Stop cutting each others throats for 4$ and start making some real money!

[mimie01]

Today I would like to write about a subject I have been reflecting on for a couple of days now very intensely. It all started after I read Corey’s article with the title " Are you selling your soul on Fiverr" on his fiverr blog.



First I was mad a little, because he was criticizing testimonial gigs and how people slave over 4$, boosting other peoples businesses and products, doing all that work and receiving only 4$, but jet as he was saying, these gigs are all over Fiverr, selling like hot cake.



First unreasonable thought of mine was “hater” because I have a video spokesperson gig myself. Second, more rational thought was, “I am mad, because he is right, dang it"



One of my German political science and History collage professor used to always say:” without critic, disagreement and discussion, a product, a service or even intellectual work can never approve and reach perfection. In situations like this, I always try to reflect, take the critic and make changes so something better comes out.



The truth is, that these video testimonial gigs are getting ridicules. Everyday, a new seller pops up on the block, that does more work for 4$. The norm is 20-50 words=5$ and you keep 4$. So I have been seeing gigs that offer 75, or 100 words, which is really a lot for 1 gig. Yesterday, I saw a testimonial gig featured that was doing 300 words for 1 gig. That is like 2-2:30 minutes of footage for 1 gig. It takes time to shoot, to edit, to and make these videos. I can not comprehend this price dumping and undercutting. You might think you are being smart but you really are more hurting yourself and other sellers and feeding into the current madness and frenzy of buyers that want the world on a golden platter for 5$. It is not a good concept for real money making and I will show you why.



I did a internship at the German FBI, doing computer forensics and uncover computer crimes back when I was in collage. Most of my job involved to just sit back and watch the suspects behavior, study there habits and decode there actions. I have been doing the same with the Fiverr site. I am watching and analyzing a lot. What I discovered is that, yes Fiverr will give new people a chance to be promoted, regardless of sales volume or average selling gig price, but and this is very important: The same top rated sellers rotate on the first page. Why, because they either have a super high gig average price, like Suzi, she is a spokesperson, charging 100$ a minute and has only 79 gigs sold, or sellers who have made over 1k+ with also a higher selling average then 5$. They are making money for themselves and for Fiverr, and Fiverr will feature them over and over again! If you are selling yourself short, you will not make enough money that you want to stay in this, its to much work on to little return. Fiverr will not support you beyond your one time newcomer feature also (this is my personal believe)



So what to do? Stop cutting yourself short and dumping gig prices. Charge for your hard work. At these prices, your production and video footage is less worth then a cup of coffee and a donut!



After I was slapped in the face with Corey’s article, I adjusted my gig from 75 words to 20 words per gig. Yes that is correct, and I should have been charging this. And guess what, today, my day started with the same amount of orders as the days before with one difference, now I am making 3x what I made yesterday.



My advice: Offer quality work, work hard and charge what you deserve. Position yourself with the high quality sellers and don’t be a short lived cheep gig.



Peace in the middle east, love —Mimie

[ynneblack]

I think the worst is that people who underrate their gigs are making it impossible for others to compete with them and eventually we will all actually spend 10 hours to get 4 dollars, or leave this site.

[mimie01]

This is, why I think we need to talk about this and set good examples and explain to people what is going on. Thank you for your comment! At least one person agreeing with me…lol

[ryno_7]

This might be fine for a high-rated seller. But us new players to the game need some way to be different and get sales. A 20 word testimonial with 50 reviews will get all the sales and someone doing 20 words and is new to the game will get 0

[mimie01]

I Understand that you offer a little more in the beginning, that’s for sure. By the way, I have no where near as 50 reviews, I only have like 16 and people still order my gig.

[Guest atuldayal]

u r right mimie. But for getting more sales new user should give more than top rated.

[ryno_7]

I mean i understand what you are saying, but new users HAVE to undercut to get over those first few sales bump

[ynneblack]

Reply to @ryno_7: I personally think it’s normal to start low, and slowly raise your prices?

[ryno_7]

Certainly @ynneblack I’ve heard it’s a hard first month after the sales start because you are working to make everyone 100% happy, but after a while you have to decrease workload.

[mimie01]

Reply to @ryno_7: I think its normal to offer a little more, but in the reasonable range, like offer testimonials 10-50 words more than the norm. But what I am talking about here is, people really undercutting like 200,300 words for 5$. This is bad for the seller too. How do you go from 300 words for 1 gig to even 75. It would take so long, because you positioned yourself already as cheapest of the cheap and signal buyers, I pretty much work for free. How would you recover from that?



I mean, do what you believe is right, but don’t except to make any sustainable income here on Fiverr with numbers like that. Example, that guy would have to do a script of 600 words to even earn 8$. Nobody orders that, not on a regular day.



My scripts run usually between 70-75 words. That’s 15$ for a video, endorsing his company or service, with professional equipment and editing. That’s still super cheep and very affordable for any buyer, don’t you think?.

[whitehatseo10]

Very interesting opinions. Thanks!

[fungirl77]

I totally understand what you’re saying. This happens in my (also freelance) “day job.” When you undercut yourself, you undercut the entire market which drives the perceived value down for everyone, including yourself. When I started out here on Fiverr, I did accept some offers that were a little bit too much work for the money in order to get some feedback going. Now I charge for what I believe my time is worth. Some people are willing to pay the cost and some people are not. The most important thing is to stick to your guns in this situation. I may have a “sale” if I’m ever in a bind, but I haven’t had to yet. You just keep doing what you’re doing. You may not make as much, or at least make it as fast as some of the others, but I think you’re definitely doing the right thing by not being part of the problem.

[thecreativeguys]

You need to understand what Fiverr is. It’s 3,000,000 gigs. $4.00 per gig sold.



You got to compete with 3 millions gigs!



Upon signing up on fiverr you got to make that very hard decision.



It’s $4.00 per gig and it’s a he-k of a lot of time to make Hundreds…



You just got to know that



🙂 Joe

[ynneblack]

Reply to @thecreativeguys: Actually, once you are level 2 like yourself, you can charge dozens of dollars on order, if you offer more complex stuff. So you start on 4, it’s the basic offer, but it goes up…

[bestinmarket]

I agree with @ryno_7, You have to offer something cheap but obviously of high quality (whether you have to put the whole day serving for 1 gig!).

And when you think that now you have a good reputation , go ahead and increase the price that you deserve.

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[bestinmarket]

Well, in my opinion, CURRENCY is also the main reason of low offers. (solely my opinion)

I have experienced that many Asians (specifically south Asians) do offer high quality services in cheap rates. Yes, they can afford it. For them $4 is enough. You can see many gigs, offering 3, 4 hours of research or data entry work in just 1 gig.



Sarah!

[kornilov]

Well, I look at it from the different perspective. What you mimie01is trying to do is to organize a sort of professional/workers union (and that is a barrier to normal competition)! You basically ask sellers to keep their prices high so that everyone can generate more profit. It is clearly an attempt for price regulation. I find it to be unfair to the final buyer! What if all the producers of milk in the world (you country, your city) will say “Stop cutting each other throats for 2$ and start making some real money by selling one bottle for 20$”! Will you accept that?



And anyway, I don’t think you will succeed in motivating others to raise their prices. The price is regulated by market, by intersection of supply and demand curves! And this is perfectly competitive market! If some suppliers don’t have much demand to their product, they will simply lower the price (or deliver with extras). If demand is too high, the price can be adjusted accordingly to keep the number of orders within manageable amount.

[kornilov]

Reply to @ynneblack: absolutely! Price should reflect the real demand for product or service!

[mimie01]

Reply to @kornilov: I think your going a little but to far by accusing me of " professional/workers union, or price regulation. I simply voice my oppinion, it’s called freedom of speech. I never suggested any price tag for any gig, everybody can make their pricess as they wish. If they want to work for free, it’s there desission. There is no need for such falt accusation here and its quite insulting. So what are you trying to do here?

[regency85]

Reply to @bestinmarket: You’re absolutely right.



It’s not “currency” by the way; it’s called “Cost Of Living”. And you’ve got it right: Someone in Pacific Asia can make a good living on $4 an hour - while someone in the Big 5 considers $10 an hour to be “bare minimum wage”.



This is the Basic Math of the 21st century… and if anything, this will continue to GROW, not shrink as the OP wishes.

[regency85]

Reply to @kornilov: Absolutely correct. This is “union thinking”… and it is why the Unions are failing in the 21st century! 😮



And again kornilov, you are right. Asking Sellers to keep their prices high, is legally known as “Price Fixing”… and is ILLEGAL in most nations.



AND AGAIN, kornilov gets it right: Supply & Demand will ALWAYS determine prices. Even when attempts at Price Fixing are made, people STILL find a way to price goods & services at “what the market will bear”.



This is BASIC Economics 101. Every person with a university degree, should know this.

[mimie01]

Reply to @ynneblack:Ahha and who are you two? Kapitalist buyers association?

[kornilov]

Reply to @mimie01: "what are you trying to do here?"

Where here?

I didn’t try to insult you, I also simply voiced my opinion over your first post!

[regency85]

Reply to @kornilov: It would appear that mimie only likes freedom of expression… if your opinion agrees with hers. 😉

[mimie01]

Reply to @regency85: There is a difference between an oppinion and accusation, any body with a collage degree should know that!