Fiverr commissions

[nataliapenap]

I wanted to know if you all think that is fair for Fiverr to take a 20% of commission of your order and also charge a fee to the buyer, and of course take a commission from your tips.
Don’t get me wrong, I love Fiverr and I think it is one of the best platform for freelancers, but I think they need to be more transparent when it comes to all the pieces of cake they take from your orders, which at the end might be almost the 50%(?).
Why I want to bring this topic to discussion? Because it happens to me that most of my clients get surprise when I send them the custom order and Fiverr charge them more to the price we agreed, sometimes that means that I need to low my prices. I need to know how much is going to charge Fiverr to my clients, so it would not be a surprise for me too.

[shadiya646]

I think they take 20% from our order its okay. But from our tip they take also Commission. It’s really sad and pathetic.

[seo_specialized]

I think they take 20% from our order its okay. But from our tip they take also Commission. It’s really sad and pathetic.

If they don’t take 20% from the Tips then some People would simply say to their Buyers that you can pay me Half of the Money Through a Tip so I think whatever Fiverr does is the best for Sellers and Buyers! 🙂

[vickiespencer]

I wanted to know if you all think that is fair for Fiverr to take a 20% of commission of your order and also charge a fee to the buyer, and of course take a commission from your tips.

Don’t get me wrong, I love Fiverr and I think it is one of the best platform for freelancers, but I think they need to be more transparent when it comes to all the pieces of cake they take from your orders, which at the end might be almost the 50%(?).

Why I want to bring this topic to discussion? Because it happens to me that most of my clients get surprise when I send them the custom order and Fiverr charge them more to the price we agreed, sometimes that means that I need to low my prices. I need to know how much is going to charge Fiverr to my clients, so it would not be a surprise for me too.

I wanted to know if you all think that is fair for Fiverr to take a 20% of commission of your order and also charge a fee to the buyer, and of course take a commission from your tips.

I am fine with Fiverr’s fees. Running a freelance business is more economical for me than operating a brick-and-mortar store.

Why I want to bring this topic to discussion? Because it happens to me that most of my clients get surprise when I send them the custom order and Fiverr charge them more to the price we agreed,

I have never had that happen in the 4 years I have been here. My comment is that buyers like you describe needing to read the TOS they agreed to when they signed up to Fiverr.

sometimes that means that I need to low my prices.

You are actually doing that? Wow, I would not. Once you start doing this for a buyer, you are stuck in a rut where they expect you to continue. Plus, believe it or not, you will get a reputation for being easily manipulated to make changes in your prices.

I need to know how much is going to charge Fiverr to my clients, so it would not be a surprise for me too.

It is all laid out in TOS at the bottom of the main Fiverr page.

[lloydsolutions]

I wanted to know if you all think that is fair for Fiverr to take a 20% of commission of your order and also charge a fee to the buyer, and of course take a commission from your tips.

Don’t get me wrong, I love Fiverr and I think it is one of the best platform for freelancers, but I think they need to be more transparent when it comes to all the pieces of cake they take from your orders, which at the end might be almost the 50%(?).

Why I want to bring this topic to discussion? Because it happens to me that most of my clients get surprise when I send them the custom order and Fiverr charge them more to the price we agreed, sometimes that means that I need to low my prices. I need to know how much is going to charge Fiverr to my clients, so it would not be a surprise for me too.

I need to know how much is going to charge Fiverr to my clients, so it would not be a surprise for me too.

• Service fees are added at the time of purchase where you can review and accept the total amount requested to pay. These fees cover administrative fees. As of March 2021, the service fees are 5.5% of the purchase amount. For purchases under $50 an additional $2 small order fee will be applied.

The above is from the Terms of Service referred to by @vickiespencer above.

[isai92]

If they don’t take 20% from the Tips then some People would simply say to their Buyers that you can pay me Half of the Money Through a Tip so I think whatever Fiverr does is the best for Sellers and Buyers! 🙂 thanks!

[donnovan86]

I wanted to know if you all think that is fair for Fiverr to take a 20% of commission of your order and also charge a fee to the buyer, and of course take a commission from your tips.

Don’t get me wrong, I love Fiverr and I think it is one of the best platform for freelancers, but I think they need to be more transparent when it comes to all the pieces of cake they take from your orders, which at the end might be almost the 50%(?).

Why I want to bring this topic to discussion? Because it happens to me that most of my clients get surprise when I send them the custom order and Fiverr charge them more to the price we agreed, sometimes that means that I need to low my prices. I need to know how much is going to charge Fiverr to my clients, so it would not be a surprise for me too.

I wanted to know if you all think that is fair for Fiverr to take a 20% of commission of your order and also charge a fee to the buyer, and of course take a commission from your tips.

Try to run your own business and pay for advertising. Pay for payment processing fees too, servers, customer support, etc. Then you will come back to Fiverr 🙂

[nataliapenap]

I wanted to know if you all think that is fair for Fiverr to take a 20% of commission of your order and also charge a fee to the buyer, and of course take a commission from your tips.

Try to run your own business and pay for advertising. Pay for payment processing fees too, servers, customer support, etc. Then you will come back to Fiverr 🙂

I understand your point, and I’m not saying that I don’t agree with the commissions, I just want to know where all this money it’s going, and why they take the money they take, and also how much extra they are charging to my clients, because I never know.

For example when I send the bill, Fiverr doesn’t tell me how much they are charging to my clients, last time I had an order for 480 and Fiverr was charging 590, I realized that because my client told me, and she sent me a screenshot.

Now, do you know how much Fiverr is charging to your clients?

I’m only asking for more transparency that’s all.

[nataliapenap]

I wanted to know if you all think that is fair for Fiverr to take a 20% of commission of your order and also charge a fee to the buyer, and of course take a commission from your tips.

I am fine with Fiverr’s fees. Running a freelance business is more economical for me than operating a brick-and-mortar store.

Why I want to bring this topic to discussion? Because it happens to me that most of my clients get surprise when I send them the custom order and Fiverr charge them more to the price we agreed,

I have never had that happen in the 4 years I have been here. My comment is that buyers like you describe needing to read the TOS they agreed to when they signed up to Fiverr.

sometimes that means that I need to low my prices.

You are actually doing that? Wow, I would not. Once you start doing this for a buyer, you are stuck in a rut where they expect you to continue. Plus, believe it or not, you will get a reputation for being easily manipulated to make changes in your prices.

I need to know how much is going to charge Fiverr to my clients, so it would not be a surprise for me too.

It is all laid out in TOS at the bottom of the main Fiverr page.

First of all, the only thing I’m literally asking is for more transparency, like I want to know how much Fiverr is charging to my clients, in this sense, the best thing they can do is show me the same bill that they show to my clients.

I have read the TOS, many times, even before doing this post, and I have even talked with the Fiverr team about this issue, but they always tell me like “yeah someone will be in contact with you about this topic” and guess what? They haven’t reached out.

On the other hand, I want to give the best service I can, this means help my clients with the budget they have; if we agree a price, let’s say $100, then when they are going to pay, they will get idk 150? 200? idk because the % Fiverr says they charge to clients varies a lot, and idk if you all have noticed this, because it’s difficult to know, (and that’s the point I want to make). Whatever, let’s say $150, that’s way more than the price we agree, of course I’m going to say like “I’m sorry that’s the Fiverr fee” and they will ask me to low the price a bit, or pay me, or just find somebody else. I normally have that “secret” fee of Fiverr calculated in my prices, so I low my price a little depending on the case, for example if my client is a student, I’ll definitely will help, because I know how it is to be a student and being broke. And if I get a reputation, I truly don’t care, I prefer to be an empathic human being.

Anyways, I believe we all manage our business the best we can, and according to our principles, so the best thing Fiverr can do is being transparent with us.

[nataliapenap]

I think they take 20% from our order its okay. But from our tip they take also Commission. It’s really sad and pathetic.

I understand that feeling when you get a tip on a work you put all your heart and time, and then Fiverr takes 20% of that. I mean, not even in restaurants or coffee shops, or in any other business take part of your tip. I do believe it is sad, because I don’t if you know this, but they don’t only take 20%, they also charge a fee to the buyer for giving you a tip, so is this fair? Do all the buyers are going to give you a tip if they have to pay for it? Idk

[nataliapenap]

If they don’t take 20% from the Tips then some People would simply say to their Buyers that you can pay me Half of the Money Through a Tip so I think whatever Fiverr does is the best for Sellers and Buyers! 🙂

But Fiverr also charge a fee to the buyers for giving you a tip, it’s that fair too?

I mean let’s have in mind that when you are working on a coffee shop, and a client give you a tip, you’ll be fine if your boss takes 20% of it? It will also be fine if they charge the client to give you a tip?

I understand what you mean, but I also believe that there are other ways in which they can be sure that the payment of the order won’t go to the Tip. Like idk having 4 tips options and that you can choose only one, without charging you a fee. And if they take a percentage because of the transactions fees, then let us know that too. Because I only want to know why they are taking a 20% of my tip and charging a fee to my client for giving me a tip.

[nataliapenap]

I need to know how much is going to charge Fiverr to my clients, so it would not be a surprise for me too.

• Service fees are added at the time of purchase where you can review and accept the total amount requested to pay. These fees cover administrative fees. As of March 2021, the service fees are 5.5% of the purchase amount. For purchases under $50 an additional $2 small order fee will be applied.

The above is from the Terms of Service referred to by @vickiespencer above.

I know this you guys, I even have talked with the Fiverr team about this.

The only thing I want and that I think that it’s common sense, is to see the same bill my client is seeing. Because why they don’t show us the same bill? I think it would be more practical for all of us to calculated our prices.

[donnovan86]

I understand your point, and I’m not saying that I don’t agree with the commissions, I just want to know where all this money it’s going, and why they take the money they take, and also how much extra they are charging to my clients, because I never know.

For example when I send the bill, Fiverr doesn’t tell me how much they are charging to my clients, last time I had an order for 480 and Fiverr was charging 590, I realized that because my client told me, and she sent me a screenshot.

Now, do you know how much Fiverr is charging to your clients?

I’m only asking for more transparency that’s all.

Fiverr doesn’t tell me how much they are charging to my clients

Why does it matter? It’s your client’s business and those are platform fees, not your fees.

There is transparency, they show buyers how much they have to pay. It’s not relevant for a seller how much the buyer pays. Many buyers will come begging for a lower price so they can cut fees but then again, that’s not our business here.

Many buyers will come begging for a lower price so they can cut fees but then again, that’s not our business here.

They don’t show fees because it’s not what the seller charges. You charge whatever you find ok, and Fiverr will add their buyer fees on top of that. You know your own fees, buyers know their own fees…

[nataliapenap]

Fiverr doesn’t tell me how much they are charging to my clients

Why does it matter? It’s your client’s business and those are platform fees, not your fees.

There is transparency, they show buyers how much they have to pay. It’s not relevant for a seller how much the buyer pays. Many buyers will come begging for a lower price so they can cut fees but then again, that’s not our business here.

Many buyers will come begging for a lower price so they can cut fees but then again, that’s not our business here.

They don’t show fees because it’s not what the seller charges. You charge whatever you find ok, and Fiverr will add their buyer fees on top of that. You know your own fees, buyers know their own fees…

But the thing here is that they are cutting one basic part of a business in two, the bill.

I’m going to put an example, what about if you go to a mall, and you ask for the price of a shirt, they tell you $20, and then you go and pay, but the person there tells you that is $35 in total because of the mall fee. How would you feel? Wouldn’t it be better if the first person could tell you the final price from the beginning?

In this sense, it would be better for us and the clients if Fiverr simply puts their fee when we are making the custom offer, so we will send the client the final price, and we will know how much Fiverr is charging to them.

Now, why do I care? Because I want to give the best service to my clients, without surprises.

[donnovan86]

But the thing here is that they are cutting one basic part of a business in two, the bill.

I’m going to put an example, what about if you go to a mall, and you ask for the price of a shirt, they tell you $20, and then you go and pay, but the person there tells you that is $35 in total because of the mall fee. How would you feel? Wouldn’t it be better if the first person could tell you the final price from the beginning?

In this sense, it would be better for us and the clients if Fiverr simply puts their fee when we are making the custom offer, so we will send the client the final price, and we will know how much Fiverr is charging to them.

Now, why do I care? Because I want to give the best service to my clients, without surprises.

Because I want to give the best service to my clients

You are offering a service through third parties, and that third party (Fiverr) has their own fees for buyers. That doesn’t influence your service in any way.

what about if you go to a mall, and you ask for the price of a shirt, they tell you $20, and then you go and pay, but the person there tells you that is $35 in total because of the mall fee.

This is not valid, because that shirt isn’t a service. Here you have a platform processing payments, advertising and everything for you, so they get a cut from your side. For the buyer, they make it easy to find the right seller by constantly improving the algorithm. They also offer customer support and refund, all of which are added to those payment fees.

So, those fees are valid, there’s a reason for them.

Plus, it’s not like Fiverr shows your customer that you quoted him something else. They show your quote, and they show the processing fees separately. So… your customers won’t blame you, if they are professional of course. This is the cost of doing business through a third party.

Sure, you can circumvent that if you create your own website and platform. But that means a lot of money to build it, and even more to advertise everything. And then more fees for payments and stuff.

There are other sites like Fiverr, and they all have their own monetization system. Some require you to buy proposals that may or may not give you any income.

I’ve been here for upwards of 7 years, going towards 8 now, and the only people that complained about platform fees are either scammers or cheap assess that eventually try to cancel the order anyway. A professional person won’t complain about prices. Unless you overcharge for your service, of course.

[vickiespencer]

I need to know how much is going to charge Fiverr to my clients, so it would not be a surprise for me too.

• Service fees are added at the time of purchase where you can review and accept the total amount requested to pay. These fees cover administrative fees. As of March 2021, the service fees are 5.5% of the purchase amount. For purchases under $50 an additional $2 small order fee will be applied.

The above is from the Terms of Service referred to by @vickiespencer above.

Service fees are added at the time of purchase, where you can review and accept the total amount requested to pay. These fees cover administrative fees. As of March 2021, the service fees are 5.5% of the purchase amount. For purchases under $50, an additional $2 small order fee will be applied.

The buyer knows what they will be charged if they have read the TOS as stated above by @lloydsolutions. The price they will pay is stated there.

Plus, when I, as the seller, press the green “Buy Now” button, I know there will be added fees because I read TOS. Once I press the button, the total I will be charged is shown to me before making the purchase.

It is like when I order a latte. The price is $3.50, but if I want an extra shot of espresso, flavoring, and whipped cream, I expect to pay more, and the latte ends up costing me $5. All prices are laid out in the coffee house’s price sheet, just as they are laid out in TOS.

The fees go to pay for operating Fiverr, and like your freelancing business, Fiverr is a business, and businesses are not charities. They too pay taxes, advertising, rent, wages, shareholders, and the like. The price they charge buyers and sellers pays for such things.

[visualstudios]

I agree that the commission structure should be re-planned. 20% of a one time order of $5 is fine. 20% in perpetuity from a client that orders $2000 of gigs every month is just too much. Fiverr is spending next to zero on that client - yes, they got the lead, but it makes no sense to be paying for a lead in perpetuity. Once the client is here buying again and again, Fiverr doesn’t need to promote the service to that client anymore - so money is coming in without any spending necessary on marketing for that client. They are repeat clients, so the process is always smooth with no disputes, so Fiverr needs to spend zero on customer support as well. They aren’t even paying for bandwidth, given Fiverr’s paltry upload limits, I’m forced to pay for my own Filemail server to deliver to clients, so it’s not like Fiverr is spending big server money on my clients.

For repeated, large volume clients the commission should be on a sliding scale, just like other platforms (upwork, for example) do - start at 20% but lower it on volume/price.

[nataliapenap]

Because I want to give the best service to my clients

You are offering a service through third parties, and that third party (Fiverr) has their own fees for buyers. That doesn’t influence your service in any way.

what about if you go to a mall, and you ask for the price of a shirt, they tell you $20, and then you go and pay, but the person there tells you that is $35 in total because of the mall fee.

This is not valid, because that shirt isn’t a service. Here you have a platform processing payments, advertising and everything for you, so they get a cut from your side. For the buyer, they make it easy to find the right seller by constantly improving the algorithm. They also offer customer support and refund, all of which are added to those payment fees.

So, those fees are valid, there’s a reason for them.

Plus, it’s not like Fiverr shows your customer that you quoted him something else. They show your quote, and they show the processing fees separately. So… your customers won’t blame you, if they are professional of course. This is the cost of doing business through a third party.

Sure, you can circumvent that if you create your own website and platform. But that means a lot of money to build it, and even more to advertise everything. And then more fees for payments and stuff.

There are other sites like Fiverr, and they all have their own monetization system. Some require you to buy proposals that may or may not give you any income.

I’ve been here for upwards of 7 years, going towards 8 now, and the only people that complained about platform fees are either scammers or cheap assess that eventually try to cancel the order anyway. A professional person won’t complain about prices. Unless you overcharge for your service, of course.

I guess you guys are getting me wrong, like seriously I know that behind this website there is a lot of people working for making it work, and I know that has a cost.

Now stating that, I’m literally only asking for transparency, since Fiverr clients are at the same time my clients and your clients, if all the sellers go one day, what would Fiverr do?

As I said before, I love fiverr, but I want to be aware of all the things that are going on at the moment I place an order. Let’s see another example.

You go to a design shop, and a guy tells you “yes I can design your logo for $20” and then you go and pay, and another guy tells you, “ah yes it would be $35” because of the mall fee, since they give us a place to work here (like a website). And you would say like “why don’t you charge that price already in your price?”

People don’t complain about the fee, they only find curios, as the example above, why don’t we tell them the final price.

I’m just saying it would be a better way to work with fiverr, since after all this is a community. I believe that we sellers that constantly use the website and talk with many customers in a day, know how fiverr can improve in a way we all work better with the customers. That’s why they also make surveys.

And again I REPEAT, I’m not saying they shouldn’t charge what they charge, customer or seller, I’m only saying there are better ways to do it.

[nataliapenap]

I agree that the commission structure should be re-planned. 20% of a one time order of $5 is fine. 20% in perpetuity from a client that orders $2000 of gigs every month is just too much. Fiverr is spending next to zero on that client - yes, they got the lead, but it makes no sense to be paying for a lead in perpetuity. Once the client is here buying again and again, Fiverr doesn’t need to promote the service to that client anymore - so money is coming in without any spending necessary on marketing for that client. They are repeat clients, so the process is always smooth with no disputes, so Fiverr needs to spend zero on customer support as well. They aren’t even paying for bandwidth, given Fiverr’s paltry upload limits, I’m forced to pay for my own Filemail server to deliver to clients, so it’s not like Fiverr is spending big server money on my clients.

For repeated, large volume clients the commission should be on a sliding scale, just like other platforms (upwork, for example) do - start at 20% but lower it on volume/price.

I totally agree with you, that’s why I’m asking for transparency, like ok you are taking 20% then let me know why, and it’s super simple for them to make a detail account of their expenses.

And the point you are making is great, since the fact that the client keep coming to us relies on us, and the service we give to them, if they come back it’s because they are happy with our work (like with tips), not because Fiverr is paying someone to tell them that they need to come back to us.

So in this sense, this is the importance to talk about this topic with the community, because we can all make these types of proposals visible to improve the functioning of Fiverr, and so that the commissions they charge us are transparent and fairer.

[vickiespencer]

I guess you guys are getting me wrong, like seriously I know that behind this website there is a lot of people working for making it work, and I know that has a cost.

Now stating that, I’m literally only asking for transparency, since Fiverr clients are at the same time my clients and your clients, if all the sellers go one day, what would Fiverr do?

As I said before, I love fiverr, but I want to be aware of all the things that are going on at the moment I place an order. Let’s see another example.

You go to a design shop, and a guy tells you “yes I can design your logo for $20” and then you go and pay, and another guy tells you, “ah yes it would be $35” because of the mall fee, since they give us a place to work here (like a website). And you would say like “why don’t you charge that price already in your price?”

People don’t complain about the fee, they only find curios, as the example above, why don’t we tell them the final price.

I’m just saying it would be a better way to work with fiverr, since after all this is a community. I believe that we sellers that constantly use the website and talk with many customers in a day, know how fiverr can improve in a way we all work better with the customers. That’s why they also make surveys.

And again I REPEAT, I’m not saying they shouldn’t charge what they charge, customer or seller, I’m only saying there are better ways to do it.

I’m literally only asking for transparency,

The Fiverr TOS are transparent. It is just that most sellers and buyers do not read them. That is not Fiverr’s fault.

[nataliapenap]

I’m literally only asking for transparency,

The Fiverr TOS are transparent. It is just that most sellers and buyers do not read them. That is not Fiverr’s fault.

I think that I have said like 10 times in this post that I read them many times before, but apparently you don’t get my point. ¯_(ツ)_/¯

[enunciator]

Maybe if Fiverr modified the custom offer box to also show both parties the final total price the buyer would pay for an order would address your transparency concern?

I mainly deal with small scale orders, so if a buyer is suffering palpitations from a 2-5 dollar fee, then that’s a surefire sign that I might just want to back away from that buyer completely.

[nataliapenap]

Maybe if Fiverr modified the custom offer box to also show both parties the final total price the buyer would pay for an order would address your transparency concern?

I mainly deal with small scale orders, so if a buyer is suffering palpitations from a 2-5 dollar fee, then that’s a surefire sign that I might just want to back away from that buyer completely.

Maybe if Fiverr modified the custom offer box to also show both parties the final total price the buyer would pay for an order would address your transparency concern?

Yes, actually I already said that before.

And I mean the Fiverr fee part will appear anyway in the detail account.

The thing is that why do we have two different bills if we both know Fiverr will charge something, why only the buyer will know how much is the final price of what I’m asking for my work? If Fiverr with some coding can add that directly to the custom offer I’m doing.

And well if a customer has a problem then they can talk with the customer support.

[enunciator]

Maybe if Fiverr modified the custom offer box to also show both parties the final total price the buyer would pay for an order would address your transparency concern?

Yes, actually I already said that before.

And I mean the Fiverr fee part will appear anyway in the detail account.

The thing is that why do we have two different bills if we both know Fiverr will charge something, why only the buyer will know how much is the final price of what I’m asking for my work? If Fiverr with some coding can add that directly to the custom offer I’m doing.

And well if a customer has a problem then they can talk with the customer support.

Yes, actually I already said that before.

I kind of glazed over the thread…

I’ll show myself out!

[donnovan86]

Maybe if Fiverr modified the custom offer box to also show both parties the final total price the buyer would pay for an order would address your transparency concern?

Yes, actually I already said that before.

And I mean the Fiverr fee part will appear anyway in the detail account.

The thing is that why do we have two different bills if we both know Fiverr will charge something, why only the buyer will know how much is the final price of what I’m asking for my work? If Fiverr with some coding can add that directly to the custom offer I’m doing.

And well if a customer has a problem then they can talk with the customer support.

The thing is that why do we have two different bills if we both know Fiverr will charge something

Do you prefer to be taxed for the entire amount, including the Fiverr fees that buyers pay to Fiverr directly?