Buyer Requests and how to Quote (or not)

[benedictrm]

I got some entries in my Buyer Requests for the first time. Yay. Sadly though, I must say I am shocked-disappointed in the quality of the entries. (not blaming Fiverr per se)

Maybe I have the wrong idea here but I am completely floored on how to deal with someone wanting a 4-page website built for about $6 or three songs covered for about $12 ($4 ea!!!). And the Briefs are one short line so could hide any number of scary demands like the expectation for infinite revisions or the London Symphony Orchestra.

I have proven experience in both so know that a simple website (in WordPress) is about 8 hours work. And a simple song is about the same - x 3 in this case. So my Q is how does one have any hope of doing this work in any way that doesn’t send them to the poor house? Do these people expect poor quality, rushed work which might shave off some hours? Are these Budgets completely absurd and is everyone quoting proper amounts like ~$400 for that 8 hours of specialized work?

To be honest this is exactly the sort of thing I was hoping to not face here but I see so many people saying Buyer Requests are the only real way to get your first Gig. As someone who is cheap at $55ph, how can I ever land a job with people who think that complex things done properly are worth less than chips & a can of soda? (even if I only charged $10 ph)

Happy to hear any reasoned advice on this 🙂