Fewer sellers writing reviews?

[smashradio]

The point is to get a truthful review of the quality and level of service you provide.

True, but when you receive something like Excellent, will come back for more and you see 4 stars… doesn’t something feel off to you?

@donnovan86 I thought so too, the first time it happened.

But then I had a conversation with the individual who left the review about a year later when we worked together by coincidence on another project outside of Fiverr. I mentioned it since I was curious.

They were pleased, but at the time, they managed to click on four stars where they meant to click on five. That gave me a 4.7 or 4.3 rating - I’m not sure which one.

The five-star rating is the absolute best of the best rating you can get. That means, if a client leaves anything less, that doesn’t mean it’s bad: it means they are using the review system the way it was meant to be used: not a one-star for bad, five stars for perfect, but also a four-star for ok, three stars for “meh” etc.

I think sellers have become somewhat obsessed with getting five-stars all the time.

Of course, I love getting five stars! But maybe the client thought they should have gotten something slightly better?

Maybe your communication skills could have been better? Maybe your response time? Who knows. The point is: we can’t expect five stars all the time. Four stars isn’t a bad rating, but it’s not stellar, either.

@donnovan86 “I am talking about people that have been here for years that clearly give 4 star reviews just to make a point.”

What point might that be? That you could have done better? Why would they want to make a point? Then I’m sure there might be some way you could improve? Just asking – not criticizing!

@gina_riley2 I know - same here. I’m a seller and a buyer. I make sure to leave reviews to sellers I’m happy with because I know how important they are, but I completely get why buyers will skip the entire process.

It takes too long, is too involved, and has some issues. Like you said, maybe privacy is one of them. I think a sellers review of a buyer should be anonymous and combined into a single star rating, and that’s it.

That way, it would be a tool for us sellers to know if this is a problematic individual but not invasive of the buyer’s privacy.

Another alternative would be for sellers not to use their real-world name or actual company name on Fiverr.

After all, you as the buyer are paying for my lunch: you should be able to keep it to yourself if you wanted to, but then again, if you’re a bad buyer leaving unfair reviews, there’s little recourse other than to review the buyer back.

Fiverr is more than a marketplace; it’s a community of freelancers and businesses all working together, and in a community, one needs accountability. This applies equally to buyers and sellers. So I’m a bit torn on this one, to be honest.

I can’t entirely agree with reviews being useless, though. But they certainly aren’t as good an indicator as they could be. But this has gotten better now than before when everyone just left a five-star, and that was it.

However, I think the way the reviews work on your rating/level could be improved. Like I touched on earlier and as @gina_riley2 pointed out, what would be considered a good (but not outstanding) review on Fiverr could potentially penalize you more than it should.

That is a problem since happy 4-star buyers who end up coming back for more because they were indeed satisfied might cause you to drop down a level or put you at the bottom of the results - especially if you’re new.

I think that’s why the five-star ratings are more for show these days, and the actual metric being used is the secret review. But they can still harm you badly if you get too many of them with anything less than five stars.

This results from the way Fiverr used to work back in the old days, and the platform hasn’t been able to shake the mentality of “five is good, one is bad”. It’s is also true for buyers, who might not consider buying from a seller with a 4.7 rating at all. They consider that as “bad”.

@eoinfinnegan That could work. But then again, it’s an extra step. It might help with the privacy issue, but not the user experience being clunky.

@moikchap True. It’s a blind phase. I always leave a return review and respond to them. But it wouldn’t lead to such a drop in the number of reviews for a long period, which is the issue at hand.

@kno010 You’re right and spot on with your theory about repeat buyers not leaving reviews. Interestingly, I was actually about to leave a review for your order when I got the final reminder, then someone rang the doorbell, and I didn’t have time to leave the review. When I got back the next day, it was too late.

If the process were quicker, I would have left the review before running to the door! It just goes to show that the reasons for not leaving a review are complex and involves both the user experience and, as you pointed out, repeat buyers.

We both do translations, and I’m sure I can speak for both of us when I say that we get a lot of repeat buyers in that niche when we have established a relationship without clients.

Now I feel bad for not taking the time – haha – so I would like to point out here that your work was excellent – as always.

You’re right. Reviews have gotten less important to me now that I have several hundreds of them. Recent reviews are important for ranking, so I’m always happy to get them.

We have the same goal! I’m looking forward to the 1k+!

I agree about the secret review data being shared. This would be very useful to improve our services. I agree that there would have to be a set limit before the data becomes available, not just for privacy reasons but also for making the data more useful.

@travelscape Oh yes - the tip! Don’t forget the tip! I’m a seller and a buyer, and I hate being asked to tip. I like having the option to tip sellers I think deserve a little extra, but the “It’s customary to leave a tip” message almost feels rude.

The many notifications are also bothersome.

I think we can boil everything down to:

• The process is too time-consuming/difficult
• It’s less likely that repeat buyers leave multiple reviews.
• Review fatigue: people are just tired of leaving reviews, not just on Fiverr.

[selphine1]

I am a new seller, sometimes do buyer as well. My honest opinion as far as reviewing is concerned…It should be made simple and straightforward (anonymously if possible). If I may ask; does the number of reviews determine the quality of work by the seller?

[genuineguidance]

Fiverr is data-driven, so I’m sure the product team is constantly working on the sales process based on metrics and data gathered from the usage patterns of the website.

Yet, there’s one part of the process that seems to have suffered, at least in my experience; the review process.

I say this not only as a buyer but also as a seller. As a seller, I’ve noticed that I receive fewer reviews compared to before.

My rated orders (all time) has gone down a few per cent (3-4% I believe) in the past months, but the acute effect is more visible: 3 out of 4 buyers have not left a review in the past couple of months.

That’s a big dip, considering I’m offering the same high-quality support and service as before, and I don’t think there’s a coincidence.

I’ve noticed as a buyer that the review process has become more and more involved over time.

This is understandable since Fiverr loves data. The “secret review” (the one you never get to see, but that – at least in my opinion – is the driver behind things like “Fiverr’s Choice”) has been added to the after-sales process.

In the past, the reviews used to be pretty useless, since it was only a matter of leaving a five-star rating and that was it. Even the text box was prefilled with “Outstanding experience!” or something like it if I remember correctly.

So I get why it needs to be more involved than before.

However; it has become a chore to leave a simple review. It takes 1-2 minutes if you don’t know what you’re doing, and at least 30 seconds + whatever time you need to write the actual review.

I think the process has gone from streamlined to clunky, and to be honest, even I stopped leaving reviews unless I’m super excited or very unhappy with the service, because it takes too much time to complete the process.

I might be mistaken: maybe the product team has different data and maybe the review process has increased the engagement, but that’s not what I’m seeing.

Anyone else with an opinion on this? Are you getting more or fewer reviews, compared to a year ago? Two years ago?

leaving a five-star rating and that was it. Even the text box was prefilled with “Outstanding experience!” or something like it if I remember correctly.

Actually, “back in the day”, the only options were either a “thumbs UP” or “thumbs DOWN” as a review and of course, the buyer could write about their experience. IF they did not write anything on a “thumbs UP” review, that is when you would just get the generic text of, “Outstanding Experience!”

Then again, back in those days, Fiverr was more fun, goofy and wasn’t trying to be so buttoned up and professional like it is now - hence the star rating system and probably the blind rating system.

I never even look at my reviews, and have not for years. I don’t want to get bogged down worrying about it. I can see though, how new sellers may be more focused on it.

GG

[smashradio]

leaving a five-star rating and that was it. Even the text box was prefilled with “Outstanding experience!” or something like it if I remember correctly.

Actually, “back in the day”, the only options were either a “thumbs UP” or “thumbs DOWN” as a review and of course, the buyer could write about their experience. IF they did not write anything on a “thumbs UP” review, that is when you would just get the generic text of, “Outstanding Experience!”

Then again, back in those days, Fiverr was more fun, goofy and wasn’t trying to be so buttoned up and professional like it is now - hence the star rating system and probably the blind rating system.

I never even look at my reviews, and have not for years. I don’t want to get bogged down worrying about it. I can see though, how new sellers may be more focused on it.

GG

That was even more back in the day. I remember since I used to be a buyer back then.

I reply to and look at my reviews, but I don’t see them as critical anymore like I did when I was a newborn seller. But I care because 1) if the client has anything nice (or not so nice) to say, I can use that to improve, and 2) because fresh reviews can provide more visibility on the platform.

But my main goal isn’t the five-star review but the overall great experience for my buyers.

Fiverr has become more buttoned-up, with more focus on business clients. I think that was the right move to survive into the future, but you’re right; Fiverr was more fun “back in the day”. But since I love what I do, I still have a lot of fun working on Fiverr. As time has gone by, I have started to appreciate the platform more and more as my skills and relationships have improved.

Reviews, at least to me, are merely a part of it.

[smashradio]

I am a new seller, sometimes do buyer as well. My honest opinion as far as reviewing is concerned…It should be made simple and straightforward (anonymously if possible). If I may ask; does the number of reviews determine the quality of work by the seller?

The number of reviews doesn’t necessarily determine the quality of the seller. But naturally, if I buy from a seller with 1k+ five star reviews, that would factor into my expectations. But as a whole, I’m more focused on the presentation by the seller (gig image, video, description), not to mention the value they offer me. I’ve worked with sellers who have a 4.7-star rating and 50 reviews who’s way better at what they do than a 1k+ five-star review seller.

So many different things go into consideration.

[donnovan86]

@donnovan86 I thought so too, the first time it happened.

But then I had a conversation with the individual who left the review about a year later when we worked together by coincidence on another project outside of Fiverr. I mentioned it since I was curious.

They were pleased, but at the time, they managed to click on four stars where they meant to click on five. That gave me a 4.7 or 4.3 rating - I’m not sure which one.

The five-star rating is the absolute best of the best rating you can get. That means, if a client leaves anything less, that doesn’t mean it’s bad: it means they are using the review system the way it was meant to be used: not a one-star for bad, five stars for perfect, but also a four-star for ok, three stars for “meh” etc.

I think sellers have become somewhat obsessed with getting five-stars all the time.

Of course, I love getting five stars! But maybe the client thought they should have gotten something slightly better?

Maybe your communication skills could have been better? Maybe your response time? Who knows. The point is: we can’t expect five stars all the time. Four stars isn’t a bad rating, but it’s not stellar, either.

@donnovan86 “I am talking about people that have been here for years that clearly give 4 star reviews just to make a point.”

What point might that be? That you could have done better? Why would they want to make a point? Then I’m sure there might be some way you could improve? Just asking – not criticizing!

@gina_riley2 I know - same here. I’m a seller and a buyer. I make sure to leave reviews to sellers I’m happy with because I know how important they are, but I completely get why buyers will skip the entire process.

It takes too long, is too involved, and has some issues. Like you said, maybe privacy is one of them. I think a sellers review of a buyer should be anonymous and combined into a single star rating, and that’s it.

That way, it would be a tool for us sellers to know if this is a problematic individual but not invasive of the buyer’s privacy.

Another alternative would be for sellers not to use their real-world name or actual company name on Fiverr.

After all, you as the buyer are paying for my lunch: you should be able to keep it to yourself if you wanted to, but then again, if you’re a bad buyer leaving unfair reviews, there’s little recourse other than to review the buyer back.

Fiverr is more than a marketplace; it’s a community of freelancers and businesses all working together, and in a community, one needs accountability. This applies equally to buyers and sellers. So I’m a bit torn on this one, to be honest.

I can’t entirely agree with reviews being useless, though. But they certainly aren’t as good an indicator as they could be. But this has gotten better now than before when everyone just left a five-star, and that was it.

However, I think the way the reviews work on your rating/level could be improved. Like I touched on earlier and as @gina_riley2 pointed out, what would be considered a good (but not outstanding) review on Fiverr could potentially penalize you more than it should.

That is a problem since happy 4-star buyers who end up coming back for more because they were indeed satisfied might cause you to drop down a level or put you at the bottom of the results - especially if you’re new.

I think that’s why the five-star ratings are more for show these days, and the actual metric being used is the secret review. But they can still harm you badly if you get too many of them with anything less than five stars.

This results from the way Fiverr used to work back in the old days, and the platform hasn’t been able to shake the mentality of “five is good, one is bad”. It’s is also true for buyers, who might not consider buying from a seller with a 4.7 rating at all. They consider that as “bad”.

@eoinfinnegan That could work. But then again, it’s an extra step. It might help with the privacy issue, but not the user experience being clunky.

@moikchap True. It’s a blind phase. I always leave a return review and respond to them. But it wouldn’t lead to such a drop in the number of reviews for a long period, which is the issue at hand.

@kno010 You’re right and spot on with your theory about repeat buyers not leaving reviews. Interestingly, I was actually about to leave a review for your order when I got the final reminder, then someone rang the doorbell, and I didn’t have time to leave the review. When I got back the next day, it was too late.

If the process were quicker, I would have left the review before running to the door! It just goes to show that the reasons for not leaving a review are complex and involves both the user experience and, as you pointed out, repeat buyers.

We both do translations, and I’m sure I can speak for both of us when I say that we get a lot of repeat buyers in that niche when we have established a relationship without clients.

Now I feel bad for not taking the time – haha – so I would like to point out here that your work was excellent – as always.

You’re right. Reviews have gotten less important to me now that I have several hundreds of them. Recent reviews are important for ranking, so I’m always happy to get them.

We have the same goal! I’m looking forward to the 1k+!

I agree about the secret review data being shared. This would be very useful to improve our services. I agree that there would have to be a set limit before the data becomes available, not just for privacy reasons but also for making the data more useful.

@travelscape Oh yes - the tip! Don’t forget the tip! I’m a seller and a buyer, and I hate being asked to tip. I like having the option to tip sellers I think deserve a little extra, but the “It’s customary to leave a tip” message almost feels rude.

The many notifications are also bothersome.

I think we can boil everything down to:

• The process is too time-consuming/difficult
• It’s less likely that repeat buyers leave multiple reviews.
• Review fatigue: people are just tired of leaving reviews, not just on Fiverr.

But then I had a conversation with the individual who left the review about a year later when we worked together by coincidence on another project outside of Fiverr. I mentioned it since I was curious.

I didn’t even have a conversation about a 3.3 star review a person left, they felt bad and went to customer support without talking with me about it, obviously, asked them to remove the review and while CS removed it, I also got a warning. And I didn’t even discuss reviews. So… be careful and avoid talking about reviews.

What point might that be? That you could have done better? Why would they want to make a point? Then I’m sure there might be some way you could improve? Just asking – not criticizing!

The point is that they are the ones in control and the “bigger deal”. Many people here look down at service providers. Maybe you didn’t encounter them, I certainly did encounter a few of these “creatures”. They don’t even know what they want, they don’t give descriptions, don’t communicate, but give you a random review with however many stars they see fit.

[smashradio]

But then I had a conversation with the individual who left the review about a year later when we worked together by coincidence on another project outside of Fiverr. I mentioned it since I was curious.

I didn’t even have a conversation about a 3.3 star review a person left, they felt bad and went to customer support without talking with me about it, obviously, asked them to remove the review and while CS removed it, I also got a warning. And I didn’t even discuss reviews. So… be careful and avoid talking about reviews.

What point might that be? That you could have done better? Why would they want to make a point? Then I’m sure there might be some way you could improve? Just asking – not criticizing!

The point is that they are the ones in control and the “bigger deal”. Many people here look down at service providers. Maybe you didn’t encounter them, I certainly did encounter a few of these “creatures”. They don’t even know what they want, they don’t give descriptions, don’t communicate, but give you a random review with however many stars they see fit.

I know: you’re not supposed to encourage or talk about reviews with you buyers here on Fiverr. That’s a big no-no. In my case, this was a person I ended up working with in real life by coincidence, and we got started talking about Fiverr, and it turned out that this person had bought my services before.

I don’t see my buyers as any more “in control” than anywhere else in life: they pay me for a service that I provide. I see this as no different than running a brick and mortar store, where people might leave a less than stellar review if they aren’t 100% happy with you.

Oh yes - I certainly encountered bad buyers - both on Fiverr and in real life as the manager of a store for many years. I know exactly how they can be. But I thought we were talking about people leaving 4-star reviews while actually being happy with what they got.

If they leave negative reviews, that’s something different, but a 4-star review isn’t a negative review, and certainly isn’t the end of the world. As with all negative reviews, the best practice is to never vent about it in your reply, but instead thank them for their feedback, explain what might have gone wrong (if anything) and that you’re constantly working to improve your service.

I actually got rid of 99% av those buyers by simply raising my price. I got fewer orders for a while, but eventually (after a month or so) I ended up working less while getting paid more, and without spending so much time on bad buyers.

PS. I don’t enjoy 4-star reviews very much either, so if a buyer leaves the typical “Excellent” review with a four star rating, I just might fire the client – meaning I won’t work with them again. There’s nothing wrong with firing a client. 😃

[donnovan86]

I know: you’re not supposed to encourage or talk about reviews with you buyers here on Fiverr. That’s a big no-no. In my case, this was a person I ended up working with in real life by coincidence, and we got started talking about Fiverr, and it turned out that this person had bought my services before.

I don’t see my buyers as any more “in control” than anywhere else in life: they pay me for a service that I provide. I see this as no different than running a brick and mortar store, where people might leave a less than stellar review if they aren’t 100% happy with you.

Oh yes - I certainly encountered bad buyers - both on Fiverr and in real life as the manager of a store for many years. I know exactly how they can be. But I thought we were talking about people leaving 4-star reviews while actually being happy with what they got.

If they leave negative reviews, that’s something different, but a 4-star review isn’t a negative review, and certainly isn’t the end of the world. As with all negative reviews, the best practice is to never vent about it in your reply, but instead thank them for their feedback, explain what might have gone wrong (if anything) and that you’re constantly working to improve your service.

I actually got rid of 99% av those buyers by simply raising my price. I got fewer orders for a while, but eventually (after a month or so) I ended up working less while getting paid more, and without spending so much time on bad buyers.

PS. I don’t enjoy 4-star reviews very much either, so if a buyer leaves the typical “Excellent” review with a four star rating, I just might fire the client – meaning I won’t work with them again. There’s nothing wrong with firing a client. 😃

I don’t see my buyers as any more “in control” than anywhere else in life

So you didn’t encounter people that manipulate you to do free work, threaten you to cancel or to go to customer support to lie just to close your acount? You are lucky.

If they leave negative reviews, that’s something different, but a 4-star review isn’t a negative review,

I don’t care if it’s a negative review or not. If you like it a lot, why just settle for that amount of stars? Without even asking for a revision?

There’s nothing wrong with firing a client. 😃

Of course, I do it all the time, there’s a blocking tool for a reason here. But it’s still sad to see those types of reviews, at least for me. Sure, I have a lot of reviews and those get buried eventually, but still I feel bad knowing that the person could just contact me and ask for changes, if they just contact me for a revision.

[smashradio]

I don’t see my buyers as any more “in control” than anywhere else in life

So you didn’t encounter people that manipulate you to do free work, threaten you to cancel or to go to customer support to lie just to close your acount? You are lucky.

If they leave negative reviews, that’s something different, but a 4-star review isn’t a negative review,

I don’t care if it’s a negative review or not. If you like it a lot, why just settle for that amount of stars? Without even asking for a revision?

There’s nothing wrong with firing a client. 😃

Of course, I do it all the time, there’s a blocking tool for a reason here. But it’s still sad to see those types of reviews, at least for me. Sure, I have a lot of reviews and those get buried eventually, but still I feel bad knowing that the person could just contact me and ask for changes, if they just contact me for a revision.

So you didn’t encounter people that manipulate you to do free work, threaten you to cancel or to go to customer support to lie just to close your acount? You are lucky.

I most certainly encounter those people. But that doesn’t mean I let them control me. I view this type of person as more of a nuisance than a big problem, and I promptly get rid of them. I have no need to lower myself down to their level and will not allow them to do that.

The ones I’ve encountered quickly understood that their order will get cancelled. If they threaten to leave a negative review, I contact customer support and let them handle it. It’s actually against the terms of Fiverr to do that. In the end, I block them. But the best way to avoid bad buyers is by having a conversation first to make sure we are on the same page.

From time to time, I’ll get an order as you described, and if we can’t work it out, I’ll cancel or go via support to solve the issue. To prevent them from ordering, to begin with, I’ve experimented with pricing, and I found a sweet spot for my gig that allows me to keep most of the trolls at bay.

If you like it a lot, why just settle for that amount of stars? Without even asking for a revision?

Maybe it wasn’t about the quality of the end product, but the sellers communication skills? Friendliness? Speedy response time for updates? Great follow-ups during the order process? It might be something that can’t just be revised that causes the buyer to leave less than five stars.

I feel bad knowing that the person could just contact me and ask for changes, if they just contact me for a revision.

Of course, I’d much prefer a revision over a negative review, so we certainly agree on that!

[donnovan86]

So you didn’t encounter people that manipulate you to do free work, threaten you to cancel or to go to customer support to lie just to close your acount? You are lucky.

I most certainly encounter those people. But that doesn’t mean I let them control me. I view this type of person as more of a nuisance than a big problem, and I promptly get rid of them. I have no need to lower myself down to their level and will not allow them to do that.

The ones I’ve encountered quickly understood that their order will get cancelled. If they threaten to leave a negative review, I contact customer support and let them handle it. It’s actually against the terms of Fiverr to do that. In the end, I block them. But the best way to avoid bad buyers is by having a conversation first to make sure we are on the same page.

From time to time, I’ll get an order as you described, and if we can’t work it out, I’ll cancel or go via support to solve the issue. To prevent them from ordering, to begin with, I’ve experimented with pricing, and I found a sweet spot for my gig that allows me to keep most of the trolls at bay.

If you like it a lot, why just settle for that amount of stars? Without even asking for a revision?

Maybe it wasn’t about the quality of the end product, but the sellers communication skills? Friendliness? Speedy response time for updates? Great follow-ups during the order process? It might be something that can’t just be revised that causes the buyer to leave less than five stars.

I feel bad knowing that the person could just contact me and ask for changes, if they just contact me for a revision.

Of course, I’d much prefer a revision over a negative review, so we certainly agree on that!

Maybe it wasn’t about the quality of the end product, but the sellers communication skills? Friendliness? Speedy response time for updates? Great follow-ups during the order process? It might be something that can’t just be revised that causes the buyer to leave less than five stars.

This smells like super picky. I get that at $100 price points, but at $5 it’s not acceptable. I mean, you’re already getting a lot of value for the money.

[looseink]

To me, reviews are ego-stroking after thoughts.

Sure, it may be nice to have a Buyer go on and on about the wonderful skill and attention to detail a Seller provided, but I look at reviews the same way I do when I search TripAdvisor for some information.

Not all reviewers are going to give honest reviews.

Read some of the stuff on TripAdvisor.

Clearly a number of the reviews were written out of anger or frustration.

Angry or frustrated reviews on Fiverr generate posts that usually begin with the words, “He told me he liked my work but only gave me a 3.5 star review…”

The reality of reviews for me is this: I have completed 650+ jobs.

Only 76% of those have reviews.

I also didn’t join Fiverr for reviews.

I’m here for some extra work (I am a full-time freelancer with multiple streams of freelance work).

Reviews don’t pay my bills.

[smashradio]

Maybe it wasn’t about the quality of the end product, but the sellers communication skills? Friendliness? Speedy response time for updates? Great follow-ups during the order process? It might be something that can’t just be revised that causes the buyer to leave less than five stars.

This smells like super picky. I get that at $100 price points, but at $5 it’s not acceptable. I mean, you’re already getting a lot of value for the money.

I tend to agree that it’s picky, but in my experience, buyers will want the same level of customer service if they pay five as they would paying 100. I treat all my buyers like they are 10.000 dollar clients (but only within the confines of offering what I get paid to do.)

@looseink I agree with the part about reviews and honesty. Like you, I didn’t join Fiverr for reviews.

But, considering a good portion of those reviews helped me get new clients, I think it’s worth noting that reviews can have a snowball effect, leading to more work. Fiverr is one of my primary streams of work, but not the only one, and it provides perhaps half of my income.

Reviews aren’t as important to me anymore, but I still see the value in having fresh reviews now and then. It’s social proof to the buyers.

But this has gotten somewhat off-topic. My idea was to identify reasons why fewer people leave reviews than before, more out of curiosity and to help improve the user experience in the future.

For me, getting reviews is just one part of a big engine that pays my bills.

[helloscoopz]

Reviews aren’t THAT important, unless you’re new. When you have a few under your belt you’re probably fine. But it just speaks to the issue with the entire ordering process, when we see the number of reviews dropping this much: it’s bad user experience design.

@mariashtelle1 That’s right, they do. Secret review first (or at least a part of it).

The secret review is getting more and more important to Fiverr, but clearly, it’s costing us as sellers public reviews, since the buyers will probably complete that first part, then they’ll be presented with another part (basically asked to review the same order twice) and they’ll go “nah.”

It’s interesting to hear that I’m not the only one who sees a clear indication of this happening.

then they’ll be presented with another part (basically asked to review the same order twice) and they’ll go “nah.”

As far as I know, this isn’t even a thing. the buyer does not leave 2 reviews, only the seller.

Steps are:

Order mark as completed by the buyer

The buyer leaves a review (which seller can’t see, until seller leaves his review)

The seller leaves a review to the buyer (which will go to the buyers’ profile, and seller will see what buyer wrote)

then the seller leaves another review to go under the buyers’ review as seller’s response in the gig page.

The seller does 2 reviews, not the buyer.

[vickiespencer]

then they’ll be presented with another part (basically asked to review the same order twice) and they’ll go “nah.”

As far as I know, this isn’t even a thing. the buyer does not leave 2 reviews, only the seller.

Steps are:

Order mark as completed by the buyer

The buyer leaves a review (which seller can’t see, until seller leaves his review)

The seller leaves a review to the buyer (which will go to the buyers’ profile, and seller will see what buyer wrote)

then the seller leaves another review to go under the buyers’ review as seller’s response in the gig page.

The seller does 2 reviews, not the buyer.

The seller does 2 reviews, not the buyer.

Nope, the buyer does two “secret reviews.” ⤵️ One is when they complete the order. One is sent to them via email.

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Every seller should order a gig once in awhile to see the process the buyer goes through. 😉

[helloscoopz]

The seller does 2 reviews, not the buyer.

Nope, the buyer does two “secret reviews.” ⤵️ One is when they complete the order. One is sent to them via email.

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Every seller should order a gig once in awhile to see the process the buyer goes through. 😉

I know this process, but this second review doesn’t show anywhere right? what matters for us is the first review that a buyer leaves which will come and sit on our gig page and profile.

In fact, this is anonymous feedback sent to Fiverr about the service which doesn’t show anywhere on the site. If mistaken, I was talking about the public reviews. I think most of the buyers do not submit this second one, some times this comes even a few hours later.

[mariashtelle1]

I know this process, but this second review doesn’t show anywhere right? what matters for us is the first review that a buyer leaves which will come and sit on our gig page and profile.

In fact, this is anonymous feedback sent to Fiverr about the service which doesn’t show anywhere on the site. If mistaken, I was talking about the public reviews. I think most of the buyers do not submit this second one, some times this comes even a few hours later.

I think most of the buyers do not submit this second one, some times this comes even a few hours later.

👇 you probably missed this comments

fiverr now is asking to fill secret review first before proceeding to a public review.

That’s right, they do. Secret review first (or at least a part of it).

[donnovan86]

I tend to agree that it’s picky, but in my experience, buyers will want the same level of customer service if they pay five as they would paying 100. I treat all my buyers like they are 10.000 dollar clients (but only within the confines of offering what I get paid to do.)

@looseink I agree with the part about reviews and honesty. Like you, I didn’t join Fiverr for reviews.

But, considering a good portion of those reviews helped me get new clients, I think it’s worth noting that reviews can have a snowball effect, leading to more work. Fiverr is one of my primary streams of work, but not the only one, and it provides perhaps half of my income.

Reviews aren’t as important to me anymore, but I still see the value in having fresh reviews now and then. It’s social proof to the buyers.

But this has gotten somewhat off-topic. My idea was to identify reasons why fewer people leave reviews than before, more out of curiosity and to help improve the user experience in the future.

For me, getting reviews is just one part of a big engine that pays my bills.

I tend to agree that it’s picky, but in my experience, buyers will want the same level of customer service if they pay five as they would paying 100

Which is totally unfair. Expect what you paid. You can’t compare me with a Pro seller’s output when he/she gets paid 20 times more. And let’s face it, the output might be a little bit better because they have more time to spend on it, but definitely not worth 20 times the amount. Yet people still find a way to comment on $5 orders.

[vickiespencer]

I know this process, but this second review doesn’t show anywhere right? what matters for us is the first review that a buyer leaves which will come and sit on our gig page and profile.

In fact, this is anonymous feedback sent to Fiverr about the service which doesn’t show anywhere on the site. If mistaken, I was talking about the public reviews. I think most of the buyers do not submit this second one, some times this comes even a few hours later.

but this second review doesn’t show anywhere right? what matters for us is the first review that a buyer leaves which will come and sit on our gig page and profile.

Secret reviews are more important than those that show. They seem to weigh heavier on your ranking on Fiverr than the public reviews. As one long time Forum member said, “When everyone has all 5 star ratings then no one has any.”

Have you read this thread?

Hey everyone! [frank hello] A disclaimer: The following post/article is not an official Fiverr statement. It’s a summary of my personal observations over how Fiverr works and I am sharing because I noticed that more and more sellers come here, stating that they “lost their ranking”. This is my effort to provide them with some answers and some food for thought. Hold up. Fiverr 3.0? If Fiverr’s early days (the wild wild west days) was Fiverr 1.0 and we count the facelift in 2014 (I think?) a…

[gongor32]

I’m pretty sure my ranking tanked because of some private reviews. I have refused to draw nsfw version for extra price to this guy. Next day my impressions went back to tens. I don’t know how private reviews weight but if I want to fix that hidden 0 review without knowing I have to do 30 orders to average it into 4.7 or something. 😅