[OPINION] Milestone Deliveries are Better for Buyers AND Sellers

[creat1vepattern]

Hi Fiverr community!

I wanted to post some thoughts that I have on milestone deliveries and see what others think about the topic.

More specifically, I’m talking about breaking large projects down into smaller chunks, whether sending multiple gigs over time to the same buyer or using Fiverr’s milestone delivery feature.

Bottom line up front, I think incremental deliveries are better for buyers AND sellers.

For example, imagine getting a large order (like developing 12 pages for an entire website) that you spend hours completing, only to have the buyer reject the entire order and request cancellation.

Now instead, imagine if you had agreed to take the project incrementally (perhaps developing 1 page at a time of the 12-page website).

Now, if there was a misunderstanding of the project, the buyer may see the issue as more manageable for correction (vice an entire overhaul) and request a revision (vice a cancellation), meaning that you can proceed onto pages 2, 3, and 4+ knowing that you’re on the right track.

The buyer saves time, and you save the anguish of wasted work.

I’ve started breaking projects down myself lately, and I’ve found myself enjoying the process much more as a result!

One disclaimer, I will generally take on large projects in one go if I’ve worked with a buyer before. This is only because I already know their expectations and goals.

Thoughts? Could there be a benefit to taking on a behemoth project with a buyer you’ve never worked with?

[imagination7413]

As far as risk-mitigation goes, milestones are brilliant. I love that it’s an option for Sellers.

Biggest downside is that Sellers don’t get paid until the entire order is complete. This isn’t really a problem as long as it’s planned for to have ‘petty cash’ to cover expenses and/or the accounting/bookkeeping takes the delay into consideration when budgeting.

It does tend to catch newcomers off-guard. It’s written in the about page, so it shouldn’t, but it still does.

[zreine]

I like it, but in my case big orders that need the milestone option last more than “hours”. For one big order I had to draw 8 illustration. It took me 14 days to complete the order and it was for black and white drawing. With color it could have taken double if not triple the time. Which bring me to the only point I don’t like: All the milestones must be completed before I get my money and I still have to wait 14 days so I can transfer the money. That’s a big amount of time working before I can touch my $$$.

Was writing at the same time as imagination7413 And turns out we wrote basicly the same thing. Oopsi. 😅

[creat1vepattern]

As far as risk-mitigation goes, milestones are brilliant. I love that it’s an option for Sellers.

Biggest downside is that Sellers don’t get paid until the entire order is complete. This isn’t really a problem as long as it’s planned for to have ‘petty cash’ to cover expenses and/or the accounting/bookkeeping takes the delay into consideration when budgeting.

It does tend to catch newcomers off-guard. It’s written in the about page, so it shouldn’t, but it still does.

Agreed, the bookkeeping and accounting aspect of this is definitely an important consideration as well!

[creat1vepattern]

I like it, but in my case big orders that need the milestone option last more than “hours”. For one big order I had to draw 8 illustration. It took me 14 days to complete the order and it was for black and white drawing. With color it could have taken double if not triple the time. Which bring me to the only point I don’t like: All the milestones must be completed before I get my money and I still have to wait 14 days so I can transfer the money. That’s a big amount of time working before I can touch my $$$.

Was writing at the same time as imagination7413 And turns out we wrote basicly the same thing. Oopsi. 😅

I also agree here, and I completely overlooked the bookkeeping aspect of this since I’ve taken the new approach. Thank you!

[english_voice]

Milestones are good for another reason as well…

They force buyers to plan and to consider what result they want for their project.

I know that looks silly in writing, but so many buyers don’t fully know what they want - or if they do, how they will actually arrive at that result.

[creat1vepattern]

Milestones are good for another reason as well…

They force buyers to plan and to consider what result they want for their project.

I know that looks silly in writing, but so many buyers don’t fully know what they want - or if they do, how they will actually arrive at that result.

Absolutely! I’ve certainly ran into this issue in the past for projects large and small and wished that I had conducted a milestone delivery instead (for the larger projects) - thank you 😀