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Do you think there is room for 'professional' rates outside of Fiverr Pro?


helenakc

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Hi all, I was thinking about my Fiverr journey today and I was wondering if any of you have any experience with working for a relatively high fee (compared to others on Fiverr) and maybe applying for Fiverr Pro. I have outlined my experiences and thoughts below, but feel free to skip to the final paragraph for my actual questions 😉

I got my start on Fiverr a little more than 4 years ago, when I was a bachelor student studying linguistics and looking for a way to earn a little money doing work that would not only be fun, but yield relevant experience in language work to put on my resume after university as well. I didn’t know yet what I wanted to do with my life, but I did know I was good with language and fluent in English and Dutch (my native language) so I started with gigs for content writing, proofreading and - out of curiosity - translation.

When I got my first orders, I quickly discovered I love working freelance and I love translating. In trying to earn a little extra to fund my university life, I had accidentally found a new passion and a new goal! I changed my minor to Translation, got an internship at a translation agency and found a translation-related topic to write my bachelor thesis on. During this time I had to pause my gigs, as the fulltime internship combined with writing a thesis left me with little to no free time or energy for Fiverr.

After finishing my bachelor’s degree, I started my master’s degree in Translation. At this point I was doing freelance work for the translation agency I had interned at on the side, and through them I got a few other contacts at other agencies, extending my client base. I have now graduated and have a shiny master’s degree in Translation in addition to my professional experience.

Since graduating I have been working fulltime as a freelance translator with a pretty solid client base, but of course I am always looking for more work. I recently got curious (and honestly, a little nostalgic) about Fiverr so I decided to reactivate my translation gigs and look around on this new (to me) forum and the new (to me) Fiverr Pro option.

So in short: after two years of being away from Fiverr, I’d like to pick it up again. However, I am now a professional translator instead of a student looking for a side job, meaning I now have a degree in translation, years of professional experience, and a much higher cost of living than I had as a student. Because of this, I am now no longer able (or willing!) to work for a ‘fiverr,’ so my gigs now reflect (the low end of) the average fee for a professional translator where I live.

I am wondering if there is a market for ‘professional’ fees (for professional work) on Fiverr in your experience? Or would buyers with a bigger budget just look at Fiverr Pro? I am also thinking about applying for Fiverr Pro, but as I have mainly worked as a freelancer for translation agencies (which means I sign an NDA before I start working and the work is not ‘mine’ but the client’s), I have no portfolio to speak of. Does anyone have experience with applying for Fiverr Pro and if so, do you know how important a portfolio for your application?

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Hi - welcome back.

First:Portfolio - you might try translating a page or two from a popular novel, something technical with drawings … and something else. Add them as images to your gig and - this is important, so no one can copy them! - add your avatar to the images. I like that you have your gig descriptions in both English and Dutch.

Professional Fees: You’re starting again, but have a lot of reviews. Charge the value of your work. I do - and haven’t anything like as many reviews as you.

As to applying for Pro - go for it. It takes forever to get an answer, apparently, but there’s no reason you shouldn’t …

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Hi - welcome back.

First:Portfolio - you might try translating a page or two from a popular novel, something technical with drawings … and something else. Add them as images to your gig and - this is important, so no one can copy them! - add your avatar to the images. I like that you have your gig descriptions in both English and Dutch.

Professional Fees: You’re starting again, but have a lot of reviews. Charge the value of your work. I do - and haven’t anything like as many reviews as you.

As to applying for Pro - go for it. It takes forever to get an answer, apparently, but there’s no reason you shouldn’t …

First:Portfolio - you might try translating a page or two from a popular novel, something technical with drawings … and something else. Add them as images to your gig

Though any novels etc. would need to be out of copyright.

Maybe it might also help the OP / gig sales if the degree was mentioned in the gig descriptions if it’s relevant to them (even though it’s already in the profile).

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Hi all, I was thinking about my Fiverr journey today and I was wondering if any of you have any experience with working for a relatively high fee (compared to others on Fiverr) and maybe applying for Fiverr Pro. I have outlined my experiences and thoughts below, but feel free to skip to the final paragraph for my actual questions 😉

I got my start on Fiverr a little more than 4 years ago, when I was a bachelor student studying linguistics and looking for a way to earn a little money doing work that would not only be fun, but yield relevant experience in language work to put on my resume after university as well. I didn’t know yet what I wanted to do with my life, but I did know I was good with language and fluent in English and Dutch (my native language) so I started with gigs for content writing, proofreading and - out of curiosity - translation.

When I got my first orders, I quickly discovered I love working freelance and I love translating. In trying to earn a little extra to fund my university life, I had accidentally found a new passion and a new goal! I changed my minor to Translation, got an internship at a translation agency and found a translation-related topic to write my bachelor thesis on. During this time I had to pause my gigs, as the fulltime internship combined with writing a thesis left me with little to no free time or energy for Fiverr.

After finishing my bachelor’s degree, I started my master’s degree in Translation. At this point I was doing freelance work for the translation agency I had interned at on the side, and through them I got a few other contacts at other agencies, extending my client base. I have now graduated and have a shiny master’s degree in Translation in addition to my professional experience.

Since graduating I have been working fulltime as a freelance translator with a pretty solid client base, but of course I am always looking for more work. I recently got curious (and honestly, a little nostalgic) about Fiverr so I decided to reactivate my translation gigs and look around on this new (to me) forum and the new (to me) Fiverr Pro option.

So in short: after two years of being away from Fiverr, I’d like to pick it up again. However, I am now a professional translator instead of a student looking for a side job, meaning I now have a degree in translation, years of professional experience, and a much higher cost of living than I had as a student. Because of this, I am now no longer able (or willing!) to work for a ‘fiverr,’ so my gigs now reflect (the low end of) the average fee for a professional translator where I live.

I am wondering if there is a market for ‘professional’ fees (for professional work) on Fiverr in your experience? Or would buyers with a bigger budget just look at Fiverr Pro? I am also thinking about applying for Fiverr Pro, but as I have mainly worked as a freelancer for translation agencies (which means I sign an NDA before I start working and the work is not ‘mine’ but the client’s), I have no portfolio to speak of. Does anyone have experience with applying for Fiverr Pro and if so, do you know how important a portfolio for your application?

I am wondering if there is a market for ‘professional’ fees (for professional work) on Fiverr in your experience?

All sellers need something first on fiverr before charging higher fees:

CREDIBILITY

And there is only one way to get that. It’s from a lot of reviews that are positive, so others can see you are legitimate and know what you are doing. So most of us pay the price of charging $5 for a while until we have enough credibility to charge more.

People aren’t going to simply take anyone’s word for it that they are experienced, an expert, great at what they do, etc.

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Hi - welcome back.

First:Portfolio - you might try translating a page or two from a popular novel, something technical with drawings … and something else. Add them as images to your gig and - this is important, so no one can copy them! - add your avatar to the images. I like that you have your gig descriptions in both English and Dutch.

Professional Fees: You’re starting again, but have a lot of reviews. Charge the value of your work. I do - and haven’t anything like as many reviews as you.

As to applying for Pro - go for it. It takes forever to get an answer, apparently, but there’s no reason you shouldn’t …

Thanks for the advice both!

Professional Fees: You’re starting again, but have a lot of reviews. Charge the value of your work. I do - and haven’t anything like as many reviews as you.

The reviews are all over two years old I’m afraid, from when I worked for a student’s fee. They are the reason I decided to reactivate my old gigs and change the price rather than make new gigs though, although from what I understand making new gigs would make it easier to have them appear higher in the results. I’m still very thankful for my previous clients and their reviews so I didn’t want to lose those!

First:Portfolio - you might try translating a page or two from a popular novel, something technical with drawings … and something else.

This is a great idea! I didn’t think about adding non-work translations. I’ll look through my uni assignments, there is sure to be some translation work without copyright issues 🙂

Maybe it might also help the OP / gig sales if the degree was mentioned in the gig descriptions if it’s relevant to them (even though it’s already in the profile).

This is also a good idea! I’ve edited my gigs to reflect this.

Thanks for the answers all! I think I’ll wait until I have a nice copyright-free portfolio before I apply to Pro, so I’ll look into translating some stuff for myself in my free time 🙂

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I am wondering if there is a market for ‘professional’ fees (for professional work) on Fiverr in your experience?

All sellers need something first on fiverr before charging higher fees:

CREDIBILITY

And there is only one way to get that. It’s from a lot of reviews that are positive, so others can see you are legitimate and know what you are doing. So most of us pay the price of charging $5 for a while until we have enough credibility to charge more.

People aren’t going to simply take anyone’s word for it that they are experienced, an expert, great at what they do, etc.

Thank you for your input! I understand where you’re coming from but currently feel I am okay on credibility, as I have a lot of good reviews from when I worked for $5 two years ago and I have been doing the little certification tests Fiverr is offering.

I seem to have lost my visibility, however. Two years ago I was always on the first page of results, but now I’m lost somewhere on page 5 or 6. This makes sense and is not really a problem for me - I am currently in a privileged position where I do not need Fiverr orders to pay my rent anymore, so I can afford to charge what my work is worth. (Or rather, I can’t afford anymore to spend my working hours working for $5). I can accept it if this is outside the budget of Fiverr buyers, I was just wondering how other people experience working for higher rates on Fiverr.

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Thank you for your input! I understand where you’re coming from but currently feel I am okay on credibility, as I have a lot of good reviews from when I worked for $5 two years ago and I have been doing the little certification tests Fiverr is offering.

I seem to have lost my visibility, however. Two years ago I was always on the first page of results, but now I’m lost somewhere on page 5 or 6. This makes sense and is not really a problem for me - I am currently in a privileged position where I do not need Fiverr orders to pay my rent anymore, so I can afford to charge what my work is worth. (Or rather, I can’t afford anymore to spend my working hours working for $5). I can accept it if this is outside the budget of Fiverr buyers, I was just wondering how other people experience working for higher rates on Fiverr.

, I was just wondering how other people experience working for higher rates on Fiverr.

My experience is that lots of fiverr buyers have no problem paying at least $100 for a service if they perceive that service is worth it to them.

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You should create a new gig with a brand new higher price tag.

Just make sure the value proposition is obvious to ANYONE seeking your services, regardless of what their budget may be.

If you don’t need Fiverr sales to get by, then you are in the unique position to set your price and simply wait and see if there are clients willing to pay that price for you on Fiverr.

And yes you should apply for Fiverr Pro.

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