"extend review time" - Test

[akshay_sihag]

On 10/3/2022 at 11:18 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.

I agree with you @vickieito! If buyers will be given an option to extend the review period again & again, they might abuse it. 

It would be better if this is added to Resolution Center instead where the buyer can request for extra review period extension upon seller acceptance.

[strategist_ceo]

Set the cost of each review extension beyond the first six (3+3) days at $5 per day.

[strategist_ceo]

Official response (to my CS ticket)

 

Quote

 

Traditionally at Fiverr, buyers have three days after delivery to review the work sent by the seller. If no action is taken by the buyer after an order is delivered, the system automatically marks it as complete, and the safety clearance period begins.

This new feature allows buyers to extend that three-day timeframe to allow more time to review the delivery.  Buyers can set up to 5 additional days to review their delivery. Once the additional days are up, the order will automatically be marked as completed unless the buyer accepts the delivery, rejects it, or requests a new extension on the review date.

For more information, you can review our Help Center article. 

Also, kindly know that as of December 22nd and up to January 1st, all orders will have an 8-day autocomplete timeframe.

 

 

[ayamedaghri]

I just received my first 5 day review extension, for a small order from a new buyer with no order history. 8 days to review a 50 word copy? Really? Horrible horrible feature, this is by far the worst feature ever.

[coffee_chan]

Buyer takes 8 days to review a revision which I did in less than 10 minutes. Asked for an extension twice now when I'm supposed to be done with this 3 weeks ago. This is a dumb and annoying feature for us sellers. So not well thought by the fiverr team.

Edited December 17, 2022 by coffee_chan

[strategist_ceo]

12 hours ago, coffee_chan said:

So not well thought by the fiverr team.

I agree. 

Some of the new features on Fiverr are not well thought out. The only right thing to do was remove buyer's requests.

There have been some significant improvements to the platform, including reminders that we are well reviewed (in some cases) and to have more personalization within gig creation / edit gig which will enhance our performance in the algorithm.

[shomesound]

I think one of the biggest things, for me personally, about this is that feeling of surprise, or "Um.. ok?" feeling that comes over me when I randomly see a notification that says, "so and so has extended their review time by X days." It's happened to me a couple times and with no messages or communications to me beforehand. Not that I feel entitled and "How dare you! You must inform me first before extending!", but it's really more about common/professional courtesy. If they had just asked me in a message, "Hi Charles, we ran into an issue and might need a couple days more to review. Is that cool with you?" I would be more than happy to extend their review time. Why? Because they were courteous and professional enough to ask me, and not just click the button to extend it without even letting me know what's up. I care about my clients and each and every project I do voiceovers for. I want my clients to shine for their clients, bosses, teams, companies; heck, the world! lol. I only ask for decency and communication and not a surprise in my inbox. 

Maybe if there was a more fair /balanced way, something like they can hit "request X day extension for additional review" button, are required to put in an explanation of why they couldn't finish the review in the 3 days allotted, and once its sent, it comes to me to accept or decline. Thoughts? 

Aaaaand ... woooosaahhhhhh. 😂

[whildebrand]

I am very surprised that this was introduced now and buyers were not informed. I just found out about this now when a client extended the review period for 4 days on an order due for completion today without my consent (the client also told me he will extend for another two weeks into January).

I was neither contacted by Fiverr nor the client about this in advance. 

Buyers always had the possibility to demand an extension through the resolution center. But it does mean that they have to ask the seller. It means that in a contractual relationship mutual consent is upheld, as the buyer has to agree.

Also, I am sure many sellers would agree to extend the period if they are disembursed for the delay of payment. 

Delaying payment without consent is another disenfranchisement of sellers of Fiverr. If this becomes policy, I will leave the platform. 

Cheers

[whildebrand]

Here are my reasons why I believe this is a terrible idea:

1.) The main reason I was attracted to Fiverr as a seller was efficiency. Not because orders pay more, since they actually pay less than what I would get anywhere else. But efficiency helps my workflow and helps me save time, which translates to a more likely profitable outcome. Clients had three days to review orders; many clients asked for a "Revision" at the end of the third day without actually handing in revisions. Which gave them six days. With another extension of 4 days this would amount to a total review period of 10 days. This would push me over the edge. Again, my main argument to be on Fiverr was always EFFICIENCY. If that is lost, I am gone. I am not interested in a no-win, lose-lose situation. 

2.) I don't see how this will benefit Fiverr? If sellers leave the platform, because they continuosly get disenfranchised in favour of buyers, then this will also hurt buyer satisfaction in the long run. If there are no more good sellers on the platform, buyers will leave and look elsewhere too.

3.) I don't see how deferment of payment will benefit anyone? Fiverr will loose, sellers will loose, buyers will not understand why sellers are struggling with the new system and deeply unhappy. Will this help to make buyer-seller relationships more friendly or will this introduce more friction. I think it will be the latter!

4.) Why is there no fair and balanced treatment of buyer AND seller interests? If the seller gets four more days for review (without seller consent), why do sellers not also get the possibility to extend an order deadline by four more days (without buyer consent). Where is the fairness? Pretending to be fair, and being fair is not the same thing. 

5.) To-date, the Fiverr system has educated buyers to review orders in a three day period. Buyers often extended that for another three days out of courtesy. This timeline was good and worked well. With the new system, Fiverr is most likely encouraging procrastination. We are all human, and we all know what happens when you relax discipline. This is a pandoras box that has just been opened and it will lead to a dashboard full of incompleted orders. 

6.) If you have many orders waiting to be completed, it is already very hard to juggle order completion with revision requests. Keeping revisions within a three day period has helped sellers time it all well. If review periods are now extended, this will become alot more difficult and chaotic.  

When assessing the feasibility of this new feature, Fiverr should also look at the following metric: "Are buyers leaving the platform because of it". If Fiverr insist on keeping this new feature, my guess is they will.  

This feature is a mistake on many levels and I truly hope that Fiverr will rethink it's position and keep the system feasible not only for buyers, but for sellers as well.

Edited December 18, 2022 by whildebrand

[moonstaredits]

5 hours ago, whildebrand said:

This feature is a mistake on many levels and I truly hope that Fiverr will rethink it's position and keep the system feasible not only for buyers, but for sellers as well.

My thoughts precisely.

You exposed very well why this feature is a total mistake. No seller benefits from delayed payments and orders which should be completed already. The feature is giving way too much power to buyers (who already have way too many things that favor them) unnecessarily and without sellers' consent.

[coffee_chan]

On 12/17/2022 at 12:31 PM, coffee_chan said:

Buyer takes 8 days to review a revision which I did in less than 10 minutes. Asked for an extension twice now when I'm supposed to be done with this 3 weeks ago. This is a dumb and annoying feature for us sellers. So not well thought by the fiverr team.

Update:

Buyer asked for another last minute revision over a single change that will take me 5 minutes to do!!! I am sure he will be asking 5 additional review days for it even if it isn't justified, and then revise on the last day it's supposed to auto complete. He's purposely staggering the revisions and prolonging the order more than necessary instead of listing out all revisions needed in bulk.

 

This is the first and last time this I will have to deal with this bs. I am out of this platform after this order.

[zoe007]

I cannot see how this is a win-win for sellers. 

Like others have shared, the Fiverr platform helps me to run my business productivity. It provides a lead management process and AR back office.

I am disappointed that a new feature, marked as a 'test,' appears to have a general rollout with no communications (other than this forum post, from what I can see). In addition, there is a lack of:

• updated T&Cs/ articles (I was referred to articles by customer support when I complained, but articles still show three days auto-complete)
• or an opt-in/ out selection (if it is indeed a test)
• and no foresight on the impact of sellers' cash flow management

My experience with this system change coincided with the extended seasonal review period of 8 days. So, an order submitted for delivery on 20^th December, following the new 8-day review (buyer requested), then a revision request, now has a date of 5^th January for completion (if the buyer takes no further action).

I run a business and expect to get paid for completed services per the order scope and timeline. But, unfortunately, this change, if indeed it is an entire system rollout, takes away that guarantee.

With one example, the buyer took advantage of the extra review time (as you would if it is offered for free and requires no approval), so if this happened with all orders, it would be horrendous for cash flow and time management.

Fundamentally, the order funds must be released per the scope/ timeline, and any additional review time/ revisions should be agreed upon and chargeable without impacting the original order.

[strategist_ceo]

Is it just me, or does it not make sense for you to deliver anything for the next two days? (The extended 8 days review period for the year's end)

Just saying.

I delivered anyways. 

[shreif_said]

On 10/3/2022 at 8:29 PM, vickieito said:

@visualstudios - what are your thoughts on adding this feature to the Resolution Center and Custom Offers?

In one of my big orders, I delivered 50 hours of eLearning content that included 113 deliverables (quizzes, lessons, downloadable content, and over 20 videos with voiceovers). It was also a state-certified training, so it also had to meet all third-party requirements.  I didn't expect my client to review all of that within 3 days.

In this case, it would make sense to agree ahead of time on an acceptable review period on a Custom Offer. All other requests for a review period could be handled through the Resolution Center.

but you shouldn't send 50 hours to the buyer at the end !!, as a voice over I send every 3 o 4 hours to the buyer to review them while I am recording the others.

[imagination7413]

4 hours ago, shreif_said said:

but you shouldn't send 50 hours to the buyer at the end !!, as a voice over I send every 3 o 4 hours to the buyer to review them while I am recording the others.

That's risky. If you're dealing with a dishonest user, they can try to cancel before you make the final delivery. 

[fiayazn]

Although I still vote on the 'do not like' side of this topic, I request some type of note or symbol on the delivered orders that have extended delivery times in the list at the bottom of our order page. I currently have two, but there's no way of knowing which they are unless I go into each order and actually calculate the auto-approval date OR stick a post-it note on my screen with their user names.

 

Some type of obvious on-screen icon/note would help seller🤯s.

[vickieito]

8 hours ago, shreif_said said:

but you shouldn't send 50 hours to the buyer at the end !!, as a voice over I send every 3 o 4 hours to the buyer to review them while I am recording the others.

I did send each video to the buyer to review before uploading and then let the buyer know each time I uploaded or made changes to the online course. She didn't really look at anything I did, but was appreciative of my work. And after the order was delivered, the order auto-completed within three days. This order took 5 months to complete, so I learned my lesson.

8 hours ago, shreif_said said:

but you shouldn't send 50 hours to the buyer at the end !!

4 hours ago, imagination7413 said:

If you're dealing with a dishonest user, they can try to cancel before you make the final delivery. 

I agree with both of you! This particular order was created when I was a newbie seller, so I didn't know any better. 😊 For all future orders, I made sure to break up large orders into smaller orders so that I can deliver the smaller deliverables as I complete them and get paid sooner.

[strategist_ceo]

4 hours ago, vickieito said:

For all future orders, I made sure to break up large orders into smaller orders so that I can deliver the smaller deliverables as I complete them and get paid sooner.

Do not break orders into smaller orders, as this gives the buyer too much leverage to leave multiple negative reviews instead of just one (very damaging to your "perceived algorithm" on the platform). Milestone orders have a huge weakness because they require the buyer to manually approve each milestone before the next step can be taken, and this can become unpleasant.

I recommend a single "consultation" order and follow up order (to be created only after the first order is "accepted" and that the delivery time of the second order will exceed the "review period" of the first *if not reviewed) of whatever the client needs.

Edited January 1, 2023 by strategist_ceo

[vickieito]

54 minutes ago, strategist_ceo said:

I recommend a single "consultation" order and follow up order (to be created only after the first order is "accepted" and that the delivery time of the second order will exceed the "review period" of the first *if not reviewed) of whatever the client needs.

My consultation order is $100 and can usually be done in a week, but often the ecourses I create will take 3 months or longer to complete. I never want to go longer than 1 month without getting paid, so I'll break up the actual order to monthly orders.

56 minutes ago, strategist_ceo said:

Do not break orders into smaller orders, as this gives the buyer too much leverage to leave multiple negative reviews instead of just one (very damaging to your "perceived algorithm" on the platform).

I didn't like waiting for 5 months to get paid. I also don't plan on getting a negative review. 😊

For these curriculum building orders, I am often working with a team of sellers who I have to pay upfront to help with the voice overs, animation, and videos I need to build these courses. I do want to get my money back as soon as possible.

Also, I like having the flexibility of making changes to my orders. For example, I give my buyers the gig links and prices of all the sellers I outsource to because once the project is rolling along, they might want to manage the project instead of me to save on cost. This works well for me because then I'm not out on my own money and I can just focus on creating content, lessons, quizzes, and the workbooks.

[erikawinter]

This happened to me not too long ago and I decided to finally check the forums.

It was a new client to me, so no previous work relationship and it was a big project. I delivered it and he said nothing for the 3 regular days. Suddenly, I got a message saying the period had been extended and I was completely shocked. And what was worse, the client extended it once more. All this while I messaged the client to ask what was going on through several days and he kept saying that he hadn't had time to review 3k words in over a week and needed feedback from his team.

When I was on the brink of thinking I was scammed for the first time on Fiverr, he actually came back to me with some notes and we settled it. Lucky me.

All in all, completely disagree with this measure. Fiverr sellers already go through a lot of uncertainty and something that touches our earnings should be very carefully thought through. So far the best suggestion here, in my opinion, is making extensions to the review period an option for the client to pay for. If we know that the client wants more time, to begin with, I'm sure we'd be less edgy over the subject, knowing we'll get paid more after a long wait.

[moonstaredits]

2 hours ago, erikawinter said:

Fiverr sellers already go through a lot of uncertainty and something that touches our earnings should be very carefully thought through.

Absolutely. We already have to wait 15 days for the funds' clearance. Some people calculate the income that they should be getting out of their businesses around tight schedules. It's not fair for an order to be prolonged indefinitely and for free. We definitely need to charge an extra amount for the wait, to compensate the uncertainty we may experience with this feature.

[whildebrand]

I had some time to assess Fiverr's new roll-out over the holdays. For larger projects like websites and other more complex orders, my guess is, that Fiverr will not be a suitable platform for sellers any longer (unfortunately). It’s already been very borderline in those areas.

My conclusion for sellers: Rather than having few large orders, that can impact your liquidity greatly if they get stuck in endliess revisions, focus instead on smaller gigs with higher quantities, which will help you offset any orders stuck in endless "extended" review loops. 

Fiverr has already introduced many features that have led to a decrease in seller liquidity and there is no real reason to assume this trend will stop. Who knows what will come next, payments only at the end of the month? Here is what is already hurting sellers: 

1.) The amount of revision we offer in any gig are pointless: Buyers can keep asking for them and Fiverr won't stop it. Buyers can ask for 200 revisions and then cancel the order, with no questions asked.

2.) Most companies will have holiday boni for their employees. At Fiverr, our payments are deferred over the holidays. So, our liquidity decreases at a time when sellers need it most.

3.) With their newest "extended review time", seller liquidity is cut even further. For larger projects, this can become a real existential problem for many. 

Since buyers pay Fiverr immediately, I understand that all these measures help Fiverr's liquidity as a company and will improve its standing vis-a-vis shareholders. But it happens at the cost of sellers. Since this has become a trend, I am assuming this to get worse before it gets better (for sellers). Sellers have no way to stop it. 

If Fiverr insists on the new roll-out, I predict that sellers will start to look elsewhere to offer their larger gig projects (e.g., websites projects and the like). They will move to platforms that have more favourable terms for sellers. Fiverr will return to where it originally came from: Five-dollar deals (which I assume may still work well for sellers, even under these very unfavourable conditions). This transition won't happen overnight, but as a seller I would start thinking seriously about creating smaller deals, focusing primarily on higher quantities. Start preparing now and plan ahead, so you don't get stuck in the liquidity trap.

It's a bit like the extincion event of large dinausours. In rough conditions, only the small mamals survived. Fiverr will remain a great platform for small gigs, sellers who adapt could still manage to survive even in this climate that keeps getting rougher. Go small, go quantity. Stay away from larger gigs and you may just be fine.

Edited January 6, 2023 by whildebrand

[anniejenkinson]

On 10/5/2022 at 2:07 PM, mateusbl said:

I already can see the buyer extending the revision time to 5 days, after the 5 days has passed, they will open a revision... when you delivery again they will extend again in more 5 days... in a loop.

This must be a paid option, how about it? We sellers set the value to extend X days, and the Fiverr earn 20% of this.

Exactly this has happened to me. I have a buyer who extended his review time by 5 days and after that, he keeps putting the job in revision endlessly with no revisions to make. He even writes that all is great with the file but here I am now, 21 days on post delivery, and the buyer is continually misusing the review and revisions functions. He's not new by the way; he is a frequent buyer of large orders and I think these offers by Fiverr to let clients take forever to review is just exploiting sellers and making it hard to plan month to month.

I am buying a house currently and thanks to Fiverr, buyers seem to all be taking the **** on bothering to look at the delivered work so I have poor cash flow as Ihad three clients all taking extra, extra, extra time to look at $8k of orders. This is a terrible situation making me consider going back to only working via my website.

[irfanpro]

can anyone elaborate on how many times the buyer can extend the delivery time?

one of my buyers extended the review time 5 days and then again for 1 day

 

how long can a buyer keep extending?

[dusuacangmon]

This feature need to have agreement for both buyer and seller.

This feature relase but i don't have any notification about this also 😮 until now i got 2 time extend from buyer about this, and it even don't notice me about the buyer extend it??

Why seller need more time for the delivery, he have to go to resolution center, but buyer dont?