What Is Fiverr.com?
Fiverr.com is a small website that gives sellers a chance to offer
their talents for $5. Sellers create “gigs” in a variety of categories,
including video making, writing and entertainment. There are thousands of
people selling their talents and thousands of people buying gigs every day for
various reasons.
The website is free to register on, free to use and the gigs are
free to put up. Sellers gain $4 per gig as $1 is taken by Fiverr.com as a
commission. On top of that, there is up to $1 gained when withdrawals are made
to a PayPal account. Sellers must have a PayPal account to be able to withdraw
the money that they earn, otherwise they need to use the money towards buying
gigs on the site.
The Benefits of Fiverr
Fiverr.com does offer a number of benefits for sellers. The first is
the chance to offer small gigs to people all over the world. This is a great
way for sellers to become noticed and the chance to build up a rapport with
buyers. I have a number of repeat customers coming back for more and many of my
new buyers are referrals from previous ones.
I originally joined Fiverr as a way to build up reviews from
customers. These reviews can be placed on my website to help encourage people
to order my services for more at a later date. The buildup of reviews also
helps buyers on the Fiverr site determine whether my skills are something that
they would be willing to pay for.
The website gives many people a chance to set up their own business
and start selling their skills. There are very few risks involved since sellers
do not need to pay anything upfront so there is nothing to lose. Sellers also
have a chance to sell anything that they want, as long as the gigs meet the
terms of service.
Sellers set their delivery time based on how long they expect it to
take them to complete orders. There are some sellers who offer “express gigs”,
which are gigs that are completed in 24 hours or less. Sellers must finish the
gig within the time otherwise the buyers have the option to cancel and this
will negatively affect a seller’s rating. It is up to the seller to think about
constraints to their delivery time. It is important to consider time off during
the week, time zones and anything else that may affect a delay in delivery.
Fiverr.com introduced levels in January 2012. Sellers are now able
to reach Level 1, Level 2 or Top Rated Seller status. There are some conditions
that the site has not released but promotion to the levels depends on the
number of gigs ordered each month, the number of cancellations made and the
feedback from buyers. Top Rated Sellers are chosen by the Fiverr.com staff.
Sellers can be promoted or demoted at any time for any reason, which means that
there is an incentive to always offer high quality work, deliver on time and
avoid too many cancellations.
The introduction of levels also created the ability to add gig
extras to gigs. Sellers can choose whether or not to add extras to their gigs
and will decide on the amount that they charge for these extras - $5, $10 or
$20. This has benefitted a number of sellers who want to offer more but the $5
just isn’t worth the time. The sellers can also add extra days to a delivery
time when the gig extra orders are placed.
The Drawbacks of Fiverr
However, there are some downsides and some of these have made me
contemplate leaving the website in recent months. The main one has been the
introduction of the levels. While they offer incentives for sellers to work
harder, sellers can be demoted or refused a promotion due to the number of
cancellations. This includes any cancellations made by the buyer, even though
that may be due to buyer error, and mutual cancellations due to sellers not
having the information required to complete a gig.
There is very little protection for sellers when it comes to having
to cancel. Unlike with private clients, once a buyer purchases a gig and inputs
the details, the clock starts ticking down. The seller cannot agree or request
changes before the clock starts ticking. This has led to me having to make a
number of cancellations in recent months as buyers have not read instructions
before ordering gigs. This is something that a number of sellers have
complained about and the staff at Fiverr.com HQ have still not done anything to
fix the issue.
I have often asked about where the protection for sellers is in
regards to losing a level due to having to cancel when it is the buyer’s fault.
Currently, all I have been told is that the number of completed gigs with good
feedback will outweigh the cancelled gigs. This does not solve the issue of
buyers not reading instructions, not including the relevant information or
causing other problems when ordering gigs.
The introduction of levels also brought the ability for buyers to
order in bulk. This is an excellent option for buyers but there is a flaw for
sellers. The main issue is that buy ordering in bulk, the time for delivery
does not increase. Buyers are able to purchase up to eight gigs at once but the
seller still needs to complete all eight in the same time. For some gigs, this
is fine but for others it is a nightmare. I’ve found that it is near impossible
to complete multiple orders within the same time as single orders, especially
if I have a lot of buyers ordering on the same day. Because of this, I have had
to place a note on my gigs for buyers to contact me first otherwise orders will
be cancelled; unfortunately, that does not guarantee that buyers will follow these
instructions and it has led to a number of cancellations in recent months.
The pay for jobs is relatively low. Buyers pay $5 for a gig but
sellers receive $4. The $1 commission on gigs is fair since the site is free;
however, many sellers agree that the commission should drop when bulk orders
are made. A buyer can order eight gigs at once and will be charged $40 (8x$5)
however, the seller will only receive $32 (8x$4) since $1 per order is taken
off. There is no benefit of bulk orders for the seller apart from getting more
work.
On top of that commission, Fiverr.com take off some money when
making withdrawals to PayPal. The maximum they take is $1 and they claim that
it is due to PayPal fees. However, I work through a number of different companies
who all pay via PayPal and none of the others have to take this $1 for PayPal
fees.
All sellers have to have a PayPal account to be able to make
withdrawals. PayPal is an excellent service but is not available for all
countries. There are a number of sellers who find that they can only use their
earnings on other gigs and there have been many who have requested that
Fiverr.com introduce another method of withdrawing money.
Another problem is the server that Fiverr.com is on. The server is
very slow – and I know that it is not due to my internet connection as other
websites upload perfectly fine. In the past year or so that I have been on the
website, there have been at least three instances when the server has crashed.
This leads to questions over when I will be able to log back in and deliver a
gig, especially if I have one with a few hours left.
Fiverr.com support is hit and miss when it comes to quality. There
are some members of the team that are perfect; they will answer questions in a
timely manner and solve problems quickly so that I can get back on with work.
However, there are other members who have often ignored an email and just sent
it back so that it is always waiting for me to update.
The terms of service are also a problem. After the update of the
levels, the terms of service were changed to include mentions of the levels.
However, it was soon pointed out by myself that the terms of service were
incorrect and Fiverr.com were not upholding them. Since then, there have been
changes but the date that they were updated was not changed. Luckily, I have
kept all correspondence with Fiverr.com support so if there are ever any issues
with this change and it not being updated correctly, I do have proof.
Fiverr.com does offer a way for people to start making money online
quickly but there are some drawbacks. Fiverr.com is not a scam and does pay out
but making money is not everything. It can be extremely stressful when buyers
do not read instructions and it means cancelling orders – that is my main issue
and something that I hope the site will change very soon.
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