Why Your Upwork JSS Just Decreased? Possible Reasons. Stop Attacking Tamara's Chat :)

So, you woke up today, checked your Upwork Job Success Score (JSS), and boom—it’s lower than expected. Before you start sending frustrated messages to Upwork consultants (leave Tamara alone!), let’s break down the potential reasons why your JSS might have taken a hit.

You Just Received Bad Feedback

Isn't it obvious? If you recently got bad feedback, it’s going to drag your JSS down. And let’s not forget that private feedback impacts your score just as much as public feedback. So even if a client says all the right things in public, their private rating can still do some serious damage to your JSS.

Refunds and Private Feedback

Even if a job ends in a refund and disappears from your work history, it can still influence your JSS due to private feedback left by the client. These jobs don’t vanish into thin air; their impact lingers in the background. From my experience, even a single refunded job can affect your JSS by around 2%. So, keep that in mind when considering refunds—they’re not as harmless as they might seem!

Higher-Value Jobs Carry More Weight

If you recently completed a high-value job, it can impact your JSS more significantly than several smaller jobs combined. Upwork’s algorithm is designed to give more weight to jobs that have a higher monetary value. So, if you scored great feedback on a big project, it might help lift your score even if you had a few minor hiccups elsewhere.

Disputes Don’t Directly Affect Your JSS—Feedback Does!

Here’s some good news: disputes won’t directly affect your JSS. That’s right, the system doesn’t penalize you just because a client initiated a dispute. However, keep in mind that while the dispute itself won't hurt your score, the feedback that follows it definitely can. So, make sure you’re still aiming for positive feedback even if things don’t go perfectly.

Trending JSS Matters

Your JSS is also affected by your recent performance. If you had a few less-than-stellar experiences in the past three months, even if they seemed minor at the time, they can still pull down your score. Trending JSS reflects your latest work, so a decrease in this short-term period can have a noticeable impact on your overall rating.

The Two-Year, One-Year, and Six-Month Rule

Upwork calculates your JSS based on three different time frames: the last two years, the last year, and the last six months. Your JSS is based on the best score among these three options. If one of your best-performing contracts—maybe the one with the highest earnings and the most glowing feedback—has just aged out of that two-year window, that could explain the drop in your score.

Hope, it was helpful!

Hugs,
Tamara