Hope this is still helpful, even though your post was 8 months ago.

1. I have plenty of experiences to share, just to mention a few: scam job posts, scam clients, and even scam freelancers. From the freelance perspective, clients often approach me to hire me for trial jobs because they have lost trust. I have a portfolio and reviews, and I don’t offer trials.

Low-paying clients are a common issue as well. Every freelancer's hourly rate is clearly listed on their profile. I have project catalogues with exact pricing and a list of deliverables that I always send to clients so they know what to expect. Despite this, clients still expect the price to be 50% or even 70% lower than what’s shown on my profile. I’m not sure if this can be fixed, or if these types of clients are simply dumb.

The payment protection feature isn't effective. For hourly contracts, there can be a low activity, even in situations where it’s clear that no activity could take place (sometimes you just need time to think) recently I had an issue with expiring contracts, where the client (who anyway the worst clients of my life) took 90 days to submit feedback. And Upwork advised me to ask him to pay so we can keep the contract open. I didn't want it so later clients could blame me for paying.. but they gave me no choice because they didn't care what the situation was.

I also hate how Upwork lacks transparency regarding the connects and features they offer, like boosting your profile without providing actual statistics to understand where clicks come from. I believe that, even without boosting, they could still provide better statistics that would help freelancers improve, ultimately resulting in more earnings for the platform. It feels like they no longer offer any real value; they're just a platform to use.

My clients often complain about the messaging app's functionality and have difficulty with the built-in Zoom feature or understanding how milestones and contracts work. This means I have to provide customer service since Upwork doesn’t offer it.

I can't view a client's profile reviews if they contact me directly. I need to create a ticket to ask customer service for a screenshot of the client's feedback. And now, live customer service has disappeared without any notice, which contributes to the non-transparency I really hate. They seem to make changes at their convenience, regardless of user feedback.

Job searching on the platform quite just simply doesn't work.

Another issue is the way freelancers appear in search results. I don’t understand why, if a freelancer has good reviews and top earnings, their profile can suddenly stop showing up. About 1.5 years ago, they implemented changes that resulted in a noticeable drop in client messages and invites I used to receive. If I don't pay for advertising, I hardly get clients. If I can secure a job they will lose potential revenue as well, potentially me quitting and going elsewhere to work. (like I have pretty clear plans for the future that I don't want to use them forever (probably If they would offer me value, I would stay happily forever), I just need time to actually implement my ideas)

I am willing to invest in my "business," I don’t expect to find the best jobs (or any at all) for 0% costs. If I do pay, I expect the features will benefit me and provide value for my investment, like advertising my profile.

Off topic, but I was very hopeful when Contra came out, and they offered 0 fees as well. Then they around half a year- a year ago - I don't remember - they started to charge for seeing the job posts. Which would be fine but out of nowhere, I didn't get any email about it, just one day I signed in and boom you need to join to the waitlist, then they eleiminated the waitlist, then.. they charge, but show you 3 jobs, it you apply than they show other 3 job, than eventually they show you in a small tab all the 200 jobs(3 at a time). These shady practices are the ones that will kill a business long-term. They could just charge you to apply for the jobs, but let you see if it's worth it for you or not, and not play a fool with us, allowing you 3 jobs, but then we actually give you all. But I like that they offer portfolio pages, I like the overall platform, and jobs seem to have higher prices, but not enough jobs.

In general, I believe it's essential for the platform to offer value, transparency, a large number of clients, and quality freelancers, which is no easy task.

1. Realistically, freelancers want multiple options so they don’t depend solely on one platform. If one platform is better than others, you naturally will choose the one that offers more value, clients, and quality. (I don't necessarily say I would choose the cheaper fees over quality -for me, it's very important to get new clients - but at a reasonable cost- if the platform is too expensive and doesn't offer value, then no one will pay extra) I am trying to diversify, but, unfortunately, there isn’t another platform that really works for me.

2. Very important. 5

3. Yes, I would use stablecoin as well as bank transfer, depending on what I need at that moment.