Getting Started

Promises made to me were broken, so I needed money. Freelancing was one way to do this. How Fiverr or any freelancing service works is relatively straightforward: You provide a service to customers, while the freelancing services provide the platform and distribution for you. As a result, a ~20% cut is taken from each sale.

To get started on Fiverr, I created multiple Gigs about mixing, mastering, and programming with accompanying videos. The programming gig was the most popular, likely due to aggregate demand. Its video features a one-minute montage of projects I created (before Fiverr), with Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata as a backing track. The gig’s pricing and description set me apart from other service providers, along with my proficiency in English. 

I also included my experience over the following topics: Basics (Environment, Types, Pointers), Problem-Solving (Design, Implementation, APIs), Object-Oriented Programming (Encapsulation, Abstraction, Inheritance, Polymorphism), Data Structures (Array, Stack, Queue, Linked List, Graphs, Trees), Algorithms (Big O, Sorts, DFS, etc.), File Handling, Memory Based Tasks (Bots), GUIs (JavaFX), Image Recognition (OpenCV), APIs (REST, GraphQL), Databases (Design, SQL), and Obfuscation. The gig applied to the following languages: C++, Python, JavaScript for Web Development, and Java for Desktop and Android.

I completed 34 projects with a 5-star rating. However, I cannot disclose most of them, which typically comprised of Java CRUD (Create, Read, Update, Delete) and APIs.

OsirisEdit (July 9, 2021)

OsirisEdit is a fork of WaveEdit, a Wave Synthesizer created in C++. The application was harder to modify due to the outdated C++ tool chain. In addition, the original fork didn’t support Windows, which meant we could only support Mac and Linux. Daniel assisted me with this task because I don’t own a Mac (necessary to test this toolchain directly). Our modifications can be found here: OsirisEdit (v1, v1.1).

Tutorio Widgets (June 24, 2021)

A “premium” Fiverr client tasked me with this rather unsuccessful project. However, the situation provides an example of what you can deal with using these websites. To understand why this order was so frustrating, you must understand how Fiverr’s service provider rating works. There are a lot of details, but the gist is that cancellations are very bad.

I was on track for a rating increase which made me accept offers I shouldn’t have. This order, in particular, came from someone contracting multiple people to create widgets for an educational platform. He wanted us to edit the template he purchased (from Tutorio) and send them back. It sounds simple enough… The entire 17-page dispute can be read here: How I Got Scammed on Fiverr. Let’s attempt to summarize what happened…

Summary

The client initially contacted me asking about widgets and his budget. I explicitly stated that I would create 4 widgets with 2 versions each: Fixed and randomized input. In addition, these widgets would be viewable in light or dark mode. The client agreed and paid money to Fiverr using the terms provided in an official form.

This order took much more time than it was worth. I ended up spending over 10 hours on an order that should have taken one. This happened because the client imposed many constraints on me, including the use of these templates. Nonetheless, I provided the client with the 4 widgets we agreed upon within the deadline.

The client requested a revision (which was acceptable) but began to ask about 3 other widgets that weren’t included in the order. His claim was that I ran out of time to provide those widgets in the order. This claim prompted a walkthrough of our entire written order process, including the part where I explicitly stated that I’d only deliver “four widgets” twice. 

The client attempted to justify his mistake by stating that he was “paying developers $5-15 per widget” and asking why he’d pay me $90 for 4 widgets. I don’t know, why did you pay me $90 for 4 widgets as stated in the form? He also began to backtrack on the math subject of each widget he asked for…

We made the rounds through a Fiverr dispute process, which ended with the client asking for a compromise after his cancellation process failed. That’s because the customer support team admitted the customer was at fault. Following this claim dismissal, I was advised by the support team to create new offers for the client. Alright...

I sent new offers to the client as a compromise, but nothing worked. He drew a hard line on me providing him with free work, and when I wouldn’t do it, called me a “liar and fraud”. Someone is projecting here… At this point, I realized that this customer was full of sh*t.

But what could I do?

This situation ended when the client submitted an empty revision prompting redelivery, and opened another support ticket. The new support representative sided with the client for a “miscommunication error” (created by the client). So not only did I get penalized for the client’s mistake but I also didn’t get paid for what was now 17 hours of work.

This incident made me quit accepting orders on Fiverr: In no case should a customer deemed at fault be rewarded with free work for backtracking on terms they accepted. By quitting Fiverr, they missed over $800 more from my services. Oh well... If anyone finds my work online, please let me know. I’m unsure if this client has profited from the code I provided, but if he did, I wasn’t paid for it yet.