Probably every digital marketer or online business owner has ever heard about Fiverr. It’s a global freelancing platform where you can hire freelancers for a significantly low price, but is Fiverr actually worth it?
In this Fiverr review, I will try to explain what Fiverr is, how it works, and whether or not you should hire people from this platform.
I’ve been using Fiverr since 2014 to outsource different tasks for my online businesses. As an online business owner, I know the pains and struggles of dealing with various tasks at once, and when there’s a time when you can’t handle it all by yourself it’s always a good idea to get some extra hands for help.
From logo designs and illustrations to content writing and link building, I’ve gone through many different services offered on Fiverr. Some of them let me down and some of them provided me some fantastic results.
Like any other freelancing platform, Fiverr has its own pros and cons, and here I will also try to explain how to find really good services and how to avoid the bad ones.
What is Fiverr.com?
Quick stats about Fiverr:
- 2.4 million active buyers
- 830,000 Fiverr sellers
- 200 service categories
- offers services in 160 countries
Fiverr is the world’s largest marketplace where you can get your digital job done for only 5$.
Now don’t get this “$5” term wrong, as no freelancer in his conscious mind will spend his entire day doing the job for as little as $5.
You can indeed find many $5 gigs on Fiverr that require just a little time to complete. That could be quick logo mock ups, short articles, and editing works, but in reality, you are not going to get quality work done that brings a lot of value for only $5.
For this reason, Fiverr enabled opportunities for freelancers to add their own custom gigs where they can charge more by providing extra value to the customer.
So 5$ gigs is basically a term how Fiverr.com likes to brand themselves, and while there are many 5$ dollars gigs on Fiverr, there are also gigs that charge 100 or 200 dollars depending on the job type, delivery time, freelancer’s experience, and other factors.
One of the biggest unique selling points from Fiverr, is that it’s packed with thousands of freelancers from around the world, and that includes areas from the Middle East and Asia. This allows for the 1st world countries, like the US, Canada, England, Australia, and etc, to take advantage of the different currencies and get the job done for extremely cheap prices.
While this factor can often reflect on the low-quality service that freelancers form the provide, there are still ways to find both – high-quality and cheap services on this platform.
What Can You Order On Fiverr?
Nowadays, it’s almost impossible not to find what you are looking for on this platform. Fiverr became so broad that you may end up having too many options to choose from, and that’s a good thing.
From article writing and translation to programming and web development Fiverr offers all digital services that you can think of.
Here’s a brief list of categories and services that Fiverr.com has:
- Graphic Design
– Logo design
– Illustration
– Game design
– Book design
– Web & mobile design
– Interior design
– Product design
– & more
- Digital Marketing
– SEO
– Social media marketing
– Content marketing
– Video marketing
– Email marketing
– Ecommerce marketing
– Web traffic
– Analytics
– & more
- Writing & Translation
– Blog posts
– Proofreading and editing
– Resume writing
– Copywriting
– Book and eBook writing
– Transcripts
– Legal writing
– & more
- Video & Animation
– Video editing
– Short video ads
– Logo animation
– 3D product animation
– Visual effects
– & more
- Music & Audio
– Voiceovers
– Mixing and mastering
– Podcast editing
– Music transcription
– Sound effects
– & more
- Programming & Tech
– WordPress
– Website builders and CMS
– Game development
– Web programming
– Mobile apps
– Data analysis
– Support and IT
– & more
- Business
– Virtual assistant
– Data entry
– Market research
– Branding services
– Legal consulting
– Lead generation
– & more
So these are the main categories and some services that Fiverr covers. Besides that, you can also use Fiverr as the learning and coaching platform.
There are many online courses and lessons that you can take on Fiverr to empower your business, and those include fitness, cooking, crafting, and other types of lessons.
How Fiverr Works?
It works in a simple and effective manner to connect businesses and freelancers. The reason why I like this platform is that it’s very simple to use as well as to find and hire someone for your project.
As a global and very popular freelancing site, Fiverr has a massive social proof built on that allows you to read many customer reviews of many freelancers.
By that, we can recognize experienced and trustworthy freelancers who have done a great job for businesses in the past.
Now there are two ways how you can hire somebody on Fiverr. While the most popular way is to just simply browse for freelancing gigs according to your search criteria, you can also submit a proposal by letting qualified people to apply.
1. Browsing for GIGS:
Searching for gigs, also known as services, is how the majority of businesses find what they are looking for on Fiverr.
The easiest way to find the right GIG is to run a simple search including the keywords of the service you are looking for, for example – a “logo design”, or “virtual assistant”.
Then you have the options to filter your search by many different factors, such as:
- Budget
- Service category
- Service genre
- Service language
- Seller level
- Seller language
- Seller location
- Delivery time
You can also turn on the “local sellers” feature that displays sellers only from your country. Or, you can turn on the “online sellers” setting, which shows gigs of freelancers that are currently online, so you can quickly discuss your business ideas and vision.
Once you find the gig you are interested in, you will be presented with custom service packages offered by the freelancer.
Those will commonly vary in price, delivery time, and added features to the service.
Here’s an example of one of the Graphic Design gigs on Fiverr:
In case you can’t find your desired package, you can always contact the seller and negotiate the custom service you need.
2. Posting the Request:
Like other freelancing platforms, Fiverr allows you to post job proposals and let skilled people apply. This feature works best when you want something specific to be done and you don’t have time to browse for freelancers individually.
All you have to do is to clearly describe what type of services you are looking for by filling a form. You want to be as clear as possible when describing your job request in order to get the right freelancers to apply.
You can also determine your budget, the delivery time, and include documents and spreadsheets to fully clarify your project.
Once you post your request it will be visible for freelancers who have only delivered work in your selected category, and within 24 hours you should start getting requests and offers from different sellers.
Job Completion:
How long it will take for a freelancer to complete and deliver your project entirely depends on which service package you have selected, or the delivery time set in your requested order.
Once a freelancer completes your project, he will mark it as delivered and you will have 3 days to assess it.
If you are satisfied with the delivery, you can approve the order and you are more than welcome to leave feedback to the seller, which can either be a private or a public one.
If you don’t like the service:
The good thing about Fiverr is that you never have to pay for the service you don’t like. If it happens that the buyer has not met your order requirements and failed to deliver what you expected, you have a few ways to solve the issue.
The first and the best step is to request a revision from a seller. Now, how many revisions you are entitled to have depends on the specific GIG that you chose, but most of the sellers on Fiverr offers a few revisions for free.
If the service you have received is unacceptable at all and you don’t want to waste any more time, you can simply Reject the Delivery, and cancel the order by choosing your reason why.
Then the resolution center will process that and refund your money paid for a service to your Fiverr’s account balance, and if you prefer a cash refund instead there’s a form you can fill, and money will come back to the orginal payment source.
What Is Good And Not Good About Fiverr?
Some people recommend Fiverr as the best freelancing platform in the world, while some are being skeptical and tells us to avoid it. How it actually is, depends on your needs and priorities, but like any other freelancing platform Fiverr has its own benefits and drawbacks.
Here’s what I think are the pros and cons of this platform:
Fiverr Pros:
1. Job is done quickly
Fiverr is one of the platforms where you can get the job done within 24 hours. Many of the gigs offered on Fiverr are owned by the agencies, therefore they are often capable to push any kind of work fast. So don’t get surprised if you see services like E-Book Writing delivered in 1 day.
Fast delivery from individual freelancers also became the culture of Fiverr. Depending on the type of project, you are most likely to get your job completed under 3 days.
2. Easy to hire
Another point to consider is that Fiverr has a marketplace where you can browse and hire people directly without necessarily posting job proposals, and then waiting for the right candidate to appear.
The seller profiles can tell a lot about how skilled and experienced they are. You can view the education, approved certificates, linked social media profiles, reviews and other important information to quickly decide whether you could trust the seller or not.
3. Low prices
Fiverr is known to be the most affordable freelancing platform ever. There are a couple of reasons why services on Fiverr are being so cheap.
Firstly, this platform is so overloaded by the freelancers that they have to compete with each other by offering significantly low prices. As mentioned before, there are many agencies behind the gigs on Fiverr, and that gives the opportunity to cut their service cost with a powerful and fast workforce.
Another thing to mention is that Fiverr involves freelancers from around the world and there are many workers from countries like India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines and etc.
So, if you are living in the 1st world countries like the US, Australia, UK, Canada, or even in Europe, you can take advantage of different currencies and get your work done for relatively cheap prices.
4. All level services
Fiverr is a workplace for many different sellers who are willing to provide flexible service packages for you.
Almost every GIG on Fiverr offers multiple packages where you can not only pick the one you like but also customize it to fit your needs.
You normally have a lot of options when it comes to customizing your order, and that includes choosing your delivery date, revisions, and even exact word count for some writing services.
And if that’s not enough for you, feel free to contact the seller to arrange something specific or extraordinary to be done.
Those people who say that Fiverr offers only cheap and low-quality services are wrong. While there are plenty of jobs like that, Fiverr also offers expert-done services by the most experienced freelancers.
The freelancers who have been serving on Fiverr for a long time and has demonstrated outstanding quality work are verified as the Pro Sellers. In fact, there’s an entire section dedicated to Pro Sellers on Fiverr who deliver top-notch quality work. However, those services have a higher cost.
5. Great customer protection
It feels like Fiverr has a great emphasis to protect the customer and make him satisfied. Getting a positive review from a customer is a top goal for probably every freelancer, therefore in most cases, they are going to do everything it takes to make you happy.
When you are buying any services it’s best to submit clear order requirements that fully define the service you want to receive. Once the freelancer accepts those he becomes entitled to provide the work you have requested and paid for.
As for delivery, the seller must provide proof of work using the Deliver Work button. If the seller fails to meet your requirements stated prior to him accepting your order, and he does not want to fix the situation, you have a number of options to request a change or get your money back.
As we mentioned before, you can always cancel the order using the resolution center, or you can also contact customer service and ask them to review the situation.
But in most cases, you won’t need that as 99% of times sellers will be happy to refund you or provide any additional changes to your order as they don’t want to get negative reviews on their accounts.
6. Easy to test
If you want to hire people for the long term or you really want to get the quality job done, Fiverr allows you to easily test things out. While this method requires a higher budget, you may save money in the long run.
As Fiverr services are generally cheap, you can hire multiple people for your project to see, which freelancers perform and suit your needs best.
For example, you can connect with and hire multiple virtual assistants, writers, graphic designers, or anyone else to see which one delivers you the best results. Then if you like the individual, you may want to hire him for the long term contract outside of Fiverr allowing him to earn more and saving yourself from the Fiverr service fees.
Another option to test things out on Fiverr is when you don’t fully know what you want. For example, if you want a logo designed, but you don’t have an exact visual image on your mind, you can hire multiple freelancers for 5$ to brainstorm and deliver quick logo design ideas. Once you have several options to choose from, it will be easier for you to decide towards your final result.
Fiverr Cons:
1. Some low-quality services
While there are plenty of great GIGS on Fiverr delivered by the professional skilled freelancers, there are also many low-quality services that you should watch out for.
For example, avoid services like website traffic, and cheap backlinks as many of these services involve PBNs (Private Blog Networks), or traffic bots that could harm your website.
Also, if you need an article or any other writing service, don’t expect a 2000 word article written for only 10$ or 15$. Those services may include poor grammar and structuring, or even may not be human written at all.
Knowing the fact that this platform offers low prices, it comes at the cost of not getting the quality work you desire. Therefore it’s always better to look for the reviews and samples of work before you buy on Fiverr.
2. Not great for long-term projects
If you are looking for someone who could work with you in the long run, Fiverr isn’t a great place for that as buying services on Fiverr does not involve signing contracts.
As the sellers on this platform are open for public orders, they might get hired by multiple buyers at the time and they won’t be able to stick only with you and fully focus on your business.
Another point is that the majority of GIGs on Fiverr charge for the work completed instead of for the hours the seller needs to complete it. That means you are not likely to hire an individual to work on your business for let’s say a 40hrs/week basis unless you will order tasks that are equivalent to that.
However, the majority of sellers on Fiverr want to work with many different businesses at a time, so they can get reviews coming from different buyer profiles, instead of just one.
3. Language barriers
As we talked about that earlier, many of Fiverr sellers are not native English or American speakers, therefore their service may cost a little less.
While this can be an advantage, this can also negatively affect the communication with the seller and the quality of work you receive.
Talking about the quality of service, not every task requires a good level of English knowledge, but some of them do.
For example, if you are ordering something like a logo design or animation the language does not really matter that much. But, if your service consists of writing and proofreading, you may want to hire someone with the perfect English language skills, and Fiverr can let you down on this.
However, that does not mean you can’t find someone on Fiverr who speaks or writes well in English. I have ordered many writing-related jobs from articles to ebooks and had great experiences. There are many people with exceptionalaly great English skills on this platform, and you just have to find them.
So, Is Hiring on Fiverr Worth It?
Fiverr.com is probably the most popular freelancing marketplace in the world, and there are good reasons for that. Since this platform has a great review system in place, it’s super easy to find and hire someone talented to work on your projects.
Compared to the other similar platforms, like Freelancer, or Upwork the prices are relatively low on Fiverr, and there’s good customer protection in place, meaning you never have to pay for the work you don’t like.
Generally, all freelancing platforms have good and bad sellers, and it’s up to you to do research and pick the right one.
The only thing to consider before hiring on Fiverr is that Fiverr is better for shorter-term projects. Other than that, it is an amazing platform that can potentially take your business to the next level.