“High prices” kills your selling rate but it increases earning!

[ayoub911]

Hi dears,
Recently I noticed a lot of seller are trying to rate high selling by offering several gigs with the most cheaper price on the market - 5$ for Fiverr- , moreover, some others are looking for even to sell their work with less than that, by offering free exaggerated extra work for every sells they will do! Is this a clever method or a selfish one ? whatever,
the obvious purpose behind such behaviors is,definitively, being blindly more competitive ! am i right ?

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The costumer is selecting, every time, the cheaper gig to buy !!! sorry, this is wrong, because “how the selection is done ?” is related to who is the selectors => for me, there are three main costumer categories that you will face allover the e-markets; each one has a very specific and particular goal : based on that, sometimes the cheaper price will be the key but in other cases, it could be the answer, after all, why your gig has been ignored. The categories are as below:

• Particulars: beginner bloggers, students, amateurs…
• Retailers: Online sellers, Scammers
• Editors: bloggers, journalists, authors…

For 1st & 2nd categories, the price will not be a problem as = 5 $ for Particulars & =< 5 $ for Editors is very suitable. But retailers pay more attention to prices so they will ask you for the most possible cheaper price to buy, so they can add their own profit and then sell it once again, in most case, without even read the content. And that will be in the best cases, sometimes, through fake requests, they will push to deliver free work (samples ; … ) PS: if that happens, then don’t be made, you are not naive but because you are not able yet to recognize who are you talking too 🙂

So before discussing prices it will better to start investigating with which category you are dealing with , and it is to you, to define what offer will be better to provide. the idea is : To whoever you will do the work, you don’t have to undervalue your efforts to sell it, as long as you are producing and replying to others’ requirement on a good way, believe that once what you are doing is unique on the market, only then you will be a remarkable seller with good result.

Finally, whatever you have, it can be sold, and judging people work still a subjective process depending to people knowledges and backgrounds, so having bad feedback from sellers does not necessary mean it is as they said in generally!
Costumers ( all categories included) are kings but to each one of them there is only a limited kingdom, so don’t be afraid to give your efforts the condign prices that deserve but also deliver only what the best you can do.

thanks for reading, hope that will be useful.
Ayoub

[Guest backlinks_index]

Most of what you say is true.

But customers prefer cheap labor with great results

[ayoub911]

hi backlinks_index,
thanks for your comment, but don’t you think that customers prefer cheaper labor only because sellers are offering it ? what will be their reaction if sellers change behaviors ? --> price is one of three indicators that impact selection process: which are delivery time, quality of work and then price. i would love to read what you think about that ?

[writerlisaz]

I get better clients by charging a bit more. My work quality reflects my prices, and my reviews are excellent. I’m really enjoying the new Packages so I can charge more than $5 for my basic gig. It’s worked out in a better work flow for me, and higher income. I agree that charging too little is not always the best policy.

[ayoub911]

hi silberma1976,
“You sell your worth”, is exactly what is all about but I am not sure if, by this way, you will get into a pricing war, I see it, quite simply, as targeting method !! clients are free to chose the seller they want and sellers can also be able to categorize their potential customers as well.

[Guest article_profits]

Some buyers prefer cheap and others prefer quality. So, price your gigs based on the kind of buyer you want to attract.

[mariokluser]

Forgive me the typos, as I use my smartphone:

It’s not clever to compete on price because very soon you will hit rock bottom.
Then you will reach a point where you will work voor pennies. I speak out of experience here. A couple of years ago I had some gigs and after a couple of sales I paused them and left Fiverr for what it was, because it just wasn’t worth it.

Since last year I’m back and it opened some doors outside of Fiverr for me. Thanks to that I’m full time occupied now and have to restrict what I do here on Fiverr. Just this week I had to decline making 3 custom offers (worth approximately $300,-) because I just couldn’t fit the projects into my schedule.

BTW: I asked the buyers to have a look at the other sellers, who by the way are much lower in price.

I remember one guy who tried to negotiate and I resisted and told him to go to one of the cheaper sellers. After an hour or so he came back and wanted to hire me regardless of the price difference. When I asked him why this was, he told me that it was because of the good communication. Probably a thing some sellers should think about.

I actually don’t look at the competition at all. There are different reasons for this.
The first one is that I don’t have time to do so, because I just have to much work to do.
The second one (and in fact most important one) is that the others do it all of the time and think that lowering the prices is the only solution to get sales. As I already mentioned: soon they will hit rock bottom and work for pennies.

There is also a catch when one decides to become a “Cheapo-Seller”: he or she will only attract buyers with the same mindset. They want everything for nothing and are looking for sellers who are so desperate for sales that they will give them the lowest price. The they will still demand much more than they are paying for. This is the reason that you read so many threads by frustrated sellers.
What many of the “Cheapo-Sellers” also have in common is that they want to earn much for doing nothing. They offer services they are not capable of doing.
If you look closely at that pattern you will see that “Cheapo-Sellers” and “Cheapo-Buyers” fit together like Ying and Yang. They attract each other and suck each other dry.

Since I raised my prices I get well educated people as buyers. From time to time there will come somebody and try to negotiate the price but they are not negotiable. This keeps bad buyers at bay.
I dare say that we all know the messages in our inbox where a potential buyer wants to have a little bit done as a test before placing an order. To get rid of this approach I created a $5,- test gig for those buyers, as I do absolutely nothing for free. My time is very valuable for me and I don’t see any reason to do work for free for a person on the other end of the world. Just let sink that in for a moment once you have to make a decision about that.

My conclusion is: higher prices bring better buyers, what results in less sales but better income.
Most important for me is that you have more satisfied buyers, who are coming back.

[psychicbunny]

Very true, it is a constant battle

[jonbaas]

Well said!

[easysteps]

Great comment! I tried rising prices (30% - 50%) and now get different type of clients and my income is much higher now then before a 2 weeks.

[annieanimation]

Yes I agree with all you’ve said @mariokluser.

Those buyers who have a realistic budget and expectations tend to be educated people who know that there is some truth in the ‘pay peanuts, get monkeys’ scenario.

My most demanding buyers have been those who changed their goal posts many many times as they had not given much thought to their storyboard/plan or instructed me correctly as to their expected outcome.
All of which took more than double the usual hours to complete to their satisfaction.

These shite experiences have taught me a lot however! I’ve rewritten my gig requirements so the buyer clearly knows what I need to complete their project to the best of my ability… and what I won’t do.

I haven’t been on fiverr long but I’ve directed quite a few buyers to other gigs which I think would suit their needs and budgets better.
And like Mario, have wondered why they keep coming back and knocking on my door.

The fact that many of my buyers are now returning customers is vindication that I must be doing something right.

[shoaibashraf12]

The thing which i noticed in my niche is that even some sellers with over 500 reviews and a very good rating are offering very cheap prices.
Now this is where the customers think that “oh hold on” this is the seller here providing me with a lot of work in less rate and he has great reviews, ratings , experience and what so ever. So, he selects that seller but to be honest that is where some people who are also having good reviews and providing honest work with perfect price are left behind because some other “WELL RATED” sellers are giving the same services in a cheap price. I myself faced this issue many times even some buyers asked me that some other seller is providing two articles in $5 why can’t you.
On the other hand, i noticed that people who are newbie on fiverr are just looking to provide special offers packages more work in $5.then others because they think that it will have some buyers for them. I even saw some designers here offering 3 logos in $5. Newbies think it works for them and they are doing it.

So, if you sum up in both cases sales and reviews is the main thing every seller is looking as far as i think and sometimes this results in low quality. So, i would just say just put fair price which suits your schedule to do work and it results in good earning if you have quality skills. Always remember if you know how to produce quality work, your gigs will go on to sell more often then not.

[ayoub911]

Hi writerlisaz, thanks for confirming the posted statement 🙂

[ayoub911]

Hi article_profits, you summarized the whole topic 🙂 tks

[flatpp]

My prices are considerably cheaper than the top gigs but they are still reasonable.

Generally, the people who are more willing to pay are better clients who I want to work with. My prices definitely set aside the people who want cheap and high quality.

[shilpityagi_eco]

@writerlisaz I also have the same experience. When I was charging low, I used to have the worst buyers’ experiences. After I started charging high, I started getting great repeat clients.

[shilpityagi_eco]

Very nicely written!!! You summed up my entire working experience on Fiverr. I started getting very nice buyers after I increased my prices.

[ayoub911]

Hi mariokluser,
It is a very sensitive subject but still not cleaver to ignore it.
all what i can add will be as below:
You have declined 300$ , but luckily that was for only three costumers as your gigs are costing like this, assuming that wasn’t the case and ‘ considering always the good quality you can offer,’ and that the price was only 5$ => you could be in such position where you lost 300$/5$ = 60 costumers And that, my dear will kill your brand !

From other hand, The time you are dedicating to Fiverr is also a very critical factor beside the quality you are offering and your pricing policy : so whether you keep Fiver for your free time or the opposite, every seller need to find out the perfect wet suit for all those influencing factors, => full time will make you able to reply to limited high pricing offer but snowing lower job also while limited job timing will push to be more restricted for this case, right ? i believe that a well scheduling planning can be entangled and it will help a lot.

furthermore, i honestly disagree with you when you said “I actually don’t look at the competition at all” ! you can be like this , as long as you have choose , but you “Reap what you sow” the market is alive and changes all the time , you can ignore it this time as it may be not your main income but what if one day will be !! I am sure you are doing well here but I ensure you if you take it a little bit differently you will result much better ” small changes lead to biggest one”

and finally, i confirm “Cheapo-Seller” are everywhere but they are not immortal, as you know : “creativity doesn’t die”, they can steal today and tomorrow but they can never live without you ! so you can rise them and you can slay them as well; However, ignoring them or any other market actors will never be a good solution.

Your conclusion is just perfect : “My conclusion is: higher prices bring better buyers, what results in less sales but better income”
Thanks 🙂 , you shared a lot.

[ayoub911]

hi psychicbunny,
very very true, keep fighting 🙂

[Guest thevideostore]

Mariokluser is right here… This is also my experience. You must sell yourself for what you are worth. Otherwise , like mentioned , you’ll work for pennies … and in my case that causes a lot of stress + unhappiness. Just that feeling of turning in the order and thinking “that was totally not worth only $80” when its more like a $150 job never feels good.

Most of my buyers dont comment on my pricing. The few that do are obviously trying to get something amazing for much less than what THEY value it… This is evident by them saying “Well I could do it myself but…”

And I had one client this week actually throw me a $80 as a tip me for just a minor edit on his order … followed by a message to the tune of… “Here is a tip! … You really should charge more for what you do!”

It’s those clients made me start upping my price… especially early on when I was a newer seller.

If your work is good … and people like it … and you are NOT charging enough …
AND you are getting a decent amount of orders/clients …

You will eventually hear “You need to charge more!”

Thats generally your indicator that you probably CAN charge more. Once I hear it enough , I start to consider it again 🙂

[mariokluser]

Hi ayoub911,

When it comes to keeping an eye on the competition:
I have 10 to 12 hour days, so I don’t have the time to look if someone dares to have a lower price. And I don’t care. If somebody does the job for little money and has to flip burgers once he is done, I really don’t care. If you don’t want to be treated like a commodity, don’t act like one.

I also see it like that, and I repeat myself here: Vauxhaul and Lamborghini both build cars. I don’t think that they keep an eye on each other.

When it comes to the $300,- worth of declined orders:
When I don’t have the time for doing them I just don’t have the time.
No matter how high the price. I didn’t loose any customers. I just declined 3 jobs.
If those job would have been smaller ones for e.g. $30,- I would have done them during lunch time, but they were to large for my tight schedule.

[mariokluser]

Videostore,

Totally agree. If you don’t think that your time and work is valuable, you can’t expect from others that they do.

[arise92]

The only time I had to deal with selling low was when I started. Well, there was no option to go above 5$ anyways if you were level 0. The past 2 years, each jump in price I’ve made was only making things BETTER. And I know I’ll be charging even more in the future, as I learn every day and the value of what I do increases.

Never care about people who sell cheap, from what I saw most of them are doing terrible job. And even if they sell good stuff for cheap, it won’t take long before they’ll give up or increase prices. You can’t work 8 hours a day and make living 5-10$…

Value yourself people, and never stop learning,

Cheers

[flatpp]

I did that too. Otherwise, I probably wouldn’t get anywhere today! As soon as I got gig extras at Level 1 and Custom Orders, I started to increase my prices from there on. I rarely ever charge anyone $5 now because the work I do is such a daunting task!

[worldwideleads]

Sounds Good !!!