Upwork's connect

Question

As-salamu alaykum

I'm looking forward to working in Upwork, but before applying for a job I should bid and pay something called connect which is a virtual money or credit

is that thing halal or haram

Answer 1

According to my understanding of working in the freelance industry for years, I strongly believe that it is halal.

The reason is that monthly you get 10 free connects, and Freelancer Plus accounts receive 70 Connects each month. Now if you want to buy more connects, it is like paying for advertisement or showing the client your commitment to his work/task.

It is just like saying to a client

I can take many projects with the amount of connects I have but I have invested all of them here because I am serious about this project and I can complete it flawlessly

If you have any further doubts, do read more about the purpose and use of the connects on Upwork's support.

Answer 2

I am working in upwork for number of years and previously we can apply for any number of jobs without any restrictions. So what happened is some workers will apply in lot of jobs even without reading job description. They take serious look of the project only when client reply to them. So what happened is there was lot of spam applications and it made it difficult for client to find the real applications.

So they added connect system, so the applicants are serious of the application. I don't see anything wrong in this system as it does not violate any Islamic rules. If you think otherwise, let me know the reason in the comment section.