Buyers or opportunists? A heart to heart talk with fiverr Buyers

[richjoy]

Fiverr is definitely one of the largest online market on this side of the planetary bodies, if not arguably the largest and the best. A couple of buyers and sellers are happy. Sellers get paid, buyers get awesome jobs. Strangely but expected, some buyers are “amazing”.

I am a seller and a a buyer, so I definitely know how it feels at both sides of the coin. I kick started this photoshop editing fiverr account about two days ago, but I used to operate a " writing" account where I wrote lots of blog posts, articles, news letters and even ebooks. But I got wearied and burnt out after some months as it was ridiculous and unbearable.

I once had a dude who wanted me to write two articles, 700 words each for $5. He added that he wanted original articles, copyscape passed, no errors, and 24hours express delivery. When he insisted on $5 only, I threw it back at his face. It would take me several hours to make necessary researches before I start scribbling. Why in heavens should I work for 4-5 hours to earn $4? (Fiverr will deduct 20%). I have received several requests of such and accepted some, just to make few dollars for my self but I always regretted it.

Several sellers accept such ridiculous offers, especially the newbies who are desperate to have orders on fiverr. I think it’s inhumane to expect a $100 job for $5. I’d once proofread a 240page non-fiction book for less than $150. I thought $150 was huge because I only got $5 orders before then. I eventually completed the Job after 4weeks, working for almost 8hours each day. It was such a completely messed up book and I practically rewrote the whole book. I also formatted and wrote a synopsis for the book.

I almost wept when I realized that I had wasted a month of my life, just to earn less than $150. It was my most painful and regrettable experience on fiverr. Since then, I grew cold towards Fiverr and more importantly, towards “writing” gigs. Therefore, since I am also a professional Photoshop editor, I created this account and I was pretty happy with my first sale. It was worth the time and the price.

You are just a buyer on fiverr. That’s all! Some buyers act as if their sellers are slaves and treat them as such. We all buy and sell. You also sell things, maybe physical, tangible or intangible products. No one loves to lose, no one loves to be cheated. Sellers on fiverr are also trying to make few bucks, to meet ends needs; not because they have extra time to spare for you. Please, treat them as such. Stop exploiting them because they are very desperate to sell. Pay the appropriate amount for job you are giving out.

As a buyer also, I noticed some attitudes of different sellers. They charge in excess, I mean way too much. I wanted to order a gig and I asked for his price. He charged $70 after he already described in his gig that it was for $5. As a considerate buyer, I offered $10, which he accepted without further negotiations. I knew it was an easy job which I could do, only that I want all my works handled by professionals, and $10 was enough for the service required.

This is a charge to buyers to be considerate with funds. It’s called FIVErr doesn’t mean you can buy and ship a Jaguar on the site for $5. And, treat your sellers with respect. Stop threatening them with negative reviews or cancellation, especially those who don’t deserve the kind of treatment. Just politely ask for a refund, ask for modification or cancel the order if you are not satisfied. Be nice to them.

I know some sellers need not only to be treatened with negative reviews, but to get their accounts banned, their bank accounts frozen, and their hands clipped with handcuff, yet they are only a negligible minority. Majority don’t deserve such treatments. .

Sellers, please accept offers you can deliver. Don’t waste people’s time and money. If you can’t do it, don’t bid for it, don’t accept it. You know your level. You don’t have to be a pro to make money. With your skill, you can still find jobs that fits your level and skill.

I wish myself and other millions of buyers and sellers on fiverr a Wonderful experience.

[cyaxrex]

Yes, writing is a weary business on Fiverr. The only problem is that where I get paid $20-$40 per piece on other sites, I get a vastly larger volume of sales here. In this case, Fiverr is like a double edged sword. The trick is to demonstrate you have genuine competence in a niche by getting a few hundred reviews behind you before upping your prices. - At least that’s what I’m trying.

[richjoy]

Thanks Cyaxrex for the contribution. I totally agree with you. When you have lots of positive reviews, showing great trust in your competence, it’s easier to increase prices without getting burnt by the action. I have great respect for top rated writers on Fiverr. I wonder if they sleep at all.

[capitalquality]

Thanks for posting this because it expresses some of my jumbled thoughts right now very well. I am not a writer but I feel the same. I work with Excel and about 50% of my requests are for bigger pieces of bespoke programming work, which to be honest I mostly decline due to the time it takes.
Buyers don’t realise the hours that go into the work and I’ve just finished my fourth large piece where I’ve earned about $1/hour, if that. I have had to go on vacation mode to be able to handle the stress of trying to get the order out at all, let alone on the arbitrary time requested (I was late delivering for the first time). I have decided not to do gigs that take more than 8 hours any more.

[emmaki]

I tried my hand at macros once–I’m rubbish at them! I don’t really understand how they work either which doesn’t help. I can definitely see why someone who had a macro idea and had never created one would think this is a simple job that would take an expert no time at all eye roll…

[capitalquality]

People think it’s easy because it’s Excel, which is just a spreadsheet right? My red warning light comes on whenever I get a message that says ‘this is a simple job for an expert like you’. eye-roll indeed!

[emmaki]

That simple job also means that it’s not worth a lot, too, so I hope you like being paid with moldy bread. Oddly enough, as soon as I see those words in my inbox, I’m overbooked and can’t possibly take their project on 😉

[capitalquality]

That’s my most used response these days.
“I’m very sorry that I don’t have the capacity right now…” 🙂

[eoinfinnegan]

Your reviews are fantastic but the wording of them could possibly make people think you can do things really quickly - meaning it shouldn’t cost much.
I suggest you set yourself a desired hourly rate and price based on that. Estimate the time it will take and set your price. I have been amazed at the people who I sent prices to who I did not think would respond and yet some have ordered almost immediately, others have come back even weeks later. If you don’t quote them, you definitely won’t get the job.

[pfpgogo]

I hear you. There are a few things I do professionally that I wouldn’t touch Fiverr with simply because the price people lean towards paying for it here won’t fly.

I can’t fault people for wanting a deal. That’s probably why they came to Fiverr in the first place. It just gets frustrating when they want everything for $5 and think that anyone who charges more than that is ripping them off. That doesn’t happen to me now, but it’s that way for too many sellers.

Fiverr is a global marketplace with a large chunk of sellers originating from areas where they don’t have a lot of opportunity and $5 can mean their survival. Others want to “level up” so badly, they’ll accept anything just to get more orders on the board. Neither should be seen as the benchmark for how much things “should” cost but that’s what happens.

Buyers develop this “Why would I pay you $15 for something other people are doing for $5” mentality without considering why or how they charge so little. I’d be inclined to wonder how someone could possibly offer what they’re offering for only $5 and where the compromise might be.

It’s like seeing a high-end gadget on sale for $5 and thinking, “Why is it so cheap? Is something wrong with it? Was it discontinued? Is the store having trouble selling it because it sucks?”

From what I’ve read in the forums at least and from the orders I’ve done, it seems to me that the $5 for the world practice leads to more frustration than orders where people are paying what’s due.

Either the seller ends up frustrated because they bit off more than they could chew and are killing themselves trying to accommodate the buyer for pennies at that point or the buyer ends up frustrated because the seller isn’t delivering on the promises they made.

Bottom line, sellers have the right to choose how much they’ll work for. If someone is fine taking orders that break down to less than a buck per day, good for them. If someone else isn’t okay with that, it doesn’t make them a crook. Often, you’re paying more to get more.

Not everyone needs more. Not everyone needs quality even. I have orders I cringe to look at because they don’t look professional to me at all and I wouldn’t display them if I had a choice, but they were exactly what the buyer wanted and $5 was enough for it.

When someone does want more and does want quality, they should be willing to pay for it and sellers should respect their own time enough to ask for it.

[richjoy]

I love those words:

“From what I’ve read in the forums at least and from the orders I’ve done, it seems to me that the $5 for the world practice leads to more frustration than orders where people are paying what’s due.”

I’m sure some buyers will assume they can get a professional website for 5bucks, just because it’s Fiverr. But come to think of it, I ran away from freelancer because it’s worse. Buyers set price at $1.5 per 800 words. It’s so ridiculous. I wish Freelancing sites could find a way of regulating prices; not leaving the sellers fate solely in the hands of the buyers.

[gracebjarnson]

In voice over we get those messages too. “It’s a simple job that should take only ten minutes.” When really it’s an hour long project. I definitely avoid those people.

[gracebjarnson]

Yes. Thank you for this post. We get the same issues in the voice over area on Fiverr. They want to pay $5 when they would be charged $500 on any other voice over site. For some in other countries, $5 may be a lot. But if you are asking for a native English speaker to do a voice over for you. Consider that minimum wage in America can be anywhere from $9 to $13 an hour, generally speaking. And what you are asking them to do is work for you for much much less than minimum wage, doing skilled work, which is worth much more than minimum wage. Be respectful of that, and don’t expect to pay $5 for 3 hours of work. That’s insulting.

[richjoy]

I doubt if $5 is much in any country. Not even $5, but $4. Thanks for your contribution

[mariamughal]

I’m also a buyer and a seller here. I wonder if all the people treat each other nicely then FIVERR WORLD will be so peaceful and full of love

[mae_creativity]

I’m also a seller and buyer.
As a buyer, when I order $5 gigs, I can never bring myself to tip less than $10, even though I know that I never make it to the end of the month - it’s just my nature.
As a seller, I can say that - NOT everything that goes around comes around 🙂
In short, I have no complaints - life is random and not a big deal.

[writer99025]

Great attitude 🙂

[richjoy]

True

[richjoy]

I’d fallen for the “this is a very simple job” tricks for long. Only the seller can determine if it’s simple or not.

[ctackett7945]

Some expectations of buyers are insane. Everyone wants something for nothing, but your statement “You are just a buyer” to me, makes me want to say that you have no purpose if their are no buyers. Customers are king in this industry, but sellers need to be steadfast to their time and their work.

While you seem to have a lot of ill feelings towards buyers, I have the same feeling towards Sellers who try to grab requests and gigs through fake gigs offerings to only follow up with a total change to their gig.

I sent out a request to have someone redo my resume. I did not put a price because I was willing to pay 100-150+… my resume is in great condition, I just wanted someone to review it and take it from a 9 page monster of wordiness to a clean resume.

I got all these amazing offers and great prices and then when I would click the gig and pay… I would get a follow up email saying that I would not be getting what they offered but getting nothing of what they listed in their gig.

So buyers have have an amazing amount of ill feelings towards sellers. We do not expect the world, but don’t offer someone an amazing deal if you can’t follow through with it or have no intention… that’s fraud to me.

[lawseph]

Thanks so much.
I’m new here, just 16 days old as a seller. I have 7 buyers so far, and I think my buyers are wonderful people, except one buyer whose job nearly forced life out of me, but God helped me. It was a PowerPoint job for $5, which I know is not fair for the price, but I accept it because I need money. The buyer was happy at last and left a five star review on the gig.

[sarwar7bd]

Yes, writing is a weary business on Fiverr.

[emmaki]

Oh, I know. Tell me alllllllllllllllllll about it.

Fiverr Forum http://forum.fiverr.com//images/default-apple-touch-icon.png

Cool! I have completed my first order successfully

Hi Dears, ***** Act professionally. ? Admin Note: Most important portion left for OP to keep considering. Post moved due to OP behavior.

Reading time: 3 mins ? Likes: 1 ❤

[richjoy]

ctackett7945, you are a buyer. if you were a seller, you will understand what we face everyday.
Mind you, I am both. I know how it feels at both end of the pole.
Not everyone is like you, if you were right about what you put up there.
Yes, some buyers expect the world for $5. How many buyers have you met?
Same way some sellers expect $1million for an op-ed.

And mind the word “some”

Yes, you are just a buyer. You could be Bill Clinton out there, it doesn’t matter on Fiverr. This is a market place, where buyers buy and sellers sell. No big deal about that statement.

[annieanimation]

As a teacher, I feel for you writers. I cant bear to deal with more words after school hours. I create animations and boy are they time consuming too.

I had one guy ask me to send him custom offer to produce him a fully customized 3 min animation including the VO… then counter-offered with $10, Told him that would cover the VO …so…?
he upped the offer to $15. Woah …and…Still kept messaging me although I’d made it clear I couldn’t help him.

Classic. And,there are a lot like him out there sadly