UpworkReviews 2,128

With good intentions I was looking for work writing, editing and reviewing for media sites. Here is an example of some of the work offered on UpWork. First employer: I need a 40 page e-book written in 2 weeks for $50. Second employer: For my blogsite I need 2-4 blogs per month (1,000 words each) to be paid at the rate of $10 each. Must have a minimum of a masters degree. Third employer: Need a tutor for my bratty kid to train in the sciences. Will pay $5 per session. These a facetious representation yet they come close to the mark to the job offerings on UpWork. This company keeps a minimum of 20% of the wage. My advice: Upwork is a disaster paying slave wage with potential employers who are either nutcases or live under a rock. Many better sites stay light years away from this one.

A complete waste of time. I should have trusted the poor reviews before signing up. Their platform is totally archaic at best. They boast over 50K jobs available, but the majority are scams or low-brow offers. Hardly worth the time and energy. The gig descriptions are often vague, and the "client" rarely if never follows up with you, in a timely manner [2-3 days]. And most of them only open a new browser page that requests your Credentials---basically what you already have on your profile [including your resume] So really, you're just repeating yourself. Sorry - but no freelancer has the time or patience to roll with this nonsense.

I have been a freelancer for a very short time with UPWORK and no where are you able to reach out for assistance as a "Freelancer" to make sure you get paid. I have recently been engaged with two doctors from Washington to solicit and create a sponsorship package for their event in Martha's Vineyard, a "Mindfulness Retreat", Aeva Doomes. I was not paid and they ended contract. They were very hard to work with and very rude, sending threatening emails on time frames, etc. Upwork answered no outreach to assist.

My account was suspended by giving the following excerpted message:

We are contacting you to let you know we have suspended your access to Upwork indefinitely.

Our decision is based on a careful review and the fact that you have submitted a high number of proposals for jobs on our site without many contracts or earnings.

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Do you see any reason? They have limited number of proposal credits but also it was not allowed. I had received two 5 star ratings on the job and was still trying to do the best.

First, they take 20% of your earnings. If you also file your earnings when doing your taxes, remember it's another 30% (in Canada). So essentially working on UpWork you are making half of whatever your rate is. (20+30 = 50% lost)

Second, I had a client hire me, start a contract, then go immediately unresponsive. After months of trying to engage them, I decided to end the contract. However, since I ended the contract as a freelancer, UpWork decided to penalize my profile and drop my profile success score by 75% even though it was not my fault that the client decided to fall off the face of the earth. After contacting UpWork, I just got one templated reply after the other.

I am a semi-retired professional who came to the Upwork site with the best of intentions.

So far, I have exhausted my 'connects' within the first two weeks, and yes, I did end up working for one client (more on that later).

Other than that, no potential client ever got back to me.

Similar to social media, with its incessant 'you have a message' format, Upwork updates continuously, so it SEEMS to be in a freelancer's best interest to constantly monitor the site.

Well, bottom line, two almost wasted weeks.

The one client is proving to be very difficult (does not get back to me, rarely answers messages) and NO other responses from anyone.

The point about the client is that even though she is a legitimate person who does need something produced, even if you do manage to get hooked up through this website, it is not just 'do your job and you will be fine.'

Like many endeavors, once you do land a job, your trouble really starts then. But that's life, that's business, dealing with customers.

The problem is that Upwork truly makes it not worth even going out and finding the customers.

Right now it is Saturday morning, I am giving about five potential jobs until Monday to get back to me, and then I am closing the account.

What Upwork did positive was that it made me very happy to hear from my old full time employer who wants me to come back on a per-diem basis. Maybe I just needed to see what else was out there.

Thanks to Upwork, I told them I would come back, I start Monday.

I had a profile with 150 projects completed positively and 500 hours during five years of hard work, but hard!
They closed my account because I had a double profile years ago, without personal information, because I forgot my password, without wanting to write the email one morning with my eyes closed, and, in a few hours later the profile closed one by all, without availability to enter the web and register again!

The person who understood me, knew only one thing, you do not have more accounts here, as if I were a delinquent with two balls!

Upwork hires criminals. I discovered this when I found that one of their freelancers has 3 convictions of violent crimes. UpWork responded that they do not discriminate and what a freelancer does with their personal time is not their business. However, some freelancers meet face-to-face and could be using Upwork to cause harm or commit more crimes. UpWork has no idea if any of the freelancers they "connect" with others are violent offenders, predators, sex offenders, pedophiles, etc. because they feel they have no duty to let you know this information.

I would never recommend them.

I have very mixed experiences with upwork, no good ones for SEO, some lovely ones for a marketing adviser and photoshopping of images, but terrible for website design. Am in the middle of a dispute now, the designer was supposed to do design templates for 3 specific pages, and the layouts, looked great. However his integrating was and still is a mess, affecting text and layout on all the pages, to the extent, that I am now having to spend hours undoing and re-doing all the work. And the upwork view..." it appears that no clear violation of our terms has been made"

So sure, use them, but you are entirely alone if it goes wrong.