When you start your WAHM business, you will look for ways to sell your services. Selling on Fiverr is recommended by some. Is it going to be worth your time?
Full disclosure: I used to sell on Fiverr. It’s something that I recently shut down because it became more hassle than it was worth. And I don’t regret a minute of closing down my gigs and preventing people from ordering their content needs through me. However, I know many others who were making a living on Fiverr, although possibly not through the healthiest of methods.
What is Fiverr?
Before I get started into the pros and cons of selling on Fiverr, you may not have heard of the site. It focuses on the gig economy. You get to set up your gigs with your own parameters (within the guidelines of the site) and then sell your services. It used to be that you had to offer a base $5 service, but things have changed over time as people found ways around that. After all, you can’t do a lot for $5.
Fiverr helps to promote your gigs, but you will also need to do some work yourself. You make 80% of the price of your gigs, as Fiverr takes a 20% cut for the very little work they actually do. They also charge buyers a processing fee to maximize the amount they make for doing so little.
You set the deadlines on your gigs. Then, when you get orders, you fulfill them and you get your money.
It sounds simple, right? So, why did I stop selling on Fiverr?
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There are benefits to selling on Fiverr
I don’t want to jump straight into the negatives. There are benefits of selling on Fiverr.
The biggest one is that the platform is there for you. It costs you nothing to set up your gigs. You can put up your services and promote them through your social media channels. It’s a little like putting your leaflet up in a shop window.
Then all the processing is done through the Fiverr system. The site handles the payments and counts down the clock so you know how long is left to deliver. There is the ability to message your buyers and they can message you to find the right seller.
All the work is done through the Fiverr system. You can even set your business up under your business name instead of your own, helping to keep your individual privacy if you want.
So, what are the downsides?
The biggest downside is going to be how crowded the platform. There are thousands of gigs on the site, and many people offer the same things. It makes it harder for newer businesses to set up shop on the site. Of course, with the large number of sellers, there are also more buyers turning to the site. So it can be a beneficial situation but it’s going to take a lot of work to make sure you can make a decent income.
I used to make $3k+ per month on Fiverr. In recent years, that dropped to just a few hundred dollars. I’d set my gigs up back in 2011, so it shows how much the site has grown.
Another major problem is the rules set up. If you cancel an order for whatever reason, you’re negatively impacted by that decision. Even if someone ordered the wrong gig or ordered your gig and expected something you don’t deliver, you are negatively dinged for their mistake. And in some cases, it’s not a mistake. Other sellers can harm your reputation because they want to find more buyers. Yes, it happens.
If a buyer doesn’t accept your work, they can force you into either canceling (and getting the work for free) or doing corrections that lead to extra time that isn’t worth the money. I’ve had buyers in the past change their whole requirements because they changed their mind and then complain or leave a negative review because I refused to pander to them. The buyers are king when you’re selling on Fiverr, so you either go with the flow or walk away.
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Selling became far more stressful than it was worth. I decided to walk away and it’s not a site that I recommend for selling your services. The benefits you gain in having an already established platform do not outweigh the benefits of having your own platform where you have complete control.
