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Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Using Fiverr Can Make You a Loserr - Solution Enclosed

I wouldn't go so far as to say Fiverr did this intentionally but, by now, those who've read my previous blog post, "Fiverr: We Will Rip You Off for $5!!", understand that getting paid by Fiverr.com, for most people, will be nearly IMPOSSIBLE.

Before I present my solution to Fiverr's problem, I want to say that if it was unintentional, then it is forgivable, but only if they rectify it. And, for those who still don't grasp the enormity of this problem, here is one more go at it in a short, point-by-point explanation.
  1. Merchants (you, and 1000s of others) sign up to perform like a pack mule for $5 per event;
  2. You make a sale (yay!), and only THEN do you find out that you must have a $40 balance to withdraw;
  3. You attempt to make 7 more sales to reach the $40 payout minimum;
  4. Those "1000s of others" are trying to make their 1st-8th sales, too.
  5. Whoops, 1000s of more people are signing up because you, and others, are raving about the coolness of fiverr.com (I'll explain this phenomenon in a moment);
  6. Now many MORE 1000s are trying to make their first sale, while MANY 1000s are STILL trying to make 7 more sales in order to reach Fiverr's payout requirement;
  7. Meanwhile, more people are signing up each day and your offer slips slowly away into the depths of the Fiverr ad abyss.
  8. Return to point 4 forever and pray you reach $40 or you get none of it.
Ok, First, What Fuels This?

Most of the merchants on Fiverr are not skilled marketers. They have some kind of TALENT but it is not in marketing. So when something like Fiverr.com arrives on the scene, these talented individuals (mixed with a small percentage of clowns trying to exploit the opportunity) eagerly dive in hoping to get some exposure, and/or junior-league bragging rights to their friends.

Because they are not marketers, they tell EVERYONE about how cool Fiverr is and, guess what? By telling everyone, they just increased their competition ten-fold. It's a good bet that many of the people who visit fiverr are going there because they want to see what cool things they can get for $5 - period, so ANY exposure they give Fiverr waters down the opportunity for them.

So, unwittingly, this mix of talented people, and their clownish counterparts, increase their competition and further erode any possibility of reaching a payout minimum.

So, What's the Solution, Sam?

It's rather simple, actually. Since Fiverr takes $1 from every sale you make (something else that isn't readily apparent before you join as a merchant), it adds up to Fiverr keeping 1 out of every 5 sales you make. With the money they have made so far, it should be no problem for them to develop a script that pays Fiverr for the first of every 5 sales you make. Fiverr gets paid directly for the first, then YOUR paypal address should be rotated in for the next 4 sales.... rinse, repeat.

Is there a possible risk that the merchant could take a few sales and not come through? Sure, however...
  1. That's a risk that FIVERR should shoulder, or solve, rather than coming up with a payout requirement that's going to leave most merchants with 1-7 sales, uncompensated for their work;
  2. The disgruntled buyer can request a paypal chargeback. No legitimate paypal user wants that nonsense on their paypal account;
  3. If a merchant gets X complaints of non-performance, Fiverr simply removes them.
But, the burden should not be on the merchant. Otherwise, what you will find is something that might already be happening -- sensing they will never reach 8 sales, some merchants might decide not to finish an order they started.

Please, someone, tell me how most of the people who make a sale on Fiverr aren't going to end up a Loserr?

Sam Freedom"s Internet Marketing Controversy Blog

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30 comments:

@Kuj4k said...

Well if you have a good talent I think it can work. But I agree the problems with fiverr.

1. The $40 withdraw min. This is just stupid i can understand having a min at first but once you reach it i dont think it should be there anymore.
2.Having to wait two weeks for the $5 to process just on the fiverr site alone.
3.Not having any way to market your fiverr site so you just fall to the bottom of the list of so many BS untalented people on there
4.So many people just get scammed, i dont get how they couldn't get some one watching this stuff
5. Such a lack of compatibility with paypal. The 5 should just go straight there instead you have to get $40 then try to transfer it to the paypal then to the bank. And if it dosent work there QA people are shit and take fore ever to fix stuff.

I like the site, ive make $40 it just took me two months to do it and another two weeks waiting for all my transactions to go threw so i would reach $40 now ive been waiting the last 4 days for my $32 dollars to arive in to my pay pal and ive yet to hear from fiverr.

twitter-@kuj4k

Sam Freedom said...

lol sorry to laugh, but the whole thing is rather a joke, isn't it? And everyone's been raving about it because they've been looking at it through the lens of a CONSUMER!!

Good luck with your situation, though.

Unknown said...

well someone emailed me about this and I did post two small jobs to test it. I didn't know about the 40 payout until i read this!
it's a rip off alright...I am on a few sites with big payout requirements and you definitely feel trapped.
Affiliate sites are notorious for this practice.
If you give up, then that money is theirs so you trudge along hoping to make payout..
must be something worthwhile

Shamanic Arts Center said...

I got ripped off as a consumer. I made two orders for "gigs" then Fiverr.com locked me out of my account, when I asked why they wrote an email saying that because I had also entered a profile at magicgig.com they were locking me out of my fiverr account. I tried and tried to get this resolved because I had people working on gigs for me, but had to contact PayPal to get my money back, and still don't know if fiverr is advertising the gigs I had posted that I was willing to do.

Christian said...

yup .. I disagree about bad fiverr impression .. isn't here ''controversy blog'' or what??
How many people you know to receive real money from fiverr??

I'm one of them .. and I'm not talented nor .. other category .. my gigs is about marketing .. this is possible to learn .. if you really want..

I put my site ONLY for you to make money .. real money with fiverr

http://fiverrway.com

palatofino said...

Hi Jim, glad to see you here.
My Fiverr problem is that they are keeping all my private information and I have no service or product in exchange. For some reason "the account is not active". It's a month now and I asked 3 times for my personal information to be cleared out from the system. They simply refused. Terrible Customer Service. No Privacy Policy on their site. No info on them or their company. This lack of transparency irritates me immensely and I feel that I was ripped off.

Unknown said...

Give http://tenbux.com a try :)

Prisqua said...

I just discovered this site and really like it and got some pretty good deals until they blocked my account. I have orders pending and I cannot get in touch with the people I ordered from and there is no customer support. I have sent several emails and still no replies.
And since they are so many people willing to offer services for $5 I think it is a good idea. I would love to take on their idea but offer an outstanding customer service.

Fiverr Alternative Site said...

I wouldn't go so far as to say Fiverr is a rip off, they made that rule to ensure that users would stay engaged in the site and help make them money. I believe they've changed it, but in case not, I found http://www.justafive.com which is a similar concept but with higher job opportunities $10 and $20 and a referral program of 5% of your referred sellers and buyers.

Outsource said...

I dont like fiverr because they take out $1. that leaves $4. On top of that, if you withdraw they take out additional commission. Leaving me about $3.77 or less if you have to pay for exchange rate to paypal. You are really nickeled and dimed to death with Fiverr
Id rather freelance at www.7Freelance.com and make twice as much for the same amount of work. 7freelance.com is a community of freelancers in the U.S. helping each other.

Lana said...

I am getting a lot of help from "7 Freelance" I made my first sale in just 2 days.

Lana
from Canada

Moneymakerinfo said...

It's an excellent concept Fiverr, the only problem I've found is, the pay outs are just to small ($3.92). So I've been testing others that payout much higher margins such as http://www.makeafiver.co.uk and I'm making a lot more money because there paying out in sterling and the pound is much stronger than the dollar!

JobsFor10 said...

Hi,

You are 100% correct!
People should be able get their money Immediately, JobsFor10 credits sellers once an order is complete, no min 40$. Actually, if your job takes more efforts, you could charge even more than 5$, Jobsfor10.com basic pricing is 10$ for a job.
They have amazing personal customer support....

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cheap toll free numbers said...

yeah of course. that's really what I want coz fiver is offering very low cost at 5 dollars on all services.

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Unknown said...

I actually like Fygig.com better, it's smaller so there's better customer service and less competition

Anonymous said...

One common concern for fiverr users is disabled account.

check this -

http://youtu.be/dRwlXmJabAs

This person got account disabled but managed to get it enabled



http://www.buy-custom-essay.org/blog/buy-assignments.html said...

The solving this kind of problem can cause some controversy. The payment must be made in a timely manner, despite its origin.

http://besteditingservices.com/ said...

This type of problem may require the intervention of qualified marketers. However, we should not draw the sharp conclusions about this.