Looking for an honest and truthful review of the popular freelancing platform Fiverr? Wondering what this is all about and whether or not it’s a scam?
Well, you’re in luck as I’ll be showing you everything that this freelancing platform has to offer you from a buyers point of view as well as from a seller’s point of view.
If you have been involved in the online marketing industry for a decent amount of time then chances are that you may have looked into hiring a freelancer to outsource a few writing jobs or to have a logo designed for your website.
You may have come across Fiverr while you were searching but wasn’t quite sure what services they offered or what the quality of their work was like.
In the following review, I’ll be answering these questions as well as showing you how much money you can earn here as well as how much you can look to pay for services.
Fiverr Review
Name: Fiverr
Website: Fiverr.com
Founder & CEO: Jill Bigelow
Type Of Site: Freelancing Platform
Price To Get Started: $5
Overall Ranking: 4/5 Stars
Company Overview & Brief Description
The platform was launched in 2009 by Jill Bigelow (Founder & CEO) and Micha Kaufman(Co-Founder) as a way for freelancers and online business owners alike to come together.
Anyone who has been in the freelancing industry knows a thing or two about Fiverr. It’s not the new kid on the block, but it is a much easier alternative to Upwork and Freelancer.com—which are harder to get on.
It’s a platform for buyers to buy cost-effective freelancing services at the click of a button and for sellers to easily get orders by posting their gigs.
There have been negative and positive reviews about this platform, almost in equal measure.
Is Fiverr a scam or just another great freelancing site? Well, …that’s what we’re about to find out, so continue reading.
What Is Fiverr?
Basically, Fiverr is a marketplace for freelance services. People buy and sell services starting from $5 and interestingly, that is where the name “Fiverr” came from.
The sellers on Fiverr are in three different levels to make it easier for buyers to find freelancers who have the skills they are looking for.
Employers will find this site very convenient because they can access freelancers’ gigs, profiles, and reviews and choose the most suitable candidate.
Freelancers also have an advantage because there is no bidding—a client just chooses you after they check out your gig and profile.
The most commonly traded services on Fiverr include but are not limited to writing, logo design, and virtual assistant services.
How To Sign Up On Fiverr
It’s free to sign up for an account, however, you can only register one account for buying as well as selling.
This is in contrast to popular sites like Upwork where a seller account is different from a freelancer account.
Also, Fiverr does not have a long tedious verification process and you can register within minutes.
Like I said earlier, It’s free to sign up!!
What Happens When You Register?
If you are a buyer, you are free to start searching for suitable freelancers and place your order.
A seller, however, will have to create a Fiverr Gig.
A gig on Fiverr is something that tells prospective buyers what services you are selling, highlighting all the details.
If you are a writer your gig title could be something like “I will write a 500-word article for you”.
A client looking for a writer will browse through the different writer gigs and if yours is attractive enough, you might get lucky.
To a hire a freelancer, you have to deposit the payment to Fiverr first. After you approve the freelancer’s work Fiverr makes the money available to them.
You can also leave a review for them, rating the service you have received and they also have the option of rating you.
As a freelancer, you should strive to get a 5-star rating to build your credibility and become a top rated seller.
Fiverr Gigs
A freelancer is free to create a gig on any service that you can sell provided it aligns with the terms of service on Fiverr.
Do not limit yourself to writing, web design and other popular services.
Try coming up with something unique; you never know where your breakthrough will come from.
People create gigs for making hilarious videos, prank calls and anything else. Put your brain to work.
You may be wondering, what happens if $5 is just too low for your services.
When creating your gig, you are allowed to have three packages for a gig.
You may price the basic package at $5 but the standard and premium packages can go for more.
Moreover, with the “Gig Extras” option, you can charge extra money for faster delivery, extra revisions or any other additional features depending on the type of gig you are selling.
Take a look at this screenshot of a few gigs that other people have created below to get a visual of what I’m talking about.
Fiverr For Buyers
Advantages
You get services for less money.
If you think about it, $5 is not a lot of money and you can get almost anything done for that amount.
If the work is not satisfactory, you will hardly feel the pinch; after all, it is only $5.
There are so many sellers for you to choose from.
Instead of posting a job and waiting for freelancers to bid, you just browse the available gigs to see the one that best meets your needs.
You can choose a new seller or a top rated seller if you wish.
Placing an order is easy.
As long as you deposit the required amount of money on Fiverr, you can hire the seller that you choose by selecting their gig.
Disadvantages
It is easy for sellers on Fiverr to buy fake positive reviews.
A freelancer can ask their friends to buy their gig and leave a nice review.
The processing charge is $1 so if a gig is $5, they will get their $4 back. $1 is a small price to pay.
Cheap is expensive and “if you pay peanuts, you get monkeys”.
In your quest to find cheap services, you may encounter a spammer.
Imagine what happens if you entrust your website’s SEO to a scammer.
Your entire website could be ruined in more ways than 1.
Fiverr For Sellers
Advantages
You can sell just about any service on Fiverr.
Never mind if you do not have fancy technical skills, think of something that you can do and post a gig.
You can make money doing anything that you are good at or love doing.
There are tons of buyers on Fiverr, hence less competition.
People love cheap stuff. You will always find a lot of clients at any given time on Fiverr seeking services.
If you market yourself properly, you will get hired.
You do not have to keep bidding for jobs—it can be a tiresome experience.
All you need to do is post your gig and wait to be hired.
You can market the gig on other social networks to increase your chances.
Disadvantages
Fiverr charges a high commission.
This can be such a burden, especially because most buyers place orders for the $5 packages.
You may have to work extremely hard to make a decent income.
Anybody can hire you; you have no control over that.
Most freelancing websites allow you to choose your clients based on your preferences.
However, on Fiverr, as long as your gig is live anyone can select it and automatically hire you.
Fiverr will hold your payment for 14 days after you have been paid.
This is a very long time although they claim it is for safety purposes.
Negative reviews can mess you up and there is not much you can do about it.
When a client is difficult or requests an illegal service, the least you can do is cancel the order—which will also affect you negatively.
The Bottom Line
Fiverr is not a scam. It is a freelancing site that is doing pretty well, probably because of the cheap and interesting services available.
Buyers and sellers alike have a lot of benefits to reap from the platform.
There are a few disadvantages that can be a deal breaker for freelancers like the lack of control on who hires you.
Otherwise, you can make a great amount of money from this platform if you’re persistent.
What I Really Think
If you’re a freelancer who is looking to land your next gig or an online business owner that’s looking to outsource a few jobs that you would rather have someone take care of for you, then I would recommend Fiverr as a cost-effective solution for you to get some quality work done.
However, like I said earlier, if you only pay $5 you shouldn’t be expecting to get much in terms of quality work.
Their more advanced services like website design and coding are going to cost more than $5 so basically, you get what you pay for.
I really hope this review has helped you guys out and that you were able to get an inside look at what Fiverr is all about and what to expect from this freelancing platform before you sign up.
Have any questions?
Comments?
Personal experience to share?
Feel free to leave them for me below in the comments section and I’ll get back to you A.S.A.P with a reply.