Writing a Bug Report That Actually Gets Paid

Hey friends! Nitin here 👋

Real talk: finding the bug is only HALF the job. A great bug with a bad report gets rejected, lowballed, or closed as “informational.” A clear report gets respect, full payout, and a good relationship with the program. After 90+ Fiverr orders and a lot of reports, here’s what actually works.

Why The Report Matters So Much

The person reading your report (the triager) sees HUNDREDS of submissions. They’re tired. If they can’t quickly understand and reproduce your bug, they move on. Your job is to make their job effortless. Make them go “oh, clearly a real bug, clearly serious, approved.”

The Structure That Works

Every good report has these parts:

1. Title — clear and specific. Not “XSS found.” Instead: “Stored XSS in support ticket subject leads to admin session theft.”

2. Summary — 2–3 sentences. What’s the bug, where, and why it matters.

3. Steps to Reproduce — numbered, EXACT steps. Anyone should be able to follow them and see the bug. This is the most important section. Be boringly precise.

4. Proof of Concept — screenshots, a short video, the exact request/payload. Show, don’t just tell.

5. Impact — explain what an attacker could actually DO. “This lets any user read any other user’s private messages” hits harder than “there is an IDOR.”

6. Remediation — suggest a fix. It shows you understand the bug and builds trust.

The Impact Section Is Where Money Is Won Or Lost

Triagers rate severity based on IMPACT. Same bug, two ways to describe it:

• “I can change the user ID and see other data.”
• “Any authenticated user can read ANY other user’s full profile — name, email, address, payment info — by incrementing a single ID. This affects all ~2M users and is a serious privacy breach.”

Same bug. The second one gets paid double. Spell out the real-world damage clearly (without exaggerating — triagers can smell hype).

Common Mistakes That Kill Reports

• Vague steps that don’t reproduce
• No proof (just claims)
• Overhyping a low bug as “CRITICAL!!!” (instant credibility loss)
• Reporting unverified scanner output
• Being rude or impatient with triagers (they’re human, be kind — it genuinely helps)

My Honest Tip

Write the report as if the reader knows NOTHING about the app and has 60 seconds. Clear title, clean steps, one good screenshot or video, sharp impact statement. I’ve seen mediocre bugs get great payouts because the report was a pleasure to read, and great bugs get lowballed because the report was a mess. The writeup IS part of the skill. Invest in it.

Report like a pro!