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You Work For Fiverr


silberma1976

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I started on Fiverr four years ago with no expectations. I had very little hope that it would amount to anything more than a hill of beans. However, I was proven wrong, and I am grateful for the platform and what it allows me to do: write and be creative while helping others. But, what I have come to realize over the years is that you and I work for Fiverr, not ourselves as so many of us think. Let me provide some solid examples.

  1. It is an algorithm rat race. To get and maintain any kind of income stream here you have to get work. Plain and simple. The more orders or the larger price of your orders, the more you make. In order to do this, you have to apply to the buyer requirements, reply to messages fast, deliver on time and have high-quality reviews. This is the system Fiverr set up for you and me to stay in their good graces and maintain a good influx of orders and clients. Mess up in any one area the algorithms deem important, and you standing and order amounts fluctuate. Thus, you are running a rat race to keep up with an algorithm.

  2. You are dispensible it’s its not your fault. How many times have you seen someone post about their account or gig getting taken away? Over my 4 years, I have seen many TRS and seasoned veterans loose accounts. I have lost Gigs and know others who have as well. And it is at the whim of someone else within the Fiverr system to decide if you lose your Gig or account - even if the circumstances seem shady. At any minute, you could lose all you worked for because of a word you use, an interaction with a customer, or some oddity. You are dispensable here. And Fiverr controls your outcome.

These are just two examples. But, if you think about it, Fiverr makes the rules. If you follow the rules and play their game, along with other important skills you can do well. However, if you break a rule, you can lose it all. There is no way around this. Ask yourself, have you kept your green light on to get more orders? Have you rushed to reply to messages for a quick response rate? Have you canceled orders to avoid bad review? Have you avoided or given in to difficult clients to avoid cancellations? If you answered yes to any, you can clearly see you work for Fiverr.

My suggestion - do not put all your egss in the Fiverr basket. Find other ways to earn. Because like any company you work for, the winds of change can blow in at any time and leave you in the cold.

Charles

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On 1/18/2019 at 11:30 AM, silberma1976 said:

what I have come to realize over the years is that you and I work for Fiverr, not ourselves as so many of us think. 

I understand what you mean but this could confuse some sellers. To clarify the language and legal status (for other readers) we are not employees of Fiverr. We are independent contractors with a contractual agreement on a freelance platform.

Quote

do not put all your egss in the Fiverr basket. Find other ways to earn

This is sound advice. 

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On 1/18/2019 at 1:36 PM, fonthaunt said:

I understand what you mean but this could confuse some sellers. To clarify the language and legal status (for other readers) we are not employees of Fiverr. We are independent contractors with a contractual agreement on a freelance platform.

Good post. I totally agree that we should be striving as freelancers to find and cultivate multiple streams of income. That way if something on Fiverr goes sideways, we are not left without any other income coming in. I love the Fiverr platform, but it is not a perfect system. In my opinion, neither is working for someone else. With Fiverr we have the freedom to do other work outside of Fiverr. My current day job employer doesn’t like it’s employees having other jobs. I hope to replace my current full time employer eventually. With Fiverr and also finding work on other platforms and marketing direct to potential customers, I now stand a chance at not being completely dependent on any, “boss” except for me. 

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On 1/18/2019 at 4:54 PM, scottwaltonvo said:

Good post. I totally agree that we should be striving as freelancers to find and cultivate multiple streams of income. That way if something on Fiverr goes sideways, we are not left without any other income coming in. I love the Fiverr platform, but it is not a perfect system. In my opinion, neither is working for someone else. With Fiverr we have the freedom to do other work outside of Fiverr. My current day job employer doesn’t like it’s employees having other jobs. I hope to replace my current full time employer eventually. With Fiverr and also finding work on other platforms and marketing direct to potential customers, I now stand a chance at not being completely dependent on any, “boss” except for me.

I agree. This is a great platform. But it is someone else’s platform. We are to obey their rules. It sucks your full time job does frown on this. I read an article today about people walking away from jobs because they did not allow side hustles. 

On 1/18/2019 at 4:56 PM, fonthaunt said:

I understand what you mean but this could confuse some sellers. To clarify the language and legal status (for other readers) we are not employees of Fiverr. We are independent contractors with a contractual agreement on a freelance platform.

This is sound advice.

Good clarification. In the formal sense, we are not employees. In a figurative sense we are. 

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Unless you are an employee of Fiverr, with an hourly or salary, benefits like insurance, etc, then you don’t work for Fiverr. You work ON Fiverr, at their discretion, their terms, their rules.

Yes, the algorithm is a killer, you can go from first row to page 10, you can disappear if you change prices, that’s just how it is.

How do you think I feel as a level 0? There are 795 new sellers I’m competing with, 146 level 1’s, 82 level 2’s, and 2 TRS’s.

On 1/18/2019 at 5:10 PM, silberma1976 said:

Over my 4 years, I have seen many TRS and seasoned veterans loose accounts.

I don’t know any TRS’s that lost their accounts. TRS’s demoted I know plenty. Getting demoted sucks, but what can one do? Nothing is ever permanent, Kingdoms rise and fall as they say.

What Fiverr allows today, might be disallowed tomorrow. Think of all the people that were making money with their book review gigs, were are they now? Most are probably on other sites.

On 1/18/2019 at 5:10 PM, silberma1976 said:

My suggestion - do not put all your egss in the Fiverr basket. Find other ways to earn.

Easier said than done. Not everyone is versatile, some of us are only good doing one thing, and when that one thing is no longer paying, we’re supposed to reinvent ourselves. 

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On 1/18/2019 at 7:49 PM, silberma1976 said:
  • It is an algorithm rat race
  • You are dispensible it’s its not your fault.

This is true of any type of income on the internet, not just fiverr.

No matter what platform you are on, or even if you have your own site, you can one day suddenly have the income flow stop, permanently. 

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  • It is an algorithm rat race .
  • You are dispensible it’s its not your fault.

This is true of any type of income on the internet, not just fiverr.

No matter what platform you are on, or even if you have your own site, you can one day suddenly have the income flow stop, permanently.

Of course. But this forum is for Fiverr, so I am addressing that.

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Of course. But this forum is for Fiverr, so I am addressing that.

Of course. But this forum is for Fiverr, so I am addressing that.

Well while this forum is for fiverr, fiverr is a website. And as such it has something in common with all other websites, namely that is is based on and dependent on algorithm, and it’s possible to lose your source of income suddenly through no fault of your own.

So while you can get upset that it’s possible to lose your income suddenly, due to the capriciousness of an algorithm, this is the nature of working on the internet. Why blame fiverr? Algorithms and no security for your income is just the way the internet works.

Everything on the internet is an algorithm rat race. So the answer would be to stop trying to earn money on the internet.

If you drive a car, you could be complaining that cars cost a lot of money to maintain, and can get into wrecks where you can be injured or killed, so therefore you don’t like driving a car. The answer might be to stop driving a car. This is because ANY car can have expenses and get into accidents. It’s the nature and peril of driving. It’s not the fault of that particular car you happen to be driving. You won’t find any car that is 100% maintenance and accident free.

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On 1/19/2019 at 5:20 PM, silberma1976 said:

what I have come to realize over the years is that you and I work for Fiverr, not ourselves as so many of us think. 

I would agree with others here.

Fiverr is a marketing platform that provides you leads, it’s not your employer. By the same logic I work for Google because my website is searchable in Google and my ranking depends on their algorithm 🙂

One day I’m in the top 10, the next month I’m in top 20 and if I mess up I might get penalized.

I get what you’re trying to say, but I think the key takeaway is not to put all your time & effort on one platform. 

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what I have come to realize over the years is that you and I work for Fiverr, not ourselves as so many of us think.

I would agree with others here.

Fiverr is a marketing platform that provides you leads, it’s not your employer. By the same logic I work for Google because my website is searchable in Google and my ranking depends on their algorithm 🙂

One day I’m in the top 10, the next month I’m in top 20 and if I mess up I might get penalized.

I get what you’re trying to say, but I think the key takeaway is not to put all your time & effort on one platform.

By the same logic I work for Google because my website is searchable in Google and my ranking depends on their algorithm

That’s a good analogy. Fiverr is a search engine with some basic rules to keep it running the best way possible for all concerned.

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what I have come to realize over the years is that you and I work for Fiverr, not ourselves as so many of us think.

I would agree with others here.

Fiverr is a marketing platform that provides you leads, it’s not your employer. By the same logic I work for Google because my website is searchable in Google and my ranking depends on their algorithm 🙂

One day I’m in the top 10, the next month I’m in top 20 and if I mess up I might get penalized.

I get what you’re trying to say, but I think the key takeaway is not to put all your time & effort on one platform.

I think you missed the point. If you do not follow the Fiverr rules, you are going to suffer. Thus we must constantly being on out toes playing to their rules. We work for them.

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Of course. But this forum is for Fiverr, so I am addressing that.

Well while this forum is for fiverr, fiverr is a website. And as such it has something in common with all other websites, namely that is is based on and dependent on algorithm, and it’s possible to lose your source of income suddenly through no fault of your own.

So while you can get upset that it’s possible to lose your income suddenly, due to the capriciousness of an algorithm, this is the nature of working on the internet. Why blame fiverr? Algorithms and no security for your income is just the way the internet works.

Everything on the internet is an algorithm rat race. So the answer would be to stop trying to earn money on the internet.

If you drive a car, you could be complaining that cars cost a lot of money to maintain, and can get into wrecks where you can be injured or killed, so therefore you don’t like driving a car. The answer might be to stop driving a car. This is because ANY car can have expenses and get into accidents. It’s the nature and peril of driving. It’s not the fault of that particular car you happen to be driving. You won’t find any car that is 100% maintenance and accident free.

I am not complaining. I am informing. I see a lot of post about people making this their full time job. I watched a friend do it and got booted. Now she is scrambling to find a source of income. I think people need to realize that they do indeed work for the platform if they decide to sell through it, and be aware of the consequences of this employer.

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I think you missed the point. If you do not follow the Fiverr rules, you are going to suffer. Thus we must constantly being on out toes playing to their rules. We work for them.

If you do not follow the Fiverr rules, you are going to suffer.

Life is full of rules whether we like it or not. We get punished (and perhaps suffer) when we break rules. That’s such a broad and sweeping statement you could make it about nearly anything unless you are playing Sims and doing as you please. (Well, even then the game has minimal rules. 😃 )

We work for them.

No, we don’t. They didn’t hire us, we don’t get benefits, they aren’t responsible for helping us with our taxes, yada yada… We choose to work on the Fiverr platform or we choose not to. By choosing to you have to follow the rules.

I am informing. I see a lot of post about people making this their full time job. I watched a friend do it and got booted. Now she is scrambling to find a source of income.

This is good information and I’m not sure why it has to be an argument about working “for” Fiverr to make your point. @misscrystal is right, though. If your friend had worked for a real employer as her full-time job she could have been in the same position. I’ve been moved to another state for a real full-time job along with 19 other people and after 2 years the company terminated all 19 of us 2 years later. We walked out the same day with our desk items in cardboard boxes. At least on Fiverr I work in my own home office and I own my equipment. I can’t get “caught” working for another company during my lunch hour and get fired.

I think people need to realize that they do indeed work for the platform if they decide to sell through it, and be aware of the consequences of this employer.

This part just isn’t true. We work ON a platform, we don’t work for Fiverr. Fiverr is not our employer. They don’t own our time or our equipment or even our ideas. We are freelancers. Newbies who talk about working on Fiverr full time do need to understand that this isn’t a secure job, but the last thing they need to be told is that they work for Fiverr since that sounds more secure to the average newbie. They need to understand that by choosing to work on the Fiverr platform they are responsible for finding buyers and making money. Fiverr won’t necessarily care about them as individuals like an employer might (and some do.) You are arguing two points that are opposites.

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I think you missed the point. If you do not follow the Fiverr rules, you are going to suffer. Thus we must constantly being on out toes playing to their rules. We work for them.

I think you missed the point. If you do not follow the Fiverr rules, you are going to suffer.

How is this any different to Google algorithm? You try to game the system and your website will be taken down.

I think either you don’t fully understand what employment means or you don’t know what Fiverr is. Just because your use Fiverr and have to follow its TOS doesn’t mean you work for Fiverr. It’s just a platform, not your employer. Freelancers can market their services through online platforms, yellow pages, websites, radio commercials etc. There are always rules and it doesn’t make you an employee of the platform you use.

I can see that others have tried to explain the same thing so if you believe you work for Fiverr then there’s no point arguing.

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I think you missed the point. If you do not follow the Fiverr rules, you are going to suffer. Thus we must constantly being on out toes playing to their rules. We work for them.

If you do not follow the Fiverr rules, you are going to suffer. Thus we must constantly being on out toes playing to their rules. We work for them.

Your working for yourself on Fiverr’s platform. You are not getting a salary, you’re not guaranteed anything. You work ON Fiverr, just like a blogger blogs ON Wordpress, not for Wordpress.

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I don’t have an employer. I work as much or as little as I want and set my own hours. Because I’m a night person I begin working in the evenings and work until dawn usually. What employer will let me do that?

Also they don’t even have jobs anywhere that hire people to do what I do on fiverr.

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I don’t have an employer. I work as much or as little as I want and set my own hours. Because I’m a night person I begin working in the evenings and work until dawn usually. What employer will let me do that?

Also they don’t even have jobs anywhere that hire people to do what I do on fiverr.

they don’t even have jobs anywhere that hire people to what I do on fiverr

That’s one of the beauties, I have to say! You can invent your own job here. Theoretically, you could also have gigs in many categories. An employer might hire someone to do one of the things they do well, but where could you get a job where you could be a logo designer who also sings to the bagpipes and can tell people about their past lives. 😃

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Sure!

You work for Fiverr.com

If you begin to think you work for yourself, there is likelihood that you’ll begin to break rules and actually get suspended

If you begin to think you work for yourself, there is likelihood that you’ll begin to break rules

Out of over 100 sellers I know pretty well or have worked with and befriended, not one has just randomly started to break platform rules even though all of them are aware they own their own businesses here. The chances of breaking enough rules to get suspended just because you “work for yourself” is even less. That doesn’t make any sense. If the seller is new and a young child, perhaps, but Fiverr requires unsupervised sellers to be over 13 and most 13-year-olds know they have to obey rules on all websites.

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If you begin to think you work for yourself, there is likelihood that you’ll begin to break rules

Out of over 100 sellers I know pretty well or have worked with and befriended, not one has just randomly started to break platform rules even though all of them are aware they own their own businesses here. The chances of breaking enough rules to get suspended just because you “work for yourself” is even less. That doesn’t make any sense. If the seller is new and a young child, perhaps, but Fiverr requires unsupervised sellers to be over 13 and most 13-year-olds know they have to obey rules on all websites.

I totally agree with you @fonthaunt

However, come to think about it this way.

If you own a business, you set rules for yourself in the most “profitable” way. And whenever there are outlier cases, you simply adjust these rules to suit your profit needs without going overboard. In some cases when you disobey the rules you call it adaptation or flexibility (not a violation that deserves punishment) and you hardly see this as a reason to discipline yourself. However, on a platform like this you are not allowed to bend rules and call it " circumstance" or “flexibility”. At least you will need to request for permission.

While working for your self, if a buyer totally over steps his boundary. Sometimes you might need to put the buyer undercheck by yourself.

Here, no!!

You need to report to someone!

If I may ask you ,

On this site how many times have you read the TOS?

.

.

.

.

.

Several times

Even when your business has a TOS page on your site, do you read it that often?

I don’t know if these evidences sound dumb but I somehow feel that I work for fiverr.

I guess the person that started fiverr would have said something like.

Fiver creator:

“Hey guy, I thought about something last night, let us create a platform where we hire sellers and gain a whooping 20% of their earnings”

Friend::

"Great idea, do you mean they will work for us and their clients concurrently?" 

Fiverr creator: “yes! exactly!”

Friend: “you are smart”

Friend: I think you will need to make rules

Fiverr creator: sure! I will

Friend: "what happens when they break your rules?

Fiverr Creator: I will warn them.

Friend: Do you think people just obey rules?

What if they continue to disobey your rules?

Fiverr creator: I’ll sack them by suspending their account"

I totally agree with you, but the fact that you can actually get dismissed points to the fact that you work for someone.

Generally, people don’t dismiss themselves.

Now , let me ask you,

If the owner of fiverr has an account here where he/she sells services.

If a buyer annoys him and he becomes overly rude.

Can anyone suspend him?

No

So I think that owners is the only one working for himself here!

There are various potent rebuttals for all these. And I think this topic is always arguable.

Opinion on this is subjective.

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On 1/21/2019 at 12:48 AM, videoarticle said:

the fact that you can actually get dismissed points to the fact that you work for someone.

I getcha, but it just doesn’t work that way. Sure, you can get “dismissed” by any platform or site but you don’t work for that site. If you run your own business as a blogger and you use Adsense, Google can dismiss you for breaking the rules. You don’t work for Google. If you have a site on the GoDaddy platform and you own a business in Colorado selling cannabis, you can be dismissed when GoDaddy shuts your site down for selling a product that is not legal everywhere. You don’t work for GoDaddy. My best friend owns a local business and she rents the building. She could be kicked out of the building, she could be shut down by a tax official, she could be dismissed by other legal entities - there are many ways she could lose her business without working for anyone else.

I’m not going to keep going back and forth but it is incorrect to tell sellers that they work for Fiverr. It is not true officially or legally, so it’s not good to spread that misinformation.

Quote

If the owner of fiverr has an account here where he/she sells services.

If a buyer annoys him and he becomes overly rude.

Can anyone suspend him?

No

As to this, the answer is actually YES and it happens all the time. If a buyer is rude to a seller in a way that violates ToS, Fiverr can decide to suspend that buyer. The buyer does not work for Fiverr either. The seller can also block a buyer and refuse to work with them again after a bad experience, so yes, the seller and Fiverr can refuse services to a buyer. 

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On 1/21/2019 at 2:07 AM, fastcopywriter said:

Not everyone is versatile, some of us are only good doing one thing, and when that one thing is no longer paying, we’re supposed to reinvent ourselves.

You can still do the one thing you are good at on other platforms. 

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Not everyone is versatile, some of us are only good doing one thing, and when that one thing is no longer paying, we’re supposed to reinvent ourselves.

You can still do the one thing you are good at on other platforms.

You can still do the one thing you are good at on other platforms.

Not necessarily. On other platforms I see jobs for people who want to write articles, landing pages, entire websites, books. That’s not what I want to do, that’s not what I do here.

I know one competitor that has a flat fee of $99 to join, no commissions, but I’m not comfortable spending money before I make money. To me that sounds like a scam.

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I am not complaining. I am informing. I see a lot of post about people making this their full time job. I watched a friend do it and got booted. Now she is scrambling to find a source of income. I think people need to realize that they do indeed work for the platform if they decide to sell through it, and be aware of the consequences of this employer.

I watched a friend do it and got booted. Now she is scrambling to find a source of income.

If you begin to think you work for yourself, there is likelihood that you’ll begin to break rules and actually get suspended

That’s not fiverr’s fault. I have no problem following the rules here for the past six years.

Don’t make empty deliveries and deliver on time— no problem.

Don’t communicate outside of fiverr or take money outside of fiverr— no problem.

Don’t be abusive to customers— no problem.

Answer questions from clients and do the jobs promptly— no problem.

Don’t send spam— no problem.

Just have one account— no problem.

How hard is that? Come on if someone is banned it’s not fiverr’s fault.

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