A personal milestone…

[frank_d]

Hey gang!

I have been wanting to make this post for a few days now, but believe it or not, between my orders, side projects, future community events -more to come on that front- and scheduling my first trip post Covid-19, I think I have a few too many proverbial balls in the air.

So I just wanted to take a moment and write this down. Share this with the community.

Aside from this event feeling like a milestone in my career, I also feel like putting it into words will make it seem more real than it currently does.

OK so here we go.

 

I was finally able to book tickets for my first post Covid trip, and it is going to be an interesting one.

My flight is for Tel Aviv.

Here's a screenshot straight from my calendar:

(edited out date)

 

 

I will have a sit-down with none other than Fiverr's CEO Micha Kaufman.

This has been a long time coming, I feel that now is a great time to visit Fiverr HQ, talk to the man running the show and also meet with most of the team in-person, after all these years of talking to them through video chat.

That's all I can say for now, I'll probably have more things to share moving forward but I think this will be an interesting trip.

I will take pictures, and share my experience of course.

 

But I also wanted to ask the community: 

Is there anything I you want me to share with Fiverr officials?

 

Aside from the CEO, I will be meeting with the entire CSM team, the CMO, team leaders from the seller's experience, the seller plus team, well to be honest I will be meeting with almost everyone. (who knows, I may also meet with someone from the algo team 😉 🤫)

 

So that being said, I wanted to see if aside from the agenda I already have set, if there are some issues, thoughts, ideas that I could then direct to the people in charge.

This is not what this trip is about, but since I will be visiting their HQ, maybe it would be helpful to mention somethings and see what they think about them.

 

So yeah, I just wanted to share this moment with my peers, as it means so much to me personally. In many ways Fiverr has been a platform that saved me from a really bad place back when I started working as a freelancer, and through my experiences on here I feel like I grew a lot more than what I would have on my own.

This is a milestone for me personally.

I will post about a different milestone I reached last month in a new post, hopefully on Monday, when it's my birthday.

(hint: Fiverr 3.0 was posted on my birthday, so who knows: maybe that update is coming.)

 

 

[visualstudios]

Wow, how did you manage this?

Anyway, my request is that you take me with you lol 

[frank_d]

On 3/18/2022 at 2:20 PM, visualstudios said:

Anyway, my request is that you take me with you lol 

That would be awesome! I hear Israel has a great nightlife and a vibrant startup scene.

Sounds like fun and a great place to network! 

[visualstudios]

I'm available for travel.

[cs_evans]

Giant kudos to you.  Well deserved.  I have no doubt you will provide us with as much information as you are allowed to do so when you are back. 

[vickiespencer]

Tell them that proofreaders and writers would like the same ability as voice over sellers to automatically add days to the delivery when a buyer placed a direct order. 

@donnovan86 may be able to explain this better. 

[miiila]

3 hours ago, frank_d said:

(hint: Fiverr 3.0 was posted on my birthday, so who knows: maybe that update is coming.)

As a birthday gift to yourself, just drop the 4.0 and call it 5.0, Fiverr 5.0 sounds much funnier 😉

 

Great news, you must be really excited 🙂 thanks for sharing and asking us what we'd like you to share with the HQ!

My main personal Fiverr issue is what @vickiespencer said and @donnovan86 may be able to explain better, and what has been brought up in quite a few site suggestion threads already:
Writing & Translating needs the ability to deactivate/limit the number of Gig multiples and/or the delivery time to automatically adapt to the Gig multiples a customer chooses. There's also a logical error of that kind in the Gig Extras set-up. If a buyer buys, e.g., 5x Gig (let's say 5x writing/translating 1000 words = 5000 words) and chooses a Gig Extra (let's say proofreading), they only pay 1x Gig Extra, even though they should pay 5x Gig Extra, as it's 5x the work for the seller (in our example, the seller only gets paid for the Proofreading Extra for 1000 words instead of for 5000 words).
I completely deactivated my Gig Extras because of this issue long ago, and that and the missing option to deactivate/limit Gig multiples interferes with what we might else offer, as Extras, or Gig packages, or leads to cancellations. 

However, I guess what I'd like you to share most, is for them to please do their very best to not let down their sellers who happen to be "in the wrong region" all of a sudden. If they really have to suspend accounts, to make sure that they are "frozen", not deleted, and can be reinstated as soon as the situation will allow. 

Thank you. 

[donnovan86]

Hi Frank!

I hope you will have an incredible, great meeting and I really hope a lot of people will share some of the major points disturbing sellers right now.

Like @vickiespencer and @miiila stated, the most pressing issue for a lot of sellers, including me, is the fact that people can still use gig multiples and order up to 20 times the maximum word count/package without a seller's consent. Allowing sellers to stop/start gig multiples the way they want is a MUST HAVE honestly. The fact that any random buyer can use gig multiples and order up to 20x the maximum package you provide is disturbing and it leads to unwanted cancellations, which are obviously bad for the seller and Fiverr too, since they might lose that client. 

I assume in some categories this is not a problem, but for writers in particular it's a huge one. That's because buyers have different word count requirements and some think it's ok to order a 90000 word order without talking with the seller. 

I hope you can raise this issue with Micha Kaufman so at least he has an understanding that such problems still exist on Fiverr and hopefully he can speed up a potential solution. I will be forever grateful to you and Micha if this gets solved, I've been dealing with this issue ever since I started. And I know I am not alone with this, as you can see there are many forum regulars dealing with such a problem themselves. 

 

I think I forwarded this forum topic to you a while ago (I think the day before you got banned randomly from that attack). Not sure if it reached the destination, but I hope that this time you can at least talk with Micha Kaufman about this, since I am 100% certain it's something that will be very benefficial for the entire platform.  

Thank you so much!

[visualstudios]

1 - Strict revision limit (greyed out and pushing buyers to buy an extra revision if they used all the included ones)

2 - Option to accept or decline an order placed without prior communication

3 - Increase of file size limits across the board (50mb for portfolio files? what?)

I'll add more here as I think of them.

[spaintranslator]

On 3/18/2022 at 4:19 PM, vickiespencer said:

Tell them that proofreaders and writers would like the same ability as voice over sellers to automatically add days to the delivery when a buyer placed a direct order. 

Ohhh yes, please!

On 3/18/2022 at 5:13 PM, miiila said:

My main personal Fiverr issue is what @vickiespencer said and @donnovan86 may be able to explain better, and what has been brought up in quite a few site suggestion threads already:
Writing & Translating needs the ability to deactivate/limit the number of Gig multiples and/or the delivery time to automatically adapt to the Gig multiples a customer chooses. There's also a logical error of that kind in the Gig Extras set-up. If a buyer buys, e.g., 5x Gig (let's say 5x writing/translating 1000 words = 5000 words) and chooses a Gig Extra (let's say proofreading), they only pay 1x Gig Extra, even though they should pay 5x Gig Extra, as it's 5x the work for the seller (in our example, the seller only gets paid for the Proofreading Extra for 1000 words instead of for 5000 words).
I completely deactivated my Gig Extras because of this issue long ago, and that and the missing option to deactivate/limit Gig multiples interferes with what we might else offer, as Extras, or Gig packages, or leads to cancellations. 

However, I guess what I'd like you to share most, is for them to please do their very best to not let down their sellers who happen to be "in the wrong region" all of a sudden. If they really have to suspend accounts, to make sure that they are "frozen", not deleted, and can be reinstated as soon as the situation will allow. 

Exact, I agree, it would be great if this can be fixed!

[newsmike]

@frank_d  when you shake his hand, palm a $20, and tell him, Mike sez hi!

Seriously, 2 things off the top that are the most egregious to me:

1. Finally fix the algorithm so that when you sort by "Best Selling" you see the actual "best selling" gigs, not sellers with 15 sales on page 1. This would fix the whole "why did my gig drop? question. It would be descending order based on gross dollars booked in the last 30 days. "Most recommended" sort is just as broken.

2. Skin in the game. Either require sellers join Seller Plus, or some other recurring fee every month in order to have active seller gigs. This one fixes the other 300 things that are wrong. 

[imagination7413]

7 hours ago, frank_d said:

Is there anything I you want me to share with Fiverr officials?

> Thank you. Thank you for providing this platform. Yes, it's somewhat buggy, and has had some major growing pains, and there are flaws and issues, but even still: thank you.

[mikavirtanen]

7 hours ago, frank_d said:

Is there anything I you want me to share with Fiverr officials?

Regards from Russian freelancers that left without income.

[zeus777]

First of all Frank, this is amazing!
(I wish I can go with you, I hope you take a lot of photos when you get there!!)

I've complained about this a good number of times here, but when I report a bad seller all I get is the usual "we'll look into it" cookie-cutter response along with the "please use the flagging system" and then it's marked as resolved, even though nothing is being done.
It seems like there's a HUGE gap between the sellers who gets banned right away VS the ones that still stick around even though they get reported with proof.
I get the feeling that the sellers with the obvious flaws (like stolen images) gets banned immediately because it's so painfully obvious what the problem is, but when a certain seller needs a bit of digging, they don't bother doing it. I'd love to see this problem get fixed...

[melanielm]

This is quite exciting. I can't wait to hear about it on the other side.

I'll add my vote for more control over how multiple orders are processed (adding time when adding multiple gig orders). Ultimately, the ability to custom order in units based on the type of service makes sense -- more customization of how we can charge for the work we do. For example, a per-word charge and the buyer can simply plug in the number they want and receive an accurate quote from the gig page.

Anything that would improve Fiverr's reputation would help, which mostly focuses on getting rid of scammers, plagiarists, sellers with no/poor skills, etc. Not enough to create a business/pro side of things if the name is still associated heavily with horrible things. I'm in a lot of non-freelance-related groups, and if anyone ever asks for a service provider recommendation, there are multiple posts "Don't use Fiverr!"

[donnovan86]

1 hour ago, melanielm said:

I'll add my vote for more control over how multiple orders are processed (adding time when adding multiple gig orders).

Yes, adding time is ok, but I think it's way better to just be able to not accept gig multiples at all, or just start/stop gig multiples at your own pace. SEOClerks already has this option when you create a gig, so it's certainly something that can be implemented. And as I said, just being able to stop multiples would be great. You can start using gig multiples again when you have time, and stop when you are super overbooked. Because even if you write something on the gig page about this, most people won't read anyway (trust me I tried). This way the buyer would be forced to talk with you and ask for a custom offer, which is the main purpose of a custom offer anyway.  Really hope this becomes a thing. Thank you for supporting this idea @melanielm!!

[frank_d]

Thank you to everyone who replied.

I think I can forward the “multiple gigs” request before my trip to be honest. Sounds like something I can make sure is sent to the right people, right away.

I was surprised to see everyone bringing up these issues instead of bigger picture stuff.

But I do understand the need to address every day issues as well.

I will forward everything mentioned here to the right people via the appropriate channel.

[catwriter]

1 hour ago, frank_d said:

I was surprised to see everyone bringing up these issues instead of bigger picture stuff.

Because that's what's been bugging good sellers for years and preventing them from working more efficiently (and earning more both for themselves and Fiverr), but nothing was done about it.

As for the bigger picture stuff, did you have something specific in mind?

[frank_d]

7 minutes ago, catwriter said:

Because that's what's been bugging good sellers for years and preventing them from working more efficiently (and earning more both for themselves and Fiverr), but nothing was done about it.

As for the bigger picture stuff, did you have something specific in mind?

That's understandable @catwriter

Yes I have several things in mind I want to talk to C-suite executives about.

Not sure it's a good idea to talk about them here, right now. But there is an agenda, sure.

[imagination7413]

I have a lot of things in mind about how the forums could be improved, but that's pretty minor and not something one would bring up with Mr. Kaufman.

Major things, though?

EXTREMELY controversial, but: the Astrology & Psychics section. I get that it's a major category, but I really think it detracts from the direction Fiverr has been trying to go, as a business and a professional platform. I'm not sure why it hasn't been split off already.

EXTREMELY controversial: permitting any NSFW gigs. Again, it's probably a major money bringer, but it also detracts from the professional and business image.

BOTH of these can be considered against Fiverr's own ToS. 

---

Not sure this can be considered major, but: Onboarding process. I have noticed a number of improvements sneak in, in the Help Center pages. But if Fiverr wants to stick to no-barrier-to-entry, then they need to figure out a better way to direct people to them. The search engine in the help pages is clunky, and extremely term-and-spelling-specific. (I know we're spoiled by Google, but "how do I get order" should at least bring up the same top 3 results as "selling" does.)

[cs_evans]

I 100% support what @imagination7413 has outlined; those are great points. 

A few other items which pop to my mind are:

1. Many thanks to them for a platform which allows us access to a worldwide group of buyers.  Great job. 
2. Buyer requests are basically a joke on the best day and can be extremely predatory for new sellers. 
3. Get briefs - I haven't seen one since I signed up (very likely due to my level), but there are multiple threads here indicating they could use a lot of work.
4. Pricing/timing opportunities - I know us VO people have it better than a lot of others, but there is still quite a bit of room for enhancement opportunities even for us.
5. Required English skills test: No doubt this one is controversial but at the end of the day this is an English-speaking platform and there are a LOT of sellers and buyers who can't string three words together in the correct order. 
6. Required knowledge test for forum:  Another controversial one but as we all know the forums can often by just a whirlpool of newbies asking/saying the same thing over and over and over and over again.  I think there should be an FAQ/knowledge section you have to read, and then pass a test on, before you can become an active forum member.  Heck, I would even support applying it retroactively for all existing forum members.  
7. Seller plus program enhancements:
   1. Clarity on coupon eligibility:  I have had a CS ticket open for literally 3 months trying to get them to tell me why some of my customers I can send a coupon to and others I can't.
   2. Buyer request priority:  I mentioned above the buyer request section mostly sucks, but as a seller plus member I am supposed to get priority notification, but that doesn't seem to work at all.  I opened a ticket for this, also, and ended up closing it after a long time because of no good feedback on why there are significant delays in the notifications.
8. Another level between level 2 and TRS might not be a bad idea. 
9. More transparency in how the algorithms work (Yes, I know I must be drunk for even asking for this.)

[imagination7413]

4 minutes ago, cs_evans said:

2. Buyer requests are basically a joke on the best day and can be extremely predatory for new sellers. 

Can I link my list here? I'm going to link my list here. https://community.fiverr.com/forums/topic/265801-buyers-request-poll-just-for-fun/?do=findComment&comment=1658024

 

[donnovan86]

On 3/20/2022 at 12:51 PM, frank_d said:

I was surprised to see everyone bringing up these issues instead of bigger picture stuff.

Thank you Frank. 

I will think of some bigger picture stuff, but the fact of dealing with gig multiples is one of the pressing issues a lot of people encounter every day. So.. unfortunately it's become a major problem, more than a nuissance at least for me and a lot of people as you can see. I think the ability to stop/start gig multiples as you see fit as a seller would be ideal here. This way you can actually have a choice to offer the service you want, and not be forced to work on 20x your maximum word count (for writers, as an example). 

I appreciate it, and hopefully it gets implemented very soon. I will try to post here if I have some ideas regarding bigger picture stuff. 

On 3/20/2022 at 4:11 PM, cs_evans said:

Get briefs - I haven't seen one since I signed up (very likely due to my level), but there are multiple threads here indicating they could use a lot of work.

I got one and he didn't specify how many articles he wanted, just that he needed articles in $50. Without mentioning the price, desired word count, etc. I had to deny it.. Being able to talk with the potential buyer via a dedicated chat would help improve that tool immensely.

On 3/20/2022 at 4:11 PM, cs_evans said:

Another level between level 2 and TRS might not be a bad idea. 

I agree, maybe more than just one level. Multiple levels, showing the growth of someone. I accept that not everyone is going to be a TRS, but there has to be a way to differentiate myself from a seller that just completed 40-50 orders (and just got level 2). 

[zeus777]

5 hours ago, cs_evans said:

Required English skills test:

Sounds like a good one. Maybe I'll add "required <insert any language you claim to understand> test" in order to weed out the fake translators.
 

[newsmike]

7 hours ago, imagination7413 said:

EXTREMELY controversial, but: the Astrology & Psychics section. I get that it's a major category, but I really think it detracts from the direction Fiverr has been trying to go, as a business and a professional platform. I'm not sure why it hasn't been split off already.

Agree, this is just embarrassing, has to go. 

7 hours ago, imagination7413 said:

EXTREMELY controversial: permitting any NSFW gigs.

Also needs to go if we want to be respected as a platform.

6 hours ago, cs_evans said:

Required English skills test: No doubt this one is controversial but at the end of the day this is an English-speaking platform and there are a LOT of sellers and buyers who can't string three words together in the correct order. 

Spot on.