Can You Use Upwork for Dropshipping? (+ Tips on how to Keep away from Scams)

Are you questioning if Upwork can be utilized for dropshipping?

Upwork, the closest competitor to Fiverr, is cherished by many as a result of it provides companies direct entry to the perfect expertise on this planet in nearly any area of interest.

It is simple and efficient, each for companies and freelancers.

However does that apply to utilizing Upwork for dropshipping?

On this article, we are going to talk about that and rather more. We are going to evaluate the professionals and cons of utilizing Upwork for dropshipping, the best way to get began, keep away from scams, and extra.

Earlier than we go into that, let’s shortly talk about what Upwork is!

What’s Upwork?

Upwork is an internet freelance market that connects companies with freelancers who present providers of their areas of experience.

For instance, a freelancer specializing in design can listing their providers on Upwork. As a dropshipper, you’ll be able to rent them in your design wants.

Upwork freelancers work in 12 business verticals with over 10,000 out there talent units.

That is fairly spectacular!

The expansion of Upwork since its launch in 2013 is exceptional, particularly contemplating it entered the market three years after its fundamental competitor, Fiverr.

It is loopy how huge they’ve grown; even Google Tendencies proves their recognition.

As you’ll be able to see, the recognition of Upwork has solely elevated after its launch.

Can you utilize Upwork for dropshipping?

So the query of the article: can you utilize Upwork for dropshipping?

Sure, it is positively doable!

While you seek for ‘Dropshipping’ on Upwork, you will discover a whole lot of stable freelancers who may help you with totally different dropshipping-related duties:

Nonetheless, the factor is, you should not solely depend on Upwork for the complete dropshipping course of.

Whereas it is technically doable, we do not advocate it.

The reason being that many freelancers on Upwork focus on particular areas.

So, for those who rent somebody to deal with every little thing from product choice to provider sourcing, retailer creation, and promoting, the outcomes might range enormously.

As a substitute, we advocate utilizing Upwork for various elements of dropshipping.

For instance, for those who aren’t good at promoting, you can rent somebody from Upwork to deal with that half!

The professionals and cons of utilizing Upwork for dropshipping

So, let’s take a look at the professionals and cons now that we all know Upwork can be utilized for dropshipping.

The professionals

Let’s begin with the professionals.

1. A big pool of high-quality expertise

Probably the most important benefit of utilizing Upwork is entry to a pool of world-class expertise.

Even in comparison with Fiverr, Upwork is understood for having extra educated and highly-skilled expertise.

In one in all Upwork’s articles, they in contrast their providers to Fiverr’s and shared the next details about their freelancers:

• Over 70% of Upwork’s freelancers maintain a school diploma.
• Greater than 20% have a postgraduate diploma.
• Freelancers are primarily based in over 180 nations.
• Freelancers have over 10,000 talent units throughout 12 business verticals.

With a various group of freelancers like that, you’ll be able to remember to discover dropshipping expertise on Upwork.

2. Versatile expertise for any dropshipping activity

Let’s experiment and see what number of good freelancers we will discover for widespread dropshipping duties like product analysis, build up a Shopify retailer, and social media advertising.

Let’s begin with product analysis. While you seek for it on Upwork, you will discover quite a few freelancers providing their providers:

Subsequent, let’s look if we will discover freelancers to create a Shopify retailer.

Simply by looking ‘Shopify retailer setup,’ that is what we received:

These are only a few freelancers, and a whole lot of others might additionally do the job.

And as a final search, let’s have a look at what comes up for social media advertising. We searched ‘social media advertising,’ and that is what got here up:

Once more, each freelancers had nice evaluations on their profiles, and so they had been positively not the one choices to rent for social media advertising.

On high of those, you could find freelancers for different dropshipping duties, together with:

And rather more.

So, what was our level with these examples?

The purpose is that Upwork has a various expertise pool, and you’ll remember to discover a variety of good expertise!

3. Simple verification of freelancers’ experience

You could suppose: how can I ensure that the freelancer can do the job nicely?

While you go to the freelancer’s profile, you could find many issues that point out their stage of experience.

Let’s undergo every level that showcases their expertise:

• Work historical past. A wonderful approach to predict the standard of a freelancer is to verify their work historical past. You could find evaluations of different firms within the work historical past part:

• Whole jobs and hours. From the profile, you’ll be able to see the whole jobs accomplished by the freelancer and the whole hours. These are good indicators of how a lot expertise somebody has within the subject:

• Job success rating. Upwork has a job success rating that determines how glad the purchasers are with the freelancer’s work. It takes the general work historical past under consideration and offers a rating primarily based on previous work.

That is what Upwork states in regards to the job success rating:

Job success rating measures purchasers’ satisfaction with freelancer’s general work historical past on Upwork’s platform. It displays purchasers’ satisfaction as proven by relationships, suggestions, and job outcomes over time. 

• Portfolio. Freelancers can add their earlier work to the portfolio part. High-rated freelancers typically have spectacular samples that enable you assess their high quality:

• Expertise high quality. You possibly can filter your search by the freelancer’s high quality. The highest Upwork freelancers are divided into three classes: top-rated plus, top-rated, and rising expertise:

While you benefit from all these elements and evaluate freelancers in opposition to one another, you’ll be able to remember to discover proficient individuals in your dropshipping retailer.

The cons

There are some cons to utilizing Upwork for dropshipping, so let’s talk about these too!

1. Increased freelancer charges than Fiverr

Good expertise comes at a value, and Upwork is understood for being barely costlier than Fiverr.

Upwork is usually used for extra advanced tasks that require superior expertise, so freelancers additionally ask for larger pay.

Plus, Upwork’s freelancers are sometimes extremely educated, contributing to larger charges.

2. Upwork charges can add up shortly

When you rent somebody from Upwork, you need to pay a 5% consumer market price for all of your funds.

That is the case whether or not you rent somebody for a one-time job or full-time.

And for each new contract you make with a freelancer, you need to pay an additional $4.95 contract initiation price.

These charges can add up shortly for those who’re doing many one-off tasks.

Nonetheless, on the plus aspect, Upwork has decrease charges in comparison with Fiverr.

Fiverr expenses 5.5% of the acquisition quantity, and for purchases below $75, there’s a further $2.50 small order price.

Tips on how to keep away from scams when utilizing Upwork for dropshipping?

Whereas most sellers on Upwork are reliable and trustworthy with their work, there can all the time be somebody seeking to benefit from you.

Fortunately, Upwork has carried out a number of measures to forestall scams and guarantee a secure expertise.

1. Upwork Cost Safety

A very powerful measure is Upwork Cost Safety.

The aim is to make sure that each you, as a dropshipper, and the freelancer receives a commission pretty for the job.

The freelancer logs their accomplished hours within the work diary, and also you obtain weekly invoices.

To verify the freelancer works in your challenge, they need to set a timer, and Upwork takes screenshots of their display so you’ll be able to see if they’re working.

This all happens inside Upwork, eliminating the danger of both celebration scamming the opposite.

Upwork states this in regards to the Upwork Cost Safety:

For purchasers, Cost Safety means your private and fee data is 100% safe. It additionally makes funds work extra easily throughout borders by permitting you to pay by way of bank card or PayPal.

One purple flag is that somebody asks you to pay outdoors of Upwork. While you rent somebody to be just right for you on Upwork, you need to by no means pay them outdoors the platform.

That is what Upwork states about it:

Requesting to maneuver fee off the Upwork platform is a tactic steadily utilized by scammers. When you take fee off of the Upwork platform, we can’t provide fee safety or assist to resolve any bill disputes.

So, all the time conduct your funds inside Upwork to be lined by fee safety.

2. Different steps you’ll be able to take to forestall scams

Alongside Upwork’s Cost Safety, there are different issues to remember to forestall scams.

In Upwork’s article, they stated these are purple flags for sellers:

• Somebody says that they work in a well known firm, however they don’t have any proof of it.
• Their profile image encompasses a well-known public determine or a celeb.
• Somebody gives free work.

Apart from these, trusting your instincts and utilizing widespread sense can go a great distance.

When you rent somebody with tons of constructive evaluations, a portfolio of labor, and a well-crafted profile, you will be fairly certain you are not getting scammed.

Tips on how to begin utilizing Upwork for dropshipping?

Now that we have gone via the professionals and cons of Upwork and lined tricks to keep away from scams let’s dive into how one can get began on the platform.

1. Create your Upwork account

Step one is to create your Upwork account.

Head to Upwork’s homepage and click on the ‘Signal Up’ or ‘Get began’ buttons:

For many dropshippers studying, signing up as a consumer is the proper possibility. Nonetheless, if you wish to promote your dropshipping providers, choose the choice to enroll as a freelancer:

After this, you need to fill in your particulars, resembling your work e mail tackle, password, nation, and title:

You can even join together with your Google and Apple accounts.

After including your particulars, your account shall be created, and Upwork will ask for extra details about your organization and its measurement:

This should not take quite a lot of minutes to fill in.

When you’ve gotten answered the questions, you should have full entry to Upwork! At this level, Upwork asks you to submit a job provide for freelancers.

2. Create a job submit on Upwork

Making a job submit is the easiest way to entry expertise on Upwork.

It consists of 5 steps, and the primary one is writing a title for the job posting:

The extra detailed you’re with the job title, the higher the outcomes are. Upwork gives examples of excellent job titles for reference.

For our instance, let’s write ‘Constructing a dropshipping web site with Shopify.’

As you’ll be able to see, Upwork robotically matches the job submit with its finest expertise.

For the second step, Upwork asks for the primary expertise required for the job. They robotically acknowledge our area of interest from the title and advocate some good choices:

In our instance, we wish somebody to create a Shopify retailer for us, so we are going to choose ‘Shopify,’ ‘Internet Design,’ ‘Shopify Templates,’ and ‘Internet Improvement.’

After choosing the required expertise, Upwork asks you to estimate the scope of your work.

Right here, you’ll be able to see probably the most important distinction between Fiverr and Upwork.

Whereas Fiverr is healthier suited to one-off tasks, on Upwork, you’ll be able to rent somebody full-time by choosing the ‘Massive’ possibility from the scope of labor listing.

For our instance, we are going to choose the ‘Small’ possibility for making a Shopify retailer as we imagine it will likely be a smaller challenge.

After this, Upwork asks for the size of the work.

For build up a Shopify retailer, we estimate that it’s going to take lower than one month, so we’ll choose that one.

Subsequent, you need to describe the extent of experience wanted to finish the duty.

More often than not, the much less expertise is required, the much less the freelancer will cost you. This may even have a major affect on the outcomes.

For our instance, we imagine an entry-level candidate might deal with the job, however we want somebody with extra expertise, so we are going to choose ‘Intermediate.’

The fourth step is itemizing your price range for the challenge. This may both be as an hourly price or the whole challenge price range:

For our Shopify retailer constructing challenge, we imagine somebody can get it accomplished with an hourly price of $10 to $40.

After setting the price range, the fifth and remaining step is so as to add an outline for the challenge. Once more, the extra detailed and exact your challenge description is, the higher the end result shall be.

That is what we got here up with for our challenge:

When a possible freelancer is in search of work at Upwork, they’re going to look into your job submit description and see in the event that they match what you are in search of. Because of this, you need to make it clear.

After you have written the outline, you’ll be able to lastly submit your job!

As soon as revealed, you need to begin getting proposals from freelancers.

3. Invite freelancers to your dropshipping duties

After creating your job submit, you’ll be able to proactively invite freelancers to use in your job.

To try this, seek for freelancers primarily based on the precise expertise you want. For instance, we would have liked assist with somebody making a Shopify retailer for us.

If we search ‘Shopify retailer setup,’ we will discover freelancers who might presumably assist us.

From the search consequence, we might choose a freelancer and click on on ‘Invite to Job.’

Then you’ll be able to ship the freelancer a message and clarify what you need assistance with.

Remember that earlier than inviting somebody in your job, you need to verify their profile to see for those who’re proud of what they will present.

You must have a look at the abilities of the freelancer:

You must also look into the evaluations of earlier firms that employed the freelancer.

The profile reveals different essential data, together with the work languages, schooling, and common response time:

If every little thing appears to be like good, you’ll be able to message the freelancer in your activity.

In our instance, we would have liked assist with the Shopify retailer setup, so that is what we wrote:

When you ship the message, the freelancer will get again to you with all of the related data, and you can begin the hiring course of!

Notice in regards to the restrict of job invitations: While you submit a job as a consumer, you’ll be able to ship as much as 30 invitations to freelancers in your job. If you wish to improve the restrict to 70 per day, you’ll be able to pay $29.99 per job posting. Nonetheless, for most individuals, 30 invitations are ample, so there is no want to fret about this.

4. Rent freelancers from the Upwork search

On high of making a job submit and welcoming freelancers to your job, you can even rent immediately from the Upwork search.

Sort in dropshipping-related duties or expertise, resembling ‘Fb Advertisements,’ and discover the search outcomes.

Then, from the search, discover a freelancer that piques your curiosity.

This individual had a excessive job success price, so we picked him for example:

When you click on on the freelancer’s profile, you’ll be able to see this ‘Rent’ button:

While you click on on it, you’ll be able to immediately ship a contract to the freelancer and set the contract phrases, work description, and weekly restrict:

Remember that the freelancer does not have to simply accept your job provide if you ship him a contract.

Most freelancers will doubtless settle for your job gives so long as you are prepared to pay them what they’re price and present respect.

3 Upwork options for dropshipping

Let’s undergo three Upwork options that you need to use for dropshipping-related tasks!

1. Fiverr

The primary different that everybody already is aware of is Fiverr.

Fiverr is a platform for hiring freelancers for numerous dropshipping-related duties, resembling web site design, advert creation, velocity optimization, and order administration.

Fiverr is usually thought-about much less skilled than Upwork and tends to have a barely lower cost vary for expertise.

It’s generally used for shorter-term tasks. However, Upwork could provide higher expertise however at the next price.

Finally, relying in your wants, you need to select the suitable platform for you.

We additionally created an article about Fiverr for dropshipping, so test it out if you wish to be taught extra.

2. 99designs

An alternative choice to Upwork, 99designs is understood for offering assist with easier dropshipping duties associated to design.

These duties embrace logos, branding, and web site design.

In a nutshell, here is how 99designs works:

1. You create a easy temporary to assist their designers perceive your wants.
2. Their group will help you to find a designer in your challenge, or you’ll be able to run a contest throughout the 99designs group and choose the perfect design from the submissions.
3. As soon as the design is finished, you will ship the fee, and you’ll maintain working with the designer if you need.

Whereas it is fairly much like Upwork, 99designs focuses on the design side of tasks.

3. PeoplePerHour

PeoplePerHour is an Upwork different with a big international expertise pool.

When trying to find ‘dropshipping’ within the search bar, you could find a whole lot of freelancers who can help with numerous dropshipping duties, together with:

• Product analysis and promoting
• Shopify retailer setup course of
• Integrations with third-party apps
• Customized coding for dropshipping shops
• Web site design

When it comes to pricing, PeoplePerHour tends to be cheaper than Upwork.

Nonetheless, PeoplePerHour has a much less sturdy system than Upwork for detecting scammers, so try to be cautious.

FAQs on utilizing Upwork for dropshipping

Earlier than we go into the previous few sections, let’s look into just a few steadily requested questions on utilizing Upwork for dropshipping.

Taking motion

Studying and absorbing data and information is nice (positively if it’s free!), however have you learnt what’s even higher?

Taking motion!

1. Map your individual wants. Upwork freelancers focus on totally different areas of dropshipping. Earlier than hiring somebody, you need to map your wants and decide the duties potential freelancers can deal with.
2. Create your Upwork account. When you’re satisfied and able to rent, it is advisable to create your Upwork account. When you’re uncertain how to do that, we have now lined the method earlier on this article!
3. Create your Upwork job posting. That is the very first step in hiring somebody in your dropshipping duties. Creating an Upwork job posting is fast and simple, and as soon as it is accomplished, freelancers can apply in your work, whether or not it is a one-off challenge or extra long-term.
4. Analyze the potential freelancers. After posting your job, you’ll doubtless obtain a number of purposes. It is essential to evaluate the freelancer’s profile, together with their evaluations, hourly price, and related expertise in your activity.
5. Rent a freelancer and observe Upwork’s security guidelines. After you have chosen a freelancer, be sure that to stick to Upwork’s security guidelines. This contains conserving all communication throughout the Upwork platform to keep away from scams or disputes.

Conclusion

So, can you utilize Upwork for dropshipping?

Sure!

We do not advocate utilizing it for each half, and it’s possible you’ll wish to deal with a few of your dropshipping processes your self. As a substitute, think about using it for various components of dropshipping, resembling designing, promoting, retailer creation, or order administration.

Our testing has confirmed that Upwork certainly has the mandatory expertise for dropshippers. And, you probably have a talent within the dropshipping house, you’ll be able to even think about itemizing your self as a freelancer on Upwork.

The selection is yours.

If in case you have any questions on Upwork dropshipping, be happy to go away us a query under!

Good luck with every little thing!

Need to be taught extra about dropshipping?

Prepared to maneuver your dropshipping retailer to the following stage? Try the articles under: