Simpler fees on Upwork?
Are you as disappointed as 1500+ freelancers in the community thread of the recent update regarding “simpler fees on Upwork”? We are with you on this.
Beginning May 3, 2023, all freelancers are moving to a 10% fee rate instead of the old sliding scale fee structure. For those currently working on projects at the 5% level, those rates will still apply through the end of 2023.
- Beginning April 26, 2023, clients will pay a new contract initiation fee of up to $4.95 on Upwork’s Marketplace and Project Catalog. This is a once-per-contract fee, assessed when clients make their first payment to a freelancer.
Upwork is positioning these changes as “simplified freelancer fee structure, an industry-low rate designed to offer you more ability to price your services competitively and lower the fee on all new talent/client relationships.”
But as we (and many other freelancers) see it, the update is very unfair for freelancers who value long-time relationships with clients. In the past, lower % served as a motivator to build long-standing cooperation. While now it doesn’t make sense 🤷♀️
No freelancer or agency that we know is happy about the update.
Before the update, it was quite easy for an agency to pass the 5% threshold. Since more and more agencies on Upwork are now working with regular clients, it’s probably making Upwork to implement the update.
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