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October 14, 2021

What would you do to earn five bucks?

With paid jobs still hard to find, laid off workers, recent graduates and experience seeking freelancers are increasingly choosing to work for next to nothing.

At least that’s the way it seems when you log into sites like Clickfive, Justafive or Fiverr. The latter, for instance, is a crowded marketplace for those looking to outsource small tasks – from the very useful to the simply odd – for five bucks a pop.

The site offers several thousand services – known as "gigs" – ranging from marketing and advertising support to travel, decorating and fashion advice. Jobs are separated by specific categories to help you narrow your search.

You could, for instance, hire someone to give you a wake-up call, teach you how to play chess, or write a wedding toast for you.

How it works: Post a short description of the service you’re willing to provide. If someone wants to take you up on it, they place an order with a deposit of $5.

Once you complete the job, 80% of that will be transferred into your PayPal account. The other dollar goes to cover the cost of service fees and PayPal processing.

While there’s no guarantee for buyers that the task will be completed to their standards, they are after all only shelling out $5, so it’s not a total loss if things don’t work out.

Buyers can also rate gigs they’ve bought to let other prospective employers know if they actually got their money’s worth.

Of course, for many suppliers, it’s not really about the sale, but the networking and relationship building opportunities they hope to generate. Not everyone is happy though, as you can see from this thread of disappointed users.

But there's still no shortage of people willing to get on board.

What tasks would you outsource for five bucks? Have you had any luck? Would you even consider doing jobs for others for so little money?

By Gordon Powers, MSN Money

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Gordon PowersGordon Powers

A long-time fund company executive, Gordon Powers now heads up the Affinity Group, a financial services consulting firm. Gordon was a personal finance columnist for the Globe & Mail for many years, has taught retirement planning...

James HaversJames Havers

James is the senior editor of MSN Money living in Toronto. He has worked for the Nikkei Shimbun (Tokyo), canoe.ca, AOL.ca, Canadian Business and other publications. Havers turned to journalism after teaching overseas.

Jason BucklandJason Buckland

The modern-day MC Hammer of money, Jason can often be seen spending cash that isn’t his with the efficiency of a Wilt Chamberlain first date. After cutting his teeth as a reporter for the Toronto Sun, he joined the MSN Money team with...