Upwork

I've built an excellent reputation on Elance in the Writing and Translation category since early 2009, and used to close about 10% of my bids at decent pay. Generally I was competing against 15-20 others. Now that I've been forced onto the UpWork site, I'm competing against 50-70 others. My hit rate is nowhere, and the few clients I've had advertise for "Expert" and then want to pay $2.50/hour. It's a race to the bottom! Technically, the site is beyond bad. Sometimes I receive an invitation to bid. When I respond, the system tells me that I've already applied to that job. Conveniently, there is a link that says "View Proposal". It has NEVER worked. So, I do not know what my previous bid was - how embarrassing! My open ticket to a "high-value" tech support has brought no solution - just excuses. Now that I've read all these other reviews, I'm ready to throw in the towel with this site.

Started with Upwork since 2011 (formerly Odesk) and that became the turning point of my life. I got financially stable than the usual 9-5 jobs I have had prior to freelancing. The security, especially when it comes to payments, is what makes Upwork exceptional as they have made it a safer ground for talents to be well compensated with their services and hard work. Also, this is the place where you can be safe and less likely to get scammed by fake employers. Trust me! I am going 9 years in using the platform.

Elance is a great site for you: lot of job, lower fees, fast payment processing...
Until they lock your account for kind of "suspicious" action.
First I have waited for two weeks and get an instruction: identify myself, update them and then wait for more instructions. I have identified myself, closed all working jobs, got feedback from clients... And here is another four weeks I'm waiting for instructions...
They charged monthly fee, but has refunded it by my separate request. But I still unable to withdraw my funds.
I really wonder, why they do it. While I'm under block, they might to get 150-200$ fees if I was able to work. And I'm not alone - how many money they loose?

Hello Friends,
Here is a Hillary experienced with these fools. IT's a platform for Freelancers to compete Technically and Bid financially. They clearly respond that there are many people with same skills and wants to avoid compete.

More over they do not understand simple english. They need sophesticated words of technology to use, Heavy weighted Technical Terms.

Funny Part is people are selling approved accounts or paying money to get approved. This makes no sense of joining. This platform charges 20% first as Commission and later 10%.

It's better to avoid as this site is promoted by a UNION of particular platform to Diminish rival software companies and dominating on a single platform. A good programmer will understand the above concept well. Don't want to get drag legally.

I've been using upwork for almost a year now, and got a pretty big project as my first freelance job, I finished the job and the client was happy. And as I am in the process of getting 2 more possible work, they suspended my account stating that I sent too many proposals without enough winning results. Luckily I still managed to withdraw my earnings and arrived at my bank account.

It is like saying that, "you suck, so die and give up trying", to be honest I only submit proposals to offers that I know I can do only, and upwork basically say "your fault that you didn't get chosen so piss off". And the rejected my appeal.

Post a complaint on their FB page, and was removed withing few hours. Someone else's post also got removed for similar complaint. And now they set their FB page so nobody can post anything.

Terribly disappointed.

They just started (less than a few months) and they already have 50 negative reviews-says everything. They are even worse than Elance which when I think now about it was not that bad. This one is complete bottom.

I used to think Elance was great. I had great ratings, and satisfied customers, and they made plenty of money off me. Then they just closed my account for no reason. I discovered I am not alone - they did this to many freelancers, who knows why. Some algorithm fires you without warning. BEWARE.

One day you get a mail informing you that they honeymoon is over. No explanation, except for a generic mail that doesn't apply, and that's it. Goodbye, don't call us... we won't call you. Sadly, they are still holding on to my earnings, never mind that the rent is due. I depend on that income, now its gone.

STAY AWAY!

Started out in late January with no experience but considerable passion for writing. Wanted to turn this passion into my profession and upwork really proved helpful. With its categorisation feature it is really effective to write proper proposals and get great contracts, got to make 1000$ in my 1st month of starting on the platform. It might be hard for someone without any basic knowledge of computers and good communication skills but you learn eventually persistence is the key, as well as dedication. There are good clients that are willing to pay big for the right quality so you won't be earning pennies only as long as you invest in growing your skillset and polish them.

Been using Upwork since eLance days (2014). My experience has been positive overall. Given the scale of the business and money involved, it's realistic to assume at some time you deal with unscrupulous people, both clients and freelancers. But IMHO they are a minority. Upwork does appear from time to time prune the marketplace, so overall they seem to be on the right track. Still it'd be nice to see more investment in customer support, especially for dispute resolution.

Besides the biggest plus point to me has been witnessing Upwork hiring freelancers for it's own development needs. That shows trust and deserves respect.

Thanks.

Hiring upwork without some programming experience is an absolute waste of time. They allow programmers to bill without producing anything. Then you cannot charge them back even if they have nothing to show and then programmers laughter because they can just delete the bad reviews. They "recommend" nest matches but do not choose to stand behind their recommendations. The do not enough any contract other than taking your money. So go ahead leave it on the nightstand pull you pants up and leave the room. Because that's what it feels like working with upwork. The are money grubbing prostitutes.

Nice idea but I've encountered more scammers than legitimate clients offering legitimate work. And some of the job offers seem shady and perhaps even illegal. I've had very few actual legit freelance jobs on upwork. You can flag them but they keep popping up everywhere. Seems like there should be a better vetting process for clients looking for freelancers. I recently had a client who refused to pay me after I had completed the job and left me a false negative review. After filing a dispute there was not much I could do. A lot of wasted time and keep getting scammed.

I have been on Upwork for almost 5 years and it has skyrocketed my business. I find the clients are ready to order, so it's just getting the right match. I have had excellent customer service as well and my questions get answered in a very timely manner. I appreciate the fact that their commission fees reduce when you have more business from the same client. Other sites do not have this.