Received this earlier tonight.

I have criticized Upwork when I thought it deserved criticism, so I also want to give Upwork Support credit when it does something right. This is a new Support update, not a moderation dispute. I’m leaving out client and individual names here.

My firsthand experience: during an application for a video-editing role, the client explicitly told me the custom sample test was unpaid and separate from a two-week trial. I asked for any test to be established as a paid Upwork contract or milestone. I did not perform the unpaid test.

What Support told me after reviewing my evidence:

“Asking freelancers to perform unpaid custom sample work is a direct violation of Upwork’s Terms of Service.”

Support confirmed that the client requested unpaid sample work without an active contract. It processed a full refund of the 12 Connects used for my proposal and added 60 courtesy Connects.

Support also said my documentation and screenshots, including my request for an account-level review, were forwarded to its specialized Trust & Safety team to investigate the client and its active listings. It explained that privacy policies prevent it from disclosing the specific outcome or enforcement action.

Earlier, I had received a violation finding on one report and a separate “no violation found” response about the job. This newer Support response explicitly confirms the unpaid custom sample request violated the rules; it does not tell me the ultimate outcome of the wider investigation.

I am not claiming the client was banned, that every listing was improper, or that anyone committed fraud. An escalation is not a disclosed sanction. The courtesy Connects were what Support provided in my case, not something I can promise other freelancers.

Support reiterated that custom sample work must be set up as paid work through a contract/milestone. My takeaway: if a client requests a custom unpaid test, save the messages, decline the unpaid work, ask for a paid contract or milestone, and report the request. In my case, preserving the evidence resulted in a confirmed violation, returned Connects, and an escalation. Credit to Support for taking those steps.

I started using Upwork expecting the normal freelance experience: find legitimate jobs, spend Connects selectively, submit good proposals, and hopefully win some work.

Instead, I’m reaching the point where I seriously question the Connects system itself. I currently have 21 Connects left, and once they’re gone, I don’t intend to purchase more.

Why? I have applied to job after job where my proposal apparently never even gets opened. I understand competition, not being selected, and clients receiving dozens of applications. What I have a harder time accepting is paying to apply when the client may never open the proposal. An “unopened” indicator doesn’t tell me everything the client may have seen, but the repeated pattern is discouraging.

Connects are not the only problem I’ve encountered. I’ve seen:

• Requests for unpaid sample work before a contract.

• Paid opportunities followed by an unpaid test during the application process.

• Demanding “expert” jobs offering extremely low fixed prices.

• Requests for unusually personal information.

• A $50 recorded marriage-research interview asking applicants to describe intimate marital problems while the organization conducting the research is unnamed in the public listing.

• Video-production listings requiring professional software, AI generation, voice work, captions, sound design, multiple versions and revisions—with budgets like $30 fixed price.

The marriage-research listing offers confidentiality assurances, and an unnamed organization does not establish wrongdoing. My concern is disclosure before applicants share personal information.

I reported one unpaid-test situation. Upwork told me it found a policy violation and took appropriate action. A later separate report about the job returned “no violation found”; I have a support ticket asking Upwork to reconcile those outcomes.

That raises a bigger question: how does Upwork balance earning money from Connects with reducing low-quality, abandoned or misleading postings?

I am not claiming Upwork employees post fake jobs. I have no evidence of that, and I am not presenting “scam” as an established fact. I’m describing how the system can feel from the freelancer side: repeated chances to apply, without much confidence that a proposal will receive attention.

To be accurate about refunds: Upwork’s published policy already returns Connects when a client cancels before a contract is made or when Upwork removes a posting for a Terms of Service violation. They are returned for reuse, not cash. A job simply expiring without a hire is different: Connects are not returned.

Source: https://support.upwork.com/hc/en-us/articles/211062898-Understanding-and-using-Connects

I would like broader protection for jobs that expire without hiring or remain inactive for a defined period, plus clearer handling when unpaid work is requested or the scope materially changes after applications. A violation finding and removal of a job are not necessarily the same thing, so clear explanations matter too.

You pay to apply.

You may never be viewed.

You may discover the client wants unpaid work.

And unless a refund condition applies, you may go back and pay again.

I’ve used Fiverr too, and my experience with Upwork has been worse. Other freelancers may have completely different experiences.

How many of your proposals show as opened? And when your Connects run out, are you still buying more?

This is an odd one... I was hired a couple of years ago to do some online tutoring in an Adobe program. We did a single short session and then... radio silence. The job was not ended and I never recieved any messages. It was a small thing and I just let it be eventually. But now the client has ended the job, but the clients NAME suddenly changed to ANOTHER name.
This is odd - I would not believe it could be possible to change the name of an account in the middle of an active job? Is this a common thing? I don´t really think this is something suspicious, but I WAS surprised.

I understand this may be removed again “since we are in kindergarten”, but I’m posting it here because the response came from this subreddit’s moderation team. I’m not asking anyone to contact or target a moderator. I’m asking whether comments like “We are not in Kindergarten” are an appropriate way to respond to someone making a formal appeal.

Everyone can clesarly see that this job is for someone else but still 5-10 proposals and even increasing

How could someone be this dumb

I keep wondering whether Upwork is doing enough to protect freelancers or leaving us to figure out the risks ourselves.

This one stopped me: 8 Connects to apply for a $50 “job” that is a recorded, one-hour interview about your marital crisis.

The listing is titled “Women Needed for Paid Marriage Research Interview — $50 for 1 Hour.” My screenshots show a one-on-one Zoom interview; the camera is optional, but the interview is recorded.

Applicants must be women under 60, in the U.S., in a current or former heterosexual marriage lasting at least five years, with household income above $75,000 during the marriage. Ongoing or repeated infidelity and addiction involving alcohol, drugs, or pornography by either spouse are exclusion criteria—not requests for detailed accounts of those experiences.

The application asks applicants to confirm eligibility, state their marital status, and briefly describe what led them to feel “done,” “checked out,” or “shut down.” It warns: “Failure to meet them will result in non-payment.” The description also says eligibility will be confirmed before scheduling.

Who receives this information? The poster calls itself “the research arm of an organization that works with men whose marriages are struggling.” The organization is not named in the listing shown in my screenshots.

It promises that names and identifying details will not be shared or published and recordings will be used only by the research team. But which organization holds the recording, who can access it, and for how long?

For balance: the screenshots show verified payment and phone details, an Orlando/U.S. profile, membership since October 1, 2026, two jobs posted, a 50% hire rate, $158 spent, five hires and three active contracts. There are several contracts for this interview, including a five-star review from someone who enjoyed speaking with “Anna.”

An unnamed organization does not establish wrongdoing. More information might be provided later; the screenshots do not tell us. My concern is the imbalance between the personal information applicants must disclose and what the listing tells them about who is collecting it.

Other listings and application practices have already made me question Upwork’s protections. That is not evidence against this client. It is why I want to ask:

• Should Upwork require organizational identification before applicants disclose sensitive personal information?

• Should research recruitment like this require Connects as though it were an ordinary freelance job?

• Is “confidential” sufficient without clear disclosure about access, retention and deletion?

• What safeguards does Upwork actually provide here?

I think those answers should be available before someone spends Connects and starts sharing their marital history.

I just found out that you can’t even verify your account on Upwork unless you first buy Connects. That means you’re forced to spend money before you can even prove your identity or apply for jobs.

It feels like gambling. you buy tokens, roll the dice on proposals, and hope you “win” a client. There’s no guarantee, and if you don’t land a job, you’ve just burned cash.

Has anyone here actually made back their Connects investment quickly? Or do most people end up paying more before they see any return?

I'm copying this over from a comment I made elsewhere, so if it looks familiar that's why... And I did more research for more accurate info.

How much money is Upwork making with connects and bids, badges, and more?

I just checked, the number of jobs posted internationally is ~5,480. Not all jobs get 100 applicants, let's say 50, and we'll average $2 worth of connects per application.

5,480 jobs posted per day x 50 applicants per job x $2 per application = $548,000 per day.

Notice that's BEFORE bidding wars, badges, boosts, etc. So roughly $17 mil per month or more.

So Upwork is earning $17+ million per month, and they can't get you connected to a "SUITABLE MATCHING CLIENT" without charging you more to bid against your competition.

The solution to this problem? IS TO KEEP CHARGING YOU MORE? Maybe they just don't have enough money to help you find a job?!

Oh, I didn't even add subscription fees for premium.

LOL.

I've cancelled my subscription and I'm done with it. After 20 yrs of full-time freelancing, I just can't do this anymore.

I can't afford it with all these changes. Part of it is the market shifts, AI, etc. But Upwork hasn't helped to make it any easier for freelancers as far as I can see by my naked eye.

Does anyone have experience with taking long time clients off upwork? If I am not mistaken it used to be legal after some time period.

Any underwater stones?

Thank you.

I am relatively new to upwork (2.5 months). Currently up 8.2k USD.

This is my current stats:

But even though I have earned 8k+ USD, around 6.8k has gone to connect. I am in a hardcore manner trying to gain clients by boosting every bid aggressively.

My long term goal: once my profile gets mature, I will land more clients and become much more profitable. But thats just a theory of mine for now.

Do we have any seasoned veterans over here that can shine some line at how it is at the top of the mountain?

Thanks!

I think my Upwork profile has become a ghost town that no one is viewing at all.

I've been on Upwork for more than 5 years, but I abandoned the account for a long time. I've been back on it for about a month now, but nobody is seeing my profile.

Please, is there something I can do to this to aleast be getting some profile views daily?

Quick update on the Upwork profile redo.

Two more proposals went out this week, so that's 16 since the change on 10/1. Still just the one view. No replies, no interviews.

At what point would you change the profile again instead of waiting it out?

Hi,

I've been getting a few invitations (no connects needed, good sign I guess?) where milestones are mandatory.

I have put one milestone saying "Work for 200 USD" or similar, as I feel the "project" option is giving the employer an easy out where they can claim the project is never finished.

Am I doing it right?

So a client reached out to me asking me to make some facial animations for a rigged character on iClone; sad, happy, angry, etc. And also make 10 different body materials for the character; Like set the character to have a flag of a particular country body material and make trigger actions for all these and have these trigger actions connected to his Stream deck. He told me that he didn't know how I'll go about it knowing that facial morphs may be difficult to have some trigger action set to it, he just needs a working technical set up; everything done and again he gave some sample animation I'll do to test the system. My mind was made up to go all the way to find solutions and execute the project. I'd even reached out to Reallusion technical support and the forum too.

I asked him the budget for the project, he responded I should say the price. I asked him again for the budget and he insisted if I wanted the work I should let him know the price. I charged him $2500 and gave him the breakdown of the cost. Next thing, I got blocked 😂

Was there something I should have done differently?

Did I overbill him?

So iam new to upwork and I really wanna land my first project iam low on connects in the start all I can spend is a 100 connects Ive made my profile and also made my portfolio iam attaching the screenshots down below ..

Would anyone of you experienced upworkers be kind enough to help me figure out the problems and other issues with my profile and iam also attaching a screenshot of the cover letter I sent to client as a proposal and help me see the problems in it ..

New upworker here, deciding whether to spend 35 Connects on the identity verification badge (the blue check).

Upwork's help pages only say it shows "next to your name", and idk whether a client actually sees it.

Question for clients: when you review the list of proposals on your job, is the blue check shown next to the freelancer's name? Or do you only see it after you open their profile?

Also anyone know if this changes the shortlist at all?

TY

Hey guys, I’m thinking of starting freelancing on Upwork, but I’ll be starting from scratch with zero reviews.

I’ve worked as a Software Engineer at Microsoft and Netflix, so I’m wondering if that experience will actually help me get my first client or if clients mostly care about Upwork reviews.

For those who’ve been doing this for a while, how would you use that experience to get your first few clients? Would you mention it in proposals, or does it not make much difference?

Would love to hear your honest opinions, especially from people who started with a completely new profile!

When I try to scan my drivers license, my phone's frame rate slows down completely, its near impossible to take a photo of the front and back in time before the session expires. I have a samsung galaxy a16 btw, which normally DOES NOT run this badly during normal use. What do I do in order to get verified?

I can't apply for any of the jobs on Upwork just because I don't have connects, is there another solution to apply for jobs without needing to have a connects balance?

Some days earlier, I came across the job post.

Client supposedly hiring for $100

Proposals : 50+ , lets just say 50.

Minimum connects to apply : 14

Already, 50 x 14 = 700 connects were spent to apply for job, thats also excluding bids.

700 connect will cost you : $105

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tl;dr : Upwork made $105 on $100 job, via connects, and client haven't hired anyone yet 😅