Is there a way to "reboot" my account. Should I do it?

[wolfsdenstudio]

TL;DR: Can I reboot my profile and start from scratch?

 

Hey everyone, thanks for clicking on and reading this.

I'm a writer, and I've been on Fiverr for almost a year. In my time on the site, I've made many clients happy with great stories they loved, and that's great. Yet, I haven't made a lot of money and I still have a regular day job. Fiverr represents a very small fraction of my monthly income. 

I had a few friends who were sellers on Fiverr. They're writers as well and were able to make it their full-time job only with a few months of experience. I'm not quite there yet, and I am disappointed with my own performance. I don't see a way of improving things.

But, I know this is my own fault.  

I started my profile at a very chaotic time in my life, and because of that, my performance suffered. I'd miss deadlines, or deliver work that wasn't up to my own standards. Because of this, I got a couple of not-so-great reviews, including a 1.7 that tanked me. Even though that review is older it continues to be the first one that customers see when they get to my profile. Apparently, it has something to do with the fact that the buyer wrote a long review, although I'm not sure. 

I recently had to cancel two orders. This completely tanked my completion rate and bumped me down to "New Seller". I achieved Level one in January, and I feel I'm back to square one. But I am in a much better space mentally, and I can dedicate more time to Fiverr, if I had the chance to start over, I'd do a much better job of it. 

With all this said, my question is: Should I give up on this profile?  Can customer support nuke it so I can start from scratch? I'm not sure that's even possible but asking can't hurt.

I'm not sure if I want to continue with this profile. I don't even like the name I picked and I can't change it (which at the time, I thought would be possible). 

I haven't gotten a message, let alone a new order in almost a month. The only exception is a repeat buyer that recently came back. I completed his order and it did improve my completion rate, but it's not enough (currently 80%). I'm only getting radio silence from buyers. 

I wrote to support, and the only thing they sent me was a canned response about how to improve my profile to attract buyers. Fair enough, admittedly that is something I have to do, but people are not even seeing the gigs in the first place. I feel like I've been buried by the algorithm. Its a shame, because im relatively close to Level 2, all I need is a little push, a few more sales. But April was just terrible for me, im not sure if there's a way to recover and get back on track. 

Anyways, this is starting to feel like a rant. If anyone has any advice on whether I should "restart" my profile or not, I'll appreciate it! 

Thanks!

Edited May 2, 2022 by wolfsdenstudio

[lloydsolutions]

1 hour ago, wolfsdenstudio said:

Should I give up on this profile?  Can customer support nuke it so I can start from scratch? I'm not sure that's even possible but asking can't hurt.

It is possible but you will have to completely start over as a new seller and build your business.

Here's how if you wish to do this: https://www.fiverr.com/support/articles/360050222673-How-do-I-change-my-username 

As you have numerous excellent reviews which are valuable to you suggest you concentrate on building your Fiverr business.

This topic may be helpful to you:  

 

PS. You have no gigs on display at present.

[newsmike]

21 minutes ago, wolfsdenstudio said:

With all this said, my question is: Should I give up on this profile?  

Do you think it is entirely honest to delete your account that correctly reflects legitimate quality issues in the past, in order to represent yourself as a perfect seller?  What about someone who spends money thinking they are getting a legitimate 5 star seller? 

Edited May 2, 2022 by newsmike

[wolfsdenstudio]

6 minutes ago, newsmike said:

Do you think it is entirely honest to delete your account that correctly reflects legitimate quality issues in the past, in order to represent yourself as a perfect seller?  

Thanks for your comment Newsmike. I see your point, and I've thought about it. It is partially why I decided to ask first here instead of directly contacting support, because I want others to weigh in.

While I understand how it may come across, I'd argue that those issues are indeed in the past, and they should not continue to drag me down, making it impossible for me to move on. Do you think buyers see a 1.7 star review and go "well im sure that's all in the past, lets give him a shot"? Because I dont think that's how people see it. It's not at all about trying to "represent myself as a perfect seller," because I'm not. None of us are perfect. It's about being able to start again, without one of the most terrible time periods of my life dragging me down. 

Also the biggest problem is the lack of visibility that affects my account, I do not see a way to climb up in the search results, and no one at support has been able to give me a straight answer. I'ts not even about how people perceive me, really, because they're not seeing the profile.

[wolfsdenstudio]

4 minutes ago, lloydsolutions said:

PS. You have no gigs on display at present.

Thank you so much for this constructive feedback, I truly appreciate it! I will check the links you shared.

It is true, I do have many good reviews that I'd like to keep. Starting over would be a very difficult task. 

I just... get so frustrated, you know? I get angry with myself because of my past mistakes, and I tend to act in impulsive, often stupid ways. I shouldn't do that, and it's something I'm working on with my therapist, but it's still a problem for me. 

Oh and by the way, you're not seeing any gigs because I paused them all while I take a moment to reassess the situation. Let me know if you'd like to see them. 

Once again thank you for taking the time to answer and provide some actual insight 🙂

[lloydsolutions]

1 hour ago, wolfsdenstudio said:

I feel like I've been buried by the algorithm. Its a shame, because im relatively close to Level 2, all I need is a little push, a few more sales.

 

16 minutes ago, wolfsdenstudio said:

Let me know if you'd like to see them. 

Here's the push. Unpause them and get going.

Good luck! 🙂

[wolfsdenstudio]

8 minutes ago, lloydsolutions said:

 

Here's the push. Unpause them and get going.

Good luck! 🙂

Thanks! 

I've unpaused the gigs, and will be fine-tuning them in the next few days. Hopefully things will begin to go back to normal and I can take it from there. 

[vickiespencer]

I looked at your profile, and as you said, the 1.7-star review is still on top. Next, I searched your reviews by "most recent" and saw you have several 5-star reviews since that review.

Then I searched for the 1.7-star review in one of your gigs, and I did not find it? A good defense is often the best offense. As a buyer, I want to know the seller's side of the situation when I see a review like that, but your side of the story was nowhere to be found. Did you delete that gig?

This review is one  I received from a buyer five months ago.

"not satisfied. it not worth the price I think. seller didn't edit anything."

As you can tell from the review, the buyer's grasp of the conventions of English is not stellar. My reply was that I did not think the buyer understood how to view the TC copy of their document as I had corrected X amount of errors.

There was no pause in the number of orders I received after that.

I always respond to every buyer's review. I do so for two reasons. 1. the buyer may come to my profile to view my thank you. 2. Prospective buyers may read my responses to reviews. Therefore, I use them to sound professional, polite, and positive as a mini advertising opportunity. Part of this "advertising" is that I always mention the service(s) the buyer purchased, so future buyers will know what the reviewer appreciated.  

[wolfsdenstudio]

31 minutes ago, vickiespencer said:

I searched for the 1.7-star review in one of your gigs, and I did not find it? A good defense is often the best offense. As a buyer, I want to know the seller's side of the situation when I see a review like that, but your side of the story was nowhere to be found. Did you delete that gig?

 Thanks for your reply!

Yes, the review comes from a now-deleted gig. It was a specific type of story that I no longer offer (NFT story design), the gig is gone, and there is no way to recover it.

I had no idea that deleting the gig would hide my response because I did respond to the client. In this case, he gave me a loose outline, and a few vague ideas and gave me creative freedom. Once I delivered the order he got upset because the story "was not what he wanted," he had 2 revisions available, which he chose not to use.

The worst part is his comment on my English skills. It's not my native language, and I don't hide that, but I've been studying English for the past sixteen years and I consider myself a "native". I also run everything I write through Grammarly and Hemingway to catch mistakes. 

In any case, if there's a way to recover the response I wrote, I'd love to do that, but I don't think it's possible.

Edited May 2, 2022 by wolfsdenstudio

[vickiespencer]

4 minutes ago, wolfsdenstudio said:

In any case, if there's a way to recover the response I wrote, I'd love to do that, but I don't think it's possible.

Nope, it is not possible. However, going forward, make your responses count.