Scared of "Availability" / "Out of Office" Mode

[laurenmeikle]

Hi guys! Hope everyone is safe and healthy.

I'm wondering if anyone can give me some advice here. So I've been selling on Fiverr since 2015. Over the years, I've used vacation mode/out of office mode/availability mode...all the different names they've had for it. I used to use it every weekend. Then, back in March 2021, I used it for one weekend and then subsequently vanished from search results for over 10 weeks.

I applied for Fiverr Pro back then and got approved (crazy how my gigs "weren't good enough" to show in search results but then I get approved for Fiverr Pro LOL) and I was back in search within days of becoming Fiverr Pro. Obviously, when this happened, I vowed never to use OOO again. But now, I'm burnt out beyond belief. All I do is work, and I have no time for my family and daughter. My inability to use OOO is ruining my personal life.

I want to test the mode again because I've heard they've made changes to it, so it doesn't unjustly affect your ranking. Does anyone know if this is true? I mean, we can't be expected to work non-stop without a break for years on end. I'm grateful for all the work, but I'm also losing my sanity. I'm a TRS with 15,000 completed orders and almost 10,000 5-star reviews. Back when I vanished from search, I contacted Fiverr support incessantly and they insisted they couldn't help me because "showing up in search isn't guaranteed". But I mean, when you search "Copywriting", I have always been in the top row from day one (until I used OOO).

Anyway, so I'm scared of vanishing from search again, but I'm also on the verge of a mental breakdown LOL. Has anyone used OOO lately with success...? All I want is a day or two off to recharge my batteries, and - of course - one would need to activate OOO about a week before your planned time off to slow down the order-train in advance. Sigh.

Thanks so much in advance for any advice anyone can offer. @frank_dI know this is something you've discussed in the past, if you have any advice here. Much love to all.

[frank_d]

36 minutes ago, laurenmeikle said:

Hi guys! Hope everyone is safe and healthy.

I'm wondering if anyone can give me some advice here. So I've been selling on Fiverr since 2015. Over the years, I've used vacation mode/out of office mode/availability mode...all the different names they've had for it. I used to use it every weekend. Then, back in March 2021, I used it for one weekend and then subsequently vanished from search results for over 10 weeks.

I applied for Fiverr Pro back then and got approved (crazy how my gigs "weren't good enough" to show in search results but then I get approved for Fiverr Pro LOL) and I was back in search within days of becoming Fiverr Pro. Obviously, when this happened, I vowed never to use OOO again. But now, I'm burnt out beyond belief. All I do is work, and I have no time for my family and daughter. My inability to use OOO is ruining my personal life.

I want to test the mode again because I've heard they've made changes to it, so it doesn't unjustly affect your ranking. Does anyone know if this is true? I mean, we can't be expected to work non-stop without a break for years on end. I'm grateful for all the work, but I'm also losing my sanity. I'm a TRS with 15,000 completed orders and almost 10,000 5-star reviews. Back when I vanished from search, I contacted Fiverr support incessantly and they insisted they couldn't help me because "showing up in search isn't guaranteed". But I mean, when you search "Copywriting", I have always been in the top row from day one (until I used OOO).

Anyway, so I'm scared of vanishing from search again, but I'm also on the verge of a mental breakdown LOL. Has anyone used OOO lately with success...? All I want is a day or two off to recharge my batteries, and - of course - one would need to activate OOO about a week before your planned time off to slow down the order-train in advance. Sigh.

Thanks so much in advance for any advice anyone can offer. @frank_dI know this is something you've discussed in the past, if you have any advice here. Much love to all.

According to the person in charge of the feature, OOO is completely safe and with none of the weird issues of the past.

Switch it on and when you are back you will regain your position in search results, provided nothing else has changed.

[miiila]

Hi. I'm using the feature regularly, and the spam messages reliably start to come in as soon as I'm available again, so it seems to work. 😉

Careful with the "including" (the last day you want off), though.

I always have to put a day more than I actually want. 

I don't know if that's a problem that affects only some accounts, like the "won't affect your response rate" when you don't reply to spam but just click the spam button, but if it's really important to not get messages or even orders on the last day you want to include, maybe better set a day longer, you can still deactivate the mode manually if the "including" works as intended for you.

That's for desktop; I think it works in the app, the wording there is different, too, "until" or "last day" or something, I tend to use desktop, that's better when I want to add my own out of office text.

[laurenmeikle]

On 5/3/2022 at 8:01 AM, frank_d said:

According to the person in charge of the feature, OOO is completely safe and with none of the weird issues of the past.

Switch it on and when you are back you will regain your position in search results, provided nothing else has changed.

Legend. Thanks @frank_d.

On 5/3/2022 at 8:32 AM, miiila said:

Hi. I'm using the feature regularly, and the spam messages reliably start to come in as soon as I'm available again, so it seems to work. 😉

Careful with the "including" (the last day you want off), though.

I always have to put a day more than I actually want. 

I don't know if that's a problem that affects only some accounts, like the "won't affect your response rate" when you don't reply to spam but just click the spam button, but if it's really important to not get messages or even orders on the last day you want to include, maybe better set a day longer, you can still deactivate the mode manually if the "including" works as intended for you.

That's for desktop; I think it works in the app, the wording there is different, too, "until" or "last day" or something, I tend to use desktop, that's better when I want to add my own out of office text.

Haha! Reliably start coming in LOL. Thanks for the response 🙂 

[callyofficial]

I don't think I'll ever use the feature again. I've used it twice and both times I used it were well over a year apart, as I thought like you, perhaps they'd changed the way it works and it wouldn't be as harsh as the first time, especially as I'd progressed through Fiverr's levels, but boy was I wrong! Both times it was over 2 weeks with close to zero orders, and it took another few weeks to recover fully. Now I when I notice I'm struggling to keep up, I'll either extend delivery times for a short fix, or if I want a more permanent solution, put my prices up along with extending delivery times permanently or for a longer period. This has worked well for me and enabled me to steadily increase prices over the past couple of years and allowed me to manage orders well. Don't forget you can also go to the gigs page and set the max orders in queue, which is also really helpful. From what you're saying if I were you I would definitely consider changing your delivery times and pricing. If you think about it, it's not a bad position to be in 

[gizdesigns]

Personally, I've never had any reason to use this feature so I can't confirm how it works exactly. But if you have concerns about using this feature maybe you should consider extending your order delivery duration instead. This works for me whenever I need more time for myself while still doing the job I love. Working freelance shouldn't feel like a 9-5 job everyday. You should be able to have time for your family and daughter and not feel burnt. 

I hope you find what works for you, good luck!

[pablodicio]

I have used it 3 times in 3 months.

First 2 times due to severe burnout. 10 days each with 20 days apart. And one time right after I switched back everything on, I got an order incoming 5 minutes afterwards.

The biggest "hit" was when I had a month long pre-covid holidays that was postponed to 2022. I chose not to work while traveling just to give my fiancee a well deserved break and recovery. When I came back (+31 days of OOO), first month I did 7% of my usual revenue. Second month 60%. Third month I surpassed it. Around 115%.

Boy the first month was scary, but I have a success manager that ensured me that it should not affect my rankings. Only it would take a couple of orders to get back on track, NOT rebuild everything from the ground up.

 

 

Edited August 12, 2022 by pablodicio