The Blind Review System- Conversation Continued

[aaronbushell]

Since the previous Blind Review Thread has been closed, I thought I’d try to continue the conversation here since I had been working on this response for a couple of days and never got to post it.

Someone in that thread posted a link to @mjensen415 's blog post from two weeks ago announcing these changes: A Commitment to Community: Updates to Our Product.

Feedback That Goes Both Ways

We are moving to a blind feedback system. What this means is that sellers will be asked to provide their feedback working with a buyer before receiving the feedback the buyer left. This is meant to assure feedback that is honest, independent and free from bias. Sellers’ feedback on buyers is extremely important to our ability to keep the integrity of Fiverr and provide sellers with better experience and protection. You can expect additional features in the coming future.
If a seller does not review the buyer from a specific transaction, the buyer’s review will be revealed 10 days after order completion. Once the sides have provided their feedback, their reviews will be made public and will be locked from further changes.

More info: https://sellers.fiverr.com/en/article/buyer-and-seller-reviews

As I’ve read through the posting, I now understand WHY the change was made, but must vociferously continue to voice my disagreement with its execution. While executed under the guise of “transparency,” this new structure is anything BUT transparent.

It is further made clear that the goal is for Fiverr to create viewable buyer ratings, which sellers may use to report, block and avoid abusive buyers. I have heard many times from sellers on this forum wishing for SOME METHOD of screening out abusive and scam-artist buyers. This appears to be an effort on behalf of Fiverr staff to make some progress towards identifying and weeding out abusive buyers in an effort to strengthen the Fiverr community. I applaud the effort, if not the execution.

I see one immediately apparent issue with this process, and while I’m sure it has been discussed by Fiverr’s development team, it still leaves a hole in the policy big enough to drive a Mack truck through: once reported as spam/scam/abusive, what prevents an abusive seller from simply opening a new Fiverr account?

There are VERY CLEAR repercussions to Sellers who might be trying to scam buyers- new Fiverr seller accounts very rarely make the top of the search rankings and certainly do not have the level of trust that many of us sellers who have been here for YEARS have built. I’m not going to walk away from 4+ years as a seller, a Level 2 rating and 450+ reviews because I got a bad review.

But an abusive buyer can create a new account and be back to scamming in mere minutes. A seller who creates a new account (for whatever reason) might NEVER get a single order. Want to know how I know? Check the forums, where dozens of sellers post every single day about how few orders they are getting.

@mjensen415 clearly stated that the intent is to create open and honest feedback between buyers and sellers. This is made clear in the first section, where “You’ve Got Options” states that sellers will finally have a way to block abusive buyers. It is clear to me, however, that NONE of the people building this website actually USE the product they are trying to sell. If they did, either as a buyer OR a seller, they would see the holes in what they are proposing (and incompletely rolling out) and might have found a better solution.

All of that said, it is clear that this new system is not going away (when has Fiverr ever rescinded a new feature based on user/seller outcry?), so we might as well get used to it. I have had to think long and hard about how to review buyers now, in such a way that I can honestly assess the buyer without potentially offending new buyers.

Option 1: “Thanks for the order!” or “Great buyer!”
PRO: It’s completely inoffensive to anyone.
CON: If a buyer gives a poor review, you look pretty stupid saying “thanks.”

Option 2: (honesty) “This buyer was a real pain to work with. They messaged me ten times a day asking for status updates and were totally dissatisfied with the delivery, asking for a half-dozen revisions to a $5 order. If given my druthers, I’d choose never to work with this buyer again.”
PRO: It’s honest.
CON: It’s also the most likely to scare potential buyers off. If I was looking to hire someone, THAT honest review right there would scare me off.
CON: If the buyer ends up giving you a positive review, which you CANNOT TELL before you submit your review, you look like an even bigger A-Hole.

Option 3: per @faithmaryella “Due to policy changes, I will no longer be participating in Fiverr’s review process. Please contact me before closing the order if the delivery is unsatisfactory or take advantage of the free revision included in your order. Otherwise, I cannot address your concern. Thank you.”
PRO: You directly address the reason you cannot review a client, but this doesn’t go on the review page, just in the delivery.
CON: Ignoring reviews means that you no longer get to have ANY input in the buyer’s review, good or bad.

The most likely result is that sellers are going to continue to take it in the teeth from buyers, but now we’ve lost our best weapon to respond to the shifty buyers that sometimes make their way onto this site- the review response.

[misscrystal]

They have changed things when they were simply a test, so you can’t be sure this isn’t one too.

I applaud fiverr for listening to all the complainers who were asking for a way to rate buyers. However my impression was always that it was less experienced sellers who were angry at buyers who were scamming them, or sellers who wanted to get revenge for things, and not really the more experienced sellers who wanted this.

I intend to find a way to work with this. I’ve never rated my clients and dislike the idea of doing that, but still I need to find a way to make some kind of comment now. It may take me a while but I will find a solution.

[faithmaryella]

I do not recommend option three.

My account has now been closed due to “Feedback Manipulation” and “Inappropriate Language”. I have contacted the support staff for an explanation and received only confirmation that my account will never be reopened and instructions for retrieving my money after three months.

Thank God I made plans to publish my website after the blind review system was implemented!

Good luck to the sellers who stay. I hope that Fiverr figures out there is no buyer without a product.

Faith

[cheyennewriter]

I do not recommend option three.

My account has now been closed due to “Feedback Manipulation” and “Inappropriate Language”. I have contacted the support staff for an explanation and received only confirmation that my account will never be reopened and instructions for retrieving my money after three months.

Thank God I made plans to publish my website after the blind review system was implemented!

Good luck to the sellers who stay. I hope that Fiverr figures out there is no buyer without a product.

Faith

Wait, what? That’s crazy!

[aaronbushell]

I do not recommend option three.

My account has now been closed due to “Feedback Manipulation” and “Inappropriate Language”. I have contacted the support staff for an explanation and received only confirmation that my account will never be reopened and instructions for retrieving my money after three months.

Thank God I made plans to publish my website after the blind review system was implemented!

Good luck to the sellers who stay. I hope that Fiverr figures out there is no buyer without a product.

Faith

That is insane. To foist these burdensome changes on sellers with little warning is one thing, to actively punish sellers for choosing the way in which they abide by Fiverr’s rules seems downright punitive.

@faithmaryella can you share exactly what language you used in your communication with buyers? Was it what I copy/pasted above? Or something else?

[faithmaryella]

That is insane. To foist these burdensome changes on sellers with little warning is one thing, to actively punish sellers for choosing the way in which they abide by Fiverr’s rules seems downright punitive.

@faithmaryella can you share exactly what language you used in your communication with buyers? Was it what I copy/pasted above? Or something else?

I used exactly what you copied in your post in my deliveries to two buyers.

[misscrystal]

Sorry that happened to you. We cannot mention reviews to anyone for any reason.
It was directing buyers on how they should behave based on the review policy.

[faithmaryella]

Sorry that happened to you. We cannot mention reviews to anyone for any reason.

It was directing buyers on how they should behave based on the review policy.

Thanks. I’m glad it was me and not someone who wasn’t prepared to be booted. Hopefully, people will see this and my mistake will save some accounts.

[misscrystal]

Thanks. I’m glad it was me and not someone who wasn’t prepared to be booted. Hopefully, people will see this and my mistake will save some accounts.

Thank you for sharing this information with us and good luck with your new site.

[garythomas9501]

Thanks. I’m glad it was me and not someone who wasn’t prepared to be booted. Hopefully, people will see this and my mistake will save some accounts.

Maybe try resolving things with support? They’ve helped others before from what i’ve heard and since this is a new rollout they may be more inclined to help! Either way GoodLuck! Keep on Keeping on!

[faithmaryella]

Maybe try resolving things with support? They’ve helped others before from what i’ve heard and since this is a new rollout they may be more inclined to help! Either way GoodLuck! Keep on Keeping on!

They made it clear that they weren’t interested. Told me twice that the matter is resolved, my account will not be reopened and I can get my money in 90 days. I tried to discuss it with multiple staff members. They wouldn’t even tell me what I had done wrong.

[misscrystal]

One thing is very clear; we can either not leave any review or review the buyer. But we can’t find a way to work around it or mention it to buyers for any reason.

[garythomas9501]

One thing is very clear; we can either not leave any review or review the buyer. But we can’t find a way to work around it or mention it to buyers for any reason.

I definitely wouldnt say what he mentioned, that was literally manipulation in every sense of the word 😑

[faithmaryella]

I definitely wouldnt say what he mentioned, that was literally manipulation in every sense of the word 😑

I don’t see how. The only thing that changed from my previous delivery message was that I said I wasn’t participating in the review process. I already reminded clients to use the free revision if they need to and told them to contact me with any concerns.

[aaronbushell]

Option 4: No review.
PRO: If you don’t leave a review, you can’t look like an idiot.
CON: You CAN look like you don’t care about interacting with your buyers, especially those who leave negative reviews.

At this time, unless something changes, Option 4 seems like the safest route to go. If you don’t say ANYTHING, you can’t get banned like @faithmaryella just did.

[garythomas9501]

I don’t see how. The only thing that changed from my previous delivery message was that I said I wasn’t participating in the review process. I already reminded clients to use the free revision if they need to and told them to contact me with any concerns.

It was definitely that first line 😔

[misscrystal]

Hopefully no one else decided to say that to clients.

[garythomas9501]

Option 4: No review.

PRO: If you don’t leave a review, you can’t look like an idiot.

CON: You CAN look like you don’t care about interacting with your buyers, especially those who leave negative reviews.

At this time, unless something changes, Option 4 seems like the safest route to go. If you don’t say ANYTHING, you can’t get banned like @faithmaryella just did.

Honestly, after all the hype, i just ended up giving the guy a 5 star honest review. Im sure it was a bit easier to do since the job was a total success but even it if weren’t its a single review. Still dont love this but i think im moving on lol time to get back to business

[faithmaryella]

I feel like they should say what they mean. Something like “do not mention the review process to buyers in any manner.” What I said was not manipulative.

[misscrystal]

I’m just going to say a very short note in reviews basically saying thanks for being a great buyer. I never get any awful clients.

[garythomas9501]

I’m just going to say a very short note in reviews basically saying thanks for being a great buyer. I never get any awful clients.

Been pretty lucky myself thankfully, maybe because my prices are a bit higher and that weeds out the bad apples 🤨

[socialhonor]

I feel like they should say what they mean. Something like “do not mention the review process to buyers in any manner.” What I said was not manipulative.

This was said in a message before delivery/review - it was a message saying you weren’t going to be involved in the review process before delivery?

[garythomas9501]

I feel like they should say what they mean. Something like “do not mention the review process to buyers in any manner.” What I said was not manipulative.

Wishing the BEST, maybe this is the start of the next big thing for you GoodLuck in your work!

[faithmaryella]

Wishing the BEST, maybe this is the start of the next big thing for you GoodLuck in your work!

Thank you. Here’s hoping.

[faithmaryella]

This was said in a message before delivery/review - it was a message saying you weren’t going to be involved in the review process before delivery?

Edit: I read that wrong. That was part of my delivery message.