Does Fiverr have the right of exclusivity to me or my services?

[patrickkarban]

Hey there!
I hope you are doing ok. I am having a question about something I am unsure about. Maybe you can help me to make the right decision!

So in the past year, things got a lot quieter, so I had the time to learn new skills I was interested in. Does Fiverr have any rights of exclusivity over me as a person or my services? With the skills I learned, I would love to start a few new projects that would likely not be suitable for the platform. Coding my own game and promoting it, for example. Will I get into any trouble if I launch some new projects outside of the platform while still working on the platform with the services I am currently offering? The only thing I can’t do, from what I know, would be trying to contact people outside of the platform. I don’t intend to do that at all. Also, I am aminly concerned that I might need help with the projects that would happen outside of the platform. Will it be ok if I purchase some services to solve some issues I might encounter with SEO optimization, for example?

I don’t want to do something dumb and risk everything since right now, my livelihood entirely depends on my services on Fiverr! I got into trouble for minor things before, and those came pretty much out of the blue because I wasn’t particularly aware of it. So I’d like to have some advice to stay on the safe side before taking the next possible steps!

Thank you so much!

[vibronx]

Of course, you are allowed to do projects outside Fiverr. Fiverr doesn’t own you.

Just don’t contact Fiverr buyers or sellers outside the platform. If you do require someone on the platform to help you then you are required to follow the TOS.

[patrickkarban]

Of course, you are allowed to do projects outside Fiverr. Fiverr doesn’t own you.

Just don’t contact Fiverr buyers or sellers outside the platform. If you do require someone on the platform to help you then you are required to follow the TOS.

Hey!

Thank you for your answer. That is actually a relief. I am aware that I nee dto follow the TOS when I require the help from someone on the platform. In the case of on-site SEO, the person would have to work on my website which also would list my contact details. Since I am living in the EU, my whole address and all possible channels to contact me like email or phone number HAVE to be in my imprint or else I can get sued for not providing that kind of information. Will this potentially lead to issues?

[english_voice]

As @vibronx has said, Fiverr doesn’t own you. We are all freelance workers - meaning Fiverr does not guarantee us any right to employment, likewise we are free to work on other platforms and with whoever we choose.

The reason I’m responding though is to say I believe it essential that you do work through other platforms in addition to Fiverr. While Fiverr is my preferred freelancing platform, in my opinion it is oversubscribed with sellers - meaning competition for work is extremely fierce. Also, the famous (infamous) Fiverr algorithm means you can be riding high with orders one week and then have none the following week. Until your account matures and you find repeat buyers, this can be very stressful.

Fiverr is great, but it is not perfect. As a freelancer worker you should not rely on a single platform, otherwise you could find yourself with no work. I’m forever saying this in the forum, sellers have to do everything they can to protect themselves - part of this is operating on multiple platforms, but don’t spread yourself too thinly.

[patrickkarban]

As @vibronx has said, Fiverr doesn’t own you. We are all freelance workers - meaning Fiverr does not guarantee us any right to employment, likewise we are free to work on other platforms and with whoever we choose.

The reason I’m responding though is to say I believe it essential that you do work through other platforms in addition to Fiverr. While Fiverr is my preferred freelancing platform, in my opinion it is oversubscribed with sellers - meaning competition for work is extremely fierce. Also, the famous (infamous) Fiverr algorithm means you can be riding high with orders one week and then have none the following week. Until your account matures and you find repeat buyers, this can be very stressful.

Fiverr is great, but it is not perfect. As a freelancer worker you should not rely on a single platform, otherwise you could find yourself with no work. I’m forever saying this in the forum, sellers have to do everything they can to protect themselves - part of this is operating on multiple platforms, but don’t spread yourself too thinly.

Hey!

Thank you for your reply. I didn’t especially mention it because I think it might be a taboo. I have been working on Fiverr for over 4 years now and things have been going great! I will be going past the 4000 completed orders mark soon. Even in COVID times I only had one or 2 bad months and then it started to normalize again! I was even able to raise my prices twice within 14 days in Septermber, while the amount of orders was still increasing instead of decreasing for me.

I am also registered on other platforms but I have to admit that I only got a total of 3 orders on one of the other 5-6 platforms in those same 4 years. I feel like having your gig up and people are able to notice you is far more easy for me as a seller rather than having one job offer every once in a while that is a fit, but within minutes there are like 20 applicants for that job already. This is a far more brutal model for me and I can’t really get a decent foothold on concepts like those.

[english_voice]

Hey!

Thank you for your reply. I didn’t especially mention it because I think it might be a taboo. I have been working on Fiverr for over 4 years now and things have been going great! I will be going past the 4000 completed orders mark soon. Even in COVID times I only had one or 2 bad months and then it started to normalize again! I was even able to raise my prices twice within 14 days in Septermber, while the amount of orders was still increasing instead of decreasing for me.

I am also registered on other platforms but I have to admit that I only got a total of 3 orders on one of the other 5-6 platforms in those same 4 years. I feel like having your gig up and people are able to notice you is far more easy for me as a seller rather than having one job offer every once in a while that is a fit, but within minutes there are like 20 applicants for that job already. This is a far more brutal model for me and I can’t really get a decent foothold on concepts like those.

You’re doing incredibly well based on what you’ve said. Good work!

The only other thing I would add is that you must not try and port across your Fiverr clients into the real world or onto other platforms - as it’s the quickest way to receive an account warning or have your account terminated.

But rest assured that you are totally free to work outside of Fiverr.

[patrickkarban]

You’re doing incredibly well based on what you’ve said. Good work!

The only other thing I would add is that you must not try and port across your Fiverr clients into the real world or onto other platforms - as it’s the quickest way to receive an account warning or have your account terminated.

But rest assured that you are totally free to work outside of Fiverr.

Ok! Thank you so much! I am well aware about that rule and I always turn down offers to contact people outside or if they want to do a direct payment. Especially sinc ethe chat bot would instantly recognize that something is wrong.

[uk1000]

On gig videos Fiverr asked people to put “exclusively on Fiverr” in them. I don’t see it in the current help page for adding a video so maybe they no longer require it. Though in the past I think gig videos got removed for not including it. So maybe they want that exact service by the seller to be exclusive (or at least the ones with videos), but maybe if it was different enough they’d be okay with a a similar service done by the seller elsewhere.

[patrickkarban]

On gig videos Fiverr asked people to put “exclusively on Fiverr” in them. I don’t see it in the current help page for adding a video so maybe they no longer require it. Though in the past I think gig videos got removed for not including it. So maybe they want that exact service by the seller to be exclusive (or at least the ones with videos), but maybe if it was different enough they’d be okay with a a similar service done by the seller elsewhere.

Hey!

Thank you for your answer. Do you know when this was a thing? A while ago, I saw a gig in my branch that also had the “exclusively on Fiverr” phrase in the gig thumbnail. When I changed my gig image about two years ago, support wanted me to remove stars or the number of positive reviews I got. They asked me to remove it since that could change. When I brought up that many other people in my branch are also doing it that way, they told me that they would start to inform those people to change it up soon. That would have been the occasion to let me know about any “exclusivity” phrase in my gig image or content, I believe. That one other person who had it seems to use it because he wants to offer it that way then. But why in gig videos specifically?

[uk1000]

Hey!

Thank you for your answer. Do you know when this was a thing? A while ago, I saw a gig in my branch that also had the “exclusively on Fiverr” phrase in the gig thumbnail. When I changed my gig image about two years ago, support wanted me to remove stars or the number of positive reviews I got. They asked me to remove it since that could change. When I brought up that many other people in my branch are also doing it that way, they told me that they would start to inform those people to change it up soon. That would have been the occasion to let me know about any “exclusivity” phrase in my gig image or content, I believe. That one other person who had it seems to use it because he wants to offer it that way then. But why in gig videos specifically?

Do you know when this was a thing?

It was that way in 2017. I don’t know when/if it’s now stopped (though not being in the help page for it might mean it isn’t needed now).

In March 2017 I got a message saying:

Thanks for uploading a video for your Gig__. Unfortunately, your video did not pass our editorial review.

Here’s some advice to help get your video listed on Fiverr:

State in the video that your service is offered exclusively on Fiverr.

Offer…

[my highlighting] - so there the first thing they advised to do to get the video they rejected listed was to add that line about “exclusively on Fiverr”.

But why in gig videos specifically?

I don’t know. It just seemed the advice/requirement they had was for it in those, at least in 2017.

You could ask Fiverr if it still needs to be specified if you want, at least if you’re adding a gig video or ask them if you can create a service that’s a bit similar on another site/how different it would need to be.