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Upwork

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New Jersey
5 reviews
49 helpful votes
Follow Amanda J.
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I was an Elancer for 6-years and LOVED it. I've been on Upwork for a year and make peanuts. The interface sucks, the job pay for most jobs suck, and while I get an occassional job, it is nothing worth bragging about. A recent issue with a client resulted in a $30 loss for me with agreement for the client from the start. I really hate the site but what can you do until you find one that is free like this one? I did write this book if anyone wants to look. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00WQ3YFZ0

Date of experience: October 25, 2016
South Africa
1 review
0 helpful votes
Follow Arnold M.
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Upwork has made it possible for me to get clients from all over the world, and learn so much through working with different teams. I definitely recommend Upwork.

Date of experience: March 29, 2021
New Jersey
7 reviews
19 helpful votes
Follow Eve H.
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Are you kidding me? You have a project on Elance, it is ongoing, it is complex, you are using the platform as it presented itself - as a way to document, contract, schedule, approve, pay the freelancer - and Upwork is NOT going to migrate that information, they want you to conclude it as "finished" and start a new project. Really? Legally and in all sort of dimensions this is POOR business. And Upworks customer service is incompetent, their offices - no one seems to exist or answer phones. Elance was pretty good to great-now it is like the inmates are running the asylum.

Date of experience: April 20, 2016
Spain
1 review
13 helpful votes
Follow Veiko H.
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I was using eLance and was very happy with their service. However, when I was forcefully "upgraded" to UpWork, everything went wrong. First, they have no rights for their useless "freelancer protection service". This is actually managing escrow and for that financial service license is necessary at least in Europe. And then they must release payments within 48h and not in 6 days. And why should customer make payment before hiring? Normally customer makes payment, when happy with the result, if not agreed differently. And monitoring private conversations under NDA is criminal activity. I have reported it to FBI, but seems, that US authorities are so used to monitor any telecom usage, that they do not even bother to arrest for such kind of crimes. I wrote a longer article to my blog: http://www.veikoherne.com/2016/07/upwork-illegal-services-are-paradise-for-scammers/

Date of experience: December 16, 2016
Colorado
1 review
1 helpful vote
Follow Margaret R.
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Great - Love the ability to connect to clients seeking remote services
Not So Good - Lots of spam listings and the rating system is VERY skewed against the freelancer.
If you are willing to work hard at UpWorks system- then it can be a great tool. Worth the time, but frustrating and needs serious improvement.

Date of experience: August 20, 2021
Ohio
1 review
2 helpful votes
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Refund
January 31, 2023

There has been fraud on my account for over 2 months now where a freelancer got into my account for another country and charged $250. The freelancer's name is Suleman Ahmed. I complained to Upwork and they said there's nothing they can do even though I have a message from the freelancer saying "Ok manny I use your fund. I return your fund in 1 week. Send me Account number I send you.

I with draw you fund." This happened again with another freelancer name Muhammad Faizan and he took $650 without me hiring him for the job. Can someone please help me? I have worked with IT for over 3 months now and I haven't received any resolution. I'm sure Hayden Brown wouldn't like to hear about this type of service. I've been with Upwork since they were formerly known as Elance. So we are talking over 9 years.

Date of experience: January 31, 2023
India
1 review
0 helpful votes
Follow zakir h.
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The best and easiest Upwork is an excellent platform to work on i ever saw. They are great at helping new freelancers. Who they like to start their own career online

Date of experience: July 17, 2020
Philippines
1 review
0 helpful votes
Follow Junedin P.
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Thank you so much Upwork for giving me, us, freelancers this kind of platform so we can showcase our skills and talent. Most importantly, I am grateful for this lifetime opportunity to earn from working in the comfort of our home. KUDOS UPWORK!

Date of experience: February 2, 2021
Brazil
1 review
0 helpful votes
Follow Licínio S.
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Upwork is unevitable tool for freelancers and companies.

As Artist, I'm very grateful to God and the hardwork of the upwork team for the oportunity to know and have a good relationship with clients and studios of the world; making our routine more easy, automating contracts, fees (we can prepare automatic reports for national fees! :) ), billing and calculations. I love so much the gamefied way to manage our profiles, accumulating points long of the time.

Guys, you have notion? You're helping professionals where the national economy is having severe problems, politicals and pandemic. This is very important about everything in more poor regions...

Thanks and I hope see the community grow more! <3

Date of experience: June 15, 2021
India
1 review
0 helpful votes
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Top freelancer Website
October 18, 2020

I love working on Upwork, It's were consistent regarding job availability. If you are professional and hardworking Upwork gives you a ton of opportunity, Respect for Team Upwork love you all for your hardwork.

Date of experience: October 18, 2020
Pakistan
1 review
1 helpful vote
Follow Sharjeel s.
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Upwork is a great platform in my experience. Everything is perfect, secure, and reliable. The most important part that freelancers can get their funds in 5 days as well.

Date of experience: June 27, 2020
India
1 review
10 helpful votes
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Suspended Account
April 15, 2015

This mail is for let you know about my id - sanjasethi

My id is suspended more than 1 Month before I am not able to work on elance and not able to use bid. You have close my Id. I have also verified myself on your elance site. After that also my Id is not opened it is still closed. Main problem is I am not able to withdraw my amount on elance. That my hard work income
Now please open my Id. I have verified myself than also you are not solving my problem. You are a reputed company. How can you do it. Whenever I chat online with your people they do not give correct answers. I have asked them so many time that when my Id will open. They also say's wait for the email.And after 1 month also I m waiting for your email still I have not get revert form your side. What should i do? I am waiting for a long time give me solution?

Date of experience: April 15, 2015
Australia
1 review
5 helpful votes
Follow Sewa G.
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My all freelaancers are very good i found from UPWORK, But UPWORK company by itself is very bad for customer service.
I will go back to freelance.com at lease they care about there clinets.
I have three times check with paypal and they advised me that they have paid to upwork with reference.
I did pass all the information to many time to upwork.
But they still saying your ticket is for investigation.
I have paid 2 times money from my bank account and they still have suspended my contract and my freelancers not got paid.
Anyway i will pay to my freelancer by otherway So my worker doesn't my bad image bu upwork mistakes.

Date of experience: August 11, 2017
Philippines
1 review
0 helpful votes
Follow Charmaine L.
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You can find a steady stream of work - and overall job fulfilment - on Upwork. Of course, just like in real life, you'll have to work really hard but it pays off in the long run.

Date of experience: May 5, 2021
Indonesia
1 review
0 helpful votes
Follow Iwan S.
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Amazing Experience
March 2, 2021

This is a new experience for me in Freelance, I can connect with amazing clients on the Upwork site. I helped him to complete an existing project so that the business he runs runs well.

Date of experience: March 1, 2021
India
1 review
5 helpful votes
Follow Utsav K.
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Not good
April 13, 2015

I am writing this mail to you for getting your attention on my Id- designerutsav.

It has almost been more than 15 days you have close my Id. I have closed all the extra Id's as per your instructions. I have also verified myself on your elance site. After that also my Id is not opened it is still closed. I am not able to work on new projects. I am not able to make bid. My all work is stopped.
Now please open my Id. It has been a long time my Id is closed. I have verified myself than also you are not solving my problem. You are a big company than also whenever i chat online with your people they do not give proper answers. I have asked them so many time that when my Id will open. They also say's wait for the email. And after 15 days also i m waiting for your email still i have not get revert form your side. What should i do?

Date of experience: April 13, 2015
Ukraine
1 review
0 helpful votes
Follow Andrii P.
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I've been working on Upwork for over 5 years now - since fall 2016, after several months of unsuccessful attempts to find a full-time job in the country where I live. On Upwork, I signed my first contract after 2 or 3 days after registering.

Although for some time I thought freelancing was temporary, then I decided that freelancing would become my main occupation.

Upwork is just like any other "market" - there are both good or bad clients. Over time, you learn how to distinguish the first from the second. You have complete control over who you want to work with and who you don't.

This is not a place where you can easily earn money. Here you can earn only if you are really a professional in your field. It may be difficult to find clients initially and even if you are an experienced freelancer, you still need to put in some effort to find new clients and sign new contracts.

But if you are a good specialist, you'll eventually find long-term contracts and will be earning in US dollars, which is especially important if you live in a developing country.

I highly recommend this marketplace for all good specialists who want to find remote work.

Date of experience: February 17, 2022
RU
1 review
0 helpful votes
Follow Alexey R.
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Some years ago i started to work at Elance as Android developer. Few years later Elance become a part of Upwork and i switched to Upwork. I have made a lot of Android apps for my clients there and i am happy to continue work with Upwork.

Date of experience: October 3, 2020
New York
1 review
7 helpful votes
Follow Bob T.
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***PLEASE- Anyone who is having issues with theft from this company should report them to the Better Business Bureau.*** I would say contact a lawyer as well but as always, these cases are hard to prove and always seem to be in favor of the business so they continue to scam on****

I am having trouble setting up my profile, which I am being forced to do in order to have complete access to the provided tools but their website seems to be having a problem and is not accepting any profile picture I attempt to upload. They have no way of getting in touch with Customer Support and I am being sent in circles to look at templates that do not help me. Any reliable company would have a way to reach them, especially if they are dealing with money and other sensitive information.

Date of experience: April 7, 2017
Nigeria
1 review
0 helpful votes
Follow DESTINY A.
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It's been an amazing experience for me on Upwork in less than 3 months on the platform have learnt a lot and still learning, the truth is that it takes Consistency, Persist-ency, Hard work and Never Say Die Attitude to get to the top. Thank you Upwork for giving such opportunity to add value through my problem solving skills

Date of experience: September 16, 2022

Overview

Upwork has a rating of 2.3 stars from 2,123 reviews, indicating that most customers are generally dissatisfied with their purchases. Reviewers dissatisfied with Upwork most frequently mention customer service, credit card and job success. Upwork ranks 7th among Freelancing sites.

service
529
value
512
shipping
278
returns
323
quality
502
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