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That freelancer who said 'never work for free on Upwork' was totally right after I did 3 unpaid samples and got ghosted
I did 3 unpaid writing samples for a buyer on Upwork who promised a $500 contract and then vanished, proving the advice from a random forum user named @freelance_grinder was spot on, has anyone else ignored good warnings and regretted it?
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joseph_green133mo ago
The thing nobody talks about is how these free samples actually hurt the whole platform, not just you. When buyers get used to free work they start expecting it from everyone, which drags down rates for legit freelancers too. Your unpaid samples basically trained that buyer that your time was worth nothing, and now they'll go try that same trick on the next poor soul. It's like a race to the bottom where everyone loses except the people taking advantage.
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sandragrant3mo ago
Yeah, "race to the bottom" really nails it. I did the same thing with a freelance editing job, spent like 3 hours on a sample rewrite, and they used it as a template for their whole website but hired someone else. The worst part is I saw them repost the same job listing a week later asking for more free samples from other people. It just made me feel stupid for letting them use me like that, and mad at myself for not trusting the people who warned me.
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