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claire_sally
Community Member

Transferring earnings to Paypal

Hi! I'm fairly new to Upwork, and loving it, by the way!

I have a question about earnings that become available. I have set my payments on weekly, and left an $8 earning that had become available to lie there until more earnings became available to avoid losing a whole dollar on that small amount. But when the new earnings became available, the $8 wasn't added to them.

What happens to that amount?

Do I lose it?

Is there a time limit to how long you can wait before you transfer earnings to Paypal?

If I could remember the exact project it was for, I could possibly trace it, but unfortunately I didn't pay that close attention... assuming it would just stay there... 🙂

 

Hope you can help with answers to my questions.

Thanks!

Claire Sally Roos

ACCEPTED SOLUTION
petra_r
Community Member

Funds can only "sit" on your Upwork account for 180 days maximum, then they get automatically withdrawn. Check in your transaction history.

 

Off topic and I don't want to be offensive, but did you really write 80k words for $ 100? 😮

 

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13 REPLIES 13
petra_r
Community Member

Funds can only "sit" on your Upwork account for 180 days maximum, then they get automatically withdrawn. Check in your transaction history.

 

Off topic and I don't want to be offensive, but did you really write 80k words for $ 100? 😮

 

Haha!! No, just 40K words, that was for half the project, first milestone kind of thing... 😄😄

But now I've checked the transaction history again, I've seen I wasn't reading it properly. 🙈 So everything has been added together, I just didn't click how to read it. I know better now... And my mental mathematics is obviously not as good as my writing... 😜😂😂😂 Artist problem.

Thanks for that info, though! It helps to know... 😉

Have an awesome day! 🙋


@Claire Sally R wrote:
Haha!! No, just 40K words, that was for half the project, first milestone kind of thing... 😄😄

But now I've checked the transaction history again, I've seen I wasn't reading it properly. 🙈 So everything has been added together, I just didn't click how to read it. I know better now...


Glad you figured it out.

 

 A bit of unsolicited advice to do with as you please...... : "Raise your price dramatically!"  40k words for $ 100 is (insert swearword of choice here!) - a quarter of a Cent per word? Minus 20% fees? You set the scene for being stuffed into the "low cost low quality" pigeon hole where the worst clients with the most demanding attitudes live.

 

No offence meant and I appreciate that you didn't ask for advice how to run your business.

 

 

Thanks, Petra!

 

I appreciate your advice, I really do! And I know you are right. I had no idea what fees were like in general for anything when I joined, and I was happy to get experience. Turns out, the person I am working for on that one is actually a very helpful and easy to work with client, who has helped me tremendously in what I need to learn about my craft. 

 

Rest assured, I am seeking higher paid jobs, now, but I'm not going to take just anything that is high paying. Maybe I'm delusional, time will tell, but I intend to build my reputation mostly on the feedback I get for excellent work, and choose jobs based on whether or not they clash with my morals and standards of quality. 

 

Thanks again! This is an awesome community! 🙂 🙂 🙂

Question: The offer the clients usually make when posting a job, is that the lowest they will pay, and then we can bid higher? I'm also not sure how much higher I should bid if I did bid higher. Is there like a percentage rule or something? Never been good at this kind of thing. 🙂


@Claire Sally R wrote:

Question: The offer the clients usually make when posting a job, is that the lowest they will pay, and then we can bid higher? I'm also not sure how much higher I should bid if I did bid higher. Is there like a percentage rule or something? Never been good at this kind of thing. 🙂


 I pay little to no attention to the stated budget to be honest. I have my rates and clients can take it or leave it.

The problem is that there is such a wide spread of rates in Writing, with freelancers working at anything from a Cent or (rarely) less per word to $ 0.20 a word or more.

I must say that I have never seen a native English speaker drop as far as $ 0.0025.
Even the "I are arrtikal writter" with barely any English tend to charge several times that...

 

Haha!! Thanks so much, Petra! You have been a great help! And I love your spunk and your writing style. You a novelist? Self-help writer?

On that note, I just got a new contract today at a much better rate... $600 for 60K words. 😉 I'll be taking your advice, from here on out, thanks! 🙋


@Claire Sally R wrote:
Haha!! Thanks so much, Petra! You have been a great help! And I love your spunk and your writing style. You a novelist? Self-help writer?

 Translator, Writer, Manager, Opinionated Person 😉 - Fluent in Sarcasm.

 


@Claire Sally R wrote:

On that note, I just got a new contract today at a much better rate... $600 for 60K words. 😉 I'll be taking your advice, from here on out, thanks! 🙋

 That's not a "much better rate.." That's just fractionally less of a slave labour rate.

Rates on Upwork are low, but honest to god, as a native English speaker you should not be working for that kind of money (assuming you can actually write.)

 

Do you have any idea what the standard industry rates (which you won't get straight away on Upwork) are?

 

Take a look:

 

writing rates.jpg

 

 

Truthfully, I don't, that's what made me hesitant to ask above the budget. This is only my second and third writing project, so even if I believe I am a good writer (which I do), I have little experience and even less to give people as samples to prove to them that I am. The have to take my word for it at this point.

 

I would love to charge those rates in that doc, but I also realise I can't charge them at this juncture. It's really interesting to me that everyone is looking for someone with experience to do their job for them, but nobody (almost nobody) is willing to give anyone experience... What did I miss? Smiley Tongue

 

Also, at this stage, it feels like a toss up between being paid nothing and being paid something. Were you ever at that place? I see you've been with Upwork for about seven years, is that right? (Love the skills you listed, BTW! Smiley Very Happy )

 

How many notches on my gun handle do I need before I can start shooting for the big stuff? The "experienced" pay level, instead of the "intermediate" or "novice" or whatever the lowest one is, I forget now? I'm useless at content writing, it's just too commercial for me. I'm an artist and I want to stick to what I do best, so fiction, ghostwriting is my thing. How many projects before I can start setting an "experienced" rate?


@Claire Sally R wrote:

Also, at this stage, it feels like a toss up between being paid nothing and being paid something. Were you ever at that place? I see you've been with Upwork for about seven years, is that right? (Love the skills you listed, BTW! Smiley Very Happy )


 I get it.

It does make sense to grow your business incrementally.

Do I think you were taken advantage of?

I do.

Do I think that you are doing a disservice to others by accepting such low paying contracts?

To be honest, YES. I do.

 

That said, at the end of the day you need to grow your freelancing business your way, and be quite hard-headed at times. If this is your path, walk it. I got it plenty wrong initially and learned from it, and just kept going.

 

Personally I wish I could help people to learn the smart way, not the hard way (I learned the hard way because I seem to learn better that way 😉 )

 

If you're happy with the way it is going, keep doing what you're doing. Personally I wish you wouldn't but it is none of my business.

 

But be aware that you are in dangerous territory as the cheap clients are generally the worst and one bad client can wreck your profile at this early stage.

 


Claire Sally R wrote: How many projects before I can start setting an "experienced" rate?

 That depends on your skills. For some, it will always be "too early." - for others it is "too late" and for many "Never" is the brutal but accurate answer.

 

Unfortunately you brand yourself with the contracts you take, as they are visible on your profile.

 

By taking contracts for slave-labour rates you tell clients exactly what you are worth.

 

 

You have no idea how much I appreciate your honesty, and you input. I hear what you are saying and intend to do whatever I can to resolve a situation that I got into by sheer ignorance. I'll have to tackle what I have and salvage what I can. At least, thanks to you, I am better prepared to make more informed decisions in future. 

 

No one, least of all me, likes to find out that they have been taken advantage of, and I certainly don't want to make things difficult for anyone else trying to make a living in the same space as I am. I have also noticed that I tend to learn things the hard way. Smiley Wink I'm still learning navigate this space, though, so I don't think I have "a way" of growing my business. It's pretty much trial an error to be quite honest. Apparently more error than trial... Smiley Tongue

 

Now, the question is: How do I do things better moving forward? All I can do now is to up what I ask for each subsequent job I do until I reach what I am worth, right? Which will probably also naturally increase as I do become more well versed in different genres, styles, etc? And build up a portfolio of finished jobs. 

Oh, and no worries, no offence taken. Must say, I love the quote at the bottom of your messages! Smiley Very Happy

Hi Claire,

In addition to Petra comments, I can advise you to check out this thread where you can find all of the information needed about getting started here. I would suggest to spend extra time on the Safety First section in order to learn how to protect yourself as well. Thank you!

~ Goran
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