"If you're in Nigeria and thinking about starting on Fiverr, I want to share my honest experience. This is part of my freelance journey from a small town in Nigeria start there for the full backstory."
I'm three weeks into having my Fiverr account live. I haven't received a single order yet. And I'm still here, still showing up, still learning. This post is for anyone who is about to start, or who started and got stuck somewhere along the way.
The sign up was confusing
When I first tried to sign up on Fiverr, everything was fine until I got to the verification step. That's where I got confused and almost gave up.
I think a lot of beginners in Nigeria stop right at this point. The interface isn't always clear. The mobile app blocks you from doing certain seller things. You don't know if you're doing it right. You don't know who to ask. So you close the tab.
I'm writing this post because I almost did the same thing.
The Chrome desktop mode trick
The single biggest thing that made my Fiverr sign up possible was browsing in Chrome desktop mode.
I always set my Chrome to desktop mode now, not just for Fiverr but for most websites. It makes it very easy to see everything that's going on. The mobile versions of most sites hide buttons, change menus, or block features.
If you're trying to sign up on Fiverr from your phone, here's what to do:
Open Chrome
1. Tap the three-dot menu in the top right
2. Tick the box that says Desktop site
3. Now go to fiverr.com
4. This one change saves you hours of frustration.
Identity verification
Verification failed for me the first time. I didn't know what I was doing wrong. The photo, the lighting, the angle it just kept rejecting me.
When it finally worked, here's what made the difference:
Good lighting (natural daylight near a window)
Holding the ID flat and steady, not tilted
Making sure all four corners of the ID were visible
A clean selfie with no glasses or hat, looking straight into the camera
If you fail the first time, don't panic and don't keep retrying back-to-back. Wait a few hours, find better lighting, and try again. It works eventually.
Why I chose Raenest over Payoneer
This part trips up a lot of Nigerians.
I chose Raenest over Payoneer because Payoneer requires you to link the phone number that you used to register your NIN (National Identification Number). When I created my NIN, I didn't link any number to it. So Payoneer was closed to me from the start.
Raenest was easier to verify because it only requires government documents — no NIN-linked SIM card needed.
If your NIN isn't linked to a current SIM, save yourself the headache and go straight to Raenest.
What I'd tell a friend who wants to start
If a friend messaged me tomorrow saying "I want to start on Fiverr too," my first question wouldn't be about the setup.
My first question would be: are you ready?
Not ready as in "do you have your laptop charged." Ready as in mentally prepared for what this actually is.
Because here's the truth Fiverr is not a get-rich scheme. It's not a quick way to make money in two weeks. It requires consistency and patience.
I've had my Fiverr account active for almost three weeks now. I've optimized my gig. I've put up samples. I've been promoting it. And I still haven't gotten my first client. That's normal. That's the early phase.
If you start expecting to make money in your first month, you'll quit when month two arrives empty. If you start understanding that the first 1–3 months are about learning, optimizing, and building patience, you'll still be here when the first client finally comes.
Final thoughts
Setting up a Fiverr account from Nigeria is harder than it should be. The mobile app blocks you. Verification fails for unclear reasons. Payment platforms have hidden Nigeria-specific requirements. You'll lose hours to problems that someone in another country would never face.
But every problem has a workaround, and the workarounds aren't secret — they just aren't written down clearly anywhere. That's why I'm writing them down here.
If this post helped you, bookmark this blog. I'm posting once or twice a week as I keep figuring this out. The next post will be about how I'm trying to get my first client — what's working, what isn't, and what I'm learning.
I'm David. I'm three weeks in with no clients. But I'm still showing up.
So can you.