So....Fiverr Taking Their 20% Cut On Tips....Let's Talk About That.

[izah_moh]

So I've been getting a lot of tips on Fiverr from a lot of my recent orders (not that I'm complaining in any way, thank you universe for blessing me with this positive karma), and ever since the first tip I got I was confused (well, I'm not anymore, but I was then). It reflects on you earnings page as a regular order so the first time I didn't pay proper attention and thought they were just regular orders. Till it was time for payout and I saw my earnings wasn't complete and went back to check and realized the tip had a 20% cut taken from it.

Now this isn't me raising a torch flag at Fiverr, but back when I went to look for resources that explained whether they take cuts on tips or not, I found nothing. Not even posts on it on the forum. (Which, p.s, niiiiice forum update! I haven't been here in a while and was surprise by the new upgrade. I like it very much! 💕)

After I got more tips from more orders I realized that this was just how things were and didn't think to question it. After all, anytime you even breath about Fiverr's commission fees, there's someone ready to rip you limb from limb and scream that "If you don't like it then leave!!!". Which isn't what I'm here to do. I just wanted to see what other sellers think about this.

Do you feel it's perfectly all right to charge 20% for your tips since they provided the platform that facilitated the exchange of your services? Or do you feel no, it's kinda wrong, it's like a restaurant taking a percentage of the tips waiters earned while working there.

I'm going Philly D with this and asking you what you're thoughts on the topic are and where you land on the spectrum? I'd love to hear from you!

(If it turns out that they DID mention this "20% from tips" thing somewhere in the terms of service, and my monkey brain just didn't find it, then kindly just ignore this entire post.)

[izah_moh]

I wanted to see if I could add a poll. But this forum is so snazzy and new that I have no clue how to do that. I think it'll just erase the original topic/post? Help me please! 😅🤣

Maybe if the topic becomes popular enough we will do a poll in another separate post! ❤💖💕

[lloydsolutions]

• Each Gig you sell and successfully complete, accredits your account with a revenue equal to 80% of the purchase amount.
• The above is from the Terms of Service at the bottom of the Fiverr main page.
• Here is an explanation topic and updated link: Fiverr Help and Education Center

Edited September 1, 2021 by lloydsolutions

[newsmike]

1 hour ago, izah_moh said:

Not even posts on it on the forum.

This has been discussed many times over the years on the forum. So here is a question, if they stopped taking 20% from tips. Do you really think that people would not immediately start asking for a $200 order to be paid for as a $5 service and a sneaky $195 tip to avoid paying fiverr?

That would happen 5 seconds after they changed the rules. 

[rachelbostwick]

My customers, bless them, are always apologizing to me about this. They think it's sad that Fiverr takes such a hefty cut even of my tip. But honestly, a 20% processing fee for a platform that has let me sell without ever having to run an ad anywhere else, that's fantastic. They get me customers and they assume every risk that comes with doing business with strangers. Worth every dime. And like @newsmike said, if it wasn't consistent and applied to tips as well, then people would be gaming the system to keep the commission away from Fiverr. Humans are min-maxers by nature, if there's a way to get around something, someone is going to do it. 

Some of us old folks remember when there was no tip system at all and customers had to offer to gig you a whole new gig in order to give you a little extra money. When they implemented the actual tip system it was like Christmas. Seeing that extra money come in at the end of a good order makes my whole day. 

Anyone who doesn't like Fiverr's 20%? Very easy to solve. Decide how much you want to earn from a project, then add 25% to account for Fiverr's cut. Think like a business person, not like a victim. I know you can't do that for tips, but make sure you are charging enough for your work that the tip is a bonus, not something you get upset over only getting 80% of.

[surajkartha]

Well, so far as I am concerned, that's just another way for Fiverr to make money.. I would want a seller to keep 100% of the tip amount.. simply because that's a buyer's way of showing appreciation for a job well done.. it's not for Fiverr to take.. at least that's what I feel.. 

[newsmike]

6 minutes ago, surajkartha said:

I would want a seller to keep 100% of the tip amount.

OK, so how do you get aroung the fraud issue that was brought up? There are plenty of scammers here, so how would you propose they prevent that?

Edited September 1, 2021 by newsmike

[izah_moh]

27 minutes ago, rachelbostwick said:

My customers, bless them, are always apologizing to me about this. They think it's sad that Fiverr takes such a hefty cut even of my tip.

Yes! I've met some very nice sellers who have given me tips as a way to make up the difference of Fiverr taking out their fees. And other being shocked an appalled when they realized their tip was being taken from.

I thought sellers knew about the fee since I think one even told me they pay extra to even send in a tip.

I don't fault Fiverr at all for taking their cut. It's their platform and it's afforded me wonderful opportunities. I just wanted to talk about it and see other sellers opinions about the subject ever since after I had that interaction I had with that buyer.

[surajkartha]

4 minutes ago, newsmike said:

OK, so how do you get aroung the fraud issue that was brought up? There are plenty of scammers here, so how would you propose they prevent that?

Respectfully, that's Fiverr's problem to deal with.. humans are likely to commit crimes, doesn't mean everyone should be in prison.. Fiverr makes enough to use any means necessary to fix the problems without having to dig their hands in sellers pockets... at least that's the way I see it.. 

[izah_moh]

1 hour ago, newsmike said:

This has been discussed many times over the years on the forum. So here is a question, if they stopped taking 20% from tips. Do you really think that people would not immediately start asking for a $200 order to be paid for as a $5 service and a sneaky $195 tip to avoid paying fiverr?

That would happen 5 seconds after they changed the rules. 

Fair argument. But also, if a tip is larger then the sum of the order (by multiple percentages even) I assumed Fiverr would be obligated to look into it or even have an algorithm to detect and deal with such occurrences accordingly.

People suck. No two ways about it. But if we started dictating the way the platform operated because of a few bad eggs, then we should just turn off the setting to allow newbies to join right now.

People already exploit the platform without these things in place. But I get where you're coming from and value your input. It's actually really insightful and a good point to look at!

[rachelbostwick]

4 minutes ago, surajkartha said:

Respectfully, that's Fiverr's problem to deal with.. humans are likely to commit crimes, doesn't mean everyone should be in prison.. Fiverr makes enough to use any means necessary to fix the problems without having to dig their hands in sellers pockets... at least that's the way I see it.. 

I think you could make the case that they are dealing with it, by taking the 20%. 🙂 They also have a cap on tips, by making it impossible to tip more than 100%. I sort of think they should get rid of the cap, since the 20% comes out of it anyway. I've had customers who wanted to tip me more like 150% on an order. That's just more money for both of us, I don't see a downside there. But I still think they should keep the 20%.

[newsmike]

10 minutes ago, izah_moh said:

And other being shocked an appalled when they realized their tip was being taken from.

Just more folks who didn't bother to read the TOS when they signed up. Being surprised by it is not on fiverr, but it says a lot about the person who is dumbfounded by it. Why is reading and comprehension such a chore for people who are self described geniuses in their profiles? 

[surajkartha]

4 minutes ago, newsmike said:

No problem, I thought you might want to add to the converstaion with an argument more reasoned than "No fair, wah wah." Thanks for bringing the perspective of a 5 year old.  

Well, barriers to entry itself are designed from the perspective of a 5 year old, so nothing to talk about really.. it's not like after this discussion, Fiverr's going to take a note of our conversation and make the changes to please either of us..

[izah_moh]

2 hours ago, lloydsolutions said:

• Each Gig you sell and successfully complete, accredits your account with a revenue equal to 80% of the purchase amount.
• The above is from the Terms of Service at the bottom of the Fiverr main page.
• Here is an explanation topic and updated link: Fiverr Help and Education Center

I swear to God I saw NONE of this when I looked through Google search and the forming for 2 to several hours straight for answers for this. Thanks so much though! That loophole a scenario is super scary. Although after 3 years, would Fiverr be able to find a solution to the loophole problem?

I mean, tips aren't a regular common occurrence that they can't have people review it from time to time when things look fishy.

And if that be the case, sellers who try that practice more often than not will fall in the hands of buyers willing to scam them and walk away with all their money and the seller would have no way of reporting to Fiverr (because then they will just be outing themselves). So it would more than likely solve itself as the sellers would stop offering such an avenue because they got scammed too many times.

At the end of the day, it's just 20%. Pay it for your order and quit whining you baby. (👈🏽 I'm saying this to the sellers who hate the 20% rule and are constantly trying to find loopholes)

[newsmike]

8 minutes ago, izah_moh said:

then we should just turn off the setting to allow newbies to join right now.

No, not noobs, but yes, people who show up, don't learn how things work and then complain about it. Yes absolutely. 

[surajkartha]

3 minutes ago, rachelbostwick said:

I think you could make the case that they are dealing with it, by taking the 20%. 🙂 They also have a cap on tips, by making it impossible to tip more than 100%. I sort of think they should get rid of the cap, since the 20% comes out of it anyway. I've had customers who wanted to tip me more like 150% on an order. That's just more money for both of us, I don't see a downside there. But I still think they should keep the 20%.

Like I said, it doesn't have to be by taking anything from the seller besides what they are already taking.. Btw I doubt if they have a cap on tips.. do they? I remember paying $10 on a $5 order just because I felt bad paying $5 lol..

[izah_moh]

5 minutes ago, rachelbostwick said:

I think you could make the case that they are dealing with it, by taking the 20%. 🙂 They also have a cap on tips, by making it impossible to tip more than 100%. I sort of think they should get rid of the cap, since the 20% comes out of it anyway. I've had customers who wanted to tip me more like 150% on an order. That's just more money for both of us, I don't see a downside there. But I still think they should keep the 20%.

You quite literally learn something new every day. Why put a cap on it though??? That's MORE money!

I think they implemented it initially as a counter scam measure but at the end of the day they're still taking their 20% soooooo, what gives!?

[rachelbostwick]

4 minutes ago, izah_moh said:

I mean, tips aren't a regular common occurrence…

Speak for yourself 😉

5 minutes ago, izah_moh said:

Although after 3 years, would Fiverr be able to find a solution to the loophole problem?

They did - they take 20% and it's solved 😉

5 minutes ago, izah_moh said:

So it would more than likely solve itself as the sellers would stop offering such an avenue because they got scammed too many times.

You're right about that. It would hurt newbies more than most people, but there would also be regular buyers who would be working with regular sellers and have a regular practice of scamming Fiverr.

5 minutes ago, surajkartha said:

Btw I doubt if they have a cap on tips.. do they? I remember paying $10 on a $5 order just because I felt bad paying $5 lol..

They definitely do. I don't remember what the exact formula is right now. On higher orders it's limited to 100% and on lower orders there is a flat cap. I've had more than one customer that wanted to tip me more than 100% on a high order and not be able to do it.

[rachelbostwick]

Ahh here it is. I also don't see the point in having limits to prevent fraud as long as there is a flat 20% taken out, but there might be something I haven't thought of yet.

Fiverr Help and Education Center:

How much can I tip?

• The minimum amount is $5.
• For orders below $25, the tip can be up to $25.
• For orders above $25, the tip can be up to 100% of the price of the order.

Note: These limitations are in place to prevent fraud.

[maitasun]

29 minutes ago, newsmike said:

There are plenty of scammers here,

You bet! 😡

I just discovered a level 2 seller from Indonesia stole the entire description of my forex/trading translation gig!!! 😡

[izah_moh]

7 minutes ago, newsmike said:

Just more folks who didn't bother to read the TOS when they signed up. Being surprised by it is not on fiverr, but it says a lot about the person who is dumbfounded by it. Why is reading and comprehension such a chore for people who are self described geniuses in their profiles? 

To be fair I don't think buyers should/would read the terms of service with as much scrutiny as sellers should/would.

It's perfectly reasonable and understandable for them to be surprised by that.

Heck, I've met buyers who were surprised by the 20% commission fee on normal orders and decided to tip me afterwards simply because they felt bad and that the charges were too much.

This platform is just a place for people to buy and sell things. I don't think there's much intelligence required in doing that 😅

It shouldn't be as complicated as people are trying to make it out to be.

[surajkartha]

4 minutes ago, rachelbostwick said:

Ahh here it is. I also don't see the point in having limits to prevent fraud as long as there is a flat 20% taken out, but there might be something I haven't thought of yet.

Fiverr Help and Education Center:

How much can I tip?

• The minimum amount is $5.
• For orders below $25, the tip can be up to $25.
• For orders above $25, the tip can be up to 100% of the price of the order.

Note: These limitations are in place to prevent fraud.

They should've instead said "These limitations are in place to prevent fraud. BUT.. we will still take 20% from your tips" 😂

[rachelbostwick]

Just now, izah_moh said:

It shouldn't be as complicated as people are trying to make it out to be.

It doesn't have to be, until people run into problems and then complain about them instead of investigating and learning. Know what I mean? I don't make a habit of memorizing the terms of service, but if something confuses me or I don't know the answer to something, I will go and consult them instead of going to the forum to yell and demand or quit. That's not directed at you, btw, I understand you were just curious about people's opinions. But it's definitely a regular occurrence. I am fine with jumping right into things and failing all over the place, but I don't blame other people when that approach means I have to go find things out later because of it.

[newsmike]

6 minutes ago, izah_moh said:

This platform is just a place for people to buy and sell things. I don't think there's much intelligence required in doing that 😅

There are many of us who take what we do here seriously, so it kind bothers us a bit when people don't take it seriously. Like the following from your gig:

First you describe your self as a "Professional Voice over artist" in your gig thumbnail, then say the following...

I'm doing this simply for fun and as a way to make extra money, so please consider me if you want someone who is fun, lose and not as stuffy as everyone else presents themselves here XD

Some of us are running businesses here, so we take offense to people who don't give a damn about things like reading the rules, being serious about what they sell, or misrepresenting their race in their profile pic. 

 

Edited September 1, 2021 by newsmike

[izah_moh]

6 minutes ago, rachelbostwick said:

Speak for yourself 😉

I wasn't speaking for myself, 🤔 I was speaking for the platform as a whole. Most sellers don't, if ever, get tips. Just making a general none specific statement cause I don't like to assume.

 

8 minutes ago, rachelbostwick said:

They did - they take 20% and it's solved 😉

That wasn't a solution. That was their initial implement of the idea to stop the POTENTIAL of a problem before it even happened. So like I said, 3 years later should have given them enough time to come up with a PROPER solution to that didn't even yet occur.

 

7 minutes ago, rachelbostwick said:

I also don't see the point in having limits to prevent fraud as long as there is a flat 20% taken out, but there might be something I haven't thought of yet.

Exactly! If they can implement this. Why can they have a system were if the tip is more then, I don't know, 20% of the initial order? Or 50%? Then they take their cut of the tip.

So if someone makes a $5 service but asks for $50 tip, they take the full 20% cut, cause 50 bucks is 1000% more then the initial order.

I can't be the only one that thinks this is a relatively simple enough problem to fix if the right minds (and coding experts) were brought together?