Meet 199Jobs, the Philippines’ answer to Fiverr

While it’s easy to assume that 199Jobs is simply the Philippine analogue of microjobs site Fiverr, the platform was created to solve a genuine problem.

Co-founder Glenn Santos was an entrepreneur who felt a genuine talent crunch in the country, particularly for part-time or project-based work. “So I turned to software to solve some of my problems and that helped a bit, but for some work like writing or design, I still needed a person to actually do the job,” he says.

He assumed there would be a platform where he could hire for such work. “I thought that there might be a local marketplace where people bought and sold services where I can simply order a task and it would be done,” he says. “Turns out, there was none, so I decided to build one myself.”

What’s the economic value of a microjob?

Part of the challenge in developing what would eventually be 199Jobs was determining the cost of the jobs for the price point – as in the case with Fiverr – would be integral to their branding. Prospective users needed to estimate how much they would have to budget for a particular task, and the right brand name could immediately convey that.

Co-founder Fitz Villafuerte says the team considered several price points. “We found out that 99 PhP (US$2.26) is too low for sellers, while 399 PhP (US$9.12) and up would be expensive already for buyers,” he says.

In the end, they settled upon 199 PhP (US$4.55). “It strikes a good balance where sellers would be willing to sign up and buyers would be willing to try out the service,” Villafuerte says.

Apparently, Filipinos agree – there are already 4,000 users on the platform who have posted more than 2,000 jobs. While most of the buyers are Filipino, they are not necessarily based in the Philippines. “Overseas foreign workers, Filipino-Americans, and foreigners buy from us, not just locals,” Santos says. “We get buyers from Australia, UK, Japan and even Vietnam.”

But what’s most interesting is not the user demographics, but user behavior.

According to Villafuerte, most 199Jobs members use the platform to pick up part-time work, and they do so in tandem with other sites, such as Freelancer.com, oDesk, or Elance. “The services they offer with us are usually tasks, which they can finish within a day,” Villafuerte says. “The fast cycle nature of the jobs allows them to earn quickly and easily, with very minimal impact on their other, larger-scale projects.”

A few 199Jobs users have started to use the platform exclusively. Villafuerte thinks it’s due to the straightforward nature of the jobs. “Very little time is spent on talking to the buyers about their requirements; and the upfront payment takes away the hassle of waiting to get paid by clients,” he says.

Since the jobs are so simple, some 199Jobs freelancers have earned good money from the site. According to Santos, the very top earner has already made more than 10,000 PhP (US$228.57). That’s in a country where the minimum monthly salary is not much more than 8,000 PhP (US$182.86).

Another one of their top earners is a student who picks up freelance writing work through the site. The additional income helped the student pay for his final year of college.

To succeed on the platform, Villafuerte emphasizes the need for social validation in the form of employer reviews. “The key to becoming a top earner on the site is to really do a good job and get those positive feedback because that’s a major consideration for buyers,” he says.

Santos recommends freelancers sell a skill that they can do well, over-communicate with buyers throughout the process, and promote the available job whenever and wherever possible.

The future of microjobs in the Philippines