued to increase my business outside of Upwork, I realized how much something like this creates the rat race to the bottom for everyone. Also in terms of experience outside of Upwork, no other environment supports this type of exposure. It literally does no freelancer here any good.

moonraker · ‎10-21-2019

Alida B wrote:
It literally does no freelancer here any good.

I disagree.

Those with a history of good feedback at certain rates are likely to be more appealing to clients than other freelancers with similar feedback at lower rates. If I am competing for a job with a $10/hr freelancer, for example, then it is beneficial to me that the client can see I have been successful in better-paid (thus probably more challenging) contracts.

petra_r · ‎10-21-2019

Alida B wrote:
It literally does no freelancer here any good.

Oh it does,

It does those freelancers good who either know how to price and market their services or have learned how to do so by trial and error. It also encourages those who haven't to figure it out.

Alida B wrote:
I realized how much something like this creates the rat race to the bottom for everyone.

Only in the bottom segment and among those who don't quite know what they're doing (yet)

Why does Upwork show what we charge other clients?