Throw a Sale feature would be nice!

[markadamsdesign]

I’d love to be able to occasionally offer a sale on my services… without having to edit my prices manually. It’d be great to have a Throw a Sale button, name it, decide the discount, and maybe even choose a temporary Gig photo or banner, too.

[humanissocial]

I would love that, too! It would be great if we had pop-ups to advertise the sale, like during exit intent or after a certain number of visits to a gig.

[leejohnsonvideo]

I’d love this feature too.

I think it would drive more sales during slow holiday weekends and Summers.

UPDATE:
After reading the thoughtful feedback on this (There are great points I didn’t consider at the time), I’ve changed my mind and do think it’s a bad idea.

[misscrystal]

I think it would cause buyers to ask for more discounts and expect prices to be lowered and that’s not a good thing. It might seem like it would bring more buyers and orders but in reality I think it would backfire.
Sales work for stores but this is entirely different. These are services. Services don’t usually have sales. In addition lowering your prices encourages the kind of buyers you don’t want sometimes. People who offer business services are not going to be more in demand when they seem desperate. And to lower your prices and pretend like it’s a “sale” translates in people’s minds into being desperate, making the seller less desirable and more prone to get difficult buyers.

[bestintheword]

I think it would cause buyers to ask for more discounts and expect prices to be lowered and that’s not a good thing. It might seem like it would bring more buyers and orders but in reality I think it would backfire.

Sales work for stores but this is entirely different. These are services. Services don’t usually have sales. In addition lowering your prices encourages the kind of buyers you don’t want sometimes. People who offer business services are not going to be more in demand when they seem desperate. And to lower your prices and pretend like it’s a “sale” translates in people’s minds into being desperate, making the seller less desirable and more prone to get difficult buyers.

I think it would cause buyers to ask for more discounts and expect prices to be lowered and that’s not a good thing. It might seem like it would bring more buyers and orders but in reality I think it would backfire.

But like if we get this sale option what we can do is we can just lower the prices of our premium packages, and this would encourage buyers to buy it instead of the others (basic or standard package), and buyers buying premium means more money for us and fiverr too…

And fiverr doesn’t just allow discounts whenever we want, it can be like a boost like we can use it for 2 days in a month and this feature should be for 1,2 and TRS as the prices of new sellers are so low that offering discounts for them means working in loss. I think this would be fair. I would like this feature to be added

And I would like the moderators to take a look on this topic

[misscrystal]

I think it would cause buyers to ask for more discounts and expect prices to be lowered and that’s not a good thing. It might seem like it would bring more buyers and orders but in reality I think it would backfire.

But like if we get this sale option what we can do is we can just lower the prices of our premium packages, and this would encourage buyers to buy it instead of the others (basic or standard package), and buyers buying premium means more money for us and fiverr too…

And fiverr doesn’t just allow discounts whenever we want, it can be like a boost like we can use it for 2 days in a month and this feature should be for 1,2 and TRS as the prices of new sellers are so low that offering discounts for them means working in loss. I think this would be fair. I would like this feature to be added

And I would like the moderators to take a look on this topic

Please don’t look like you are desperate or cheap. Services are best if they are a set price. If you want to lower your prices that’s fine, but don’t call it a “sale” like you are desperate, or a store. Have some professionalism. Don’t go for the lowest possible humiliation, groveling for business. We hopefully do not need to beg people.

[bestintheword]

Please don’t look like you are desperate or cheap. Services are best if they are a set price. If you want to lower your prices that’s fine, but don’t call it a “sale” like you are desperate, or a store. Have some professionalism. Don’t go for the lowest possible humiliation, groveling for business. We hopefully do not need to beg people.

We hopefully do not need to beg people.

Throwing out a sale is a business strategy not begging according to me

[misscrystal]

We hopefully do not need to beg people.

Throwing out a sale is a business strategy not begging according to me

It is a business strategy for a store. Not for a self employed professional. At least not for one with some dignity.

If you are desperate just lower your prices. Please don’t humiliate yourself by calling it a sale.

[bestintheword]

Hmm… And btw fiverr itself gives promo codes on festivals…
Am I right?

[bestintheword]

It is a business strategy for a store. Not for a self employed professional. At least not for one with some dignity.

If you are desperate just lower your prices. Please don’t humiliate yourself by calling it a sale.

If you are desperate just lower your prices. Please don’t humiliate yourself by calling it a sale.

No need. I think I am doing good

[misscrystal]

If you are desperate just lower your prices. Please don’t humiliate yourself by calling it a sale.

No need. I think I am doing good

If they don’t want your service at the regular price they won’t want it at the sale price either. 😄

(I’m not referring to anyone in particular, I mean for anyone.)

[cyaxrex]

I’m against this idea. Every day is a sale on Fiverr. If you don’t want to pay $1K for a Fiverr Pro blog post, you can play search tombola and get one for $5.

I’m also not personally convinced that throwing a sale works. When I first started selling on Amazon KDP, I gave Amazon exclusive rights. This way, I could offer book discounts and giveaways 3 times over any given period.

Sales and discounts did bumb up my book sales on the days they were run. However, sales performance on non-sales days didn’t improve. I realized far better results coming out of that program and adding more non-Amazon sales channels.

My point is that a flash sale or discount attracts people who are only ever willing to pay the sales price. In this case, if you want to target that market, you would be better off lowering your regular selling prices.

[lenasemenkova]

Fiverr gives away promo codes and discounts, doesn’t it? Someone recently told me: “Please send the offer by X so I still have time to use my promo code”.

If you add the discount option on fiverr, it’ll be a nightmare land. Everything will be -90% and “limited offer”.

It’d be like sales on Steam or Nintendo Store with “-10%!!! -50%!!! -90%!!!” all over the place. I don’t even buy games from my wishlist anymore, I just wait for months for the price to drop 80%. And then I don’t want half of those games anymore.

[misscrystal]

Fiverr gives away promo codes and discounts, doesn’t it? Someone recently told me: “Please send the offer by X so I still have time to use my promo code”.

If you add the discount option on fiverr, it’ll be a nightmare land. Everything will be -90% and “limited offer”.

It’d be like sales on Steam or Nintendo Store with “-10%!!! -50%!!! -90%!!!” all over the place. I don’t even buy games from my wishlist anymore, I just wait for months for the price to drop 80%. And then I don’t want half of those games anymore.

I just wait for months for the price to drop

You nailed it. If people know you offer sales you will have people asking for when the next sale will be and saying they will wait for it.

[markadamsdesign]

Please don’t look like you are desperate or cheap. Services are best if they are a set price. If you want to lower your prices that’s fine, but don’t call it a “sale” like you are desperate, or a store. Have some professionalism. Don’t go for the lowest possible humiliation, groveling for business. We hopefully do not need to beg people.

You have a point. I’m also a seller for digital products, on another, more shop-like, website, so I suppose I’m accustomed to that line of thinking, as opposed to offering up a service.

Perhaps the ability to distribute your own Promo Codes/Deals… but then, I suppose one could manage that on their own just through Fiverr messaging and an effective social media presence.

[misscrystal]

If you are selling an actual product, something you did not make yourself, that might be different.
But we are artists, writers, designers, seo experts etc. We are no different
from
dentists
lawyers
accountants
plumbers
carpenters
artists
handymen
doctors
We are self employed professionals, or at least that is what we are SUPPOSED to be.
It’s time we thought of ourselves that way and realized we do not have sales, like we don’t know we aren’t BEST BUY, or WALMART, to try to drum up business.

This is another version of the idea that the way to get orders is to race to the bottom and see who can sell their service the cheapest. Just set your price at $5 then.

[leejohnsonvideo]

If you are selling an actual product, something you did not make yourself, that might be different.

But we are artists, writers, designers, seo experts etc. We are no different

from

dentists

lawyers

accountants

plumbers

carpenters

artists

handymen

doctors

We are self employed professionals, or at least that is what we are SUPPOSED to be.

It’s time we thought of ourselves that way and realized we do not have sales, like we don’t know we aren’t BEST BUY, or WALMART, to try to drum up business.

This is another version of the idea that the way to get orders is to race to the bottom and see who can sell their service the cheapest. Just set your price at $5 then.

I definitely see your point.

You’ve changed my mind on this. Thanks!

So my official stance now is: I’m against individual discount offerings. I can see a race to the bottom on prices as desperate Sellers compete with each other.

[bestintheword]

I definitely see your point.

You’ve changed my mind on this. Thanks!

So my official stance now is: I’m against individual discount offerings. I can see a race to the bottom on prices as desperate Sellers compete with each other.

You’ve changed my mind

Yup, Mine too

Thanx @misscrystal

[markadamsdesign]

If you are selling an actual product, something you did not make yourself, that might be different.

But we are artists, writers, designers, seo experts etc. We are no different

from

dentists

lawyers

accountants

plumbers

carpenters

artists

handymen

doctors

We are self employed professionals, or at least that is what we are SUPPOSED to be.

It’s time we thought of ourselves that way and realized we do not have sales, like we don’t know we aren’t BEST BUY, or WALMART, to try to drum up business.

This is another version of the idea that the way to get orders is to race to the bottom and see who can sell their service the cheapest. Just set your price at $5 then.

“Rather than seem so ill informed of what your position here is about.”

Wow, I just said that I had agreed with your points and that your position made sense and you continue to attack me. That’s quite insulting. I offer a service here, but made products for another website for much longer. That other website encourages sales and I hadn’t thought about the downsides of doing so here until your post - which I agreed with - convinced me otherwise. Fiverr’s marketplace already encourages downward pricing, and sales would only exacerbate that.

That being said, your claim that “professionals never offer sales” is bogus. There is a dental office near me offering 20% off General Dentistry right now, and another that’s offering $100 off $500 or more in dental work. I’ve found plenty of the services you’ve listed on Groupon or offering deals in the newspaper. The veterinarian clinic near me offers discounted and occasionally even FREE spay/neuter services from time-to-time. Professionals DO offer discounts.

Perhaps, rather than a general “SALE”, some type of first-time offer or the ability to offer custom one-time coupon codes would be something to consider. Maybe even a custom “Special” category in addition to the Basic/Standard/Premium packages.

Does this mean you’ll occasionally get people who only wait for these types of offers to come in? Yes, but that means more sales and more visibility. I guarantee you the dental office near me only gets certain people to come in due to the occasional 20% off flyer he sends out.

[humanissocial]

We hopefully do not need to beg people.

Throwing out a sale is a business strategy not begging according to me

No it isn’t.

With a sale of products, you are only reducing your profit margin, provided you are more than covering your costs.

With a sale of manually fulfilled services, you are reducing your hourly wage.

Totally different scenarios.

Don’t volunteer to make a small wage for any length of time. It just makes you look unprofessional and desperate and will attract sketchy buyers, if it attracts anyone at all.

[ahmeddev125]

I think it would cause buyers to ask for more discounts and expect prices to be lowered and that’s not a good thing. It might seem like it would bring more buyers and orders but in reality I think it would backfire.

Sales work for stores but this is entirely different. These are services. Services don’t usually have sales. In addition lowering your prices encourages the kind of buyers you don’t want sometimes. People who offer business services are not going to be more in demand when they seem desperate. And to lower your prices and pretend like it’s a “sale” translates in people’s minds into being desperate, making the seller less desirable and more prone to get difficult buyers.

In addition lowering your prices encourages the kind of buyers you don’t want sometimes.

Completely agree. I’ve client first time for getting order i offer him lower price for good review maybe or getting my first order but now if i asked him to pay market price he didn’t response me. We completed 8 orders and he really liked my service but he also looking for lower price. Now i decided not work in lower price even i don’t get any order.

[uk1000]

No it isn’t.

With a sale of products, you are only reducing your profit margin, provided you are more than covering your costs.

With a sale of manually fulfilled services, you are reducing your hourly wage.

Totally different scenarios.

Don’t volunteer to make a small wage for any length of time. It just makes you look unprofessional and desperate and will attract sketchy buyers, if it attracts anyone at all.

Don’t volunteer to make a small wage for any length of time. It just makes you look unprofessional and desperate and will attract sketchy buyers, if it attracts anyone at all.

But surely an occasional discount - that shows it’s been discounted/a sale (of only gigs/packages the seller selects, at times selected by the seller) could make it show that the seller’s prices aren’t normally that low and that the prices are just low because of the discount.

It might be better than the seller manually reducing prices occasionally to get more orders since if they do it manually buyers might assume what they’re getting isn’t as good/is only worth the lower price, without knowing it’s short term discount.

[humanissocial]

Don’t volunteer to make a small wage for any length of time. It just makes you look unprofessional and desperate and will attract sketchy buyers, if it attracts anyone at all.

But surely an occasional discount - that shows it’s been discounted/a sale (of only gigs/packages the seller selects, at times selected by the seller) could make it show that the seller’s prices aren’t normally that low and that the prices are just low because of the discount.

It might be better than the seller manually reducing prices occasionally to get more orders since if they do it manually buyers might assume what they’re getting isn’t as good/is only worth the lower price, without knowing it’s short term discount.

That doesn’t influence my point, though. Even if it is clearly temporary (which is what I meant), you are still lowering the wage you earn for the work taken on during that time.

So you’re not only earning less then, but you’re making it clear to the buyers that you are lowering your hourly earnings, which can make a seller look desperate or attract exploitation.

Of course, it depends on your work, though. Sales could have less of a wage impact if your work is scalable and systematic versus strategic and personalized, but still. It is a perception risk.

[uk1000]

That doesn’t influence my point, though. Even if it is clearly temporary (which is what I meant), you are still lowering the wage you earn for the work taken on during that time.

So you’re not only earning less then, but you’re making it clear to the buyers that you are lowering your hourly earnings, which can make a seller look desperate or attract exploitation.

Of course, it depends on your work, though. Sales could have less of a wage impact if your work is scalable and systematic versus strategic and personalized, but still. It is a perception risk.

Maybe it would be better for those gigs where the product is already made or which need very little additional manual work/customisation. eg. the “I will send you this [pre-done non-exclusive product].” type gig.

The thing is, having a “Sale” feature might make things better/worse for some gigs/sellers but it would be a feature sellers wouldn’t have to use or for every gig and they could have control over when it was used. They should be able to see if it helped or not and sellers that didn’t want to use it wouldn’t have to. People could try it for one or more gigs, and if it didn’t help, turn the feature off.

[humanissocial]

Maybe it would be better for those gigs where the product is already made or which need very little additional manual work/customisation. eg. the “I will send you this [pre-done non-exclusive product].” type gig.

The thing is, having a “Sale” feature might make things better/worse for some gigs/sellers but it would be a feature sellers wouldn’t have to use or for every gig and they could have control over when it was used. They should be able to see if it helped or not and sellers that didn’t want to use it wouldn’t have to. People could try it for one or more gigs, and if it didn’t help, turn the feature off.

Yes that is what I mean by a systematic, scalable gig. There is flexibility room there.

I think Fiverr might be hesitant to do that because even in those gigs, there are manual and personal elements of the work. I’m not sure Fiverr would want people to think services are automated as they seem keen on promoting the personal touch and interaction of gigs.