Is Fiverr passed its prime?

[directwritingco]

I just want to get everyone’s opinion on this. Seems like the new Fiverr 2.0 has been a disaster and it sounds like the site is saturated with sellers, but not enough buyers. Do you think this is true? Is there still room for a newbie like me?



I love the concept of Fiverr and think it can be a great way to make a living, or at the very least, gain some experience. But I’m afraid I joined the party too late.



Thoughts?

[kbates]

Hey Direct,



I don’t think Fiverr is past it’s prime by any means…but I’m no Fiverr expert.



However, I have purchased about 50 Fiverr gigs and paid for lots of tips for jobs-well-done because I believe Fiverr is an amazing place to get help or just to hire highly creative (and sometimes crazy) people! I’ve needed everything from fun songs about my family members to serious help with Microsoft Excel. And, I can honestly say that almost every time I get a gig done, it’s worth way more than a fiverr. 🙂



I also think that’s part of the key to your success on Fiverr (or anywhere, really) …offering gigs that make people feel as though they’ve received something worth far more than they paid.



And, I wouldn’t listen to all this stuff about the new Fiverr 2.0 being a dud and that you can’t make money here any longer. Think about it. Fiverr makes money when you get gigs. Why would they ever let something sit that would keep them (and you) from making more money?



Hope that helps!

[voiceoverwork]

@directwritingco



Good topic. Great question.



As I teach in my college courses, I believe there is always room for a newcomer in any endeavor, and whether or not the newcomer stays and is successful is largely dependent on the newcomer.



I think if you look at your “Fiverr Gig” as the hub of your wheel. And look at your other efforts in Social Media, your Blog, your List, your YT channel etc, as the spokes of your wheel, it’s very possible to get the wheel rolling successfully.



Read the forum and you see tons of folks asking (and begging) for Buyers without a clue how to set up a gig that actually attracts Buyers, or run a business. Look at many of the gigs hastily thrown together, of little or no value. Those are the folks that have joined a party that will not work out for them.



Your gigs are clean, well thought out and seem to be of value.



Depending on how you test, tweak, retest and fine tune your gigs for maximum effect, and how you promote your services beyond Fiverr will determine how much fun the party is for you.



Everyday there’s a lot of chatter on this forum how Fiverr sucks, too many crooks, too many sellers, low quality, on and on. Well we could say that about the local shopping mall too. Nothing is perfect or guaranteed right?



The Fiverr platform and your gig space, is a sweat equity investment opportunity to start and test an idea, an application or like for many of us, a sideline to an existing business. There are lots of folks doing well on Fiverr.



I don’t think you’ve joined the party too late. It’s just a little rainy, muddy and over-crowded like Woodstock '69. Eventually the illusion wears off for the lightweights, and they will pack up their gear and go home. The hard-core will still be here doing their thing!



Good luck! 🙂

[bigbadbilly]

Not even started it’s prime from what I can see.



Maybe the forums, but not the site. LOL



We all have to remember that these forums only represent .000001 of the total Fiverr traffic. And sales, on the site as a whole are greater than they’ve ever been.



Again. Take into account that nobody really who buys from Fiverr has even heard of the forum. They are just casual buyers.



It may seem to some that the sales have dropped, but look at it this way.



The gigs that are ‘For Sale’ now far outnumber what they were 6 months ago. So it seems like sales are down, but they’re actually up. The sales now are just spread between the huge amount of new gigs. Plus, after looking around the site I notice that general sales look higher than they were when looking at orders in people que. For the gigs that are within the first 2 pages of the site. In all categories.



We all need to remember that Fiverr is not a small site anymore. It’s ranked 125 worldwide. Hell. Google itself is Ranked 60 and Fiverr is 125. And to put that in perspective, if you start a new website your ranked in the billions. There’s loads of traffic here still. You just got to figure out how to get the eyeballs on your gig.

[belgianwriter]

In my view, it can be tough the first few weeks, but once your gigs take off in my experience things will be all right. I made it to level 2 in a little over 2 months. That is more than I had ever hoped for after I joined.

Do not give up, that is the key.

[directwritingco]

Reply to @kbates: Thanks, it does help! I guess we only hear about the negatives in a lot of forum posts, especially about Fiverr 2.0, so those voices are the loudest. But we don’t hear about the multitude of success stories and sellers working hard to please their buyers.



I’ve only purchased one gig on Fiverr (on an old account) to get an ebook cover designed. Loved it! The seller did an EXCELLENT job. In fact, I added her to my favorites just in case anyone needs a referral to a good cover designer.



I definitely agree that success is not just delivering the gig on time, but delivering a quality gig and blowing the buyer’s expectations out of the water. That separates the “tinkerers” from the professionals - if that makes sense.

[directwritingco]

Reply to @voiceoverwork: Thank you for the comments on my gigs. Very much appreciated!



Right now I’ve only promoted to my Twitter followers (only a few hundred at the moment). I also have a link to one of my gigs on a internet marketing forum I’m active on.



Reading all the negatives on the forums here can certainly turn one off to Fiverr. But like you said, nothing is perfect.



I’m glad to hear you don’t think I joined the party too late. I recently began selling on Ebay and what a mess that is! Sellers are scared out of their mind because Ebay has created such a hostile selling environment that one or two negative reviews can get a seller banished. I feel like I joined the Ebay party too late, after hearing how great it was "back in the day."



Thanks again for the encouragement!

[directwritingco]

Reply to @bigbadbilly: I didn’t realize Fiverr had such good rankings. 125 isn’t bad at all. I had a blog for several years that only got a few thousand visitors a month, I couldn’t grow it beyond that.



I think I read a post on the forum about how the posters here such a small, small sampling of the Fiverr community. That should have been my first clue not to get too worried about the negative comments.



BTW, I love your username! 🙂

[directwritingco]

Reply to @belgianwriter: Congrats on making level 2 in only 2 months. That’s pretty impressive!



Nope, I refuse to give up. I hear too many stories about people not giving something a chance and quitting before they even get the ball rolling.

[artportraits]

Methinks it has gotten a lot more competitive, in my category at least. I can’t speak for the others.

[jbadrawings]

Hey, shouldn’t that be either ‘has Fiverr passed its prime’ or ‘is Fiverr past its prime’ ? 😉

😃

Hang in there and see what happens. I haven’t been here long but I don’t think I’ve missed the party as such, so I don’t think you have either. Give it time.

Good luck.

[directwritingco]

Reply to @jbadrawings: I can’t believe I used “passed” instead of “past.” 🙂

How embarrassing, especially since my gigs are writing and editing/proofreading related. Now no one will hire me.



But thank you for the correction though. I guarantee I’ll never make this mistake again. 🙂

[jbadrawings]

It was mean of me, but I couldn’t resist he he 😉

[Guest matt_garry]

fiverr has grew from 1-3 million gigs in a short time. That said buyers have grew at almost the same rate. Definitely more competitive I recall some senior sellers saying it was more cozy back in the day. Ecommerce/job sites like this have a lifespan of 10-20 years so I am sure we have that much time too. God knows what it will be like if they go public the publicity alone would probably create a new 5 million gigs/ 4 million buyers. We are probably a long way from the peak of business so ya its not too late as long as your creative, clever, and willing to work hard.

a certain video site has 100 hours of content uploaded a minute and stars are born every day. If you have a crowded field their is a reason for it $$$.

[directwritingco]

Reply to @jbadrawings: I’m glad you pointed it out. Not mean at all. That’s how we learn from our mistakes. 🙂

[directwritingco]

Reply to @matt_garry: Good points. Fiverr really seems to have taken off. Actually, I had never heard of Fiverr until last summer when I read about it on a forum I belong to. But I know a lot of people who have at least heard of Fiverr. And you’re right, if they went public, got some more publicity, we’d see an explosion in sellers and buyers.

[directwritingco]

From the comments I’ve read, I’m starting to get a good sense of things. Mainly:

• Fiverr is not past its prime. It might even be IN its prime right now, given the huge market it has become (and still growing).
  
  
• Yes, the competition is fierce, but there’s still plenty of room for newbies like me. And from surfing the site I’ve found many, many sellers who have hundreds, if not thousands, of orders under their belt. I’m also guessing many of these sellers are either making a living from Fiverr, or at least using it as a part-time income. This says to me the market is still very active.
  
  
  
• It’s all about patience (which is the toughest part for me). I have been seeing a lot of posts from fellow newbies about how to get that first gig. Many respond saying it can take anywhere from a few hours to a few months.
  
  
  
  Anyway, those are just 3 points I’ve gotten from the great posts on this thread. I don’t want the thread to end with this post, as I love hearing other sellers’ ideas and opinions. Fiverr is still pretty new for me so I have a lot to learn.

[bigbadbilly]

Yes. You can make a living here. For now anyhow.



I’m waiting for a few newcomers to show up with totally different and cool gigs. And I means something totally unique. That would be refreshing.

[itsyourthing]

The problem with Fiverr (in addition to many of the things listed above) is that there is a ‘no grow’ point with this type of marketplace. There are only certain industries and certain tasks within those industries that a micro-gig agency can satisfy. There are also … eh, you know what, I’m not gonna bother. Some people will says it’s great, some will say it’s terrible, and it’s just not worth my time to explain the good and bad and how it all adds up. Good luck to everyone! 🙂

[Guest predyxx]

yeah i was thinking the same ,that i joined fiverr to late.Hope im wrong

[gyoveg]

It’s problem will be the $5 one its very self.

By that I mean that $5 now is already not worth what it was 2+ years ago, as the cost of living goes up then soon people that were happy getting $5 for doing a gig that took an hour aren’t going to be. It’s not about changing currency rates but the cost of living. It will hit a point whereby $5 looks like peanuts (if it doesn’t already) - hope they have a game plan to address that!

Also it needs some PR as in many top Internet Forums such as warriorforum (5k members +30k+ guests online or more at anyone time - so 35k people online at once, so I think that qualifies as a popular forum) fiverr has an awful reputation - as well as some supporters but most comments are negative, particularly when it comes down to how much you can make on it.

[itsyourthing]

gyoveg said: By that I mean that $5 now is already not worth what it was 2+ years ago

 

It's an international site - the cost of living isn't rising everywhere (and certainly not at the same rates. Folks who live in the 'right' places will keep on going and others will get discouraged and drop off. I think Fiverr's attempt at providing a way for sellers to earn more money with higher-priced extras is doing more harm than good. The majority of buyers come here to get cheap product/service, very quickly. Sellers desperate to make more money essentially raise their prices with the extras and get even fewer orders.

 

I don't understand why people come here (not all of them, but most) expecting to make good money or even earn a living. Each seller on this site is potentially competing with hundreds of thousands of other sellers (depending on product/service). No-one would expect to set up a table in a shopping mall with 250,000 other sellers and expect to get rich - especially if the mall management won't even let you put up a sign.

[jbadrawings]

@itsyourthing - I hear what you are saying but I think a lot of the graphic/drawing gigs aren’t like that. (“cheap product/service very quickly”). I had a good look round and there are quite a few where the extras (some serious level 2 and beyond extras) seem to make sense to the buyers too as they have plenty of orders.

I Just did my first $15 gig and the buyer was delighted so I’m crossing fingers it won’t put people off. It’s still an absolute bargain!

[celinedesigns]

What do you mean 2.0 was a disaster? I joined just before 2.0, and the old fiverr looked outdated and quite frankly ugly. 2.0 looks modern and with that trustworthy! Looking professional and modern brings customers.



After 2.0 I noticed no drop in sales, but in fact an increase?

[bigbadbilly]

@celinedesigns - There’s no question Version 2 looks nicer. But it’s nowhere near as user friendly. And for sellers, navigating can be tough. I’m still not used to it and still miss being able to quickly glance at things and see what’s up. The original was stripped of bells and whistles but was perfect for what it was trying to accomplish. It was a market place. And was designed as such. Version 2 is geared more for visual appeal. And a lot of the functionality and ease of use was lost.



As for sales in general. There’s lots to be made here. I’m Canadian and can say that I could live of Fiverr rather easily. But, the funds I make here go to a project I’m working on.



It all depends on how you put your gigs together and what you do. If you do 7-10 gigs all at once, and can get them done in 10-15 minutes you’re doing great once you start getting regular gigs.



And the trick to getting regular gigs is to be patient. And, always deliver your best work. Don’t try to scam people or fool people with your gigs. Give what you say and do your best. Scammers, eventually end up with nothing. The good ones, have to wait a bit but slowly get busier. And getting repeat clients is key. I can proudly say that around 80% of my gigs come from repeat clients now. Some have been repeat clients for around a year and a half. That’s the key. Slow but steady wins the race. As long as you don’t try to pull a fast one on someone. And you do your best. Always… And don’t be afraid to refund or re-do something over and over to make someone happy. It pays off in the long run.