This is XXXXX's first purchase on Fiverr!

[williambryan392]

A bit of a stupid question but how does it make you feel if you get a purchase from a buyer that's new to fiverr?

Obviously I'm pleased to get any orders, but I always fear a new buyer won't understand the '5* or fail' nature of fiverr ratings (I know 4.7 isn't bad but you get my point).

I'm really not a worrier, I'm pretty chilled out, but ratings/reviews actually give me real anxiety! I know I can't do anything about it, just saying 🙂 

[spaintranslator]

It is a bit scary, lol. 😆

[williambryan392]

2 minutes ago, corsogr said:

Depends if it is an instabuy without messaging first or ordering for the first time after communication with seller.

Does it matter? You can't explain the nature of fiver ratings to the buyer whether they message you or not. Maybe I'm misunderstanding

[williambryan392]

2 minutes ago, spaintranslator said:

It is a bit scary, lol. 😆

OK, glad I'm not the only one 😆

[nikandco]

3 minutes ago, williambryan392 said:

A bit of a stupid question but how does it make you feel if you get a purchase from a buyer that's new to fiverr?

I agree- happy to get the order. In my experience, new Buyers require more hand-holding (me requesting information that a seasoned Buyer would already know to provide, me clarifying what is included in their order, etc). So its a bit more work to make sure they are 100% clear on everything before we start. But they have all been really pleasant to work with with no negative review experiences. I think a new buyer is more likely to provide no review at all than to provide a negative one (unless they've gone through a really rough experience).

[aarontgladiator]

I once had someone (a new buyer) ask me to provide my service for free because he thought that everyone did each other 'favors' on Fiverr and it was all for free.

[donnovan86]

13 hours ago, corsogr said:

Depends if it is an instabuy without messaging first or ordering for the first time after communication with seller.

Most of the new sellers I work with are instabuys and they rarely communicate. Just do your job the best way you can, and you don't have to worry. It doesn't matter if it's a new buyer or not.

[frank_d]

23 hours ago, williambryan392 said:

A bit of a stupid question but how does it make you feel if you get a purchase from a buyer that's new to fiverr?

Obviously I'm pleased to get any orders, but I always fear a new buyer won't understand the '5* or fail' nature of fiverr ratings (I know 4.7 isn't bad but you get my point).

I'm really not a worrier, I'm pretty chilled out, but ratings/reviews actually give me real anxiety! I know I can't do anything about it, just saying 🙂 

I love getting that notification.

It allows me to focus on the customer experience and lead the conversation, knowing that they will follow.

I personally disagree about the “5.0 review or bust” point. Anything 3.0 and above is considered a positive review, and unless the exit survey filled out by the buyer after the order is closed is scathing, your profile can technically survive a less than perfect review.

So back to my main point:

First time buyers are not scary, unless your gig’s description/packages are not clear or your gig extras are too “technical” in nature.

The great thing about first time buyers is that their expectations are usually low and the smoother the experience you provide them with, the more positive their review usually is.

 

[lenasemenkova]

10 hours ago, donnovan86 said:

instabuys

That's a good one.

New buyers are rarely a problem. If you catch them fast enough to ask questions. I also don’t recall them unjustly lowering my 5*. 

[melanielm]

I reserve fear for buyers who obviously do not understand how Fiverr works or failed to give me an appropriate description of the work they want done after ordering without contact. First-time buyers are great as long as they act professionally.

Unfortunately, I have had a few who didn't know they were actually placing an order they would have to pay. I'm not quite sure how that confusion happens. Aarontgladiator's experience with the person expecting favors is mind blowing.

[rachelbostwick]

Happens to me all the time, especially because people often find me through my personal website which then leads them to Fiverr to buy. I have had people who did not understand the system. I sometimes have customers who never, ever review me because they just. don't. get. it. People who never figure out how to download their files from the order instead of the inbox. People who don't have any idea what to do with their files after they do get them downloaded.

But honestly, I've found that people who are going to give fives or not give fives are unrelated to whether they understand Fiverr culture or not. I feel like that's more of a personality thing. 

Like @frank_d I love getting the notification that it's a buyer's first time. Makes me feel like a million bucks, because out of a marketplace of THOUSANDS of users they picked me! and since it's their first experience with the platform I have a chance to make them feel the same way. As long as they are reasonably tech-savvy, I almost always get a five from my newbies. And people who aren't tech-savvy enough to leave a review, well, that's just part of the job.

 

[visualstudios]

4 hours ago, frank_d said:

Anything 3.0 and above is considered a positive review,

I'll have to keep disagreeing with this. In theory, that should be the case. In practice it is not. If a review is positive, it means you could have that review score as your average and not be affected. Imagine school tests, 50% is a passing grade. That means you can take 10 tests in a year, get 50% on all of them, and you'll pass the class. If you have less than that, it's negative. Because you'll fail the class.

3.0 as a review average is horrible, since you'll be demoted. The equivalent of "failing the class".

According to Fiverr, 4.7 is the threshold to be considered a positive review. Any average score under it is bad, and will impact your profile negatively. Reviews on Fiverr are unrealistic, the curve is extremely skewed towards the top end.

[rachelbostwick]

2 hours ago, visualstudios said:

3.0 as a review average is horrible, since you'll be demoted. The equivalent of "failing the class".

I offer a counterpoint.

The equivalent of failing the class would be losing your account. You can have "average" scores of 3.0 on Fiverr and keep selling as much as you want. You're just not going to be getting as much visibility as the people who are delighting their customers on a regular basis.

Being promoted and maintaining higher levels are privileges granted for having above average service, not default rankings for having acceptable service. Of course Fiverr wants to advertise the people who are getting much higher than just bare minimum positive scores. Why wouldn't they?

[travisjens]

On 1/30/2022 at 6:57 AM, williambryan392 said:

A bit of a stupid question but how does it make you feel if you get a purchase from a buyer that's new to fiverr?

Obviously I'm pleased to get any orders, but I always fear a new buyer won't understand the '5* or fail' nature of fiverr ratings (I know 4.7 isn't bad but you get my point).

I'm really not a worrier, I'm pretty chilled out, but ratings/reviews actually give me real anxiety! I know I can't do anything about it, just saying 🙂 

Certainly need to be clear and concise with what you are offering and the extent of the work you are providing. Just last week I looked over someones website for them in a consultancy capacity. After writing a report based on my user experience and recommendations, I submitted the work as done and requested payment. They then wanted me to implement all the recommendations that I had made. So i submitted the report again and wrote to them that we agreed on, a b and C. I have fullfilled my obilgation. Need to keep a good strong paper trail of all communications to safeguard yourself. But it can make you anxious as to how they will review your work, considering you didn't do everything that they wanted even though you had fullfilled the actual obligation. 

 

On 1/30/2022 at 6:57 AM, williambryan392 said:

A bit of a stupid question but how does it make you feel if you get a purchase from a buyer that's new to fiverr?

Obviously I'm pleased to get any orders, but I always fear a new buyer won't understand the '5* or fail' nature of fiverr ratings (I know 4.7 isn't bad but you get my point).

I'm really not a worrier, I'm pretty chilled out, but ratings/reviews actually give me real anxiety! I know I can't do anything about it, just saying 🙂 

 

[williambryan392]

10 hours ago, rachelbostwick said:

Makes me feel like a million bucks, because out of a marketplace of THOUSANDS of users they picked me!

So true @rachelbostwick, that's a great way to look at it! To be honest I've never had a problem with a first time buyer, so this is just my anxiety talking!

 

14 hours ago, frank_d said:

Anything 3.0 and above is considered a positive review

Always pleased to get your insight @frank_d and I know I would usually agree (I never got 3/5 or 60% in any exam 😆 so would be thrilled with it) but given we need to maintain a 4.7 over 60 days I think anything under 4.7 is technically bad as @visualstudiossaid. I buy quite a bit on fiver for my startup and when there are so many 4.9/5* profiles I get (unnecessarily) put off by a 4.7 profile, and I don't think I'd ever order from anyone less than say 4.5. Why would I need to when there are so many 5* to choose from. I know it's not fair to think like this, but that may be why fiver brought in the secret rating, maybe because they think the public rating system doesn't give a true reflection of a seller. 

[frank_d]

Thank you @visualstudios and @williambryan392 for putting things in perspective.

I was being to literal with the whole "positive"-"negative" review thing. Yes, a 3.0 review is positive, in a sense that when you filter by "negative" reviews, it won't show. 

But digging down deep, we uncover another huge problem on the platform: the public reviews and what they actually mean.

Let me work on a few deliveries and I will circle back with some thoughts.

[visualstudios]

12 hours ago, rachelbostwick said:

The equivalent of failing the class would be losing your account. You can have "average" scores of 3.0 on Fiverr and keep selling as much as you want.

Well, by that logic there's no such thing as negative review. You can get 1 star reviews only, and you won't lose your account. It's not against terms of service to get 1 star reviews. "Keep selling as much as you want"? Lol. Keep selling as much as you can, and that number will be severely impacted if your average review score is 3. Anything that makes you sell less, that makes you appear less in the search results, etc. is obviously a negative. 3 star reviews do that.