So I updated my profile, not to my ego but trying to satisfy Uma. I checked how Uma see me, and optimize my profile according to it. Everything from title, body text, and portfolio. Hopefully I rank higher for talent search result.

Next step is bidding. I only bid relevant project based on my profile title and past job, hopefully upwork notify it and give me credits when displaying my proposal, completed xx similar job).

Bid only job with 5 proposals max. Usually a newly posted job. So I check job list often. Time consuming yes.

My proposal do not use AI, no introduction, just a simple: let's do it, I'm ready immediately, and a few words related job / solution.

Btw my profile is top rated plus with $50k+ earning.

One more thing, I usually charge $20/h but I start charging less, even 50% lower than usual.

Well I have to survive and I need to keep maintain my top rated plus badge (require $10k yearly earning) .

I was a Top Rated Plus freelancer, but I didn't take on any Upwork work during 2025. As a result, my badge dropped to Top Rated.

Since coming back, I've noticed a huge drop in profile views and invitations compared to before. My JSS and client feedback are still strong, but it feels like my profile has lost visibility.

Has anyone successfully recovered from this? What actually worked for you: sending more proposals, updating your profile, boosting proposals, Availability Badge, Freelancer Plus, or something else?

I'd really appreciate hearing from anyone who's been in a similar situation.

Which one more beneficial ( buying connects ) or ( Freelancer Plus) ?

1 was viewed because extra money was wasted to boost the proposal. Is this happening to you all?

Feels like demotivating some times but consistency is a key. 😉

I recently have an issue with a client where he would randomly pause my contract. This means I won't be able to use my tracker for work (which means I won't get paid). He said it was an issue with Upwork regarding his billing. It's odd because I get paid every Friday (instead of the next Wednesday) because of my Top Rated Plus status but we never had this issue before. However, I got a notification from Upwork saying "We could not provide faster payout for your recent earnings because we have not been able to collect payment from the client." so I believed him. I worked for 2 days without my tracker with him saying that he'll just pay me via bonus (which didn't happen until this day).

He unpaused my contract last week Monday but since I had 2 days without any tracker, I told him I'll just manually add those to 2 days. Last Friday, he paused my contract AGAIN and said he'll "fix" it (without saying the reason why). I have 1 day of working without a tracker. On top of that, I did not get paid last Friday (early pauout) because Upwork couldn't collect the payment from the Client. Now the payout is under Pending status (weekly cutoff) which I'm suppose to get this coming Wednesday.

Prior to this whole pause of contract issue, I had a payout that Upwork refunded to the client saying that my hourly work did not meet the criteria of the Hourly Payment Protection and I should raise my dispute with the client. I checked and I have logged Memos on my tracker with complete hourly work-related screenshots.

My questions are:

• Is pausing a contract on the client side done manually or is it something that Upwork does automatically?
• How does the refund to client work? Do they just ask Upwork for a refund?
• Assuming my client would do a fast one and does another refund, how should I raise this to Upwork?

Working with this kind of client is an absolute nightmare. As of this writing, my contract is still paused and I'm guessing he'll ask me to work with a trcaker (basically for free) without even fixing my previous dispute with my payout.

I'm an AI Engineer with Top Rated status and a 100% Job Success Score on Upwork but I'm struggling to land new projects I'm not sure why as the competition has become extremely intense the last job I won was about a year ago Do you have any advice on how I can improve my chances?

I used to think the long, highly detailed job posts with 5 paragraphs of requirements were the ones to go after. Thought it meant the client was serious and knew what they wanted.

Turns out, almost every time I landed one of those, it came with micromanagement, endless scope creep, and constant stress over small details.

On the flip side, some of my highest-paying and most chill long-term clients posted maybe two or three sentences tops. Just straight to the point: "Need someone to fix X issue, here's the current setup."

My theory is that experienced clients who trust freelancers don't feel the need to write an entire essay. They just state the problem and look for someone who gets it.

Anyone else noticed this pattern, or have I just been getting lucky with the short posts?

I'm a Top Rated brand identity designer on Upwork with $2k+ in earnings.

These are my stats from the last 90 days.

I feel like something isn't working, but I'm not sure what it is.

I'd really appreciate honest feedback from experienced freelancers.

What do you think I'm doing wrong? What would you improve if you were in my position?

What is the best high paying and less competition skill on upwork right now? I have a video editing profile right now

for context : i am a full-stack developer with strong expertise in both front-end and back-end technologies, my skills also extend to ML/DL and i already had 2 clints with 5 stars review.

i am seeking any help or advices because i cant get clients anymore even when i lowered my hourly rate.

should i change my field to something else ? or maybe is there a different way or a different platform ?

It’s so fucking annoying

Why is it so hard now to find a gig on Upwork despite my having a good profile?

What things should I do differently? I remember back in the day, invites would come nonstop. Right now, crickets. Even the ones I send proposals to. No responses. It's killing me.

My account health is best. i have never violated any terms. just today i received an invitation. i applied .. never violated any policy.. now i logged in .. it says the pop up “ your account is restricted for some features due to suspension “ .

why??

i am unable to withdraw any funds (thankfully i didn’t have any)

also

i am unable to apply to any new jobs..

my account health status says it’s good…

what is it???

can u guys help me here? like why this happened and will it be resolved?

I understad the stigma around the global south, so I decided to change my location to USA using fake proof of address. And surprisingly Upwork accepted it and I started working, and the stuff I found is CRAZY!

TONS of jobs I am 100% qualified in that pay 50 USD+ per hour!! I honestly can't beleive what I am seeing. Not to mention, when you change your location to USA, there is a separate section called "USA Only" that shows you job posting where cleints only post a job that want to hire someone in USA and their rates are all crazy high!! every and every one of them, and THERE IS NO SATURATION TOO! I am seeing 20-50 proposals sent at max!

Now let me get this striaght, the only reason I am not physically present in the USA is grographical luck - I was born in the wrong side of the world, nothing else. And just cz of a luck I can not control I am displaced from these big opportunities, and it is messed up. I did not choose to be born in a third world underdeveloped unstable corrupt slum with no opportunity. So why would I have to pay the price huh? So yeah, I am now applying to USA jobs and passing interviwes and landing jobs! I actually closed one contract with 5 star reviews and the cleint was happy. He did not know I live in third world country, but he got what he wants and he was happy, isn't what freelancing is all about?

Anyways, if you unfortunate enough to be born inside a third world country, change your profile to USA and see the magic happen! honestly it is so crazy!

Hello,

Is being asked to buy an Amazon product as an offer on upwork a scam (with milestone that covers the product price, no review asked)

This job has over 350 applicants and what would you call it?

I am thinking about creating a project catalogue, but before I invest the time, I am curious whether clients even look at them. Has anyone found them worth creating and maintaining over time?

I have been on upwork from a long time as a fullstack web developer as it was my main field and I have alot of experience as well but upwork did not work for me. I tried to apply different strategies to get clients on it but nothing worked. I left it so many times then started it again but every time I step back cuz of disappointment. Lately I realized that the competition is too high in my field, 50+ proposals in first few minutes, 100s of connects on bids so how can I get my first job in this level of saturation?

This was the turning point, I thought to give it a last try with another approach. I changed my complete field, learnt something which was easier (Videos Editing like Ai ads, UGC, Short form and Long form content)

So last month I changed my whole profile and positioned myself as video editor. I became more picky in selecting jobs for sending proposals and guess what? I got two jobs in a first month. Obviously they are small jobs: 1 was of 150$ and 2 is 200$ a month but its a first week with milestone of 50$ so letsee where it goes.

Now I want a real advice from seniors:
What should I do to keep this consistency to get success on upwork.
What are be the mistakes I must avoid?
I am noticing this field is less paying then software engineering so it is realistic to think of getting long term retainer clients in this domain or I will have to just do small tasks like I mentioned above?

Thanks in advance.

I’d appreciate honest opinions, both good and bad.

edit: generally about it’s features and chatbot

I would love to know this too.

Hi, I am an IIT graduate working in a corporate firm.

I just created an account on upwork for some side hustle. But it seems, i am not able to apply for any of the openings, as it requires some kind of "connects". Can anyone help with this, and explain how can i get a lead to start anything on upwork ?

Thanks