Proposal

Upwork's submission flow runs in a fixed order. From the job post you choose Apply now, decide whether to apply as a freelancer or as an agency, and set your terms: an hourly rate, or a fixed-price bid amount paid by project or by milestone. You estimate how long the work will take, write the cover letter, answer the client's screening questions, add work samples, decide whether to boost, and send. Some job posts replace the cover letter with a video interview with Uma.

What it costs. Every proposal draws Connects, and a boost adds more on top. Connects come back only in narrow cases, such as a client cancelling the project before a contract or Upwork removing the post.

What can change after sending. Most of a proposal can be edited up to six hours after submitting it, or until the client has viewed it. After that only the terms can change, until the client accepts or rejects the proposal. A proposal you no longer want can be withdrawn, but its Connects are not returned.

Where it lives. Sent proposals sit under Find Work, Proposals and offers, on the Active tab while they are in play. The client sorts them into shortlisted, messaged and archived, and a declined proposal leaves the client's list.

Upwork may also ask you to confirm identity details as part of its Know Your Customer process when you start a proposal.

How Upsight uses it. Upsight's bidder writes every part of the proposal for a matched job, the terms, the letter and the screening answers, and each campaign can require a person to approve every proposal before it is sent; otherwise drafts go out on their own after a short review window. After sending, the ledger follows each proposal through view, reply, decline and hire.