ANOTHER Fee Increase? Are you joking?
Sellers like myself are struggling with the race to the bottom mentality on this site already. At least 95%+ of my clients are below the 700 threshold -- I'll be paying 20% on everything.
Your fees are outrageous -- the 3.50 fee per invoice was bad enough, now it's even more. Did you even announce this increase? You will lose the high quality freelancers and the site will continue it's decline if you continue down this path.
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I have also been on PPH for 6/7 years and I can't believe the increase in fees this week.
It now has become impossible to work on the site. The traffic has completely dried up and we have also stopped selling hourlies.
The display of hourlies is ridiculous, the home page only shows the same hourlies and all the top sellers have been dropped in favour of paid promotions so we can't be found.
I am now registering on all other freelance websites and will have to shift to those. It is disappointing to have spent so long building up a reputation and profile.
To increase our hourlie costs to cover the fee only makes it more expensive for the end user so thats not a viable option nor is working at the current rate.
I don't know what PPH were thinking but it will not end in increased profits for them as they think it will in fact things have got worse.
I agree I think we may have to all look at pausing our hourlies until they revoke this and look at why the traffic has just died.
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How many clients buy 45 x $15 HOURLIES to get above that $700 threshold? Out of my 250+ clients and more than 4 years on the site, less than 10 have reached more than $700 dollars.
It's a cash grab. To paint it as anything else is dishonest. The problem is -- you have already squeezed freelancers so hard and your traffic is dropping so there are less buyers.
I've had 1 enquiry about my hourlie in the last 4 days. The traffic is drying up. Are you advertising more? Improving marketing? Bringing in thousands of new buyers? No??
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Natalie,
Whilst I appreciate you getting back to us on this- there are still so many of our concerns that have not been addressed, and I think the majority of us here would appreciate a direct response to the following. Everyone else on here- perhaps if you also have direct questions that you would like answering you could add them so we can keep track of whether they have been answered?
1. What about those of us who run services that are one-off projects? With the exception of one client- all my jobs are one-offs, as a business does not need more than one business plan once they have it.
2. What about those of us whose jobs never go over £500?
3. As I understand it (and I might have misunderstood this- the email about the increase is not at all clear)- we will be charged 20% on the first £500 earned and then 7.5% on the earnings after that- so I have today put up my prices (which has been really upsetting) to £520- will I be charged 20% on the £500 and then 7.5% on the £20?
4. Why have our hourlie sales started to dry up, and why is PPH not appearing on searches as much as it used to?
5. You say the majority of sellers wanted this- can you provide a clear answer as to how you conducted this research- how you spoke to sellers, how did you choose which sellers to speak to- as none of us seem to have been spoken to.
Today I have registered for Upwork and Fiverr. I have no footprint or feedback on these sites yet, so am likely to have to dedicate time climbing up their ranks.
Meri
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Could we have access to this research, Natalie? Because I'd love to see evidence of freelancers thinking this would benefit them. No one on this thread, or the other thread with your identical reply, was asked their opinion during this research, so forgive us for thinking it perhaps wasn't that robust.
I still feel underappreciated, and certainly not 'heard'. Like many others, I freelance to pay my bills and to live. This is my income, my full-time job. Paying 24% fees on the few jobs that actually get rewarded means I'm now worried for the end of the month. Is that being heard?
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Hannah,
I am sorry but I do not believe you have answered any concerns but simply provided a cut and paste standard response. Could you clarify with the increase of commission you are receiving what benefits are we as sellers going to see?
A new app, better websiter? Faster payments? Better support? Benefits with third-party companies?
Furthermore, why allow people to post jobs for $10, these are completely pointless with the commission
I have just started to feature my hourlie and I have to say it has done nothing
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I’m completely shocked, upset and very stressed about this situation!
I’m a top cert seller on PPH. Could somebody please explain to me how an increase to 20% plus VAT is remotely reasonable - I am not on this service fee tier - I am on the original 15% for the first £175 earned in the month and 3.5% for all earnings following tier - so why have I been charged 20% on x3 invoices in the last couple of days?
I'm really not happy about this. I simply can’t afford to pay 20% service fees! This would mean I can’t afford to pay my mortgage!
I would like to be put back on the original service fee structure as per the terms and conditions of the site that I agreed to!
Last year this blog article stated that existing service fees would be honoured for existing sellers that meet the criteria;
https://blog.peopleperhour.com/blogroll/important-announcement-regarding-service-fees/
I meet the criteria - so how can my service fees go up?
I have not received any emails or correspondence with advance notice of this. And before, I’m told to check my spam folders and trash - I have done so - I did not receive a notification for this at all! - no email with advance warning has ever been received! -
I want to see the "research" that show the percentage of buyers who reach over the $700 threshold with a single freelancer. Because from my 250+ it's about 5 buyers who have reached that point -2% of buyers. ...and I am a 100% rating seller with $40,000+ sales. For other freelancers it would be lower than 2%. So if 98% of my buyers are incurring 20% fees, does that seem like a fair change? For casual freelancers, they will ALWAYS pay 20%.
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I have added the questions asked after my comment in the following list, which I will continue to update until we get satisfactory answers. Natalie I think we would like to see the answers as soon as possible.
- What about those of us who run services that are one-off projects? With the exception of one client- all my jobs are one-offs, as a business does not need more than one business plan once they have it.
- What about those of us whose jobs never go over £500?
- As I understand it (and I might have misunderstood this- the email about the increase is not at all clear)- we will be charged 20% on the first £500 earned and then 7.5% on the earnings after that- so I have today put up my prices (which has been really upsetting) to £520- will I be charged 20% on the £500 and then 7.5% on the £20?
- Why have our hourlie sales started to dry up, and why is PPH not appearing on searches as much as it used to?
- You say the majority of sellers wanted this- can you provide a clear answer as to how you conducted this research- how you spoke to sellers, how did you choose which sellers to speak to- as none of us seem to have been spoken to.
- Paying 24% fees on the few jobs that actually get rewarded means I'm now worried for the end of the month. Is that being heard?
- Could you clarify with the increase of commission you are receiving what benefits are we as sellers going to see? A new app, better websiter? Faster payments? Better support? Benefits with third-party companies?
- I’m a top cert seller on PPH. Could somebody please explain to me how an increase to 20% plus VAT is remotely reasonable?
- Last year this blog article stated that existing service fees would be honoured for existing sellers that meet the criteria; https://blog.peopleperhour.com/blogroll/important-announcement-regarding-service-fees/ I meet the criteria - so how can my service fees go up?
- I want to see the "research" that show the percentage of buyers who reach over the $700 threshold with a single freelancer. Because from my 250+ it's about 5 buyers who have reached that point -2% of buyers. ...and I am a 100% rating seller with $40,000+ sales. For other freelancers it would be lower than 2%. So if 98% of my buyers are incurring 20% fees, does that seem like a fair change?
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Sorry- the above didn't keep the format- trying again:
- What about those of us who run services that are one-off projects? With the exception of one client- all my jobs are one-offs, as a business does not need more than one business plan once they have it.
- What about those of us whose jobs never go over £500?
- As I understand it (and I might have misunderstood this- the email about the increase is not at all clear)- we will be charged 20% on the first £500 earned and then 7.5% on the earnings after that- so I have today put up my prices (which has been really upsetting) to £520- will I be charged 20% on the £500 and then 7.5% on the £20?
- Why have our hourlie sales started to dry up, and why is PPH not appearing on searches as much as it used to?
- You say the majority of sellers wanted this- can you provide a clear answer as to how you conducted this research- how you spoke to sellers, how did you choose which sellers to speak to- as none of us seem to have been spoken to.
- Paying 24% fees on the few jobs that actually get rewarded means I'm now worried for the end of the month. Is that being heard?
- Could you clarify with the increase of commission you are receiving what benefits are we as sellers going to see? A new app, better websiter? Faster payments? Better support? Benefits with third-party companies?
- I’m a top cert seller on PPH. Could somebody please explain to me how an increase to 20% plus VAT is remotely reasonable?
- Last year this blog article stated that existing service fees would be honoured for existing sellers that meet the criteria; https://blog.peopleperhour.com/blogroll/important-announcement-regarding-service-fees/ I meet the criteria - so how can my service fees go up?
- I want to see the "research" that show the percentage of buyers who reach over the $700 threshold with a single freelancer. Because from my 250+ it's about 5 buyers who have reached that point -2% of buyers. ...and I am a 100% rating seller with $40,000+ sales. For other freelancers it would be lower than 2%. So if 98% of my buyers are incurring 20% fees, does that seem like a fair change?
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Paul, that's what PPH believes in that email : it's says that since 2007 they have consistently seen that what makes Seller success is the Job Repeat, -retaining business- , since 2007 ? I asked for stats...
Sean asked the same, how paying 20% is considered a reduction. that £50/month minimum earning thing is not profitable, was just a temporary farce to trick old users.
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Dear PPH,
Please show us the "research" you completed with your freelancers please that helped you make your fee increase decision?
Many jobs on here are one-offs from start-ups who spend under £500 and 80% of these never get off the ground so they dont come back for repeat business and even if they do it may not be me they choose for the repaet business.
Im now passing on the fee increase to my clients and they are NOT HAPPY!
Some work will be cancelled - so we both miss out.
You have totally misjudged the whole situation and you are making us suffer!
Im not hopeful for the future on this site - if I stay.
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Natalie,
What I want to know is, where are the buyers with whom we can build, in your words, high-value long-term relationships between Buyers and Sellers?
After looking through my stats I have 31 different buyers for 36 projects. Of those 31, only one hit the £500 mark spread over multiple months. The others are either a long way below £500 or they have made a single payment.
The new pricing scheme might sound promising, until we look at the detail. If it was an extra discount and didn't overwrite the old pricing scheme, there wouldn't be a problem with it.I know this is off topic, but where have all the buyers gone anyway? For my skills, People Per Hour is dead. Once I decided not to waste any more time chasing £10 and £20 jobs, I am not bidding for anything. I don't have access to your extensive research but I suspect such things as the 10% service charge, the withdrawal of bank transfers as a payment method, the fake sellers who are making false claims about their abilities and the recent problems with the payment system are all contributing.
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FAO Natalie:
I have updated the list of questions with the new questions so far- and will continue to do so.
What about those of us who run services that are one-off projects? With the exception of one client- all my jobs are one-offs, as a business does not need more than one business plan once they have it.
What about those of us whose jobs never go over £500?
As I understand it (and I might have misunderstood this- the email about the increase is not at all clear)- we will be charged 20% on the first £500 earned and then 7.5% on the earnings after that- so I have today put up my prices (which has been really upsetting) to £520- will I be charged 20% on the £500 and then 7.5% on the £20?
Why have our hourlie sales started to dry up, and why is PPH not appearing on searches as much as it used to?
You say the majority of sellers wanted this- can you provide a clear answer as to how you conducted this research- how you spoke to sellers, how did you choose which sellers to speak to- as none of us seem to have been spoken to.
Paying 24% fees on the few jobs that actually get rewarded means I'm now worried for the end of the month. Is that being heard?
Could you clarify with the increase of commission you are receiving what benefits are we as sellers going to see? A new app, better websiter? Faster payments? Better support? Benefits with third-party companies?
I’m a top cert seller on PPH. Could somebody please explain to me how an increase to 20% plus VAT is remotely reasonable?
Last year this blog article stated that existing service fees would be honoured for existing sellers that meet the criteria; https://blog.peopleperhour.com/blogroll/important-announcement-regarding-service-fees/ I meet the criteria - so how can my service fees go up?
I want to see the "research" that show the percentage of buyers who reach over the $700 threshold with a single freelancer. Because from my 250+ it's about 5 buyers who have reached that point -2% of buyers. ...and I am a 100% rating seller with $40,000+ sales. For other freelancers it would be lower than 2%. So if 98% of my buyers are incurring 20% fees, does that seem like a fair change?
Where are the buyers with whom we can build, in your words, high-value long-term relationships between Buyers and Sellers?
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Apparently not. Not a single seller has said they are in support of this.
And why was this never announced on the blog like all previous updates https://blog.peopleperhour.com/
Especially since you say it's such a positive development for sellers.
I never received a survey or report about how freelancers see this as a positive change. Where is that report?
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Meri: Impossible to find one.
This new fee structure says , you must give us 20% from your earnings, unless you can do more than £500 per client, which is a very impossible condition to satisfy.
reminds me that credit condition joke : not allowed only if you bring your grand son and grand grand pa with you.
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I would find the fees more sustainable if PPH took a more active role. They need to decide whether they want to be an agency, charging a large fee but getting involved in the process of negotiating and awarding the projects, or just being an automated website with a payment facility. At the moment we have the worst of both worlds. The fees are increased but we get nothing in return.
In order to earn the 20% and 30% commission on a project they could start by removing the ones that are very low value, and ones that are scams, the ones that have viruses attached and the ones that are cross posted on other sites. They could throw projects back to the buyer when they are not adequately specified. They could try to impose some standards over rates of pay. Perhaps they could up with a method of reducing the numbers of bids. Between us we waste too much time bidding for each others jobs. Personally I have to put in far too many hours to win one hour of paid work.
There are plenty of improvements that could be made to this platform but I see no evidence that PPH want to make any. All I see is a company being run into the ground for the short term profit of the owner(s). -
Simon I respect your opinion but the suggestions you make don't come anywhere close to justifying a 20% commission.
Every freelance site has bugs and technicalities that need to be fixed and scam jobs are common everywhere. In fact, some of the largest freelance sites deal with these issues on a regular basis.
To charge 20% is just far too high and cannot be justified
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Mike, I was thinking more in terms of trying to negotiate the project and set a reasonable price. My biggest problems with PPH are the low value of the projects and the amount of time spent trying to win a project.
You are quite right that weeding out the scams should be done as a matter of course.
Sooner or later I will have to set up my own website and advertise it and get some work in directly, and that will take effort and money and it will have ongoing costs. I would rather pay somebody commission to find me the work, but PPH just want the commission without doing anything for it.
I should point out that I went onto 20% commission last year when the last round of rate increases hit. I was rarely earning £500 in a month so I quickly lost my 15% and 3.5% rates. The changes this month don't really affect me because I'm already paying these amounts. -
For 20% they should be finding each seller clients and going "here is a client, get to work". Instead of having hourlies and proposals. At that price point, they need to be guaranteeing work. From what I have seen -- the work is drying up on the site. The traffic is down. Their Alexa rankings are down. Instead of innovating and marketing, they are going after money from freelancers. It's shameful.
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For the first time in nearly five years I am not enjoying the work I am doing. I am rushing it with the 20% in the back of my mind, desperately trying to find a way for it to be worthwhile.
I earn around £2.5k a month on PPH. With 20% I am giving PPH £500 a month, with VAT it is £600. I am not even registered for VAT as a sole trader.
For £600 a month I would expect PPH to do a lot more- act as an agent, guarantee me work, make instant payments, provide an account manager I can speak to on the phone, give me loads of support, money to spend elsewhere on the platform, featured hourlies, featured profiles, free proposal credits, be invited to events, be part of a community and a really premium service. Where on else in the world and in what industry would you pay £600 simply for a bit of extra marketing and a (slow and clunky) payment system?
I am the only person who earns money in my household. I have three children and desperately trying to juggle being self-employed with them. My rent has just gone up- this couldn't have come at a worst time. I am proud of what I have achieved on PPH, and the work I have done helping start-up businesses across the world. I now feel worthless.
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