The pending clearance period on Fiverr is something beginners may be confused by, but all will be familiar with it after getting a few orders. What does pending clearance mean, and is there any way to avoid it on Fiverr?
Pending clearance on Fiverr is a 14-day period between an order being marked as complete and you being able to withdraw your earnings for it. If you’re a Top Rated Seller, have a Pro gig, or use Fiverr’s early payout system, you can reduce the pending clearance period to just 7 days.
But why does Fiverr keep your money from you for 2 weeks? Are there any other ways to reduce this timeframe? I take a closer look at the answers to these questions and more in the article below.
Why Does Fiverr Have Pending Clearance?
Fiverr has pending clearance to cover for things like chargebacks and refunds. Buyers can initiate cancellations or chargebacks with services like PayPal even after marking an order as complete, and so Fiverr doesn’t pay you until 2 weeks have passed in order to minimize the impact of these.
It can be very frustrating as a freelancer to put the work in and not get paid until 2 weeks later. One of the big reasons many people turn to freelancing is to work and get paid on their own terms. On the surface, it can look like Fiverr takes some of that freedom away with their pending clearance period. But unfortunately it’s just part of Fiverr’s platform that we as freelancers can’t control.
How Long Does Pending Clearance Take On Fiverr?
Pending clearance on Fiverr normally takes 14 days, but you can reduce it to 7 days in various ways. The pending clearance period reduces to one week when you are a Top Rated Seller or have a Pro rated gig. It can also be reduced by using Fiverr’s early payout system (more on that below).
Note: Pending clearance on Fiverr should be independent of time zone, meaning it should just be 14 (or 7) days after the order was marked complete (but this may vary).
Becoming A Top Rated Seller
Becoming a Top Rated Seller requires you to meet various criteria. One of these is to be on the platform for at least 6 months, while another is to make at least $20,000 from your Fiverr gigs. Clearly, it’s not going to happen overnight, or within your first few weeks on the platform, so it’s not the quickest way to reduce the pending clearance time from 14 days to 7.
However, it is the way that is primarily dependent on what you do on the platform – i.e. offering high-quality services over and over again. While your performance will be manually reviewed once you hit all the requirements, it is the method you have the most control over. You’ll understand why I say that in a moment.
Offering A Pro Gig
Offering a Pro Fiverr gig isn’t as straightforward as adding a badge to it yourself. Instead, you’ll need Fiverr’s team to deem your gig (not your full Fiverr profile) worthy of the Pro badge. Check out our dedicated article to learn exactly how to get a Pro Fiverr gig, as it’s outside the scope of this post.
The important thing to note here is that, aside from the fact you can’t just tick boxes and hope to be accepted, as it is with becoming a Top Rated Seller, you will also only benefit from a reduced pending clearance period on the gig marked Pro. Unlike with the previous option, which nets you the bonus across all your gigs, you’ll only be able to withdraw Pro gig earnings within 7 days (i.e. your other gigs will still take 14 days).
This means that, while it’s not necessarily harder to get a gig to be Pro verified, it’s not going to give you the benefit across your entire profile. The only other way to get access to your money faster across all your gigs is to be granted access to Fiverr’s early payout system.
What Is Fiverr’s Early Payout System?
Fiverr’s early payout system is a way of allowing some freelancers to withdraw their earnings immediately, rather than waiting the usual 7-14 days for the pending clearance period to end. Not every freelancer has access to this system yet, and it does incur a 1% fee on each order.
Given that not all sellers have access to this system (at the moment anyway), this isn’t the most effective way to reduce the pending clearance period. That’s because you don’t get much control over whether you’re eligible or not. It all comes down to how Fiverr’s team views your profile and seller history. You cannot request to become eligible for the early payout system, so it’s out of your hands to an extent.
Indirect Influence
I say to an extent because you can have some influence over your eligibility, just not directly. If you work hard and build up a rich seller history on the platform, you may improve your chances of becoming eligible for early payout – but it’s no guarantee!
Fiverr plans to roll it out to all sellers in the future though, so if you can deal with the 14-day pending clearance period for now, you should get access to the system eventually. But there are a few caveats to this system.
There Is A Fee
The first is that using it incurs a flat 1% fee. This 1% fee is simply for freeing up the funds for early payout, and it’s on a per order basis. This means you may still have to pay additional fees depending on how you withdraw your Fiverr earnings, and you’ll need to pay this 1% fee on each individual order. However, this works out the same as if you paid the 1% on all three at once.
Let’s say you have three orders, with one netting you $10, another one being worth $100, and another being worth $150. You’d need to pay three separate 1% fees, but they’d all add up to the same as if you paid a single 1% fee on all three at once, as illustrated below:
Total Fee = (0.01 x $10) + (0.01 x $100) + (0.01 x $150) = $0.1 + $1 + $1.50 = $2.60
vs
Total Fee = 0.01 x ($10 + $100 + $150) = 0.01 x $260 = $2.60
It’s Not Available On All Orders
It’s also worth noting that you won’t be able to use this on any orders that were automatically marked complete. This means you may have a bunch of orders that are eligible for it and some that aren’t, all at the same time.
The reason for this is most likely that a buyer that manually marks an order as complete is less likely to have an issue with the order and try to initiate a chargeback than one who let the timer run out, causing the order to be marked complete automatically.
Whether this system is worth it for you will depend on how important it is that you get your money immediately. For some, it’s worth paying a small additional fee to get access to funds sooner rather than later. But if you can deal with the pending clearance period, it may not be worth it, even if the fees only end up costing a few dollars.
Can Fiverr Orders Be Cancelled During Pending Clearance?
Fiverr orders can be cancelled during pending clearance periods, and buyers can also initiate chargebacks through their payment provider during this time. The buyer has 14 days after the order is marked complete to request a cancellation, but chargebacks are out of Fiverr’s control.
It’s unlikely that a buyer will cancel an order after marking it as complete, but it’s still a possibility. This is one of the reasons Fiverr has the pending clearance period, to essentially not pay you until they have guaranteed funds from the buyer. However, cancellations on the platform are designed to be mutual decisions.
Cancellations Are Meant To Be Mutual Decisions
This means that, should a buyer wish to cancel an order, they will normally need to do so through the resolution center. This will pass on the message to you, and you’ll have 48 hours to respond. If you don’t agree the order should be cancelled, and that the buyer is requesting to cancel for no apparent reason, you can decide to file a ticket with the Fiverr resolution center and they may rule in your favor.
However, there is always the chance that they will side with the buyer, and you won’t get that order’s payment. However, even if Fiverr does side with you, you’ll only be able to withdraw the funds from your account after 45 days have passed. For more on this, check out our guide to Fiverr cancellations.
Want tips on how you can perform better on the platform and avoid cancellations? Check out our ultimate Fiverr guide here.
Pending Clearance On Fiverr – A Necessary Evil
Pending clearance on Fiverr is a 7-14 day period of time in which you are unable to withdraw funds earned from a particular order. The period applies to each order individually and is there to minimize the impact of things like chargebacks and cancellations, even after orders are marked as complete.
Want to know how you can get your money out after this period? Check out our guide to withdrawing your Fiverr earnings.
Chris is the creator of Freelance Ready. He originally started freelancing (on Fiverr) while at university, writing and editing website content. He created this website to share his freelancing experience and help others on their own self-employed journeys. He is now a freelance SEO consultant and content editor. You can learn more about Chris here.
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