8 ms·

Wow, I thought they would honor the 5% charge till the end of the contracts but it seems they will go to 10% by the end of the year. Since Upwork theoretically

Wow, I thought they would honor the 5% charge till the end of the contracts but it seems they will go to 10% by the end of the year. Since Upwork theoretically locks you in for 2 years with a client, I’m expecting there will be a small exodus of people with long-term projects . I’d much rather sort out invoicing myself and get paid through Stripe than lose out on extra 5%.

benjaminwootton 3y ago
The main value add of Upwork for freelancers is helping them to find work in the marketplace. If you can find and bill directly, of course that may be preferable, but finding clients is hard and the business development also has a cost.
- JCharante 3y ago
  What they’re saying is if you have a relationship longer than 2 years then you’ll just go off platform for that relationship
- Rufbdbskrufb473 3y ago
  What I don't understand is how they keep most freelancers on the platform after finding a client. I've only used it once, but after having a call with the client, I felt comfortable accepting payment directly in crypto and not paying their fees.
  - benjaminwootton 3y ago
    I’m sure lots of people do this. The advantage of staying on the platform for freelancers is that they are guaranteed to get paid for correctly booked work on a predictable timeline. For buyers, the advantage is one weekly payment to your credit card, some contractural protection and a bunch of features to support the work. I’ve never felt the need to bypass them as a buyer, and I’ve only been approach a few times by freelancers to go direct. (My answer has been no mainly because I dislike the admin of manually paying people, checking timesheets, invoices etc.)
  - throwaway290 3y ago
    People who actually rely on Upwork care about fresh reputation and active status. Platform makes it appealing to stay active. They have a decent reputation with customers, so it's a backup for when you fire your current client. But if you are inactive they stop recommending you and after a while you are delisted making it tougher to get clients. And customers like to see people who are active. Also, automatic billing is a big value add for those of us who hate paperwork and chasing non paying customers. Upwork does it for you. Re crypto, it's an appealing vehicle for laundering and we don't want to be implicated. couple of clients suggested it and it's a red flag for me. (if you want to get paid in crypto I don't get why you would use Upwork at all honestly, surely you have your own great platforms with how much talent is supposedly working on that web3 stuff)
  - msadowski 3y ago
    This is against the terms and conditions I believe and in theory Upwork can charge you or the client some extra fee if you take the project outside of the platform.
wsc981 3y ago
I use Zoho Invoice for invoicing my clients. It’s free and works well imo.
8organicbits 3y ago
> locks you in for 2 years with a client Can you explain?
- msadowski 3y ago
  I didn’t check the ToC in a while but last time I did if you got a client through Upwork you cannot work with them outside of their platform for two years otherwise you and the client risk a fine.
  - vimy 3y ago
    An empty threat. There’s no way they would know.
    - msadowski 3y ago
      The worst that can happen is that they can deplatform you as far as I can tell from the ToCs so I bet some people will do just that if their fees go up at the end of the year.
  - 8organicbits 3y ago
    Not even contract to hire? What kind of fine are we talking about?
    - msadowski 3y ago
      “ The Conversion Fee is 13.5% of estimated earnings over a 12-month period in each specific client-freelancer relationship. Learn more”. It seems they changed it quite a bit since the last time I looked at it. You can find more information about it here: https://support.upwork.com/hc/en-us/articles/360043210654-Convert-your-contract-to-move-outside-of-Upwork https://support.upwork.com/hc/en-us/articles/360043210654-Co...
MereInterest 3y ago
Maybe it’s just me, but applying that to existing contracts sounds like fraud, a classic bait and switch.

benjaminwootton 3y ago

The main value add of Upwork for freelancers is helping them to find work in the marketplace. If you can find and bill directly, of course that may be preferable, but finding clients is hard and the business development also has a cost.

JCharante 3y ago
What they’re saying is if you have a relationship longer than 2 years then you’ll just go off platform for that relationship
Rufbdbskrufb473 3y ago
What I don't understand is how they keep most freelancers on the platform after finding a client. I've only used it once, but after having a call with the client, I felt comfortable accepting payment directly in crypto and not paying their fees.
- benjaminwootton 3y ago
  I’m sure lots of people do this. The advantage of staying on the platform for freelancers is that they are guaranteed to get paid for correctly booked work on a predictable timeline. For buyers, the advantage is one weekly payment to your credit card, some contractural protection and a bunch of features to support the work. I’ve never felt the need to bypass them as a buyer, and I’ve only been approach a few times by freelancers to go direct. (My answer has been no mainly because I dislike the admin of manually paying people, checking timesheets, invoices etc.)
- throwaway290 3y ago
  People who actually rely on Upwork care about fresh reputation and active status. Platform makes it appealing to stay active. They have a decent reputation with customers, so it's a backup for when you fire your current client. But if you are inactive they stop recommending you and after a while you are delisted making it tougher to get clients. And customers like to see people who are active. Also, automatic billing is a big value add for those of us who hate paperwork and chasing non paying customers. Upwork does it for you. Re crypto, it's an appealing vehicle for laundering and we don't want to be implicated. couple of clients suggested it and it's a red flag for me. (if you want to get paid in crypto I don't get why you would use Upwork at all honestly, surely you have your own great platforms with how much talent is supposedly working on that web3 stuff)
- msadowski 3y ago
  This is against the terms and conditions I believe and in theory Upwork can charge you or the client some extra fee if you take the project outside of the platform.

wsc981 3y ago

I use Zoho Invoice for invoicing my clients. It’s free and works well imo.

8organicbits 3y ago

> locks you in for 2 years with a client Can you explain?

msadowski 3y ago
I didn’t check the ToC in a while but last time I did if you got a client through Upwork you cannot work with them outside of their platform for two years otherwise you and the client risk a fine.
- vimy 3y ago
  An empty threat. There’s no way they would know.
  - msadowski 3y ago
    The worst that can happen is that they can deplatform you as far as I can tell from the ToCs so I bet some people will do just that if their fees go up at the end of the year.
- 8organicbits 3y ago
  Not even contract to hire? What kind of fine are we talking about?
  - msadowski 3y ago
    “ The Conversion Fee is 13.5% of estimated earnings over a 12-month period in each specific client-freelancer relationship. Learn more”. It seems they changed it quite a bit since the last time I looked at it. You can find more information about it here: https://support.upwork.com/hc/en-us/articles/360043210654-Convert-your-contract-to-move-outside-of-Upwork https://support.upwork.com/hc/en-us/articles/360043210654-Co...

MereInterest 3y ago

Maybe it’s just me, but applying that to existing contracts sounds like fraud, a classic bait and switch.