Why Fiverr is so cheap? Is it any good for business?

History

The brand name and business idea from which the service grew obliges. Fiverr crafted up their name from five dollars (five+rr). The idea was for bids to start at $5.

Lack of experience of freelancers

Fiverr is a platform widely used by beginners around the world. This is because the requirements to create an account are very low. Experience is not needed. It is a big plus, for talented people with cool skills who need to get started somehow and build their portfolio. At the same time they can earn a little money. It’s ideal for students.

On the other hand, buyers may use their service for the lowest price possible because they are inexperienced.

Geographic

The most of the sellers have come from developing countries, least developed & underdeveloped countries. Salaries there are significantly lower, so the rates offered by people from there are not high either. It is a very attractive option.

Competition

If you search for any services there, you will find a lot of gigs. This is followed by lowering the price. Yes, “price-fighting” is the worst thing a business can do. However, the people offering the services are mostly clueless about it and it was natural for them to undercut the price.

Low budget clients

The title speaks for itself. The idea behind this platform from the beginning was to offer easily accessible and inexpensive services to low budget clients.

Quantity Over Quality

As we already mentioned, there are no requirements to start offering their services. The only verification is customer feedback and timely fulfillment of orders. Clients mostly have no idea about graphic design and its impact on business. They are usually guided by whether something is pretty or not and make opinions based on that. They don’t consider whether the work will support their business in any way, or… just the opposite.

What’s more, the platform expects short turnaround times. This is directly connected with the loss of quality – a solidly executed project needs time, it is simply physically impossible to speed up certain things other than by dropping them.

A quality design process consists of several stages, which can vary depending on your needs. At the beginning, we ask you a few things, e.g. what brand it is, what industry, who is the target audience of the message, what you want to communicate, what you don’t want to communicate, etc. Then we do market research: we look at your brand (what it looks like, how it communicates with the market, what branding it has, etc.), your competition to find standards and a differentiating element, we also look at your customers – what they expect, what they might respond to, what might discourage them. Etc.

With the right business AND design qualifications, we are able to bring it all together and create a thoughtful design that has real potential to enhance your business goals.

Copyrights!

“Fiverr.com’s content is based on User Generated Content (UGC). Fiverr does not check user uploaded/created content for violations of copyright or other rights.” (https://www.fiverr.com/intellectual-property)

And not surprisingly, it is not physically possible to check the ownership of projects made by external users. Only at the request of the affected party and the actual violation is found, the platform removes the offer. Sometimes the entire account of the violating user is also removed.

Designers on Fiverr are obviously using templates and stock graphics for designing logos, which you can easily buy from a site like GraphicRiver or get from Shutterstock for cheap. Since there is no verification of the creators and their work, there is a risk of copyright and license violations.

All you get with the work is an implied statement that it does not violate third-party rights. You don’t get a list of licenses and sources used. And in case of problems, you’re on your own.

Just basics

Be aware that you get what you pay for. Imagine that it takes about a week of work, or about 40-60 hours, to make a very simple website, using ready-made elements (such as a graphic template). Taking into account the US federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour this equals $290-435. If we took into account the rates of freelancers it would be even more. That is, incomparably more than $5 as offered on Fiverr.

Always read carefully what is included in the offer.

Are there any pros?

Yes! If you are looking for a simple job quickly, a project that does not require copyright certainty, not necessarily unique, or simply you have a very small budget – go for it! Fiverr is a good solution here.

Designers from all over the world, so if you need something specific to a project (e.g. Something based on the traditions of a region in the world) you have a chance to find a person who lives there.

If you’re a student and need to build your portfolio and earn a little at the same time – this could be a good option too!

Fiver here is similar to fast food – fast and cheap, sometimes tasty, will satisfy your hunger for a while. Super for a start-up business with a small budget. But you can’t live on fast food in the long run.

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