▶︎ How does Fiverr work? ▶︎ How much can I earn from Fiverr? ▶︎ What sort of services can I offer? ▶︎ How do I get started? ▶︎ Will I be taxed on my earnings? ▶︎ Is it worth it?
No matter where you live in the world, Fiverr could be your way to top up your bank account!
If you're a regular visitor to my blog or follow my social media, you'll know that I often talk about side hustles and how, by having a side hustle, you can earn some extra money to help keep your finances in check. There are so many ways to earn extra money, and it can be a bit of a brain strain trying to figure out which would work for you!
A side hustle opportunity that, frankly, I don't speak about enough and should cover more is that of Fiverr. Fiverr is an online marketplace or platform where people with a talent or skill that others may find useful can advertise their services to everyone and anyone worldwide and be hired to perform their skill for a fee. You work as a freelancer and advertise your skills on this freelance marketplace, and potential buyers are then given the opportunity to hire you for your services.
Fiverr is an American site/service, but if you are in the UK you can still use the site to earn some extra money; Fiverr's freelancers are dotted all around the world! You charge in USD$, but that can be converted to GBP£ when you receive your payment.
How does it work?
So, as an example, let's say that you are great at designing logos; potential clients can search for logo designers and be shown a list of talented freelancers who would be able to produce a logo for them. As a freelancer, you set your own prices and lead times and can accept as many jobs as you like. Sellers with good reviews are more likely to pick up more business, and the more jobs you do and the more feedback you receive, the higher the seller level you reach. The higher your seller level, the more jobs you can offer and the more money you'll make.
Fiverr is ideal for anyone who's just starting out as a freelancer and wants to start a side hustle or even a full-time business and needs to get their first clients for the experience, positive reviews/feedback and, of course, to earn some money! It's the leading online marketplace for new freelancers and, of course, experienced freelancers to offer high-quality services at reasonable prices. The system is very flexible, and you can dedicate as much time as you want to your new small business.
How much can I earn?
Fiverr was set up with the premise that everything was $5, hence the name Fiverr! Things have moved on from there, and sellers can charge what they want, but as most of the buyers are looking for a cheap deal or for super reasonable prices, the less you charge, the more work you'll earn! Let's take a logo designer as an example; they may set a basic logo price at $5 and then offer upgrades on the basic package for more money. You can offer three tiers of service and price per gig. Many people will initially go for the $5 logo, having been brought into you by the low price, but will then be happy to pay extra to ensure they get a better product/service. Getting a few of the cheaper gigs isn't the end of the world, as it's a good way to get used to the Fiverr platform, experience communicating with your clients, and figure out how to get the job done well and get some valuable first feedback/reviews. If you get lots of smaller gigs which don't take a long to do, then you zoom through them, you can then get lots of fast reviews, which increases your credibility and ultimately may well bring you in some better-paying clients! Once you get to 50 completed gigs with good feedback, it opens you up to a higher seller level on Fiverr, and this gives you better exposure and hopefully more new clients, so there's nothing wrong with taking on a load of cheap work to get you to that level faster!
Importantly, though, don't over-promise and under-deliver! If you take too much on and don't have the time to do the job properly or on time, then you're going to start getting some negative comments, and like on sites such as eBay or on Trustpilot reviews, sellers with lower feedback scores are likely to get fewer orders, as people will always read the negative reviews first and are less likely to read a positive review once they've seen a negative one, and that can cost you future sales/business/income. Make sure that you can deliver what you've said you can in the specified time frame; don't be afraid to turn down work if you don't think you can deliver as advertised!
I work on the basis of my blog work, that it's just my time I'm selling, especially with any content creation roles that come my way. There aren't any materials or expenses other than my time for that role, so I can price lower to get the job and the money in the 'till', and it's the same with Fiverr. If your overheads are low, then you can likely afford to take on those lower-paying jobs; after all, I'd rather have $5 for half an hour of work than $0 and spend half an hour watching mindless videos on TikTok when I've got bills to pay!
My first logo for this blog cost me $5 from Fiverr and was designed by a Fiverr seller in Pakistan. The logo was ok and did the job initially, but as things moved on, I then paid more for a higher quality and more personalised logo to suit my needs, and that's how it can work; if you a offer higher quality and more personalised to your needs service, then you can charge more, and hopefully pick up repeat business as well.
As a new seller, you'll want to price low unless you have an amazing skill or are offering something unique. Getting that first gig (paid job) is unlikely to be hugely profitable, but it's getting your foot in the door!
Selling at $5 won't make you rich, especially as Fiverr take 20% of your payment as a fee, (you'll get your 80% within 14 days, so payment isn't instant, but it's usually faster than 14 days, it's just waiting for the payment to clear the processing service.), but if you perform a decent number of jobs and get lots of good feedback and experience as well, you can set your prices higher, and the number of completed jobs you've performed for clients, will increase your chances of being hired! It's a busy marketplace with lots of Fiverr sellers competing to get the business, so the more affordable and flexible you are, the more work you're likely to get!
What sort of jobs/gigs/services can I offer?
There are literally hundreds of genres of gigs you can sign up to perform on Fiverr, and I'm not exaggerating; check out Fiverr's main categories and subcategories of different services they have set up, to offer on their marketplace Here, you'll see some 200 categories and subcategory services to choose from.
Really popular services include:
Social media marketing, graphic designers, digital marketing, virtual assistant, web designers, web development, content creation, SEO experts, PowerPoint presentation creation, data entry, photography, e-book creation, logo design, voiceover services, singers, CV design, and many more!
How do I get started?
The sign-up process is pretty easy: register, complete your seller profile and find the category that fits best with your skill set. Fiverr allows you to create a maximum of seven gigs for different services as a new user. As you perform more Fiverr gigs for customers and receive more reviews, preferably a 5-star rating, you will be allowed to create more gigs, with a maximum of 30 gigs at the highest Fiverr pro level.
To get your service listed, give an easy-to-understand but detailed job description of what you are offering. Explain what you do, and there's nothing wrong with explaining what you don't do as well, just to manage expectations!
Mention any previous experience if applicable, highlight past well-received work, and explain in detail what you offer. If you have a portfolio of completed jobs, make this available to a potential client that showcases your skill in a way that relieves clients’ concerns about the work they need to be done and lets them know you deliver.
With the huge amount of competition on the Fiverr marketplace, offering as much information as possible on your profile and listing is important. It's almost impossible to offer too much information! A potential client unable to find out much information about you and what you do immediately upon stumbling across your services is incredibly likely to move on immediately to another seller if they can't answer their questions and queries by looking at your information! Most importantly, name your price and any extra charge services you can also offer. Upselling your service is the way you can go from making 'some' money to making a lot of money!
Make sure you explain how long it will take you to perform your service for them, and you can offer an expedited service for an additional fee, if you can, as that's a great way to increase your income for a gig. Clients are generally impatient to get what they need, so many will pay extra to get it sorted as quickly as possible!
If you are offering a gig at a higher rate than others, explain why and what your unique features or skill set might be that can convince a potential client to switch to your service from that of a rival with a lower price and how your final product or final products, and quality of work will make good money sense to a buyer!
Your listing will then be added to the Fiverr website and will show up in search results. You will then be in the right place to get yourself a first gig. It's important to be really flexible and responsive to any messages or requests you receive. A successful freelancer will offer excellent customer support, customer service, and fast replies!
It's worth downloading and using the free Fiverr mobile app as then you're likely to see messages quicker. Remember, this is a worldwide service, and so just because it is 9 pm in the UK, it doesn't mean you won't still get messages, as your potential client might be in California, and there it's only 1 pm! Having the app means you can quickly respond to a query without having to leave the site! The better the service you offer, the better the Fiverr review you should get!
Will I be taxed on my earnings?
As a freelancer, you will need to declare your earnings to HMRC if you earn over £1,000 of extra revenue through this or any other combined extra income sources. This will involve filling out a self-assessment form every year to declare your income, and you'll then be required to pay tax on your income minus any applicable expenses.
Is it worth it?
Fiverr is a great place for someone with a skill or talent to earn some extra money. Its certainly a much easier way to get yourself in front of potential new clients quickly without the need to have to find new clients yourself. Sure, you might make more money by going direct to a client, but if you are starting from scratch, and don't have a clue about how to market your service, the time or the funds to have an agency do this for you, being able to get your services in front of literally millions of potential clients worldwide, in just minutes, is pretty fantastic and well worth a try! You can sign up to Fiverr HERE for free.