Jan 2016 worst sales month, how you guys paid your Feb 2016 bill?

[chrisdata]

This month January 2016 is a very terrible sales month since I joined Fiverr and I’m a Top Rated Seller, till today 15th I only make less than $100 ! I deeply disappointed that Fiverr still unable to guarantee their TRS gain a specific ‘minimum’ amount of income to stabilise (or at least able to pay our bill who work full-time here) their full-time Fiverr.

Maybe I should sell my kidney (LOL) at the end of this month in-order to pay next month bill. I’m totally pissed!

What you guys will do if you’re me? Or any seller here faced the same problem before? Please advise.

[emmaki]

Business a little on the slow side here too, but picking up slowly. Three solutions to your main issue:

1. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket, and also make yourself a presence on other sites/in your local area
2. Try to have 6 months worth of savings–or more!–in the bank to handle down times, bills and emergencies.
3. blah blah blah tips for sellers has millions of threads about marketing yourself blah blah blah

Final thing: Fiverr is a marketplace and has no obligation to guarantee us anything…TRS seller or no.

[Anna]

Agree! It has been slow for me as well! Hope it will pick up soon Best of luck 😉

[dungdung]

this month is also a low sale month to me but i think as a full time freelancer, we have to prepare ourself facing to this situation. Sale go up and down, it’s normal. Fiverr is just a marketplace and they can’t guarantee anything for us.

[fitrigwrites4u]

I think it is very acceptable that Fiverr cannot guarantee their sellers to get a stable income. You work as a freelancer. Even when you don´t work online, if you are a freelancer no one can guarantee the stability of your income.

[zeus777]

It would be nice if a TRS can get some more “privilege,” but there is no way you can be
guaranteed to get certain amount of income/orders. If you want a monthly guaranteed payment from Fiverr, I think the only option you have is to actually become a Fiverr employee.
Fiverr should protect the sellers from some nasty scam buyers, but they should not and would not and could not guarantee anything. If you are disappointed at Fiverr for not giving you a stable income, I’m afraid your anger/frustration is pointing towards the wrong direction.
We are freelancers, there are always going to be ups and downs.

[writer99025]

I’m a single guy with no family to support and a house of my own (no rent), no major expenses and live a simple life…so I guess I am happy with whatever I make on Fiverr…Again, this depends on your expectations…I have no expectations, just want to remain busy in a productive way, so as long as I am able to do that, I’m happy.

[chrisdata]

So some of you guys are totally feeling okay to work as freelance and you’ve work your a.s.s off to gain sales for 4 years, reached TRS and you are earning less than $100 a month, you’re happy with it since it’s a ‘Freelancing’. Okay, I got it.

[writer99025]

No, it’s not okay, it depends on your situation…in my case, I live in India where expenses are really low, and even among Indians, my expenses are low…LOL…it may be different in your situation, of course.

[fitrigwrites4u]

Same, I personally don´t have too much expectation from Fiverr but to keep myself busy. I am a housewife and I don´t have to support my family. I am just happy if I get an order, I will do it as best as I can because I just like to write. However, it has been fun to learn about Fiverr. I have read some good articles here as well (although to be honest, I have not really applied it for my own gigs as I am not in a hurry). I remember one of the good sellers here mentioned about improving our blog if we have a blog (err something like that), and ever since that I have been writing more on my personal blog (thanks to him). I like to read good stuff in Fiverr forum as there are some good tips and great stories from senior sellers. Anyway, I hope everyone will get more orders soon. Cheers.

[writer99025]

Yeah, exactly, I have done over 2500 orders in the 2 years I have been here and am still grateful for every order I get, as it keeps me busy, not because I get to make money…although, of course, like everybody else, I don’t like to do “free work”. So I do my best with every order. It’s in the Bhagwat Gita - The Work Itself Is The Reward…

[fitrigwrites4u]

Haha! Yeah, I don´t like to work for free either (unless if it is for charity, which I have done quite a lot for dog rescue organizations in a few different countries - I did write/translate things for them for free because I felt like doing it). Anyway, I think it would be nice if I could get 2500 orders like you have. But as a newcomer I am aware that I still have a lot of things to work on (this is also one of the reasons why I don´t have too much expectation from Fiverr), such as making samples for my gigs, etc. I agree, ˝The Work Itself Is The Reward˝. I probably will be a TRS someday (or not). Who knows, it all depends on how qualified my services are, how well I market myself, etc. I also agree that it is better to not put all our eggs in one basket. Cheers.

[writer99025]

Have no expectations, but do your best every time - that’s been my strategy since I lost my job and became a freelancer.

[fitrigwrites4u]

I agree, always give our best for whatever we do 🙂

[andaluzia]

I think it depends on the niche you are working in. For me, it’s a busy month and it was even in December when people usually redirect their money to gifts and holidays.

However, don’t despair and don’t sell your kidney yet. Things will move forwards from February, they usually do.

Good luck

[zeus777]

It’s not that it’s OK to make less than $100 a month, but it’s simply not right ( at least I think) to blame Fiverr for low sales. My sales are a bit low past few months, but I never felt like blaming Fiverr, I actually didn’t feel like blaming myself either, because orders comes in waves. I simply accept the fact that people don’t need my service every single day. Even if Fiverr spent hours and tons of money promoting your gigs to the public for you ( or me), it’s up to the buyers to decide whether they want to buy the gig or not. Getting disappointed towards Fiverr seems a bit wrong. I have been upset
towards Fiverr in the past for several different reasons, but definitely not for low sales.
maybe that’s just me.

[misscrystal]

Fiverr definitely has slow months. I love working here and love to stay busy. I put lots of time into this. It’s slow now. I’ve said this so many times: it slows down sales to put the gigs of others at the bottom of our gigs. This happens periodically and it’s always the same. I noticed the slowdown, then saw that there was this again. I can only see it when I’m not signed in.
As self employed freelancers this is one of the things we deal with- not having a guaranteed monthly income like we would have if we were employees.

[fonthaunt]

I have to agree with others that “freelancing” and “guarantee” just don’t go together. I could guarantee my income by washing dishes at the restaurant down the street, buy I’d hate every minute. I worked in stable desk jobs for over 20 years and there were good and bad times, but I’m not good at answering to someone else.

I don’t rely on Fiverr alone, though, I freelance elsewhere too. The first thing I did was save up for 90 days of zero sales and ate lots of ramen noodles and sold off some luxury items. Now I have a little more than 6 months of living expenses saved, so I don’t have to live as tight during slow times. If I decide the guarantee is a necessity again, I’ll try for a horrible “real job” again, but so far this is well worth the sacrifice.

[misscrystal]

I don’t like jobs, offices and bosses either. I’m way too unconventional for all that. I’ll take the ups and downs of entrepreneurship on fiverr over that any day.

[n_shah]

Yeah…Sometimes Orders are so Precious to get,

[jamesbulls]

January has been my busiest month on Fiverr since I started selling on Fiverr. I don’t know what you situation is, but if you’re looking for a common denominator, it’s not Fiverr - the solution to this problem is the variable, and that’s you.

[mariokluser]

It’s platform. No more and no less. Whining here is pathetic. I use Fiverr alongside other things I do and don’t have any expectations. Since I don’t have them I seem to get more orders.

If you want to be a freelancer your choice was not to have any guarantees in the first place. As a freelancer you also always have to invent yourself again and again. Do different things at different places. As a freelancer it’s your own responsibility, not that of the provider of the platform.

Whining in the forum about this is unprofessional and can cause that potential buyers will avoid you and see you as someone who isn’t willing to take responsibilities.

And yes, I’m harsh.

But honest nonetheless.

[vule97]

I am not sure which month was worse for me. December or January… HUGE drops in sales began when I reached level 2 (at the same time I activated gig packages). So I am not sure what caused drop in sales, is it level 2 or gig packages or just bad luck… My gigs are very, very low in search results and they didn’t use to be. I even change description or name sometimes, still no luck. I really don’t know what to do, in November I earned $400 (which is above average earning in my country), but in January so far $24 ONLY. I don’t know what to do, I dropped prices back to the lowest possible, I offer more for less money, I send offers to buyer requests but very few orders… I really hope I’ll get out of this dry period. BTW I have 99% positive rating. Anyone has any suggestions? Any help would be much appreciated… 🙂

[misscrystal]

Hopefully no one is actually blaming fiverr, as fiverr is our bread and butter and we depend on her, just mentioning when sales slow down and taking some comfort that you are not the only one. In any sales job never does anyone say anything like “let’s not talk about slow sales”, on the contrary, it’s the norm to discuss it.

1. Talking about it may lead to a solution
2. It may help to know it is a general trend right now and not just you
3. If it IS just you, maybe you can find the solution
   All this is about is motivation and strategies for increasing sales.

[psychicbunny]

Yes January was very slow for me, hopefully it will pick up soon. Blessings!