subscriptions New Update: Subscription feature in custom offer available to all sellers for their returning buyers

[Seven]

Fiverr is always trying to support all sellers with attractive features...

Now Subscription feature in custom offer available to all sellers for their returning buyers

Since Day 1 - The subscriptions feature was open only for quality sellers.
Starting from today - Now all sellers will be able to use the subscription feature for their satisfied returning buyers.

So now you can use subscription feature for day/week/month based system and customize orders to your returning buyers. Hope this will help you all.

 

[melanielm]

I had this option before and used it a few times. Today, I tried to make a new subscription custom offer for a buyer and this option was not there at all. Help?

[vickieito]

Hi @seven_sign, I never had the subscription plan on one of my gigs, even though it is one of my better-performing gigs. The Help Center still says:

Quote

Subscriptions are only available to eligible sellers in certain categories. 

https://www.fiverr.com/support/articles/360017173498-Subscriptions

On 8/11/2022 at 4:03 AM, seven_sign said:

Starting from today - Now all sellers will be able to use the subscription feature for their satisfied returning buyers.

My questions are:

1. Will subscriptions be available to all sellers (regardless of performance) and in all categories?

2. Will this be rolled out/made available incrementally (i.e., for only a select group of sellers first)? I know you mentioned "today," but @melanielm and I don't seem to have this feature on all our gigs...

 

[Seven]

3 hours ago, melanielm said:

I had this option before and used it a few times. Today, I tried to make a new subscription custom offer for a buyer and this option was not there at all. Help?

According to Fiverr, usually, Subscriptions are only available to eligible sellers in certain categories only.

As you used subscription previously so I believe you're eligible. I will suggest you to recheck your category/gig is available for subscription. You can easily check it out from Manage Gigs Page.

 

And this new update is about all sellers can send custom offer with subscription only to their returning buyers.

If you face any issue, we encourage to contact Fiverr customer support team.

[Seven]

Hi @vickieito How are you doing?

1. IThe new update: Now all sellers will be able to use the subscription feature for their satisfied returning buyers.

If you notice the highlighted part, then you can see that the usual subscription feature stays same. But now all sellers (regardless of performance) will be able to use the subscription feature for their satisfied returning buyers only.

In contrary, about the categories you already answered 

Quote

Subscriptions are only available to eligible sellers in certain categories.

Subscriptions are available in certain categories (Subcategories) only. So though all sellers can send subscription offer to their satisfied returning buyer, but it's possible to certain categories of gigs only.

 

2. According to the update I have is about full rollout. So everyone should have it already.

And, According to your screenshot, I can see that subscription unavailable gig subcategory Research & Summaries.

I did some research with other sellers from the same subcategories and I couldn't see anyone using subscription. So I believe that subscription feature not available for this category.

I believe Fiverr will come extend the categories for subscription features.
And this is much helpful if our members share their opinion in forum or clubs about their expectations, so moderators or Community Leadership Team can work with members together to make it happen earlier.

[omnilegentangel]

Thanks for sharing this info! The Subscription option showed up on my gig the other day. The info provided stated that there would be a way to add in discounts once I chose the subscription option. I chose (a) 3 months with a 5% discount, and (b) 6 months with a 10% discount. However, I perform Sensitivity/Beta/ARC Readings and I'm not sure how the subscription option would work with those gig choices? Normally, someone will get a reading done and then the gig is over. I really just wanted to be able to offer my returning clients a discount if they wanted to do more edits. I'm not really sure how the Subscription service would work for this type of gig when it's usually a "one and done" type of deal (but if anyone has any info, please let me know how you use this option for your Sensitivity/Beta/ARC gigs). The only thing I can really think of is if a client had a few books that they wanted a reading for (but most of the time, they're only writing one book at a time). 

Thanks in advance,

Angela

[melanielm]

20 hours ago, seven_sign said:

According to Fiverr, usually, Subscriptions are only available to eligible sellers in certain categories only.

As you used subscription previously so I believe you're eligible. I will suggest you to recheck your category/gig is available for subscription. You can easily check it out from Manage Gigs Page.

I have subscriptions still set up on my gigs. I do not have that option when creating a custom offer. I'll contact Customer Service.

Something else I just noticed. On my gig list page, I no longer have a 'Subscription' column even though subscriptions are active on my gigs.

Edited August 14, 2022 by melanielm

[Seven]

1 hour ago, melanielm said:

I have subscriptions still set up on my gigs. I do not have that option when creating a custom offer. I'll contact Customer Service.

Something else I just noticed. On my gig list page, I no longer have a 'Subscription' column even though subscriptions are active on my gigs.

That's better, feel free to contact Fiverr customer support team.

[vickieito]

22 hours ago, seven_sign said:

Hi @vickieito How are you doing?

Thanks @seven_sign, I'm doing great! I hope you are, too1

I like this topic because I know Fiverr has an initiative to increase repeat buyers and subscriptions are a great way to do that. 

So even though I don't really use this feature, I have turned on subscriptions on all my gigs. And lo, and behold, today I got my first ordered-right-from-the-gig-page subscription order with a 3-month subscription. We'll see how it goes!

22 hours ago, seven_sign said:

And, According to your screenshot, I can see that subscription unavailable gig subcategory Research & Summaries.

I did some research with other sellers from the same subcategories and I couldn't see anyone using subscription. So I believe that subscription feature not available for this category.

Research and Summaries is actually the only gig that I have where I'm getting the most repeat orders (and with the highest ASP), so I would highly recommend that this category get added to the list of categories available for subscriptions.

21 hours ago, omnilegentangel said:

However, I perform Sensitivity/Beta/ARC Readings and I'm not sure how the subscription option would work with those gig choices? Normally, someone will get a reading done and then the gig is over.

I also have a beta reading gig and subscriptions aren't really helpful for this gig. Although I do get repeat orders from my beta reading gig, it is usually because the seller: A) got a really bad beta reading score from me and is coming back with a revised draft for review, B) the work is in process, so parts of the manuscript are sent as the seller finishes writing it, or C) the seller has multiple books that they want me to review. In all of these cases, the writers usually don't know how quickly they can get me the materials (and we currently can't change the dates of the subscriptions), so it only make sense for straight orders.

I also don't know how helpful subscriptions are for my resume writing gig. It makes me sad if I get a repeat buyer here because it usually means that they are not getting hired.

Another thought on repeat buyers - most of my repeat buyers aren't buying the same gig. They see other services I offer and they buy those services (one buyer usually uses 3-5 of my services). I don't think Fiverr is tracking that type of repeat buyer yet.

 

[Seven]

1 hour ago, vickieito said:

Another thought on repeat buyers - most of my repeat buyers aren't buying the same gig. They see other services I offer and they buy those services (one buyer usually uses 3-5 of my services). I don't think Fiverr is tracking that type of repeat buyer yet.

Repeat buyers are tracked from their second orders regardless of gigs. So if a buyer purchase any of your gig, he count as repeat buyers.
Though the repeat business scoring for your gig is individual but getting order from a repeat buyer on another gig also count as repeat business.

 

1 hour ago, vickieito said:

I got my first ordered-right-from-the-gig-page subscription order with a 3-month subscription. We'll see how it goes!

Don't forget to share your experience with us in this forum and also in this topic.

 

1 hour ago, vickieito said:

Research and Summaries is actually the only gig that I have where I'm getting the most repeat orders (and with the highest ASP), so I would highly recommend that this category get added to the list of categories available for subscriptions.

We appreciate your suggest and soon I will forward a request, also we suggest more sellers from this subcategories whether they also need subscription for this gig. This help to make a better decision.

[melanielm]

On 8/13/2022 at 11:58 AM, seven_sign said:

(Reply to my post)

As you used subscription previously so I believe you're eligible. I will suggest you to recheck your category/gig is available for subscription. You can easily check it out from Manage Gigs Page.

 

And this new update is about all sellers can send custom offer with subscription only to their returning buyers.

If you face any issue, we encourage to contact Fiverr customer support team.

Update... I have contacted the Customer Support team and they they gave me two copy-paste answers that didn't pertain to my question. They also said (paraphrased) 'some features appear and disappear randomly.'

Is there any additional information about the ability to send custom subscription offers to returning customers? That capability is gone for me now and I have some unhappy buyers.

Edited August 15, 2022 by melanielm

[melanielm]

On 8/10/2022 at 3:03 PM, seven_sign said:

Now Subscription feature in custom offer available to all sellers for their returning buyers

Is anyone else having an issue with this, or is it just me? I could no longer send subscription custom offers to my repeat buyers as soon as this was announced. Customer Service isn't helping.

[Seven]

3 hours ago, melanielm said:

Is anyone else having an issue with this, or is it just me? I could no longer send subscription custom offers to my repeat buyers as soon as this was announced. Customer Service isn't helping.

Can you check if Subscription is available from your gigs page. (Nav bar > Gigs)
Also, Can you check if any other seller from same sub categories are offering subscriptions?

[vickiespencer]

Hello, @seven_sign,

I have had subscriptions since it first rolled out. However, I have hesitated to use it because of the offer forum. I am a proofreader and copyeditor, and I work by the word. How do I define the scope of the order?

 

 

 

[vickieito]

4 hours ago, vickiespencer said:

I am a proofreader and copyeditor, and I work by the word. How do I define the scope of the order?

Hi @vickiespencer,

For my proofreading orders, I set the word count and frequency with the buyer and then enter the agreement in the text box:

Edited August 25, 2022 by vickieito

[Seven]

@vickiespencer @vickieito ahhh two Vickie haha.

I know the word count gig system, but not sure how to manage them. Btw, can you check by click on the "select a package" option?

Usually subscription is auto order system with the predefined features.

[vickieito]

2 hours ago, seven_sign said:

I know the word count gig system, but not sure how to manage them. Btw, can you check by click on the "select a package" option?

Usually subscription is auto order system with the predefined features.

Yes, you can see in the image above, I selected my proofreading package. In terms of management, we had to do that on an Excel spreadsheet:

As soon as I hit the target word count for the order, I close the order and roll over the remaining words onto the next order.

However, we ended up canceling our subscriptions because the word count changed so much each week (4,000 words in one week & 1,000 words the following week). Since the word counts were changing so much and we couldn't "move up orders," we chose to go with straight orders.

Also noteworthy - if you have weekly subscriptions, cancelations get a little tricky because you have to cancel 10 days before the subscription starts in order for it to not affect your seller stats.

[melanielm]

On 8/24/2022 at 12:10 PM, seven_sign said:

Can you check if Subscription is available from your gigs page. (Nav bar > Gigs)
Also, Can you check if any other seller from same sub categories are offering subscriptions?

The subscription column on my gigs page is not visible. However, I do have a subscription active on my actual gig. It's on the gig page, buyers can see it (I specifically asked one who wanted a custom sub order if he could see it). There are other sellers in my category with subs set up. I have active subscription orders right now, too. 

[saadatique]

Hello, I used to send my clients susbcription in the custom offer, but they took this option away last night from me? My gigs are eligible for the subscription offers, as there's a susbcription offer already active on my gig packages. Is there anyone who has faced the same issue? 

[vickieito]

On 8/15/2022 at 12:47 AM, vickieito said:

I have turned on subscriptions on all my gigs. And lo, and behold, today I got my first ordered-right-from-the-gig-page subscription order with a 3-month subscription. We'll see how it goes!

On 8/15/2022 at 2:46 AM, seven_sign said:

Don't forget to share your experience with us in this forum and also in this topic.

Hi @seven_sign, here's the update on my first ordered-right-from-the-gig-page subscription order. It really did make me nervous because up until now (both as a buyer and seller), all my subscription orders have been canceled because of the inability to move the dates of future subscription orders. It seems to be the case for this one as well. We might have to cancel the last subscription order in the series and the cancelation would result in a demotion for me. 

On my subscription order, we successfully closed out our 1st subscription order. Barely. We did have to extend the order by two weeks, but we were able to close it before the 2nd subscription order started.

The 2nd subscription order was delayed because it sat in the "incomplete" stage for a week before the buyer finally submitted the requirements to start the order. I extended the deadline. However, it is currently delayed again because the client is slammed at work and can't provide me with the content he is producing (he's creating video lessons). So I can't upload the content onto Thinkific until he completes that. We just extended the delivery date again for this second order.

However, the 3rd order is slated to start on the 13th. I'm not sure if my client wants to be billed now for something that we might not get to until 1 or 2 months from now. It's a pretty pricey subscription. If we do cancel that subscription order, it'll be a demotion for me. I had 2 other cancelations a couple of weeks ago (I canceled the orders & immediately issued new orders at lower prices). Both wouldn't have affected my seller stats if I waited until after Oct 3rd when the new cancelation policy came out. However, I wasn't aware that those changes were coming. It's just unfortunate timing of all of these cancelations.

I currently have the Request to Order feature turned on for most of my gigs to avoid another unsolicited subscription order from being placed. However, I might just turn this feature off of all of my gigs because subscriptions cause more issues and headaches for me and my buyers than just doing straight orders. I've yet to see a successful one.😔

[Seven]

4 hours ago, vickieito said:

Hi @seven_sign, here's the update on my first ordered-right-from-the-gig-page subscription order. It really did make me nervous because up until now (both as a buyer and seller), all my subscription orders have been canceled because of the inability to move the dates of future subscription orders. It seems to be the case for this one as well. We might have to cancel the last subscription order in the series and the cancelation would result in a demotion for me. 

On my subscription order, we successfully closed out our 1st subscription order. Barely. We did have to extend the order by two weeks, but we were able to close it before the 2nd subscription order started.

The 2nd subscription order was delayed because it sat in the "incomplete" stage for a week before the buyer finally submitted the requirements to start the order. I extended the deadline. However, it is currently delayed again because the client is slammed at work and can't provide me with the content he is producing (he's creating video lessons). So I can't upload the content onto Thinkific until he completes that. We just extended the delivery date again for this second order.

However, the 3rd order is slated to start on the 13th. I'm not sure if my client wants to be billed now for something that we might not get to until 1 or 2 months from now. It's a pretty pricey subscription. If we do cancel that subscription order, it'll be a demotion for me. I had 2 other cancelations a couple of weeks ago (I canceled the orders & immediately issued new orders at lower prices). Both wouldn't have affected my seller stats if I waited until after Oct 3rd when the new cancelation policy came out. However, I wasn't aware that those changes were coming. It's just unfortunate timing of all of these cancelations.

I currently have the Request to Order feature turned on for most of my gigs to avoid another unsolicited subscription order from being placed. However, I might just turn this feature off of all of my gigs because subscriptions cause more issues and headaches for me and my buyers than just doing straight orders. I've yet to see a successful one.😔

I can feel the pain. Subscription feature introduced for better business growth and repeat business. However, it's being headache of so many as well.
I believe, subscription can be good for couple of sellers who mostly provide monthly services i.e. digital marketer, virtual assistant, etc. Writing category mostly depends on the buyer's working strategy and I think your experiences is common for this category and some other categories as well.

 

I noted all of your points and I will add this to my monthly insight to share with relevant department.

[vickieito]

2 minutes ago, seven_sign said:

I can feel the pain. Subscription feature introduced for better business growth and repeat business.

Is there any reason why the dates of the future subscription orders can't be changed? Most subscription services offer that option. It would also eliminate all of the headaches that my buyers and I have around subscriptions.

[williambryan392]

Maybe I’m missing something, but isn’t a workaround for the buyer not to submit their requirements so the order doesn’t start?

[vickieito]

29 minutes ago, williambryan392 said:

Maybe I’m missing something, but isn’t a workaround for the buyer not to submit their requirements so the order doesn’t start?

How long can that be @williambryan392?

I know for your buyer, there was a payment issue so the 2nd order didn't start for a month (and this also moved your subscription dates). My buyer might not want to start the last subscription for 2 months, so we can have enough time to finish our 2nd subscription order first. Do you think that would be a problem? Can we wait for that long before a payment is made? Or will the order cancel if the payment isn't made within a certain amount of time?

[williambryan392]

10 minutes ago, vickieito said:

How long can that be

I don’t know, perhaps forever. I currently have a subscription order that’s been sitting in the requirements section for 4 months. It is the 3rd and final subscription order though. This is definitely a question for your SM I think and I’d also love to know!

I’m confident the order doesn’t start until payment, and the subsequent order start dates move based on the previous order start date. However this is based on there being a payment delay.

If payment occurs normally then it will then sit in the requirements section, assuming requirements are tuned on. However I don’t know if the following monthly order will also automatically go to the requirements section on the original start date, or if it will be delayed until the previous order start date.

(I’m confused just writing this and would turn subscriptions off if it wasn’t for needing to embrace all features for fiverr to love me).

Edited October 10, 2022 by williambryan392