Over 1,000 Fiverr Sellers Being Sued For Selling Fake Reviews

Fiverr Sellers Being Sued By Amazon Over Fake Reviews

You've probably heard by now that Amazon Inc is suing 1,114 Fiverr sellers over selling fake reviews. Despite that Fiverr is still full of gigs offering paid Amazon reviews. Surprisingly this, thus far, hasn't acted as a deterrent to others selling reviews.

The buzz on forums is that Amazon Review Sellers will just move over to other similar Fiverr style sties which are a bit less high profile.

If you havn't heard about this story already or want more details watch the two videos below. The first explains the story and the second is actually a list of the Fiverr sellers aliases who are being sued. Thus far they are "John Doe's" as Amazon does not know their identity however you can be sure they will subpoena this information and will sue these individuals. How far this goes and how much it acts as a deterrent to review selling remains to be seen.

Over 1,000 Fiverr Sellers Being Sued By Amazon

Fiverr Sellers Named In Amazon Lawsuit

Should You Ask For Tips On Fiverr?

Should You Ask For Tips On Fiverr?

Should you ask for tips on Fiverr after completing a gig? Many people have a pre-written message they send out along with their gig, something along the lines of thank you for ordering from me, I hope your happy with the finished product, if not please ask me for a revision before leaving feedback. I work for tips so tips are greatly appreciated. People will often have a message along those lines. Is this a good idea or does it rub people the wrong way?

I'm kind of torn on this issue and would love your guys thoughts as a buyer how you would take this? Also, if your a seller do you ask for tips after completing a gig? If so how much of an increase have you seen in the amount of tips you've received after beginning to ask for them at gig completion.

Call To Action Is A Powerful Thing

If you're into blogging, internet marketing, or if you're a Youtube creator you probably already know about a call to action. If you don't a call to action is requesting your audience do something. You'll often see a Youtuber at the end of a video say if you liked this video please thumbs up, like, subscribe and share.

It may seem silly but something as simple as asking someone to do something greatly increases the chances of someone doing it. I don't have any case studies to point to nor have I myself done any experiments to see how effective calls to action are but there is no denying they are a very powerful thing. To the point that radio stations actually have FCC regulations dictating if and how a station can call to action, so the fact that there has to be regulations means it's effective.

By simply asking for a tip, you are going to increase the number of tips you get. Some Fiverr buyers may not realize they even have the ability to tip, while others may just not think about it without a little prompting. On a recent sale a seller actually even put a link to her tip button to make it even easier for me to leave a tip. Unfortunately I was not really impressed with her work, it was an easy gig and could tell she didn't really put much effort into even this so it kind of rubbed me the wrong way her asking for a tip which brings me to my next point.

Is Asking For A Tip Tacky?

Can asking for a tip rub people the wrong way? Potentially yes. Have you ever had a waitress specifically go out of their way to ask for a tip? Probably not because we know a waitress works for tips and it's tacky to ask for one. But is Fiverr the same way? I can see it from both sides. Many people may not know you can tip a seller on Fiverr. Fiverr sellers after fees only make $4 for a gig so it's understandable someone who did a good job on a gig, a buyer may want to reward them with a few extra bucks, especially if they plan on continuing a relationship with them and continuing to buy from them in the future. Some people however will not like being asked for a tip.

Personally, on my Fiverr store I don't ask for tips. I intentionally try to keep my gigs things which don't require a ton of time, so I don't really mind working for $4 a gig. If someone tips me, it's much appreciated, and I do think deserved because I try to under promise and over deliver and whatever a given gig is I always give the buyer more than what they were expecting and generally include some bonuses as well.

I do manage to get tips though. I have a few regular buyers who tip me $10 or $15 per gig, which I'm very grateful for. The best tip I ever got was $45 and it wasn't even really a big gig but the guy orders regularly and I always make sure to go above and beyond for him.

The Verdict - Ask For Tip Or Not?

This is up to every person to decide. If you ask for tips you better make sure you do a darn good job on your gigs, over deliver and beat expectations. Also, make sure you do so in a non-aggressive manner or you could turn buyers off.

Location Independence - Living Where You Want, On Your Terms

Okay guys, so I'm sitting here on the porch in beautiful Charleston, South Carolina. I'm seriously considering moving down here.

I've considered doing the same thing in Playa Del Carmen, Mexico. The problem with Playa however is due to the nature of my business; ecommerce; I need to be in the USA as living outside of the USA would make shipping not only not economical but a huge hassle to manage.

The one nice thing about Charleston, it's in the USA. It's in a fairly major city. I suppose Charleston isn't a major city, but at least large enough to get decent mail service and have regular Fedex pickups. For my business it may actually work out as a lot of my customers are out of South Carolina, Texas, Tennesse, etc. The only real hiccup in this plan is my business partner is out of Chicago. Sure it would make communication a little more challenging and mean we weren't working out of the same office, but it could work.

Anyhow, my point today is to introduce you guys to the concept of Location Independent. What does location independent mean? We'll explain below.

Location Independent

Location Independence is freedom. It's being able to live or move to wherever you like; and as long as you have an internet connection you can make a living.  It's being able to live on your own terms.

 

Location Independence is exactly what's described above. It's having a skill-set or knowledge that allows you to make a living anywhere you have an internet connection without anything tying you down to one particular location; and ideally not tying you down to a schedule if possible. Not to say you don't need to put in hours and you dont' need to work, most people certainly do unless you can really create some passive income streams that require little to no maintenance; however that's hard to come by. Ultimately though, it's just being able to live where you want and work remotely from anyplace.

What Type Of Jobs Are Location Independent?

 

Hypothetically any job can be location independent. Even corporate jobs if your allowed to work remotely. That said typically working for someone else or for a corporate job you will still likely have to go check-in, or go to meetings on a quarterly basis or as needed which is why most location independent people work for themselves.

This could include anything from web design, SEO, various types of consulting. To things like selling digital products, selling gigs on Fiverr, oDesk, and eLance among many other sites. You could publish ebooks, or even sell items online, although ecommerce and having to physically ship items can somewhat tie you down. A solution to this is drop shipping, although if you've read my previous posts you know I'm not a huge fan of the drop shipping concept for a variety of reasons.

How To Become Location Independent?

Becomming location independent typically isn't something that's going to happen overnight. For most people it's a journey. They start a "side hustle" making a little money on the side while still working a full-time job. As you grow your business and grow your skill-sets you may find that you can make a full-time living without your previous full-time job working for someone else.


If you plan on trying to become location independent I would recommend start expanding your skill-sets. Start to learn SEO, learn how to write a well formatted interesting blog. Learn how to use softwares to make money whether it's a software that automates a process for a customer, automates the posting of blog or automates social media processes. Anything involving automation can be a hot selling, hands off, and very profitable gig on Fiverr or other freelancing sites.


I would also recommend starting a blog or Youtube Channel to showcase your skill-sets and establish yourself as a knowledgable expert in some field or area. Once you start doing this you'll notice people will begin contacting you asking for help and advice. You can parlay this into consulting where people actually pay you for your knowledge and advice.


Stay on the cutting edge of new social media platforms, new technologies and any current events in your industry. 


* As a side note if you're interested in learning more about location independence; or if you're interested in talking with people who are already living this lifestyle I'd recommend checking out RooshVForum. Yes I know lots of people view it as a "pickup artists" site or forum, however that's only a small part of the site and restricted to the "game" subsection. There are a lot of really talented guys and entrepreneurs on that site who are location independent and are living life on their own terms. Checkout that forum to pick their brains, ask them questions and read their advice.