Two Ways to Earn Money

After you sign up you can immediately look for jobs you want to apply for and wait for the employer to contact you. Sometimes employers are actively searching for freelancers based on their skills so even if you just sign up, an employer might see your profile and contact you for a job. And this is all for FREE. Once you get over that, it’s time for the nitty gritty.

Upwork offers freelancers users 2 ways to charge for their services, either on a per hour basis or per job basis. Each has their own pros and cons but having both allows flexibility on both the employer and employee to come to an agreement with a certain job.

Having an hourly rate comes with the assurance from Upwork that you will be paid for the number of hours you worked as they can verify this with screenshots via the Upwork Team. Having a fixed rate does not have this guarantee and you run the risk of not being paid, though if you are hired by a trusted employer at a fixed rate, they can choose to pay you more than what you agreed upon if they are extremely satisfied with your work.

It all boils down to how you manage yourself and how you deal with people you hire or are hiring you. Always make sure you are not taken advantage of and don’t take advantage of other people.

New Pricing Scheme

In recent months, Upwork introduced a new pricing scheme — to the dismay of many users. Under the new pricing scheme, you pay 20% for the first $500 you bill your client across all contracts. As if that was not enough, you also pay a 2.7% processing fee per payment (or a flat $25 per month). For some just starting out freelance work in Upwork (or anywhere, for that matter), this is rather steep.

That said, this new scheme isn’t all bad. In fact, it rewards those that work with a client more. This means that for the first $500 you bill your client, you pay 20%, while for total billings between $500.01 and $10,000, you pay 10%. For total billings that exceed $10,000, meanwhile, you simply pay a 5% commission charge.

Customer Support

The level of customer support has dropped over the years and is now hardly of any use. Users who had deleted accounts complain that they are not getting any clear reason from customer support as to why, or any resolution how to get them back. Users who have been cheated out of pay or given poor work were treated the same way, with generic and vague responses as if Upwork is washing their hands on the matter and won’t give any solid help.

What's the Verdict on Upwork?

Worth It, Some Issues

Upwork Review 2020 – Conclusion

With Upwork you just have to take the good with the bad. Yes there are some serious issues with Upwork but there are a lot of good things too, which ultimately can lead you to extra income. The best way to go about it would probably to be careful with the people you deal with and make sure you deliver what you promise as a freelancer to avoid complications. Relying solely on Upwork may also not be the best in case your account gets deleted, but freelancers rarely have just one source of work anyway. Since member ship is free, there really is no harm in creating an account and seeing where it goes from there.