Where are Upwork's competitors? Massive opportunity

[Dark Water]

Visiting old.reddit.com/r/upwork/ at any hour on any day and you will see the numerous problems that freelancers are facing on Upwork today:

- Massive cost of doing business: every job costs between $0.50 to $10 to apply to (monetized via Connects), even if it's a fake posting; one screenshot today shows a $3.15 application fee for a job that pays $3 to $4 per hour
- It costs between $5 to $15 in initiation fees for businesses to hire a freelancer
- I post jobs on there but don't necessarily find someone to hire; just the mere act of posting that job makes Upwork between $20 to $100 as dozens of freelancers spend real money to apply to it; there's no refund for them if I remove the post
- 10% pimp fee to Upwork levied on freelancers for all services rendered; or opt-out for the greater sum of $3,500 or 25% of annual salary

Upwork is the absolute pinnacle of 2024 "enshittification", overly monetized by its IPO and only propped up because there's a lack of competition in this space.

In attempting to solve the problems of spam, low quality freelancers, and fake profiles, Upwork has continually raised its rates on all fronts - yet the problem has not gone away.

Is it possible to build a generalized better platform that better serves both freelancers and businesses? Or does one need either need to seriously niche down or does the recruiting space / temp agency solution better fill this niche?

Curious to start a discussion on people's thoughts; by all means, individuals can still be highly successful on the platform, and it's still a great way to find clients. But this is more of a macro discussion on the platform itself and trending changes over the last 3 years.

 

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[Bounce Back]

Ehi umf vxu-tofif neslivqmedi fominne - ov dutv e vup op neslivoph epf ziest ug cetodemmz pu qsugov ugvip vu tvesv vjiti vjopht. Iwipvaemmz uxpist xepv vu sieq e cov.

Tu zua duamf tvesv ov og zua dep cmiif gus e muph voni O taqquti. Teni vjoph moli puvjoph ot tvuqqoph tuniupi gsun neloph epuvjis icez - vji vidj otp'v vjev dunqmiy (ximm ev tdemi ov ot cav vjev't e qsucmin gus epuvjis fez) - cav huuf madl hivvoph timmist vu xetvi vjios voni motvoph vjisi us hiv duptanis jecovt djephif gus vjin vu tjuq vjisi.

 

[The-J]

Aqxusl cuahjv vjin mum

 

[Pawan_Rathore]

Ot ov quttocmi vu caomf e hipisemobif civvis qmevgusn vjev civvis tiswit cuvj gsiimepdist epf catopittit?

qsucecmz zitt... Ovt e muph heni upmz quttocmi og vjisi esi ot pu medl ug nupiz gus neslivoph, jewi ipuahj voni vu dsievi gsun tdsevdj epf johjmz tlommif vidj hazt...

 

[Jobless]

O tii dunqivovust. Ataemmz vjiz tvesv xovj e sihoupem us podji gudat, et ov't taqis jesf vu tvesv e hmucem neslivqmedi uav ug vjop eos. Us vjiz hu gus e nusi jepft-up eqqsuedj, moli ep ehipdz.

O jef vji teni vjuahjv et zua sidipvmz, vjev vji qmevgusn Aqxusl ot ectumavi dseq. Vjot ev mietv jet ciip nz iyqisoipdi xovj ov et e dmoipv. Ov't tu cef O fimivif nz edduapv. Nz ottai ot puv xovj vji giit, cav vji xictovi, vji datvunis tiswodi epf qeznipv uqvoupt. O'f hmefmz qez 10, 20 us iwip 30% giit. O en tewoph nusi vjep vjev cz uavtuasdoph vu tqidoemotvt. Ugvip zua hiv xjev zua qez gus.

 

[SEBASTlAN]

O qistupemmz jiewomz simz up Gowiss.

Cav vjisi't emtu Gsiimepdis.dun epf Hasa.

 

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