Pricing Discrepancies

[fredgleeck]

Hi! I’m going to be getting more active on Fiverr as a seller in a couple of months, but as a BUYER, I’ve noticed something that makes me uncomfortable. The past 3 jobs I’ve gotten done, the sellers have quoted me WAY MORE than their gig description says. All this does is get my annoyed. I would NEVER do this to a buyer myself as a seller. Comments?

[shounak10]

Depends on what you are asking for. If they are misquoting the prices of their most basic offerings, that is not right and not allowed. But if you are asking for something that probably requires a lot of work compared to what the gig offers, the prices might change.
For a few of my gigs, In cases where the client wants changes that aren’t a part of the gig, I might charge an extra for a custom order. But if they are looking to buy the gig in its unaltered form, the prices don’t change.

[emmaki]

OK, so one gig I have 1000 words is $275. Some dude wanted 10k. I said $2750. I got reamed for being overpriced.

The information is all there in my gig. If a buyer can’t read or is too lazy to bother, I’m too lazy to custom quote a more appropriate number. Especially if the query is about timeframe and cost with no details about whatever the hell needs doing.

I don’t understand why you needed your preface about becoming a seller to moan about this? If you don’t like it, don’t do it. But you probably will when you’ve got a queue of idiotic messages that are begging for $75k quotes. I quite enjoy the anger when I simply tell them the basic pricing structure and how I’d rather not waste anyone’s time discussing their project before having an idea of budget and expectations. Or just flipping them off with the large quote.

That’s not including the buyer who worked himself into a fury because he wanted a 10 word basic gig in 24 hours and I told him that would require a $100 extra. lulzy.

[mrdanielprice]

My take is that these pricing discrepancies are freelancers trying to get around Fiverr’s ludicrous $5 restriction (for categories that haven’t had the packages feature added yet), choosing to use the platform, rather than not.

I can clearly see things from both the buyer’s and the seller’s point of view. However, I can’t think of a single service that anyone could offer me that would cost a $5, so anyone expecting a “real” service for a fiver has unrealistic expectations and doesn’t understand how the world works.

My response to buyers would be, “What were you expecting?”

Buyers are doing the best they can with the restrictions imposed by Fiverr. It’s either “tell buyers it will really cost x for the work or they will have to order the gig x times” or don’t bother using the platform at all.

Some people have clearly chosen the former option from the experience you’re describing.

[wegotshoutouts]

Well this depends on the service they are offering and what you are asking for. If you are asking for something that is different then what their gig says then I can understand that. But if it is the same as what the gig says, then the price should stay the same.

[cyaxrex]

Yeah, you are probably going to have to say what you wanted your seller to do and how this matched their basic gig description. My 300 words of writing gig is priced at $5 but occasionally I get people who expect me to research several different brands or products etc and that’s not possible for $5. In this case, I either cancel or send a custom offer for another $10.

[nzrajput]

I believe this really depends on the seller. When a Buyer contacts me for a job and the details are close or similar to my gig, I tell him/her the same price as my Gig (without the extra). Or if I tell them a higher price, I mention that this price is with the listed extras included.

[cryslyn]

Is it normal for a job to begin, and a seller, after some time working, realizes that the job is more complex than thought, to ask for additional money.

[theratypist]

What is the job being worked on? It would depend on the job being worked on, example if it’s proofreading and he says in his gig that he proofreads 1000 words for $5 and you give him 800 words to proofread and he asks for more than $5, that is wrong.

[farhangul262]

I believe this really depends on the seller

[misscrystal]

Sometimes buyers have unrealistic expectations of what they will get for only $5, which in the USA is almost nothing. While we are required to offer something for $5, it may not meet the needs or expectations of a buyer so it is our duty as a seller, for the buyer’s own benefit, to let them know that they would be happier if they spent more money.

Why pretend that for $5 a seller will get the same quality they could get for $30 or give them an unrealistic expectation? In some countries the $4 sellers get out of the $5 will go a long way and means a lot but where I live it is the same as free and I can’t do the kind of work I am capable of doing for that.

[flatio]

“flipping them off with the large quote”. That I myself do a lot of times 🙂