What do you do when you get too many orders?

[authorjanebnigh]

I know many of you are struggling with too few orders but I have the opposite problem at the moment. I work full time outside of fiverr and so I can only devote about three or four hours to my fiverr work. I keep getting orders and right now I am still managing to fulfill them (mostly by cancelling when I feel like an order is too complicated/too big) but do any of you have any tips at how to keep your numbers manageable but still have enough orders to meet your needs?

[reasonableweb]

I would first off place in your descriptions that theirs a 2 week waiting period perhaps? I would also lower how many words your doing maybe. Quite honestly I looked at your projects and on the surfaces looks like quite a bargain. I had to add you to my favorites. So if anything this post is getting you more gigs :P.

[sara1984]

Yes, 1000 words for $5 is too cheap for your services. Getting too many orders is natures way of telling you this!



I offer 1000 words sometimes, but usually find I get too overwhelmed with orders. I’ve recently reduced my word count, and suggest you do the same if you’re having a hard time.



I know you may want to offer up a great product, but no writer can continually write 10,000 words per day at a high standard on topics they know nothing about, especially when battling the clock. Lower your word count, continue to offer your great product then simply increase it again if you struggle to maintain orders.

[rachelbostwick]

Sara nailed it. Raise your prices - 250 or 500 words for $5 with extra pricing to get 1000 words. You’ve got great feedback =)

[fastcopywriter]

You’ll have to extend your delivery time, maybe 14 days. I won’t be ordering from you,

if I need an article, I need it right away, I can wait 3-days, 7-days, no more. I did hire an erotic writer who wasted 3-weeks of my life and then cancelled the order. That makes me extremely angry, which is why I will never hire a writer that takes too long. If you’re gonna screw me, do it quick so I have time to find someone else.



If you’re feeling overwhelmed with 5 orders (more if I count your other gigs), then clearly the problem is you don’t have enough time to do this.



With that said, your proofreading gig should be a 3-day gig, not an average of 7 in my opinion. Revising is a million times easier than creating.

[mhwoolz]

I agree with the other posters that lowering your word count is a great way to decrease the amount of orders you get. Plus then you’ll be making a bit more money for doing less work. If you’re getting that much demand, it probably means you’re offering great quality for $5, so take it as a sign that your work is worth more.



I’d also advise not to be afraid of using your vacation time. When I get overbooked, I often turn on vacation mode for a few days. It helps me to catch up, and then I reactivate my gigs when I have some time available again. If you use up your vacation time, you can also deactivate your gigs for a little while.



Extending your delivery time can work too. In the past I’ve gotten into a bit of a loop where I kept extending my delivery time until it was ridiculously long. For that reason, I prefer using vacation mode most of the time.



Good luck!

[Guest garistudio]

Make a team maybe? Rather than cancelling many orders, I would ask help to some of my friends and pay them at reasonable price.

[sincere18]

extend your delivery time and use the vacation mode from time to time. This puts your gig on hold so no new orders can come in. You can finish up what you have, take a day or two breath and then start again.



I also agree, you are too cheap. Unless that is what you want to stay at, only earning $5 per gig, I would cut it in half and at least get $10 for 1000 words.



But still extend delivery time or use the vacation mode.

[Guest customrapsongs]

When i get too many orders I celebrate and order Pizza & Drinks! In addition to that, I get to work and increase my gig’s delivery time.

[rocks_design]

I think you can extend your delivery time…

[fastcopywriter]

Reply to @garistudio: The danger of that is that if your client doesn’t like your work and asks for a refund, you might have to get a refund from the friend or colleague your hired. You’ll also have to balance two people instead of one, be a middleman, it can be quite uncomfortable. Your putting your reputation on the line, and you’re not even doing the work, so if they do a bad job, if they’re late, then you suffer and your client suffers.

[thepromogirl]

authorjanebnigh said: right now I am still managing to fulfill them (mostly by cancelling when I feel like an order is too complicated/too big)

 

Keep in mind, this isn't a justified reason to cancel. Work as hard as you can to complete each order (as you did set up the delivery time manually). Communicate with each Buyer and let them know you've been receiving a high volume of orders and in the meantime, extend the delivery times on your Gigs and/or set your vacation mode to "overbooked".

 

Congrats and happy Gigging! :)

 

[jazzy7]

I work on getting more, no rest for the wicked Lol 😃

[webtelly]

Also, remember that the weekends slow down; so if you can make it to Friday, you will have time to catch up over the weekend. If there is a certain amount of money that you want to make for the month, consider working non-stop for 2 weeks, and then raising your prices, suspending your gigs, or going on vacation for a few days.

[landongrace]

Celebrate your growth here on Fiverr. Yeah! Slightly raise your rates and delivery times. At some point your $5.00 deal can become an item that less than 20% of the buyers will take. You can start having order averages that are $10.00-$50.00. For me, extending to a 3 day turn around also eliminated some of the clients that can be overbearing.



When I started I did 10 $5.00 gigs a day. About 12 hours.

Now I can do 3-5 $30.00 jobs a day. About 4 or 5 hours.



With you line of work, I would expect a lot of repeat buyers. I have kept my whiteboard gig paused for months, because I get alot of repeat customers. I send them custom quotes.

[inspiredtony]

wish i was your shoes mate

[abidagfx]

Your gig images are so cool ;))

[Guest buycom]

best gig

[Guest buycom]

like

[Guest buycom]

Reply to @abidagfx: like

[carriecreative]

I agree that changing the word count that you offer might help you feel less overwhelmed.

Extending your gig time might also be helpful. If you bumped it up to 10-14 days to give yourself time to get caught up you can always drop it back to 7 if you feel like it is impacting your sales or when you get caught up.

[Guest mark1705]

extend your delivery time or look for a virtual assistance…

[sincere18]

Reply to @thepromogirl: not necessarily. When you are in business for yourself, you get to choose the kind of projects you want to work with and the clients you want to work with as well. If an order comes in that is much bigger than what is being offered, or the buyer is being difficult and/or the job is a mess, why shouldn’t a seller have the option to politely do a mutual cancellation. By suggesting this is not an acceptable reason, also means you would think that if someone gave you inappropriate content to write or work with that they are not comfortable with that they should just do it?

[emasonwrites]

Reply to @garistudio: I agree with fastcopywriter–it’s super dangerous to ask your friends for help, even if they are “writers.” Every time I’ve ever sub-contracted to a friend (never done it through Fiverr or with on-Fiverr projects, since I would lose money doing that) has backed out at the last minute or delivered stuff that I would never send a client and left me with an even bigger mess, even when I told the client I was doing it and they were fine with it.

[emasonwrites]

Like others have said, you will get faster over time. In the meantime, extend your delivery time (that will stave off the orders, believe me), or (but maybe “and”) cut your word count.



You might want to go on vacation mode and finish everything you currently have in your queue, then change your word count, and then go live again. Don’t worry too much about cutting your word count–the vast majority of your clients, especially the ones that hire you because they want quality, rather than just quantity, won’t mind paying a little extra (still a steep discount) for your services. Cut the ones that throw a fit loose or offer to help them find someone else to hire.



Also or instead of cutting your word count or extending your delivery time, I’d echo what bookito said and consider referring customers that contact you before ordering to another user if you’re currently a little overwhelmed. That’s some good karma, right there.