Why is a Seller charged a fee for the tip they receive AND the Buyer is charged to send the tip? Is this "double-dipping?"

[omnilegentangel]

I am a Seller and I'm also a Buyer (but I'm a Seller more than I am a Buyer). As a Seller, I've always received a tip for my work (of which I am grateful). However, as a recent Buyer, I was given the opportunity to provide my Seller with a tip. Naturally, I applaud being able to give a good Seller a tip when they have done good work. But when I went to give the tip, I was sent back a message that I had to pay extra money to send the tip because it was for Fiverr's administrative costs to give the tip to the Seller. If this is the case, then why is the Seller also charged? I'm really confused as to how this fee can be charged on both ends. Can anyone provide an explanation? Ty. 

Happy Selling and Buying!

Angela

[katakatica]

From what I reckon, it's the same as ordering (or for example, paying for a gig extra.) Basically, the service fee is paid by the buyer - and we also pay our cuts (the 20%).

I do think that before it used to be a bit different (tips went to the seller fully) but that didn't work out. From what I remember, some people asked buyers to pay say, five bucks and tip the rest. Basically, on one hand of course this way Fiverr gets extra money but also it makes sure people can't play the system. 

[omnilegentangel]

I still dont' understand charging the Buyer for the tip AND the seller. As a Buyer, the lowest amount you can tip is $5. I've paid $2.38 on top of the $5 just to give the tip. That's a total of $7.38. Then, as a Seller, Fiverr takes out 20% of the tip. When I've received a $20 tip, I'm only getting $16 of that tip. So if Fiverr is charging half of the tip to the Buyer ($10) and I'm being charged 20% of the tip ($4), that means Fiverr is making $14 on a $20 tip. That seems a bit much to me. Just my thoughts. 

[katakatica]

1 hour ago, omnilegentangel said:

I still dont' understand charging the Buyer for the tip AND the seller. As a Buyer, the lowest amount you can tip is $5. I've paid $2.38 on top of the $5 just to give the tip. That's a total of $7.38. Then, as a Seller, Fiverr takes out 20% of the tip. When I've received a $20 tip, I'm only getting $16 of that tip. So if Fiverr is charging half of the tip to the Buyer ($10) and I'm being charged 20% of the tip ($4), that means Fiverr is making $14 on a $20 tip. That seems a bit much to me. Just my thoughts. 

My theory works in reverse as well. If a buyer realizes that he's not charged (or charged a lot less) for a tip, he might start asking sellers to quote him, say, $5 and 'he will pay the rest as a tip'. With how obvious the difference it cost it would be, I think people catch on... and well, I don't think ANY seller wants to be paid that way. 

I do think the fee is a bit high (though I think it stays $2.5 or something for a bit, so it doesn't scale up, but I haven't given a tip in a bit), but it likely just matches what buyers already pay. If it does stay the same, I think it also encourages people to spend more in a way (outsource the same seller for bigger projects/etc. It might be kind of unfair but... it's just how it is, I guess.

[visualstudios]

15 minutes ago, katakatica said:

he might start asking sellers to quote him, say, $5 and 'he will pay the rest as a tip'.

And the sellers will say "no", because then they aren't guaranteed any payment. Being afraid of that is Fiverr saying "our freelancers are idiots, and can't be trusted". That's the issue. Now, the good, serious sellers, have to pay for the idiots.

[coerdelion]

In the old days, sellers used to have a gig marked "tip jar".  Buyers bought it if they wanted to and received a small image or something as a delivery.  Once Fiverr started allowing a charge of more than $5 for a gig, they added the facility to the delivery/review process. 

There has never been a time when Fiverr didn't take a cut of tips. 

There is no way to give a cash tip that a seller can just accept and stick in their pockets, like a restaurant.  Unless they want to get banned

[yourbrandingpal]

4 hours ago, katakatica said:

he will pay the rest as a tip

Fiverr has already tackled this issue by limiting how much you can tip. There is an upper limit on how much you can tip.