How To Make Money On Fiverr – Interview
Fiverr is an online market place that connects those who offer freelance services (seller) to those who need these services (buyers).
As a freelancer, Fiverr allows you to create an account and offer various services, including graphics design, web designing, and writing. In this article, Juan will answer some questions about his jouney on Fiverr as a freelancer.
Juann is selling on Fiverr for 2 years now and he has some good advice for anyone who wants to start selling their services there.
How did you started out?
I first read about Fiverr on a forum in 2015. Someone wrote on how to make money offering various services online and listed Fiverr amongst the top five freelance websites to consider.
Before Fiverr, I wrote articles on another freelance platform (Iwriter). But only a few jobs were available for the hundreds of writers here.
After reading through the post, I create a Fiverr account. The setup process was relatively easy. I was just asked to provide an email, username, and password.
How was when you got your first order?
I didn’t create a gig until two weeks later. When I finally wanted to create the gig, I was asked to verify my phone number before publishing my gig (the whole process has currently changed).
I created two gigs that evening. One was an article writing gig, while the other was for website contents. When I woke up the next morning, I powered my PC to see that I got a notification.
When I opened it, it was my first order – just a few hours after creating a gig.
I quickly read the requirements and got to work. I delivered the article within a couple of hours and got a 5-star review. I was singing Happy day, lalalala….
How Much Money Can You Earn?
Earnings on Fiverr, just like any other freelance website, aren’t fixed. What you earn as a freelancer is dependent on the level of work done and your prices. As a beginner, my earnings were low because I had to offer lower rates to entice buyers. It involved a lot of hard work to earn even the basic $5.
My monthly earning was nothing to write about. I get a lot of orders (mostly because of my cheap services) but still earned below $100 monthly.
This however changed as you amass positive reviews, and increase levels your earning increases.
My earnings increased when I moved from a ‘new seller’ to a ‘level one’ seller. By then, I had gotten some regular buyers who depend on me for an article for their blogs and eBooks.
I increased my prices and reduced the quantity of work included.
Note that Fiverr doesn’t restrict what you charge for your services. Even as a beginner, you can decide to charge $100 per article.
How Fiverr Works?
Every freelance platform has something unique about it, and Fiverr is no different. The Fiverr system is quite straight forward. Here are some things you should know about.
Making Sales: Buyers are allowed to assess various sellers and directly pick a freelancer of their choice. There is also the ‘buyers request’ section where buyers can post their job requirements and be contacted by individual sellers.
Seller Levels: The level acts as a badge and denotes experience and performance. There are four levels on Fiver – New Seller, Level one, Level two, and Top Rated seller. Sellers need to meet specific requirements to progress to the next level.
As you progress through the levels, you are allowed to access more features like creating more gigs and extra gigs. After attaining a level, you also have to maintain specific level requirements to avoid demotion.
Earning Formula: Fiverr gets 20 percent of whatever you earn as a seller, even on tips. Lol. If you get an order of $20, for instance, you will earn $16, while Fiverr keeps $4. Fair deal.
Once a buyer accepts an order, the funds reflect on the sellers earning balance. However, you won’t be able to withdraw the funds until after 14 days. Top sellers get their funds in 7 days.
There are three withdrawal options available – Paypal, Payoneer, and Bank.
What are the challenges working on Fiverr?
The challenges you face when delivering your gig depend on the skills you offer. Fiverr created the system to ensure buyers are satisfied. If a seller provides top-notch services, there won’t be any challenges. If a buyer isn’t happy with the delivery, you can offer to modify it to their satisfaction.
If you think you can’t meet up the time-frame for delivery, you can ask the buyer for an extension to give you adequate time to deliver.
What do you Like/Dislike about it?
Fiverr has several amazing features that make it a first choice freelance platform for beginners.
Pros
- Easy To Understand: The Fiverr system is easy to understand and navigate, even for beginners.
- Set Your Own Prices: there is no limit to how much you can charge for your services. But it has to be reasonable.
Cons
- The long wait for your funds: After earning from an order, it takes it days for the funds to become available for withdrawal. Considering that most engage in freelancing for quick cash, 14 days seems too long.
- Fiverr Own the Clients: Fiver has a strict rule about communicating outside the platform. While they allow video calls, and such via Skype, other forms of communications are banned and could lead to an account restriction.
- This makes it challenging to build a list of repeat buyers. It put freelancers in an endless search for clients.
- Incessant Account Bans and Suspension: I know I’m not alone on this because a lot of sellers on the Fiverr forum complain about it. Sellers and buyers accounts are restricted for just any cause. A buyer can contact the Fiverr Customer service to complain about a seller, and they will suspend the buyers account without asking for details on the dealings.
- Unresponsive Customers service: I don’t think unresponsive is the word, because they will respond, but with an automated or irrelevant message. You will have to complain of the same issue severally before they will respond to you.
- The Fiverr Ranking System: The Fiverr ranking system has a mind of its own, and it’s difficult to predict. If your gigs are not ranked in the first five pages, it may be difficult for buyers to find you.
Do you have any advice for someone who wants to start?
If you have any digital skill, then you can earn good money working on Fiverr. If you don’t have a specific skill, then you can look through the various sections and choose a skill to learn.
After creating your account, apply the principle of customer satisfaction. Forget about the money and focus on delivering your best.
The importance of getting a 5-star review can never be over-emphasized. Your rating may determine the number of orders you get.
Try and deliver with 24 hours, except for large orders, and don’t be greedy. Show concern and create a relationship with the buyer.
Making More Money On Fiverr
Up-selling is key to earning more money as a freelancer. Fiverr allows you to create extra gigs, and earn more from your buyers. After buyers purchase your gigs, you can offer your other services to them to make more money.
Overall, I am happy with my experience with the platform so far. Asides the listed issued Fiverr makes a great place to earn as a freelancer.
Get some ideas: 16 high income services to sell on Fiverr
