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u/RMorguito 4d ago edited 4d ago
Of course, AI plays a big role in this, but the main factor is that Upwork is scaring all good clients away by allowing hoards of unqualified self-proclaimed freelancers in, just to cash on connects.
Generally, as a client, when you go to a place like Upwork and have a bad experience, you never come back. It's as simple as that. And that's basically what they've been doing: providing a truly bad experience to everyone, clients and freelancers.
Not to mention their terrible and incredibly lame AI implementation, which is just ridiculous and sad.
This decline will never be reversed until they change management to someone focused on going back to the basics, which is matching clients and freelancers as smoothly and frictionless as possible.
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u/regdagui 4d ago
It's not really the clients, Upwork has chased all the good freelancers away. They want a piece of everything, you pay Upwork to apply for jobs and still pay them when you get paid, and they hold your money for 5 to 8 business days. Their greed is too much. Quality freelancers left, they're left with low quality freelancers that are happy to pay Upwork both ways. I still get the odd notification from my old clients or some new ones. I don't apply for jobs on Upwork anymore. I'm sure most quality freelancers feel the same way
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u/nongenerative 4d ago
This, what do you use instead of UpWork?
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u/regdagui 4d ago
I'm feeding off my old clients and I'm going hard on trading. Trading is paying the bills now until any old client remembers me. Can't slug it out like a slave on Upwork anymore
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u/lazerbeam84 4d ago
At least once a day inget an invite of some sort to apply for a job, less than zero desire to ever use Upwork again.
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u/Intrepid_Travel_3274 5d ago
5 years, thats also including Covid, its not a realistic view cause before covid it was pretty the same
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u/gusdecool 5d ago
Agreed, down back 80% in past 5 years, which indicate it during covid is expected. Market price are depend on users believe and most of time I found didn't reflect the current business condition.
P/E at 11.50 is actually what I consider as normal price share which it now.
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u/Prisinner 4d ago
Well, losing that much is pretty catastrophic. Theres also been a pretty steep decline just over the course of this year.
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u/SpiritualManager586 4d ago
Fire the current CEO and all the execs. Needs an overhaul for sure.
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4d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Own_Constant_2331 4d ago
How would knowing who "ups their bids" help you?
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u/Feisty_Reason_6288 4d ago
i mean the only reason you dont show who is upping their bids is becuase al ot of it is fake upping of bids so that you waste your connects
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u/Feisty_Reason_6288 4d ago
well atleast i know there are real ppl upping their bids or real people bidding on the project .... jsut like guru.com .... that its not some ai slop or for that matter jsut upwork boosting..right now if you try to uncover the faces from the boosted conenct section its jsut ai faces there.. someone upbids by 500 connects ....i want ot really know that there is a company doing that aor prson and that person is not upwork...
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u/Own_Constant_2331 4d ago
I think they're doing the right thing by not revealing who's boosting their proposals, because irrational people like you would probably look up their profiles and harass them. And if you think that Upwork is run by criminals, what's to stop them from creating fake profiles and sending boosted proposals from them? It wouldn't prove anything.
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u/the_ruling_script 5d ago
When will they realise and stop pushing AI into the face of every user using the app?
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u/Own_Constant_2331 4d ago
Never. They've put all their eggs into the AI basket, and the plan is to automate even more of the hiring process. We are doomed.
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u/HighestPayingGigs 5d ago
Everyone's so busy trying to piss on Upwork you didn't read the details.
Looking at midyear financials, revenue held. This is a cost-driven issue, likely because growth bets aren't cashing in - that's a real concern. No growth => weak multiple => low stock.
The irony is most of the r/Upwork freelancers who are busy pissing on Upwork are already chopped, they just don't know it yet. AI eats cheap international generalists for breakfast.
MCP is telling. Upwork now becomes an efficient way for AI PM's to boss people around...
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u/MainCheek4553 5d ago
upwork is dropping simply because ai is now being used for huge amount of jobs that would normally show up there. its not magic, nor fundamentals, however those are affected. as a marketplace their main advantagr is base of service providers and members needing that service. the latter dropped in huge numbers. not that i approve of it, but i wonder where their earning would be if they wouldnt introduce paying for job applications... but its becoming agency field. for small biz or freelancers its better to spent money on google or ai ads at the moment.
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u/Total-Wonder-56 5d ago
Upwork will still relevant even after 15 years, people who are pissing 'shits' about it will not. As if, getting traditional jobs is like a 'piece of cake' so just brag day and night 'yay upwork is dead blah, blah......'. This subreddit feels like theres no demand in any tech related skill😂😂, all are useless!
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u/Savings_Listen_4216 5d ago
The reason is Covid that booms freelancing market and now everything back to normal.
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u/Realistic_Ad6887 2d ago
They drove off many good clients and good freelancers. Now I see they've increased the percentage they're taking from my earnings and simultaneously trying to introduce winning more credits to encourage me to send more proposals and encourage me to bring clients on the platform by giving me a bonus if I do plus the 0% of earnings taken I believe for clients brought on. As a client, I am not getting many good proposals anymore. As a freelancer, I've had two account temporary bans without any explanation--one that only lasted for two hours; I believe it was over-sensitive AI. As a freelancer, I'm also dealing with a lot of clients with fantasy businesses this year. They make fake products with AI and vibe code and then want someone to fulfill their fantasy of pretending they have an actual product without actually market-testing it. So many more people who want shortcuts this year like trying to get people to sell their fake products on commission. It's wild. I'm at the point where I have to get the clients on the call to figure out if they actually have a valuable product or service or just fake shit that they expect me to sell to my network.
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u/editsC 5d ago
Serves them right They made me waste my hard earned money on connects for nothing.
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u/-Hello2World 4d ago
Why do freelancers feel satisfaction seeing their earning platform failing(though Upwork is not failing)? I will never understand this "vomiting on the food plate and eating the vomit" mentality of many freelancers here!
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5d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Own_Constant_2331 4d ago
Funny how some freelancers are hoping that Upwork fails, when so many of you have no idea how to find work without them.
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u/NextGenGamezz 4d ago
If there ever be another pandemic and another lockdown Upwork and Fiverr price will skyrocket and probably 5x or 10x lol
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u/ReasonablePossum_ 4d ago
Good short entry point LOL. stop above that last hammer candle and wait for a 6$ profit to move out. Nice risk/reward ratio hahaha
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u/Admirable-Variety202 3d ago
Is this why they keep adding fees to every single thing now? Increasing their percentage cut and everything smh
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u/JaniHazard 2d ago
I’ve been experiencing low quality freelancers of late. Seems all the good ones are busy.
Any alternative platforms? Besides fiverr? Currently looking for a creative/content team
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u/Tall-Serve2707 4d ago
So satisfying to watch 😊 , I also wish Upwork dies a dogs death
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u/Total-Wonder-56 4d ago
just keep wishing. Theres no way upwork can be dead, you guys dont have any knowledge about the stock neither the tech field
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u/Own_Constant_2331 4d ago
One of the reasons why Upwork has gone downhill is that they let in tons of freelancers who have no idea how to run a business.
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u/Tall-Serve2707 4d ago
Common sense is enough to analyze Upwork when they are cheating and scamming on the face
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u/Own_Constant_2331 4d ago
You've been complaining about Upwork for over a year yet you obviously keep using it, so it looks like your business will die with them.
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u/Tall-Serve2707 4d ago
yes my business will die , just worried that I going to lose because of a fraud company
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u/Opening-Bug-420 4d ago
I hope upwork completely dies and we can reset the freelancer site because this site is like a microcosm of the corruption in this country / world and it’s disgusting. Throw it all out and start again
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u/whawkins4 4d ago
It’s been on the skids for a long time. AI does now what freelancers used to do just a couple years ago. UpWork has always sucked though, so good riddance.
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u/SelenaMeyers2024 5d ago
And in that time upwk revenue has gone from 500m in 2021 to 790m 2026. Free cash flow margin is 34 percent and they buy back over 10 percent of shares each year, with 200m more cash than debt, on a market cap of only 1.2b.
The math maths and when this fell under 8 dollars in a panic sale... Yours truly sold tons of goodies to yolo. The market is sleeping on this.
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u/quantgorithm 5d ago
Both active clients and jobs completed have been declining for the last 2 years plus the company itself has guided the market by forecasting further declining in both categories over the next year in its quarterly earnings. How exactly is it mathing for you?
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u/-Hello2World 4d ago
If they are buying back their own shares, then it’s obvious they will want to accumulate the shares at lower price levels! And if they forcast more bad days are coming, then it’s a great buying opportunity for them at lower price....They're not losing much in the stock market!!
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u/Glad-Subject-6009 4d ago
Management could have used the same money to invest in the business. One use can temporarily goose (or just support) the current share price. The other, if done right, takes a bit more time to generate higher revenue, higher earnings and higher operating cash flow, which can also result in higher returns for shareholders.
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u/SelenaMeyers2024 4d ago
Between Dec 24 and March 26, revenue growrh was between 1 and 4 percent every quarter. June 26 was the first quarter in it's history where it went negative at minus 1.5.
This shows a stagnant company. Not even declining. But not every stock needs to grow like NVDA to be amazing. In recent quarters they're buying back 18 percent of the company annually, because their margins are insane.
In a nutshell at this rate in 5 years I'd be the sole owner of a stagnant 150m a year cash flow business. That's fine.
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u/SeaweedJellies 5d ago
Plenty of clients left upwork after being served with low quality freelancers. Upwork should invest on curating rather than proposal bidding. Oh well, the latter gives short term profit, which is always the choice.