Why I don't sell on 5r (Or any freelancing site)

[gina_riley2]

I see people complaining everyday about no sales, how to rank on 1st page, people buying reviews, asking for reviews, etc.

They ignore sound advice by people with a history of experience and want a quick solution.

I get the feeling that those seeking a “trick” are typically looking at freelancing as easy money. What they don’t know is freelancing is one of the hardest things you can do.

As a freelancer, you are responsible for everything, including customer service. We, as humans, are the hardest to deal with.

I don’t sell on 5r or any platform because I do not have the time to dedicate to gig or the annoying buyers that comes along with it.

Every person who complains about not having sales have awful gigs, terrible writing skills, gig page full of errors, and/or spelling, punctuation, overall grammar, etc.

99% of newbies won’t read this. They will create a dozen new threads, today alone, about not ranking or no sales.

1% will read this and hopefully will ask a logical question which will be refreshing.

I hate dealing with people, so only freelancing I’ll ever do is blogging and ebooks. I will keep other freelancer gainfully employed by buying services, though. 😁

[technologyhouse]

Hehe good to know that you are a blogger but fiverr is a platform of best freelancer

[debodutta420]

100% the truth. By the time I got my first order on Fiverr, I had already spend months, if not weeks, editing, polishing, and perfecting my gig images, descriptions, etc. And yet, people seem to not spend 2 days before coming to the forum to complain how Fiverr isn’t the promised dreamland that they imagined it to be. Working freelancer isn’t any different from working a job in the amount of seriousness and commitment that it requires. It isn’t a survey site that just pays off money for any casual work, nor is it a gambling site that will make you money overnight. While having proper relevant skills and experience is important, it is equally important that you market yourself properly and provide the best experience your customer can ask for. Because at the end of that day, being better than the best (or at least trying to be) will help you sustain such a work style.

[lilychinadancer]

Yes, well said . It takes a long time to study everything and improve our skills, create the right gigs and promote and etc , a lot of things to do, it spend me more than half years to find my own way , because the gigs have to be different then other many sellers , and also have to visit forum often to learn something new …

If everything is easy, there is no money to make . 😆

[filomena_silva]

Thank you so much for sharing your experience. I’m a freelance for more than 10 years now and I feel your pain. Freelancing it’s totally one of the harderst things I’ve done in my live, but I’m trully passionate about it. It’s my life.

There were so many things to say about annoying buyers… What else I can say?!

Sometimes I receive messages from newbies questioning to get more orders, but with a very intrusive approach. I’m open to help everyone who ask my help, but if the person is just looking for an easy way to win the lotery, well… I will not do the hard work for anyone.

Freelancers who see freelancing as an easy way to earn money can end in two ways: or they learn with time, ask help, improve and establish a real business, or they keep struggling and fighting for easy money the rest of their lives. Quality and excellence is the key.

[catwriter]

Thank you so much for sharing your experience. I’m a freelance for more than 10 years now and I feel your pain. Freelancing it’s totally one of the harderst things I’ve done in my live, but I’m trully passionate about it. It’s my life.

There were so many things to say about annoying buyers… What else I can say?!

Sometimes I receive messages from newbies questioning to get more orders, but with a very intrusive approach. I’m open to help everyone who ask my help, but if the person is just looking for an easy way to win the lotery, well… I will not do the hard work for anyone.

Freelancers who see freelancing as an easy way to earn money can end in two ways: or they learn with time, ask help, improve and establish a real business, or they keep struggling and fighting for easy money the rest of their lives. Quality and excellence is the key.

or they keep struggling and fighting for easy money the rest of their lives.

And crying on the forum how sad they feel.

[heyfellow1]

Oh wow…A good thread and not people spamming “hOW tO gET oRder”. You make some very good points.

[gina_riley2]

Thank you so much for sharing your experience. I’m a freelance for more than 10 years now and I feel your pain. Freelancing it’s totally one of the harderst things I’ve done in my live, but I’m trully passionate about it. It’s my life.

There were so many things to say about annoying buyers… What else I can say?!

Sometimes I receive messages from newbies questioning to get more orders, but with a very intrusive approach. I’m open to help everyone who ask my help, but if the person is just looking for an easy way to win the lotery, well… I will not do the hard work for anyone.

Freelancers who see freelancing as an easy way to earn money can end in two ways: or they learn with time, ask help, improve and establish a real business, or they keep struggling and fighting for easy money the rest of their lives. Quality and excellence is the key.

Excellent points.

Those that ask you to divert your orders to them: “Why?”

They don’t seem to get that

(1) I (as the buyer) would be insulted you don’t want to work with me.

(2) If you outsource and the quality is bad, you will get the bad review, ruined reputation and lost a potential client forever. Risk is not worth it.

They will fail within a few weeks or months (if they’re lucky). That is after they spent lots of $ buying fake reviews that led to nowhere! 🙃

[mariashtelle1]

Absolutely!
That’s exactly what we are trying to explain to all newcomers.

There is no “career” building on fiverr, your client is not your boss, fiverr is not your employer.

Freelancing might look tempting and all this videos “how to make money on fiverr with no skill” in YouTube also doesn’t help.
But it’s much easier to be employed than being a freelancer.
As an employee you are just doing your job And as a freelancer you are one man show: you have to do the work, you have to be a sales person, you have to be a customer support, you have to be a marketing person and business owner and accountant all at the same time. Being a freelancer is no joke and everyone who think that they will make an easy buck on the side are totally wrong.

[zeus777]

I see people complaining everyday about no sales, how to rank on 1st page, people buying reviews, asking for reviews, etc.

They ignore sound advice by people with a history of experience and want a quick solution.

I get the feeling that those seeking a “trick” are typically looking at freelancing as easy money. What they don’t know is freelancing is one of the hardest things you can do.

As a freelancer, you are responsible for everything, including customer service. We, as humans, are the hardest to deal with.

I don’t sell on 5r or any platform because I do not have the time to dedicate to gig or the annoying buyers that comes along with it.

Every person who complains about not having sales have awful gigs, terrible writing skills, gig page full of errors, and/or spelling, punctuation, overall grammar, etc.

99% of newbies won’t read this. They will create a dozen new threads, today alone, about not ranking or no sales.

1% will read this and hopefully will ask a logical question which will be refreshing.

I hate dealing with people, so only freelancing I’ll ever do is blogging and ebooks. I will keep other freelancer gainfully employed by buying services, though. 😁

I will keep other freelancer gainfully employed by buying services, though.

And we all love you so much for that. :smiling_face_with_three_hearts:

[shadowprince89]

Thank you for the conversation points! 🙂

I am just starting here and will take in this advice.

I’ll be looking to improve my showcase images, though a lot of people also recommend Buyers Request. I go there, but only see like 2/3 things that don’t even match my skills.

EDIT: I would be interested to know what is your experience with Buyers Request please

[english_voice]

You’ve summarised online marketplaces and forums very well! However, I do think it’s worth pointing out that good sellers do, overall, attract good buyers.

I’m a reasonably competent individual and I’ve been with Fiverr for seven years.

While it’s only ever been a part-time business for me, in all my time here (from hundreds of orders), I’ve only had one truly horrific experience (which CS resolved in my favour) and maybe half a dozen or so experiences that I would rather forget - ironically, one this week. So that’s an average of one bad experience a year. Not bad really.

If, as a seller, you offer a clear proposition that’s well written and backed up by good feedback, and you use your gut instinct to weed out the messages from potential buyers that you know will only lead to trouble (for me that means messages that are badly written) - then you stand a chance of running a near hassle free little business.

[filomena_silva]

Excellent points.

Those that ask you to divert your orders to them: “Why?”

They don’t seem to get that

(1) I (as the buyer) would be insulted you don’t want to work with me.

(2) If you outsource and the quality is bad, you will get the bad review, ruined reputation and lost a potential client forever. Risk is not worth it.

They will fail within a few weeks or months (if they’re lucky). That is after they spent lots of $ buying fake reviews that led to nowhere! 🙃

Those that ask you to divert your orders to them: “Why?”

They simply send me messages saying things like “Can you help me to earn some money?”, “I need to talk with you urgently. Please answer.” and then they ask me if I have any work for them. The few times that I answered saying that I have my own business and I work alone they insisted so badly that I had to block them. Now I simply block them.