Upwork — How not to do it
One of the biggest providers, where freelancers and contractors alike can connect, made a questionable change regarding their price policy. As of June 2016, freelancers on Upwork have to take a big hit. Those who thought that the 10% service fee was a bit much, will likely cringe and ask themselves if it’s even still worth it finding work through Upwork.
Let’s have a look at it:
• 20% for the first $500 you bill your client across all contracts
• 10% for total billings with your client between $500.01 and $10,000
• 5% for total billings with your client that exceed $10,000
• For example, if you begin an hourly or fixed-price contract with a new client for $600, you’ll be billed 20% on the first $500 and 10% on the remaining $100.
On top of that, they are making their customers pay a service fee of 2.5% for processing payments.
If you are like me, one of the thousands who had to move your account from Elance to Upwork, you probably find it hard to understand, how a great platform like Elance was around for a good 10 years and consistently charged their freelancers 8.75% per job and keep it absolutely free of charge for contractors who posted jobs on their website. Freelancers also got paid right away. On Upwork however, it takes a week until you will see the money you worked for on your account.
Now personally, I’m not using Upwork the way I used Elance. Because of other work, I simply did not have time to take on more work. But I kept my account and keep working with recurring clients, because I immensely enjoy working for them. Looking at it from my perspective, establishing new work relationships on Upwork, suddenly seems not very desirable anymore. I can’t help but wonder if that was even considered when implementing these “great changes”.
It’s certainly not all bad. Most freelancers will keep using Upwork, because there are just not many other places like it around. Assuming that is how you want to find work. It’s convenient. It connects you with companies and individuals, who are a pleasure to work with. On the other hand, to find those, you have to sift through a lot of job offers that are, honestly, on the verge of exploitation. Those who kept selling themselves short for years and tried to get a job by simply being the cheapest freelancer in the bunch, will hopefully open their eyes and realize, that these higher fees are directly targeted at them.
Time will tell if this was a wise decision on Upworks part. The way I see it, this is not the way to increase quality. Even more so, from a marketing standpoint, trying to put a positive spin on something that clearly doesn’t profit anyone but yourself, therefore making your customer feel treated like they are not smart enough to add two and two together, responding with the same vague explanation over and over again (granted, at least they followed up with a forum post) and providing poor customer service, will leave customers feeling insecure and does nothing to keep up a professional image.
