Fiverr pricing is misleading

[rosemarielee959]

Why do Fiverr gig prices differ so drastically from the actual price? I first started using the site a few years ago when gigs were actually done for a fiver. Now, you have to contact the seller before paying because every gig price is actually much higher than the listed price. I find it very misleading when a gig is advertised for $5 and when I contact the seller it is $30. That’s not right.

[donnovan86]

That’s the seller at fault, not Fiverr.

I read a lot of posts yesterday and today with people who received a warning because their gig price was misleading.

[Alex.M]

Why do Fiverr gig prices differ so drastically from the actual price? I first started using the site a few years ago when gigs were actually done for a fiver. Now, you have to contact the seller before paying because every gig price is actually much higher than the listed price. I find it very misleading when a gig is advertised for $5 and when I contact the seller it is $30. That’s not right.

I find it very misleading when a gig is advertised for $5 and when I contact the seller it is $30. That’s not right.

It definitely depends , not everything is doable for a basic price,it depends on the complexity of the job… You can’t buy a Ferrari for the price of a Fiat .

[graphtersawyer]

You’re correct, but this is usually more the seller. Of course, sometimes I just self-quote wrong. If a seller quotes me a price higher than listed and cannot give me an itemized list or clear reason as to why, I don’t work with them. Sometimes things may cost more than we expected, but the real worry should be when no rationale is given for the price increase.

For example, I saw a seller offer $30 to edit a video. I contacted him, and he told me it would be $80. After I asked why, he explained that the effects I wanted in the video would not be included in the $30 price. He listed exactly what’s included in the $30 and what I asked for that was extra/not included. This made sense, and I ordered anyway.

In another example, I went to seller to get something for $50, and he quoted me $150. I asked him why, and he said $50 was too low of a price— even though it’s the price he listed. He set a price he wasn’t comfortable with and tried to use the lower price just to lure me in (not to honor). I politely declined to work with him.

When a seller quotes more than you expected, ask them to clearly and concisely explain the difference in what you would get for $X vs. $XX or why what you want doesn’t fit into the lower price category. If they give you a satisfactory response, go for it. If they don’t, tell them you’ll work with someone else.

**Note that this applies to querying sellers on your own, not buyer’s requests where sellers should honor their original quotes.

[valon_art]

You’re correct, but this is usually more the seller. Of course, sometimes I just self-quote wrong. If a seller quotes me a price higher than listed and cannot give me an itemized list or clear reason as to why, I don’t work with them. Sometimes things may cost more than we expected, but the real worry should be when no rationale is given for the price increase.

For example, I saw a seller offer $30 to edit a video. I contacted him, and he told me it would be $80. After I asked why, he explained that the effects I wanted in the video would not be included in the $30 price. He listed exactly what’s included in the $30 and what I asked for that was extra/not included. This made sense, and I ordered anyway.

In another example, I went to seller to get something for $50, and he quoted me $150. I asked him why, and he said $50 was too low of a price— even though it’s the price he listed. He set a price he wasn’t comfortable with and tried to use the lower price just to lure me in (not to honor). I politely declined to work with him.

When a seller quotes more than you expected, ask them to clearly and concisely explain the difference in what you would get for $X vs. $XX or why what you want doesn’t fit into the lower price category. If they give you a satisfactory response, go for it. If they don’t, tell them you’ll work with someone else.

**Note that this applies to querying sellers on your own, not buyer’s requests where sellers should honor their original quotes.

In another example, I went to seller to get something for $50, and he quoted me $150. I asked him why, and he said $50 was too low of a price— even though it’s the price he listed.

If the job for 150 is exactly the same as the seller would charge for 50 then he/she could get a warning for misleading.

[ulrich_germania]

I am a buyer and I also made this negative experiance. The description in the gig was very promising and I ordered according to the promised description. My requirements were definitivly within the described service, and from the reviews and the attached deliveries, I saw that the seller was doing such things. But upon my order, the seller suddenly declinded my order! Reason: I should have contacted him before ordering. But this was not said in the gig description. Lesson learned: I cannot even trust the 5* recommendation of another buyer. Maybe the other buyer payed more than the offered gig price but did not say it.

[english_voice]

Personally I think prices are clearly advertised. Whether the seller has just one package per gig or three, all the prices are fixed - and as a buyer, you can go right ahead and purchase them. Some sellers will offer gig extras for an additional charge.

The only time a price might differ is when a seller gives you a custom quote. In which case it’s up to you to decide if their quote is fair or not. Yes, I agree - at this point some sellers might inflate their price, in which case I would have no hesitation in telling them “I’ll find someone else to work with”.

[mjaninea]

Hello! I am a seller. Some gigs are advertised at 5$ because that’s the starting price. Of course, depending on the project and on the buyer’s needs, all gigs have “extra” services, like source file, additional concept for designs, additional hours of works and these all contribute to increase the initial price of 5$. Some gigs also have different packages and here the price varies as well.

I personally have some gig with starting price 5$ and I keep that as that, except for the times when buyer asks for an additional concept of design, a more elaborate work, ecc.

[sirleewho]

You can’t just say the prices are misleading in general. Because I’m also a seller, I’ve a gig which the basic package price is $5 and I clearly stated what that basic package contains. But buyers have to remember that most of their project requirements for a basic package price is more than of the actual basic package price of $5. So it’s crystal clear that what you require is more than what was advertised.

[sirleewho]

I am a buyer and I also made this negative experiance. The description in the gig was very promising and I ordered according to the promised description. My requirements were definitivly within the described service, and from the reviews and the attached deliveries, I saw that the seller was doing such things. But upon my order, the seller suddenly declinded my order! Reason: I should have contacted him before ordering. But this was not said in the gig description. Lesson learned: I cannot even trust the 5* recommendation of another buyer. Maybe the other buyer payed more than the offered gig price but did not say it.

According to my animated explainer gig, the price is 5usd which the duration 30 seconds, with no voice over and no script writing. But for example a buyer contacted me and ask me to include voice over which I’m the one to purchase the voice over from a voice artist. So he asked what’s the price and I told them 20usd and he finally agreed to pay 15 USD. So let’s do some calculations below.

Order placed for Animation video + voice over $15 + transaction fee $2 = $17

Voice over $5 + transaction fee + $2 = 7

At the end of the voice over recording order. The voice over artist receives $4.

Whole video order completion $15 minus 20% of $15 =12

We have to minus $7 for voice over from the $12 remains $5 in total.

Animator $5

Voice over artist $4

fiverr transaction fees $4 + order percentages $4 = $8

It’s clear here.

Come to think of this, buyers requirements are mostly out of the basic package and yet they want the same price for their different requirements.

Some gig required to make purchases from other sellers which most buyers don’t know and they think the prices are misleading or it’s kinda bait-and-switched marketing process. Well no, it’s not.

And there are buyer’s projects that needs a subscribe-based softwares to be used for their projects. If you keep purchasing $5 gigs, well you will come some day and that seller will be nowhere to be found because they weren’t able to provide that service anymore.

Have you ever for example purchase a voice over gig? If you haven’t, let me tell you a little about it.

A voice over gig of $5 for 500 words. It’s very cheap right? Well it’s not, most of the voice over artist will ask you to purchase the commercial rights for the voice over they will record for you and the commercial rights charges will be $25. Well, here we come! $5 for voice over + commercial rights $25 = $30.

So there are several services on fiverr that requires more efforts and money.

[retrologo]

Why do Fiverr gig prices differ so drastically from the actual price? I first started using the site a few years ago when gigs were actually done for a fiver. Now, you have to contact the seller before paying because every gig price is actually much higher than the listed price. I find it very misleading when a gig is advertised for $5 and when I contact the seller it is $30. That’s not right.

every gig price is actually much higher than the listed price

The price depends on the complexity of the job. Some of the buyers expect everything for 5$. It’s not fair for the seller. So that’s why many sellers mentioning their gig description “contact me before purchasing”. My opinion is before purchasing contact seller and request a quote. If you are not fit that find someone else 🙂

[visualstudios]

It depends on what you offer. I work with video and get all kinds of clients, from youtubers to established companies. I show a 3 tiered price list (since that’s the way Fiverr works), but I explicitly say in my gigs to contact me for a quote. It’s impossible to just have a price displayed when the work changes so much from order to order, and there’s no good way to package it.

A client goes on the gig and sees “30 second video - $x”. But a 30 second video can take 10 minutes to make… or it can take 10 hours. So the price shown is just a reference point, and I can only provide an accurate price once I get all the project details.

There’s nothing misleading about this, it’s just the way the platform works. If I was charging by the hour, I could have a clear, fixed list price. Since I’m charging by the project, and all projects are different, I need to estimate how long each will take me so I can price.

Now, if you’re talking about repetitive work, or clearly defined scope (voice over artists, for example, know how long it will take them to read “x” words, regardless of the project), then the price should be clearly displayed, of course. That just doesn’t work as well for bespoke, creative tasks.