Freelance Account Buying and Selling Culture

Online jobs

There’s an increase in demand for verified Upwork’s accounts. Does it really work and what could be the ultimate consequence in both scenarios?

Whatever is the product, it can be sold. And Upwork (freelancers) accounts are hot merchandise lately. People from China and other countries are scouting the web in search of a viable, verified, and active freelancer’s account with good standing.

And it’s not a novel thing. Since the dawn of FMS and the first sizeable platforms, namely Elance and oDesk, US citizens were opening freelancing accounts either as a favor or a service to non-US freelancers. The nomadic lifestyle of the digital age makes it difficult for platforms’ security teams and algorithms to distinguish between actual frauds and legit freelance globetrotters.

Even with the mandatory two-step authentication, it would be close to impossible to reveal the hoax because, for just $50 a year, one can have a US Skype number. Introduce some serious coordination and even a group of people from different continents can fool the system.

That said,

Should you lease/sell your Upwork account? How much can you get for it?

The first question you have to ask yourself is what’s it worth to you?

Just to give you an idea of the price trend, here’s the latest screenshot from one such marketplace:

As you can see, you can’t make a lot. After all, you are only leasing the account to someone who’s making as much as possible.

But…

If your buyer is from any of the ineligible countries (or any country for that matter), it is You who’s handling the communication with the server; otherwise, the entire deal won’t last long. Upwork’s algorithms will soon pick up abnormalities and flag the account. If you are an Upwork user, you know how that ends, don’t you?

In other words, the only viable way to make it work is to avoid or, at least, minimize frequent geolocation shifts and logging in with multiple IP addresses.

Now, wouldn’t it be easier to just make those damn two-hundred bucks? Call me crazy, but I think it would. And I’ll give it to you straight — if you can’t make more than $300 on Upwork a month; then there’s something fundamentally wrong with the way you are doing business. Perhaps it’s time to learn how it’s done so you’d finally start making $2,000 to $3,000 a month? How about that?

OK, smartass, what if I could effectively juggle dozens of freelancers and make a hundred bucks on each? I have the wit and I know how to coordinate everything.

Well, that could turn into a real business, couldn’t it? Then again, what do you think are the odds of occasional multiple simultaneous logins from different geolocations? And do consider the dynamics of this business that include, but it’s not solely limited to frequent communication and file sharing.

Should you buy an Upwork account?

Why would you do something like that when it’s completely free — and relatively easy — to set up an account on Upwork? If you are uncertain about the process, here’s the step-by-step guide based on a case study of a previously rejected application.

But, for the sake of the argument, let’s say that you do “rent” an account.

What then? How would you set up finances? You obviously have to use the financial data of a person leasing you the account. Do you trust that person to transfer the money you’ve made to your bank account?

Next, how could you be sure that you are the only one leasing that single account? I mean, Upwork runs some advanced holistic algorithms, and the moment they pick something fishy, they are flagging the account. If a few freelancers from different sides of the world are using the same account, it won’t take long before the entire scheme collapse.

For example, let’s say that you’ve landed a long-term contract with a sequence of already funded milestones. Somewhere along the way, shit hits the fan, Upwork first flags, then ultimately ban the account you’ve been using. There, you just lost a few grand. How’s that for fun?

Well, the account owner’s IP address will handle all the communication with servers because that’s the smart thing to do, so…

Even if all goes well and you collect a few 5-star reviews, what happens when that person decides to break the deal? As you can assume, you are left with nothing! Digital reputation, so vital for any online entrepreneur, goes to someone else to capitalize on it.

And I could go on like this for a few pages. So, long story short, there isn’t a single acceptable reason to rent someone’s account if you are confident enough that you can deliver a certain service, unless, of course, you are from an ineligible countryAnd this is coming from someone who is in the business since 2004.

I dare you to prove me wrong.

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