Question On Old Proposals

[jeeves503]

Hello Upwork World

Just wondering about old proposals - if a client doesn't respond to your invite after 7 days I would think Upwork would close the proposal as it would appear the client doesn't want to hire.  Then Upwork should give back the connect "points" back to my account.  If a client posts a proposal with no intention of hiring then I lose "points" and I'm the one that gets punished by losing points.  ????

That doesn't seem fair???

After a month old proposals should drop off of your list to help clean it up.

Just some thoughts as I'm new here.

Thanks

[wlyonsatl]

That's just the way the Upwork system works.

I guess it's a little like going out on a charter fishing boat. The captain charges you for the use of his boat, fuel, crew, etc., whether or not you catch a fish. Luckily, the captain doesn't also insist you give him 20% of all the fish you catch.

[prestonhunter]

I like the imagery of the charter fishing boat...

But I would add that we aren't actually charged anything for using Upwork to host our profile pages, look for jobs, and submit proposals.

So although you can say the captain "charges us" for the use of the boat, etc...

That analogy is not completely accurate, because Upwork is letting us use the site for free.

Only if we actually earn money ("catch fish") does Upwork take a percentage fee... (20%, 10% or 5%).

[jeeves503]

we get charged - there's a 20% fee on our earnings.  

My point to Upwork is why are we dinged for a client's mistake?  Your fishing boat theory would mean even if the boat sinks and you're hurt - oh well you must pay.  Which is not correct.  Same goes for losing points on proposals that are dead "fish".  or not active.  Proposals that are fake, not active, client gave up ect.... we should be able to get our points back to use on real proposals.

[richard_wein]

Upwork wants to keep down the number of proposals that freelancers can make. Refunding more connects would be inconsistent with that objective. That said, I guess they could achieve much the same result by refunding more connects while reducing the monthly connect allowance from 60 to 30, say.

Anyway, I can't see much chance of Upwork making any significant change to this policy in the foreseeable future.

[jeeves503]

I was hoping someone from Upwork could chime in ?  hello ?