With subscriptions, Fiverr expands beyond project-based payments [TechCrunch]

Fiverr is adding a new way for freelancers on the marketplace to charge for their work — three- or six-month subscriptions.

Through this feature, sellers on Fiverr can offer to provide a defined set of work each month. They can also offer discounts to subscribers, although it’s not required. The buyer or seller can cancel at any time, with no fees paid on the remaining months of the subscription — but the savings only start in the second month, to prevent situations where buyers might try to use subscriptions just to get a one-time discount.

Product Manager Natasha Shine-Zirkel told me that that while Fiverr built its reputation as a marketplace to hire freelancers on a “one-time or per-project basis,” it’s increasingly become a home for ongoing work as well. So the company decided to make it easier to provide and pay for that work.

She said businesses who sign up for a subscription will get access to “high-quality sellers and build long-term relationships,” and it also “saves them hassle of filling out their requirements each time.” Sellers, meanwhile, will get more predictability in their workload and revenue.

Fiverr Business helps teams manage freelance projects

Fiverr Subscriptions are being made available to what the company said are the “top freelancers” in eight categories, including social media marketing, SEO and voice overs.

Shine-Zirkel said Fiverr is starting out small to “learn from sellers who are really high quality and already have existing relationships.” She added that the initial categories represent a mix of work that’s normally retainer-based and other jobs that are more project-based, allowing the company to observe “how buyers and sellers use the feature” in different contexts.

At the same time, Shine-Zirkel described this as “just the beginning,” with Fiverr rolling the feature out to more freelancers in more categories over time.

In addition to launching support for subscriptions, Fiverr is introducing another feature around longer-term work called Milestones, where a bigger job is broken down into smaller pieces, with the buyer paying for each milestone as it’s completed.