The Downside of Using other People's Images for your Profile

[miiila]

“real profile-pictureers”

I like this smiles

[miiila]

Which would be pretty weird, seeing that especially ‘in the internet sphere’ lots of people automatically think men are more savvy. Plus, ‘in the real world’ it´s still the norm that men get better paid for the same work.

[fastcopywriter]

I won’t deny some people are bigots, but trying to win the business of bigots is a bad idea. One of my biggest competitors doesn’t speak/write English as a first language, and I always see 30+ people in his queue. Truth does sell in advertising, of course, you don’t have to reveal all, just the good things.

[writer99025]

I must be lucky, because I have never come across even one bigot or racist on Fiverr and never felt at a disadvantage because of being a non-American, non-White, or non-native English despite having a writing gig. Funny enough, I’ve only had a problem with a couple of clients in 2-3 years and they were both fellow Indians 🙂

[psychicbunny]

I think using your own personal photo as your profile picture shows that you are authentic and more people will want to purchase your services.

[Guest mahabub_ru]

Yes, using others photo means that you have no confidence in you…so why does a buyer want to buy your gig???

[taverr]

LoL.
That’s Anushka Sharma in your Profile Pic. Right? 😂

[fonthaunt]

That’s so strange, about your rare problem buyers, but I entirely believe it. My buyers comes from all over, and many are American and fantastic. Many are not American and fantastic. I have had problem buyers from my own country and the ones I have had seemed to have highly unrealistic expectations.

[writer99025]

Yeah, Indian buyers are very demanding because even $5 means something in India. And a $50 order means a LOT. So they expect a lot. In fact, I remembered, I’ve had 3 problem buyers, all 3 Indian.

[writer99025]

But I also have very good buyers from India as well, who have become good friends of mine. It’s a mix of both, really.

[mariokluser]

You could be right. I guess you won the microwave!

http://s3.india.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/anushka-sharma1.jpg

[pbase1]

It’s not only profile pictures, but images of other people’s artwork as well. I’ve regrettably employed a designer who, based on the quality of work turned in, obviously used someone else’s design work in his portfolio. It’s upsetting that there’s no recourse you can take through fiverr when you are defrauded this way.

[ivicamilaric]

In the long run, being yourself is the only sustainable option, unless you’re a super-intelligent and driven sociopath, but in that case, we most likely wouldn’t be having this discussion 😃

[ivicamilaric]

Yeah, it shouldn’t be mandatory to use your face, that would only make a lot of people very uncomfortable and provide next to nothing for everyone else.

When it comes to the motivation behind the idea of using someone else’s face, I believe most simply try to boost their chances of landing gigs. In the starting months of Fiverr use, as many comments on the forum show, a lot of people struggle immensely with their expectations, which is why some go for anything that they think could elevate their chances of making sales.

Ultimately, they are wrong, but when people see that “0 sales in queue”, they go for it nonetheless.

[ivicamilaric]

If I would have to guess, I think that a poly-cultural notion for using fake women photos instead of those of men is the mother-or-lover concept - in both cases, it someone pleasant, warm, approachable and non-threatening (although this is way too Freudian for me 🙂 )

I know that this sounds a bit far-fetched, but I think that’s the reason why most go for women.

[ivicamilaric]

Now that would be a really interesting twist! 😃

[ivicamilaric]

Maybe you offer a really awesome gig in spite of your fake photo? 😉

[ivicamilaric]

Use the period between the gig delivery and you marking it as complete to check anything that looks fishy. Google Images works great, but there are other tools as well.

[reskiyoer]

I just want to enlarge this chain.

Edit: Well, didn’t work as expected.

[mayor_emma]

Grace unto you. I need work to do with my brain. I am newbie here. I don’t know how things work here that much but i am ready to learn as quickly as possible. Please help me out. I am still a student, but with great expert knowledge in designs with tools like photoshop, illustrator, corel draw, etc. I also design flyers, handbills, business cards, and badges both for web use(transparent) and advertisement with designs in quality / resolution as high as needed. I work with the needs of my clients and i also love adding my ideas inorder to add uniqueness. Kindly trust me with your jobs. Shalom!

[Guest kyeh1124]

Thank you for letting us know that it is best to use a logo, or your own face/headshot. This inspired me to change my picture to an actual picture of me, instead of using just a photograph of a scenery. (Though it was mine to begin with)

[catwriter]

Yes, but “hot chicks” sell stuff, so some people believe that they will make more sales if they use a stock photo of a busty blonde (or a celebrity photo, so we apparently have famous actresses, models, and tennis players offering services for $5).

[ivicamilaric]

We need additional sideways scalability in the comments! 😃

[ivicamilaric]

Ultimately, I believe that this works best because it shows there a real and tangible person on the other side. But, again, I’m completely fine with scenery or anything that makes you comfortable, as long as that aren’t other random strangers 🙂

[miiila]

LOL maybe.