Before anyone assumes I'm a disgruntled low-level contractor. I've owned my own businesses (2) and made more than 100K on this platform, am a top-rate Plus contractor with 100% success rate and rave reviews from clients. Upwork is a good platform, but it has many problems! It has a constant stream of growing pains that show up as downtime for elements of the software on a regular basis: multiple times per month (things just flat out don't work for hours until they fix it), customer service chat is never available when you run into a problem, you have to file a ticket and they take DAYS to get back to you, or you're in the middle of a complicated bid because the potential client has entered every single question the software suggested to them into the application (they have no idea what to ask you on their own) and the software dies - which is a pain whether you've cut and pasted from a word processor, or not. Then there is the throttling problem. If you bring too many issues to the attention of customer service, they throttle potential clients' ability to "see" your profile in their search feed. In other words, you stop showing up as often. It doesn't matter how much money you've made them if the software has constant problems and customer service is never available. Their biggest issue is Client training and policy enforcement: there is none, and I mean NONE. Your clients will pull the most ridiculous schemes imaginable in the middle of a project and you are on your own. There is some mediation, especially if the client conned upwork into approving their payment verification, which has happened to me. In Upwork's defense, they were able to recover the money for me, and cancel the account. However, the issues created by a lack of screening of potential clients allows clients to post advertisements on the platform as if they're jobs, allows clients to assign an hourly amount to a job and then in the description tell you it's a fixed bid or a per work/per page project. Stay away from those and report them. But if you report too many, you'll notice that you stop receiving invitations from clients and suddenly no one can find you when you have business contacts search for you on the platform, even if they're entering the right information and you are 5-star, top-rated-plus, 100% success rate. They've changed a lot about the platform in the last year or so. You now don't receive as many 'connects' - the tokens that allow you to bid on jobs, and the monthly membership cost has gone up from 11.99 to 14.99 plus tax. Clients don't have to pay anything except their hourly rate to you if you're hired and this exact thing prevents their Payment Verification from being done often until they hire you and then oops! They can't hire you because they don't have an adequate payment option or credit card, and you now have to go back to your booking calendar and figure out what you're doing and your finances and start the bidding process all over again! You only receive 70 Connects with that monthly membership. If you want more connects you have to buy them from Upwork and 100 Connects costs you $15.00, about the same as your membership, but you'll be bidding against more people working from home now than were a year or two ago and you'll find yourself using 20, 30, 40 Connects to be seen at the "top" of the application pile of 80 or 150 applicants. No thank you. Use another platform if you have the option, this one is starting to hit the wall.

I started on Odesk now Upwork in 2014, helping my brothers in their website descriptions in french. Then they trained me how to do SEO tasks. Add links, submit websites in directories... Ater this I wrote some articles for them.

Then I created my own profile. After my second degree at the University, I was unable to find a real job in my country or the rare ones were not well paid, unser 200 USD/monh!

After some 12 months courses in Birtish Centre, I tried my chance in French translation, then Webinterpet, from Philipines, an a translation agency gave be my big deal, I was paid 400 USD/week! In Africa, it is enough to live well.

Since then, I have done more and more courses in English, writing and passing some exams such as IELTS.
Today, my average income in upwork since 2015 is estimated waouh USD.

But to be honest, sometime I passed 3 motnhs withut a good job, or witouth a real job.

Sometime I faced non recommended clients, those who pay with the lowest rate, as I did not have any job at that moment, I accepted; sometimes clients take the work delivred in a hurry with tight deaines and go withouth pay, you have to wait untile 14 days to be paid by the upwork platform itself.

But hapilly, you have best clients, to there is always a joy to work with them: Medschenker, Tuxcare, WebInterpret, Labster, Gapminder who pay well and you can live happily with this here, in Central Africa without travelling to abroad!

My areas are: real estate, IT, health, marketing, gas and oil...

Upwork is amazing, you dont need to travel, you learn something new every day fromyour clients and their varius projects, areas and subjects on which you work on. Odesk helped me to open my mind, to learn more, to overincrease my income and to help other!

Thanks

Hello, I have been a voice artist for over 6 years. I have been on Upwork for over a year now and like it in some ways, but have issues in other ways. Generally speaking it is a legitimate place for people to collaborate and hire contractors, etc.
I enjoy:
1- Some of their tools such as being able to skype/message/phone, etc.
2- I love that once the job starts there are a lot of ways to communicate and get things done.
3- I enjoy being able to see how many people have applied for a job so I know if it is a waste of time to also apply.
4- I love that we have control over the price we want, etc when we submit to a job.
5- That you can report a job if it seems illegal, illegitimate, etc.
6- There have been some great people I have worked with on Upwork, and enjoy a lot of the professionals that I have worked with on the site.
7- I love that companies can send invitations to interview to me so I don't have to pay money to audition for a job a company wants me to interview for. Fabulous policy.
Things I don't like:
1- This is a place where companies come to get slave labor. Some of the jobs listed literally are paying much less than minimum wage, sometimes even as low as $2-$3 an hour. They don't say it that way. They just ask for a huge amount of work for $30, and people applying don't realize that the job would take almost 10 hours to do.
2- When I report these jobs Upwork does nothing about it.
3- Upwork sends out emails with these horrible jobs included, thus supporting and encouraging slave labor.
4- So Upwork is not looking out and making sure legitimate jobs with decent pay are on the site. I feel like they are not protecting and caring for the voice artists, and that new voice artists will be taken advantage of on this site. I feel like they are more interested in making money and will recommend any job they get paid to recommend.
5- The amount of legitimate work for voice artists could be improved.
6. Sometimes people who want to set up a job though Upwork find it hard at first and ask me to set up the job. But I am not able to set up an initial job for someone. I can only make offers to those who I have already had a job with. I wish there was some way for people to approve getting offers from others so that the hiring process could go more smoothly.
7. There is no way for me as a person accepting or rejecting an offer to provide adjustments. This should be a negotiation process. Maybe I need a little more time than they put on the proposal, etc. But they have to redo the proposal on their end and that can be hard for some to figure out. So the proposal process should be more flexible.
8. Upwork should provide some guidance for those who are new at posting a job for a voice artist. Many of the job descriptions are so vague that I don't apply because it costs money to apply. If some sort of form or list of suggested details to post was provided it could improve the amount of successful jobs on Upwork.

On the whole I feel that Upwork has potential as a site for voice artists but that Upwork needs to do a better job at protecting those on the site from scammers and those insisting on slave labor. When I see these types of jobs it turns me off from the site and makes me constantly reconsider if this is a site for professionals or not.

Today on date 06-04-2021
I release 220 USD to Freelaver Evgeny Sutulov as he promised for update after i will release the money

I believe the word of Evgeny Sutulov.

After receiving money he is not replying to my messages and his promise to update EA after dispute is resolve.

Can you ask him to be HONEST once in his life and give me update as he promise.

I complain to Upwork no reply.

I have only one word for this COMPANY.
SCAM COMPANY and people who read this message and still use this company like to become fool by SCAMERS.

Do not TRUST UPWORK and DO not TRUST FREELANCERS working for Upwork.

I have project with Freelancer, Everyday Errors, I change Project from complex project to very simple project Still Errors,

I already ask freelancer to cancel order i will still pay him some money because he tried to do work put Effort but honestly i can prove work done is wrong i can not use the work.

I have clients who buy work done from me.

If i deliver this type of work no one will do business with me.

Upwork Rules are not Good at all.
When Freelancer do Error work and if they refund money back to client they charge commission to client.

Which is wrong we give job to do work not to play games, i have lost 3 clients due to not job done in time or not done properly.

I will say i have done lot of jobs in Fiverr.

If any freelancer do funny things with client they refund money 100% back to client and i saw they block freelancer they give 100% to client, because client pay money for services not freelancer.

People who pay money also work hard to EARN this money.

If you put some strict Rules, i can tell you will get more clients.

Upwork as per my understanding have no professional Freelancers.
I start believing maybe there is no Freelancer all are fake profiles to grab commission from clients, if everyday 1000 clients job is not done and every client Upwork charge fees 3.5% which make them already good money why need to focus to complete work.

If Upwork is genuine company they should have Rule if Freelancer fail to complete work or full of Errors.
Freelancer will not be paid and Upwork fees of that project client will not pay for Upwork fees freelancer will pay if these freelancer are Genuine profiles they will take only that jobs which they can do they will not waste client time and money.

Honestly if you ask my opinion clients should make Reviews about Upwork and you will see how many clients are not happy with Upwork service.

Anyone can read these messages and understand

Anyone can see Freelancer did not finish work.
For this Upwork asking to go Arbitrage and pay 291 USD more.

Ok i will pay if Arbitrage said ask coder to complete the work and then client pay.
I already paid additional 291 ISD
Still i have to use same coder and pay him money.

I start believing there is no Arbitrage.
ALL money goes to Upwork and later they will say Arbitrage said pay coder if he complete work.

For this i will lose 510 USD.

It it Worth to use UPWORK for all this SCAMS Upwork is doing with clients.

I will file a case against UPWORK in consumer court for this SCAM.

Safe place for online work. Safe place for online work. Safe place for online work. Safe place for online work.

Im so thankfull fo UPWORK, cause it help me so much. Im lucky UPWORK give me a lot of chances work. I love UPWORK.

Highly recommend!

The Bbest platform for remote work its UpWok. I am working full time and happy!

The Internet since its emergence, has been of immense value and help to the entire world! One of its many opportunities for the world, is the availability of REMOTE WORK platforms, like Upwork, Fiverr, Freelancer.com, amongst others.

Remote Work platforms, especially in the present millennium, have so far proven to be an effective meeting and synergy point for best of talents & skills, and job demands (especially high-skills demanding jobs). The uniqueness of the Remote Work model is highlighted by the fact that its ample and myriad of opportunities are not limited by TIME and geographical factors. Provably, thousands and thousands of told and untold families, individuals, and groups have been cashing in on it, taking due advantage of its beautiful opportunities as either employees and / or employers. The vastness of its market makes it possible for players to collaborate with the best of talents, share experiences and synergies, and ultimately find solutions to problems that possibly could have proven difficult [traditionally], resulting encouragingly in the escalation of business expantions, improvements and successes.

The welfarist conditions of many remote workers have been tremendously improved, their skills and minds honed; while employers across boards and borders are leveraging on the availability of best of talents unlimited by the traditional factors: time and geographical distances, and more importantly in the ICT domain.

Contextually talking about UPWORK here, it a is great opportunity indeed! A room for collaborations and solutions-finding! An added advantage and a big plus to already vast Internet opportunities. To many, it's a goldmine and pretty life-changer! Judging by my 1 month+ activities on it, I can experientially tell that Upwork offers both employers, employees and freelancers across boards and borders a spacious room for growths and successes. I work on it currently as a copywriter, and I can tell with provable facts that many have so far found both their old and new dreams on it: a lot workers have had their financial NEEDS completely met, while employers are not left behind as their jobs NEEDS are critically, friendly, and humanly satisfied in line with Upwork mission to SERVE and not to sell as it was typical of businesses before now!

I can only possibly believe that the future of remote working and collaboration is BRIGHT, while I encourage us to fine tune it on and on, even as this digital age is getting smarter and more digital by the second. People should be enlightened more on its vast opportunities, while every hand should be on deck for its betterment, and mainly technically!

For Upwork, I raise my thumbs for you guys! One thing I admire particularly about you is the aesthetics of your display: the white background, blended with my favourite light green colour! It dazzles me, tickles my fancy, spurs my explorative part, as I always feel fulfilled by only strolling on it like I'm walking on a gold street, relishing its inspirational beauties!

Upwork, Keep pushing for better, my regards to you, and all, whom are making the world smarter, easier to live in, and sweeter! It is my strong belief that there is always room for improvement! So keep upping the games, just like as I had earlier noted among a few others that there should be an option for workers to EDIT their submitted cover letters! I can't feel less respectful for peeps like you folks there whom blaze trails, construct and reconstruct models and solutions, and always look out for better ways for better living!

To our onward successes,
Chimereuche Onwubiko.

Upwork is best freelancer platform, user frendly UI, good jobs and protects of freelansers..

I've seen Upwork (formerly Odesk and Elance) since 2007. I've had used Upwork both as a customer looking to get work done and as a service provider (freelance and Agency both) since 2008. I've had experienced over 800 jobs using Upwork where some were my direct clients and others were clients using agency accounts. Upwork is misunderstood and misrepresented at large. Indeed it has the largest Freelance Marketplace eco-system which implies that the ones getting their job done right and comfortably aren't bothered about leaving reviews and feedback.

How Is It Misunderstood?
Customers complaining here do not realize what they are getting into. They mostly assume as-if they are out to connect with experts and ought to pay almost 1/10 of their monies. When they find that native experts are actually not so inexpensive, they straightaway hire people from other countries who can match their price. They assume a lot (even though they are not assuming) and enter into agreements, mid-way through the project they are unable to decide and their frustration mounts. Either then end up with a not-so-nice of a deliverable or a failure. On the other hand after gaining a lot of experience, some customers do not want to believe that "What You Pay For Is What You Get" and they try to force in their legal rights, policies and terms which still wouldn't get their job done. If someone in another part of the world is really in dire need of a project, that freelancer will literally ask for any monies that'd work and promise the world in haste. Those jobs where freelancers deliver pretty well, gets unnoticed while those where an error is made gets highlighted.

Upwork is a third party - it neither guarantees terms nor enters into the agreement between client and vendors. It is simply a service to connect two parties, have Escrow and optionally take additional facilitation of disputes and arbitration.

How is Upwork Misrepresented?
In many ways! Its fee is actually not 20% for Freelancers but Upwork makes themselves appear as stealing. They have an option for clients to pick from a monthly subscription / flat fee but do not explain as to what is that for. They do not promote a thorough education on what it'd charge Freelancers / Vendors / Clients in doing business directly / locally or getting into a full-time hiring position as opposed getting a freelance hired. Upwork is also misrepresented for its extended services by clients when they need help in hiring and Upwork uses catch- phrases that they'd help in getting their work done which is totally not the case. Upwork also assumes that their terms and policies or Help Center section is the place for people to know what it is all about which is actually absurd.

I've had a decent share on Upwork and Upwork has a decent share in our growth. I have had many customers consulted, the above is just a response to all the negative feedback. On Upwork there are people like us offering services knowing well what the platform does not / cloud not offer while ensuring customers are educated. The platform is by far the best for people looking to get a quality work done and simply cannot be matched with Fiver / Freelancer and others because when clients are looking for exceptional work rather just quality work, only Upwork has such exceptional vendors that can produce such work.