Working On Fiverr

Fiverr is a big name when it comes to the Gig Economy or online freelancing in general.

Read the full series of ‘My Experiment Of Working In The Gig Economy’ here:

Fiverr.com is another outsourcing marketplace, much like Upwork or Freelancer.com. Founded in 2010, with headquarters in Tel Aviv, Israel. Fiverr offers services ranging from article writing, graphic design, web design, digital marketing, programming, CV writing, career coaching, consultancy and so on. All services – called Gigs – offered on the platform and starting at $5, and going on in multiples of five; hence, the name “Fiverr”.

Fiverr is one of the most popular freelancing sites that serves a global customer base. It is ranked as one of the most popular websites in the world.

How It Works

Again, the two major players here are the buyers (clients) and the sellers (freelancers). To be a seller or buyer on Fiverr, you are required to register on the website, and the registration is free.

In order to become a seller on Fiverr, you are required to create a “gig,” with a minimum pricing of $5.

After creating the gig, you need to publish it and wait for someone (a seller) to order your service. You could also place project proposals for jobs on the “buyers’ request” feature, which enables you to describe what you will offer to the buyer.

If you are a client looking for a service on Fiverr, you can order a service after paying a minimum amount of $5 to Fiverr (not the seller direct). When the job/project is done, the seller delivers it to you, and Fiverr pays the seller, if you are satisfied with the work. You can then leave a positive review for the seller.

Fiverr has a number of unique features including one they call “featured gigs.” These are gigs by top performing freelancers that appear on the homepage of Fiverr.com.

My Personal HR Gigs 

After coming a long way on my journey in search of the perfect freelancer platform, I found Fiverr.com to be one of the best for me. The Fiverr website is very easy to navigate and use, it has a nice design, and above all the platform is easy to understand. I never have to write a proposal (and that is awesome for someone with Dyslexia!) as buyers come to me direct with their projects (buying a direct gig).

Yet, there are still a couple of downsides with working on Fiverr.

As a buyer you do have to watch out, as there are various sellers that sell copycat gigs, or say they have experience in a topic/subject and actually do not. It is definitely becoming more professional, but just be careful when you buy a gig.

For every completed project and successful payment, Fiverr charges a service fee of 20%. So if, a customer buys your “HR Support Gig for $230” you will receive $184, $46 goes to Fiverr. If you then use a payment provider to get to your funds, such as payoneer or paypal – a small percentage will be taken off by these providers as well.  Another fact is that there is a 14-day holding time on funds. This means that after completing and delivering a job, you do not get paid immediately.  If you are stuck at any point or have questions on any related issue, you can head over to the Fiverr forum, where you can have your questions answered.

In my next post, I will be sharing a few other freelancer platforms and finalising the series “My Experiment Of Working In The Gig Economy”.

© New To HR

I realise very well that the (heated) discussions of unfair competition and paying someone JUST $5 (well actually $4 – as Fiverr takes $1) are still on everyone’s mind. My stance is that you can either block it all out, or emerge yourself in this new gig economy. These platforms are now part of our economy and the world is moving forward. It does not mean you have to work for what you believe is unfair or work at a level that you are uncomfortable with! Many professional (corporate) freelancers earn exactly the same as they would in the corporate world and keep their self-esteem [even when experimenting with freelance platforms ;)]. But is it not amazing to work with customers from all over the world, a truly diverse and inclusion focused society!