Sell services online
Packages, orders, revisions, reviews and payouts, running on your own WordPress rather than as a profile on a platform that takes a share of every job and owns the client afterwards.
Which one are you
"Selling services online" means something quite different depending on whether you are the one doing the work. The software is the same; the setup is not.
Design, consulting, writing, coaching, repairs. You want people to browse what you offer, pick a package, pay, and start a job with you, on your own site rather than a profile on somebody else's.
What it costs you No cut at all. You are the only vendor on your own marketplace, so nothing is deducted by anyone.
A pool of vendors selling to a pool of buyers, with you in the middle handling trust, disputes and payouts. A niche Fiverr for one trade, one region or one community.
What it costs you You set the commission, anywhere from 0 to 50 percent, with per-vendor overrides. It is your rate and your revenue, not a fee paid upstream.
The trade you are making
Worth being clear-eyed about, because the marketplaces are genuinely good at something a plugin cannot do for you.
The honest version: a marketplace solves being found, which is the hard part, and charges for it. Your own site solves everything after being found. Plenty of people run both for a while and move the repeat work across.
What the free plugin covers
Free here is a complete marketplace rather than a trial. The whole order lifecycle, the review system and the commission and withdrawal system are in it. Pro mostly raises ceilings and adds integrations.
The full split, including what Pro adds and one thing we listed once and never shipped, is on free versus Pro.
Questions
It depends whether you want reach or ownership. A marketplace like Fiverr or Upwork brings you buyers you would not have found, and takes a percentage of every job plus control of the relationship. Your own site brings no traffic on day one, keeps the whole fee, and keeps the client as yours. Most people who move do it once they have enough repeat clients that the reach is worth less than the cut.
Yes. The WP Sell Services plugin is free and complete rather than a trial: 47 of the 53 capabilities are in the free version, including the whole order workflow, the review system and the commission and withdrawal system. Your costs are WordPress hosting and your payment processor's fees. Pro raises limits and adds integrations.
The usual options are a general marketplace, a niche marketplace for your trade, a social profile with direct messages, or your own site. The first three give you an audience and take a share or the relationship. Your own site gives you neither audience nor deductions, which is why it tends to suit people who already have some way of being found.
The big platforms publish their rates and they change, so check the current figure rather than trusting any number quoted elsewhere. The relevant point here is structural: on your own site the rate is whatever you decide. If you are the only person selling, it is nothing. If you run a marketplace for others, you set it and you keep it.
Not for this. WP Sell Services runs standalone with its own order workflow, from the first enquiry through delivery, revisions and approval. If you already use WooCommerce for products, the two can coexist.
This is the honest hard part and no plugin solves it. A site of your own does not come with an audience, so the first customers usually come from somewhere you already are: past clients, a mailing list, a community you belong to, or referrals. Many people run a marketplace profile and their own site side by side for a while, and shift the repeat work across.
A complete marketplace, whether you are the only vendor on it or the one running it for everyone else.