Glossary
Held boost
A held boost is a boosted Upwork proposal whose auction ended in a charge, because it was still in one of the four promoted slots when the auction closed or the client interacted with it while it was boosted, and its cost is the final charge, not the bid.
Updated
Also written: Charged boost, Won boost.
Upwork's charging rule is the basis. You are charged what you bid if the proposal receives an eligible interaction or is "boosted at the end of the auction", and the charge lands at whichever comes first. A boost knocked out of the auction before any eligible interaction is not charged. Upsight calls the charged outcome held, because the proposal held its slot long enough for Upwork to bill it.
Two consequences follow.
- Held does not mean seen. A proposal can sit in a top slot until the close and pay its full bid without the client ever opening it. Upwork does not refund that case.
- Held can come early. If the client opens the proposal on day two while it is boosted, the boost is charged then, and later bids that push it down do not undo the charge.
The cost of a held boost is the final charge. Upwork places the bid as a temporary charge, releases it when the auction closes and charges the winners again straight after. A ledger that sums every debit counts a held boost twice, and one that reads the bid field counts an outbid boost as spent. The settled charge is the only number that is right for both.
How Upsight uses it. A proposal is marked held once its auction has settled with a charge in the Connects ledger; until then it reads boosted, auction open. Held boosts are reported apart from outbid ones, with views, replies and net Connects for each, so a campaign's bid size is chosen from what the slots earned, and in Client View only a held boost is shown as boosted.
Source
Upsight's term; the Upwork page it refers to: When and what will I be charged? - Boosted Proposals, read on .
Where Upsight measures it: the ledger.