Announcing new, simpler fees on Upwork

[#1]

Today we introduced two key pricing changes: on May 3, 2023, we are retiring our sliding scale fee structure and introducing a 10% service fee for all freelancers, and on April 26, 2023, we are implementing a one-time contract initiation fee for clients of up to $4.95 per contract. Click here for the full announcement.

Please share your questions and feedback in the thread below.

[#2]

I feel this is outrageous. I'm not sure what are the advantages for you to proceed this way. As soon as I have the chance I'll jump off and never come back. I don't feel either you are presenting valid reason to move this way, it's just like okay let's just grab more money from working people. Completely unfair. 

[#3]

You're "giving us until the end of year" to adjust to the idea of you doubling the fee on contracts some of us have had (and helped your business grow with) for 7+ years.  This change benefits only contractors who take small, one-off projects and punishes those who earn the most money for Upwork. This one seriously needs to be reconsidered and reversed. An additional 5% of our earning gone for no reason whatsoever other than corporate greed. Rethink this one, Upwork. Some companies with long and strong relationships with their contractors will certainly find it objectionable that their contractors are going to have to pay double the fees. 

[#4]

So how does this work for us who have been here a long time? 
Its like people at 5% will have to increase our current service fee to 5%, were already giving you guys a lot of money. This doesn't work for us. 

I am ok if you want to implement this to new contracts, but for existing ones? What makes you guys thinks its gonna work for us?? 

PS: Do better in screening the scammers in your site who wastes our time, instead of trying to implement more fees for us people. 

[#5]

What about freelancers like me who are not earning that much but with a client for more than 8 years? The fee that will be deducted from my earning will be doubled and it is impossible for my client to shoulder this fee increase. This 10% increase from 5% will have a big impact on our monthly income. I have been with Upwork for more than a decade as I can remember. If you can consider keeping those in 5% stay in 5% that will be a very big reward for loyal freelancers like me...like us.

[#6]

If those are the so-called "benefits," I would rather make all those calculations myself than pay an additional 5%. This seems like a tactic to earn more money from long-term clients, while hiding behind the guise of "you will no longer pay 20% on low-paying jobs." While those who do not have long-term clients may not be affected, those who do will have to compensate for the 10% reduction and give more of their money to Upwork.

Whoever came up with this idea needs to think twice. Freelancers will take their business elsewhere, resulting in a decrease in Upwork's income and a loss of talent. A smarter move would have been to keep the lifetime 5% fee for active contracts and apply the new structure to new contracts. Over time, the number of people paying the lifetime 5% fee would decrease, eventually leading to everyone paying a 10% fee. However, keeping the 5% fee for the remainder of 2023 means that freelancers have eight months to find a way to migrate from the platform, causing Upwork to lose money. Therefore, Upwork needs to stop being greedy and start thinking smarter. (And perhaps find new business advisors!)

[#7]

I've already put a short on your company's shares, I will make money on your collapse as you want to make money on us.

[#8]

I'm a freelancer with 5% contract clients and a shareholder. I shall be selling my shares today and cutting my losses. There are other ways that Upwork could increase revenue (I've tried reaching out to them with this to no avail) without touching these fee tiers.

[#9]

"It'll be so much simpler for you when we double our cut of your earnings" is actually not a very convincing argument for freelancers who rely mostly on long-term contracts. What exactly is my incentive to keep my clients here? They pay fees, too--is there any reason I shouldn't tell them that I offer lower rates with no fees to non-Upwork clients? 

[#10]

I dont think that raising the fee from 5% to 10% to freelancers using Upwork long enough with same client to reach $10.000+ is a smart decision but you just do what you have to do 

[#11]

You are doing a disservice to people who worked hard to build long-term relationships. This is incredibly harmful to small businesses and freelancers.  DOUBLING MY FEES? Um. No thanks. I plan to pursue new relationships and ditch my UW clients - I will be sure to tell them WHY

[#12]

Bad Idea

[#13]

Valeria, Upwork is already taking more fees because of the terrible exchange rate. You miscalculated this step. short term clients might not care about their freelancers enough to move out of Upwork with them. Long-term clients are basically employers, they form relationships with their freelancers. Do you think they'd rather end a months long relationship with a freelancer and deal with onboarding someone else than move their contract? yeah, nah. This might slightly benefit freelancers who work on short-term jobs, but those of us working long-term contracts will have to pay double the fees. Do you think we appreciate paying an additional 5% in exchange for not calculating fee tires? we don't calculate fee tires often anyways, since we only change contracts a couple of times a year. You could limit this to an hourly rate. but for someone working 100$ an hour (not me, but a lot of contractors do), 800 dollars a month is not worth not checking their contract history once a year. For me, that amount is 480 dollars a month, or whatever that translates to with the "great" exchange rate.

Please reconsider. Thanks.

[#14]

Hi Valeria,

Those are not benefits. Here, I fixed it for you:

We will be continuing the 5% service fee through the end of 2023 on contracts that are already eligible, in order to give freelancers like you time to adjust to this new fee structure and to adjust their own rates, work strategies, and contract selections accordingly. update their websites and move their business off the platform.

[#15]

"Many cases" but certainly not most, and especially not the most profitable larger/long-term projects we rely on for income. 

Read the comments and you'll see how many of us would rather sacrifice an extra 3-4 minutes calculating our than a measurable cut of our earnings. 

[#16]

Not good enough.

[#17]

Wow, awesome. I have two clients on Upwork. One of them is approaching a 2-year term. The other also passed the $10k threshold. So now I have a task to move them off Upwork before the end of 2023, so I won't be paying you double! of what I am now. 

What were you thinking? The 5% fee was an incentive to keep long-term clients running. What motivation do freelancers have now to just not switch clients like hot potatoes? 
Not a smart move! 

[#18]

The 3 reasons you provided below are not valid reasons for doubling our fees. We are smart enough to calculate those tier values relatively quickly, and if we weren't, I am certain that paying someone to create an excel spreadsheet to do it, would be materially less than the extra 5%. I would create the spreadsheet myself and give it to all freelancers.

This move of Upwork is extremely abusive. You are abusing the individual who seeks freedom, family balance or works here to meet other personal goals. You know that we need a platform and that at the end of the day, there is absolutely nothing we can do to influence this decision. This at the end of the day is abusive, selfish, ill-intended and tyrannical. 

[#19]

Awful. Just awful. Nice try on the spin to make paying UpWork thousands of additional dollars a year more appealing, though.

[#20]

Valeria, 
With due respect, Upwork shouldn't make this fee changes. Most of the Top Rated Plus freelancers will have to move their contact outside Upwork. I mean, who wants to lose hundreds/thousands of dollars? Upwork suppose to professional platform, and we believe it is. Please, do not make any changes to any fees. It's gonna be very disappointing. 

[#21]

Just useless. 

I started my contracts knowing I'll get to the 5% fees, and that's what I based my fees on. That's not happenning anymore. So completely useless "We will be continuing the 5% service fee through the end of 2023 on contracts that are already eligible, in order to give freelancers like you time to adjust to this new fee structure and to adjust their own rates, work strategies, and contract selections accordingly."

But thanks for giving the opportunity to explore other platforms. 

[#22]

So, a penalty for those who kept their contracts on Upwork. A penalty for loyalty. Why you would think that you are the best for doubling the rate is beyond me

[#23]

Terrible decision. That was one (maybe the only one) interesting prerrogative for freelancers with a top rated plus badge. Freelancer with a full time contract relationship will be negatively impacted for this terrible decision. 

[#24]

I was paying for the premium option, now it is gone. I don't want to afford that. You're welcome. 

[#25]

"Freelancers don't have to calculate". That's what Excel is for.

20% for 500$ contracts is a lot; 10% of contracts up to 10k is reasonable. But 10% on contracts over 10k where everything is automated? I've a repeat customer with whom I've had contracts collectively of 80k. So without doing anything more you will cash in an additional 3500$.

As the saying goes, better a small share of a lot than a large share of little. What looks a profitable move is likely to backfire dramatically. 

[#26]

Yes we did got that, but after 2023 we will pay 10% even if we have already paid the initial fee which makes us eligible to pay 5% fee