Have you ever been tipped?

Once upon a time, I was a waitress and tips were the highlight of my day. In our country at that time, waitrons earned below minimum wage, so we lived for our tips and off our tips.

Fastforward a couple of years to when I was a Massage Therapist. I worked for myself so pay was way better. Still, it felt awesome when someone enjoyed their treatment so much that they left a tip.

Tips make you feel valued, don't they?

But it's been a long time since I've worked in a tipping environment.

So you can imagine my excitement when I received an email from Fiverr yesterday with the headline:

"You've just been Tipped!"

I knew the Tipping option existed on Fiverr because I've bought a few Gigs myself and left tips.

However, this is the first tip I've received.

Woohoo!

It's especially surprising as this is the first order I've received on Fiverr in aaages.

I get a lot of enquiries on Fiverr but not many sales. This hasn't really bothered me because I think most people choose to buy directly from my site.

I also usually prefer selling directly off my site because I don't have to pay Fiverr 20% commission or wait 2 weeks for my payment to clear. And then yet another week for clearance in Paypal.

However, there are three really clear bonuses of selling on Fiverr.

Benefits of Selling on Fiverr

1. Payment is Guaranteed.

Buyers pay for their gig upfront and Fiverr holds the money until the order has been fulfilled and then for a couple of weeks afterwards to ensure their is no come-back.

When I deal with new clients, there's always a fear that they won't pay me. However, I've found that most buyers are honest and pay promptly, on the same day or within a day or two.

The longest I've ever waited is 3 weeks and I had to follow up with a number of emails requesting payment. So one slow payer so far. Zero non-payers.

2. Reviews are Encouraged.

I love getting 5 Star Reviews on Fiverr and because of their step-by-step system, it's very seldom that a client will complete an order without leaving a great review.

On the other hand, I struggle to get people to even place an order properly in my Woo Commerce shop (they prefer to just email me the order so they can pay once I've completed the work) and very few have left reviews.

3. You can receive Tips!

What a pleasure.

I charge $25 on both Fiverr and my shop for this particular service, but on Fiverr I'd only clear $20 (after the 20% deduction).

Receiving a $10 tip (again Fiverr took their 20%, leaving me with an $8 tip), meant I cleared $28 for this order.

So for once, I actually earned more on Fiverr for a gig than I would if I was selling direct. And payment was guaranteed. And I got another 5 Star Review.

Now I know what You're Thinking...

Why do you charge the same on Fiverr as you do on your site? Surely you could be earning the same for your Fiverr gigs if you simply upped your pricing on Fiverr?

YES. Sure. I thought so too. And I tried it.

But.... I never received any orders on Fiverr in that period.

Because the perceived value wasn't there.

The value of something is determined by what people are willing to pay for it.

And from the face of it, that gig is worth $25.

Plus, there's another very important business principle at play here...

Suppliers should never undercut their resellers...

I learned this lesson while I was Head of Network Marketing for a company selling Nutritional Supplements.

When I joined the company, we had a network of people selling products person-to-person. And we had a new Retail Division selling products into Pharmacies.

We have a huge discount pharmacy in the country that would drive our prices down through bulk discounts and early settlement discounts. On top of this, they would also sometimes advertise our most popular product as a loss leader.

Their price would drop to below the price the networkers were paying for the product.

Every time the Pharmacies would run a Special, the Networkers would be up in arms.

Our Retail Division and Networking Division were at war until we found a solution... selling different products to the network and Retail.

But I digress... this post was about TIPPING, wasn't it?

Enough with the lessons in business...

Over to YOU

Have you Received Tips on Fiverr?

Or any Tip for that matter?

How did it make you feel?

To Your Success