Surviving Platform Fees: Maximizing Your Upwork & Fiverr Net Income

Freelance platforms are great for finding clients, but they take a substantial chunk of your hard-earned money. If you aren't factoring platform fees into your pricing, you are working for less than you think.

The Platform Tax

• Fiverr: Takes a flat 20% commission on every order. If you quote $100, your gross earnings are only $80.
• Upwork: Takes a flat 10% fee on all earnings, replacing their old sliding scale model.

The Withdrawal Tax

The bleeding doesn't stop at the platform fee. To get the money into your local bank, you must pay withdrawal fees. Transferring to Payoneer often costs $3, and direct wire transfers can cost up to $30 per transaction.

The Solution: Mark Up Your Prices

If your target net income for a project is $500, and you are working on Fiverr, you cannot quote $500. You must quote $625 just to break even after the 20% platform fee.