Don't sell yourself short!

[Guest matt_garry]

I know I say this a lot on this forum but seriously every time someone gets lowballed and they let people walk all over them it makes it easier for that guy to do it again! Labor laws are real they don’t disappear when you are on the internet PLEASE RESPECT YOURSELFS AND YOUR TIME! if you are working for less then min wage realize you are not just hurting yourself but people who actually charge a fair amount on here. Ya I get it competition is brutal but trust me for every person that is complaining about your prices and trying to squeeze more hard work from you; another is looking at your gig and seeing you charge so little they are assuming you are not an actual professional.

or look at it like this if 9/10 don’t want to pay that much 1 is willing to pay 10x as much as those other 9 so you get less business and make more money.

[betterbiztools]

Matt,



This has been on my mind all morning because I woke up to an buyer requesting more work on a web design I completed and delivered 24 hours ago…which still has not been marked complete. The buyer did not want to pay for the additional work, he/she just wanted to tag it on like, “oh well, since you’ve done that you can do this too for the same gig.” SMH, I don’t think so.



I think he/she is exactly the type of person you’re describing… one who wants to squeeze more out without paying. That’s not right or fair.



To me, this is a form of bullying because some know that their cancellation or negative review will affect your ratings and that sellers don’t want that.



I would rather have a lower rating than be intimidated into working for free.



I agree with you that Sellers have to take a stand on the value of their time and the service they provide.

[mark74]

Just this: =D>

[betterbiztools]

I’ve returned to say that the buyer marked the order complete and left a negative review although I completed the work as he initially ordered.



He left the negative review because I did not do his extra work under his terms.



The review did affect my previous 100% rating on that gig. But it’s all good on my end, cause I’m not a slave and don’t work for free unless I DECIDE to give freebies.



I teach my kids that your have to stand up for yourself and take a stand for what is right.



This Fiverr journey is gonna be fun!

[Guest matt_garry]

Reply to @betterbiztools: well I hope CS does its job and removes it for you 🙂 and good job not letting him push you around

[Guest dsaldridge]

I needed to read this tonight. I’m new here, although I signed up on the site over a year ago, and never did anything with it. I just had a very nice client ask me to rewrite and article over one paragraph they didn’t like. I gave them more than the gig called for anyway, so I just deleted that paragraph (which kept the article within the word count) and sent it back. You know, they could have just deleted that paragraph themselves. They knew I had written more than was required, which I did on all 5 gigs, so actually, I almost gave them a free article (which is what I am going to tell them if they complain). It worries me, because there are two other gigs sitting waiting to be marked complete. At this point, I have a 25% cancellation rate because I haven’t really written that much and had a few cancellations at the very first from people wanting too much. I have a special running until tomorrow, but after that, I’m charging the rates I want to charge, and if I get no gigs, so be it. I can’t let myself be taken advantage of anymore.

[Guest dsaldridge]

Reply to @betterbiztools: That is so unfair. Is that what he wrote in feedback? I’d counter with a thumbs down rating of my own.

[zeus777]

I am soooooo with madmoo on this one…



I tend to over-deliver a LOT too, and this has both helped me and also stressed me out

at the same time. In most cases it makes me happy and proud about my work, in other cases

I say “You idiot, why are you doing this???” to myself, especially when I can kind of tell that the

buyer is trying to take advantage of me and try to make me feel guilty if I didn’t do the extra stuff.



Having that said though, even though I tend to over-deliver, I aslmost never give out discounts

when someone asks for it. It’s unfair to the other buyers, and I am getting paid less for the

same amount of work I need to put in.



So I don’t do discounts, but I do over-deliver.



…I guess it will be like this for me!! 😃

[jbadrawings]

Your self respect is worth more than five dollars! 😉 Don’t let anyone devalue it. .

[damooch916]

I’m in the middle on both accounts. In my personal life I take absolute steps to do what Matt is talking about.



When my show is over- it’s over. Otherwise I train venue owners to believe that me and my band are worth very little and that my financial figures are a grab bag of ideas. It also harms the bands around me.

If I play five hours and get paid for two- I’ve made it hard on other musicians to make a living wage.

This is why people assume that I have a day job… I tell them that I play music for a living and they ask "But what’s your day job?"

Artists are known for doing anything to cut out another artist.



On the other hand…being realistic… all of these services are undercutting the normal price of businesses that provide similar offerings. If you hire me to come to the studio-write your song, play the tracks and then record the vocals- you’re looking at $50 an hour (2 days minimum).

Here I do all of those things for five dollars. So why do we do it? Money, hardship, internet entrepreneurship, marketing…a variety of reasons I suppose.

But the real truth is- we love it. We love the addiction of positive feedback and crossing our fingers about a thumbs up. Making international relationships, being considered “the best” at something- or coming up with crazy new things to sell from nothingness.



The standards are set…as they are in my professional real life. Musicians get paid a certain figure for local, regional and national work. Studio players make a basic amount. Publishing rights have a specific figure in most songwriting pitches.



Here on fiverr- one of the standard concepts is to over deliver. It’s debatable whether or not this is a good idea- but it is a standard idea. It’s always a judgement call. Buyer’s can tarnish your well earned review status for being upset about uncontrollable factors…likewise; we can decide which buyer’s get the full out service versus the norm.



Ultimately it’s always attitude.