New Voiceover Seller getting $5 gigs but Deserves MUCH More

[bigrose21]

Hey there! Are there any new sellers out there who gets these $5 voiceover gigs, but desires to get much more instead? If yes, then you are like me.

I know it is said to start off at $5 to get buyers and good reviews, but it takes a lot out of you to do these scripts for only $5. It takes time not to mention skills to edit properly. And, most of us who join Fiverr are here to make money.

I may not be the best at voiceover, but I give it my all-in-all. The $5 payment for each voiceover script is a bit low, I think. This is just my opinion for those of us who are fairly good at what we do. And, also not knowing when the next $5 is coming, or if we should still pursue it.

I have put in hours of time with Fiverr and I love it here, but I’m ready to make some big money like yesterday, like so many others here.

Is there anyone else who feels like there should be a way for the Buyers to be made to add a $5 payment to $5 gigs that they are pleased with? This would truly help newbies and encourage them to continue with voiceover, instead of switching to something else or simply abandoning their Fiverr site, like so many have done.

Please share your thoughts and opinions, and let’s have a heart-to-heart discussion.

[katakatica]

I remember when I was new for the first time years ago (ended up travelling the world and not have time to write for a while after that!) and I was convinced that the only way I’d get any orders was if I sold something for super low prices. I charge four times what I used to charge now (with additional fees!) but I think if you’re good at what you do, no one’s stopping you from raising your prices a little - experiment. See what still works! I’m not sure how voice acting works (even dictating some of what I work on drains me!) but I’m sure you can score bigger deals later on, too!

[bigrose21]

I remember when I was new for the first time years ago (ended up travelling the world and not have time to write for a while after that!) and I was convinced that the only way I’d get any orders was if I sold something for super low prices. I charge four times what I used to charge now (with additional fees!) but I think if you’re good at what you do, no one’s stopping you from raising your prices a little - experiment. See what still works! I’m not sure how voice acting works (even dictating some of what I work on drains me!) but I’m sure you can score bigger deals later on, too!

Thank you so much for responding katakatica. I feel like I should raise my price, but I am trying to adhere to what is being said and taught here on Fiverr by simply charging $5 per gig starting off. And, yes, it is draining on me too. Have a good day.

[uk1000]

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But surely for most orders in that gig you’ll be getting more than $5 because they have to pay extra for commercial rights and surely most people who buy a voice over will need that. Also I assume quite a few will need more than the 100 words that that price is for and some may need the other extras.

But I agree, you could put up your prices if you are undercharging.

Add to this the demanding nature of the vast majority of buys in this category buying $5 gigs for their animated video gigs where they charge $60+ yet cry poor when it comes to paying $5 for a VO!!

I doubt many are charging $60 but paying $5 for a VO. eg. commercial use etc. will cost extra. Then there’s extra words/revision cost etc. Most VO charge more I think and it would normally cost extra for quicker delivery so they could animate it with the right timing.

Is there anyone else who feels like there should be a way for the Buyers to be made to add a $5 payment to $5 gigs that they are pleased with?

There’s already the tip option, though buyers aren’t forced to tip (they do get the message that it’s customary to though, depending on public/private rating).

[genuineguidance]

Thank you so much for responding katakatica. I feel like I should raise my price, but I am trying to adhere to what is being said and taught here on Fiverr by simply charging $5 per gig starting off. And, yes, it is draining on me too. Have a good day.

I am trying to adhere to what is being said and taught here on Fiverr by simply charging $5 per gig starting off.

You are only what YOU think you are worth.

Your gut is telling you what you are offering and your level of expertise is worth more than $5 (well, really $4 after fees). Why are you selling yourself short? Adhering to BAD advice as far as selling what you do for $5 is freelancer suicide. You will become burnt out, frustrated and may even give up because you are working for pennies on the dollar.

Is there anyone else who feels like there should be a way for the Buyers to be made to add a $5 payment to $5 gigs that they are pleased with?

Buyers already have the ability to add $5, $10 or even $1000 to a finished order they liked - Fiverr prompts the buyer to not only review the service/product received but to also “tip” at the conclusion of their order. There is NO reason to make a buyer throw you another $5. Plus, you are selling yourself short if you just want $5 extra for a job well done!

Instead of waiting for Fiverr to make buyers do anything, give yourself a raise. If you think you deserve that extra $5 - then raise your price to $10 for your basic Gig.

YOU and only YOU are always in control over what you charge here. Don’t leave it in someone else’s hands to dictate what you can charge. Adhering to what you have "read" is not independent thinking - and that is what being a freelancer is all about - independence.

GG

[imagination7413]

Thank you so much for responding katakatica. I feel like I should raise my price, but I am trying to adhere to what is being said and taught here on Fiverr by simply charging $5 per gig starting off. And, yes, it is draining on me too. Have a good day.

I am trying to adhere to what is being said and taught here on Fiverr

Question. Can you cite where on Fiverr it says this? I have found a few spots where Fiverr states that $5 is the lowest price than can be offered, but I’m not aware of anything that states new Sellers must start or stay at $5.

[chester48]

@bigrose21 I registered on fiver in 2019, but became so serious in 2020 October. I do Animations, I started with 100$ for the cheapest work. I saw alot of people selling for 5$, and had like 5 orders in que why I only had like one. Well, it was better for me. My current average selling price is 150$ as of today. I checked some profiles I was monitoring, during my growth and noticed they are still at no level, while I’m at level one. Only 3 jobs got me to 400/400. With my 27 jobs so far. I’m growing slowly, yes I know, but I have my sanity. I make a lot of money from one video alone at 250, and if I make 2 in a month, I’m very much comfortable. Increasing my price never stopped it. Don’t look at others op, don’t feel inferior to anyone.

[ariannecoach]

I only charge $5 for 1000 words for one of my voiceover gigs, and that is my blog post voiceover gig. I charge less on that gig due to having a passion for blog material, however I also have a stringent confirmation requirement in order to agree to do the order (they have to provide a link to the post, OR screenshot of it in draft status). I do have a 5 order limit on that gig, as I don’t want to get bombarded at any point, but once I get over 20 reviews or if demand gets high, I might raise my price. My audiobook, commercial, and video game voiceovers are priced much higher (per word count).

[vickiespencer]

My first gig I sold for $5. It was for letter writing. Before I quit writing letters, I charged $70 for what that buyer received for $5. At that time I was after my first ten reviews to get my profile rolling.

[enunciator]

Hey there! Are there any new sellers out there who gets these $5 voiceover gigs, but desires to get much more instead? If yes, then you are like me.

I know it is said to start off at $5 to get buyers and good reviews, but it takes a lot out of you to do these scripts for only $5. It takes time not to mention skills to edit properly. And, most of us who join Fiverr are here to make money.

I may not be the best at voiceover, but I give it my all-in-all. The $5 payment for each voiceover script is a bit low, I think. This is just my opinion for those of us who are fairly good at what we do. And, also not knowing when the next $5 is coming, or if we should still pursue it.

I have put in hours of time with Fiverr and I love it here, but I’m ready to make some big money like yesterday, like so many others here.

Is there anyone else who feels like there should be a way for the Buyers to be made to add a $5 payment to $5 gigs that they are pleased with? This would truly help newbies and encourage them to continue with voiceover, instead of switching to something else or simply abandoning their Fiverr site, like so many have done.

Please share your thoughts and opinions, and let’s have a heart-to-heart discussion.

Hey, I started off on the same boat. With no track record to lean on, I performed 300 word VO’s for just 5 bucks. I was absolutely aware that I was severely undervaluing my service, but at that time, I placed a higher priority in developing a positive record on the platform than trying to make any substantial money.

My pricing strategy seemed to have worked and I received numerous orders within my first few months, enough to become a Level One seller and gain a little over a few dozen positive reviews.

But after dealing with numerous huge orders for dirt cheap pay, overly picky buyers, regularly straining my voice, and devoting hours of recording and editing for the equivalent being less than minimum wage, I knew I had to make a change and quickly. I gradually lowered my word count and eventually got rid of offering $5 gigs completely.

It turned out to be the right thing to do. I don’t receive the volume of orders as I did before, but the orders themselves are far more manageable in scale and the buyers in general are of a better quality. I know I should really bump up some of my gig prices again, but am hesitant even though I know it will be the right move in the long run.

Is there anyone else who feels like there should be a way for the Buyers to be made to add a $5 payment to $5 gigs that they are pleased with?

There is an optional way that’s already present called tipping. “Making” buyers pay more than what was agreed upon will result in a lot of understandably disgruntled buyers.

[bigrose21]

My first gig I sold for $5. It was for letter writing. Before I quit writing letters, I charged $70 for what that buyer received for $5. At that time I was after my first ten reviews to get my profile rolling.

Thanks for the response vickiespencer. I appreciate hearing from you.

[bigrose21]

My first gig I sold for $5. It was for letter writing. Before I quit writing letters, I charged $70 for what that buyer received for $5. At that time I was after my first ten reviews to get my profile rolling.

Thanks enunciator for your reply. It’s encouraging to hear from you.

[gopinathdassbd]

Thank you for your very logical opinion.

[bigrose21]

Thank you for your very logical opinion.

Thank you for your response gopinathdassbd. I have slightly begun to raise my price since this open discussion.

[Guest misterbrettc]

But surely for most orders in that gig you’ll be getting more than $5 because they have to pay extra for commercial rights and surely most people who buy a voice over will need that. Also I assume quite a few will need more than the 100 words that that price is for and some may need the other extras.

But I agree, you could put up your prices if you are undercharging.

Add to this the demanding nature of the vast majority of buys in this category buying $5 gigs for their animated video gigs where they charge $60+ yet cry poor when it comes to paying $5 for a VO!!

I doubt many are charging $60 but paying $5 for a VO. eg. commercial use etc. will cost extra. Then there’s extra words/revision cost etc. Most VO charge more I think and it would normally cost extra for quicker delivery so they could animate it with the right timing.

Is there anyone else who feels like there should be a way for the Buyers to be made to add a $5 payment to $5 gigs that they are pleased with?

There’s already the tip option, though buyers aren’t forced to tip (they do get the message that it’s customary to though, depending on public/private rating).

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[uk1000]

(post withdrawn by author, will be automatically deleted in 24 hours unless flagged)

You have the right to refuse if you know it’s for commercial use and they don’t pay your extra for commercial use.

You had said:

the vast majority of buys in this category buying $5 gigs for their animated video gigs where they charge $60+

But you’ve given no proof that the vast majority of buys in the VO category are for $5 (or that the vast majority of buys by explainer creators are of just for $5 for their $60+ gigs.

You don’t have any gigs for $5 so they can’t be buying your gigs for $5 unless you are doing custom offers for them for that amount, ignoring your commercial rights extra for any gigs that have it. You have voice over gigs for a minimum of $10, at least one of which has a $15 extra that is required for commercial rights that the explainer creator would need.

Clicking on the voice over category with the recommended sort shows 24,955 services.

Setting on a budget of max $5 gives 9,697 services. And those are for things like 25 words (probably way under what most explainer videos would need), and where the commercial rights is probably often extra (eg. on the first page, for the 25 word one, it’s $30 for commercial rights). And like I said, they’d need it fast enough to animate to (so if possible 1 day delivery so for a lot of gigs that would likely cost extra). You’re also likely assuming any work they do is negligible and that the explainer creators aren’t worth the price they’re charging, whereas it can take a lot of work and time to do them in the way a buyer wants.

So since that budget filter doesn’t include commercial rights (and it’s needed for explainer videos since the seller would be earning from it) it’s a bit useless and will give many more at the $5 price. But even so,

that’s about 38.9% of VO services - way under half. It doesn’t take into account reviews though.

If you look at the same for best sellers - so actually bought the most according to Fiverr (though I don’t think their filter is totally accurate but there’s no other option to view by number of orders/reviews/per day) (which also ignores the fact that commercial use fee is extra, eg. $20 on the first page) it’s 1437 services out of 4180 services. So again way less than “most”.

Also if explainer creators are spending hours or days on the animating part of it (whereas for the VO it may take minutes or at least a lot less than the animator once they’re in their recording studio with other orders to record) they’d obviously have to charge more if they’re working a lot longer on it. eg. if it took the animator just an hour to do the animation and render it exactly how the the buyer wants (ignoring revisions which they may need to take more time on) they’d likely have spent way more time than the VO artist on it but are not charging that multiple. In reality it might take them many hours/multiple days to do.

[uk1000]

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But to compare workload for a VO to an animator is just plain ignorance.

So how long does it take to record 30 seconds of audio or 1 minute of audio? About 30 seconds for the first and about 1 minute for the second unless a mistake is made (where that part can be respoken).

But it’s true that properly animating that in sync could take multiple hours or days.

So if it takes just 1 hour for them to do it would be fair if the animator priced it at 60 times the cost really since the amount of time worked on it is that much more. In realitiy in can take many hours/multiple days but like I said, they’re not charging that multiple (maybe the pro verifed might).

Yes equipment and software can cost a lot, but it can also for the animator - and maybe cost more due to the additional requirements for video.

I’d sugest you pull your head in and just keep your mouth shut until you can.

There’s no need for insults. Maybe discuss it objectively with proper evidence like I’ve done. You can check those figures I gave to see if they’re about right.

You can get an idea who might be actually earning the most on average by the fact that there are many times more TRS voice over gigs (about 1038) than there are TRS explainer gigs (about 216). So many more VO sellers have likely earned the $20k minimum for that.

I’m not putting down VO in any way. I’m just stating the fact that it normally takes much longer to animate the same duration and that the animators are likely not charging that multiple for the amount of extra time they work on it.