How to Use Fiverr as a Buyer to Find Freelancers and Independent Contractors

Fiverr is a good resource for locating talented independent contractors and freelancers for your small business. Here’s how to use Fiverr as a buyer of services.

Fiverr has become one of the hottest marketplaces for business owners and managers to find top freelancers for special assignments called “gigs.”

On Fiverr, a person who is looking for a freelancer is called a buyer. The freelancers and contractors selling their services are promoting “gigs.” A gig is a special well-defined project that freelancers offer to buyers in a marketplace format. It isn’t a service, such as “write a blog post,” so much as a task, such as “write a 400-500 word blog post for your fitness blog.”

Buyers can order a gig or request from Fiverr [affiliate link] sellers a type of gig that may not be offered on the marketplace or that might have special considerations. Many businesses have found contractors on Fiverr to perform specific assignments such as logo creation, video animation, and product descriptions for as low as $5 per gig.

What Kinds of Services Are Available on Fiverr?

In the Fiverr marketplace, business professionals can find a wide variety of freelancers to perform creative services such as:

Graphic design
Freelance writing
Digital marketing services
Video and animation
Music and audio services
Programming and technology assignments
Business services such as data entry, legal consulting, project management, and lead generation
Lifestyle gigs such as online tutoring, life coaching, and cooking lessons

Rather than look for a freelance service provider who can work with you on a number of upcoming assignments, Fiverr is best at finding independent contractors who can work with you on a specific work assignment. In other words, instead of searching for a blogger who will write ongoing blog posts for your company blog, you can search for a blogger who will write one blog post for you. Of course, you can order repeat gigs so that you work with the same contractor multiple times.

How to Find Freelancers on Fiverr

Fiverr has special operations directed specifically toward businesses in search of top talent. The most general and widespread use of Fiverr is its general marketplace.

The Fiverr marketplace is organized into categories, such as Graphics & Design and Digital Marketing. Each category consists of several subcategories. For instance, under the Music & Audio category are Voice Over, Podcast Editing, Audiobook Production, and Session Musicians subcategories. Business professionals can navigate to the category and subcategory of choice and search for specific gigs offered by sellers under those categories.

There are specific Fiverr verticals, however, that can also assist business owners in finding the right talent for an assignment. These include:

Fiverr Business – When you sign up for Fiverr Business [affiliate link], you are assigned a success manager to help you navigate the Fiverr marketplace. Your success manager helps you understand the Fiverr marketplace and how to use the tools at your disposal, including the gig request tool, to find the right freelancer for your assignments. The best way to describe Fiverr Business is to call it a project management platform that allows you to define your projects and find the right talent to execute them. It’s useful for large companies where multiple departments might use Fiverr for finding independent contractors. You can have up to 50 users with access to your Fiverr Business account. Ordinarily, Fiverr Business costs $149 per year, but Fiverr currently is offering the service for free for the first year.
Fiverr Pro – Fiverr Pro allows businesses to gain access to vetted Fiverr contractors who may charge more for their services, but those services are premium services. Instead of finding a blogger, for instance, who can write a generic blog post for $25, you’ll gain access to bloggers who can write custom high-value blog posts at marketplace prices. The same applies to graphic artists, video producers, and other professionals in all talent categories.
Fiverr Studios – Fiver Studios is currently in beta. Through this interface, you can search for and find professional teams to work with on your complex projects. For instance, instead of hiring a writer, a graphic artist, and a video producer to pull together a content asset separately, you can hire a team lead by a Fiverr professional vetted by the platform who invites other Fiverr contractors to join her team. You work with the team lead to get all pieces of the complex project done in a timely manner at a price you can afford.
Fiverr Logo Maker – Fiverr Logo Maker allows businesses to order a logo at a fair price without hiring an original logo designer to create one from scratch. Designers predesign templates and businesses enter their custom information to get a logo design at a fair price.

How to Choose the Right Fiverr Seller for Your Project

The first step to using Fiverr is to sign up [affiliate link]. After you create an account, you can search for freelancers by typing a service into the search bar at the top of the Fiverr home page or by navigating the categories on the menu bar just below the Fiverr header. On Fiverr, you search for gigs that match your specific needs rather than freelancers with particular qualities. In other words, Fiverr isn’t set up to search a marketplace full of website designers who specialize in the travel industry. Rather, it’s set up to find website designers who are offering a specific type of design project such as a Wix website, a WordPress template design, or a responsive web design. See how it works with this search box.

Contact Freelancers Before You Buy

You can also contact freelancers before you place an order, which allows you to discuss your project with the freelancer to determine if they can meet your need or to ask questions to clarify something you may not understand in their gig offering. I recommend contacting every potential contractor first to discuss your specific needs so that both parties can ensure a successful transaction. This allows you to let the contractor know your special needs beyond what they’ve offered in their gig and it allows the seller to ask you questions based on the services you are actually looking for.

Place a Small Trial Order with Multiple Sellers

If you’ll be commissioning a large project on Fiverr, you may want to order a smaller job first to gauge the quality of the contractor’s work. In fact, doing trial orders with two or three sellers is a good way to determine which contractors complete work in a timely manner, how well they communicate, and how easy (or difficult) they are to work with.

Review Feedback, Ratings, and Experience

When you compare freelancers at Fiverr, don’t just consider price. Also consider portfolio samples, experience, and years active. Fiverr also has a reputation system that lets you see whether past customers are happy with the service received. The more stars a freelancer has the higher their reputation.

Working with Sellers on Fiverr

Unlike many freelance marketplaces, gig buyers do not need long project briefs. Your communication with sellers should be directed toward providing the specific information they ask for in their gig description. For instance, a freelancer who offers to Photoshop your images might request your images in a particular format such as PNG, GIF, or JPG. If you send them a TIFF, they’ll have to request you send the right format and that could take them longer to complete your gig.

It’s not likely that you’ll overpay at Fiverr for any service, but to ensure that you don’t, establish a budget for all projects before you go shopping. First, research the market for typical prices, on and off Fiverr, to see where the marketplace is at.

If you aren’t happy with the service you receive from a contractor, you should contact that freelancer first and ask for a revision or correction. If a freelancer becomes difficult to work with, you can use the Fiverr dispute resolution process to reach an equitable outcome, which may also include a refund.

Buyers on Fiverr pay when they place an order, however, freelancers are paid on the back end. Fiverr holds your money in escrow until the project is delivered. At that time, you are offered an opportunity to request revisions and to give feedback to the contractor.

Fiverr is an excellent place for business owners to find low-cost freelancers for routine business processes. Be sure to communicate openly with potential contractors and you’ll enjoy the use of Fiverr for many years to come.