If you’re like most people, you have a lot of work that needs to be done. Maybe it’s work that you can do but simply don’t have the time for. Or maybe it’s work that you can’t do; we can’t all have every single skill under the sun.
Whether you’re short on time or talent, the best way to lighten your workload is to get assistance from top freelancers. If you’re a stranger to this whole freelancing business, you might be concerned. How does one find a freelancer to suit one’s needs? How does one make sure they’re not being scammed?
Online freelancing platforms give you a solution to both problems: they bring together freelancers for categories from all around the world and protect you from the dangers of dealing one-on-one with a stranger.
Here, we’ll review Fiverr for buyers and look at one of the most popular of these platforms: Fiverr.
Table of Contents
What Is Fiverr?
Think of Fiverr as a huge marketplace. The freelancers, or “sellers,” set up shop and advertise their services, or “gigs,” while buyers like you can browse these wares to find the gig that best suits your needs.
And, trust us, there will definitely be at least one gig that suits your needs.
Fiverr currently showcases nine broad categories that cover… pretty much everything. Some of the most popular are graphics and design, writing and translation, video and animation, music and audio, programming and tech, and also lifestyle. And each category is divided into around 20-40 subcategories, give or take a few.
That’s a lot! Fiverr brings all these different services into one well-organized website.
So if you need a bunch of different jobs done, instead of spending even more of your valuable time trying to find good freelancers, you can just head to Fiverr. A few simple searches will take you to the services you’re looking for.
List of Fiverr Pros and Cons
Pro 1: No headaches over hiring.
Finding and hiring freelancers seems like a daunting task, especially if you’ve never dipped your toes in this kind of stuff before.
First off, how do you even get a freelancer? Job postings? Asking around? Google? Second: contracts, rights, and ownership, all those legal matters…
If you try to get freelance services this old-school way, you might end up spending more time instead of saving it.
Luckily for you, Fiverr takes care of all these headaches, and the only legal documentation you’ll ever have to read is their Terms of Service. Fiverr basically acts as a medium between you and the freelancer; all you need to do is search for the right service, tell the seller what you need, and pay. It only takes minutes.
All transactions are done through Fiverr, so the seller can’t just up and run away with your money; they’re only paid after they deliver and you approve their work. But getting everything done through Fiverr has one consequence, which is a service fee.
Con 1: A service fee.
This fee is pretty much a Fiverr tax. Every purchase you make will have an extra processing fee to cover Fiverr’s administration costs.
Fiverr takes 5.5% of each purchase, and for purchases under $50, there’s an additional $2 fee.
This fee applies to every transaction. So if you decide to get extra services after ordering a gig, you’ll be charged a fee when you pay for the extra. If you want to tip a seller after they deliver, you’ll be charged a fee for that, too.
But hey, at least you don’t have to pay actual taxes on Fiverr! All things considered, Fiverr gigs, with prices as low as $5 a pop (more on that later), are still pretty affordable.
Pro 2: Huge selection of freelancers.
Fiverr isn’t just great for buyers. It’s great for sellers, too. That means it draws in all sorts of people from everywhere.
What that means for you is that you get to check out a huge variety of freelancers and compare them side-by-side: reviews and ratings, delivery time, portfolios, anything that matters to you. Then you can pick and choose.
In this huge variety, you’re bound to find at least a few gems—for example, people who are experts in their field. And from these gems, you’re bound to get quality work. However, Fiverr’s popularity with freelancers does come with a downside.
Con 2: Sketchy sellers.
Before you get too worried, know that these sellers are few and far between. Plus, they’re pretty easy to spot; soon, we’ll show you how to stay away from this sort of seller.
But they do exist. Fiverr is a way to make money, and unfortunately, there will always be those who take advantage of this. You might run into sellers who overpromise and underdeliver.
For instance, you might purchase an article from someone, only to receive a plagiarized piece that they copied off the Internet. The good news is, Fiverr does its best to minimize this risk.
Pro 3: Comprehensive seller stats and rating system.
Fiverr provides a lot of useful information about its sellers: basic things like their country, languages, and skills, but also details like their average response time and when their last delivery was.
This lets you make sure that you’re contacting an active seller. And Fiverr has a leveling system that lets you know even more about a seller.
If you see a seller marked “Level One,” “Level Two,” or “Top Rated,” this means they’re; responding to at least 90% of their messages, completing (rather than canceling) at least 90% of their orders, and delivering at least 90% of their orders on time.
Finally, like any good online marketplace, Fiverr has a five-star rating system. Buyers leave reviews about the seller’s communication level, whether they’d recommend the gig to a friend, and whether the service was as described. Unfortunately, these reviews are not always reliable.
Con 3: Inaccurate reviews.
“Five stars” is relative, and on Fiverr, it means the seller did at least a decent job. With so many five-star gigs out there, the five-star rating loses its meaning.
A good seller might receive a few four-star ratings from buyers who interpret the five-star system differently on the flip side.
So on Fiverr, a perfect 5 stars aren’t necessarily better than, say, 4.7, and it doesn’t guarantee quality. Still, it’s a good benchmark to have; since ratings are usually high, you’ll know not to order a gig with a rating less than 4 stars (or even 4.5 if you’re picky).
Pro 4: Easy communication.
Before, during, and after your collaboration with a seller, you’ll have communication lines open.
Fiverr lets you contact sellers before ordering anything to ask questions and send them messages as often as you need while you’re waiting for them to deliver. You can even see when sellers are online (logged into Fiverr).
Since sellers are rated on their level of communication, and how quickly they respond is on display for all to see, you’ll be pleased with the interactions you have with the majority of Fiverr sellers.
Pro 5: Straightforward services.
When you order a service, everything is paid upfront, with no surprise costs; the only time you’ll pay more is if you want to order extra things or tip the seller.
Every gig has an “About” page that includes the seller’s description, the packages available (Basic, Standard, and Premium), and a standardized list of what each package offers. This varies for each category—with writing services, for example, a gig will show how many words are included and whether the seller provides research on the topic they’re writing.
If you look at a well-made gig, you’ll know exactly what you’re getting when you order.
Is Fiverr safe and legit?
You won’t have to worry about freelancers stealing your credit card info if you do everything through Fiverr, but what about Fiverr itself?
Short answer, Yes. No worries. All of your information is secure. Fiverr has 256-bit SSL encryption and maintains a Level 1 PCI-DSS certification, which means it meets the payment card industry’s highest data security standards.
And it’s trusted by 3.1 million active buyers (and counting)! On the other hand, there’s always some risk when it comes to dealing with strangers on the Internet (although, of course, Fiverr reduces this risk).
We’ve already mentioned sketchy sellers. To stay safe from them, all you need to do is find the good sellers.
Don’t just look at five-star reviews; read them to see whether a buyer is saying vague things like “great work” or writing whole paragraphs of praise. The former might be a fake review or a buyer with lower standards than yours, while the latter is a great sign.
Browse the seller’s portfolio; contact them and ask for some samples if you need more to form an opinion. Be wary of extremely low prices. It might just be a new seller trying to get their first gig, but it could also be a sign of low quality work.
These methods aren’t 100% foolproof, but you can feel safer every time you order from a new seller if you follow them.
All this advice might make Fiverr seem like a treacherous place, teeming with con artists, but that’s simply not true. Most sellers are great! It only takes a little prudence on your end; Fiverr’s taken plenty of initiative to keep you safe, like requiring sellers to verify their identity with government-issued IDs.
Is Fiverr Easy to Use?
Fiverr’s website is very well organized and easy to navigate. You can either browse the categories and subcategories or go straight to the search bar, and after that, you’ll have a bunch of different ways to filter gigs:
Various service options (depending on the category). Seller details (level, language, country). Budget (minimum and maximum). Delivery time (yes, 24-hour gigs exist!).
You can browse Fiverr’s website without an account to see just how easy it is to use, but at some point, you’ll be prompted to sign up. Making an account is completely free and only takes an email.
Ordering is just as easy as finding the right services. Once you’ve researched a seller and selected a gig, you can contact the seller for more information or purchase a surface. If you can use sites like Amazon and eBay, you’ll have no problem with Fiverr.
The Best Features of Fiverr
As you’ve seen, Fiverr offers a lot of awesome features, but we’ll sum up the very best of them.
First, you’ll get to choose from freelancers around the world. In 2019, Fiverr reported having 830,000 sellers, and that number’s only grown since then. If you need something written in or translated to another language, a voiceover in a certain accent, or even advice for marketing in a different country, someone on Fiverr will have you covered.
There’s no other place where you can connect this easily with freelancers, especially those who don’t live in your country. All it takes is clicking a “contact” button. Fiverr will notify you and the seller through both the website and email (and app, if you download it).
Besides having many services on account of its international nature, Fiverr just has many services, period.
You could set up a whole business using just Fiverr services! There are gigs for brainstorming ideas, researching ideas, turning ideas into plans, and even coming up with a name. There are gigs for all the details, like website building, logo design, branding, and advertising.
Finally, since there are so many sellers competing in the Fiverr market, many quality services have extremely affordable prices that you won’t find anywhere else.
Fiverr Support
Although Fiverr doesn’t offer live support (only tickets and emails), it has a great help center that will almost certainly answer any questions you might have.
If you have a problem with an order, the first thing you’ll do is work it out with the seller in Fiverr’s Resolution Center. Most sellers will be happy to fix anything for you or let you cancel the order to get a full refund, lest you give them a bad review.
There have been complaints about Fiverr’s customer support—it seems to be inconsistent in response time and quality.
We’ve noticed that Fiverr sticks very closely to its Terms of Service, so as long as you’re aware of those, you shouldn’t have a problem.
Contacting customer support is best when things don’t work out between you and a seller.
Although cancellation is supposed to be mutual, Fiverr provides a list of reasons for which they will cancel an order upon request, even if one of the two parties refuses to cancel. That’s some great protection!
Pricing
Fiverr gets its name from its five-dollar gigs. $5 is the minimum price that a seller can make a gig. You’ll want to be wary with these because they might be a sign of a sketchy seller (although they could just be offered by a new seller who’s underselling themselves).
All Fiverr gigs are priced in increments of $5, with a maximum of $10,000. Since Fiverr has so many different categories, it’s hard to be more specific than this.
But trust us when we say there are astoundingly affordable services out there; you can check them out for yourself! Even with Fiverr’s service fees, you’ll only be spending a fraction of what you might spend on a freelancer outside of Fiverr.
Is Fiverr really worth it?
The short answer is yes.
Is it worth it, signing up for this free website and getting easy access to talented freelancers for all sorts of services from all over the world? Of course!
Is it worth it, paying minor service fees for a trustworthy intermediary to handle all the hassle of hiring services? You bet.
Is it worth it, taking just a little time and effort to find a good seller on a website full of them? Absolutely.
If you’re at all interested in outsourcing tasks, Fiverr is definitely something to check out. It makes your life a thousand times easier, and there are sellers offering services that you won’t find anywhere else.
Conclusion
If you want to hire a freelancer, you probably want to save time and have quality work done. Fiverr allows you to have both: it saves you from having to deal with hiring and contracts, and it brings so many talented sellers to its marketplace that you’re bound to find a great freelancer to suit any of your needs. Plus, with the super affordable prices, you’re saving money, too.
Having all of this in a secure, trusted, and easy to use the website is definitely worth the small service fees. And though sketchy sellers might be drawn to Fiverr, you can easily avoid them—it’s even easier than what you’d do if you were hiring freelancers anywhere else, thanks to Fiverr providing comprehensive information about their sellers, plus a buyer review system.
And if you’re not entirely happy with your service, nine times out of ten, the seller will be happy to fix things for you. If that’s not the case, Fiverr’s customer support offers you some protection, so have no fear.
There are countless benefits to using Fiverr as your platform for all things freelancing. Why not give it a shot?
Visit Fiverr HERE.
