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Vacation Day Protest, July 1st. Anti-Star Sellers unite!

fayestap

By fayestap
in Tips from Sellers

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belgianwriter Newbie

belgianwriter

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I wanted to suspend my gigs in order to support the cause. Then again, Fiverr is already a bit buggy at this end of the world. This morning I was barely able to reach the site, when I did, the site was slow at first, and when it did work my profile said ‘no gigs found’. So I thought Fiverr had decided for me.

But guess what? I just received an order from a client regardless. At this time, I do not dare to suspend my gigs again (they had been suspended until June 28 before because I had to play catch up) But I was planning on writing a blog on the new rating system anyway)

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belgianwriter Newbie

belgianwriter

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Reply to @jtengle: I guess that is what bothers me most about Fiverr at this time. I just activated my gigs after a week’s suspension, and sometimes my gigs show, and at other times, I get ‘no gigs found’…

I am all with you guys, but at this time I no longer want to suspend my gigs because Fiverr seems to do that for me already.

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aingham69 Newbie

aingham69

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I tried suspending my gigs this morning too with the vacation mode, but just had an order come through. Looks like there are still bugs with the stupid function.



Annoyingly, this order is from someone who is against the star system (I can see it in the image), and I’m starting to wonder whether this is someone who is acting out the way was suggested in a different thread. I’ve already written two blog posts about it, and I don’t appreciate that type of bullying tactic. That makes me not want to even bother trying to use the vacation mode again. When I saw that post, I started to debate whether to bother going along with this if those who chose against it were going to be bullied into doing it.

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nickj2013 Experienced

nickj2013

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Reply to @woubuc:

I’m thinking about leaving Fiverr entirely after my level 2 badge status was revoked yesterday. Fiverr sent me an email at 3:06 AM Monday morning, explaining to me that my user profile contained an off-site url. So I removed it when I awoke to my emails Monday morning. It was a Facebook short-form url leading to our official Facebook page. Then around 11 am I got an email saying my Level 2 and Level 1 status was pulled.



So now I am back to COW again. It’s weird because I went over the TOS on the Fiverr landing page? And it mentions nothing about url’s in User Profiles being a direct violation of Fiverr TOS. It does say however that you may encounter 3rd party url’s here on Fiverr.com, and Fiverr.com is not responsible for those urls or third party sites.



So to me, that sounds like having one small url in your user profile. Just to show potential buyers you’re a LEGIT business selling on Fiverr would be ok. I am aware you can’t post e-mail addresses on Fiverr.com. Or post your site url or any site url in your GIG DESCRIPTION. But the user profiles rules are pretty non-existent on Fiverr.com. I would’ve appreciated being contacted by a human being about any problem Fiverr may have had with my short-form url in my user profile. And to strip two levels from me when I worked hard to get there is just unfair.



If my levels aren’t restored, I may just walk away from Fiverr in full. It’s just not worth it.

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woubuc Newbie

woubuc

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Reply to @nickj2013: This is exactly the problem with Fiverr nowadays, they have too much power and are abusing it. So yea I completely understand you leaving Fiverr. I’m going to do the same if they don’t turn it around soon (as in, if they don’t at least announce substantial changes in the ARS and their attitude towards sellers before the end of this week I’m outta here).



I’m considering to team up with some other former Fiverr sellers and join forces to create a new platform similar to Fiverr, but curated by us sellers and with fair rules for both buyers and sellers. And, also important, not aiming to make thousands of dollars off the backs of hardworking people.

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nickj2013 Experienced

nickj2013

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Reply to @woubuc: I know. I work with a number of affiliate programs for our site in terms of generating revenue and such. And every time there’s a sale or a price-slash on an item they believe readers of our site might enjoy? I get an email from the manager of my affiliate account. Telling me there’s a sale on 'this" or 'that" item today. So I can promote it to our readers via banner (site side) or link (social media or email). So you mean to tell me that Fiverr couldn’t have a human send me an email and tell me: You need to remove your short-form facebook url from your profile, as it is a violation of our TOS? A TOS by the way, in which the part referring to user profiles…is unaccessable on the main page or through rules and polices at the foot of the landing page? Gimme a break.

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woubuc Newbie

woubuc

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Reply to @nickj2013: They’re digging their own grave with things like this. When will the realise they need their sellers to like them?



About the TOS, I don’t even think they follow it. They have this subjective rulebook of their own that they only apply when they feel like it, and that they change whenever it fits them. If they would rely on the TOS they wouldn’t have stolen my profits.



Just a bit of humanity from Fiverr would change so much, cause lately I’ve started feeling that behind the entire site is just one money-hungry, megalomaniac robot or something… And, Fiverr, in case you happen to read this (though I’m not counting on it): I may be joking about the robot but I do mean it; this is NOT how you treat your users.

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goodgift Rookie

goodgift

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Wow, I am REALLY glad I jumped off this bandwagon when I did.



I deleted my gigs a couple weeks ago. Why? Because I was tired of having to CONSTANTLY tweak my gigs because of buyers that insist on taking sellers for a ride and being overly demanding. In spite of those types of people (which, to be fair, does NOT include ALL buyers, but there are always enough bad apples to spoil the whole barrel), I managed to keep a 100% positive rating.



The last straw was a person that said NOTHING about a book trailer I made until TWO MONTHS later, and even though he left a thumbs up, he gave me a “not great” comment and went on about how he “couldn’t use” the video, how I didn’t do what he thought I would, etc.



The problem with that is that I did EXACTLY what he asked. I even excluded my one free revision rule because I had to re-do the ENTIRE video from scratch (so I was nice and decided that since it was essentially a whole new video, we could just start over). His beef was that I didn’t do “what he thought I would do”. Because I’m a mind reader, right? Obviously I know EXACTLY how he “thought” I was going to do the video. :-



Anyway…I had heard rumors of this star system, and that’s part of the reason I pulled my gigs. (Partly because I already work two jobs, partly because of these ding dong buyers, and then the rumored star system was the nail in the coffin).



I had red flags going up about the star system because I’ve had similar experience over at FanStory. The system is completely ridiculous. Over there, the norm is now (and has been for a long while) to give 5 stars NOT based on quality, but based on, “Oh, you’re so precious for trying, here’s 5 stars to make you feel good.” And then you get writers over there that get all butt-hurt if they get less than 5 stars, even if their writing is atrocious. Or you get people that have NO idea how to structure a sentence handing out 3 stars or less because of “technical errors”. Right.



Or my favorite…people that NEVER hand out 5 stars because they have a “rule” against that.



Seriously?? I can see not giving out fives to everyone, but if the person has EARNED it, GIVE IT TO THEM.



And what you end up with is a bunch of mediocre writers with an inflated sense of self-importance and a bunch of reviewers that keep these puffed-up pastries dangling from their pinkies with that lovely star system.



(But don’t get me wrong - I have met quite a few extremely talented writers over there - they just don’t get anywhere NEAR the recognition they deserve.)



So after having several close calls here on Fiverr (with thumbs) and then hearing about this impending doom they call the star system, I knew it was time to shut down. So I did. And I will NOT come back unless the star system is removed.



Good luck, everyone. Kinda stinks, too. I was going to search for a talented seller to make some fantasy art for two books I’m releasing this summer. Wonder if anyone will still be around after this protest?

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calocedrus Newbie

calocedrus

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Reply to @goodgift: Since I am exclusive to Fiverr; I will be here no matter what… It’s my main outlet for my business because of the TOS. I am happy to hear that they tweaked the rating system. I am still disappointed that we have not gotten a formal reply from Fiverr. A guest blogger scab is a poor excuse for a rebuttal.

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lisamwhite Newbie

lisamwhite

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Vacation mode is on since I woke up.



I am happy they changed the thing about delivery time. That was absurd considering we have ‘response time’ and a deadline. That change is huge for me and I am not nearly as irritated now 🙂



Although the four star I received when it said delivery time is still standing … go figure

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s_sayan Newbie

s_sayan

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Reply to @jpreay: I agree with you. Yes, at first I was skeptical with this new rating system, but it turned out to be not so bad after all.



If you ask me, yes I would prefer the old thumbs system. However, I believe this new system will lead to a more transparent marketplace because we will finally get rid of the bad sellers.



And by the way, yes I’ve got 3 stars with this new system but if you offer great service and customer service, most buyers will be glad to give you 5 stars. Yes some buyers will give you 4 stars even if you provided excellent service, but guess what, my rating is still impeccable.



I have delivered hundreds of orders after this new system kicked in, and most ratings have been 5 stars. When you get many 5 stars and one day you receive 4 or 3 stars, that means nothing. You will still have an impeccable rating and even if you drop half a star, with the next 5 stars rating you will be up to full 5 stars again.



What about the buyers threatening us you may ask. Well, it was the same with the old system, wasn’t it? I mean, they could threaten us with a thumb down, right? Now they threaten us with stars, but it’s the same. No?



Don’t get me wrong. I love the old rating system, but after using this new system for some time, I uderstood and saw the potential in this system. And this is coming from an old seller who gets and delivers lots of orders on a daily basis. So I’ve had enough time and enough orders to test this new system properly.



No offense to the community against the new rating system, just my 2 cents. 🙂

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