Veronica M.

If you are trying to sell something on Gumroad, as good it might be for some, don't trust it. I got my very first sale last month (a small one, but still a sale) and I was planning to improve the page with more content people could enjoy, but then a few days ago out of nowhere, I received an email from the Gumroad team which notified me there was a dispute related to the purchase/payment and my account has been suspended. Now, while the FAQ page mentions you may experience this issue related to chargebacks, they also state you are free to contact them and complain about it, so that they can help you through it and eventually fix it. However, this isn't what I got when I expressed my disappointment, after reading the buyer could maybe message me and I no longer have an active profile for that. This person from the support basically brushed me off and treated me with superiority even if I was simply trying to understand what happened, the overall explanation has been extremely brief, I've been instructed to check the FAQ (which I did, and there is a clear mismatch between the provided informations) and in the end all I got was "go find another place, good luck".

This is no way to deal with disappointed customers, especially considering that the money they earn from those purchases is LOST. I have been lucky my sale was super cheap, because I read about people losing hundreds of dollars and Gumroad never gave it back despite what their site states.

Maybe you are lucky and the same problem will not happen to you, but considering how many users have been affected I honestly wouldn't bother trying. The customer support is terribly unprofessional and clearly useless when you want your account and money back. Terrible experience.

I joined Upwork two years ago because a friend told me about this place for freelancers and I was looking for a good site to gain experience and earn some money.

I immediatly encountered issues where despite my applications, no client was interested because of my lack of experience on the site, thus no profile reviews on my part which didn't make me appear like a trustful user. I gave up for a long time until I started receiving invites to interviews not long ago and I decided to give it another try, so I replied, sent applications... nothing.

The most disheartening thing is the very little amount of money clients are willing to offer a freelancer. They want you to deliver a detailed work without paying as much as it's worth and they even "mock" you saying you shouldn't expect that much especially if you are new on the platform and with no feedback at hand. This is very disrespectful and not professional at all.

Other clients are also very vague about what they want the moment you finally find someone interested, sending you references and telling what they need without actually showing you in detail. This will result in a terrible waste of time and again, for a very little amount of money. As if that weren't enough, Upwork apparently likes hiding your profile if you haven't earned money for a while, or used the platform at all even when you're actually in the middle of a contract. You use the site because you want to create a better portfolio and get the needed feedbacks to work more, but how are you supposed to do so if they hide your account from the clients? They don't really offer you the chance to grow unless you're lucky and the small ones are basically treated like slaves most of the time. You want a job well done, you pay as much as the freelancer deserves, simple as that. If you want a cheap job go looking for royalty free stocks and be happy with it. One thing many people fail to consider is that some of us are from Europe and the currency changes depending on your Country. Living in Italy I already face a considerable loss whenever I convert from USD to Euro and if we count the fees Upwork itself takes from the final price offered by the client, you may end up earning HALF if not less of what they are offering you.

If you're considering the platform to begin your freelance career, don't even bother with Upwork, it's a no-go.