What Is Fiverr and How Does It Work? – Beginners Guide

Fiverr is an online service that connects buyers and sellers, allowing them to conduct their freelance transactions digitally.

Through this guide, we will take you through the basics of how Fiverr works. This will include several aspects of the platform that will make information clearer about its features, signing up, buying, selling, security, payments, and more.

Let us go through each of these aspects in further detail.

What Is Fiverr?

Fiverr presents a digital solution to freelancers, clients, and businesses alike. Launched in 2010, Fiverr allows sellers to post their requirements and services that they are willing to offer that buyers can then buy from if they think the seller can meet their needs.

Initially, for its first few years, Fiverr had a minimum gig price of $5, reflecting the name of the platform. While that minimum price no longer exists, each job or task has a price tag attached to it that is then reflected in the payment.

Fiverr has several other features attached to it that can benefit both buyers and sellers. You can read about some of these in the following section.

How Does Fiverr Work?

There are several aspects involved when it comes to how Fiverr works. Let us take a detailed look at what these are.

Signing Up

You can easily sign up on Fiverr by creating your own account. You have to complete this registration process if you want to move forward with the buying and selling process.

In order to do this, you will have to click on the ‘Join’ option on the Fiverr homepage. Once you do this, you will have to register your email address, create your username and password and activate your account using the link sent to you on your email address.

This will enable you to create a buyer’s account by default. If, however, you want to become a seller, you will now have to follow a few more steps.

You will find the ‘Become a Seller’ option in the drop-down menu that appears after clicking on your profile picture. This will now require you to watch some training videos to familiarize yourself with how you can use Fiverr.

You can also get some tips about your profile, after which you can fill out your personal information and experience-related details. You can also choose to connect your profile to your social media if you want to offer further accurate information about yourself that Fiverr can then use to verify your authenticity.

You will also have to verify your phone number, following which you can create your gig to start selling your services.

You can get started by clicking here.

Gigs

The service that a seller is willing to sell and offer on Fiverr is referred to as a Gig. This Gig then provides all the relevant information about your skills and experience to the buyers who can then choose to buy your service from you if there is a match in terms of what they are looking for.

To create your Gig, you will need to log in through your desktop and click on the ‘Create a New Gig’ option in the ‘Gigs’ section. You will then have to write your own title that briefly sums up what you can offer.

Next, you can pick a category and sub-category that your services fall under, followed by selecting a type of service, your criteria, and finally, some tags or words to provide an overview of your service.

The next few steps involve specifying all the details related to your services, such as the timeframe, pricing options as well as some extra sections or services.

You will then have to describe your service in further detail while also adding information about your previous projects through pictures or documents.

Once you fill and save everything, you can then go ahead and publish your Gig.

Buying

Buying requires you to buy a service that a seller is offering. This could be across a range of industries. In order to find something that caters to your specific project or requirement, you will have to browse through different categories on offer, select the one that will suit you, and then look for a seller.

You can also take a more detailed look at the skills and experiences provided by the seller along with their payment options and authenticity to get a better idea about their services. Contacting them personally before making a decision can give you some clarity as well.

You will then have to make your payment to buy the service. This payment will confirm your transaction. Once the transaction is complete and you have received your order, your payment will make its way to the seller.

You can also choose to buy some Extras or multiple services from the seller or simply go with a package in case they have one on offer.

Receiving the order will further shift all the ownership of the seller’s work to the buyer unless the seller clearly states the opposite in their description.

Selling

We have already specified how you can create an account if you are a seller. Once you manage to do this, you will then start getting requests from buyers who want to buy your service from you.

When this happens, make sure you go through all the specifications that the buyer’s project requires. You can even contact the buyer personally to sort out any required details.

In order to ensure that your services get noticed more and more, it would be a good idea to ensure that everything in your profile is complete and accurate, as this will end up attracting more clients or buyers to your offer.

Go into as much detail as you can through your Gig description and set a price that you think is worth your service. If the buyer is satisfied with your order, they can rate you well, helping you find more buyers in the future. These ratings can go on improving the more that you sell.

An important thing to remember about being a seller is that you must maintain regular and honest communication with your buyers throughout the process to minimize the potential for any problems.

Payment

As a seller, you can price your services according to what you are offering. You also have the option of opting for several packages that the buyer can pick from.

Once you receive your order confirmation, you can then go through the process of completing the order and delivering it to the buyer. It is only after you make the delivery that you will receive the payment.

This payment will be 80% of the price that you had set. The remaining amount goes to Fiverr as a service charge for the platform that they offer. You can then withdraw your money and transfer it to your personal account after a specific time period that you decide on.

As a buyer, you will have to make the payment to the seller in advance as soon as you purchase the service. You can do this through your credit card or through PayPal or Google/Apple Pay.

This payment will then be delivered to the seller once they finish your project and send your order to you. You also have the option of tipping the seller some extra money for successfully completing your project.

Industries

There are several different industries and fields that you can sign up for on Fiverr. This means that you will easily be able to sell or buy a service of your choice on this platform in order to meet your requirements and expectations.

If you are a seller, you can specify the industry you work in while signing up to become a seller. This works through the category and sub-category options that require you to choose your industry or area of interest.

You can further elaborate on this through your description, skills, and experiences so that the right kinds of buyers can find you.

If you are a buyer, you will have to click on the industry keyword on the platform in order to start browsing through sellers within the industry. You can also simply type in a keyword through the search box.

The industries that Fiverr covers are ‘Graphics & Design’, ‘Writing & Translation’, ‘Digital Marketing’, ‘Music & Audio’, ‘Video & Animation’, ‘Data’, ‘Business’, ‘Programming & Tech’ and ‘Lifestyle’.

Even within these categories, you will able to find more specific options that offer more streamlined services.

Fiverr Business

Fiverr Business is a section on Fiverr that allows businesses to join the platform so that they can easily gain access to freelancers who can do their required jobs for them based on the services they offer.

In order to simplify this process for businesses, a connection is made with a Personal Business Success Manager that acts as a sort of ‘middleman’ between the business and the freelancers. These managers locate compatible freelancers on Fiverr and connect them with the business.

Further, with Fiverr Business, businesses can have everything in one place that makes management of projects, collaborations, and contact with freelancers much simpler and accessible.

With convenient options for handling budgets, making transactions, accepting freelancers and tracking the work, this can be a good option for you if you are a business looking to ease your workload.

For the entire first year of your account with Fiverr, you can access the platform for free except when you have to pay the freelancers themselves. After your first year, you can choose to buy an account with Fiverr if you were satisfied with your experience.

Selecting the payment methods that work best for your business is also an option available to you. Overall, therefore, you can access a range of features through this plan without losing essential control over the work.

Security

Entrusting an online platform with sensitive information might seem daunting, but Fiverr has several security features in place that will firmly maintain the privacy of your account and data.

While making your account, Fiverr will verify your authentic identity in numerous ways by sending you codes or links to your email address and phone number. You can further set your security questions that can act as a reinforcement for security.

You will also need to provide an official identity document that confirms your registered name, address and other details.

Various measures are taken to ensure that both buyers and sellers are genuine so that you can protect yourself from scams.

Data protection measures to keep your payment information safe are also in place. In case you have any further queries about your security at any point, you can simply contact the customer support of Fiverr to help you out.

Reading their policies and terms can additionally solve your doubts for you as well.

Making Money

Making money on Fiverr as a seller might take some time to kick start, but once that happens, you will be able to rely on this platform for a part of your income.

In order to start out making money, you must ensure that everything you provide is honest, reliable and accurate so that the buyers can trust you with their projects. By filling in every possible detail, your chances of being contacted by a buyer will increase.

You will also need to successfully complete your order for your buyers in order to gain good ratings along with more buyers. An option of Top Rated Sellers also exists on Fiverr that you can aim towards the more and more you sell your services.

Watch this great video on Fiverr that goes a lot more in-depth on selling and making money on Fiverr.

By making ample use of the resources available at your disposal, you can ensure that you do the job well. Eventually, with more time spent on the platform, you will be able to get buyers easily.

Concluding Remarks

That brings us to the end of this informative post and guide about Fiverr and how it works. We covered most of the essential aspects about Fiverr through this that can help you out whether you are a buyer or a seller.

If you want to start your journey with Fiverr, you can click on this link.