Several days ago, while reading random articles on Switched.com, I came across a post about a company by the name of fiverr.  I only read the first few lines of the article before heading on to the next, but for some reason I couldn’t shake the idea.  “The place for people to share things they’re willing to do for $5.  Buy.  Sell.  Have fun.”  This is the tag line that graces the home page of fiverr.com.

I found myself hunting for that same article again today and then heading over to fiverr to see what all of this was about.  Honestly, what kind of craziness was going to be posted on such a site?  Would people really use this?  Could there be any value in buying or selling services for a mere $5?  After 10 minutes on the site, I am still undecided, but intrigued by this concept and willing to give it a shot.  I have decided to start a five dollar experiment, but first let’s look at what I am getting myself into.

How it Works

The beauty of this site is the simplicity.  The price is simple.  The site is simple.  The concept is simple.  As with any new site or service, there is a “how does it work” section that lays out the overall concept and guess what… it’s simple:

As a “buyer” I don’t have much to lose, but I still have control over the product.  The seller’s profits are held for 2 weeks and their reputation dictates their ability to make money.  It is up to them to make sure that their customer’s are satisfied.

Examples

Before I could really make any sort of decision on fiverr.com, I had to see what other people were posting.  I have to admit that this was a lot of fun.  Honestly, before reading any more or visiting the site, what would you expect to find?  Here are a few examples that show the quality and the bizarre nature of some of the available “gigs” (their terminology for a $5 job) on the site:

• I will settle your arguments for $5
• I will write whatever you want on my arm for $5 (this is actually a very popular one)
• I will post 50 flyers throughout a major city advertising your website for $5
• I will make you a blog that you can start using immediately for $5
• I will burn a small paper effigy of your enemy for $5 (this one gets my vote for craziest offer)

The Five Dollar Experiment

The only way to truly understand and value this service is to actually use it, so I have decided to test it out with a little experiment.  After searching through hundreds of “gigs” I decided to try out some advertising for JumpstartMyPC.com.  A few minutes ago, I purchased a gig that promised to advertise my business to 18,000 followers for $5.  Now we will just sit back and see what happens.  I’ll report my findings when the job is complete.

Tags: $5, buy, fiverr, sell, Service, web site

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