"extend review time" - Test

[sadeknows]

I can see how this is beneficial to the buyer, but there really should be an option for the seller to either accept or reject this request, just has how buyers have the option to reject or accept the seller's request for an extension. It shouldn't be one-sided. Not to mention buyers who will use this as an opportunity to abuse the feature. I don't see how this can be fair. Is there a limit as to how many times they can do this or how many days they can extend it by? 

[lenasemenkova]

Oh no. Half of the buyers even bother to look at the delivery 12 hours (ish) before the autocompletion. Which, I assume, is when they get a nudge from fiverr. Half of my orders take a week to complete over minuscule stuff like removing/adding a single letter. Or deleting a logo. Or adding a logo. Or, god forbid, making a logo bigger. 

 

By all means, let’s drag it out even more.

Edited October 11, 2022 by lenasemenkova

[miiila]

On 10/3/2022 at 7:10 PM, mjensen415 said:

We’ve learned that these requests are often due to weekends,

How about coding something to make weekends exempt to both the 3 days for review as well as for sellers' delivery times? I perfectly understand that some buyers would rather fully enjoy their weekends, and not keep the 3-day review period in mind when timing their ordering, so, if an order gets delivered, for example, between Friday noon and Monday morning, the 3-day review period could be auto-extended until Wednesday.

And for sellers, an option to choose if they work on weekends or not (or even with fine-tuning to just declare Sunday as the weekend but not Saturday), and if not, their Gigs would automatically be paused on weekends, without having to activate out of office mode, but with the same effects, and if someone orders a Gig with a delivery time that includes a weekend, those 2 days would automatically be added to the delivery time - of course, there'd need to be some automatic note for the buyers, before they order, so they'd be aware that if they order a 24-hour Gig on Friday or Saturday evening (seller time), it would be due Monday evening, not Saturday or Sunday evening, and also for longer delivery times, it should say something like "9 work days, due date: ..." 

Edited October 11, 2022 by miiila

[cartoon_avatar]

@miiila That is a great idea. With this, genuine buyers can enjoy the feature and the possibility of buyers misusing the feature for their benefit can be avoided.

And I also loved the idea that you gave for the sellers.

It would be a win-win, for sure.

[danno1950]

On 10/3/2022 at 1:18 PM, visualstudios said:

This is a bad idea. An order is a contract. The buyer has 3 days to review a delivery. If they need more time, that's their responsibility - sellers shouldn't be forced to wait extra time to get paid, or be forced to work on something past the agreed dates. 

If a seller needs more time, and the client doesn't agree, the order is marked as late. There's nothing the seller can do about it. And that's how it should be - a contract is a contract. That must work both ways. 

I strongly disagree with this policy. Unless Fiverr releases the funds after the 3 days, so we don't have to wait extra time to get paid, then I don't see how this is beneficial for sellers in ANY way. It's just a pro for the buyers, and a con for the sellers. Not good.

I completely agree, and this states the case very clearly.

[dennysshawn]

On 10/3/2022 at 8:10 PM, mjensen415 said:

At Fiverr, we’re continually listening to feedback from members of our community. One of the frustrations for buyers has been when an order automatically completes before they’ve had a chance to review their delivery. As a seller, you might have seen revision requests that are not for actual revisions, but just asking for more time to review deliveries.

We’ve learned that these requests are often due to weekends, the need for approval from co-workers, or…just busy schedules. To help ease this frustration, we’re running a test to allow buyers to request more time to review their order before it automatically completes.

Of course, we want to ensure a win-win situation for both buyers and sellers, so we will only roll out this feature after closely monitoring the implications of this test: he number of orders completed, cancellations, disputes, tickets with Customer Service, and other quality metrics.

I love Fiverr so much, the only problem is that it's inclined to support the buyer more than the seller (that's my unpopular opinion). I would be extremely satisfied as a buyer on Fiverr. My advice for sellers is: Work your way up, start your own business within the next few years (five years or so), and hire from here; don't be a seller forever.

[williambryan392]

Is this feature still in 'test', or has it now been tested, approved and implemented?

Edited October 14, 2022 by williambryan392

[vickieito]

On 10/4/2022 at 2:10 AM, mjensen415 said:

we’re running a test to allow buyers to request more time to review their order before it automatically completes.

Of course, we want to ensure a win-win situation for both buyers and sellers, so we will only roll out this feature after closely monitoring the implications of this test: he number of orders completed, cancellations, disputes, tickets with Customer Service, and other quality metrics.

3 minutes ago, williambryan392 said:

s this feature still in 'test', or has it now been tested, approved and implemented?

Hi @mjensen415, do you know the answer to @williambryan392's question?

[goldentones]

It's an earnestly conceived idea, but not a good one in my opinion.  Based on my experience, it's a solution in search of a problem.  

I've handled thousands of orders on Fiverr, and it is not common that anyone requests a revision just to bide time while they get approval from a client, for example.  But when they do so,  I just write back graciously and give them a few days.  If more than a day or two goes by, I politely prod them.  If it stretches into many days, I re-deliver.  Very seldom, if ever, has a client re-requested revision to stall further.

Seems to me the only way to make this equitable would be to provide an identical button for sellers.  If buyers can extend approval time without the seller's permission, the same courtesy should be extended to sellers who want to extend order delivery time.  Or, flip that over: For sellers, there's an option to appeal to the buyer for a time extension before delivering, but that is contingent on the buyer's ok.  The buyer can refuse.  If buyers want more time to approve a delivery, shouldn't they be subject to the same conditions?

Here's one other interesting possibility.  Now don't laugh, but what about making it an extra?  Standard approval time is three days.  Let the seller set a value on additional approval days:  $5 per additional day for time extension, for example.  Let's say that 10% of buyers feel they may need more than three days for approval.  And let's say that's $10 added to the order.  It would mean a little bit more income for the seller (who should be compensated for their inconvenience), and it would mean a pretty enormous sum for Fiverr, with its hundreds of thousands of buyers.

Edited October 14, 2022 by goldentones

[heidelaz]

My buyer has already extended the order's review period 3 times (total of 12 days waiting time on my end) without any revision note or request at the moment. It feels really unfair tbh. 

Edited October 14, 2022 by heidelaz

[danno1950]

13 hours ago, williambryan392 said:

Is this feature still in 'test', or has it now been tested, approved and implemented?

@smashradio got a notice about a request to extend the order. It's at least active to that point. May still be in testing, but I doubt it.

https://community.fiverr.com/forums/topic/291170-buyers-can-now-extend-their-review-period/#comment-1837222

10 hours ago, heidelaz said:

My buyer has already extended the order's review period 3 times (total of 12 days waiting time on my end) without any revision note or request at the moment. It feels really unfair tbh. 

This is the worst case scenario of how buyers can abuse this new "feature."

Perhaps if some members of the Fiverr team who worked to deploy this feature had actual experience as a freelancer, they would understand the potential abuses of "unlimited review period extensions." I infer that conclusion because including this "unlimited" feature is something that a freelancer would understand - how many problems it can cause.

 

Edited October 14, 2022 by danno1950

[dennysshawn]

On 10/14/2022 at 3:36 AM, goldentones said:

It's an earnestly conceived idea, but not a good one in my opinion.  Based on my experience, it's a solution in search of a problem.  

I've handled thousands of orders on Fiverr, and it is not common that anyone requests a revision just to bide time while they get approval from a client, for example.  But when they do so,  I just write back graciously and give them a few days.  If more than a day or two goes by, I politely prod them.  If it stretches into many days, I re-deliver.  Very seldom, if ever, has a client re-requested revision to stall further.

Seems to me the only way to make this equitable would be to provide an identical button for sellers.  If buyers can extend approval time without the seller's permission, the same courtesy should be extended to sellers who want to extend order delivery time.  Or, flip that over: For sellers, there's an option to appeal to the buyer for a time extension before delivering, but that is contingent on the buyer's ok.  The buyer can refuse.  If buyers want more time to approve a delivery, shouldn't they be subject to the same conditions?

Here's one other interesting possibility.  Now don't laugh, but what about making it an extra?  Standard approval time is three days.  Let the seller set a value on additional approval days:  $5 per additional day for time extension, for example.  Let's say that 10% of buyers feel they may need more than three days for approval.  And let's say that's $10 added to the order.  It would mean a little bit more income for the seller (who should be compensated for their inconvenience), and it would mean a pretty enormous sum for Fiverr, with its hundreds of thousands of buyers.

Wow, I really like your reasoning! And I love your Queen's language too. Thumbs up @goldentones. 

On 10/3/2022 at 1:48 PM, vickieito said:

Hi @mjensen415! I think this is a great feature to have, but it does give the buyer opportunity to abuse this button (there doesn't appear to be a limit to the number of times they can extend the review period). I'm wondering if it would be better if this feature is added to the Resolution Center so that both the buyer and seller can agree on an acceptable review period together.

As a seller, I already communicate with my buyers, so they already let me know in advance if they don't want me to deliver on certain days (especially if they will be traveling or have things planned on those days). Handling this in advance through the Resolution Center would work well in these cases.

It would also work well in emergency situations, when something comes up suddenly in the buyer's schedule. I'd also like this option available on custom offers, since many large projects may require a longer review time.

Smart idea, Vickie. Well put! 

[vickieito]

On 10/13/2022 at 2:37 PM, dennysshawn said:

I love Fiverr so much, the only problem is that it's inclined to support the buyer more than the seller (that's my unpopular opinion). I would be extremely satisfied as a buyer on Fiverr. My advice for sellers is: Work your way up, start your own business within the next few years (five years or so), and hire from here; don't be a seller forever.

I also love Fiverr - Overall, I'm really pleased with all the new features and changes that they are rolling out. I like how product development is listening to the input of those in the Seller Plus program via the Seller Plus forum.

I see Fiverr as a launchpad for those who are new to freelancing and business in general. It teaches sellers fundamental skills on how to price themselves, how to track important metrics, how to deal with customers, and how to market/brand themselves right. These skills can be applied to other business opportunities elsewhere. I agree with you that it's wise for sellers to branch out and start off other businesses, but I also wouldn't mind sticking with Fiverr for as long as I can, even if it ends up being just a few orders here and there. 😊

[dennysshawn]

On 10/3/2022 at 2:18 PM, visualstudios said:

This is a bad idea. An order is a contract. The buyer has 3 days to review a delivery. If they need more time, that's their responsibility - sellers shouldn't be forced to wait extra time to get paid, or be forced to work on something past the agreed dates. 

If a seller needs more time, and the client doesn't agree, the order is marked as late. There's nothing the seller can do about it. And that's how it should be - a contract is a contract. That must work both ways. 

I strongly disagree with this policy. Unless Fiverr releases the funds after the 3 days, so we don't have to wait extra time to get paid, then I don't see how this is beneficial for sellers in ANY way. It's just a pro for the buyers, and a con for the sellers. Not good.

You're the only seller (in this topic) that doesn't fear intimidation. Wise nuggets to say the least. That's how you stand up for yourself.

On 10/14/2022 at 6:53 PM, vickieito said:

I also love Fiverr - Overall, I'm really pleased with all the new features and changes that they are rolling out. I like how product development is listening to the input of those in the Seller Plus program via the Seller Plus forum.

I see Fiverr as a launchpad for those who are new to freelancing and business in general. It teaches sellers fundamental skills on how to price themselves, how to track important metrics, how to deal with customers, and how to market/brand themselves right. These skills can be applied to other business opportunities elsewhere. I agree with you that it's wise for sellers to branch out and start off other businesses, but I also wouldn't mind sticking with Fiverr for as long as I can, even if it ends up being just a few orders here and there. 😊

Yeah, sure Vickie. Don't be surprised if you see me here after a decade. I might be here for the long haul 😅

Fiverr is a great platform. It has helped me learn the ropes of freelancing, and I'm more than grateful.

However, every business has its own weaknesses. But there's some kind of beauty in imperfection as Conrad Hall notes. Imperfection is more admired by people because we all can relate to the imperfection. 

On 10/3/2022 at 7:54 PM, joyh97 said:

To be honest, this policy would work better if:

1. The seller has the option to approve or deny the extension.

2. Extended review time is a purchasable add on.

3. It can only be extended once, total, per order, with subsequent revision requests being subject to the standard 3 days. If changes are still needed after that time, it is fair and reasonable for this to be subject to a new order/extra cost.

4. Only buyers with extensive positive history on the site are given this option (just as sellers have perks for different levels), to avoid abuse of the system.

5. There is a mandatory maximum waiting time after the first delivery is complete that fiverr holds the money in escrow. After that point (arbitrary example, 31 days), the funds should be released for processing and Fiverr should take the liability if the buyer continues to delay accepting the order. 

Currently, it is unbalanced against sellers, which is already typically the case on the platform sadly. We have little recourse against harassment, rude clients, buyers abusing the revisions system, already deal with holidays increasing the review time for buyers (with no similar leniency being given to sellers during these periods, even if to avoid delivering late would mean delivering on christmas day) etc. I love Fiverr, I am so happy to get the opportunity to work here and the career it has helped me to really establish. But I don't really feel protected as a seller when it comes to a buyer vs seller situation, and this change has made me personally feel really uneasy in its current state.

Wonderful insights, Joy! I just felt the need to let you know that you this is a well thought-out solution. I love it!

[strategist_ceo]

On 10/4/2022 at 1:48 AM, vickieito said:

there doesn't appear to be a limit to the number of times they can extend the review period

Although you can establish a maximum number of revisions in your order, it is possible for the buyer to request more revisions even after the maximum has been reached. I have had an order with continuous revision requests without any actual revision instructions that went on for over a full month.

If they actually enforce the revision limit counts, I will think this is a good idea.

 

Edited October 15, 2022 by strategist_ceo

[vickieito]

3 minutes ago, strategist_ceo said:

If they actually enforce the revision limit counts, I will think this is a good idea.

I agree! Revisions should be a system-enforced thing. Sellers already set the amount of revisions included when they set up their packages. This would prevent buyer-abuse of this button if they automatically start getting charged for any additional revisions (or at least get a pop-up warning saying, "If you proceed with this revision request you will be charged "X" amount in USD.).

[anshulkumar282]

stop thinking only about buyers. 

Few buyer sent me wrong requirements in past. Since i have technical gigs, but my clients are not technical, they don't know about what they need whether what they is possible or not. So sometimes they send me wrong requirements which are impossible to do by anyone in the world. Due to wrong requirements i have to cancel the order. But it reduces my order completion ratio. Today, i believe it's just a loophole to destroy any account by sending wrong orders. I have told fiverr many times about this issue. But they never do anything for it. They must give sellers a feature by which they can reject an order within particular period and it does not effect order completion rate. But i know, fiverr is buyer centering, so I don't think they are going to provide any help on this.

[mikevann]

I agree with everyone that this should be a process which must be agreed upon by both buyer and seller. We would be fine allowing additional days for the buyer to review the deliveries with good reason, but I don't think they should just be able to do so whenever they want. This should be done through the resolution center.

If this has to be a new thing, one suggestion would be to base the review time on the buyer's profile/account settings. We work with a lot of businesses that have “working hours” so they can rarely review work over the weekends. I think that for certain levels of buyers or buyers that are actual companies, it would be great to be able to put “working days” so maybe the 3 days only count on work days rather than just allowing the buyer to continually extend the review time?

 

 

[strategist_ceo]

On 10/18/2022 at 3:21 AM, anshulkumar282 said:

Due to wrong requirements i have to cancel the order. But it reduces my order completion ratio.

A few clients have chosen to order without discussing their needs with me. I cancelled those clients without affecting my completion rate.

Just cancel and talk to the customer service about it, they can adjust your completion rate back to normal.

 

Edited October 24, 2022 by strategist_ceo
corrected screenshot*

[ruprekha]

As a seller I personally dont support it. Buyers are getting 3 days time!!!! to review the order. If they wants more time that means a seller have to keep waiting a long for getting result of his/her hard work. I thing 3 days are enough to check a file. If a buyer is serious about the work and the system of this platform then he/she will definetly check the file and if they dont check it that means the buyer is not serious enough or we can say casual enough to delay the project. 

[zero_doshomik]

On 10/16/2022 at 1:46 AM, vickieito said:

I agree! Revisions should be a system-enforced thing. Sellers already set the amount of revisions included when they set up their packages. This would prevent buyer-abuse of this button if they automatically start getting charged for any additional revisions (or at least get a pop-up warning saying, "If you proceed with this revision request you will be charged "X" amount in USD.).

this is an important issue. during the aggrement, buyers accept the revision requests, so it would not fear for sellers when the received additional revision request while that is exceed the limits.  this about seller's mental stress to work continously. buyers should be warned for additional revision request will be charged. think not only carefully but also wisely for future of Fiverr. 

[nickj2013]

This, in my opinion, is a really short-sighted decision. If you're serious about making a purchase from a freelancer, you should be prepared to review the delivered goods, once it's/they're ready. It's the equivalent of making a cake, placing it into the oven, and then, when the timer goes off signaling the cake is done... you ignore the timer because you're busy doing something else. Then your cake over-cooks and it's ruined. If you knew you wouldn't have time to tend to your cake, then why not start baking later, or some other time entirely?

Also, since Fiverr is still stuck in the stone age with its two week payout for most freelancers. Extended delivery time means the order is finished later. Thus, your two week payout just jumped to 21 days or maybe even longer. This helps no one. Certainly not freelancers. And allows cloddish, or dishonest clients to take advantage.

[kouroshdb]

In my opinion this is the worst decision that Fiverr could get, Fiverr is a perfect platform for buyers and see the sellers as some people that has to only obey their buyers. This will cause lots of issues between buyers and sellers and also a way to abuse the revision system. Sellers can not plan for their life and work anymore and they should only sit and wait for the buyers to order us when they feel that is ok to apply their changes. we can not plan to take more orders and we will not get paid. Really amazing way of going one way through this path, I would like to see at last some survey from Fiverr and ask that maybe this was the worst decision and also can make Fiverr the worst place to sell. If this feature will be kept on Fiverr then wait for your best sellers to close their accounts and move to other platforms.

On 11/10/2022 at 6:42 AM, zero_doshomik said:

this is an important issue. during the aggrement, buyers accept the revision requests, so it would not fear for sellers when the received additional revision request while that is exceed the limits.  this about seller's mental stress to work continously. buyers should be warned for additional revision request will be charged. think not only carefully but also wisely for future of Fiverr. 

This will cause tons of problems and issues and facing between buyers and sellers, if you offer 4 revisions then everytime the buyer wants to make any revision (13 days) so basically they can extend for few months and everytime you have to do everything for them and for sure many clients will abuse this feature. Good luck with this

[omerbyrk]

You are giving more strength to the buyers on the order. It can be abuse by the some buyers. At least you need to limit the extends review time request. I think 2-3 times looks enough. Otherwise some buyers don't have time to review the orders, and keep extending it again again and again. That's very bad situation for the sellers because it is uncertain. Does we have right extends the delivery time to infinite due to our busy(we shouldn't of course)? Please limit it at least if you didn't.

[tanyabhatia19]

The buyers have started to abuse this new feature. I got one of the buyer who is continuously extending the order review time so that I don't get paid for the work. I am in a gig where I charge for filing the complaint and appeal (buyers are well informed before the order). But now the buyers are continuously extending the review period so they can cancel the order if the decision is not in their favour. Highly disappointed with the new feature. The sellers are no longer valued for their work, expertise and time that they provide. 

On 11/3/2022 at 12:32 AM, ruprekha said:

As a seller I personally dont support it. Buyers are getting 3 days time!!!! to review the order. If they wants more time that means a seller have to keep waiting a long for getting result of his/her hard work. I thing 3 days are enough to check a file. If a buyer is serious about the work and the system of this platform then he/she will definetly check the file and if they dont check it that means the buyer is not serious enough or we can say casual enough to delay the project. 

Some buyers are abusing the system. They check and review the work but they just keep extending the review period continuously for no valid reason

On 10/14/2022 at 6:04 AM, heidelaz said:

My buyer has already extended the order's review period 3 times (total of 12 days waiting time on my end) without any revision note or request at the moment. It feels really unfair tbh. 

Even my buyer has already done 2 times (total of 6 days waiting time on my end) and is continuously extending it. And after getting the work done and extending the review period twice, the buyer says to cancel the work as he no longer need it. Very unfair for the sellers.