Freelancers aren’t happy with Upwork’s more expensive sliding commission model

One of the most popular freelancing platforms around the globe, Upwork, has just announced a new sliding service fee that changes with respect to the money you are earning. The newer, comparatively pricier model, has caused quite a stir in the freelancing community.

How Upwork works is that any client can post a job on the platform and then a freelancer will perform it for the posted fee. Upwork kept a 10% cut of the fee for acting as the middle man- a constant rate for all kind of jobs. But now, the freelancing platform has announced to change their business model to a “sliding service fee”.

The Newer Payment Model

Here’s a breakdown of the new model,

• 20% for the first $500 you bill your client across all contracts
• 10% for total billings with your client between $500.01 and $10,000
• 5% for total billings with your client that exceed $10,000

According to Upwork,

The more business you do with your clients on Upwork, the more money you keep.

The newer model will go in effect, starting from June of this year.

Upwork being a global platform, with freelancers from all around the world, has caused quite an unpleasant stir from the freelancing community, many of whom don’t think nicely about the newer model. Twitter is currently being stormed with angry tweets, complaining about this price hike.

A New Processing Fee for Clients

While freelancers will have to make do with the sliding service fee, Upwork has also introduced a newer per payment transaction fee for clients, citing high costs of servicing payments. Starting from June, clients will have to pay a 2.75% fee for each transaction.

Formerly Elance or Odesk, Upwork is a global freelancing platform with more than 9 million registered freelancers and four million registered clients. With three million annual jobs posted worth a total of $1 billion, it is the world’s largest freelancer marketplace. It is also a favorite among Pakistani freelancers, who make up a decent chunk of its 9 million registered users.