Got sick, lost rep etc

[alundra]

So a while ago I sort of vanished from Fiverr. I was extremely sick and not really able to do anything. I was in and out of hospital, and there was a lot of things that happened that I don’t want to go into for personal reasons.



I had 18+ orders in that time, all of them timed out and were cancelled. Is there some sort of way to get those off my record? I’m slowly working on updating all the gigs and things but some have 50% rating and I would rather there be no rating, because I was so sick I had to put my health first.



If not, is there a way I can pretty much erase them through new orders/work? I’m a bit worried about that option because they’ve affected my rating so severely that it might scare buyers off? Also, I wanted to fill some buyer requests as well…I don’t know for sure if I will be able to in the future? Do these time out or not affect my rating after so many ratings? 🙂

[celticmoon]

Perhaps you should consider closing out this account, and just starting over? I happen to understand your dilemma, because I was critically hurt in a car accident once, and got helicoptered out to a hospital far from my home. I was in the hospital for months, and was extremely ill for many more months when I finally got home. I didn’t have an online business to worry about, but certainly there were bills not being paid during that time. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a “do-over”, but you could have a “do-over” on Fiverr with a new account and fresh start. Normally I don’t recommend doing this as a way to avoid negative reviews, but every circumstance is different, and sometimes it’s best to just walk away from them. I would be upfront with CS, explain what happened to you and that you would like to continue working on Fiverr. Be sure to point out that until you became ill, you had always done a good job and followed the rules (if that’s the truth!) but feel it would be too difficult to overcome the impact of all those unfinished orders. Then ask them to close this account, and open a new one.



Your other option is to work extremely hard to get the positive reviews you’ll need to neutralize the negatives. You’ll have to deal with having a low rating for awhile, including not being able to respond to buyer requests and not leveling up until the rating comes up. I know of other Fiverr sellers who stuck it out when they had similar events happen to them as happened to you. As their ratings improved, orders increased and eventually those old, cancelled orders were way in the past.



I wish you luck, whatever you decide to do~

[alundra]

But I have a lot of good feedback I’d rather keep. I don’t want to lose all the hard work so far :(.

[biancha]

im goin’ trough some personal issues and i was going to cancell over 20+ orders i got but… im a Completionist, if i dont finish what i start i will throw away all my cookies X_X.



But i can understand your situation.



i agree with @celticmoon suggestion. Start over. If you were at level 2 or top rated then i will understand why not start over. But you still got a lot in front of you 🙂 you can do it, whatever you decide. I will cheer for you ! go go go!

[alundra]

Thanks Biancha :). It’s hard when something completely pulls the rug out from under you and things go over your head.

[biancha]

Reply to @alundra: 🙂

[celticmoon]

Reply to @alundra: Your other option is to work extremely hard to get the positive reviews you’ll need to neutralize the negatives. You’ll have to deal with having a low rating for awhile, including not being able to respond to buyer requests and not leveling up until the rating comes up.

[alundra]

Reply to @celticmoon: Yeah I think that’s what I will have to do for now :).