Jump to content

I raised my prices...and it was great!


somaginer1996

Recommended Posts

This is something I’ve wanted to post for a while, and is purely based on my experiences. I just thought it would be useful to some to know that sometimes raising your prices can be the right thing to do.

I’ve been considering raising my prices for several months. My short story gig was the reason I started thinking about it: I had 500 words for $5 as the minimum amount, but because I kept overwriting I ended up selling 1,000 words to a repeat buyer who ever only ordered at $5. I wanted to raise the minimum price of that gig to $10 so I could stop losing time and money, but I was scared of deviating from the base price of $5.

When I did end up tweaking my prices, I changed the bottom prices of both my short story gig and blog post gig to $10, and raised prices slightly on my translation gig.

A few things have happened since then.

  1. That $5 buyer did disappear, but that was the only buyer I ended up losing. (I also took a break for about two months from Fiverr, so I was lucky enough to not have many repeat buyers to lose in the first place.)

  2. More people have come to me for bigger projects, so that instead of earning $5-$10 per project I’ve now been earning around $20-$30. Although the short stories/articles themselves are longer, extending/expanding a piece is much easier than developing up a new one for each order, especially given my tendencies for overwriting.

  3. My new buyers are much more generous. They no longer ask for discounts on bulk orders. I’ve been tipped several times within the last two weeks even though the orders themselves are also more expensive. They also tend to write more detailed reviews and are more courteous in general.

  4. Despite working at a more leisurely pace with long delivery times on each gig (since I’m a student), I’ve earned more last month than what I did during the summer even with all the time I devoted a lot to keeping up with school work.

Surprisingly enough, I actually haven’t been getting as many orders on my older gigs that remain with a starting price of $5 than my other ones, although this may also be a side effect of my short story gig being featured.

Just wanted to share a positive experience and encourage some of y’all out there that raising your prices can be great!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

First of all, Happy Birthday! 🎉

I think I have a similar experience. When I was level one seller, I raised my prices on all of my three gigs that existed at that time. It was one of the greatest moves I made at that time. I honestly thought that raising my prices wouldn’t really affect that much except that it will turn off those buyers who want literally everything for just $5. But it did more than that!

I had to decrease my prices a little bit tho when I got demoted.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

First of all, Happy Birthday! 🎉

I think I have a similar experience. When I was level one seller, I raised my prices on all of my three gigs that existed at that time. It was one of the greatest moves I made at that time. I honestly thought that raising my prices wouldn’t really affect that much except that it will turn off those buyers who want literally everything for just $5. But it did more than that!

I had to decrease my prices a little bit tho when I got demoted.

Absolutely! The cheap $5 buyers for those gigs I could absolutely do without 😂

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for Sharing Experience I am Also thinking to raise the basic $5 to $10 or $15, I am fearing to lose the Buyer and ranking position in list.

I think it depends on your current state. I also got lucky in that I was taking a break when I raised prices so I didn’t lose a lot of old clients. I’d advise taking things slowly in that regards, giving old clients a heads-up, perhaps.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Happy birthday. This is very reassuring as I just went through the same thing when a buyer told me I did not charge enough and if I charged more he would buy from me.
I struggled and consulted many people, including this forum. In the end, I raised my prices a good bit.

I agree with all of your results. It has only been a day or two for me. Higher quality clients willing to pay for talent and quality results, less low tier buyers trying to squeeze the lemon for all its worth, and more relief that I can ask for and take time to really work on a project instead of trying to pump out volume.

I have raised my prices a few times since I have been on here, and while this one was a big jump, the others wound up the same. Buyers came, some old ones left, and I kept oin writing.

Thanks for sharing this reassuring post.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

First of all, Happy Birthday! 🎉

I think I have a similar experience. When I was level one seller, I raised my prices on all of my three gigs that existed at that time. It was one of the greatest moves I made at that time. I honestly thought that raising my prices wouldn’t really affect that much except that it will turn off those buyers who want literally everything for just $5. But it did more than that!

I had to decrease my prices a little bit tho when I got demoted.

I had to decrease my prices a little bit tho when I got demoted.

I did the opposite and had my best month since 2016 🙂

My service quality didn’t suffer just because I was demoted over a single order. So I figured there’s no reason to lower my prices. Instead, I narrowed my target audience and raised my prices. I stopped building eCommerce and affiliate sites because quite often these had the most problematic buyers.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I had to decrease my prices a little bit tho when I got demoted.

I did the opposite and had my best month since 2016 🙂

My service quality didn’t suffer just because I was demoted over a single order. So I figured there’s no reason to lower my prices. Instead, I narrowed my target audience and raised my prices. I stopped building eCommerce and affiliate sites because quite often these had the most problematic buyers.

I did the opposite and had my best month since 2016 🙂

I’m glad you said this because I was about to reply to Youssef that he may not have needed to reduce price. I don’t remember any client ever commenting on my level. They have mentioned my picture, overall profile, gig descriptions, dogs, beard, smile, some quoted things I have said on Quora and elsewhere but never has anyone ever mentioned my level.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I had to decrease my prices a little bit tho when I got demoted.

I did the opposite and had my best month since 2016 🙂

My service quality didn’t suffer just because I was demoted over a single order. So I figured there’s no reason to lower my prices. Instead, I narrowed my target audience and raised my prices. I stopped building eCommerce and affiliate sites because quite often these had the most problematic buyers.

I did the opposite and had my best month since 2016 🙂

Wow, that’s great to hear!

When I decreased my prices, my point of view was that buyers wouldn’t really like to put a lot of money into trying new sellers’ services. My prices were a little high than other sellers, so I thought I should get them decreased a little bit

I don’t know if this was the right thing to do. 😕 Maybe it was the “Recent Delivery: 23 days” that drove me crazy to take immediate actions.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I did the opposite and had my best month since 2016 🙂

I’m glad you said this because I was about to reply to Youssef that he may not have needed to reduce price. I don’t remember any client ever commenting on my level. They have mentioned my picture, overall profile, gig descriptions, dogs, beard, smile, some quoted things I have said on Quora and elsewhere but never has anyone ever mentioned my level.

beard

That’s the most important thing!

Even in BR, actually, I haven’t seen people asking for a specific level. They seem more interested in number of reviews.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I did the opposite and had my best month since 2016 🙂

Wow, that’s great to hear!

When I decreased my prices, my point of view was that buyers wouldn’t really like to put a lot of money into trying new sellers’ services. My prices were a little high than other sellers, so I thought I should get them decreased a little bit

I don’t know if this was the right thing to do. 😕 Maybe it was the “Recent Delivery: 23 days” that drove me crazy to take immediate actions.

my point of view was that buyers wouldn’t really like to put a lot of money into trying new sellers’ services

As Eoin mentioned, in reality, I don’t think anyone really cares what your level is. I bet most of them don’t even know what the level means. I guess it would be a problem if it said that you were demoted, but that’s not the case. They might as well think that you’re on your way up 🙂

I haven’t seen your websites, but based on your gig description and communication here on this forum, I’d say you should be around $400 per site by now and moving up.

Now, don’t raise your prices 4 times without a proper research 😃 Our services are similar but not the same, so I don’t know your target audience.

PS. You should really look into WordPress unless you’re super passionate about coding 😉

Think about the buyers who need to manage that site later.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

my point of view was that buyers wouldn’t really like to put a lot of money into trying new sellers’ services

As Eoin mentioned, in reality, I don’t think anyone really cares what your level is. I bet most of them don’t even know what the level means. I guess it would be a problem if it said that you were demoted, but that’s not the case. They might as well think that you’re on your way up 🙂

I haven’t seen your websites, but based on your gig description and communication here on this forum, I’d say you should be around $400 per site by now and moving up.

Now, don’t raise your prices 4 times without a proper research 😃 Our services are similar but not the same, so I don’t know your target audience.

PS. You should really look into WordPress unless you’re super passionate about coding 😉

Think about the buyers who need to manage that site later.

Hmm…You know, I’m lucky that I had this short conversation with you & Mr.Eoin. The conversations I have on forum usually points out things that didn’t cross my mind at that time.

That’s really some good points, I shouldn’t lower my prices. But anyway, I at least now know how to act when things get rough again. Lowering prices wouldn’t be one of the options! 😅

I really was thinking about getting into WordPress few days ago. I could tell that it’s requested a lot and in fact, it will be better for the buyers to have a WP website instead of a coded one as they will have the ability to manage it by their own. Isn’t WordPress require knowing PHP?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hmm…You know, I’m lucky that I had this short conversation with you & Mr.Eoin. The conversations I have on forum usually points out things that didn’t cross my mind at that time.

That’s really some good points, I shouldn’t lower my prices. But anyway, I at least now know how to act when things get rough again. Lowering prices wouldn’t be one of the options! 😅

I really was thinking about getting into WordPress few days ago. I could tell that it’s requested a lot and in fact, it will be better for the buyers to have a WP website instead of a coded one as they will have the ability to manage it by their own. Isn’t WordPress require knowing PHP?

Happy Birthday! 🍰

I had the same experience after I raised my prices 3 weeks ago.

Mr.Eoin

@eoinfinnegan How do you like being called Mr. ?:thinking:

Hi, youssef 👋

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Great to hear. I raised my prices as well over the course of a couple of months. I think I’ve gotten to the point where I raised them too much now though. Business has dropped off quite a bit.

So, just today I lowered everything down by about 33% to see if I can start getting some orders again.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hmm…You know, I’m lucky that I had this short conversation with you & Mr.Eoin. The conversations I have on forum usually points out things that didn’t cross my mind at that time.

That’s really some good points, I shouldn’t lower my prices. But anyway, I at least now know how to act when things get rough again. Lowering prices wouldn’t be one of the options! 😅

I really was thinking about getting into WordPress few days ago. I could tell that it’s requested a lot and in fact, it will be better for the buyers to have a WP website instead of a coded one as they will have the ability to manage it by their own. Isn’t WordPress require knowing PHP?

Isn’t WordPress require knowing PHP?

Its good to know php. Also my advise is to learn to set up and customise wordpress without any themes to start with. You really learn the basics that way and it will help you when you come cross any conflicts and bugs etc.

Wordpress is really easy 🙂

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hmm…You know, I’m lucky that I had this short conversation with you & Mr.Eoin. The conversations I have on forum usually points out things that didn’t cross my mind at that time.

That’s really some good points, I shouldn’t lower my prices. But anyway, I at least now know how to act when things get rough again. Lowering prices wouldn’t be one of the options! 😅

I really was thinking about getting into WordPress few days ago. I could tell that it’s requested a lot and in fact, it will be better for the buyers to have a WP website instead of a coded one as they will have the ability to manage it by their own. Isn’t WordPress require knowing PHP?

Isn’t WordPress require knowing PHP?

I haven’t written a single line of PHP code since 2015. It really depends on what service you’re offering.

I’m a WordPress consultant, not a developer. I don’t do custom solutions (plugins, themes etc). It has nothing to do with the design though. I use the same themes and plugins, but none of my websites look the same.

Just like you’re using Bootstrap as a base, I use themes and customize them to meet my client’s needs.

My goal is to build effective goal driven websites for local businesses. The great thing about WordPress is that pretty much 99% of what a small or medium-sized business needs is already developed as plugins. If I do need something special then I will outsource it.

  • You will need to know HTML/CSS, but that’s not a problem for you.
  • You will also need to invest in tools (Premium theme, a few premium plugins etc.) For example, a visual builder nowadays is a must. I’m not talking about that $hity Visual Composer. You need Divi, Elementor, Beaver builder or Thrive.
  • And of course you need a lot of time to learn it. Making a website in WordPress is not rocket science, but making an effective website requires knowledge and a lot of first-hand experience. This is what will separate you from others who learned WordPress from one of those 24h course YouTube videos.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Isn’t WordPress require knowing PHP?

I haven’t written a single line of PHP code since 2015. It really depends on what service you’re offering.

I’m a WordPress consultant, not a developer. I don’t do custom solutions (plugins, themes etc). It has nothing to do with the design though. I use the same themes and plugins, but none of my websites look the same.

Just like you’re using Bootstrap as a base, I use themes and customize them to meet my client’s needs.

My goal is to build effective goal driven websites for local businesses. The great thing about WordPress is that pretty much 99% of what a small or medium-sized business needs is already developed as plugins. If I do need something special then I will outsource it.

  • You will need to know HTML/CSS, but that’s not a problem for you.
  • You will also need to invest in tools (Premium theme, a few premium plugins etc.) For example, a visual builder nowadays is a must. I’m not talking about that $hity Visual Composer. You need Divi, Elementor, Beaver builder or Thrive.
  • And of course you need a lot of time to learn it. Making a website in WordPress is not rocket science, but making an effective website requires knowledge and a lot of first-hand experience. This is what will separate you from others who learned WordPress from one of those 24h course YouTube videos.

$hity Visual Composer

Any reasons? We use it a lot as it comes with a theme we use.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

$hity Visual Composer

Any reasons? We use it a lot as it comes with a theme we use.

There are a ton of comparison reviews and personal preference plays a role here, but personally I find it clunky, slow, outdated and limited.

It comes with a lot of themes because it’s cheap and it used to be popular so lot of theme developers haven’t switched over yet.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There are a ton of comparison reviews and personal preference plays a role here, but personally I find it clunky, slow, outdated and limited.

It comes with a lot of themes because it’s cheap and it used to be popular so lot of theme developers haven’t switched over yet.

Whats your favourite?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Happy Birthday! 🍰

I had the same experience after I raised my prices 3 weeks ago.

Mr.Eoin

@eoinfinnegan How do you like being called Mr. ?:thinking:

Hi, youssef 👋

How do you like being called Mr. ?

I have been called a lot worse.

Actually, I have been called that by a lot of young people; from all different places, from the southern US states to rural Ireland Eastern Europe, and now Egypt. I think I may need to insist on others using it too.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

How do you like being called Mr. ?

I have been called a lot worse.

Actually, I have been called that by a lot of young people; from all different places, from the southern US states to rural Ireland Eastern Europe, and now Egypt. I think I may need to insist on others using it too.

Mr. Eoin I love it when Youssef is respectful enough to call me Mrs. Vickie. 😄

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Isn’t WordPress require knowing PHP?

I haven’t written a single line of PHP code since 2015. It really depends on what service you’re offering.

I’m a WordPress consultant, not a developer. I don’t do custom solutions (plugins, themes etc). It has nothing to do with the design though. I use the same themes and plugins, but none of my websites look the same.

Just like you’re using Bootstrap as a base, I use themes and customize them to meet my client’s needs.

My goal is to build effective goal driven websites for local businesses. The great thing about WordPress is that pretty much 99% of what a small or medium-sized business needs is already developed as plugins. If I do need something special then I will outsource it.

  • You will need to know HTML/CSS, but that’s not a problem for you.
  • You will also need to invest in tools (Premium theme, a few premium plugins etc.) For example, a visual builder nowadays is a must. I’m not talking about that $hity Visual Composer. You need Divi, Elementor, Beaver builder or Thrive.
  • And of course you need a lot of time to learn it. Making a website in WordPress is not rocket science, but making an effective website requires knowledge and a lot of first-hand experience. This is what will separate you from others who learned WordPress from one of those 24h course YouTube videos.

Divi, Elementor, Beaver builder or Thrive

I’ve worked with Divi the most. It definitely has its flaws, but over time I’ve developed my own workarounds for each issue so I’m comfortable with it. Right now I’m waiting for Elementor’s next version and since the new Beaver Themer I’ve started to use that.

I think we’re getting off topic here 😃

Probably should move this conversation.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Here in the southern US, we call people Mr. or Miss, usually not Mrs. even though they are married, with the first name as a sign of respect. It’s not as common with Mr. as it is for Miss. We also consider it good manners to call people ma’am or sir if we are not familiar to them.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...