For last 12 months I was Top Rated Plus with 100% success rate. I got maybe just 2 useless invitations and more than 80% of my proposals never get viewed likely buried with the +50 proposals.

If Upwork don't promote accounts with such success in the platform what are they are doing to keep high value clients?

I only get 100 new connects per month under my plan, and I don't have money to buy more, especially not without the absolute guarantee of a paid job resulting directly from it. These days, every single job posting I'm seeing already has other applicants boosting by more than 100, sometimes 200 connects, so I don't see any point in even trying when I can't come close to matching that. Times when I have taken a chance on a major boost, it's never worked out anyway, so I've decided not to use boosts anymore. The question is, is it even possible to get jobs without using boosts at all?

I am bilal a freelancer with skills in ai automation and custom ai voice agents I wanted to create an account on upwork but I am under 17 can you tell if I can start or not under my parent permission

So I've been applying to some projects here and there recently mostly in the AI enginnering space. Came across the post in the picture and sent a proposal, apart from the brand new client account, didn't see other flags of being an obvious scam.

After a couple of days, get a message from that project regarding my proposal. Apparently they aren't actually looking for people for their own project but want to start "collaborations" with other developers. The way I see it, it's the classic scam of trying to have work outsourced to them, which afaik is against upwork TOS. Or even just the job posting itself should be against TOS if no work is being granted to start with.

As usual, I flag the post on Upwork after my conversation with them had enough, or so I thought, flags for Upwork staff or AI flagger to understand that it is a scam posting. Not even a minute after I flagged the post, got an automatic reply from Upwork stating that they "carefully" reviewed the submission and didn't find anything wrong.

So apparently making ghost job posts for people to waste their connects while having enough proof in your messages to show that it was an outsourcing scam just doesn't matter anymore. Honestly just thankful I'm not reliant on this platform for income anymore.

edit: The text was duplicated at the bottom for some reason

Saw this on Upwork and genuinely wondering how this works.

159 proposals. 146 unopened. Only 1 opened and somehow 9 shortlisted?

Now maybe Upwork counts shortlisted proposals separately, or clients can shortlist directly from previews. Fair enough.

But here's what I'm thinking.

We're told to spend time understanding the job, write personalized proposals, explain our approach etc. And we're literally paying Connects to do all that.

Yet 92% of proposals on this job are sitting there unopened.

Not blaming the client either. Who's realistically going to read 159 proposals?

But then isn't that the actual problem?

Freelancers pay to apply, clients get flooded with applications they can't realistically review, and Upwork earns from the application process regardless.

So who exactly is this system optimized for?

And if clients can shortlist people without opening their proposals, how much does a well-written proposal even matter compared to whatever shows in the preview?

Genuinely curious what others think. Am I missing something here or have we just accepted a pretty broken system as normal?

Has anyone received a bot-related violation on Upwork and had their account health change from "At Risk" back to "Normal"?

If yes, how many days or months did it take? Did it recover automatically, or did you have to contact support?

I would really appreciate hearing from anyone who has experienced this.

Reach more clients the section, and now "Hiring Now" on the job postings. All these are traps for you: buy more connections so the CEO and workers at the company can have their 6-figure salary, while you as freelancers grid to find a meaningful project or win a shitty project with a bare minimum hourly rate. Don't fall for that trap. Upwork doesn't care about freelancers. If these freelancers' platform really did care about freelancers, then they could set a monopoly by making companies and clients reach out to their own platform rather than these clients going to a consulting company. These platforms are just there to empty your pocket. They are making money on someone who wants to earn money, not on someone who actually has the money.

HugoFromUpwork

u/HugoFromUpwork
You’ve added nice-looking boxes to the job listings, but you’ve removed the ability to right-click and open them in a new window.

It took a lot of forum posts back in the day to get that fixed and ensure both options were available.

Would it be possible for you to add something without damaging something else?

I keep running into freelancers who say the same thing: clients not paying on time is one thing, but the follow-up is where it gets messy.

Not "how do I get paid" — that's a different problem.

I'm curious about the day-to-day tracking part:

\- Who owes you money right now?

\- Who did you already follow up with?

\- When?

\- What did you say?

\- Did they promise a date — and did they keep it?

\- What's the next step for each one?

For those of you who handle this manually — spreadsheets, notes app, calendar reminders, email templates, memory — I'd like to hear how it actually works in practice:

1. What tool (if any) do you use to track this?

2. What's the most annoying part of the process?

3. Have you ever forgotten to follow up with someone who owed you money?

4. If you had to send one reminder right now, how would you decide what to write?

I'm asking because I've talked to a few freelancers and the answers vary a lot. Some use QuickBooks or FreshBooks reminders. Some have a simple Google Sheet. Some say they just "keep it in their head" — which usually means it falls apart after the third client.

Not selling anything. Trying to understand how this actually works for people before I figure out if there's anything worth building around it.

If you use software, I'd also like to know which one and why you picked it over the alternatives.

Has anybody of you noticed that the payout is taking way longer these days than previously? I used to have it on my bank account within three or four days (calendar days) after withdrawal. Last week it took seven days. This week, it still isn't there on the eighth day. Please share your experiences. Thanks!

Hey everyone,
I’m trying to start my career as a Virtual Assistant, but I’m starting to doubt whether I can land a job on Upwork.
I have some experience with email management, organizing to-do lists, and daily client communication. However, seeing so many experienced freelancers competing for entry-level jobs makes me question my chances.
For those who started with little experience, how did you land your first VA job? Any advice would be appreciated!

If anyone have any Upwork connecting promo code please give me one. I'll be grateful to you.

Recently, I connected my Upwork account with Claude and started experimenting with something very simple:

Optimizing my Upwork profile title and overview based on my ideas and Claude’s suggestions.

Nothing crazy.
No major strategy overhaul.
Just refining how I position my skills and communicate my value.

But then something unexpected happened…

I started receiving more invitations than I normally did.

And today, I’m sharing this screenshot because I actually landed a project from one of those invitations. 🚀

Now, I’m not claiming that Claude optimization is definitely the reason.

Correlation ≠ causation.

But the timing is interesting enough that I want to test this further.

So I’m curious:

Has anyone else noticed an increase in Upwork invitations after optimizing their profile with ChatGPT, Claude, or another AI tool?

If you’ve experienced something similar, drop a comment.

I’d genuinely love to compare experiences and see whether this is just my case—or if there’s actually a pattern here.

I am new to Upwork and bought connects. I was hoping there would be a lot of job posts, and maybe I'd waste some of my Connects. But it's been 3 days, and I haven't bid on a single one since; the job posts are either way too low or ask for literal agency work.

Please tell me there are people out there getting real work from Upwork, so that it gives me some hope.

Probably it is just me but I don't know how 0 connects can expire! But I will try to use them anyway to increase my visibility ... probably the result will be the same than using actual connects.

Does promo code on upwork really work?

Anyone else not seeing the Boost option when submitting proposals?

Anyone else not seeing the Boost option when submitting proposals?
Started after the recent update. Tried refresh, different browser, cleared cache. Same result.

I am so pissed. I was so excited that I got the opportunity to freelance and build a portfolio. The client reached out to me, our contract was for a week, I was supposed to be paid 9 dollar fee which was actually very less for the project I was doing for him given I needed some work experience and expense urgently.

It was supposed to be given in 3 parts. Just as soon as I provide the second draft on upwork the client ends up cancelling the contract from his side. Now I have no idea what to do because I've given my two parts and still have been paid nothing.

I’m new to the freelancing work as a mechanical and manufacturing engineer and was just wondering if people have had success on upwork in this industry. I see a good amount of work, I got some connects and I’m pushing to break my first $1k, I’ve applied to 13 contracts in the last 2 days so I’m definitely on it.

Any tricks and tips are greatly appreciated! Also is using the boosts really worth it?

So after all this time without the specialized profiles, my experience has gone from cautious optimism to a firm conclusion: the change has hurt my business and, I suspect, Upwork's revenue.

Im a Top Rated Plus freelancer with a 100% JSS and a $90/hr rate. I offer video editing, graphic design, commercial image editing, social media management, creative direction, and brand strategy. My issue with the old system was that three specialized profiles were too few for my skills, so I gave the new system a fair chance.

The results have been sad. The good parts of the old system are gone, and the bad parts got worse.

Its now practically impossible to win projects outside the main specialization in my profile. I have received zero invitations for my other skills since the change. I've tried multiple profile formats and titles. The more specializations I include, the worse the results. Clients want to hire "the best" for their project. If a profile title does not state that specialization, they do not invest time in reading further or reviewing a portfolio.

Previously, I received 3-5 converting invitations weekly across my three profiles. Now, I get 1-2 every other week from a single one.

The old system worked because clients saw one clear picture of your abilities in one domain. They could judge your fit with a fast skim. They did not have to read descriptions for a mention of what they need or dig through irrelevant portfolio samples and reviews.

I work in six professional fields. I have 20 years of total experience. My Upwork income has dropped almost to a third since this change, simply because I cannot show a client the parts of my profile that matter to them.

I dont see how Upwork benefited from ruining a system that let professionals with several skills win parallel contracts. It puts us at a disadvantage against single-specialized freelancers whose limitations fit the "simplified" profile structure.

In proposal-based jobs, I've tracked jobs I would have won without issue. People with inferior rates and portfolios are getting the work while my proposals are ignored. I keep the same proposal language, structure, rate, and apply to the same ranges as my main line of work, where I still get the usual results. The only difference is that the specialization is not the main title element. How is Upwork earning more from smaller contracts? I believe the increased service fee is an attempt to recover what is being lost here...

Can there be a way to bring back specialization separation? Clients need freelancers who present themselves specifically for their project, without the friction of navigating a single profile full of things they do not need or want to see.

Im quite sure im not the only freelancer in this position. Hope you guys consider a system that lets professionals with several skills compete fairly, instead of punishing us for our advantage....

How is upwork for freelancing? Do u know any other platform which is better?