Asking for Reviews - This is what CS said

[proofreadj]

That is great clarification.

[misscrystal]

Here is merriam-webster;s list of synonyms for the word customary:

Synonyms for customary

Synonyms

conventional, current, going, popular, prevailing, prevalent, standard, stock, usual

It would be more accurate to say:

It is customary to tip if you feel the job was extremely well done. And according to what I’ve experienced on fiverr it used to be customary (prevalent) to tip in that case.

Customary can mean prevalent:

Definition of prevalent

1 : generally or widely accepted, practiced, or favored : WIDESPREAD

[uk1000]

Here is merriam-webster;s list of synonyms for the word customary:

Synonyms for customary

Synonyms

conventional, current, going, popular, prevailing, prevalent, standard, stock, usual

It would be more accurate to say:

It is customary to tip if you feel the job was extremely well done. And according to what I’ve experienced on fiverr it used to be customary (prevalent) to tip in that case.

Customary can mean prevalent:

Definition of prevalent

1 : generally or widely accepted, practiced, or favored : WIDESPREAD

Though it was be safer not to say “customary” at all, unless they really have stats that back it up. It’s doubtful the majority of orders rated 5 stars were also given a tip. If they’ve no stats for “the job being really well done” and a tip being made being in the majority (or at least a high enough number) of them they shouldn’t say it.

They could just say “Would you like to leave a tip?” or something similar that is less likely to possibly mislead buyers.

[misscrystal]

Though it was be safer not to say “customary” at all, unless they really have stats that back it up. It’s doubtful the majority of orders rated 5 stars were also given a tip. If they’ve no stats for “the job being really well done” and a tip being made being in the majority (or at least a high enough number) of them they shouldn’t say it.

They could just say “Would you like to leave a tip?” or something similar that is less likely to possibly mislead buyers.

My clients who left me nice tips this week were not feeling mislead. I felt they were very grateful to me. No one is going to leave a tip who doesn’t want to, regardless of that message.

[eoinfinnegan]

I disagree with the comments about that message that says it’s customary to tip.

I have felt in the past that fiverr does a few things to actively discourage sales, such as the time they tried eliminating our display of how many reviews we have, or putting the gigs of other sellers right on our own gig pages.

So this is one time when fiverr is out there trying to get us tips aggressively. It’s finally a show of attempting to help sellers. And for that I cannot have any complaints.

We sellers need to take what help fiverr extends to us rather than complain. Buyers know they can click on the “no thanks” button.

Fiverr has noticed that tipping has gone way down since they started adding an extra service fee to everything and they are trying this to counteract that trend.

I hadn’t gotten tips in a very long time, when I used to get them all the time. This week I got several large tips and they were not from people feeling obligated to tip. It’s true that it used to be customary to tip on fiverr, so maybe now it will be again.

horse.jpg608×608 98.6 KB

So this is one time when fiverr is out there trying to get us tips aggressively. It’s finally a show of attempting to help sellers. And for that I cannot have any complaints.

We sellers need to take what help fiverr extends to us rather than complain. Buyers know they can click on the “no thanks” button.

It may be customary in some countries, I know it is in the US. It is not customary to do so here or in many European countries as far as I am aware. It is not even customary to do so in restaurants here as there is fair minimum wage paid. People do tend to tip if the service is particularly good but there is no issue if you don’t.

I despise having someone ask for a tip on my behalf when I am just doing my job that I have already been paid for. It goes against the grain for me.

Let me safely keep in touch with my regulars instead, that’s guaranteed to have a much more positive effect on sales than a few quid as a tip.

[misscrystal]

So this is one time when fiverr is out there trying to get us tips aggressively. It’s finally a show of attempting to help sellers. And for that I cannot have any complaints.

We sellers need to take what help fiverr extends to us rather than complain. Buyers know they can click on the “no thanks” button.

It may be customary in some countries, I know it is in the US. It is not customary to do so here or in many European countries as far as I am aware. It is not even customary to do so in restaurants here as there is fair minimum wage paid. People do tend to tip if the service is particularly good but there is no issue if you don’t.

I despise having someone ask for a tip on my behalf when I am just doing my job that I have already been paid for. It goes against the grain for me.

Let me safely keep in touch with my regulars instead, that’s guaranteed to have a much more positive effect on sales than a few quid as a tip.

That’s a good point, that it’s cultural. At any rate I was just glad to get some tips after a very long time without any. And I definitely go above and beyond for my clients. We tip a lot for almost anything in the U.S.

[estherrandell]

(post withdrawn by author, will be automatically deleted in 24 hours unless flagged)

I love your perspective. Well, I think Fiverr is allowed to ask buyers to provide a feedback which helps them rate the services that was rendered. This feedback also protects other buyers from getting into the wrong hands.

In all, it’s important to realize that Fiverr believes her feedback system is essential to the trust value they sell so they don’t joke with it.

[cyaxrex]

We sellers need to take what help fiverr extends to us rather than complain. Buyers know they can click on the “no thanks” button.

Though there didn’t always used to be the “no thanks” option, even with the “it’s customary” message. If the “no thanks” option stays that’s okay but it’s still misleading to say “it’s customary” when it’s not (if the majority of orders don’t receive tips you can’t honestly say to customers that it’s customary I think. If it’s not what’s usually done with orders as far as I know). Also saying “it’s customary to leave a tip” where buyers feel they have to really might decrease the amount of orders buyers make after first receiving that message, since they might feel the price shown isn’t the price you are supposed to pay (even including the service charge).

It should be totally up to the buyer whether to tip and they shouldn’t be pressured into it by saying “it’s customary to tip”. Though it’s better now there’s a “no thanks” option for them.

Also if it’s not customary to tip (not what is usually done on orders) Fiverr saying that it is is misleading buyers really which isn’t good, especially for financial stuff. Assuming customary=what is usually done not just what is done a low percentage of the time.

Also if it’s not customary to tip (not what is usually done on orders) Fiverr saying that it is is misleading buyers really which isn’t good, especially for financial stuff

It is also never customary to ask for tip. Asking makes tipping less likely because its rude. Fiverr’s whole tipping message comes across as corporate e-begging.

[terrygrantvo]

I would say this shows why buyers who do not like being asked or reminded for a third time to leave feedback report sellers to CS who do so.

I think it would be better if Fiverr just stopped giving buyers reminders to review orders and relaxed a lot of messaging restrictions.

It is completely normal to invite feedback and even send unsolicited messages to past clients notifying them of service changes, etc off Fiverr. For this reason, I’d say it’s counterproductive for Fiverr to impose as many restrictions as they do.

Of course, you will always get sellers (and buyers) who attempt to abuse the system. However, in fairness, if anyone buys from someone, they should have sense enough to report a seller who tries to manipulate the system. Some won’t, but… Well, they’re called Darwin Awards for a reason.

I really miss inviting buyers to leave a review (whatever their experience) before suggesting that if they are happy with their order, they are welcome to share my gig on their social media channels. I’d also like to stop dropping long-term buyers every time I increase my prices, by letting them know about upcoming changes and exclusive (to them) special offers.

Right at this moment, I’d also like to let some buyers know that it would be really helpful if they could leave a review. (None of my regulars bar one currently do.)

In short, I’d just like to be trusted to take care of after sales care and discussion the way I want to. Instead, my buyers get a shed load of spam from Fiverr asking for tips, reviews, and even messages saying, “hey, you’ve been searching for article writers, check these other sellers out,”

It’s all very annoying.

cyaxrex:

I would say this shows why buyers who do not like being asked or reminded for a third time to leave feedback report sellers to CS who do so.

I think it would be better if Fiverr just stopped giving buyers reminders to review orders and relaxed a lot of messaging restrictions.

It is completely normal to invite feedback and even send unsolicited messages to past clients notifying them of service changes, etc off Fiverr. For this reason, I’d say it’s counterproductive for Fiverr to impose as many restrictions as they do.

Of course, you will always get sellers (and buyers) who attempt to abuse the system. However, in fairness, if anyone buys from someone, they should have sense enough to report a seller who tries to manipulate the system. Some won’t, but… Well, they’re called Darwin Awards for a reason.

I really miss inviting buyers to leave a review (whatever their experience) before suggesting that if they are happy with their order, they are welcome to share my gig on their social media channels. I’d also like to stop dropping long-term buyers every time I increase my prices, by letting them know about upcoming changes and exclusive (to them) special offers.

Right at this moment, I’d also like to let some buyers know that it would be really helpful if they could leave a review. (None of my regulars bar one currently do.)

In short, I’d just like to be trusted to take care of after sales care and discussion the way I want to. Instead, my buyers get a shed load of spam from Fiverr asking for tips, reviews, and even messages saying, “hey, you’ve been searching for article writers, check these other sellers out,”

It’s all very annoying.

I agree with all of this. Couldn’t have said it better.

It’s frustrating because all of the pieces are here to be a successful, full time freelancer on Fiverr, but they don’t seem terribly interested in any one person being able to actually do that. At least, not for more than a couple of months at a time, anyway.

[misscrystal]

A lot of people need to be figuratively hit over the head with a message before it enters their consciousness. And that message does that. 🔨

Fiverr is not the place to be subtle. 📣

[terrygrantvo]

So this is one time when fiverr is out there trying to get us tips aggressively. It’s finally a show of attempting to help sellers. And for that I cannot have any complaints.

We sellers need to take what help fiverr extends to us rather than complain. Buyers know they can click on the “no thanks” button.

It may be customary in some countries, I know it is in the US. It is not customary to do so here or in many European countries as far as I am aware. It is not even customary to do so in restaurants here as there is fair minimum wage paid. People do tend to tip if the service is particularly good but there is no issue if you don’t.

I despise having someone ask for a tip on my behalf when I am just doing my job that I have already been paid for. It goes against the grain for me.

Let me safely keep in touch with my regulars instead, that’s guaranteed to have a much more positive effect on sales than a few quid as a tip.

It may be customary in some countries, I know it is in the US.

It’s ‘customary’ to tip here when dealing with someone in the service/hospitality industry (so waiters, bartenders, hotel staff, cab drivers, etc), but that’s about it, and it’s only customary because people in those fields generally get paid faaaaaar less than minimum wage, so the tip is basically their salary.

I’ve literally never heard of a freelancer being tipped in the real, face to face world. That would be… rare.

I despise having someone ask for a tip on my behalf when I am just doing my job that I have already been paid for. It goes against the grain for me.

Agree 1000%, and the wording of it is especially troubling.

[miiila]

So this is one time when fiverr is out there trying to get us tips aggressively. It’s finally a show of attempting to help sellers. And for that I cannot have any complaints.

We sellers need to take what help fiverr extends to us rather than complain. Buyers know they can click on the “no thanks” button.

It may be customary in some countries, I know it is in the US. It is not customary to do so here or in many European countries as far as I am aware. It is not even customary to do so in restaurants here as there is fair minimum wage paid. People do tend to tip if the service is particularly good but there is no issue if you don’t.

I despise having someone ask for a tip on my behalf when I am just doing my job that I have already been paid for. It goes against the grain for me.

Let me safely keep in touch with my regulars instead, that’s guaranteed to have a much more positive effect on sales than a few quid as a tip.

I’m debating with myself, after reading this thread. I’d certainly prefer a more subtle approach.

However, I’m thinking that it might be better for all of us when Fiverr rigorously tells all sellers to not ask for neither review nor tip and takes over that part themselves in a corporate (and easy to ignore) way than what some sellers most obviously practice/d. I’ve been asked for a tip as a buyer before, it ain’t pretty, and I think buyers are more bound to leave or not leave a review or tip out of their own free will when asked in that corporate (click “no thanks” or “tip now” way) than when having sellers ask, or beg, for it.

To clarify, what I mean is that if buyers are annoyed by the asking for reviews/tips practice some sellers don’t see any issues with, they might leave, which would be caused by the sellers who do that but would hurt all sellers, including those who’d not ask.

But yes, in either case, that form would be much more to my liking without the “customary” bit, agreed.

[misscrystal]

People have been complaining on the forum that we never get tips any more. Now fiverr is taking some measures to try to correct that and people think that’s wrong too. Obviously people are free to ignore that message if they want to. And most buyers do ignore it.

[vickiespencer]

People have been complaining on the forum that we never get tips any more. Now fiverr is taking some measures to try to correct that and people think that’s wrong too. Obviously people are free to ignore that message if they want to. And most buyers do ignore it.

Obviously people are free to ignore that message if they want to. And most buyers do ignore it.

Yes, they do! I used to get tips quite often before Fiverr made the tip fee $2 instead of a percentage of the tip.

[misscrystal]

Obviously people are free to ignore that message if they want to. And most buyers do ignore it.

Yes, they do! I used to get tips quite often before Fiverr made the tip fee $2 instead of a percentage of the tip.

They should say It is mandatory to tip. 😀 Lots of buyers never read much at all. I know they don’t read the messages I send at least half the time.

[humanissocial]

Also if it’s not customary to tip (not what is usually done on orders) Fiverr saying that it is is misleading buyers really which isn’t good, especially for financial stuff

It is also never customary to ask for tip. Asking makes tipping less likely because its rude. Fiverr’s whole tipping message comes across as corporate e-begging.

Yes, I’m not a fan. It’s kind of a guilt-trip and pressures buyers. They paid for a service and they don’t owe us anything else.

I don’t understand why businesses expect patrons to supplement the income of their staff, freelancers, contractors, etc.

[vickiespencer]

To put the issue of asking/hinting for reviews to rest. :sleeping_bed: I wrote to CS to ask if we are allowed to ask for nonspecific reviews. I told them that it was a source of controversy on the Forum and that we would appreciate knowing the truth of the matter and that I planned to post the answer here.

Here is the email I received.

This link is to the article on feedback that Amy mentions.

https://sellers.fiverr.com/en/article/feedback

Note Amy said it should be of the buyer’s *free will *.

So, I would say this shows why buyers who do not like being asked or reminded for a third time to leave feedback report sellers to CS who do so.

This will be a good post to refer to when anyone asks if they can ask for or hint for reviews.

To put the issue of asking/hinting for reviews to rest. :sleeping_bed: I wrote to CS to ask if we are allowed to ask for nonspecific reviews. I told them that it was a source of controversy on the Forum and that we would appreciate knowing the truth of the matter and that I planned to post the answer here.

Here is the email I received.

Some commented: ⬇️

It depends who you ask in CS.

I have a message from them saying it’s fine to ask as long as you don’t ask for a positive one.

And: ⬇️

What I do is to gently suggest that leaving a review would be appreciated in my delivery message. It goes something like this:

“Please let me know if any changes are needed before leaving your review, and I’ll do my very best to help you out. Thanks!”

So, I once again contacted Amy and asked her to clarify whether or not sellers will get warnings if they merely ask for a nonspecific review. :roll_eyes:

Nonetheless, Amy had not answered my question of whether or not there would be retribution for requests like those I quoted above. ⬆️

So, now when sellers come to the Forum seeking the answer to the often asked question – Can I ask my buyer for a review? I will have the proof that CS said, what Jenny noted above.

[humanissocial]

To put the issue of asking/hinting for reviews to rest. :sleeping_bed: I wrote to CS to ask if we are allowed to ask for nonspecific reviews. I told them that it was a source of controversy on the Forum and that we would appreciate knowing the truth of the matter and that I planned to post the answer here.

Here is the email I received.

Some commented: ⬇️

It depends who you ask in CS.

I have a message from them saying it’s fine to ask as long as you don’t ask for a positive one.

And: ⬇️

What I do is to gently suggest that leaving a review would be appreciated in my delivery message. It goes something like this:

“Please let me know if any changes are needed before leaving your review, and I’ll do my very best to help you out. Thanks!”

So, I once again contacted Amy and asked her to clarify whether or not sellers will get warnings if they merely ask for a nonspecific review. :roll_eyes:

image.png711×339 18.3 KB

Nonetheless, Amy had not answered my question of whether or not there would be retribution for requests like those I quoted above. ⬆️

image.png814×400 21 KB

So, now when sellers come to the Forum seeking the answer to the often asked question – Can I ask my buyer for a review? I will have the proof that CS said, what Jenny noted above.

I get the feeling there are major internal communication problems on Fiverr. It seems they’re not on the same page about quite a few things.

[misscrystal]

I get the feeling there are major internal communication problems on Fiverr. It seems they’re not on the same page about quite a few things.

Having worked in a few different companies, this is a major challenge, to keep everyone in a department up to date on all the policies.

They can have meetings and send around memos, but what each employee actually absorbs differs.

[vickiespencer]

Having worked in a few different companies, this is a major challenge, to keep everyone in a department up to date on all the policies.

They can have meetings and send around memos, but what each employee actually absorbs differs.

I had to make my question very clear before I got the final answer. I told CS I would be sharing the answer on the Forum. I think the first CS rep passed my question up to a higher level rep as Jenny’s answer sound a bit more authoritarian.

to keep everyone in a department up to date on all the policies.

And it seems that even some of their old videos promote something that Jenny said sellers should not do. :thinking:

[anniejenkinson]

(post withdrawn by author, will be automatically deleted in 24 hours unless flagged)

Same! I did not know it was ‘customary’! It seems rather impolite and grasping… and I hate the idea my clients are being asked for tips. I’m embarrassed now!

[anniejenkinson]

This is from today.

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I did tip, by the way, very happy with my purchase.

Thanks for taking the trouble to post that, miiila. I had no idea. Scary stuff.

[cyber_sec]

I disagree with the comments about that message that says it’s customary to tip.

I have felt in the past that fiverr does a few things to actively discourage sales, such as the time they tried eliminating our display of how many reviews we have, or putting the gigs of other sellers right on our own gig pages.

So this is one time when fiverr is out there trying to get us tips aggressively. It’s finally a show of attempting to help sellers. And for that I cannot have any complaints.

We sellers need to take what help fiverr extends to us rather than complain. Buyers know they can click on the “no thanks” button.

Fiverr has noticed that tipping has gone way down since they started adding an extra service fee to everything and they are trying this to counteract that trend.

I hadn’t gotten tips in a very long time, when I used to get them all the time. This week I got several large tips and they were not from people feeling obligated to tip. It’s true that it used to be customary to tip on fiverr, so maybe now it will be again.

horse.jpg608×608 98.6 KB

So this is one time when fiverr is out there trying to get us tips aggressively. It’s finally a show of attempting to help sellers. And for that I cannot have any complaints.

I agree it’s nice to have that. I’m not particularly fond of the current language used, but oh well. What I do think is: it’s discouraging to have a $2 fee for even a $5 tip.

As a new buyer a little while back, I decided NOT to give a $5 tip because it would cost me $7.

[cyber_sec]

I had to make my question very clear before I got the final answer. I told CS I would be sharing the answer on the Forum. I think the first CS rep passed my question up to a higher level rep as Jenny’s answer sound a bit more authoritarian.

to keep everyone in a department up to date on all the policies.

And it seems that even some of their old videos promote something that Jenny said sellers should not do. :thinking:

And it seems that even some of their old videos promote something that Jenny said sellers should not do. :thinking:

Well that’s up to Fiverr, though. I think they’ve decided to handle it for us in a consistent, business-appropriate fashion.

They can promote/say whatever they want, and that makes sense because that’s a message they can control. They can’t very well control the consistency and messaging of all the users/sellers posting requests for feedback and tips.

[cyber_sec]

It may be customary in some countries, I know it is in the US.

It’s ‘customary’ to tip here when dealing with someone in the service/hospitality industry (so waiters, bartenders, hotel staff, cab drivers, etc), but that’s about it, and it’s only customary because people in those fields generally get paid faaaaaar less than minimum wage, so the tip is basically their salary.

I’ve literally never heard of a freelancer being tipped in the real, face to face world. That would be… rare.

I despise having someone ask for a tip on my behalf when I am just doing my job that I have already been paid for. It goes against the grain for me.

Agree 1000%, and the wording of it is especially troubling.

I’ve literally never heard of a freelancer being tipped in the real, face to face world. That would be… rare.

I was tipped occasionally as a massage therapist. $10-20. No “funny business,” just a little cash bonus for doing a good job. HOWEVER, I tend to agree, it’s rare outside of the professions where they’re deliberately paid less.