Is fiverr legit? As a buyer or a freelancer, is the platform worth your time? Today we are going to answer these questions.
I have used fiverr for a long time and i have to say it can be brilliant, but it can also be quite annoying, you need to be aware of a few things before you dive into the deep end.
Fiverr is a serious business, but it does have a funny side, i can’t believe people make money by providing some of the following services.
Some of the gigs on fiverr are hilarious, some sellers are making huge amounts by selling some of the most ridiculous services you can think of. Here are two of my favorites.
Donald Duck Voiceover – $5
Happy Birthday From Donald Trump – $5
So yer, fiverr has a funny side, you’d be surprised what you can find on there! Fiverr also has a serious side, forbes ran a story on three people that make six figures a year on fiverr, Charmaine Pocek writes resume’s for people and in 2016 she was earning between $38,000 – $48,000 every month.
This is just one freelancer, you can bet, there will be plenty of other sellers making much more than this in 2019, fiverr is an incredibly powerful platform.
Is Fiverr Legit?
Fiverr is a well respected company, they are there to put buyers and sellers together, in simple terms, fiverr is an online marketplace for both buyers and sellers, the company facilitates transactions between either side.
The question shouldn’t be; is fiverr legit? Fiverr are backed by over $110,000,000 in venture capital, i think its safe to say they are legit. The question should be; are the freelancers on fiverr legit? We will talk about this in more detail later in the article.
As you can see below, i have used fiverr since 2015, i’ve spent over $4,000 and have ordered over 220 gigs, i have only ever had to cancel 9 of these gigs.
The reason’s for the cancellations varied but for the majority of cases, it was simple, i wasn’t happy with the quality of the work.
In the following video i explain exactly what i’ve learnt from spending $4000 on the platform….
I got my money back every single time, and that is because fiverr have a reputation to protect.
Their sellers are encouraged to do everything to avoid negative feedback, if you aren’t happy with the quality of the work or you feel like the job is taking too long, request cancellation and 99% of sellers will refund you.
My experience using fiverr tells me that it is legit, the platform do everything possible to protect your experience, both as a buyer and a seller.
Is Fiverr Safe To Use?
I would say yes, fiverr is safe to use, you are well protected. Fiverr is in the top 2000 websites worldwide, each year their user base grows and grows. When using fiverr you need a little bit of common sense, if something looks to good to be true, it usually is.
As with any marketplace, there will be people out there looking to take advantage. Take the time to look over the seller profile, the review levels are there for everyone to see. If you are just starting out, look for the freelancers with a high level of reviews.
Having used the platform for over three years i can safely say that fiverr is not a scam, however some of the services on offer will be spammy and of poor quality, i can spot these type of sellers from a mile off.
When it comes to fiverr, there is alot of talk of black hat tactics and rightly so! I’ll give you an example, if you are building out a website you might want to improve your search engine optimization (SEO).
If you search for SEO services on fiverr you will find alot of different services, if a seller is claiming to get you to the top of google, within 24 hours you can be sure that there is something funny going on.
Like with any business, good things take time, when looking at sellers and services use your common sense, ask yourself; “Does this sound too good to be true?”.
There are alot of sellers on fiverr providing legitimate (white hat) services, take your time to look through the quality of each profile and have a read through a selection of their reviews. Here are some further tips for finding legitimate sellers on fiverr.
Finding Legit Sellers On Fiverr
If you are anything like me, you’ll want to avoid scammers and poor quality work, it’s a waste of time more than anything! Here are a few tips to help you find legit sellers, there are plenty of them! Look for sellers with a minimum rating of 4.5 stars, read through what other buyers are saying about them!
Look for a natural pattern of reviews, if they have just started out and the reviews sound super one sided, they may well be bias.
Look through the general grammar on the profile, does it look amateur? You’ll want to look for professional looking profiles with minimal spelling mistakes, this means the seller takes their business seriously.
You will also want to have a look at the “seller level”, there are three stages to consider here; level 1, level 2 and top rated seller. I do cover these in full detail within my fiverr review, but i usually go for sellers at level 2 and above.
Over the years i have worked with some superb freelancers, i’ve found that some categories are better than others. For me fiverr has been really good for logo design, marketing imagery and video/voice over services.
I have not found great success with writing services, the best writers i work with are all from upwork. Other people i know have found excellent writers on fiverr, to be fair i don’t usually have too many writing projects so possibly my experience is always going to be a little one sided!
Selling On Fiverr
Is it worth selling your services on fiverr? This is a question i hear alot!
If you are starting out as a freelancer it can be brilliant, fiver has a huge user base and you can take advantage of it. Alot of freelancers believe that offering a service for $5 may well be giving off the wrong signals, i can understand this and i guess to a degree you get what you pay for.
Some freelancers will feel that fiverr is not a great fit for their business, it can feel like you are getting involved with a race to the bottom, the lowest price shouldn’t always win.
This widespread feeling got fiverr thinking and in June 2017 the platform launched “Fiverr Pro”.
This new initiative was launched to appeal to the more “professional” sellers, fiverr also acquired video production marketplace Veed.me, this gave them the ability to deepen their capabilities in video services.
When fiverr was founded in 2010, their services were based around the “service in a single click” concept, and fiverr pro is no different.
Fiverr pro is aimed at customers looking for premium services, rather than paying $5 for a logo you will be paying $300+.
All of the fiverr pro sellers are hand picked professionals, trusted by some of the worlds biggest brands. With these sorts of moves fiverr will continue to grow their on demand marketplace, the platform presents a huge opportunity for any type of freelancer.
Conclusion
Let’s answer our original questions, is fiverr legit? and is the platform worth your time? I would say yes, i recommend using fiverr both as a buyer and a seller. Fiverr provides value for money, although it is up to you to find the right freelancer.
After using the platform for a few years, i now have a bank of trustworthy freelancers. I can quickly send them over a job specification and they will come back to me almost instantly, i know i can trust them to carry out the work to a satisfactory standard.
It will be the same for sellers using fiverr, over time you can build up your clientele! Fiverr is an excellent platform for both the buyer and the seller, and by launching fiverr pro they now cater for the premium side of the market.
The platform is completely legit, there is now doubt about it!
Fiverr uses a single account system for both freelancers and buyers, registration is really easy, anyone can register for free and after confirming your email address you’ll have instant access. If you want to get started on fiverr, it’s nice and easy, just use the button below.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this article!
More Soon,
Nick
eBusiness Boss
