Upwork

Upwork is the best place, in which people can achieve their needs. It makes the trade easier, and it's very fair according to its rules

The best site out there. Most of the client are very professional. If you can provide good quality services this is best option for freelancing

I have been with Upwork (formerly oDesk) for over 7 years, and I am thankful because I get to meet and work for amazing clients through this platform.

Upwork really helps me a lot, thank you for this kind of opportunity! Hoping to get more and more clients with upwork!

As long as one finds the professional(s) she was looking for, the system works. It's sloppy (as of the UI), but works: money put in escrow, the freelancer does the job, gets paid when finished and both parties are happy.

The issues come when any, literally any problem raises, especially for when the freelancer fails to deliver:

As of Upwork handling your money: It runs back from escrow to your bank account. There are no other options for this. Can't be held in escrow, no "client account" in the system or anything. Means, if the job must get done, so should be posted again, it should also be financed again while one waits for the escrow money to arrive back to the bank account...
Adding to this, if the freelancer doesn't approve this action (e.g. She was gone for good, so won't be around to do so, or simply doesn't care), it takes a good 12-14 business days (in my experience) to get the money back.

As of Upwork handling you, as the "valued" customer: If one asks for help, gets the standardized, copy-pasted answer. If one asks for a solution, gets the same thing, as well as an excuse (mostly "our system works like that"...). If one complains stating this is not good. Gets a negative remark on her account...

I understand those who rate this site 3+ stars. I felt the same way for my 1st, minor project as I found the right candidate and the job was done.

BUT as soon as things go serious, investment goes high and actual professionals should be found for the large scale job, the system starts stuttering, the safety net is gone and one has to realize this site is useless, its processes are killing and very, very silly, as well as the support is impotent.

I definitely do not recommend using this site ever, for any business. Find someone better. It won't be difficult, go to any other provider...

I have reached the minimum payout of upworkptr.com few months ago which is $20,000. I've got a total of $24,000 on my total earnings page. I was so excited thinking I hit a jackpot considering this huge and easy money over the net. So I immediately went to the request payout link. To my dismay, it gave me a message that I have not yet reached the minimum payout limit of $20,000 for standard members. I contacted support (no live chat nor forums available) which only replies through email. I was then told to wait for 30 days so I waited for 30 days. I did the same step 30 days after and there it goes again, I still have not reached the minimum pay-out (I already have $54,000 total earnings). I started to think my suspicion might be true, this website may be a scam. To give them benefit of the doubt I emailed support for the 4 time, asking why I still can't request for payout when in fact I'm over the payout limit for standard members and had passed the wait time (according to them which is not on their terms of service.) I got the same reply, I HAVE TO WAIT FOR ANOTHER 30 DAYS TO REQUEST PAY-OUT and INSISTED THAT I UPGRADE MY ACCOUNT. So I responded that I'm through with the waiting time, and never would I upgrade my account without getting the payment first. I have not heard anything again from them since...

Goes to show, keep trying, you WILL land a job, if not today, then tomorrow. I love Upwork and i ll be always there.

I am a high profile freelancer, worked for some very reputable clients and with years of a successful freelancer career.
I've invested a lot of time and efforts to make my Upwork profile stand out and I did it. I carefully selected what work to show on my Portfolio, I've taken a lot of skill tests on the system in order to prove my expertise.
And it worked for some time. But guess what happened to me this year - they asked me for ID and other documents to prove my identity, this process was hard enough because they rejected my ID image and wanted me to take another shot at it especially for them and then resubmit it. I did it and finally after days spent I was able to verify my profile.
Now (a month later) they just permanently terminated my account without any real reason given. I received a blanket "explanation", that after a quick Google search I found out it was nothing more than a blanket message, sent to many Upwork freelancers, who also ended up with their accounts terminated.
I've tried to at least ask for the real reason, but they failed to provide one. They don't care for freelancers, they are only moved by their own interest on the back of the freelancer community. I believe anyone, who wants to start a freelancer career on Upwork deserves to know the truth how freelancers are treated.
- you will spend a lot and a lot of time and efforts to build your profile,
- you'll be charged 20% (!) for the services, that you provide,
- and you may end up with a permanently terminated account at any time, with no explanation whatsoever and no possibility to appeal it.

All in all I think Upwork is a very wrong place to make a freelancer career online, really toxic for your career development. They will feed on you and your skills, but will dump you out whenever they want. You have no rights there. Like back in the days of slavery.
Don't get burned just like I did.

I've read the posts here and all your experiences are the same as mine. They suspended my account just because of a stingy client who reported me by telling him he's stingy. They are just on the client's side. So no matter how hard you explain yours, it will never matter to them because we are just freelancers. Their Help Support is NEVER a HELP because they are all one sided. They don't give you another chance because ONE MISTAKE you make will MAKE YOUR ACCOUNT BE SUSPENDED. This is totally insane. Another thing is the 20% deduction from our salary. How come they've come up with that? We are the ones working, not sleeping just to work, and Upwork is getting that percent from our earnings! I don't know if there is a way to FILE A LAWSUIT to this company but I am hoping that one day, Upwork will be down and just be gone so the new CEO and his cohorts will regret all their unfair treatment and abuse to us freelancers. I am really hoping and praying for that to happen. I hope someone will start something for the LAWSUIT.

Thanks Upwork, my dream super seller of Upwork, I always happy for working in upwork.com.

Best regards