You have probably already heard of this freelancing platform called Fiverr.com and you’re about to try it to see how it can benefit your business. Before you go and spend your money there it’s important that you know what’s good and what’s not so good about this platform.
I was hiring freelancers for my online businesses and projects for many years, and by this time I feel could give you strong advice weather or not you should buy things on Fiverr.
This article will discuss what Fiverr is with the most important pros and cons of this platform from a buyer’s perspective. So if you are an online business or just an individual who is looking for a way to outsource your tasks – this article is just for you.
What is Fiverr?
Fiverr.com is a freelance marketplace that connects businesses with freelancers on a global spectrum.
Founded in 2010, Fiverr stands as one of the most widely used freelance marketplaces online where you can get literally any task done for a low price.
Fiverr offers so-called GIGs, in other words, service packages created by sellers. Here you will pay for a service provided, instead of for the hours that the seller needs to complete your job.
Fiverr is great for quick orders as there you don’t necessarily need to hire people for the long term projects (while you still can). Its convenient interface allows you to find exactly what you need within the minutes, and purchasing a GIG is easy as 123.
One of the reasons why Fiverr is so popular among businesses is that it offers the most affordable prices and there are always options for a small or medium budget.
However, often you may get exactly what you are paying for, so don’t expect quality work done for as little as 5$.
The actual name “Fiverr” came from the platform’s ability to offer many GIGs for just five dollars, but if you have a slightly higher budget, I do recommend ordering more expensive services than that.
What Services You Can Find on Fiverr?
As being said, you can get literally any task done there. Whether it is a logo design, article writing, video editing, or even a funny illustration of yourself – you can all get this done on Fiverr.
There are 9 service categories that you can browse from, and that includes:
- Graphics & Design
- Digital Marketing
- Writing & Translation
- Video & Animation
- Music & Audio
- Programming & Tech
- Business
- Lifestyle
These categories are filled with many types of services and there’s a very little chance that you won’t find the type of GIG you need.
Must also mention that Fiverr classifies sellers as regular and Pro Sellers – highly professional sellers. The Pro Sellers are verified by not only positive feedback from the customers but also by Fiverr itself.
Those sellers always need to keep up with the high work quality standards to maintain their status on the platform. Of course, such an exceptional service comes at the cost, but it’s just good to have all levels of sellers on the platform.
Must also mention that you can also order coaching programs, courses, and different online lessons on Fiverr Learn. Those you can use for self-development purposes or for the content online.
The Advantages and Disadvantages of Buying on Fiverr:
Like any other freelancing platform, Fiverr isn’t perfect and has its own pros and cons. No matter how many positive things we can find about this site, sometimes it may feel it could be not the right platform to use for our businesses.
What Is Great About Fiverr? (Pros):
– Low Prices:
If you are a start-up or a business on a lower budget, Fiverr can be a great platform to get the ball rolling as there are many services that you can order for a cheap deal.
Fiverr is a place where you can get a professional branded logo designed or a 2000 word article written for just about 10-20 bucks.
The reason why services on Fiverr are the cheapest on the market is that a lot of the sellers there are based in less developed countries with a lower rate of the currency. That means buyers from the more developed countries, like the 1st world countries, can take advantage of the differences between currencies.
Also, Fiverr is a place for freelancers to start their freelancing carriers, so often fully skilled and professional people charge pennies for their services, just because they are new to freelancing.
– Work Done Fast:
The culture of Fiverr.com involves high-level customer service standards. Sellers on this platform seem to be extremely worky, therefore many of them can get your projects done really fast.
Depending on the type of service you are ordering, often you can find options for the 24-hour delivery, but normally, such options will cost you extra.
You may wonder, how is it possible to get an ebook written in just 1 day? It’s because the are many digital agencies based under seller profiles, and their teams can push any kind of work fast.
Another factor that encourages individual freelancers or agencies to deliver your projects fast is the reviews. Positive reviews are very important for any seller on this platform, therefore nobody wants to ruin their rating scores because of overdue tasks.
– Easy To Use:
Among all the outsourcing platforms, Fiverr is probably the one, which is the easiest to use. Its user-friendly and modern interface allows you to order the tasks in just a few steps. As mentioned before, there is no need to negotiate the deals or post the job requests on Fiverr (while you still can).
All you have to do is to put your order’s key phrase in the search bar, browse available GIGs, read their pages, and pay for the service.
Also, Fiverr remembers your both login and payment details, so there’s no need to log in every time you place the order.
– Great Buyer Protection:
As you get to use this platform more and more, you will probably notice that Fiverr stands on the buyer’s side a lot.
As a buyer, remember, you will never have to pay for the work that does not fit your submitted requirements. Therefore it is always better to give as much information as needed for the seller to understand your needs.
In case your order requirements were not exactly right, and the seller delivered the work you don’t like, most of the time you can ask for some revisions. The majority of sellers on this platform are humble and are willing to fix the issues even if it was not their fault.
Other than that there’s always a resolution center you can contact if you can’t reach a compromise with the seller. Then, the support will look into your case and most of the time will refund you with the credits or cash.
– Easy To Test:
Some businesses use Fiverr to only complete quick, short-term tasks, but it’s always better to find freelancers that could serve your business in the long run. That’s why we need to test a lot of sellers to find out who is truly suitable to deliver the work you need for the future.
As the services on Fiverr are generally cheaper than on the other platforms, there’s a great opportunity to order more different GIGs to see which ones are performing best.
For example, instead of ordering a logo design from the same seller, order each one of them from 5 sellers. That will cost you more but you will be able to see which seller is performing the best. Now once you have your favorite seller, you can continue with him knowing he is able to provide the best service for your price.
– All Level Sellers:
There are thousands of sellers on Fiverr that can provide a different level of services that fit different budgets. Some of the freelancers are newbies, who are willing to charge less while some of them are professionals who are more likely going to charge more for their time.
To make it easier for you Fiverr classifies sellers by 4 different levels. There are New Sellers, Level One Sellers, Level Two Sellers, and Top Rated Sellers.
Those categories define the agent’s experience on the platform by mainly taking into account factors like – active days spent on the platform, the number of completed GIGs, review score, and money earned from the orders.
If you have a higher budget to spend on outsourcing tasks, it’s best to order from Top Rated Sellers to get excellent results. Those freelancers have spent at least 180 days as active sellers on the platform, completed at least 100 individual orders, and maintain at least 4.7 of 5 overall review rates.
What Is Not So Great About Fiverr? (Cons)
It would not be possible if there were only good things about Fiverr. Of course, this platform has more positive points, but there is also a number of negatives that you may want to consider before ordering your first GIG.
– Some Low-Quality Services:
While Fiverr offers really cheap prices for many of the services, you may not always get the quality work you need. You need to use your common sense and keep realistic expectations when ordering GIGs, otherwise, you may end up disappointed.
There are many GIGs under 5$ on Fiverr. That either means the task is very small, or service is low quality. No one in his conscious mind will write a quality 1000 word article for as little 5$. It will most likely be a poor grammar piece or computer-generated script.
Some of the services offered on Fiverr are not even worth a penny, as they can do more bad than good for you.
For example, there are many cheap backlinks and website traffic services that promise a significant visitor boost for just 5$. Those services may come from low-quality sources, and can actually harm your website.
Also, beware when ordering art materials as they might be subject to copyright infringement. There are many “artists” who offer 5$ for producing original artwork and they won’t be get bothered to actually create one. Instead, they will browse the web to find what you are looking for and leave you open for legal issues by delivering copyright-protected arts.
If you are ordering an artwork that consists of external photos, graphics, or illustrations, ask for their original source link to make sure that all the elements in the artwork are copyright-free.
As for the custom logos and illustrations, always ask for an original file where the artwork was created. Those can be Photoshop or Illustrator files which prove that the seller has originally made the work and hasn’t just taken random stuff from the net.
– Language Barriers:
Fiverr.com offers services in more than 150 countries around the globe and there you are most likely to meet people with different languages and cultures. While for some buyers this can be an exciting advantage, for some of them it can be a difficulty, especially if their first language is English.
What’s unfortunate, the majority of Fiverr sellers are not native English speakers, and some of them may have difficulties expressing their thoughts or understanding your project’s scope.
It also may have an effect on the quality of your work if you are requesting something do be done that is written or spoken.
For this reason, it is always a good idea to have a chat with the seller before you ordering any GIG. Make sure he clearly understands your needs, and his level of language won’t affect the quality of work.
– Refund Policy:
If you are willing to use Fiverr for a long run and try different sellers, there’s a chance that you won’t be happy with the delivery of your project. Normally, many sellers offer a few revisions at no cost if there’s something minor to be fixed, but if the order is completely unacceptable you can ask for your money back.
In this case, by default Fiverr is going to refund the money spent to your Fiverr’s account balance, but many people prefer money coming straight back to their credit card or PayPal account.
Getting money back to my Fiverr balance is not a deal for me, especially if I spend a lot on the bigger projects. On the other hand, you can spend that money on another service without paying a small processing fee again.
But if you really want your money back, that’s not a big issue as you can contact the customer service and ask for a full refund to the original payment solution. It will just take a little bit of time.
– Fake Reviews:
Unfortunately, not every seller on Fiverr is legit, and some of them will try to buy your attention with fake reviews. While this platform got better with identifying fake reviews there are still some to watch out for.
It can heavily affect your first impression of the seller and potentially the quality of service if you come to his profile and see the bunch of positive reviews, which are not real.
Sellers get fake reviews by usually contacting each other to exchange or asking their friends to purchase and rate their services.
It’s totally unacceptable and against Fiverr’s terms and conditions to negotiate any fake reviews on this platform and Fiverr is closely working to eliminate all of them.
Quick Summary:
Fiverr.com is an exciting and big freelancing marketplace packed with all levels of freelancers. There you can find anything you want from digital marketing to video and animation services.
Like any other freelancing platform Fiverr has its pros and cons. Despite the small negatives of Fiverr, the services there are generally high quality and affordable. Most of the time the projects are completed fast and smoothly. It has great buyer protection, and it’s easy to use and test it.