Can I really not direct buyers to my LinkedIn profile?

[wmattdodd]

LinkedIn is basically my resume/CV, with built in references. It would be hugely valuable to reassure buyers that I know what I’m doing. Why can’t I do this?

I’m trying to get started as a new seller but if I can’t point people to my qualifications I’m not sure I should bother.

[humanissocial]

If you can type it into LinkedIn you can type it into your gig.

Fiverr isn’t going to let you do something that would easily let you take your business off of Fiverr.

[wmattdodd]

If you can type it into LinkedIn you can type it into your gig.

Fiverr isn’t going to let you do something that would easily let you take your business off of Fiverr.

There’s no chance, at all, that I’m going to piece by piece import my carefully crafted LinkedIn page onto Fiverr and forever after update it in two locations, let alone the fact there are many many parts that Fiverr has no ability to handle, like my references and connections. The very notion is absurd.

Well, I guess that’s a pretty strong vote for “Not worth bothering with Fiverr”. Wish I’d realized that before I wasted my time on this site.

[humanissocial]

There’s no chance, at all, that I’m going to piece by piece import my carefully crafted LinkedIn page onto Fiverr and forever after update it in two locations, let alone the fact there are many many parts that Fiverr has no ability to handle, like my references and connections. The very notion is absurd.

Well, I guess that’s a pretty strong vote for “Not worth bothering with Fiverr”. Wish I’d realized that before I wasted my time on this site.

The very notion is absurd.

No what’s absurd is thinking you need to put everything in your LinkedIn profile to get sales. It would actually repel them.

Focus on quality gigs and actual copywriting. If you went on Amazon and saw the equivalent of a resume as the product description, would you buy it? No. No one buys things that way.

They buy things because the copy makes it clear it understands and solves their problems, not because it brags about its accomplishments. A gig is about the user and their problems, not about you.

And if you want to talk about “absurd” – it’s absurd that you don’t understand people would steal business from Fiverr if LI was allowed. And they would also spam their LI accounts all over Fiverr.

It’s useless to complain about something that isn’t possible and wouldn’t even bring you business. Focus on things that will drive conversions. Treating your gigs like a LinkedIn page will do the opposite.

[bhavikm98]

The very notion is absurd.

No what’s absurd is thinking you need to put everything in your LinkedIn profile to get sales. It would actually repel them.

Focus on quality gigs and actual copywriting. If you went on Amazon and saw the equivalent of a resume as the product description, would you buy it? No. No one buys things that way.

They buy things because the copy makes it clear it understands and solves their problems, not because it brags about its accomplishments. A gig is about the user and their problems, not about you.

And if you want to talk about “absurd” – it’s absurd that you don’t understand people would steal business from Fiverr if LI was allowed. And they would also spam their LI accounts all over Fiverr.

It’s useless to complain about something that isn’t possible and wouldn’t even bring you business. Focus on things that will drive conversions. Treating your gigs like a LinkedIn page will do the opposite.

I agree with you to an extent.

[TL;DR: Fiverr acts as an intermediary unlike LI, mainly beneficial to new sellers, up to Fiverr to see how to realistically implement this (and I hope they do!)]

Providing a link to your LinkedIn does create the opportunity for you to undercut Fiverr and marginally increase your revenue at the same time - and of course, any sensible business would not do this. But, off-Fiverr activity is very risky for both buyer and seller. There is nothing to stop a seller from running off with an upfront payment from a buyer, and there is nothing to stop a buyer from not paying the seller for delivered work. As far as I’m aware, LinkedIn doesn’t act as an intermediary payment system, nor do they have any resolution centre for transaction disputes like Fiverr has. That’s what I love about Fiverr. It is a regulated marketplace safe for both buyers and sellers.

As a new seller, it can be difficult to demonstrate trustworthiness. After all, buyers (particularly, new buyers) tend to follow the reviews. So, it would be helpful for sellers to be able to point to their LinkedIn to provide an air of trustworthiness - a LinkedIn profile with only five connections and no profile photo might be a red flag, but one with many connections, several experiences, and other info would act as a green flag to a concerned potential buyer.

Personally, as a new seller, I feel the functionality to link my LinkedIn account for buyers to see would give my gig a boost. Buyers would get that much extra confidence in a new seller and hence, it would be that much more likely you get an order. Once a new seller gets going, the LinkedIn profile matters less and less with public Fiverr metrics (more reviews, badges/levels, last delivery time, average response time, skill tests).

While I believe I’m now getting there as a Fiverr seller, I think it’s a great idea if Fiverr somehow lets you display your LinkedIn. As I mentioned, this would mainly be beneficial to new sellers, so maybe they could remove LI functionality after you have completed 20 orders or something. I don’t know, it would be up to Fiverr to figure out how they could implement it. Even if I become a seller with a five-star average after hundreds of reviews and it would help my competition more than it would help me, I would still support this idea.

[catwriter]

I agree with you to an extent.

[TL;DR: Fiverr acts as an intermediary unlike LI, mainly beneficial to new sellers, up to Fiverr to see how to realistically implement this (and I hope they do!)]

Providing a link to your LinkedIn does create the opportunity for you to undercut Fiverr and marginally increase your revenue at the same time - and of course, any sensible business would not do this. But, off-Fiverr activity is very risky for both buyer and seller. There is nothing to stop a seller from running off with an upfront payment from a buyer, and there is nothing to stop a buyer from not paying the seller for delivered work. As far as I’m aware, LinkedIn doesn’t act as an intermediary payment system, nor do they have any resolution centre for transaction disputes like Fiverr has. That’s what I love about Fiverr. It is a regulated marketplace safe for both buyers and sellers.

As a new seller, it can be difficult to demonstrate trustworthiness. After all, buyers (particularly, new buyers) tend to follow the reviews. So, it would be helpful for sellers to be able to point to their LinkedIn to provide an air of trustworthiness - a LinkedIn profile with only five connections and no profile photo might be a red flag, but one with many connections, several experiences, and other info would act as a green flag to a concerned potential buyer.

Personally, as a new seller, I feel the functionality to link my LinkedIn account for buyers to see would give my gig a boost. Buyers would get that much extra confidence in a new seller and hence, it would be that much more likely you get an order. Once a new seller gets going, the LinkedIn profile matters less and less with public Fiverr metrics (more reviews, badges/levels, last delivery time, average response time, skill tests).

While I believe I’m now getting there as a Fiverr seller, I think it’s a great idea if Fiverr somehow lets you display your LinkedIn. As I mentioned, this would mainly be beneficial to new sellers, so maybe they could remove LI functionality after you have completed 20 orders or something. I don’t know, it would be up to Fiverr to figure out how they could implement it. Even if I become a seller with a five-star average after hundreds of reviews and it would help my competition more than it would help me, I would still support this idea.

I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but you’re responding 3 months later, and to someone who is no longer on Fiverr.

[bhavikm98]

I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but you’re responding 3 months later, and to someone who is no longer on Fiverr.

Yep, I noticed the post date. Not concerned about it though, because I’m sure interested users will find and read my comment since posts don’t get archived too quickly, if at all.

Only thing is, my comment was a reply to humanissocial, but I can’t tell if it worked.

Edit: Ah, it must have worked, since replies and comments look alike.

[ondrej_kopicka]

Yep, I noticed the post date. Not concerned about it though, because I’m sure interested users will find and read my comment since posts don’t get archived too quickly, if at all.

Only thing is, my comment was a reply to humanissocial, but I can’t tell if it worked.

Edit: Ah, it must have worked, since replies and comments look alike.

Hi, I really don’t understand your point. I’ve just created fiverr account and I want to add my LinkedIn profile because I have strong references and connections. I am quite disappointed that fiverr wants me to start from 0 again. The point is that thanks to that, I will get lower number of deals and fiverr will get lower revenue from my participation. Does this make sense? If I want to bypass fiverr, I can simply search the person on everywhere else and negotiate the deal so the argument with losing revenue due to LinkedIn is not valid at all.