Fiverr vs Upwork (oDesk / Elance)

[GuestUser140]

Hi guys,

I was wondering when and why to use Fiverr vs Upwork (formerly oDesk / Elance).

Do you notice a difference in quality?

Is Fiverr good enough for quick small tasks, and would one be better off going to Upwork for a larger project?

This specifically applies for a web dev job (creating an electronics buyback website), but I'd like to hear your general experiences.

Some freelancers put $5 gigs on Fiverr which turn out to be $500 jobs, some freelancers on Upwork are medium sized Indian companies that charge twice what local (European) companies do. Just some observations.

Best,

Michael

 

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[Polarbeans]

Is Fiverr good enough for quick small tasks

Yes

would one be better off going to Upwork for a larger project?

Yes

Some freelancers put $5 gigs on Fiverr which turn out to be $500 jobs, some freelancers on Upwork are medium sized Indian companies that charge twice what local (European) companies do. Just some observations.

For some, Fiverr is used as a loss leader to acquire customers onto other platforms.

Fiverr is in general a nightmare:

• 8 in 10 customers expect value in the range of $50 for $5.
• You can get an order from a competitor who leaves a bad review just for the sake of pushing you down the ranks (this can be resolved, but still, who has time for administration?)
• Fiverr takes 20% (!!) just for providing the platform, which is not that good..

I like Fiverr, but there are alternatives waay better.

But as always, communication is key to a successful outsourcing campaign.

 

[NoMess]

I us Fiverr for small things or clearly identified things. For example: I want a logo - fiverr, I want a voice over - fiverr, graphics - fiverr, small script change - fiverr, even a static website or a wordpress issue fixed - fiverr.

If I want a full blown website - upwork, interactive website - upwork, animation - upwork, illustration - upwork (but I'm guessing I could have used fiverr for that as well).

For both sites, you must have clear expectations and an up-front understanding of the deliverables. For fiverr, I just type it in the message, contact them first to ensure they can do what I expect for a negotiated price (yes, it's negotiable). For upwork, I include a requirements document as the attachment with clear wording such as: the site will include..., the site will do.... etc. For both, if I can, I'll also include a rough rendering of what I want or a similar sample.

There are things to completely avoid on both: traffic generators for example: that got me blacklisted in a day. Good thing I set up a dummy site to test the value/effect. That would have been horrible.

Using both is great but you need to be OK with a few bad apples and knowing they just won't deliver. Give them a deadline, if they don't deliver, move on and fight them to get your money back. Life's too short to listen to their excuses when you have an up-front agreement and predetermined deadline.

 

[FunnelMonster]

• Fiverr takes 20% (!!) just for providing the platform, which is not that good..

Wow, I didn't realize it was that much...

 

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[NoMess]

Wow, I didn't realize it was that much...

Oh and don't forget that fiverr started adding fees, 50 cents if I remember correctly, per transaction when you pay for a gig.

 

[Polarbeans]

Oh and don't forget that fiverr started adding fees, 50 cents if I remember correctly, per transaction when you pay for a gig.

Yes, correct. But it only applies to those who are only buyers, if they sell something and have a cashpool on Fiverr, you do not have to pay this fee.

But if they make the charge from your paypal of bank account, you have to pya the $0.5 fee.

In my opinion, Fiverr is getting greedy.

 

[GrayCode]

Yes, correct. But it only applies to those who are only buyers, if they sell something and have a cashpool on Fiverr, you do not have to pay this fee.

But if they make the charge from your paypal of bank account, you have to pya the $0.5 fee.

In my opinion, Fiverr is getting greedy.

Odesk is solid, just vet the person you are going to hire.

 

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[GuestUser140]

Yes, correct. But it only applies to those who are only buyers, if they sell something and have a cashpool on Fiverr, you do not have to pay this fee.

But if they make the charge from your paypal of bank account, you have to pya the $0.5 fee.

In my opinion, Fiverr is getting greedy.

It's 50 cents..

Compare to eBay / Paypal fees

 

[NoMess]

It's 50 cents..

that I didn't have to pay before, so I don't like it. But yeah, it's 50 cents.

Now, I just add $20 when I must transfer money to buy a gig. Treat it like a small bank since I'm a buyer only.

I still don't like it.

 

[Brett877]

I use fiver for "Bulk Content" Generation, it is much cheaper than most content writers would charge, yea you get what you pay for but when you are just trying to get content on a site to draw leads on keywords and appear full of content then $5 an article is a good fee.

I have had great luck on fiver and love it.. but I give very detailed instructions and choose a good rated provider.

 

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[BellaPippin]

I just hired someone on Fiverr to make a t-shirt design so I can sell it on a CafePress site. Picked someone with good reviews. I figured, worst case scenario I lost $15. For most complex projects it might not be a good idea. I'll let you know how it goes...

 

[Sean P]

Both have their positives and negatives. But you can get the best of freelancers by looking at the feedback that previous customers have given them and their tenure on the sites. I would avoid those who have no feedback or 3 or 4 testimonials since those can easily be bought(or exchanged with other freelancers, happens a lot on Fiverr).

If you want good quality on Upwork, don't post a public ad at all - instead make a post and invite those who have a good rating and lots of positive feedback. You may have to pay rates that may be higher, but excellent quality is assured. Of course, look at their samples and test them out before you hire them for the long term.

 

[The-J]

But as always, communication is key to a successful outsourcing campaign.

FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, THIS

My favorite clients are the ones that are quick to get on the phone and will be clear with me on everything. Specific, specific, specific. If they demand a twice-weekly phone call most workers will groan. I'm happy, because those tend to work out better (as long as I put a limit to the length of the call... had some clients talk my ear off saying nothing of value).

Make a flow chart of everything you want done, and how you want it done. This will turn a 3 week job into a 10 day job, I'm not kidding.

 

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[ClaytonAlbright]

I never use Fiverr anymore. It may be good if you already have someone you trust, but as a buyer you can get screwed. Once the contractor says something is 'completed' the timer starts ticking down on not getting what you want. Basically once that's done I think it's 7 days before your payment goes through, even if you request modifications and don't say it's completed. So if they drag it along they still get paid just because they marked it completed. Then you have to jump through a lot of hoops to get your money back if they don't deliver.

Had this happen to me multiple times, even with good documented expectations up front they'd just throw some crap at me that took them almost no time at all. Pretty sure a few of them did it on purpose. It was a real pain to get my money refunded and they always try to give you 'credits'.

Also Upwork once you've established a good relationship you can go off it if you want and save the fee's they charge. Fiverr looks for words like 'email' or 'skype' in the messages and doesn't allow it.

 

[Kelly C]

I want quality content if I am going to use a service so I would opt for upwork and pay a reasonable amount. I got my best writer from there and she is so easy to work with and needs barely any direction to nail the kind of content I want. She has written for me for 2 years now. We spoke about pay after upwork as I wanted her to be paid what she felt was fair.

I want good content as I want people to get the info they need from my site. I also like to pay people fairly - even if I could get them cheaper, it just doesn't' feel right to do.

I have recently tried peopleperhour and that seems ok - I have hired about 3 writers to test out.

Fiverr is usually things I can do myself and BETTER....if I hire out work then I expect it to be done better than me at the very least...otherwise its pointless.

 

[GuestUser140]

Here's something I've tried and it seems to work:

• Post a job on Upwork for the translation of a website (larger project)
• Select the three best candidates (sure there's lots of info on here about that)
• Have them translate a short sample for free.
• Hire 3 quality Fiverr proofreaders/translators and have them make a top 3 of sample translations with an explanation why they prefer one sample over the other. $15-20 total.
• Hire the Upwork translator whose sample translation was rated highest by the proofreaders.

 

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[Leo Hendrix]

Depends what you need, you could be lucky to find some seasoned pros or experienced guys just starting out on Upwork, put up a job ad and see what you get and samples of their work for starters.

 

[carswest]

We've ordered whiteboard animation for our business at Fiverr. Great results overall for sub $50 charge. We've also ordered video testimonials, and, arghhh, not satisfied with one. Looks very unreal.

 

[Andy Black]

If you want good quality on Upwork, don't post a public ad at all - instead make a post and invite those who have a good rating and lots of positive feedback. You may have to pay rates that may be higher, but excellent quality is assured. Of course, look at their samples and test them out before you hire them for the long term.

I tried this on Upwork during the week. I picked a couple of people with good profiles who are in Dublin (not far from me). I pinged them saying I was interested in chatting about a project I'd like done.

Result so far?

Tumbleweed...



Haha. Why did they bother creating a profile?

 

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[jpanarra]

Looking forward to this thread myself.

I don't even use Upwork at all myself. I find all of my clients through the magical portal called "GOOGLE". I'll be following this just for the ride and looking forward to the progress and pivots that take place. Also, glad you're posting this on the FLF.. (videos are a bit slow for my mind sometimes especially when the cc isn't perfect).

Might hop over on Upwork see whats going on over there and learn about the system a bit more so I have a better understanding of what you're doing.