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mrgonz
Community Member

free test, free samples, free work

I was wondering are clients aware that asking for free test, free samples number 1 is free work and most important number 2 is against upworks rules, i have many clients asking for free test, i ask everytime if they are willing to pay for a test and the answer always seems to be no, using excuses, i'm so tired of it, i really wanna work but i have wasted so much time in this kinds of clients that "test me" and then "i'm sorry we are going with someone else", so this came to my attention, are clients aware that this is against upwork rules?

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tlsanders
Community Member

Obviously, since there are hundreds of thousands of different clients with different backgrounds, Upwork experience levels, tendencies to read contracts, etc., some are aware and some are not.

 

Never ask a client if he/she is willing to pay for a test. Upwork rules require payment, so you have a few options:

 

-assume that the client will follow the rules and respond with something like, "Sounds good. Upwork TOS doesn't allow for free sample work, so as soon as you're able to fund a small test job, I'll get started on that."

 

-report the client; Upwork will pull the job and potentially suspend the client who is asking for free work

 

-try #1 in case the client really didn't know, then move on to #2 if they decline or don't respond (as that likely means they've just moved forward with other freelancers who didn't object)

 

Don't worry about losing out on work because you don't provide free samples. Most of those who demand free samples even once they've been made aware of the TOS are parsing out their jobs into free blocks with different freelancers and never intend to pay anyone.

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16 REPLIES 16
tlsanders
Community Member

Obviously, since there are hundreds of thousands of different clients with different backgrounds, Upwork experience levels, tendencies to read contracts, etc., some are aware and some are not.

 

Never ask a client if he/she is willing to pay for a test. Upwork rules require payment, so you have a few options:

 

-assume that the client will follow the rules and respond with something like, "Sounds good. Upwork TOS doesn't allow for free sample work, so as soon as you're able to fund a small test job, I'll get started on that."

 

-report the client; Upwork will pull the job and potentially suspend the client who is asking for free work

 

-try #1 in case the client really didn't know, then move on to #2 if they decline or don't respond (as that likely means they've just moved forward with other freelancers who didn't object)

 

Don't worry about losing out on work because you don't provide free samples. Most of those who demand free samples even once they've been made aware of the TOS are parsing out their jobs into free blocks with different freelancers and never intend to pay anyone.

mrgonz
Community Member

i think this is the greatest answer i've had haha thank you very much! i'll keep all of this in mind!

My "free samples" are my portfolio - virtually all of which is outside of Upwork and is quite extensive and diverse. I have gotten next to nothing here! Clients should hire based on the quality and style of your past work then collaborate with you on their project to achieve the desired result.

 

I recently had an experience here where I was invited to submit a proposal. I thought I was hired because the client sent me all the footage and music. It was very classy footage for a commercial, but there was no script, no concept or strategy. It was basically up to me and he was expecting a first draft of a finished 45 second commercial - complete with color grading. However, there was no actual job offer. I sent a message asking if I was hired or if he was "testing" several applicants, but received no reply.

 

Though I suspected I was being made to work for nothing as a test, I felt this would make a nice demo so I went ahead and completed it. I received no response to the completed work for quite some time. When he finally did respond, he claimed I took a month to complete the assignment when in fact it took only a week. It was his response which took all that time. Sure enough, he was testing people without pay. His response to my first draft was basically that I was not hired because he did not like my work. That is when you give notes and collaborate. As a client, you do NOT make several people complete the same job then pay for only the one you like.

 

So I now have this commercial on a private link which I use for appropriate job applications.

 

I have no clue what Upwork did in response to my complaints as I received no responses and certainly no money.

 

There was another instance where I was actually hired, completed the work, and tweaked according to notes. Then they made totally erroneous claims about low quality and didn't pay me. I complained to Upwork and sent them the same file I sent to the client to demonstrate the quality. I received NOTHING for my work!! The job BTW was simply a live tutorial using a capture of my computer screen. It was according to their parameters of full HD 1080, 60 fps, and using the graphics they provided.

 

At this point, Upwork is dead to me!

 

My real portfolio is **Edited for community guidelines**, but of course the clients here have this ignorant notion in their head that your past work is meaningless unless it was done through Upwork!

 

Bruce B.

kat303
Community Member

Bruce ---

It's obvious that you do not know the correct way and the procedures of this site.

You wrote that you "thought" you were hired. Do you know the correct way to know if you've been offered a contract which you can accept or decline that offer? 

 

You sent a message asking if you were hired, but received no reply. Again, all you had to do was to check to see if you've been offered a contract on this site. All hiring must be done on this site You'll not only get an email and a notification, you'll also see a contract being offered on your home page.

 

Even after the above 2 red flags, you even suspected you were being made to work for nothing but you still continued to do the work. 

 

You didn't receive any money for that job because you didn't have a job. You were never hired and had you known how to work on this site it would never have gotten to that point.

 

As for the 2nd job. After you were hired did you check escrow to see if it was FULLY funded? If there is no funds deposited in escrow you don't do the work, even if it's a rush job no matter what the client may promise or try to convince you with. Upwork can't release payment to you because no payment was deposited. 

 

When you have a problem with a client and you know, without a doubt that you did excellent, professional work, Upwork has ways to help you. First is to open a dispute (but only if there are funds in escrow) An Upwork mediator will basically suggest to you to try and work out an arrangement that is agreeable to both of you. This mediator's suggestion is merely that, a suggestion, it is not enforceable it is not binding. If no agreement can be made then you go into arbitration. Whatever decision is made there IS binding. Did you do any of that or even check escrow to see if anything was funded?

 

Upwork should not be dead to you especially if you work on here the right way. If you opened a business and someone walks out of your store with merchandise without paying you don't close the store, you install preventative measures so it doesn't happen again. On this site you learn (read the help sections) how to work correctly so things like this don't happen. Scammers such as these 2 clients were, target new freelancers because then know that new freelancers don't know the scams here and don't know how to properly work on here. 


Bruce B wrote:

My "free samples" are my portfolio -

 

 

This is what I told clients who asked me for free samples in the beginning. 😉 "Hey there! Please check out my portfolio for examples of my writing style and the content I've covered. In particular, check out Job X and Job Y from Dates Z and Zed, as they're along the lines of what you described. Thanks!"

 

Once I had the potential client say, "Hmmm! I'm ALMOST convinced but not quite. Please write just 500 words for me and if I like them, I'll hire you."

 

I answered, "Hey there! So glad to hear from you. I wanted to offer you a quick piece of advice. If you're unconvinced of a freelancer even after viewing quite a few pieces of her work, you probably want to choose someone else. You should always feel comfortable with your hire. Best of luck in the future." 😉

 

I guess I was in a wise-A mood... 😉 I didn't have to answer anything, obviously. Was just having a bit of fun with my loss, LOL. Then again...it wasn't an actual loss. Because in reality, obviously the client wasn't going to pay me anything. She probably wasn't going to pay anyone anything. Yes, some clients have this as an M.O. It definitely happens.

 

OTOH, this only happened when I was very new. So such clients are equally obviously selecting candidates they think/hope don't yet know all of UW's rules. 

 

Once I had some UW jobs under my belt and listed on my profile I stopped getting such solicitations. 

 

My ONE piece of advice for anyone and everyone who is frustrated with this is to vet your clients. Check out their feedback and check out their average pay. Those may clue you in. Also look at their hire rate. These can clue you in to a lot of "I'm posting a job but just want free work" clients. They'll often have an abysmally low hire rate and if they hire anyone at all, the pay will make your eyes bug out of your head, and not in a good way. This isn't foolproof, but it can help you save some time and a lot of lost submissions. 

Melanie,

 

You are incorrectly assuming ill-intent from any client who makes this request, and no valid reason for the request.  Respectfully, I will enlighten you - from the perspective of being said client who asks writers for new samples - that this is not the case.  Obviously, there are some clients out there with ill-intent who are trying to piece work out for free.  However, this is not always the case and I would advise you against generalizing since you may pass up on a quality client.

 

There is a very valid reason to ask writers for fresh samples.  Seeing existing portfolio work is a place to start, but just as there are unscrupulous clients there are unscrupulous writers out there who will have poorly written content professionally edited (basically rewritten) and then present this as their own work.  I was cautioned on this by some experts in my field with a great deal of experience, when I was starting out.  A brand new sample written to specification is a necessary part of my interview process, to ensure that they can both follow directions (one candidate wrote me a good sample completely unrelated to what I requested) AND can provide quality written content without the benefit of a professional rewrite.  I don't mind doing proofreading/editing, but I've known colleagues who get unusable content back that must be completely rewritten.  I get that escrow offers some protection, but that doesn't prevent wasted time when one is on a schedule and has to then go back and find someone new to deliver quality material.  A fresh sample of even 100-200 words is a good, quick way to establish confidence before work starts.

 

So, again, I understand your position but am just giving you a friendly delivery of a different perspective.  I will not hire any writer without a fresh sample, but I will also pay every single candidate from whom I request that.  And I can tell you that I treat my talent VERY well and they are very happy.  I also pay them at a higher rate than what colleagues do - that's just me.  Part of what I love about my business is being able to provide work/income to quality freelancers, and developing good partnerships with them.  So if I was interviewing you and you made this assumption and declined to write the requested sample, you'd be passing up on a quality client.  😉

Hi! I'm here because I experience free sample work as well..and I would like to know how I can get my point across fermly and hopefully to any higher authority, because there are so many things that upwork does great for clients, but not good at all for freelancers. Why is it so easy to create a client account, no real verifications no tests, no "scam spotting" system in place for all the dodgy clients, because there are soooo many. The comunitiy is always saying, we are working on it, although nothing significant changed, only in the clients favour again, like the connects. I guess nothing will change still...the clients should be so fermly worned about the rules and how to treat freelancers so that they can't post any jobs until it;s clear...Also, upwork dumpes so much of these on the freelancer that is not fair, like you spot the scamer, you be careful with spotting scam jobs, you investigate clients, and so on, it is not efficient time spent. If I spend all my time delivering my service, I make more money there for upwork makes more money, if I'm working as a part time detective on upwork, how is that efficient?! Instead of upwork being MORE strict with scam clients....

Tiffany,

I think your response is definitely a good one, coming from one who asked a couple of writers for a new free sample without realizing that it was against TOS.  Assuming at first that the client simply isn't aware of this is absolutely the first step.  I loved it and was thankful that one of the first 2 candidates followed your proposed solution, and I ended up making it right - getting the requested samples from both of them and then setting up quick contracts to pay them. In the end I hired 2 other individuals, but I now know how to handle this without violating TOS.  I can see why this condition is put in place to protect the talent from unscrupulous clients that wish to parse out their work into free pieces.

 

I will add that there is a valid reason to ask writers for fresh samples.  Seeing existing portfolio work is a place to start, but there are unscrupulous writers out there who will have poorly written content professionally edited and then present this as their own work.  A brand new sample to specification is a necessary part of my interview process, to ensure that they can follow directions and can provide quality written content without the benefit of a professional rewrite.  I don't mind doing some editing, but I've known colleagues who get unusable content back that must be completely rewritten.  I get that escrow offers some protection, but that doesn't prevent wasted time when one is on a schedule and has to then go back and find someone new to deliver quality material.  A fresh sample of even 100-200 words is a good, quick way to establish confidence before work starts.

I usually receive a wide number of clients who ask for free work. Today, I received a message from a client name **Edited for Community Guidelines**, immediately when came inbox asked for free sample work. I told him that this is definitely against the terms of Upwork and of course against my protocol.

Another thing that is against the terms of Upwork is naming clients in your posts.

Hii mam to kantre India come to cam

chaitanya91845
Community Member

Hi,

I got a few messages from a client and he has sent me sample output without providing me the actual data. He wants me to mimic the output without with sample data and show him the snapshots of the work. He says he will offer me the job if he is satisfied I can do it. Is it ethical to offer this? I mean, he might have done this to multiple freelancers and might just be waiting for the best solution before hire. Although I wouldn't be sending him the code, it still amounts to free work. Please advise if this is against the terms of Upwork.

Hi Chaitanya,

Please check this thread for some helpful advice. Thanks.

~ Jo-An

Untitled

Thanks a lot for linking me to the correct answer .I did exactly as was mentioned in the thread and the client offered me $3 for the job 😕 I withdrew my proposal immediately. Surely he has asked for free samples from others he is interviewing as he told me "The sooner you provide the sample, the better". Hopefully they deny free work too. 

 

Thank you for your help 🙂


Chaitanya B wrote:

Thanks a lot for linking me to the correct answer .I did exactly as was mentioned in the thread and the client offered me $3 for the job 😕 I withdrew my proposal immediately. Surely he has asked for free samples from others he is interviewing as he told me "The sooner you provide the sample, the better". Hopefully they deny free work too. 

 

Thank you for your help 🙂


Did you report the client? If this was discussed in your messages here you can still report it. If it was in the job listing you can definitely report it. 🙂

32e81aaf
Community Member

It is important to clarify the difference between free work and sample work. While free work implies completing a task without any compensation, sample work allows freelancers to demonstrate their skills and capabilities to clients.

 

As a freelancer, it is within your rights to ask clients if they are willing to pay for a test or sample work. If a client consistently refuses to compensate for your time and effort, it may indicate a lack of seriousness or a disregard for Upwork's rules. In such cases, it is advisable to report the client if you suspect any fraudulent activity.

 

However, it's essential to understand the complexity and importance of a client's budget. As freelancers, we should strive to demonstrate our abilities and professionalism without compromising our value. If you can showcase your skills through a showreel or previous work, that can be an effective alternative to providing unpaid samples. Remember, gaining a client's trust often comes from showcasing your expertise and understanding their needs.

 

It is crucial for both freelancers and clients to respect Upwork's policies regarding free work, and to maintain open and transparent communication throughout the hiring process.

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