Are there really people on Fiverr who take on a giant task for peanuts?

[nickj2013]

So, I see some Buyer Requests where a client is asking for A LOT ... of work, and then their listed budget is like $10 or something. As a serious seller who's recently crossed the 20k in sales mark on this platform, I cannot fathom how a fellow seller would see this listing, and agree to take the job. Unless they view Fiverr strictly as either a hobby, or just a place to practice and sharpen their skills. In which case, they don't care about the money. In that instance, I can see doing a big job at half or even slightly below the market rate. But writing a whole novel for $15, or coming up with a business slogan for just $5? Like ... really? Isn't there a point where the 'transaction' crosses over into indentured servitude territory if the price is that low, and the job that hefty? I also wonder how many of these contracts really pan out. Where the client gets exactly what they asked for at such a low price. I imagine many of them end in disaster. I couldn't imagine hiring someone to build an entire, modern day, functional website with all the bells and whistles for $25 or under ... and getting a high quality product at the end of it.

[visualstudios]

40 minutes ago, nickj2013 said:

But writing a whole novel for $15, or coming up with a business slogan for just $5?

How are those comparable? I would write a slogan for $5, that's trivial. A whole novel, on the other hand... lol

Anyway, the answer is desperation. Tons of desperate sellers here. And of course the client will get garbage, that goes without saying. Pay peanuts, get monkeys.

[nickj2013]

2 minutes ago, visualstudios said:

How are those comparable? I would write a slogan for $5, that's trivial. A whole novel, on the other hand... lol

Anyway, the answer is desperation. Tons of desperate sellers here.

So the time and effort it takes to develop, then perfect, multiple potential slogans for a company or brand, you'd do that for just $5?

[visualstudios]

That's not what I said. I said I could write a slogan for $5. It's a sentence. I'm quite good at writing catchy sentences quickly. Also, not multiple, you just said "come up with a business slogan for $5". That sounds doable in 5 minutes. Either way, this is an hypothetical, since I don't offer writing services. But it's absurd to compare writing a slogan for $5 to writing a novel for $15, come on. I can see one of those happening, the other is impossible.

[nickj2013]

Perhaps, a bit of hyperbole. But I was just making the overall point that so many potential clients on here put out feelers for major work or projects, with set prices that are extremely low. Makes me wonder who would emerge to actually take the gig at such an anemic price?

[visualstudios]

Desperate people who want to sell at any cost. And again, of course the work done will be garbage.

[katakatica]

8 hours ago, nickj2013 said:

A LOT ... of work, and then their listed budget is like $10 or something

My prices are still lower than what I'd like at some point (I've only been taking Fiverr seriously for a year, before that I always had another job AND school to think of!) but there are already people who charge much less than I do - and it bugs me a bit as well. 

But BR IS filled with people asking for 50k words for 60 bucks - and similar things

(... And then the rest are scams). I remember when I was starting out and had absolutely 0 idea about how I should price my writing - seeing the BRs made me think my pricing was already on the higher end. It wasn't!) My point is - newer sellers are easily influenced by what they see - and of course, they all want orders, right? Especially when they come from countries where life is a tad different (earning $1000 where I'm at is pretty damn great for example but in Paris it'd be nothing!) It's hard to start out. 

(...That being said I did notice that such crazy BRs do get less answers nowadays. Maybe people are leading?)

[catwriter]

7 hours ago, nickj2013 said:

Makes me wonder who would emerge to actually take the gig at such an anemic price?

Years ago, there was a buyer complaining on the forum that he has received a plagiarized book of 30 pages. His budget? $5. He said that he didn't expect much, just 30 pages of somewhat decent content that he could work on, and clickable ToC.

For $5.

The seller had a profile picture of a pretty blonde (that pretty blonde was actually a Serbian tennis player who definitely doesn't work on Fiverr), and the buyer admitted that he liked the picture and it was about 2 in the morning when he placed the order...

Long story short, and to answer your question, what buyers can hope to get for that amount is plagiarized content. And even that is too much work from the seller's side for such a price.

[nickj2013]

20 hours ago, catwriter said:

Years ago, there was a buyer complaining on the forum that he has received a plagiarized book of 30 pages. His budget? $5. He said that he didn't expect much, just 30 pages of somewhat decent content that he could work on, and clickable ToC.

For $5.

The seller had a profile picture of a pretty blonde (that pretty blonde was actually a Serbian tennis player who definitely doesn't work on Fiverr), and the buyer admitted that he liked the picture and it was about 2 in the morning when he placed the order...

Long story short, and to answer your question, what buyers can hope to get for that amount is plagiarized content. And even that is too much work from the seller's side for such a price.

The pic thing on here is so odd though. Like when looking for people to hire, I see profiles with pictures that don’t even come close to matching up with the overall aesthetic of their gig description. 

It’s like who do they think they’re fooling?

[catwriter]

1 hour ago, nickj2013 said:

It’s like who do they think they’re fooling?

They do manage to fool some...

[teramangala]

I don't look too much at buyers request now, but when I respond I always ignored the asking price and always offered my price. Sometimes it worked.

[johnalet]

New sellers especially take up this tasks just to get their gig and for reviews. I did took up one copy paste job which I thought would be that easy only to realize its a large volume of file for just $25, it almost sniffed out life from me cos I was under pressure to deliver on time. Sleepless nights for just $25. I learnt from there actually, and am in no rush anymore to get to the $400 mark which qualifies me for level 1. Though I still take up some, but it should be at a reasonable price

[nickj2013]

14 hours ago, johnalet said:

New sellers especially take up this tasks just to get their gig and for reviews. I did took up one copy paste job which I thought would be that easy only to realize its a large volume of file for just $25, it almost sniffed out life from me cos I was under pressure to deliver on time. Sleepless nights for just $25. I learnt from there actually, and am in no rush anymore to get to the $400 mark which qualifies me for level 1. Though I still take up some, but it should be at a reasonable price

As a new seller I too took on jobs for just $5. But the plan was always to raise prices as I gained more reviews, and completed a healthy number of orders. It's just the machinations of being 'in demand' and gaining familiarity with the overall platform, and customer base. But I also made sure not to do HEAVY jobs for that price. The work and time necessary just couldn't be covered for five bucks. If the client disagreed well, tough.