Awful TRS experience

[weddingstamps]

So I finally decided to try one of those marketing / promote-your-service gigs, and after shopping around for a bit decided to go with a TRS with 1k+ reviews because ain’t that how we all roll…

I won’t mention the gig or seller here but basically it claims to promote sites that are specifically related to brides or weddings. Obviously, I specialize in wedding logos so I went ahead and ordered.

The seller delivered in a day as promised, with a links to two FB pages, two Pinterest pages, and three obscure blogspot sites on which she had ‘promoted’ my fiverr profile and gigs.

When I checked the FB pages (each with about 1-2k followers), it was literally ad after ad after ad - likely promoting products from her previous Fiverr customers, and none of the posts on those pages have a single like or comment. It’s both sad and hilarious at the same time.

There was no original content at all, not even a generic picture quote or something. I asked her if her followers were real, and she affirmed that they are. I don’t know about you, but I sure am puzzled as hell as to why one would even ‘follow’ or ‘like’ a page like that.

Her Pinterest sites have 200+ followers each. I have 1.4k on mine, and I paid for this?

There is nothing organic about her social media pages, zero engagement, and I don’t think people can even see her posts because the algorithm probably won’t show them with such little to non-existent engagement happening.

The thing is, I can’t fault her as she basically did what was written on the can, and delivered.
But why do I feel so cheated?

Sure, you can claim to ‘promote’ a product, but you very well know it’s not going to drive any traffic whatsoever. Clients not familiar with social media may think it’s great, woahhhhh look at all those linkssss, but I can tell rightaway.

I hope this TRS reflects on the quality and integrity of her services.

[frank_d]

I hope you left an honest review.

[catwriter]

Someone correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t it now forbidden to offer promoting Fiverr gigs?

[uxreview]

So I finally decided to try one of those marketing / promote-your-service gigs, and after shopping around for a bit decided to go with a TRS with 1k+ reviews because ain’t that how we all roll…

I won’t mention the gig or seller here but basically it claims to promote sites that are specifically related to brides or weddings. Obviously, I specialize in wedding logos so I went ahead and ordered.

The seller delivered in a day as promised, with a links to two FB pages, two Pinterest pages, and three obscure blogspot sites on which she had ‘promoted’ my fiverr profile and gigs.

When I checked the FB pages (each with about 1-2k followers), it was literally ad after ad after ad - likely promoting products from her previous Fiverr customers, and none of the posts on those pages have a single like or comment. It’s both sad and hilarious at the same time.

There was no original content at all, not even a generic picture quote or something. I asked her if her followers were real, and she affirmed that they are. I don’t know about you, but I sure am puzzled as hell as to why one would even ‘follow’ or ‘like’ a page like that.

Her Pinterest sites have 200+ followers each. I have 1.4k on mine, and I paid for this?

There is nothing organic about her social media pages, zero engagement, and I don’t think people can even see her posts because the algorithm probably won’t show them with such little to non-existent engagement happening.

The thing is, I can’t fault her as she basically did what was written on the can, and delivered.

But why do I feel so cheated?

Sure, you can claim to ‘promote’ a product, but you very well know it’s not going to drive any traffic whatsoever. Clients not familiar with social media may think it’s great, woahhhhh look at all those linkssss, but I can tell rightaway.

I hope this TRS reflects on the quality and integrity of her services.

links to two FB pages, two Pinterest pages, and three obscure blogspot sites on which she had ‘promoted’ my fiverr profile and gigs.

You should have asked in advance where exactly will your service be promoted and who will be the target audience.

“Real users” - unfortunately this doesn’t mean anything. Her followers might be real users, but if they are not your target audience then it doesn’t really matter.

a TRS with 1k+ reviews

When it comes to marketing, a lot of people don’t even know what they are buying.

[eoinfinnegan]

May I ask what the cost for this “promotion” was?

[weddingstamps]

Someone correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t it now forbidden to offer promoting Fiverr gigs?

Someone correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t it now forbidden to offer promoting Fiverr gigs?

Please enlighten me too. With a dedicated ‘Promote Your Gig’ page everytime a new gig is created, and multiple Share buttons for Facebook, Twitter, Google plus and LinkedIn displayed prominently at the top right of every gig page (it appears only on your own gigs) - I am of the impression that Fiverr is pretty okay with us promoting our gigs on social media.

You should have asked in advance where exactly will your service be promoted and who will be the target audience.

This is her gig description ad verbatim:

[gig description truncated upon suggestion]

I sell wedding logos.

She promotes “brides and weddings relate websites”.

I think it’s fairly safe to assume that I’m looking at a pretty relevant target audience here.

“Real users” - unfortunately this doesn’t mean anything. Her followers might be real users, but if they are not your target audience then it doesn’t really matter.

Not quite sure why you have “real users” within quotation marks here… I never once used that phrase in my post 😉

Anyhow, her followers are definitely not ‘real users’.

Mods - am I allowed to post the FB page link here? It doesn’t bear any similarity to the seller’s fiverr username.

May I ask what the cost for this “promotion” was?

$5. It goes to show that:

1. You do get what you pay for, sometimes - as in this case - a lot less than what you pay for
2. You can indeed become a TRS by posting links to FB pages with fake followers, and on dead blogs that don’t even have any text under the ‘About’ heading (really, they just left it blank…and have no qualms about showing customers the blog as proof of delivery), attracting volume with base prices.

   Well there you go mek sells - tried and tested!!

[uxreview]

Someone correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t it now forbidden to offer promoting Fiverr gigs?

Please enlighten me too. With a dedicated ‘Promote Your Gig’ page everytime a new gig is created, and multiple Share buttons for Facebook, Twitter, Google plus and LinkedIn displayed prominently at the top right of every gig page (it appears only on your own gigs) - I am of the impression that Fiverr is pretty okay with us promoting our gigs on social media.

You should have asked in advance where exactly will your service be promoted and who will be the target audience.

This is her gig description ad verbatim:

[gig description truncated upon suggestion]

I sell wedding logos.

She promotes “brides and weddings relate websites”.

I think it’s fairly safe to assume that I’m looking at a pretty relevant target audience here.

“Real users” - unfortunately this doesn’t mean anything. Her followers might be real users, but if they are not your target audience then it doesn’t really matter.

Not quite sure why you have “real users” within quotation marks here… I never once used that phrase in my post 😉

Anyhow, her followers are definitely not ‘real users’.

Mods - am I allowed to post the FB page link here? It doesn’t bear any similarity to the seller’s fiverr username.

May I ask what the cost for this “promotion” was?

$5. It goes to show that:

1. You do get what you pay for, sometimes - as in this case - a lot less than what you pay for
2. You can indeed become a TRS by posting links to FB pages with fake followers, and on dead blogs that don’t even have any text under the ‘About’ heading (really, they just left it blank…and have no qualms about showing customers the blog as proof of delivery), attracting volume with base prices.

   Well there you go mek sells - tried and tested!!

At least 5 backlinks guaranteed

This doesn’t really say much. You should have asked specifically what are those backlinks.

Right now their behind is covered because they probably gave you those 5 backlinks. Fiverr will not evaluate how effective those links are, which means it’s difficult to raise a complaint.

Look, I feel that you’re getting rather defensive about this, while we are simply trying to give you tips on how to properly pick your next seller (should you choose to do this) 🙂

The point is that I would not recommend hiring anyone for $5 without properly interviewing the seller. Think of it this way, if those promotions would actually help buyers earn $$$ then why would the seller charge $5? If someone offers marketing service at such a low price then you should poke around to see why.

I found her profile and I can see that she’s selling backlinks and promises to post your service on social media sites for $5. It probably takes her 15 minutes to do this and that’s exactly what her buyers will get for $5.

I’m not trying to point fingers and blame you here. I’m just explaining how you could have avoided this situation.

[weddingstamps]

At least 5 backlinks guaranteed

This doesn’t really say much. You should have asked specifically what are those backlinks.

Right now their behind is covered because they probably gave you those 5 backlinks. Fiverr will not evaluate how effective those links are, which means it’s difficult to raise a complaint.

Look, I feel that you’re getting rather defensive about this, while we are simply trying to give you tips on how to properly pick your next seller (should you choose to do this) 🙂

The point is that I would not recommend hiring anyone for $5 without properly interviewing the seller. Think of it this way, if those promotions would actually help buyers earn $$$ then why would the seller charge $5? If someone offers marketing service at such a low price then you should poke around to see why.

I found her profile and I can see that she’s selling backlinks and promises to post your service on social media sites for $5. It probably takes her 15 minutes to do this and that’s exactly what her buyers will get for $5.

I’m not trying to point fingers and blame you here. I’m just explaining how you could have avoided this situation.

Oh don’t get me wrong - everything you said makes sense and is much appreciated 🙂

I’m just a little concerned as to how one could actually become a TRS doing work of such poor calibre.

The gig I bought is one of just two gigs that she has on her profile.

[eoinfinnegan]

Someone correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t it now forbidden to offer promoting Fiverr gigs?

Please enlighten me too. With a dedicated ‘Promote Your Gig’ page everytime a new gig is created, and multiple Share buttons for Facebook, Twitter, Google plus and LinkedIn displayed prominently at the top right of every gig page (it appears only on your own gigs) - I am of the impression that Fiverr is pretty okay with us promoting our gigs on social media.

You should have asked in advance where exactly will your service be promoted and who will be the target audience.

This is her gig description ad verbatim:

[gig description truncated upon suggestion]

I sell wedding logos.

She promotes “brides and weddings relate websites”.

I think it’s fairly safe to assume that I’m looking at a pretty relevant target audience here.

“Real users” - unfortunately this doesn’t mean anything. Her followers might be real users, but if they are not your target audience then it doesn’t really matter.

Not quite sure why you have “real users” within quotation marks here… I never once used that phrase in my post 😉

Anyhow, her followers are definitely not ‘real users’.

Mods - am I allowed to post the FB page link here? It doesn’t bear any similarity to the seller’s fiverr username.

May I ask what the cost for this “promotion” was?

$5. It goes to show that:

1. You do get what you pay for, sometimes - as in this case - a lot less than what you pay for
2. You can indeed become a TRS by posting links to FB pages with fake followers, and on dead blogs that don’t even have any text under the ‘About’ heading (really, they just left it blank…and have no qualms about showing customers the blog as proof of delivery), attracting volume with base prices.

   Well there you go mek sells - tried and tested!!

You can indeed become a TRS by posting links to FB pages with fake followers

Did you not look at the negative reviews for that seller?

They say exactly what you are saying.

Not sure why you would even bother trying that gig.

TRS assessment does not check the work independently but relies on the reviews, sales volume and other stats. If buyers have no clue what they are buying then they generally give 5 stars. Also, they have been around since 2012, back when getting TRS was like collecting cereal tokens for a prize.

Unfortunately, you wont get the money back as they did deliver what they said they would - its just worthless. Fortunately it was only $5.

[uxreview]

Oh don’t get me wrong - everything you said makes sense and is much appreciated 🙂

I’m just a little concerned as to how one could actually become a TRS doing work of such poor calibre.

The gig I bought is one of just two gigs that she has on her profile.

I’m just a little concerned as to how one could actually become a TRS doing work of such poor calibre.

I agree with Eoin on this one. Getting TRS used to be about volume and I’m sure if anyone didn’t like it she probably gave refunds to avoid a negative review.

When I look at her reviews then I see some red flags there

• Clients claim that they received some kind of report. If I wish to promote my website then the only person who sees the actual stats from the volume is me. I can’t imagine what kind of report that was.
• Some sellers claimed that the service was quick and links were created. I bet those users gave the review as soon as the links were created. They probably didn’t even wait for the results and they can’t change their review later.
• There were also reviews from so called marketing gurus, so I’m guessing probably swapping reviews with each other.
• As Eoin mentioned, there were negative reviews telling the same thing you did. Those are probably more tech savvy clients who figured it out.

These are just my assumptions, but these are enough for me not to hire her.

[cyaxrex]

Someone correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t it now forbidden to offer promoting Fiverr gigs?

Please enlighten me too. With a dedicated ‘Promote Your Gig’ page everytime a new gig is created, and multiple Share buttons for Facebook, Twitter, Google plus and LinkedIn displayed prominently at the top right of every gig page (it appears only on your own gigs) - I am of the impression that Fiverr is pretty okay with us promoting our gigs on social media.

You should have asked in advance where exactly will your service be promoted and who will be the target audience.

This is her gig description ad verbatim:

[gig description truncated upon suggestion]

I sell wedding logos.

She promotes “brides and weddings relate websites”.

I think it’s fairly safe to assume that I’m looking at a pretty relevant target audience here.

“Real users” - unfortunately this doesn’t mean anything. Her followers might be real users, but if they are not your target audience then it doesn’t really matter.

Not quite sure why you have “real users” within quotation marks here… I never once used that phrase in my post 😉

Anyhow, her followers are definitely not ‘real users’.

Mods - am I allowed to post the FB page link here? It doesn’t bear any similarity to the seller’s fiverr username.

May I ask what the cost for this “promotion” was?

$5. It goes to show that:

1. You do get what you pay for, sometimes - as in this case - a lot less than what you pay for
2. You can indeed become a TRS by posting links to FB pages with fake followers, and on dead blogs that don’t even have any text under the ‘About’ heading (really, they just left it blank…and have no qualms about showing customers the blog as proof of delivery), attracting volume with base prices.

   Well there you go mek sells - tried and tested!!

$5. It goes to show that:

You do get what you pay for, sometimes - as in this case - a lot less than what you pay for

Sorry, but I think that you are misinterpreting this situation. You have said that the seller provided you with what they say they will in their gig description. ‘Getting a lot less,’ therefore, isn’t the case at all. you have expected more from the service in question than is actually advertised.

Also, you have not ‘taken a risk’ on a TRS if you have spent $5.

This situation could have been avoided if:

• You started with your own predefined content marketing & social media marketing strategy
• As part of this strategy, you identified a set target audience and geographic area to target your marketing at
• You researched what kind of content enthuses your target audience
• You looked for creators of that media with a good reputation
• You contacted a seller in advance, told them what your key strategic goals are, and asked if they could help

I don’t mean to sound overly critical, but I see this almost every day.

A lot of people/aspirant entrepreneurs (and not just $5 buyers) approach things like web marketing in completely the wrong way. They don’t take responsibility for doing any of the above (which are very basic steps). Instead, they mentally compartmentalize different aspects of what they see as their potential success, and order blocks of scattered services which even when executed competently, simply won’t ever result in anything like real marketing results.

I can safely say that 90% of people who order from me on Fiverr are basically burning money. This is not because I provide a poor service. This is because people who order video work from me often upload this straight to Youtube and you end up with video files listed for SEO purposes as 596978070988.mp4. Then I have people who order marketing content but have extraordinarily abysmal websites which instead of revamping, they attempt to order content and backlinks for on Fiverr.

If I were you, I would not sit feeling cheated. I would stop for a moment, say to myself: 'Right, when I order on Fiverr with my budget, I am obviously going to get exactly what I pay for. In this case, what is my actual strategy? And what services do I really need to get things moving?

[uxreview]

$5. It goes to show that:

You do get what you pay for, sometimes - as in this case - a lot less than what you pay for

Sorry, but I think that you are misinterpreting this situation. You have said that the seller provided you with what they say they will in their gig description. ‘Getting a lot less,’ therefore, isn’t the case at all. you have expected more from the service in question than is actually advertised.

Also, you have not ‘taken a risk’ on a TRS if you have spent $5.

This situation could have been avoided if:

• You started with your own predefined content marketing & social media marketing strategy
• As part of this strategy, you identified a set target audience and geographic area to target your marketing at
• You researched what kind of content enthuses your target audience
• You looked for creators of that media with a good reputation
• You contacted a seller in advance, told them what your key strategic goals are, and asked if they could help

I don’t mean to sound overly critical, but I see this almost every day.

A lot of people/aspirant entrepreneurs (and not just $5 buyers) approach things like web marketing in completely the wrong way. They don’t take responsibility for doing any of the above (which are very basic steps). Instead, they mentally compartmentalize different aspects of what they see as their potential success, and order blocks of scattered services which even when executed competently, simply won’t ever result in anything like real marketing results.

I can safely say that 90% of people who order from me on Fiverr are basically burning money. This is not because I provide a poor service. This is because people who order video work from me often upload this straight to Youtube and you end up with video files listed for SEO purposes as 596978070988.mp4. Then I have people who order marketing content but have extraordinarily abysmal websites which instead of revamping, they attempt to order content and backlinks for on Fiverr.

If I were you, I would not sit feeling cheated. I would stop for a moment, say to myself: 'Right, when I order on Fiverr with my budget, I am obviously going to get exactly what I pay for. In this case, what is my actual strategy? And what services do I really need to get things moving?

I would stop for a moment, say to myself: 'Right, when I order on Fiverr with my budget, I am obviously going to get exactly what I pay for. In this case, what is my actual strategy? And what services do I really need to get things moving?

This is great advice! This should be your takeaway from this entire thread 🙂

You had a bad seller, but you lost only $5. Now it’s time to take a step back, rethink your strategy and give it another try 😉

[misscrystal]

Someone correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t it now forbidden to offer promoting Fiverr gigs?

Please enlighten me too. With a dedicated ‘Promote Your Gig’ page everytime a new gig is created, and multiple Share buttons for Facebook, Twitter, Google plus and LinkedIn displayed prominently at the top right of every gig page (it appears only on your own gigs) - I am of the impression that Fiverr is pretty okay with us promoting our gigs on social media.

You should have asked in advance where exactly will your service be promoted and who will be the target audience.

This is her gig description ad verbatim:

[gig description truncated upon suggestion]

I sell wedding logos.

She promotes “brides and weddings relate websites”.

I think it’s fairly safe to assume that I’m looking at a pretty relevant target audience here.

“Real users” - unfortunately this doesn’t mean anything. Her followers might be real users, but if they are not your target audience then it doesn’t really matter.

Not quite sure why you have “real users” within quotation marks here… I never once used that phrase in my post 😉

Anyhow, her followers are definitely not ‘real users’.

Mods - am I allowed to post the FB page link here? It doesn’t bear any similarity to the seller’s fiverr username.

May I ask what the cost for this “promotion” was?

$5. It goes to show that:

1. You do get what you pay for, sometimes - as in this case - a lot less than what you pay for
2. You can indeed become a TRS by posting links to FB pages with fake followers, and on dead blogs that don’t even have any text under the ‘About’ heading (really, they just left it blank…and have no qualms about showing customers the blog as proof of delivery), attracting volume with base prices.

   Well there you go mek sells - tried and tested!!

brides and weddings relate websites

Based on the gig description I would expect to get exactly what you described:

[Guest offlinehelpers]

No longer needed! ☀️

[misscrystal]

No longer needed! ☀️

If you are talking to me, I easily found the gig from what the OP said.

[Guest offlinehelpers]

If you are talking to me, I easily found the gig from what the OP said.

Thank you to @weddingstamps for editing their post! 🙂

[weddingstamps]

I’m just a little concerned as to how one could actually become a TRS doing work of such poor calibre.

I agree with Eoin on this one. Getting TRS used to be about volume and I’m sure if anyone didn’t like it she probably gave refunds to avoid a negative review.

When I look at her reviews then I see some red flags there

• Clients claim that they received some kind of report. If I wish to promote my website then the only person who sees the actual stats from the volume is me. I can’t imagine what kind of report that was.
• Some sellers claimed that the service was quick and links were created. I bet those users gave the review as soon as the links were created. They probably didn’t even wait for the results and they can’t change their review later.
• There were also reviews from so called marketing gurus, so I’m guessing probably swapping reviews with each other.
• As Eoin mentioned, there were negative reviews telling the same thing you did. Those are probably more tech savvy clients who figured it out.

These are just my assumptions, but these are enough for me not to hire her.

There were also reviews from so called marketing gurus, so I’m guessing probably swapping reviews with each other.

That’s some expert snooping! I clicked ‘Show More’ on the reviews about twice but didn’t bother to go any further- it is after all only $5. So yes, I only have myself to blame. Still an awful gig though, and entirely undeserving of TRS status.

If you’re going to trash somebody’s gig and reputation, perhaps it might be better to remove the description which makes the gig and the seller clearly identifiable?

Done. I only posted the gig description in response to @uxreview 's suggestion that I may have targeted the wrong audience, but you are right in that it is unfair. Anyway rant over and a cheap lesson learnt, so it doesn’t have to be up anymore.

[catwriter]

Someone correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t it now forbidden to offer promoting Fiverr gigs?

Please enlighten me too. With a dedicated ‘Promote Your Gig’ page everytime a new gig is created, and multiple Share buttons for Facebook, Twitter, Google plus and LinkedIn displayed prominently at the top right of every gig page (it appears only on your own gigs) - I am of the impression that Fiverr is pretty okay with us promoting our gigs on social media.

You should have asked in advance where exactly will your service be promoted and who will be the target audience.

This is her gig description ad verbatim:

[gig description truncated upon suggestion]

I sell wedding logos.

She promotes “brides and weddings relate websites”.

I think it’s fairly safe to assume that I’m looking at a pretty relevant target audience here.

“Real users” - unfortunately this doesn’t mean anything. Her followers might be real users, but if they are not your target audience then it doesn’t really matter.

Not quite sure why you have “real users” within quotation marks here… I never once used that phrase in my post 😉

Anyhow, her followers are definitely not ‘real users’.

Mods - am I allowed to post the FB page link here? It doesn’t bear any similarity to the seller’s fiverr username.

May I ask what the cost for this “promotion” was?

$5. It goes to show that:

1. You do get what you pay for, sometimes - as in this case - a lot less than what you pay for
2. You can indeed become a TRS by posting links to FB pages with fake followers, and on dead blogs that don’t even have any text under the ‘About’ heading (really, they just left it blank…and have no qualms about showing customers the blog as proof of delivery), attracting volume with base prices.

   Well there you go mek sells - tried and tested!!

Please enlighten me too. With a dedicated ‘Promote Your Gig’ page everytime a new gig is created, and multiple Share buttons for Facebook, Twitter, Google plus and LinkedIn displayed prominently at the top right of every gig page (it appears only on your own gigs) - I am of the impression that Fiverr is pretty okay with us promoting our gigs on social media.

Fiverr is perfectly fine with us promoting our own gigs on social media, yes. However, it looks like they’ve been removing gigs that offer to promote other sellers’ gigs, help them write their descriptions, and so on.