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I hate Upwork so much<br />
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So I only use it because they bought every single competitor and moved all the customers from the platforms they acquired, to their worse platform.<br />
<br />
How do you buy a better platform and then force people to use the worse one?<br />
<br />
Anyway, since then things have progressively gotten worse for both clients and freelancers.<br />
<br />
They used to just take 20% of the total job cost from the freelancer. Which seemed excessive but whatever.<br />
<br />
Since then they have added 10% from the client as well.<br />
<br />
They then added a $2 fee for freelancers to apply for jobs, limiting the number of applications clients got.<br />
<br />
They then limited the number of applicants clients could invite, unless they paid $30 per job post to invite more.<br />
<br />
Now the thing that sent me over the edge and down this rabbit hole, is they have now added a $10 fee to every contract you start.<br />
<br />
What the F*ck.<br />
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On top of this the platform sucks, it's so frustrating to find people, the search function doesn't work, categories suck, the portfolio features are at the bottom of the page and suck, the messaging system is barely functional. Like all the basic shit that you would want from this platform doesn't work properly.<br />
<br />
So anyway, despite all of the extra fees they keep adding, shares are not even delivering a return because they are just wasting all this extra money they are getting, and not on making the platform better clearly. Down 37% this year apparently.<br />
<br />
Someone build a better platform, something like Behance would be in a prime position to do it because they have the best portfolio features and all the best designers as clients already.<br />
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Apparently even Fiver is better than Upwork now, maybe I need to try it. What a joke.<br />
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Rant over. Thanks.<br />
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F*** Upwork. They now have this Connects system (their currency) where freelancers have to buy Connects to bid for jobs.<br />
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Each job can cost anywhere from 7 Connects to 15 Connects (some 20).<br />
<br />
From what I read, most freelancers (especially new ones with no reviews) need to send out 60+ bids to get one gig especially in competitive sectors.<br />
<br />
Assuming each bid costs 7 Connects, that's 420 Connects needed per month. And because of the competition, they have this additional option which lets you buy higher spots on the Employers' proposal page so your bid is higher on the list and more visible lol. Some bid an additional 20 - 40 Connects per job.<br />
<br />
It's insane and worth it only if the job is worth a lot, but even then it eats into the earnings.<br />
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As for Fiverr, the problem is you can't bid for jobs and can only hope that clients will somehow find you based on "SEO" which is another BS to me since everyone is using similar search terms/tags and there's only so much "unique" terms you can use.<br />
<br />
Fiverr also has this thing called Fiverr Pro, where if you applied and are selected for this program, you get access to better higher paying clients and bigger jobs. So I went to check out their work and it looks the same as the non-Pro guys lol<br />
<br />
Anyway, there's a new kid in town for freelancing: Contra. Probably not as much gigs for freelancers yet but probably good for employers. They don't charge a fee if I remember, and their business model is on earning from transaction fees + optional Premium plan (for freelancers).<br />
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