Commission

[oliver22]

Hi Fiverr,



I was wondering whether you have ever considered lowering your 20% commission. I know people will work for $4 per gig but sometimes this bites into revenues quite alot -especially if I’m spending a lot of time on an order.



Maybe lowering commission if people order the gig extras? or maybe reducing commissions for top sellers?



Also in the future I fear as inflation occurs you could get less quality people selling on fiverr…



Although in the short-term you may think lowering commission rates will have adverse effects I am sure in the long-term you will see increased selling and focus. Most freelance sites take around 5% too.

[storyteller]

I’ve wondered why the commission was so high, too. Maybe consider dropping the commissions once a seller reaches a certain number of orders per week or month, at least? That would certainly make us Top-Rated Sellers happy…

[anarchofighter]

I sort of compare it to “an affiliate relationship” commission. And in that sense 20% doesn’t seem so high. Having said that, I know a lot of us work far too long on some gigs for what we’re paid 🙂 EVEN with no commission.

[oliver22]

I think in the long run if commissions were lowered this would encourage us to create more gigs etc and alsospend more time on our gigs with even more customer care - therefore generating repeat customers too.



Although 20% of 5 dollars doen’t seem much - 20% of $20,000 is a lot.

[anarchofighter]

Um, sure… And at “worse” that’s still 100 customers brought to you, no? Why wouldn’t you pay $4K for $20K with none of the processing, little of the risk, and fiverr bringing us the customer?

[oliver22]

@anarchfighter Because 20% commission is unfair and all other freelance sites are around 2 to 5%.



I only use fiverr because it is fun and I enjoy meeting new people - not really ‘to bring me customers’. I have sites with millions of visitors per month so this backs up that point.



Yes fiverr brings customers which is great but I can tell you with an Economics major from Harvard that in the long run reducing commissions for top sellers at least would be better for their business.



Clearly you don’t mind working for othr people.

[oliver22]

@madmoo there is commission on tips too!

[anarchofighter]

The problem with that strategy is “cheater”.



Someone will say…Pssst, how about I pay $5 and then tip you $85 for a $100 job. That way we split the fees you don’t pay to fiverr.



Finally, of course there are ALWAYS fees in transferring funds. it’s Merchant Account Fees. Set by Paypal.

[twistedweb123]

I have asked this question numerous times. 20% for a $5 is fair - infact a lot of that is eaten up by PayPal fees etc



But when we start to get into larger orders ($25+) we are leaving microjobbing territory and hitting “freelance” territory, and Oliver is bang on the money. 20% of larger orders is way to high, when freelance websites take a lot less than this. It is very uncommon for a $100 order to be 20x your gig, but instead custom quoted work - freelance work outside of the scope you normally offer on Fiverr.



Lowering the commission on larger orders will see us actually bring larger orders onto the platform and offer bigger services - but right now, with 20%, bigger workers are being scared away.



20% is fine for $5 and other smaller amounts, but 20% of $50+ is a massive dent in the work.



Another thing to consider - we often oversell ourselves for $5. Say we deliver $10 for $5, that’s a 2:1 ratio



If we carry on this ratio on the larger orders (which hopefully we shouldn’t), that is $100 for $50 worth of work, add in the commission etc, the work performed soon doesn’t become worth it.

[anarchofighter]

Also remember, a number of those “Freelance” sites charge you just to be there.

[anarchofighter]

OH, I see why I have a negative number next to my Up thumb, because you all hate me L)L That’s what happens when you get net thumbs downs!



Man, I suck!

[anarchofighter]

LOL Awe thanks, Granny kisses! What BIG eyes you have Gramma.

[graphixgoddess]

Well, the issue is that fiverr is making MONEY … lots and lots of if. It we’re making 100’s and 1,000’s a month on the site ourselves, god knows what they are making off of the thousands of us! So… I guess the moral is, if you’ve got a good thing going, why stop? And yeah, the fees are harsh sometimes but I factor them into the quotes I give for larger projects, so… if I want to charge 20, I have to charge 25/5 gigs instead, etc, to make up for it.



It’d be nice to have lower fees, maybe on larger projects or something. Or maybe, TOP sellers could get lower fees, etc (but then they would make less money…)… hmmm… I dunno. I don’t think we’ll see a change any day soon.

[anarchofighter]

If one of us makes $3,000 a month that’s a living.



If fiverr makes $3,000 a month (off 5 of us) that’s not even payroll for ZenDesk.

[Guest tn5rr2012]

Reply to anarchofighter: I think this is why I joined up with FIVERR there was no charge to post on the site or to have a “membership”

[lparziale]

Reply to @oliver22: This brings a clear point with the example of 20% of 20k! I am a web designer and create award winning websites which I sell to upwards of 5k. I would never dream of selling anything like that on Fiverr if I have to pay them 20%, can’t be competitive with that. Hence why I only do that on other sites, like Guru.



I would suggest a stepped level commission plan:



$5 - 50 = 20%

$51 - 100 = 18%

$100 - 500 = 15%

$501 - 5000 = 10%

$5000+ = 5%



Something like that would encourage us to take a customer on Fiverr and try to "establish’ a bigger business. Oh the possibilities. But hey, maybe Fiverr wants to stick to their roots and keep gigs small.



I am like many on here, I do not earn my bread and butter here, this is a fun “side” project to be more creative instead of just doing SEO, Google Maps and Wordpress sites, which are all my top sellers. So being able to design and use my artistic skills is fun for me.

[andrej_milic]

I think the commission is fair. I mean look at all the traffic Fiverr is bringing to the gigs that we don’t need to actively work on. It is the cost of doing business.

[blogposts_800]

I think this must be considered by fiverr

[blogposts_800]

Reply to @andrej_milic: you are right andrej. But, it will help more. same thing with other sites. but they charge 10%

[blogposts_800]

It is not just fiverr.com who brings traffic for us. People also contribute.

1. they share gigs with there friends.
   
2. people generate content for fiverr
   
3. people do seo for fiverr because social media play a bigger part in seo and only people are doing this for fiverr and for there own gigs. 🙂
   
   
   
   I think fiverr also share something with there fiverr sellers who play a big part in marketing of fiverr.com
   
   
   
   What you say?

[simplyjo]

Reply to @madmoo: Thats a great idea madmoo. This MUST go into the suggestion box… if its not there already 🙂



Natalie - Hear ! hear ! 😉

[nakmas]

Hi All



I don’t sell gigs on Fiverr. I’m a customer and love to buy via Fiverr which I do frequently. I often tip if I am treated well and the finished gig is great. And if there is not a tip option, I just create another gig and add ‘tip’ in the gig requirements.



Couldn’t buy the stuff I order outside Fiverr, far to expensive. So as a regular Fiverr customer, thanks for your services. Keep up the good work. You are surely professional and I for one value you.



kind regards



Joe

[km0000]

Just tack on the 20% to the quoted price. Remember that all commission in all transactions should be paid by the buyer. You as a seller should simply add the commission to your price. Sell the $20 at $25. Just add extras for every little “add on”. Keep adding extras to recover your commission costs.

[donnqq]

yeah 20% is so high. it pushes big works away. if fiverr doesn’t listen, when someone else comes up something good, most of sellers will leave fiverr. so fiverr loses money at end.

[zimamedia]

Looking at the commission structure too. I don’t spend anything on marketing at all, zero. Everything is coming from an inbound channel (which is a very complex sales channel) and taking that “small” cut is worth it in every way. It would cost me tens of dollars to convert 1 prospect into a sale my self.