? A personal view of Fiverr business model change

[lenasemenkova]

I couldn’t get what you all are ranting about until I viewed my category in incognito mode. Then I went “Oh.”

This is doing what I’ve never seen a platform that is interested in selling my services (hypothetically, I guess, I don’t even know anymore) - deliberately and effectively hiding my achievements from view.

Because let’s not with the “the evaluation period is 60 days so it makes sense”. If they wanted a potential buyer to be aware these are not the lifetime reviews, they’d put “Last 60 days” in that friendly fun yellow right next to the star, no hovers or extra clicks. The hover is there so we as sellers don’t freak out right away, it’s cosmetic and useless in a way “close your own orders, yay” is cosmetic and useless.

Anyway. Beautiful article, Juan. A bit dramatic but I personally do feel dramatic about the entire situation, so it fits. 🙂

[miiila]

On 8/18/2018 at 3:37 AM, cyaxrex said:

• People with multiple gigs and gigs in different niches (like myself) now look like complete newbies. One way to counter this would be to aggressively market gigs but what would be the point? As well as not being able to handle 1 sale per day on each gig, this would only ever result in a total of 60 reviews. (Which buyers will still assume are lifetime review numbers)

One idea behind this may be to reduce the number of duplicate multiple gigs

(I’ve seen lots of those in my category, offering the exact same thing down to a t, 100% same gig description, same price, everything, only the titles (and lately the gig images which sometimes were the exact same image for n gigs too) slightly manipulated, I suppose to not toggle any superficial check or to claim it’s a different gig when CS calls them out on it - I’m talking about “will do professional translation”, “will do perfect translation” will do great translation" kind of multiple gigs, not about actually different gigs)

and to make people who offer n different things focus on one or few gigs/line of work which Fiverr might think looks more in line with a ‘Pro’ marketplace. The newly introduced categories in Writing and Translation seem to support that thought.

And the fewer gigs you have, the higher the chance of having a “high enough” review number showing (to entice a buyer to click on it), so maybe that’s what they hope for, that, after their attempts of culling sellers (phone verification, ID, …) sellers themselves will cull the huge amount of gigs.

That said, I still don’t like the new way of showing the random number of reviews/60 days, because it’s not fair, enough reasons were mentioned already, and yes, my most important concern is what you and Juan also said, that it makes Fiverr look like one of those no-traffic places where you always have a slight feeling it may be a scam (or not worth investing time in as it will go nowhere) because “the hype” and the actual numbers don’t match.

I know I clicked away from a lot of freelance websites I looked at because it seemed a bit desolate, because of lots of gigs without reviews or only few reviews.

So, to people who don’t know Fiverr already and know it was one of the pioneers and exists, and that very lucratively, since many years, this new review display system might be a real turn-off.

Quote

• People who will benefit from this change will be Fiverr sellers who farm out orders to others and/or sell easy to deliver pre-packaged services like Google translate translations, third party sourced logos, videos, graphic design templates, and spun web content

Absolutely. And those had and have it much easier all the time already anyway (can accept no matter how many orders, can deliver quickly, never get overbooked, don’t need to use 'limit orders in queue, are ranked higher because of quick deliveries,…) 

[cyaxrex]

• People with multiple gigs and gigs in different niches (like myself) now look like complete newbies. One way to counter this would be to aggressively market gigs but what would be the point? As well as not being able to handle 1 sale per day on each gig, this would only ever result in a total of 60 reviews. (Which buyers will still assume are lifetime review numbers)

One idea behind this may be to reduce the number of duplicate multiple gigs

(I’ve seen lots of those in my category, offering the exact same thing down to a t, 100% same gig description, same price, everything, only the titles (and lately the gig images which sometimes were the exact same image for n gigs too) slightly manipulated, I suppose to not toggle any superficial check or to claim it’s a different gig when CS calls them out on it - I’m talking about “will do professional translation”, “will do perfect translation” will do great translation" kind of multiple gigs, not about actually different gigs)

and to make people who offer n different things focus on one or few gigs/line of work which Fiverr might think looks more in line with a ‘Pro’ marketplace. The newly introduced categories in Writing and Translation seem to support that thought.

And the fewer gigs you have, the higher the chance of having a “high enough” review number showing (to entice a buyer to click on it), so maybe that’s what they hope for, that, after their attempts of culling sellers (phone verification, ID, …) sellers themselves will cull the huge amount of gigs.

That said, I still don’t like the new way of showing the random number of reviews/60 days, because it’s not fair, enough reasons were mentioned already, and yes, my most important concern is what you and Juan also said, that it makes Fiverr look like one of those no-traffic places where you always have a slight feeling it may be a scam (or not worth investing time in as it will go nowhere) because “the hype” and the actual numbers don’t match.

I know I clicked away from a lot of freelance websites I looked at because it seemed a bit desolate, because of lots of gigs without reviews or only few reviews.

So, to people who don’t know Fiverr already and know it was one of the pioneers and exists, and that very lucratively, since many years, this new review display system might be a real turn-off.

• People who will benefit from this change will be Fiverr sellers who farm out orders to others and/or sell easy to deliver pre-packaged services like Google translate translations, third party sourced logos, videos, graphic design templates, and spun web content

Absolutely. And those had and have it much easier all the time already anyway (can accept no matter how many orders, can deliver quickly, never get overbooked, don’t need to use 'limit orders in queue, are ranked higher because of quick deliveries,…)

One idea behind this may be to reduce the number of duplicate multiple gigs

If so, this is just another attempt by Fiverr to swat a fly with a hand grenade.

I do not have multiple gigs. I have gigs in different niches like lots of other sellers do. I also see Pros which could be argued as having very similar/borderline duplicate gigs.

That said, even if I had 1 gig, I could still not reasonably cater to more than 1 order per day. Then there is the fact that on average only 75% of my clients leave a review. There is simply nothing that legitimate sellers can do to now benefit from the same amount of leverage and exposure on Fiverr as a seller selling a knocked of version of whatever it is they offer and which they can deliver in under an hour.

Also, when buying on Fiverr in the past, I have only ever bought from sellers with 50-100 reviews. This gives me greater confidence that I am buying from a seller I can trust. Now I don’t even meet my own buying criteria!

[miiila]

One idea behind this may be to reduce the number of duplicate multiple gigs

If so, this is just another attempt by Fiverr to swat a fly with a hand grenade.

I do not have multiple gigs. I have gigs in different niches like lots of other sellers do. I also see Pros which could be argued as having very similar/borderline duplicate gigs.

That said, even if I had 1 gig, I could still not reasonably cater to more than 1 order per day. Then there is the fact that on average only 75% of my clients leave a review. There is simply nothing that legitimate sellers can do to now benefit from the same amount of leverage and exposure on Fiverr as a seller selling a knocked of version of whatever it is they offer and which they can deliver in under an hour.

Also, when buying on Fiverr in the past, I have only ever bought from sellers with 50-100 reviews. This gives me greater confidence that I am buying from a seller I can trust. Now I don’t even meet my own buying criteria!

I do not have multiple gigs. I have gigs in different niches like lots of other sellers do. I also see Pros which could be argued as having very similar/borderline duplicate gigs.

Yes, I know, that’s why I pointed out I’m talking about gigs that literally have 0 difference than “professional”, “perfect”, “great” in the title.

If so, this is just another attempt by Fiverr to swat a fly with a hand grenade.

Yes.

That said, even if I had 1 gig, I could still not reasonably cater to more than 1 order per day. Then there is the fact that on average only 75% of my clients leave a review. There is simply nothing that legitimate sellers can do to now benefit from the same amount of leverage and exposure on Fiverr as a seller selling a knocked of version of whatever it is they offer and which they can deliver in under an hour.

Yes, I get that, I probably won’t ever get to even a 1 gig/day rate in my niche, but 1/day would still be a few in 60 days, while a seller with duplicate gigs as I described, for example, there is one right now with 3 or 4 of the exact same gig with ~250 reviews on one of them, and below 100 reviews on the other 2 or 3, might “consolidate” to the 250 reviews gig. Sometimes they get reported as it’s against ToS and you see them “only” having 2x the same thing instead of 5x or 6x, the next time you notice them, you see they are up to 4x or 5x the same gig again. That’s what I meant. And as we know Fiverr wants everything automated and not to invest in human labour, they might think anything that might lead to things they wish for being done by the sellers themselves, like culling their own gigs, is a plus.

I personally don’t think it will work because those sellers who do those things simply seem to violate/scam smarter when they are caught, also,

swat a fly with a hand grenade.

Well, I hope it won’t keep too many potential new buyers away and that they’ll eventually manage/want to make searches, filters, and rankings so that they help existing and customers who try giving it a shot to find the right gigs and sellers.

[cyaxrex]

I do not have multiple gigs. I have gigs in different niches like lots of other sellers do. I also see Pros which could be argued as having very similar/borderline duplicate gigs.

Yes, I know, that’s why I pointed out I’m talking about gigs that literally have 0 difference than “professional”, “perfect”, “great” in the title.

If so, this is just another attempt by Fiverr to swat a fly with a hand grenade.

Yes.

That said, even if I had 1 gig, I could still not reasonably cater to more than 1 order per day. Then there is the fact that on average only 75% of my clients leave a review. There is simply nothing that legitimate sellers can do to now benefit from the same amount of leverage and exposure on Fiverr as a seller selling a knocked of version of whatever it is they offer and which they can deliver in under an hour.

Yes, I get that, I probably won’t ever get to even a 1 gig/day rate in my niche, but 1/day would still be a few in 60 days, while a seller with duplicate gigs as I described, for example, there is one right now with 3 or 4 of the exact same gig with ~250 reviews on one of them, and below 100 reviews on the other 2 or 3, might “consolidate” to the 250 reviews gig. Sometimes they get reported as it’s against ToS and you see them “only” having 2x the same thing instead of 5x or 6x, the next time you notice them, you see they are up to 4x or 5x the same gig again. That’s what I meant. And as we know Fiverr wants everything automated and not to invest in human labour, they might think anything that might lead to things they wish for being done by the sellers themselves, like culling their own gigs, is a plus.

I personally don’t think it will work because those sellers who do those things simply seem to violate/scam smarter when they are caught, also,

swat a fly with a hand grenade.

Well, I hope it won’t keep too many potential new buyers away and that they’ll eventually manage/want to make searches, filters, and rankings so that they help existing and customers who try giving it a shot to find the right gigs and sellers.

Yes, I get that, I probably won’t ever get to even a 1 gig/day rate in my niche, but 1/day would still be a few in 60 days,

There is just one more problem though. Even if sellers could manage 100 reviews in 60-days, buyers will come here, see that, and then compare what they see to sellers on other platforms with 100’s and 1,000’s of reviews.

Fiverr will just end up looking empty. What Fiverr needs to think about first and foremost is buyer behavior. When people buy online they expect making purchases to run as smoothly as possible. Shopping carts, no hidden fees, and products with the best reviews, are what buyers have looked for since the birth of e-commerce. Fiverr has now done away with all three.

Lastly, where is the visible payoff or justification? Where is the Internet lighting up saying “Wow! Rob Janoff is on Fiverr!” Where is the press attention? Where are the buses of high-paying professional clients which Pros are meant to bring with them?

Where is something visibly exciting happening with Fiverr which is something for buyers and sellers to feel enthused about?

It is all madness.

[eoinfinnegan]

I’ve been MIA for a while and just lurking but pretty much everything you have said in the OP is what I have been thinking recently. I read Cy’s post re Fiverr being like a Fiverr clone and thought YES! that is exactly the impression. The type of site that employs people to spam Fiverr or Upwork sellers asking them to join.

Fiverr recently celebrated their 8th anniversary with a “do” in their HQ so I don’t understand the decision to take away the track record it has which provides so much social proof to counteract the awful reviews it has on so many Review Sites (not forgetting the fact that Fiverr even asked all sellers to post a review on one such site in what I can only see as trying to balance the negatives there).

In truth, I do see the purpose, to balance the reviews and keep everyone on their toes or whatever. In one way, I believe it could be useful to see how many sales someone has in the past 60 days (from the buyer perspective) but this could be done if the display was reversed. ie. Have lifetime reviews shown and then 60-day reviews shown when you hover over it.

As many know, I often seem to defend what others deem indefensible here but it is always just my honest opinion. However, in this instance my honest opinion is extremely negative. I would go so far as to say that this is the worst thing Fiverr has implemented in my time on the site. I can abide with the decision to focus on promoting Pro gigs and other moves as I get that Fiverr is trying things and after 8 years “Standard Fiverr” should be able to stand on its own for a while. However, this change is showing a complete disregard for the site and its experienced sellers.

[miiila]

I’ve been MIA for a while and just lurking but pretty much everything you have said in the OP is what I have been thinking recently. I read Cy’s post re Fiverr being like a Fiverr clone and thought YES! that is exactly the impression. The type of site that employs people to spam Fiverr or Upwork sellers asking them to join.

Fiverr recently celebrated their 8th anniversary with a “do” in their HQ so I don’t understand the decision to take away the track record it has which provides so much social proof to counteract the awful reviews it has on so many Review Sites (not forgetting the fact that Fiverr even asked all sellers to post a review on one such site in what I can only see as trying to balance the negatives there).

In truth, I do see the purpose, to balance the reviews and keep everyone on their toes or whatever. In one way, I believe it could be useful to see how many sales someone has in the past 60 days (from the buyer perspective) but this could be done if the display was reversed. ie. Have lifetime reviews shown and then 60-day reviews shown when you hover over it.

As many know, I often seem to defend what others deem indefensible here but it is always just my honest opinion. However, in this instance my honest opinion is extremely negative. I would go so far as to say that this is the worst thing Fiverr has implemented in my time on the site. I can abide with the decision to focus on promoting Pro gigs and other moves as I get that Fiverr is trying things and after 8 years “Standard Fiverr” should be able to stand on its own for a while. However, this change is showing a complete disregard for the site and its experienced sellers.

so I don’t understand the decision to take away the track record it has which provides so much social proof to counteract the awful reviews it has on so many Review Sites (not forgetting the fact that Fiverr even asked all sellers to post a review on one such site in what I can only see as trying to balance the negatives there).

That’s a really really good point.

[fast_editing]

Divide and separation strategy does not work for anyone. As new statement (1% Pro), Which is making negative impact on overall.

[armer]

This is a major concern. I often accept big orders from clients. So, I do six orders a month but I’m punished by fiverr even though I’ve earned hundreds of dollars. It doesn’t seem fair at all. 😦

What you are describing is something every reputable seller will have huge problems with.

• People with multiple gigs and gigs in different niches (like myself) now look like complete newbies. One way to counter this would be to aggressively market gigs but what would be the point? As well as not being able to handle 1 sale per day on each gig, this would only ever result in a total of 60 reviews. (Which buyers will still assume are lifetime review numbers)

• People who will benefit from this change will be Fiverr sellers who farm out orders to others and/or sell easy to deliver pre-packaged services like Google translate translations, third party sourced logos, videos, graphic design templates, and spun web content

In the latter case, this is exactly the kind of seller behavior which undermines competing Fiverr platforms. This is why barely anyone uses those. People just sell junk. Also, leveraging junk sellers in this way has further implications:

• Professional freelancers know how important it is to build up their own brand and reputation score. Showing reviews from just the past 60-days WILL drive away sellers. However, Fiverr will also start attracting FEWER professional freelancers and MORE of the kind of people who use copycat Fiverr marketplaces. This will happen and will drive down trust in Fiverr even further

• Even die hard sellers who might stick with Fiverr out of pure loyalty, will now have to seriously consider whether investing in paid advertising and bringing off-Fiverr clients to Fiverr is worthwhile. Not being able to build up your reputation will mean that even the most faithful sellers will now start making a net loss when it comes to ROI when marketing their Fiverr services

• As a result of the two factors above, quality of deliveries on Fiverr will start to fall and this will get noticed immediately by buyers. This will undermine trust in Fiverr and lead to fewer sales across the board

As far as trust goes, I am one of the sellers who feels personally betrayed by Fiverr with this move. In my local co-working space, I was looked on as a black sheep for using Fiverr. Fiverr’s existing reputation is really that low. However, on several occasions I defended the platform. - Basically, by saying: “No, it’s a myth everyone has to sell services at $5 and no, Fiverr isn’t just full of scammers.”

Now what do I say? How can I faithfully recommended Fiverr to buyers when Fiverr purposefully makes it difficult for them to buy from reputable sellers. (Unless they cough up $100 - $5000). And how on Earth can I ever advocate Fiverr to freelancers when Fiverr does everything it can to limit their visible reputability?

Whoever thought of this and whoever told them it was a good idea, needs escorting out of Fiverr HQ and put on a plane to a place as far away from the freelance world as humanly possible.

As far as trust goes, I am one of the sellers who feels personally betrayed by Fiverr with this move. In my local co-working space, I was looked on as a black sheep for using Fiverr. Fiverr’s existing reputation is really that low. However, on several occasions I defended the platform. - Basically, by saying: “No, it’s a myth everyone has to sell services at $5 and no, Fiverr isn’t just full of scammers.”

I second that, you are 100% right.

I introduced Fiverr to many freelancers, but I’m not sure if it worths it anymore…

[cyaxrex]

As far as trust goes, I am one of the sellers who feels personally betrayed by Fiverr with this move. In my local co-working space, I was looked on as a black sheep for using Fiverr. Fiverr’s existing reputation is really that low. However, on several occasions I defended the platform. - Basically, by saying: “No, it’s a myth everyone has to sell services at $5 and no, Fiverr isn’t just full of scammers.”

I second that, you are 100% right.

I introduced Fiverr to many freelancers, but I’m not sure if it worths it anymore…

I introduced Fiverr to may freelancers, but I’m not sure if it worths it anymore…

It is a pity as I actually see co-working spaces as a niche area where Fiverr could directly market itself. Later this year I am moving to a new country where my accommodation and airport pick up is being organized by the co-working space I will be using there.

I personally find co-working quite intimidating, mainly because of the reputation Fiverr has and co-workers themselves often being a bit pretentious. However, just think what a powerful marketing tool co-working spaces could be for Fiverr from a direct marketing perspective.

• Fiverr could work with co-working spaces to advertise and create a hub for freelancers who are travelling and need to know where and how to find the best place to work
• By and large, co-working spaces are used by people who charge Pro rates and work on the ground with leading local brands

Conjuring favor with such groups would be marketing dynamite. Instead, moves like that mentioned in the OP directly deter at least the freelancers I know in real-life from ever taking Fiverr seriously.

[armer]

I introduced Fiverr to may freelancers, but I’m not sure if it worths it anymore…

It is a pity as I actually see co-working spaces as a niche area where Fiverr could directly market itself. Later this year I am moving to a new country where my accommodation and airport pick up is being organized by the co-working space I will be using there.

I personally find co-working quite intimidating, mainly because of the reputation Fiverr has and co-workers themselves often being a bit pretentious. However, just think what a powerful marketing tool co-working spaces could be for Fiverr from a direct marketing perspective.

• Fiverr could work with co-working spaces to advertise and create a hub for freelancers who are travelling and need to know where and how to find the best place to work
• By and large, co-working spaces are used by people who charge Pro rates and work on the ground with leading local brands

Conjuring favor with such groups would be marketing dynamite. Instead, moves like that mentioned in the OP directly deter at least the freelancers I know in real-life from ever taking Fiverr seriously.

Yes, co-workers space is a marketing goldmine.

But again, no one at Fiverr HQ seems to try to improve the community, they are just trying to invent new wheels.

I feel like the Fiverr new motto is like : let’s punish them all for being loyal.

[cyaxrex]

Yes, co-workers space is a marketing goldmine.

But again, no one at Fiverr HQ seems to try to improve the community, they are just trying to invent new wheels.

I feel like the Fiverr new motto is like : let’s punish them all for being loyal.

I feel like the Fiverr new motto is like : let’s punish them all for being loyal.

[juanwriter]

Oh well, I made a mistake when I wrote that sentence. Please add the word “some” at the beginning, as I don’t like to speak for others, and it is not my intention. I just want to reflect that some sellers have already expressed their discomfort and feelings regarding this, but alas, I really don’t think this is an universal statement for all sellers in Fiverr.

I made a mistake too because I misread sellers as buyers. I edited my post, but not in time. I call oops on that part.

If I get into your profile, one of your gigs has been hit by the 60-day dreadful beast: from a 28 ratings, 5 stars, you “went down” to a less appealing 5 ratings, 4.8 stars. Do you think it won’t hurt your business?

I am (as stated) against the review change. Many sellers look bad including all low volume. That change hasn’t hurt my business yet because of my niche. It might or it might not later. I’m against the review display whether it hurts me or not.

Oh by the way, lovely cat you have in your picture. I love cats, lots of them live with me.

Thank you! That particular cat is my darling, Jade. If you looked at my gigs you know how I feel about all things animal-kind. I’m sure your felines are fabulous!

Thank you! That particular cat is my darling, Jade. If you looked at my gigs you know how I feel about all things animal-kind. I’m sure your felines are fabulous!

Lovely Jade! I have almost all kinds and colors, they are so sweet! I have the entire The Matrix cast (Neo, Trinity, Morpheus…), the Lord Of The Rings main characters, the best Saint Seiya fighters (Siryou, Shun, Atenea…). I think you get the picture 😂

Sorry for the off-topic, cats are my passion.

I am (as stated) against the review change. Many sellers look bad including all low volume. That change hasn’t hurt my business yet because of my niche. It might or it might not later. I’m against the review display whether it hurts me or not.

Believe me, I tried to find a single positive reason. Not even one. At first I thought that the implemented process would work eventually, but then I realized the truth behind all of this.

I really think all of this will take its toll to someone up there. Management needs to focus on the people here, buyers and sellers alike, or at least, hear our voices and value the feedback.

[armer]

I feel like the Fiverr new motto is like : let’s punish them all for being loyal.

2g3sxa.jpeg423×600 68.4 KB

Hahahahah true story.

[juanwriter]

This is a major concern. I often accept big orders from clients. So, I do six orders a month but I’m punished by fiverr even though I’ve earned hundreds of dollars. It doesn’t seem fair at all. 😦

This is a major concern. I often accept big orders from clients. So, I do six orders a month but I’m punished by fiverr even though I’ve earned hundreds of dollars. It doesn’t seem fair at all. 😦

Well, that’s my case also. And seems they are forcing us to split big-medium size orders into smaller ones to compensate. It is an intrusive measure.

[helen_graphics]

Thank you very much for such a useful post!

[cyaxrex]

This is a major concern. I often accept big orders from clients. So, I do six orders a month but I’m punished by fiverr even though I’ve earned hundreds of dollars. It doesn’t seem fair at all. 😦

Well, that’s my case also. And seems they are forcing us to split big-medium size orders into smaller ones to compensate. It is an intrusive measure.

Well, that’s my case also. And seems they are forcing us to split big-medium size orders into smallers ones to compensate. It is an intrusive measure.

And this just 2-months after buyers started asking for custom bulk orders to negate the new service fee! (At least in my case).

[armer]

This is a major concern. I often accept big orders from clients. So, I do six orders a month but I’m punished by fiverr even though I’ve earned hundreds of dollars. It doesn’t seem fair at all. 😦

Well, that’s my case also. And seems they are forcing us to split big-medium size orders into smaller ones to compensate. It is an intrusive measure.

Most buyers will not accept to spilt their orders, to avoid the new fees…

[frank_d]

I used my phone to check out how gigs appear and it’s worse than I thought.

My higher priced offering seems like a new gig next to someone’s cheaper $5 gig that has over 60 sales during this 60-day period.

I saw one of @cyaxrex ‘s gig that had 0 reviews and that looked even worse.

On mobile there’s no way to see lifetime reviews at a glance.

Are they trying to keep us in check?

Like we have the monthly evaluations but at the same time we need to make as many sales as possible per month to stay relative?

Does that mean that Fiverr now expects us to lower our rates from time to time or break down large orders to several smaller ones?

Makes 0 sense.

EDIT:
Has this feature rolled out globally?
Is there any chance they are still beta testing and it might get scrapped?

[lenasemenkova]

I used my phone to check out how gigs appear and it’s worse than I thought.

My higher priced offering seems like a new gig next to someone’s cheaper $5 gig that has over 60 sales during this 60-day period.

I saw one of @cyaxrex ‘s gig that had 0 reviews and that looked even worse.

On mobile there’s no way to see lifetime reviews at a glance.

Are they trying to keep us in check?

Like we have the monthly evaluations but at the same time we need to make as many sales as possible per month to stay relative?

Does that mean that Fiverr now expects us to lower our rates from time to time or break down large orders to several smaller ones?

Makes 0 sense.

EDIT:

Has this feature rolled out globally?

Is there any chance they are still beta testing and it might get scrapped?

Has this feature rolled out globally?

I don’t see it unless I’m using incognito mode. But maybe, as CS loves to say, I just need to “clear my cache/cookies”.

[cyaxrex]

I used my phone to check out how gigs appear and it’s worse than I thought.

My higher priced offering seems like a new gig next to someone’s cheaper $5 gig that has over 60 sales during this 60-day period.

I saw one of @cyaxrex ‘s gig that had 0 reviews and that looked even worse.

On mobile there’s no way to see lifetime reviews at a glance.

Are they trying to keep us in check?

Like we have the monthly evaluations but at the same time we need to make as many sales as possible per month to stay relative?

Does that mean that Fiverr now expects us to lower our rates from time to time or break down large orders to several smaller ones?

Makes 0 sense.

EDIT:

Has this feature rolled out globally?

Is there any chance they are still beta testing and it might get scrapped?

I saw one of @cyaxrex ‘s gig that had 0 reviews and that looked even worse.

If that was a real estate video gig, I do have one with 0 reviews. I only reactivated these recently due to Fiverr creating a new category specifically for this niche.

Like we have the monthly evaluations but at the same time we need to make as many sales as possible per month to stay relative?

Does that mean that Fiverr now expects us to lower our rates from time to time or break down large orders to several smaller ones?

Personally, this would be a turn off even if I could wave a magic wand and ensure 60 reviews on every gig per month.

When I create a new gig and it starts selling, I am very flexible when it comes to satisfying even horrible buyers. As I build reviews, I then notch up prices and start becoming less flexible as I deal with more professional clientele. Now there is no incentive to build up reviews at all, as all that social proof will just be wiped away 2-months later. (At least visibly.)

I do not work here to be considered a perpetual newbie. Plus I already have to make allowances for the hamster wheel of death which is St Levels.

Has this feature rolled out globally?

Is there any chance they are still beta testing and it might get scrapped?

It seems to still be being rolled out gradually. I was still seeing reviews in the old format until a couple of days ago, despite others complaining before this.

[frank_d]

I saw one of @cyaxrex ‘s gig that had 0 reviews and that looked even worse.

If that was a real estate video gig, I do have one with 0 reviews. I only reactivated these recently due to Fiverr creating a new category specifically for this niche.

Like we have the monthly evaluations but at the same time we need to make as many sales as possible per month to stay relative?

Does that mean that Fiverr now expects us to lower our rates from time to time or break down large orders to several smaller ones?

Personally, this would be a turn off even if I could wave a magic wand and ensure 60 reviews on every gig per month.

When I create a new gig and it starts selling, I am very flexible when it comes to satisfying even horrible buyers. As I build reviews, I then notch up prices and start becoming less flexible as I deal with more professional clientele. Now there is no incentive to build up reviews at all, as all that social proof will just be wiped away 2-months later. (At least visibly.)

I do not work here to be considered a perpetual newbie. Plus I already have to make allowances for the hamster wheel of death which is St Levels.

Has this feature rolled out globally?

Is there any chance they are still beta testing and it might get scrapped?

It seems to still be being rolled out gradually. I was still seeing reviews in the old format until a couple of days ago, despite others complaining before this.

That’s my main concern as well.

They are reinstating a race to the bottom.

My gigs will just sit there showing 5-6 reviews against $5 offerings that will show dozens.

So maybe Fiverr is expecting us to lower prices?

I agree with you that once a gig starts selling we as sellers pivot to a higher priced position.

It looks like that advantage is being stripped from our playbook.

[juanwriter]

The situation is serious. The business analysis don’t look good for anyone here, specially Fiverr company. I wish I could do more to fix the terrible implications of this “tiny change” that will wipe out the market if nothing is done. I wrote that post, but I feel we are just watching the incoming tsunami while eating popcorn in a comfortable chair on the beach.

[cyaxrex]

That’s my main concern as well.

They are reinstating a race to the bottom.

My gigs will just sit there showing 5-6 reviews against $5 offerings that will show dozens.

So maybe Fiverr is expecting us to lower prices?

I agree with you that once a gig starts selling we as sellers pivot to a higher priced position.

It looks like that advantage is being stripped from our playbook.

My gigs will just sit there showing 5-6 reviews against $5 offerings that will show dozens.

Mine will too! This is why we should start arranging Fiverr seller support groups. Throw the fancy meetups out the window. Soon we’ll need access to foodbanks and specialist trauma counselors. I might even start my own FF group to help people recover from past Fiverr dependency. (I’ll let you imagine what FF would stand for).

As for lowering prices, I can’t see why Fiverr would push for this. I think that in the strange world inhabited by Fiverr devs, their goals are simply to leverage PRO and simultaneously encourage non-PRO sellers to bring in more buyers. - That will never work. There were already barriers in the way of doing this before. Now a seller would have to be a complete fruitcake to actively market themselves on Fiverr as opposed to another platform where they get to build up their brand without restriction.

[juanwriter]

My gigs will just sit there showing 5-6 reviews against $5 offerings that will show dozens.

Mine will too! This is why we should start arranging Fiverr seller support groups. Throw the fancy meetups out the window. Soon we’ll need access to foodbanks and specialist trauma counselors. I might even start my own FF group to help people recover from past Fiverr dependency. (I’ll let you imagine what FF would stand for).

As for lowering prices, I can’t see why Fiverr would push for this. I think that in the strange world inhabited by Fiverr devs, their goals are simply to leverage PRO and simultaneously encourage non-PRO sellers to bring in more buyers. - That will never work. There were already barriers in the way of doing this before. Now a seller would have to be a complete fruitcake to actively market themselves on Fiverr as opposed to another platform where they get to build up their brand without restriction.

cyaxrex:

My gigs will just sit there showing 5-6 reviews against $5 offerings that will show dozens.

As for lowering prices, I can’t see why Fiverr would push for this. I think that in the strange world inhabited by Fiverr devs, their goals are simply to leverage PRO and simultaneously encourage non-PRO sellers to bring in more buyers. - That will never work. There were already barriers in the way of doing this before. Now a seller would have to be a complete fruitcake to actively market themselves on Fiverr as opposed to another platform where they get to build up their brand without restriction.

Absolutely, I totally agree. That will never work.