BUYERS! What would you do for $5?

[eoinfinnegan]

I would like to hear from anyone who is a BUYER ONLY! What do you do to get $5 in your job/business/life?
Share with us what it takes and possibly whether you think you are over or underpaid for this.
Even if you have never posted on the forum before, this post is perfect for you to take a first step - I/we want to hear from you!

NOTE: Sellers posting their gigs or talking about what they offer is considered “Self Promotion” and as per forum rules, this is not allowed. Anyone who does will be flagged as spam as usual.

[gina_riley2]

I would do the following for 10 minutes via in person or other methods:

(1) Technical support in computer or software
(2) Tudor math or anything computer related
(3) s***e, text, talk about anything (almost anything)

Charity work, not for pay but to collect for donation. I’ll do/have done the following for 20 up to 30 minutes:

(1) Walk your dog, dog sit
(2) Be a cashier, bake sale, etc.
(3) Give chair massage
(4) Wash, wax, vacuum car
(5) Tudor anything from middle school down and math up to calculus
(6) Clean your garage, cook a meal, label items for garage sale
(7) Anything within reason for good cause. 😄

** No babysitting of kids. Trust me, you don’t want me around your kids.

[eoinfinnegan]

Come on, there must be some more buyers who are willing to share - you don’t have to be precise, just an idea will do.

[emmaki]

It’s a shame dear old multi isn’t here anymore, I’m sure he would have had plenty to say on the subject!

[mae_creativity]

I’d like to hear what buyers would do for less than $4 - which is what sellers actually get paid after commissions.

[thehutchinsons]

I am a “Buyer Only” who has been on Fiverr four (4) years with over 70 completed gigs (ranging from $5 to more than $400). Honestly, for $5 I might listen to someone for about 15 seconds, read a one-paragraph email, or let them watch me eat a sandwich. I wouldn’t do much more than that. As a “Buyer Only” I’m amazed at the value to price ratio I’ve gotten over the years. There is a reason I tip nicely; because I appreciate having access to good sellers and do not want them to go away.

P.S. I wouldn’t type this much for $5 - so, consider it a freebie.

[eoinfinnegan]

I am a “Buyer Only” who has been on Fiverr four (4) years with over 70 completed gigs (ranging from $5 to more than $400). Honestly, for $5 I might listen to someone for about 15 seconds, read a one-paragraph email, or let them watch me eat a sandwich. I wouldn’t do much more than that. As a “Buyer Only” I’m amazed at the value to price ratio I’ve gotten over the years. There is a reason I tip nicely; because I appreciate having access to good sellers and do not want them to go away.

P.S. I wouldn’t type this much for $5 - so, consider it a freebie.

Appreciate the comment although to be honest, I would not pay $5 for this 🙂

Sounds like you have had some good success in utilizing Fiverr - good to hear!

[thehutchinsons]

1. If Fiverr is taking a commission from the seller on each sale, then why am I also being charged a processing fee? I think it’s about 20%.

2. Most gigs I buy are for more than $5. The ones that are offered at that price, quite honestly, are usually only the bare basics and it’s in the up-sell where the real value is (for both seller and buyer). In some countries, $50 a month is the average wage, in other countries it’s more like $5,000. The same $5 means something much different depending on locality. It’s up to each seller to determine if the economy of doing business on Fiverr makes sense for them. I’ve done business with two sellers over-and-over again because of their high quality - started out with $5 gigs and now the last one was for $290 (plus I always tip them well). There’s another seller who I tried to buy a $100 gig from recently, and he turned me down because he was so busy (I can respect that!) So it would seem that $5 is only the beginning of forming a lasting (and profitable) business relationship.

[gina_riley2]

Come on, there must be some more buyers who are willing to share - you don’t have to be precise, just an idea will do.

Come on, there must be some more buyers who are willing to share - you don’t have to be precise, just an idea will do.

I know at least 5 people who read the “Ranting Pot” all the time or some of the time, well they talk about it a lot. I don’t think they have an account.

One of them is afraid she’s going to get yelled at - her words. They are going to read this and ask me what the heck I’m doing. 😁

// Oh, well, I guess I’m not getting any invite this weekend! 😝 //

[gina_riley2]

1. If Fiverr is taking a commission from the seller on each sale, then why am I also being charged a processing fee? I think it’s about 20%.

2. Most gigs I buy are for more than $5. The ones that are offered at that price, quite honestly, are usually only the bare basics and it’s in the up-sell where the real value is (for both seller and buyer). In some countries, $50 a month is the average wage, in other countries it’s more like $5,000. The same $5 means something much different depending on locality. It’s up to each seller to determine if the economy of doing business on Fiverr makes sense for them. I’ve done business with two sellers over-and-over again because of their high quality - started out with $5 gigs and now the last one was for $290 (plus I always tip them well). There’s another seller who I tried to buy a $100 gig from recently, and he turned me down because he was so busy (I can respect that!) So it would seem that $5 is only the beginning of forming a lasting (and profitable) business relationship.

1. If Fiverr is taking a commission from the seller on each sale, then why am I also being charged a processing fee? I think it’s about 20%.

That’s a losing battle, hutch. Sellers pay 20%, we pay minimum of $1 or 20%, whichever is higher!

To get back on topic, I did do several $5 to $10 freelancing jobs throughout my college years. I mean I was dirt poor and the $5 for 20 to 30 minutes of tutoring could pay for my lunch. 🍔

[ravenccs]

I am not sure why you are asking the question about the $5, but I get the impression that you are angry at buyers for ordering $5 gigs?

I am a buyer only. I have been here on Fiverr (off and on) since OCT 2014. I have 72 completed orders, with 7 more active.
Most of my purchased gigs have been more than $5. I have had some good experiences on Fiverr and some bad ones.

I order $5 gigs usually for the same reason I stick my toe in the water before I get in the swimming pool - to see how warm the water is. Before I order something more expensive from the seller, I often “try them out” with a $5 gig. This is not ALWAYS the case, but I have used this technique frequently. It works for me. 🙂

[eoinfinnegan]

1. If Fiverr is taking a commission from the seller on each sale, then why am I also being charged a processing fee? I think it’s about 20%.

2. Most gigs I buy are for more than $5. The ones that are offered at that price, quite honestly, are usually only the bare basics and it’s in the up-sell where the real value is (for both seller and buyer). In some countries, $50 a month is the average wage, in other countries it’s more like $5,000. The same $5 means something much different depending on locality. It’s up to each seller to determine if the economy of doing business on Fiverr makes sense for them. I’ve done business with two sellers over-and-over again because of their high quality - started out with $5 gigs and now the last one was for $290 (plus I always tip them well). There’s another seller who I tried to buy a $100 gig from recently, and he turned me down because he was so busy (I can respect that!) So it would seem that $5 is only the beginning of forming a lasting (and profitable) business relationship.

From the ToS regarding the fees you pay for purchases.

Processing fees are added at the time of purchase where a buyer can review and accept the total amount requested to pay. These fees cover payment processing and administrative fees. As of July 2016, the current fees assessed to the total purchase amount are $1 on purchases up to $20 and 5% on purchases above $20. When purchasing from your seller’s balance (i.e. out of your earned revenues) or buyer’s shopping balance (resulting from any credits or refunds) you will not be charged a processing fee. Funds returned to your balance from cancelled orders will not include processing fees paid.

The 20% paid by sellers is the commission that Fiverr gets for use of the site. This is similar to other freelance platforms.

One of them is afraid she’s going to get yelled at - her words. They are going to read this and ask me what the heck I’m doing. 😁

@gina_riley2 I do wonder if this is a fear for buyers as a lot of posts from sellers can be negative towards buyers. I would hope that buyers can push past this as you and other buyers have done as there is huge value for everyone in getting info from both sides of the platform. It is worth pointing out that “disagreement” is not necessarily a bad thing - in fact, I find it is the best way of learning - and that it should not be a reason to not post. I disagree with a lot of the opinions of regular posters but it doesn’t stop me being interested in what they say, quite the opposite in most cases.

[eoinfinnegan]

I am not sure why you are asking the question about the $5, but I get the impression that you are angry at buyers for ordering $5 gigs?

I am a buyer only. I have been here on Fiverr (off and on) since OCT 2014. I have 72 completed orders, with 7 more active.

Most of my purchased gigs have been more than $5. I have had some good experiences on Fiverr and some bad ones.

I order $5 gigs usually for the same reason I stick my toe in the water before I get in the swimming pool - to see how warm the water is. Before I order something more expensive from the seller, I often “try them out” with a $5 gig. This is not ALWAYS the case, but I have used this technique frequently. It works for me. 🙂

Hi, no I am not angry about people ordering $5 gigs. That is what this whole site was built on!

The reason for the question is to open up the conversation of value and expectations. The reason for this is mainly due to a section of the site that buyers do not really see - The Buyer Requests section.

In this section, you can place a request for a service and show your expected delivery time and budget.

Although this is where a lot of good business can be found, especially for new sellers, it is also the place where the absolutely most ridiculous offers and expectations can be found.

Examples would be people asking for translations of 10,000 words from German to English (RRP $400-600), the buyers budget is $20.

Real estate agents or Lawyers looking for their site to be ranked position 1 in Google in their city. For a large US city, achieving this would be worth several hundred thousand dollars per year and it is likely that a smaller firm would not need any other advertising if they achieved this. Buyer budget? $20 (usually with a demand of a 100% money back guarantee).

You get the idea. I see requests like this all the time and they irritate me as I am sure I will see that buyer on the forum complaining that they have been “ripped off” when some incompetent responded to their ridiculous request and delivered ridiculous work in exchange for the ridiculous budget.

This topic is to get buyers thinking about what they are paying in the context of what they earn/what the work is worth to them/what they would pay elsewhere.

I order $5 gigs usually for the same reason I stick my toe in the water before I get in the swimming pool - to see how warm the water is. Before I order something more expensive from the seller, I often “try them out” with a $5 gig.

I highly recommend this technique - it works extremely well for me both as a buyer and seller. Being willing to pay for a sample order shows a seller that you are professional and value the seller’s time. From a buyer point of view you get a good overview of what you can expect. I have made 160 purchases with only 9 cancellations/bad experiences.

[ravenccs]

Hi, no I am not angry about people ordering $5 gigs. That is what this whole site was built on!

The reason for the question is to open up the conversation of value and expectations. The reason for this is mainly due to a section of the site that buyers do not really see - The Buyer Requests section.

In this section, you can place a request for a service and show your expected delivery time and budget.

Although this is where a lot of good business can be found, especially for new sellers, it is also the place where the absolutely most ridiculous offers and expectations can be found.

Examples would be people asking for translations of 10,000 words from German to English (RRP $400-600), the buyers budget is $20.

Real estate agents or Lawyers looking for their site to be ranked position 1 in Google in their city. For a large US city, achieving this would be worth several hundred thousand dollars per year and it is likely that a smaller firm would not need any other advertising if they achieved this. Buyer budget? $20 (usually with a demand of a 100% money back guarantee).

You get the idea. I see requests like this all the time and they irritate me as I am sure I will see that buyer on the forum complaining that they have been “ripped off” when some incompetent responded to their ridiculous request and delivered ridiculous work in exchange for the ridiculous budget.

This topic is to get buyers thinking about what they are paying in the context of what they earn/what the work is worth to them/what they would pay elsewhere.

I order $5 gigs usually for the same reason I stick my toe in the water before I get in the swimming pool - to see how warm the water is. Before I order something more expensive from the seller, I often “try them out” with a $5 gig.

I highly recommend this technique - it works extremely well for me both as a buyer and seller. Being willing to pay for a sample order shows a seller that you are professional and value the seller’s time. From a buyer point of view you get a good overview of what you can expect. I have made 160 purchases with only 9 cancellations/bad experiences.

Ah, I totally misunderstood your meaning in the first post! Oops! 😊

I have used the buyer request section a couple of times when I was unable to find what I was looking for via a search.

I prefer the search, as I can find someone fairly quickly and place an order and move on to other things. 🙂

When I used the buyer search, I did not put in a specific budget amount. I had exaggerated offers, and offers from those who obviously did not have the ability to do what I was asking for, but would be willing to do a WHOLE LOTTA STUFF for only $5. Of course, being on this site for over 2 years, I knew who to ignore, but if I was new here, I might have believed that “maybe it could be done for that price.”

The name of the site, all the $5 gigs you see as you search, it starts becoming like a fairytale land of $5! 🙂

Also, when it comes to some things, buyers don’t really understand what they are asking for - I addressed this in another thread - they often have no idea of the work entailed to achieve the end result they desire. If a seller wants to do well, I believe it is important that they educate the buyer on the gig in the description.

I feel like I am getting off topic, so I will stop. (Maybe get some coffee too.)

[hardlogic]

you can see one request job take 2-3 days for only 5$,

also , he request unlimited revisions with source files,

[eoinfinnegan]

Ah, I totally misunderstood your meaning in the first post! Oops! 😊

I have used the buyer request section a couple of times when I was unable to find what I was looking for via a search.

I prefer the search, as I can find someone fairly quickly and place an order and move on to other things. 🙂

When I used the buyer search, I did not put in a specific budget amount. I had exaggerated offers, and offers from those who obviously did not have the ability to do what I was asking for, but would be willing to do a WHOLE LOTTA STUFF for only $5. Of course, being on this site for over 2 years, I knew who to ignore, but if I was new here, I might have believed that “maybe it could be done for that price.”

The name of the site, all the $5 gigs you see as you search, it starts becoming like a fairytale land of $5! 🙂

Also, when it comes to some things, buyers don’t really understand what they are asking for - I addressed this in another thread - they often have no idea of the work entailed to achieve the end result they desire. If a seller wants to do well, I believe it is important that they educate the buyer on the gig in the description.

I feel like I am getting off topic, so I will stop. (Maybe get some coffee too.)

I agree with everything you said, I do understand why some people may over expect and I suppose part of this post was to hopefully snap people back from the fairytale land you speak of 🙂

As to those who do not understand what they are asking for, this is a huge problem. Some buyers are open to being educated on this while others are not. I have made some good sales from people who appreciated the advice although often it happens after they have wasted money elsewhere. One of the things I ask buyers to keep in mind is the value to them, rather than the cost. $5 is far too expensive for a service that does nothing. $10,000 is great value for a service that delivers $100,000 (hyperbole intended but you get the idea).

Sellers too need to learn how to express what they offer better and what the buyer can expect from their service. This would go a long way towards solving the problems.

[jimwilliams278]

There isn’t much I would do for $5 and that is why I am a buyer and not a seller on Fiverr. There is always going to be someone trying to get something for nothing but I suspect, based on the longevity of the site, that most people have reasonable expectations. Maybe you should be clear what the limitations of your services are in advance.

[gina_riley2]

There isn’t much I would do for $5 and that is why I am a buyer and not a seller on Fiverr. There is always going to be someone trying to get something for nothing but I suspect, based on the longevity of the site, that most people have reasonable expectations. Maybe you should be clear what the limitations of your services are in advance.

My take on this thread is to get buyers to think about realistic expectations.

Some sellers offer the world for $5 but can’t deliver what they promised. Some buyers order thinking they can actually get the universe for $5 then get upset at the poor quality.

5r being an international platform, there are sellers and buyers from all over the world. What may be reasonable price in one country may be quite unreasonable in another, depending on the cost of living.

In the US, expecting someone to proofread 5000 words for $5 and do a good job is just stupid on my part, that’s like 20 pages.

Anyways, this brought discussions and gave sellers some prospective from buyers only view.

[eoinfinnegan]

There isn’t much I would do for $5 and that is why I am a buyer and not a seller on Fiverr. There is always going to be someone trying to get something for nothing but I suspect, based on the longevity of the site, that most people have reasonable expectations. Maybe you should be clear what the limitations of your services are in advance.

I am not asking what service you would sell on Fiverr, just what it takes for you to get $5.

Bill Gates reportedly earns $5 every 0.04347826086 (ish) seconds for whatever it is he does - he is unlikely to start selling on Fiverr either but it is still possible to quantify what he does for $5.

That is the question I am asking.

[psychicbunny]

I would kill someone
Not really but I’d do a small Psychic reading

[mariokluser]

I would play GTA V online for 10 minutes and tell you how much I liked it for $5,-

[eoinfinnegan]

I would play GTA V online for 10 minutes and tell you how much I liked it for $5,-

I would actually pay to watch you playing and commenting as you play.

[n4y33m]

I would do the following for 10 minutes via in person or other methods:

(1) Technical support in computer or software

(2) Tudor math or anything computer related

(3) s***e, text, talk about anything (almost anything)

Charity work, not for pay but to collect for donation. I’ll do/have done the following for 20 up to 30 minutes:

(1) Walk your dog, dog sit

(2) Be a cashier, bake sale, etc.

(3) Give chair massage

(4) Wash, wax, vacuum car

(5) Tudor anything from middle school down and math up to calculus

(6) Clean your garage, cook a meal, label items for garage sale

(7) Anything within reason for good cause. 😄

** No babysitting of kids. Trust me, you don’t want me around your kids.

** No babysitting of kids. Trust me, you don’t want me around your kids.

** No babysitting of kids. Trust me, you don’t want me around your kids.😝

[gina_riley2]

** No babysitting of kids. Trust me, you don’t want me around your kids.

** No babysitting of kids. Trust me, you don’t want me around your kids.😝

No babysitting of kids. Trust me, you don’t want me around your kids.

** No babysitting of kids. Trust me, you don’t want me around your kids.😝

Huh? I don’t understand. You are repeating or quoting me.

[n4y33m]

No babysitting of kids. Trust me, you don’t want me around your kids.

** No babysitting of kids. Trust me, you don’t want me around your kids.😝

Huh? I don’t understand. You are repeating or quoting me.

both! that line made me laugh outta my bed! 😆