Announcing new, simpler fees on Upwork

[StanG]

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.

[28425c32]

Upwork is raising the monthly cost for Freelancer PLus after spending all of last year slowly raising how many Connects (still a terrible name) every single job poist costs to big. Every job is getting slammed with 20 to 50 bids within moments of being posted because the side is inundated with bots and it takes hours of searching through fake and scam job posts, even ones with verified payment and info, to find actual work but your application will just get buried under dozens of bots bidding on the same jobs. So what's the point of Upwork, if not to find work? Upwork's goal is to charge Freelancers as much as possible and they're under no obligation to actualyl help you find paying work. They've killed all the Talent Cloud and expert vetted work, so it's impossible to stand out unless you're jsut willing to hurl unending money at the platform to outbid everyone at every job and even then there's no reason to think you'll actually be hired over someone willing to work for $5. 

[spectralua]

In short: yes.

[28425c32]

I've applied for 32 jobs sinde Dec 1. Only one of those bids have been viewed. This includes boosting bosts, which seems to have zero effect. I've had 7 invites to jobs in 2 years. 5 of them were scams trying to get me to buy a digital product to do the job. I went through the entire process to get expert vetted and join talent cloud, but never received a single job to big on in a year, then they cancelled it. Upwork is really focused on generating revenue for their company, but not at actually weeding out scams and abd actors or attracting quality paying work.

[spod777ru]

Exactly. With the new commissions, low-skilled specialists will cost the same as professionals, but not on Upwork. Who will look for performers on this site is a big question. In my case, I have to pay 15% for simple payment processing.

[byteshertz]

Upwork is now charging me a total exceeding $7,000 USD per year.

I have to pay an additional $1,000 USD per year in tax because of the fees.

So, what do I get in exchange for this $8000 cost? I hear from your $7 per hour support team maybe once a year, I get some of those little worthless connect things that i dont need because i built solid long term relationships.

Governments tax me thousands of dollars but they provide roads, police, infrastructure.

Netflix charges me $120 a year but they provide me entertainment.

Insurance costs me $3,000 per year but they pay for any major operations I need.

So simple question: What value are you providing me for $8,000 that should convince me not to take my services elsewhere or convert my contracts away from the platform?

Do you think your shareholders will be happy once everyone high value does this? Because from what I see all you did was help me get started 10 years ago but provide nothing of value anymore.

I mean no one in mangement can even face up directly to this, you hide behind the same employees you underpay and the gig contractors that are not the ones who helped build you.

You have become greedy, deaf to your high value users and ultimately morally questionable. Your current decision makers will be your downfall.

[spod777ru]

As I wrote last year when these changes were announced, I finally left this platform after 8 years of productive work and $500,000 in money earned. All my contracts were long-term and I actually paid for payment processing. Over the past year, I paid about $7,000 for payment processing, and my clients paid another $3,500. I didn’t look for clients - they themselves came up with me. I simply paid a fee for payment processing and the invoice and tracking function. That tracking and invoices were terribly bad and remained the same. Last year I spent six months explaining to support that adding VAT to invoices to a US company is illegal. Tracking takes pictures every minute, then you wait 20 minutes, and if you interrupt, you lose those 20 minutes. Complete horror and nightmare. The company will still remember the one who came up with this change with kind words. This is the nail driven into the lid of the company. Clients on the platform were looking for professionals for long-term relationships, not low-paid specialists from impoverished countries with low levels of knowledge. And now the platform will become a place for low-skilled specialists at the price of regular ones, but not at Upwork.

[byteshertz]

Upwork removed all the negative comments. Great job on the transparency team!

[8ca7df08]

Absolutely hate it, absolutely idiotic, worked for a year to get to the 5% and now it's 10%, I can't wait to quit Upwork and never recommend it to anyone.

[liakat89]

Dear Upwork Team,

I hope this message finds you well. I am writing to express my disappointment regarding the recent decision to increase the fees for freelancers from 5% to 10%. As one of your most trusted and loyal freelancers, this decision comes as a letdown.

Many of us have put in significant effort and dedication to build a strong working relationship with Upwork, and the 5% fee was a testament to the mutual trust and loyalty. The abrupt increase to 10% feels like a substantial setback and is disheartening for freelancers who have been contributing to the platform's success.

I urge you to reconsider this decision, keeping in mind that excessive fees may lead to financial challenges for freelancers. Striking a fair balance between platform sustainability and freelancer satisfaction is crucial for the continued success of Upwork. I kindly request you to revert to the previous 5% fee structure at your earliest convenience.

[m_terrazas]

Well, it's not a recent decision. It's from May of last year.
And as you can see, there are 51 pages of posts against it and they haven't changed it. So I think you should get used to the idea that it will continue like this and act accordingly.

[william-trans]

Hi Stan and everyone, if I propose a new contract for a worked client, does he still need to pay up to $4.95 for contract initiation?

[rajesh_bhagat]

Hello Stan,

I request Upwork to set a new milestone for a 5% fee, previously $10,000. The new milestone can be $25000 or $50000. But the 10% fee is a huge amount it is almost equivalent to my 3-year-old kid's food for the entire month.    

Regards,
Rajesh

[kbadeau]

I feel like a moron, but I'm only seeing posts from 2023 in this thread. Doesn't matter how I sort, old to new, new to old, I'm getting March 2023 replies only.

[celgins]

I'm using the default sort for the Forums.

On inner pages (starting around page 9 through 50), I'm seeing everything from April 2023 to January 2024.

[AndreaG]

Hi Kelly,

Thanks for bringing this to our attention! We made some changes on our end, could you please confirm if you're still seeing this issue?

[kbadeau]

Looks normal to me now, but I didn't do a whole lot of reading to make sure. The change still makes me sad though. Even though I'm technically making more money, it's a PITA to have to invoice clients every month. I will never understand why you didn't grandfather in old contracts, or even let us pick just ONE contract to keep here at 5%.

[StanG]

test message, ignore me 🙂 

[f286b65b]

Yes by simpler you mean less favorable in my area and more favorable in yours sure I believe it. You guys are taxing the like the working class person charging people to breathe and drink to live You're living off of the labor of somebody else's back and you up the fee again I have to pay a $15 a month for your had to now it's 20 That's your new simpler fee and then you add an initiation of $5 and then I have to pay per job that I apply for even if I don't get hired I have to pay I mean you guys have gotten just way out of hand It's way too much money I have to pay to not work It's how bad is I literally have to pay you guys to not work like I lose money no employer with this ever be legal and you guys are simply just charging the people at the lowest chain of command I guess you would say there ain't nothing simpler about this fee You can word it however you want to word it but it's more expensive and you're trying to put it like it's not it's it's way out of hand now I'm never going to pay $20 a month for it It was bad enough paying 15 man $15 to not work every month plus connections Your charging like 16 24 connections That's $3 to apply for a  job man. And you know that would be enough alone right there just that $3 every time $3 every single time someone applies for a job That's already more than facilitating the platform should render

[datan-jannet]

Tell me, how does a freelancer with long term client benefit from this new "simpler fee"? I worked hard to maintain client, now it feels like instead of getting an increased earning from it I was downgraded to newbie. And with inflation, I can barely keep up with decreased salary. I don't have the nerve to ask my client for increase to cover for the 5% you taking away since this January. I think that's a very greedy move. Those of us witb long term client are seeking financial stability not jump from one job to another. You have no idea how challenging it is to look for client, send a lot of cover letters that I individually composed for each job hiring and the connects that we have to buy to get more chances of being hired? This is depressing. I think it's not fair. Just so you know when you die you can't take your money with you. Whoever thought and imposed this new rule will have it coming by way of karma one of these days.

[apillas]

Good Day,

I would like to brought up concern on sudden increase on service charge..it doubled to 10%..Why that so.

i ve been a member of this great company since 2008... and i dont expect this to happen..

What action should i take ?

Thank you.

Best Regards,

Angelito

[mpanaitescu]

Nothing. Just go with it. upWork is too big to care. I'll stay here until I can keep my head above the water, though it seems to get worse and worse every day. Competition is fiercer everyday, rates go down, and the cost of not getting hired keeps rising. I just saw 23 connects for a proposal for the first time today. I've been working here daily for the last 17 years, making a decent living, but looks like this will come to an end soon. 

[kbadeau]

If you've been here since 2018 you have to know that you can convert any contract over 2 years for $1. The catch is the client has to initiate the process. And then of course you have to do your own billing, which is a total pain, but even with the time that takes, you're probably still better off converting old projects. (They announced this change about a year ago, so I'm surprised you didn't know that either.)

[isc_jml674]

Dear community,

I'm a veteran Top rated plus, 100% success rate on upwork and I have made significant money with it (a bit less than 800K$).
Doubling a commission is definitely a harsh action. I don't want you to think I am underestimating its impact but the real issue is about the quality of new jobs that has decreased and those bloody connects we have to pay for:
- if you don't find well-paid job, you don't pay 10%, you don't pay 5%, you pay 0 because you earn 0.
- I am invited to a job and once replying, never hear about customer again (always existed but has become very frequent)
- many job offers never end-up with an hiring  (clients feel the water T° on upwork and go somewhere else to recruit OR client/freelancers contract outside due to commissions)

But more important, due to the connects introduction, freelancers pay before they work and pay even if they're not working. And even worse, connects amounts are constantly increasing (I see regularly a request for 16 connects which is what 3$ ?) with no clear rules. 
Most jobs are receiving 50+ offers in 20mns while I sleep, which means Upwork has become the realm of bots. As a side remark I sometimes do recruit on behalf of my clients and for time reason I personally don't open new profiles beyond 30 applications. So why spending money with connects ?
Upwork has been a good deal those past years but is no more. Result on my side, I have cancelled my subscription to Upwork plus and I only rely on serious invitations. I find work outside of Upwork (and it is not that easy). Btw, my revenue on Upwork since Jan 1, 2024: 0$
To all freelancers, express yourself in this forum! It will give some meat to the new management people at upwork, hired to fix the numbers when the consequences of this lazy move finally appear.

[isc_jml674]

spent 30 mns to write a balanced post here and it never got published...