The Great Price Debate- I Did Not Get a Sale Because of a Low Offer

[silberma1976]

I had a client who was looking for an article. I put in a request through the buyer section.

He said this:

Thank you for leaving an offer to my gig request, Im looking for someone who can write a compelling, top notch article about under eye bags, this article should be qualified to be a newspaper article (perfect wording, solid information based on researches or other articles with sources list)

If you believe you are the right person to do it, please collect subjects you can add to the article that somehow related to under eye bags and make an offer based on the number of words and research time that you need to spend. (The subjects can be: home remedies to treat under eye bags, what is the scientific reason behind under eye bags, how under eye bags related to lack of sleep, natural treatments and Basically anything you can find on this subject)

Your offer should include:

1. Title for the article (the title must be eye catching)
2. Which subjects you can write on
3. The article total number of words
4. The final article price

I replied with:

Title: Eye Bags Weighing You Down?
Subtitle: Here is Why and What to do About It
Subtopics

Intro

Causes (Include Scientific Facts)
Home Remidies
Medical Remidies
Lifestyle Changes That Help
Conclusion

800-1000 words

$35

5 days

Shall I send a custom offer for you to accept?

When I followed up and asked the status, he told me this:

He hired a pro writer
My offer was too low!! He paid $200!!
He said he thought a $35 offer (from a top rated seller) meant copied work.
He said the rate he was looking at was.15 cents per word and $50 for an hour of research.
He said if I charged more, he would have chosen me.

I am baffled by this. Am I asking too little?

[vickiespencer]

Wow, just wow. 😮

[aaronbushell]

He’s not wrong. Not everyone is looking for bottom dollar. There are a great many buyers looking to compensate accordingly for good, quality work. I’m not suggesting your work is not of good quality, just that a buyer would assume that someone charging $200 will create a higher quality product than someone charging $35. How much time would it have taken you to research and write a quality piece for this buyer? What is your hourly rate? Are you pricing yourself appropriately or are you underselling yourself? Don’t sell yourself short- it would have taken you six gigs at $35 to replace this one $200 gig.

[trooviez9]

I had a client who was looking for an article. I put in a request through the buyer section.

He said this:

Thank you for leaving an offer to my gig request, Im looking for someone who can write a compelling, top notch article about under eye bags, this article should be qualified to be a newspaper article (perfect wording, solid information based on researches or other articles with sources list)

If you believe you are the right person to do it, please collect subjects you can add to the article that somehow related to under eye bags and make an offer based on the number of words and research time that you need to spend. (The subjects can be: home remedies to treat under eye bags, what is the scientific reason behind under eye bags, how under eye bags related to lack of sleep, natural treatments and Basically anything you can find on this subject)

Your offer should include:

1. Title for the article (the title must be eye catching)
2. Which subjects you can write on
3. The article total number of words
4. The final article price

I replied with:

Title: Eye Bags Weighing You Down?

Subtitle: Here is Why and What to do About It

Subtopics

Intro

Causes (Include Scientific Facts)

Home Remidies

Medical Remidies

Lifestyle Changes That Help

Conclusion

800-1000 words

$35

5 days

Shall I send a custom offer for you to accept?

When I followed up and asked the status, he told me this:

He hired a pro writer

My offer was too low!! He paid $200!!

He said he thought a $35 offer (from a top rated seller) meant copied work.

He said the rate he was looking at was.15 cents per word and $50 for an hour of research.

He said if I charged more, he would have chosen me.

I am baffled by this. Am I asking too little?

He said if I charged more, he would have chosen me.

This is strange. I can’t believe such buyers exist on Fiverr. Maybe one day I’ll bump into such a fantastic individual.

[jonbaas]

He said if I charged more, he would have chosen me.

This is strange. I can’t believe such buyers exist on Fiverr. Maybe one day I’ll bump into such a fantastic individual.

This is strange. I can’t believe such buyers exist on Fiverr. Maybe one day I’ll bump into such a fantastic individual.

I have buyers placing higher-priced orders from me all the time. Buyers who want proven quality are usually willing to pay higher for that quality. I am a high-quality seller, therefore, I charge higher prices. Buyers understand that, if they hire me, they are getting their money’s worth. Therefore, buyers like this most definitely DO exist.

[vickiespencer]

I do not go to Buyer Requests as much as I once did. However, after encouragement from my Fiverr Forum Friends to NOT undervalue myself, I have started to put offers in that are what I really want/need to make even if it is above the Buyer’s stated budget. I have gotten several jobs by doing that. 🙂

[verbalwriter]

wow,just wow.
what happens to not judging a book by it’s cover.

[trooviez9]

This is strange. I can’t believe such buyers exist on Fiverr. Maybe one day I’ll bump into such a fantastic individual.

I have buyers placing higher-priced orders from me all the time. Buyers who want proven quality are usually willing to pay higher for that quality. I am a high-quality seller, therefore, I charge higher prices. Buyers understand that, if they hire me, they are getting their money’s worth. Therefore, buyers like this most definitely DO exist.

I understand your point @jonbaas. However, we’re are not on a level playing field here. There are many reasons why you get buyers placing higher-priced orders most of the time. One factor that may play to your advantage is your region (you being a native English speaker is a huge plus for you). Also, your experience in your industry is a good bargaining chip. My point is it takes a considerable effort and time to reach a point where you can price your gigs so high and still get clients on a consistent basis.

[jonbaas]

I understand your point @jonbaas. However, we’re are not on a level playing field here. There are many reasons why you get buyers placing higher-priced orders most of the time. One factor that may play to your advantage is your region (you being a native English speaker is a huge plus for you). Also, your experience in your industry is a good bargaining chip. My point is it takes a considerable effort and time to reach a point where you can price your gigs so high and still get clients on a consistent basis.

One factor that may play to your advantage is your region (you being a native English speaker is a huge plus for you).

I can tell you that my higher-ticket clients come from all over the world. They are not confined to the United States, and many of them communicate in English as their second language.

My point is it takes a considerable effort and time to reach a point where you can price your gigs so high and still get clients on a consistent basis.

Indeed. This is, however, nothing new. It applies to just about every business in the world. This is most certainly not a concept native to Fiverr.

[silberma1976]

This is strange. I can’t believe such buyers exist on Fiverr. Maybe one day I’ll bump into such a fantastic individual.

I have buyers placing higher-priced orders from me all the time. Buyers who want proven quality are usually willing to pay higher for that quality. I am a high-quality seller, therefore, I charge higher prices. Buyers understand that, if they hire me, they are getting their money’s worth. Therefore, buyers like this most definitely DO exist.

I base my quote on how long it would take me and research involved. And it really is not that much for me. I mean, I have close to 1,000 five star reviews and am a top rated seller, which I just got a couple weeks ago, so maybe I should jump my prices and see what happens. I do not see how one would infer I would copy stuff from that.

But to pay $200 for 1,000 words. Fiverr is changing I guess.

[jonbaas]

I base my quote on how long it would take me and research involved. And it really is not that much for me. I mean, I have close to 1,000 five star reviews and am a top rated seller, which I just got a couple weeks ago, so maybe I should jump my prices and see what happens. I do not see how one would infer I would copy stuff from that.

But to pay $200 for 1,000 words. Fiverr is changing I guess.

so maybe I should jump my prices and see what happens

It never hurts to see what happens. After all, Fiverr is, clearly, working to push sellers toward having higher prices. 🙂

[silberma1976]

He said if I charged more, he would have chosen me.

This is strange. I can’t believe such buyers exist on Fiverr. Maybe one day I’ll bump into such a fantastic individual.

I have been here 3 years and worked like a dog to get where I am. I have had so many people say no because my prices at $35 or $25 for a similar piece were too high. Again, I am a newly knighted TRS, so maybe I need to re-evaluate my rates.

My impression of this place and I was here before packages when it all was $5, is that you are hard pressed to charge for and get market rates as if you run your own business off Fiverr. Pro sellers may be slowly changing that. Can not say with authority.

His response was really like a splash of cold water on me when I was sleeping and I can not make heads and tails of if it was an anomaly or if I can charge more and still get sales.

Buyer request seem so strange when no budget is set or the person wants something for $5. So, I try to tell them my price. I aim for so much per hour. I do not break it down by how much it should cost per word and for research time.

IDK. Just flabergasted.

[vickiespencer]

I have been here 3 years and worked like a dog to get where I am. I have had so many people say no because my prices at $35 or $25 for a similar piece were too high. Again, I am a newly knighted TRS, so maybe I need to re-evaluate my rates.

My impression of this place and I was here before packages when it all was $5, is that you are hard pressed to charge for and get market rates as if you run your own business off Fiverr. Pro sellers may be slowly changing that. Can not say with authority.

His response was really like a splash of cold water on me when I was sleeping and I can not make heads and tails of if it was an anomaly or if I can charge more and still get sales.

Buyer request seem so strange when no budget is set or the person wants something for $5. So, I try to tell them my price. I aim for so much per hour. I do not break it down by how much it should cost per word and for research time.

IDK. Just flabergasted.

I am a newly knighted TRS, so maybe I need to re-evaluate my rates.

Congratulations on your promotion to TRS!

[misscrystal]

I have been here 3 years and worked like a dog to get where I am. I have had so many people say no because my prices at $35 or $25 for a similar piece were too high. Again, I am a newly knighted TRS, so maybe I need to re-evaluate my rates.

My impression of this place and I was here before packages when it all was $5, is that you are hard pressed to charge for and get market rates as if you run your own business off Fiverr. Pro sellers may be slowly changing that. Can not say with authority.

His response was really like a splash of cold water on me when I was sleeping and I can not make heads and tails of if it was an anomaly or if I can charge more and still get sales.

Buyer request seem so strange when no budget is set or the person wants something for $5. So, I try to tell them my price. I aim for so much per hour. I do not break it down by how much it should cost per word and for research time.

IDK. Just flabergasted.

My impression of this place and I was here before packages when it all was $5, is that you are hard pressed to charge for and get market rates as if you run your own business off Fiverr.

I don’t know what it’s like for writers but there are definitely a large number of buyers like the person you mentioned who WANT TO PAY MORE, a lot more.

They want the best and don’t think they will get it for $35.

For example, I have paid $500 for sunglasses. I could go into a drugstore and buy them for $10. And I’m not the only one paying a ridiculous price for sunglasses. There are lots of people like me who want to pay a lot for them.

So you get a different type of client by charging more, with a different mindset.

[paulmaplesden]

I put up a few buyer’s requests at the beginning of the year, got some custom offers and asked a couple of sellers to increase what they charged me, because the work needed meant that on what they were charging, it would have been less than minimum wage. No freelancer deserves that… (And yes, the sellers were from countries with higher costs of living).

I believe in charging fairly for the word I do, and in paying others fairly for the work they do for me…

[eoinfinnegan]

I had a client who was looking for an article. I put in a request through the buyer section.

He said this:

Thank you for leaving an offer to my gig request, Im looking for someone who can write a compelling, top notch article about under eye bags, this article should be qualified to be a newspaper article (perfect wording, solid information based on researches or other articles with sources list)

If you believe you are the right person to do it, please collect subjects you can add to the article that somehow related to under eye bags and make an offer based on the number of words and research time that you need to spend. (The subjects can be: home remedies to treat under eye bags, what is the scientific reason behind under eye bags, how under eye bags related to lack of sleep, natural treatments and Basically anything you can find on this subject)

Your offer should include:

1. Title for the article (the title must be eye catching)
2. Which subjects you can write on
3. The article total number of words
4. The final article price

I replied with:

Title: Eye Bags Weighing You Down?

Subtitle: Here is Why and What to do About It

Subtopics

Intro

Causes (Include Scientific Facts)

Home Remidies

Medical Remidies

Lifestyle Changes That Help

Conclusion

800-1000 words

$35

5 days

Shall I send a custom offer for you to accept?

When I followed up and asked the status, he told me this:

He hired a pro writer

My offer was too low!! He paid $200!!

He said he thought a $35 offer (from a top rated seller) meant copied work.

He said the rate he was looking at was.15 cents per word and $50 for an hour of research.

He said if I charged more, he would have chosen me.

I am baffled by this. Am I asking too little?

He hired a pro writer

My offer was too low!! He paid $200!!

He said he thought a $35 offer (from a top rated seller) meant copied work.

I have been saying this for about 9 months!!!

There are plenty of buyers who come here for quality work at a premium price and there are not enough sellers who value their work at that level. However, I think you need to reassess a couple of things before going to that price point.

Firstly, the buyer wanted a newspaper quality article, not blog quality. Your price suggests to me that you were going to complete it within an hour. How many articles do you think a journalist writes per day or week? How long do they spend on the articles they write? How much research do they do? How long for fact checking? How long before they make the article into an indisputable, factual, accurate, authoritative piece that other, lesser publications would use as a reference?

This is what makes a piece worth $200 or 6 times your standard rate. I think your hourly rate was roughly fair but your number of hours required was too low. Instead of 1 hour, it should be 5-6.

I buy article writing services on Fiverr and generally supply some info to base the article on. The price I pay is $10-20 for 300-1000 word articles. I expect that the sellers spend 20-45 minutes on those and that the article is lightly researched but not proofread or even fact checked. When I get the articles back, I do those things myself as I am a better editor than I am a writer.

What I am saying or suggesting is that there is a market for both standard and premium article writers on Fiverr but writers need to decide which they are or if they want to do both then they have to spell out exactly what the difference is between the services. I mean really spell it out, not just base price on word count.

This next point is not intended as a boast even if it comes across as that but here goes - I charge double your rates for writing services but I don’t even have a writing gig. You on the other hand are a TRS writer with over 1000 5-star reviews. My clients have no problem paying my prices (which is for SEO content and blogs) because they know that I know what I am doing as I have communicated this to them effectively.

Perhaps you need to look at how you sell (and see) yourself and how buyers see you. Charging higher prices is not necessarily just a case of putting up the price and hoping for the best. Those who pay premium price expect a premium service which includes all aspects of the service, not just the finished product.

[silberma1976]

He hired a pro writer

My offer was too low!! He paid $200!!

He said he thought a $35 offer (from a top rated seller) meant copied work.

I have been saying this for about 9 months!!!

There are plenty of buyers who come here for quality work at a premium price and there are not enough sellers who value their work at that level. However, I think you need to reassess a couple of things before going to that price point.

Firstly, the buyer wanted a newspaper quality article, not blog quality. Your price suggests to me that you were going to complete it within an hour. How many articles do you think a journalist writes per day or week? How long do they spend on the articles they write? How much research do they do? How long for fact checking? How long before they make the article into an indisputable, factual, accurate, authoritative piece that other, lesser publications would use as a reference?

This is what makes a piece worth $200 or 6 times your standard rate. I think your hourly rate was roughly fair but your number of hours required was too low. Instead of 1 hour, it should be 5-6.

I buy article writing services on Fiverr and generally supply some info to base the article on. The price I pay is $10-20 for 300-1000 word articles. I expect that the sellers spend 20-45 minutes on those and that the article is lightly researched but not proofread or even fact checked. When I get the articles back, I do those things myself as I am a better editor than I am a writer.

What I am saying or suggesting is that there is a market for both standard and premium article writers on Fiverr but writers need to decide which they are or if they want to do both then they have to spell out exactly what the difference is between the services. I mean really spell it out, not just base price on word count.

This next point is not intended as a boast even if it comes across as that but here goes - I charge double your rates for writing services but I don’t even have a writing gig. You on the other hand are a TRS writer with over 1000 5-star reviews. My clients have no problem paying my prices (which is for SEO content and blogs) because they know that I know what I am doing as I have communicated this to them effectively.

Perhaps you need to look at how you sell (and see) yourself and how buyers see you. Charging higher prices is not necessarily just a case of putting up the price and hoping for the best. Those who pay premium price expect a premium service which includes all aspects of the service, not just the finished product.

Well said. And in the light of a newspaper article vs a regular blog, I see your point. I hear you on premium service too. Thank you for the great feedback.

[silberma1976]

For anyone following this…I raised my prices almost two-fold across all gigs and categories. And someone bought two articles from me for $100. I would have had to sell 5 articles at earlier prices before. So, anyone out there wondering, buyers really are willing to pay for talent. I am not telling everyone to raise their prices. You gotta to have the reviews, portfolio, etc to back it up.

Charles