Any freelancer on Upwork or other leading platforms would be entitled to free monthly proposal credits or Connects, that could be used to place proposals/bids for projects. Unfortunately, the era of free credits is over. From the month of May 2019, Freelancing platform giant Upwork would charge $0.15 per “Connect”. This new regulation was announced today by the company CEO Stephane Kasriel. This brings us to an inevitable question. How do you deal with clients who never care to hire at all? Your time and Connects (which you purchased) are wasted while the project ages and eventually expire. Believe me, I have personally been tracking 45+ projects from the last two months, which are on the verge of expiration. I wouldn’t have cared earlier. But now that the Upwork Connects need to be bought, unresponsive clients definitely bother me.

What If the Client Never Cares to Hire?

Upwork seems to be implementing measures to stop freelancers from placing too many bids, thereby enabling clients to quickly identify true talent. On the hind side, what would the platform do to help talented and legitimate freelancers from wasting their Connects on projects, where the client never cares to hire? Clients often float the same project across multiple freelancing portals including PeopleperHour, Freelancers.com, and Guru. In an attempt to hire a skilled worker for the most convenient rates. Clients, therefore, enjoy the liberty to float numerous random projects, often without any solid intention to hire.

Buying Proposal Credits (“Connects”) Across Every Freelancing Platform

Just to add, it wouldn’t be too long before other portals such as PeopleperHour, Freelancers.com and Guru also impose restrictions on free “Connects”. So workers will have to purchase proposal credits across multiple platforms, which will definitely add to their monthly budgets overheads. Looking at the larger canvas, this probably is a justified decision aimed at filtering out the spam proposals that often flood easier projects. I find it perfect as long as the client hires someone/ anyone and declines my proposal without a word. That’s how the system works. However, what makes me uncomfortable are scenarios where the project ages and expires, because the client never cared to proceed with the project.