Increasing Transparency in Boosted Proposals

[kochubei_valeria]

Our team recently launched a test to increase transparency around bidding in Boosted Proposals to help you make a more informed decision around spending Connects.

Check out the product update about this test here and let us know your thoughts about this update in the comments below.

[nemetsyury]

Hello,

I noticed a few weeks ago that for one job someone boosted 600 connects.

I contacted support on November 9 and no one replied to me. I can't buy as an agency with more than 400 connects.

Is anyone else facing something similar?

I'm wondering how is it possible to spend so much and why we can't buy 10000 connects?

[williamtcooper]

Hey Yury, anyone bidding that much for a Job will not be in business too long since they probably only have a 10%+ chance of winning the bid. Avoid bidding wars that large. Have a great day!

[nemetsyury]

Hey William, 

Thank you for your reply here. I think that sometimes big companies can allocate a bigger budget to buy more connects and win promising jobs :).  

[tlsanders]

On what are you basing your conclusion about the chances of a particular freelancer landing a particular job? 

I boost proposals only when the job is one I am especially interested in AND I know that there is a very high likelihood I will be hired if the client sees my proposal. I would assume anyone with any business sense at all has similar criteria.

[ericaandrews]

Upwork really needs to just stop this 'boosting' foolishness and start limiting how many connects a freelancer can buy and/or 'burn' in a given month. Nobody, including Upwork, has provided a shred of evidence that 'boosting' is landing freelancers or agencies more jobs.  It actually might be creating a 'red flag' for clients since anybody spending that many connects is basically screaming "I desperately NEED a job. Please give me a job."  Clients are here to buy services, not to 'give' jobs to people as some type of 'charitable' donation.  Nobody wants to hire the person that appears to be in 'desperate' need of a job, because if nobody else is hiring them, there's usually a reason why. Many clients find it annoying because the 'boosting' feature is often abused by people that don't even remotely qualify for the job but get to pay 'extra' just to flood the client's inbox top slots.  It's probably about as annoying as those 'sponsored' ads the flood the top of every Google search you perform on the web. Eventually, people's eyes become trained to 'ignore' them and scroll past them to the 'real' stuff.

A few weeks ago, I bid on a job with the minimum required connects and got interviewed and hired over several other proposal submissions where people had 'boosted' by ridiculous amounts of connects.  The client saw right through all that desperate 'boosting' garbage and rejected those proposals. There's a big difference between marketing services and simply begging for a job / client / customer.  My suggestion is to market, never beg. Stop wasting connects and leave the 'boosting' wars to the novices. 

With the industry you work in as well as your excellent UW Track Record, I can PROMISE you that you don't need to 'beg' anybody for work, Yury.  🙂  Trust me.  Eventually, you'll be having more invites/offers than you'll have bandwidth to handle.

[ahmedsalem636464]

It turned out to be a connects auction 

As a freelancer, I didn't like it at all.

as long as connects are many and easy to get,This boosting is pointless. 

My point of view, you should either limit the connects or remove this feature at all so that you can control This bidding race. 

[9ea40837]

This bidding process does not work for new freelancers although we might be talented and can actually do the job we do not stand a chance.

How does Upwork help us, newbies, to get work on the platform?  We are applying for so many jobs hoping to get a contract but nothing, what does it mean to become a member of the Upwork platform if we will not get any jobs?

We are here to earn, therefore, I believe Upwork should find another way for us to get job.

[dropcoder]

1. Upwork is a freelance platform (  so should improve freelance user experience instead of making it hard day by day )
2. Upwork is also a business ( so try to find ways that increase revenue, but should keep the whole community as context )
3. Upwork is trusted by millions of freelancers and thousands of businesses. This feature kicked people out of the competition, by creating a Fighting Zone ( By + Set a bid Label )

[pradeepmwt]

Hi Upwork Community,

I have a question regarding the boosting system of proposals.

I have tried boosting my proposal but I didn't get anything out of them. What is the effectiveness of these? How do we check if the bid is worth boosting or not?

I am a Google Certified Professioanl and most of my project done are in SEO. I always try to be specific about my proposal, write everthing accurately as per request, but still I find it difficult to get an reply.

Thanks. 

[evelin_muresan]

This is just a scam of Upwork to get more connects money, it is "dressed" in this false narrative that it helps freelancers, of course it drives freelancers crazy to spend more money and it's a total scam that should stop.

HOW DO WE MAKE IT STOP? 

Or Upwork, be honest about your intentions so people can make informed and fair decisions.

[the-right-writer]

Upwork has said they are not going to stop boosting.

[ochiengopiyo]

Quite unfortunate 😕

[kristina1993]

Sadly that they're not hearing our complaints-they're so many of them. Apparently profit is everything.

[kristina1993]

I agree. 

[c1f4bbe0]

Hello Everyone, I am a new freelancer on Upwork and I don't have a single cent to buy connects, and now this bidding system is killing us. How can we apply for any job if there are bigger players on Upwork who bid on every job? Please Upwork find a way for us( new freelancers).

[k_pitman]

Yup! And welcome to Upwork.

[30134c64]

Hi everyone,

I don't think this is a good product in the proposal to boost. The seller that submit the proposal at the 50 place through the boosted proposal he take first place. 

So please this should be dismissed as soon as possible. Regards 

[waqasarshad87]

Hi

I have login after a very long time and as compared to last time Upwork bidding on projects is confusing just like facebook.

[9c8f0515]

Bid boosting is getting out of control. I saw a job for $150 (not that much) and people boosting their bids to 50+ connects when the original request was 4. Are people really boosting 50 connects for just $150? 

It's honestly really sad.

[asnide1]

I agree.  It's clearly a numbers game.  If you bid quickly, you can rank quickly.  Those crazy high bids typically happen after a little time goes by.  They only pay the 50 connects if they are clicked and viewed by the buyer.  My angle is to bid quickly and be possibly seen by the buyer in a top 3 position knowing I'm only going to be there for 30 minutes to a few hours.  Other than that, it's all just a numbers game.     

[ochiengopiyo]

This is accurate. But then there are clients who view bids after some time thus complicating the whole situation.

[the-right-writer]

It is sad and crazy. Unfortunately, the ones bidding insane amounts are the ones who are never going to get a job, no matter how many connects they throw.

[ochiengopiyo]

Quiet unfortunate. It wastes both the connects and the expectations that one will get their proposal noticed.

[ochiengopiyo]

It equally show how desperate people are to secure a job. Boosting 50 connects is simply ridiculous for $150

[gurkamalpreet48]

For 4 years I have been on this platform but this is the biggest drought time I am experienced. My proposals are not being noticed. Let's say I am the first guy who applied for the job. I used 10 connects and the next person came and raised the connects to 14 and so on. In the end, it goes to 30+ connects. So no matter what you have written your proposals are not being noticed whether you have a success rate of 90+. In my opinion, this should be scrapped. the previous one was simple and good. 

[ochiengopiyo]

True, it makes no sense bidding 

[bdfdb1f3]

For new creators, it will be very hard to spend this number of money on a bid, Yes, Upwork make a lot of money in starting but lost a lot of upcoming talents. and it's not good for Upwork in the long-term race.

[48a9e0b8]

This is so weird scene on Upwork I have seen. it means that If we remain online on Upwork 24/7 does not matter the only thing matters is we should have money to buy connects and then we remain on top of the proposal list of clients. This thing is too bad for new and baby freelancers to grow

[67de6982]

Hi everyone

I have been reading the posts under this topic and it is apparent that the majority of people here do not like boosting. I am all about feasible solutions. But I do believe upwork needs to decide If it is a work website or if it is a gambling site. The best would be to improve the freelancer recommendation engine while avoiding bias towards freshers and MOST IMPORTANTLY to have pre vetting for tasks built in to the system, it can be a test or an assignment to assess the skills of applicants filing posals for each proposal made and then rank individuals based on those scores. The client can then take other factors into consideration such as the cover letter, top talent, job satisfaction score etc. This does give the freelancer more to do but it eliminates the pay to play model and goes more to the skills point of view. There are also many websites that externally partner with companies that do this sort of work and they're methodology is not patented its openly available to use. With that could also come a highly skilled badge that goes beyond the upwork skill certification framework. In a nutshell what I am advocating for is that each task have a short pre work assessment for tasks ($100) and above. Proposals be ranked and others dropped completely based on a top 10% cut off rule. And then give the client the right to make an educated decision based on his/her/their discretion and based on tangeble data and not money. And for the sake of being fair to upwork boosted connects can be kept for contracts below $100 and not a cent more due to the feasibility of it try spending 600 connects to boost on a $50 contract multiple times it will weed out the bad actors by itself by keeping it in that way. But for the bigger contracts where it becomes a war of numbers boosting is damaging to the platform and the freelancers that really put their hearts and minds into their craft. 

[yaizamg]

THIS should be the way to go

[d17c9ad2]

This is surely a ridiculous feature of upwork, making the freelancers diving in depression and a connects wa#. I urge upwok team to please look back towards this feature and  come up with something innovative and transparent PLEASE. Bcz this is totally disasterous seeing first place as high bid as 4X the second ones. On the other hand, it is very difficult for clients to look for the talented feelancers.

Thank You upwork Team.

Shahzaib Tariq 

Social Media Manager

[399e6ca8]

I'm new to Upwork, but I think that this boost proposal feature has a very negative effect on freelancers. I read a bunch of negative reviews both on Upwork and on LinkedIn, all my friends who work on Upwork are also unhappy with this innovation. Why doesn't Upwork fix this?

Below I have attached a screenshot, and this is the situation for 99% of projects. It's terrible...

[b4afa233]

As all know that @Upwork has introduced a system of biding for the proposal. But I don't think so that it is going as smooth as Upwork planned. I think Upwork needs to reconsider this new System. 

[3964a05a]

Please get rid of this bidding system. Or at least put a limit on bids. Seeing jobs that are worth 4 connects to apply having hundreds of connects via bids is insanity and it makes it very hard to get work unless you are someone with money to waste buying connects. 

I am really starting to wonder what truly was the purpose of this system? Because it sure does not help connect skilled freelancers with clients, only ones with money to spare buying connects.

[darrenwall74]

---

Lillie G wrote:

Please get rid of this bidding system. Or at least put a limit on bids. Seeing jobs that are worth 4 connects to apply having hundreds of connects via bids is insanity and it makes it very hard to get work unless you are someone with money to waste buying connects. 

I am really starting to wonder what truly was the purpose of this system? Because it sure does not help connect skilled freelancers with clients, only ones with money to spare buying connects.

---

Profit; is the one and only purpose.

[7a7cf01d]

Hello

I am a Skill Certified and Top Rated graphics designer.

Even with all those my proposal dont get view if i dont boost now, i started on 2021 and was getting jobs view interview without any badge anything, now getting jobs is very hard because of boost.

with 100 connets i can't even send 6 proposal now, if i try to get a job i have to boost minimum 20 connects a job, it feels very very bad and a lot of new talent getting destroyed, no got destroyed because of this feature.

I think there should be maximum limit like 10-20 connect boost.

Hope boost will be fixed and if removed will love that.

[gildyrm]

Don't boost, it is useless. Select your clients better and that will do the trick.

[dixitshubhashish]

Dear Increasing Transparency in Boosted Proposals Author cum Community Manager - 
Kindly understand the maths :
-- Boosting only helps Upwork to earn Revenue; nothing else value it is adding for a neutral freelancers.
-- You got 82 Upvotes only and more than 640 comments which are saying to TAKE this DOWN! Do you really understand what it is trying to convey over your A/B Testing and Hypothesis Building, there is a human networking effect that also keeps in the picture.
-- Bad Folks are putting higher value for look at the top and getting hired and creating another bad experience again.
-- I would suggest putting up a cap let's say 4x the value of connect needed on that job. Now, if 20 folks have put 4x values, keep shuffling their profile each time if clients load so that each gets equal distribution. You can put the auto-refresh so that after 10 seconds, random() gets called, and the next set of those who paid 4x will get shown.

-- At least keep other valued, skills, and badges freelancers some fair play chance, they have also put in hours and sweat to earn some grand, which is now a blocker.

-- Visibility for everyone should be high, and your algorithms should select the best freelancers over there if one gets enough chance to get visibility as rank 1, reset his score. Then another will get the next higher visibility, slowly all will have a chance for visibility if all in similar domains. -- Earlier boost with 1 or 2 connects was quite a better mechanism, rather than reversing outbidded connects value.

-- Not sure how CEO and other Product President approved that without thinking about other side markets which is quite important. This is SUPPLY, if supply goes for a toss, DEMAND will not be able to achieve, kindly understand the econometrics as well rather than just money-minded product thinking.

-- Remember, it is just connect eating mechanism, and we are losing 1000$ each month against which our initial expense was less than 500$. Our savings are getting ruined. 

-- Still, if you like this so much remove the other money taking ways, like service fees, and refund the connects for those who didn't get the project you are keeping that as well in your tummy, hunger shouldn't be that big that can't be over even after a couple of months.

Wish you a very happy new year with a newer hope that this BLOCKER too pass soon to earn and grow together as community rather than freelancer planning to get churned to another platform or build their own.

Yours truly
Shubhashish Dixit
Top Rated Plus Freelancer

[ebookknow]

In bidding system with high number of connects, client ashould be aware
about this. And go to those proposals with less coonnects may be these guys
are more skilled.

[darrenwall74]

Has anyone from Upwork responded to the call for this feature to be removed?... I think not!

Do freelancers expect Upwork to listen?... I don't! Not when there is profit to be made.

So what is the purpose of complaining? Take your business elsewhere. Stop relying on a single platform for work.

Be proactive, and work will come, and Upwork will see that people are leaving, which may give them pause for thought.