You can get many digital services very cheaply on Fiverr. This is possible because the providers usually come from low-wage countries such as Indonesia, Pakistan or Bangladesh. But how good is the quality?
As part of a self-centered Instagram advent calendar project, I tested Fiverr. Specifically, I had 25 portraits taken of myself (I didn’t use one). Apart from the first and last portrait, which cost me around 11 euros, I only paid around 6.40 euros per picture (slight price fluctuations due to the dollar exchange rate). The providers received 10 and 5 US dollars respectively, and Fiverr received around 2 US dollars in service fees.
Is Fiverr exploitation?
In Germany, it would be, especially since as a provider, including time for customer communication and any revisions, you probably have to assume 45 to 60 minutes of working time per order. But since, as mentioned, most of the providers come from low-wage countries, the situation is different. In my case, 13 illustrators came from Indonesia, where the average monthly salary of a graphic designer is 400 dollars and the hourly wage is 2.50 dollars. Although freelancers there also need a higher hourly rate than employees (as they don’t have constant orders, have to factor in vacation and sick days, etc.), the bottom line is that an hourly wage of 5 dollars in Indonesia is at least a long way from exploitation.
The quality varies greatly
Unfortunately, the customer reviews on Fiverr are absolutely meaningless, especially as almost all providers have an average of between 4.8 and 5.0 stars. Understandably, as a customer you don’t want to publicly pillory anyone and thus damage their business (I don’t do that either), but at the same time this cuddling of reviews doesn’t help anyone. In my case, there were five works that I found explicitly bad. The portraits in the style of South Park, The Simpsons and Chibi-Manga simply don’t recognize me and in three other cases the execution was miserable. Since I assumed in advance that the portraits would have flaws at these prices and it was just a fun project, I could live with it. I only complained to one provider. He then refunded me the money. Since project cancellations have a negative impact on the Fiverr algorithm and ranking, he did this privately – and also paid the service fees (i.e. made a loss). Here are the six worst portraits:
Good work with minor errors
I found the majority of the portraits ok. In many cases I knew beforehand that the illustration style wouldn’t suit me 100 percent (#2, #4, #8, #18, #21, #22, #23), but in some cases I was also pleasantly surprised (#17 and #20). There were almost always details that bothered me. I tried to correct details through revisions/edits, at least one of which was included in the price, but unfortunately this never led to the perfect portrait. Of course, I could have pushed for it more vehemently, but at the same time I didn’t want to be an asshole customer – especially not at that price. So I accepted that in many cases the nose and beard were incorrect (e.g. in #2, #4, #21, #22 and #23).
Incidentally, as a portrait subject, you can see at first glance that something is wrong, but it is much more difficult to describe what needs to be changed and how. Especially if – like me – you’re not a graphic designer or illustrator. Sometimes I spent fifteen minutes comparing the submitted photo with the portrait and looking for exactly what needed to be changed. Annoying. Here are the portraits that I would put in the “mediocre to good” category:
Positive surprises
Fortunately, I was also thrilled with some of the portraits. These include the two WPAP illustrations#6 and #10, the well-drawn work #16, the stylistically interesting images #5 and #11, the clown-in-the-head portrait #1 that I came up with, and the highly erotic door for Christmas Eve #24.
Is Fiverr destroying prices in Germany?
Yes and no. In my case, the alternative to “I’m having 24 portraits created on Fiverr” would have been “I’m not doing the calendar”. However, my project is not representative because Fiverr is primarily a B2B platform. There are numerous videos on YouTube – sponsored by Fiverr – in which YouTubers can create a logo, animate an intro, edit an image or edit a video. The result is similar in all cases: you can get excellent work for little money. The emphasis here is on “can”. Since a higher price does not guarantee high quality and the ratings don’t say anything either, it remains a game of chance – especially if you only commission one person. If you want to go for it: go for it! As a customer, you should also take your own time into account, as Bettina Ramm clearly describes. To be fair, it has to be said that “Made in Germany” does not automatically mean high quality. So if you hire a local graphic designer, animation designer or app developer, you may also be disappointed – even if you take a look at their previous work and references beforehand.
Conclusion: Fiverr is only suitable for small projects and campaigns
Personally, I’m not a Fiverr fanboy, but as a Swabian I definitely appreciate the advantages of the platform 😉 Because yes, sometimes you can get great results for little money. However, due to the fluctuating quality and because you never get a 100 percent perfect result, I would only recommend Fiverr for small projects and campaigns. When it comes to services that have a long-term impact on the company (e.g. a corporate design or a website), I would rather look for a freelancer or a local agency.
