Upselling - Or "Contact me for a quote"

[hamellr]

Seller advertises $5 for the gig. Upon contacting them because I wanted a number of them done and wanted to see what the time frame would be I was given a “discounted” quote of $76/per down from normally $160 due to bulk.

Is this sort of upselling/price gouging common around here now?

[fonthaunt]

First of all, I can’t call that gouging unless I had more information so I’m not going to respond based on the term since it isn’t really neutral.

Fiverr no longer requires sellers to have a $5 offering but many, many sellers still do and for good reason. A seller that demands a higher price needs a very solid offering that is truly worth the extra (and there are plenty of gigs worth hundreds) or they are going to end up with less orders, cancellations and poor reviews. There plenty of sellers who will offer you a small gig, a sample order or a milestone order (part of the whole) for $5-15. Some are new and need to build business and others want to be sure the situation is good for everyone before proceeding to higher prices.

Of course, if you want something that really is worth $100 off the Fiverr market and you buy it from someone who says they will do it for $5, you have a chance of getting sub-par work. That hasn’t changed at all. When Fiverr did require sellers to have a $5 offering, there were plenty that said they could offer the moon for that and what you got was a little piece of rock.

So the answer to your basic question is that there are sellers who charge too much for too little. There are also sellers who charge little and give you crap. Finally, there are still plenty who will do exactly $5 worth of work for $5 or even a little better. The difference is that Fiverr gives more options now. If you really only have a $5 job that needs to be done, look around and message some people with at least a few good reviews and some good sample work. Like any bargain market, it takes some effort.

If you have a $20 job and you are trying to get it done for $5-10, you still have a decent chance of finding someone who can and will do it well enough. If you have a job that would cost you $150 off-Fiverr and you try to get it for a few bucks here, chances are as good as they were before that you’ll end up unsatisfied and needing to ask for a Fiverr credit refund or give up the money and leave a poor review. If you do have a bigger job, I would find someone who will do a partial for you for a few dollars and see if things go well and then proceed accordingly. I’m a buyer as often as I am a seller and I get lots of value for my money, but I really look around before I make a purchase unless I’m buying a “fun” gig just on a whim. I hope that helps.

[misscrystal]

Hello! So the seller raised the price from $5 to $76 each when you asked about the time frame?
That’s a huge jump. That is uncommon. It sounds like a good clue of unprofessional conduct.

[hamellr]

The problem is that that job was advertised as $5. Period. No upgrades or add ons advertised. It wasn’t until I started talking to the seller about specifics that the price jumped significantly. If the job is worth that price in the first place, the I feel the seller should be pricing it at that point.

[hamellr]

Yes, that is exactly what it looks like to me. The higher prices are not mentioned anywhere, are not add-ons or extras.

I’m glad to know that I’m not crazy for thinking this is uncommon and unprofessional.