I just received my first “brief”!

[melissaharlowvo]

Does the offer hold you to the price or is it just a quote that you can change based on more information after receiving the order and being able to engage with the buyer?

[frank_d]

16 minutes ago, melissaharlowvo said:

Does the offer hold you to the price or is it just a quote that you can change based on more information after receiving the order and being able to engage with the buyer?

It’s a custom offer. If they purchase you can’t change the price afterwards.

I mean you can try but that creates all kind of friction between you and the client.

Not sure what the etiquette is but seems like the buyer’s profile is not hidden, and so you may be able to send a custom offer then follow up with a message clarifying anything.

[gallywix]

Not a fan.

Edited February 25, 2022 by gallywix

[frank_d]

2 minutes ago, gallywix said:

Not a fan. I prefer buyers who know; what they want and who they want to work with. Feels like Upwork. Bidding for work and as you say @frank_dadds way more risk than reward. Projects need to be discussed before they are approved. It's going to be annoying getting notifications for this. Hopefully there's a way to shut them off. 

You can definitely disable the feature. Just go to your gigs page, there's a switch right at the top of the page.

 

[gallywix]

@frank_dGratitude. 

Edited February 25, 2022 by gallywix

[danno1950]

I just received a brief that was so useless in terms of trying to provide a Custom Offer that I went back and turned off the Get Briefs feature.

[frank_d]

9 minutes ago, danno1950 said:

I just received a brief that was so useless in terms of trying to provide a Custom Offer that I went back and turned off the Get Briefs feature.

Turning it off is also providing Fiverr with data. 🙂 

[danno1950]

1 hour ago, frank_d said:

Turning it off is also providing Fiverr with data.

Hopefully that data will reveal how unproductive the Brief feature is.

[vickiespencer]

I turned it off too, as both briefs I got had nothing to do with the services I offer.

[danno1950]

54 minutes ago, vickiespencer said:

I turned it off too

Thanks for the confirmation, Vickie! Maybe if everyone turns off the feature, they'll figure out that it's not performing the intended function correctly.

[kisilda]

I received a brief yesterday and was so unrelated to what  I offer. I turned it off for a while.

Edited February 26, 2022 by kisilda

[miiila]

-_-

It wasn't just not the right time, by the way, it also was a *seller*. 

 

[melanielm]

I got one today, and thankfully the person gave a lot of details. There does need to be an option to contact them instead of creating a custom offer directly. I did suggest they contact me if they had additional info or questions.

[williambryan392]

I've received 3 or 4 Briefs now. All either completely out of touch with what I offer, or nowhere near enough info to accurately quote.

Briefs just feel like buyer requests under a different name, like they've tried to rebrand it because they've seen so few established sellers engage with BR's. I don't see any meaningful difference. Am I missing something? 

[frank_d]

4 minutes ago, williambryan392 said:

I've received 3 or 4 Briefs now. All either completely out of touch with what I offer, or nowhere near enough info to accurately quote.

Briefs just feel like buyer requests under a different name, like they've tried to rebrand it because they've seen so few established sellers engage with BR's. I don't see any meaningful difference. Am I missing something? 

I think Fiverr is trying to solve a “buyer” problem: currently buyers that post a buyer request get bombarded with extremely low-quality offers and people who outright harass them to get $5.

So they are trying to level up the feature by working some algorithmic magic to ensure a better fit.

The problem is that Fiverr’s team are thinking of this as a tech issue when it’s in fact, a business one.

Just by looking at the category and by leaving the buyer to tick a “flexible” option in terms of budget and timeframe, will essentially diminish any chance of this working.

Add that to the fact that us sellers essentially either need to send them a custom offer or deny the opportunity, with no additional way to communicate our questions to add clarity to the brief and I doubt any “match” will ever happen.

[artatei]

I've gotten two of these so far, both I passed on. The fact that I have to accept on a message-like order is off. There's a reason that, when placing an order, you get sent to a requirement page and fill in extensively. Otherwise, in this brief situation I have to say yes on a literally brief "I need packaging designs by march 7" Yes/No

🥲

[miiila]

Hm. Today, I got a "brief", without any essential info whatsoever regarding scope, budget, desired turnaround time,... It sounded interesting due to the niche, however, and would be a good match in that regard, indeed, so I decided to send a "dummy offer", so the buyer can contact me to discuss details.

Just now, I was browsing BRs, and noticed that the same buyer has a BR up. Which happens to have the scope, a budget, and other significant info, so it's a bit of a riddle to me why I wasn't sent that info along with the "brief". Also, in case my dummy offer appears alongside the offers that were sent via BR, I'll look pretty stupid, because, obviously, in my offer, I'm asking for the information that was provided in the BR.

The "brief concept" really should be revised against this and the above seller experiences.                                                                           

Edited March 2, 2022 by miiila

[donnovan86]

Honestly after what I am seeing here, I'm just turning the feature off. I don't see anyone very happy that it works for them, and the fact that you can't message the buyer is a turnoff.

[melanielm]

I agree, Donnovan. I'm turning mine off, too. Since the first one, I received two more. One for something I don't do and one with a ridiculously low budget.

[frank_d]

I just forwarded this entire thread to the product leader. 

Hopefully we can all work together on improving this product and making it useful for both buyers and sellers.

[danno1950]

4 hours ago, frank_d said:

I just forwarded this entire thread to the product leader. 

Hopefully we can all work together on improving this product and making it useful for both buyers and sellers.

Thanks for doing that, Frank! I'd love to see this product be useful and helpful.

[williambryan392]

I don't want to turn the feature off in case they actually prove useful, but this is a bit of a joke. Does the buyer want leads, a pitch, a strategy or someone to hire her? Could this buyer be confused about what a brief is for. 

[frank_d]

3 minutes ago, williambryan392 said:

I don't want to turn the feature off in case they actually prove useful, but this is a bit of a joke. Does the buyer want leads, a pitch, a strategy or someone to hire her? Could this buyer be confused about what a brief is for. 

Ah yes, I was expecting that. It’s very common when browsing BR to get people looking for jobs.

It was inevitable that someone would reach their true potential and hack this new feature as well. 
 

Send them a custom offer for $1,000, and I’ll go make some pop corn. 
 

 

[williambryan392]

Had a long day and couldn't help but reject and hit the 'other' option so I could share my frustrated reason:

 

Everything was too vague.  Does the buyer want leads, a pitch, a strategy or someone to actually hire her, is she trying to sell a service? Could this buyer be confused about what a brief is for? I've not been able engage with any brief yet because I cannot understand what the buyer wants and therefore cannot quote effectively. I really don't see how this feature is different to a buyer request. Why does fiver think 'I'm a great choice'? Because I have a gig in the Business category? Is that it?

 

Maybe I should have done a massive offer. $10K. But then I'd have to go through the inevitable cancellation dance, or have my offer rejected, both of which I fear hitting my stats/standing. Sorry to deprive you of more entertainment for you and your popcorn @frank_d 😆😉 

[filipdevaere]

I received my first brief.

I have a lot of issues with it.

1)  Budget unknown. He knows this is not an easy task, he hopes to get a cheap offer. That is why he does not want to show a fair price.

2) Timing: 3 weeks to finish. So I guess it is a big job, or he takes his time and is contacting several freelancers with the same brief to select the cheapest offer.

3) He can provide the manual, but I need to see the manual first to find out if I can do the job and if I can do it in the next 3 weeks. Without the VFD manual, I cannot make a correct price quotation and I cannot estimate the time that I need to finish it.

4)  There is no way to contact the buyer.

My conclusion is that this is a very dangerous project. I am not going to accept it.