Upwork

The best platform ever I found working online marketplace. Upwork should keep going as it is. I love Upwork.

I just had my account shut down on elance as someone who was testing the waters to hire freelancers to complete programming tasks for my startup. I have to say the one freelancer I hired who accepted a proposal did an amazing job. I had one other one who flaked out, and no bites on the 5 other jobs I posted.

I think the reason my account was shut down is ludicrous. Because my jobs haven't led to activity? I posted 10 private jobs of which only 2 people applied for after I invited over 100? I don't understand why my account was suspended? If my jobs are private, it's not like others are out there trying to apply for them. Of the two people I hired, one completely flaked out on me mid-job, and the other completed the job and was paid upon completion. As far as I'm concerned they system failed me, which Is why I don't understand why my account was closed? What's the point of private listings, if you have to have them fulfilled? That's what I had understood one of the comforts of posting a private listing, as that I didn't have people applying for a job without me not issuing it. I had a strict criteria of candidates, of which none applied. I wasn't low-balling either, I agreed to pay their market rate. Was I supposed to withdraw my jobs after nobody qualified for them? Or should I have loosened up my requirements and given the work to someone who was unqualified? Or should I just not post requirements which might not find a qualified candidate and hire a proper firm? You've left me in the dark here with no reasonable explanation. The fact that I am expected to commission unqualified candidates is sheer lunacy. Perhaps I set the bar too high in hoping to use elance. Perhaps it's more for hobbyist programmers? I will be happy to take my business to any of the competing freelance companies.

J M's review ("Be careful with these guys") further down says it all. I don't want to totally put down UpWork. There's still legitimate work there, but it's harder to find, and UpWork simply doesn't care about freelancers.

I worked as a freelancer for oDesk for about three years. I had constant work, I was making decent money, and I felt well treated by oDesk. When I had a question or problem, I was treated with respect. It was a good service.

That all changed when it became UpWork. The other reviewers who say UpWork doesn't care about freelancers are 100% correct. When it was oDesk, I was a top rated freelancers with a 4.99 rating and I had constant work. After it became UpWork, the rating system changed. At some point I lost my Top Rated status but was never notified about it, then after a while I became Top Rated again, but with absolutely no changes in my status. I wasn't working at all during that period. With oDesk, I always knew how my status was calculated. Under UpWork, it's a mystery.

When there were technical problems with oDesk, they responded immediately; UpWork just makes excuses and tries to shift the blame. Their site frequently goes down, but when I've reported it, they've claimed it was a problem with my computer (it's not - I've been a a computer professional for decades and know when the problem is my computer and when it's the site).

For nearly three years, oDesk was the only place I looked, but that's ended. I had constant work with oDesk, but since it became UpWork I've had only one very small job even though I've been looking constantly. I'm still looking for work on UpWork, but I'm now also looking for other sources of work.

Losing oDesk was a major loss for the freelancing community.

Be very careful on how you will choose the freelancers. It is easy for a freelancer to scam a client, especially with a long term contract and Upwork will most likely side with them. The freelancer's reviews do not reflect reality. Upwork will side with the freelancer even though the proofs are evident. I hired a freelancer to build an app. In the length of a few months, I paid him a deposit and few milestones. After I paid him over $1800 he told me he has some health issues and that the delivery of the next milestone will be delayed. Not only that the milestone was past due but I couldn't leave feedback anymore. When I looked at his profile again I notice another client gave him a bad review and that the freelancer took his money without delivering the work.
I contacted Upwork and gave them all the proofs and screenshots they need it to see how the whole contract proceded. In fact, those were not even necessary since everything happened on the platform. Escalated to a supervisor and she said she will forward the information to a Trust and Service department but nothing happened. I asked the freelancer to at least provide me the source files for whatever he worked until now so I can take the files to another freelance/company to finish the app. No response from freelancer. Now a few months have passed and the freelancer has 5 more contracts opened and he is "Top-Rated" with 100% job success. UPWORK should realize that clients are the ones that bring money to the platform and with situations like this not only that clients will leave the platform but will also discourage others from using the company. So my advice to you is to get files throughout the process in case something will happen before the contract will end or better yet use another website that will give you more protection.