Sudden drop in sales after years of great success

[thefarrahmonste]

I'm honestly a little flummoxed.  I've been actively selling on Fiverr for years now, it's a pretty major part of my income and has been steady with basically no problems.  I've never had trouble finding clients, and have amassed over 500 5-star reviews. 

Then, this month happened.  I have literally never had a month like this in my entire tenure on this site.  My conversion rate, with seemingly no reason, has absolutely plummeted INSANELY low.  I normally average around 20 sales per month on here... in November, I've had two sales.  I am genuinely scared lol the strangest thing is... I'm still getting a pretty typical number of impressions but my conversion rate has dropped HUGELY without any change, practically overnight.  October was a great month, in fact one of my most profitable months this year.  And then November... suddenly nothing.   I'm not even getting messages!  I normally wake up to 5+ new messages from interested buyers every morning, in November I've had less than 10 messages all month.

Has the algorithm turned against me?  I try not to whine.  I love working on Fiverr, I love freelancing, I've made some amazing industry contacts, some friends.  It has been an awesome experience for me, has helped keep a roof over my head at times, has paid for medical bills when I developed a chronic health condition... this is really blowing my mind.  Fiverr has been so great for me in so many ways until now.

Edited November 14, 2022 by thefarrahmonste

[sunysuny998]

the month isn't over yet. keep on track and hope for the best. wish you good luck. 

I'm new on fiverr. it's been 2 month but still no job. don't be dishearten and wish me luck. 

[siridhata]

I am just like you. But it's been happening to me since the beginning of the year. I am also a top rated seller with over 1700 5-star reviews. My price is relatively normal compared to competitors and I know I can give better results & service than a lot of them, but for some reason I stopped getting messages and orders like you while my competitors are still getting consistent sales. I know my gig isn't the problem because it's been doing wonderful since 2016. I've also been trying the promoted gigs feature to no real results. My impression is pretty much the same without it. I tried reaching out to CS and they said everything's normal and my gig is searchable. Even if so, it's still odd that suddenly there's no conversion or interaction when it's been the opposite all these years.

The only interaction I can get is from the new briefs feature however it's mostly useless too because about 80% of them are looking for something I don't offer or just have too low of a budget. And I still try to take them on anyway just to keep my gig alive and earn something.

I also hate complaining but this really has been keeping me worried for a couple of months now. I've tried everything including updating my gig's metadata to no avail so I just want to vent off and share my similar experience. I'm attaching a graph of my monthly earnings for 2022 just to show how it's been declining.

[thefarrahmonste]

While I hate to see a fellow seller struggling, it is somewhat of a relief to know I am at least not alone!  I am truly puzzled by this situation.  Like you, my prices and service are very competitive for my category, so I know this isn't just an issue of needing to lower my prices (plus, towards the beginning of the month I panicked and DID lower my prices... it made no difference). 

This is quite bad and I suspect the new Fiverr algorithm is pulling a lose-lose for both sellers and buyers.  Since my impressions are roughly the same, it leads me to believe Fiverr's new algorithm is still showing me to people, but the WRONG people.   I'm coming up in search, but clearly not for the people who need me. This must be frustrating for buyers as well since I imagine they are struggling to find what they need just as we are struggling to find clients.

[siridhata]

On 11/16/2022 at 4:06 AM, thefarrahmonste said:

While I hate to see a fellow seller struggling, it is somewhat of a relief to know I am at least not alone!  I am truly puzzled by this situation.  Like you, my prices and service are very competitive for my category, so I know this isn't just an issue of needing to lower my prices (plus, towards the beginning of the month I panicked and DID lower my prices... it made no difference). 

This is quite bad and I suspect the new Fiverr algorithm is pulling a lose-lose for both sellers and buyers.  Since my impressions are roughly the same, it leads me to believe Fiverr's new algorithm is still showing me to people, but the WRONG people.   I'm coming up in search, but clearly not for the people who need me. This must be frustrating for buyers as well since I imagine they are struggling to find what they need just as we are struggling to find clients.

So I'm wondering how you and your gigs are doing now. Is everything back to normal for you? My impression went up about two weeks ago but then it started going down again since last week. And now I'm not even getting any briefs.

[thefarrahmonste]

On 11/26/2022 at 10:02 PM, siridhata said:

So I'm wondering how you and your gigs are doing now. Is everything back to normal for you? My impression went up about two weeks ago but then it started going down again since last week. And now I'm not even getting any briefs.

It has truly been odd.  This last week or so I had a whole bunch of new orders and messages!  Just like old times.  I also got several briefs for the first time as well.  Just super strange and unpredictable compared to my previous years on Fiverr!  I wonder if they're toying with the algorithm, because the sudden influx of new orders came out of nowhere.

[siridhata]

21 hours ago, thefarrahmonste said:

It has truly been odd.  This last week or so I had a whole bunch of new orders and messages!  Just like old times.  I also got several briefs for the first time as well.  Just super strange and unpredictable compared to my previous years on Fiverr!  I wonder if they're toying with the algorithm, because the sudden influx of new orders came out of nowhere.

I think I'm going through the same thing. After my last message here I got a few orders and messages and briefs started appearing again. I noticed an increase in my gig's impressions as well. Now that some orders are in, the briefs disappeared again. I think we may be in the same loop of algorithm of how one week it's totally quiet and the next the floodgates open. And I agree this is totally different from my previous years here also.

[janeeh]

Hi there, 

same thing is happening to me ( Feb 2023). I've been happy with the site and it is a major part of my income. I'm not sure it is just the algorithm. There's a lot of talk around AI writers and I was wondering if clients were using these instead of hiring writers?

I've signed out now as I am away for a few days, But it is really odd to feel so invisible. I've had some work from my regular clients but nothing new for well over a month. Worrying. 

Would be interesting to know if others are noticing the same. If not I guess I'll just wait it out until things improve. 

[themepress360]

Hi Everyone.

Same happening with since Feb 2023... sales and message have dropped and now in March ...its very quite... randomly getting a single message in a week.. before that it was like 4 - 5 message a days... Seems like the Gig is displayed to wrong people..

Has it recovered for any body or still the same... that the sales have dropped.

Regards

 

[donnovan86]

Well I think in your case is has to do with the 2.3 star review that you received recently. If you have few orders and a negative private/public review like this appears, then that can have a negative impact on your tenure here on Fiverr. I am dealing with a vengeful 1 star review from a client that didn't know what he ordered and didn't provide any proper requirements, but it is what it is. Do the best work from now on and work hard, improve your skills. You should see this downtime as a great time to improve 🙂

[themepress360]

17 minutes ago, donnovan86 said:

Well I think in your case is has to do with the 2.3 star review that you received recently. If you have few orders and a negative private/public review like this appears, then that can have a negative impact on your tenure here on Fiverr. I am dealing with a vengeful 1 star review from a client that didn't know what he ordered and didn't provide any proper requirements, but it is what it is. Do the best work from now on and work hard, improve your skills. You should see this downtime as a great time to improve 🙂

Well this started even before this - 2.3 star -  review and it is really disappointing that I have to suffer or even any body has to suffer because of one vengeful client.. who didn't know what they wanted and are free to exploit Fiverr review system and also it is disappointing to hear after completing 300+ order on Fiverr , that I have to work hard and improve my skills 🙂 - For me this down time is the opportunity to build more sales channel...

[donnovan86]

Most likely there were other bad private reviews that you did not know about. 

8 minutes ago, themepress360 said:

and it is really disappointing that I have to suffer or even any body has to suffer because of one vengeful client

You can say that again. But it is what it is, we are in the service industry and there will always be a bad client, it's the nature of the business.

8 minutes ago, themepress360 said:

it is disappointing to hear after completing 300

I think I have 100x that number of completed orders and it doesn't matter, I am still dealing with the same lack of messages and a bad private review or two. Since Fiverr covers the past 2 months, the only thing we can do at this point is to ensure all the clients we do have are happy with their work. If you did have bad private reviews, cancellations, late orders, etc, those will eventually pass and things will improve. 

[liubov_rudenko]

I'm struggling with the same problem since the mid of february. I had quite few orders, which is unusual for me. Trying to work out what is going on. 😕

[dev_naymul247]

Keep Clam and Keep trying. it will take you to your goal.

[themepress360]

Yes , could be or not sure, as I have repeat score of 98 , as buyers keep coming back to me ..

4 hours ago, donnovan86 said:

Most likely there were other bad private reviews that you did not know about. 

 

[donnovan86]

28 minutes ago, themepress360 said:

Yes , could be or not sure, as I have repeat score of 98

That still means some don't and some of those people ended up sharing a bad private review. What's funny to me when it comes to these repeat scores is that for the past 2 weeks the score for me was 94. Not enough for 95, but not that much under either. I don't think it has any major impact anyway.

[themepress360]

Yes, you are right , if the repeat buyers does not help and only one bad review can shut down the sales.. than I am convinced that Fiverr hsa F..ked up the Algorithm... more they recent had 2 webinar and I believe they also know that they have messed up...they were telling people to use ChatGPT for Gig Title and Gig Description..

I think the best is to have multiple sales channel... as Fiverr is more prone to be exploited by the buyers and Sellers has to suffer...

[fivlawyer]

I have also noted the same thing. My gigs have been relatively dormant and sales are down SIGNIFICANTLY. I am not sure how the Fiverr algorithm has anything to do with this and how we can rise to the challenge as sellers so as to retain our incomes in these times of inflation and geopolitical uncertainty. Fiverr has made massive changes to the site and the algo as well but how can we overcome the obstacles? SEO? It's getting tougher to be a seller on here.

[red_asset]

On 2/8/2023 at 4:45 PM, janeeh said:

Hi there, 

same thing is happening to me ( Feb 2023). I've been happy with the site and it is a major part of my income. I'm not sure it is just the algorithm. There's a lot of talk around AI writers and I was wondering if clients were using these instead of hiring writers?

I've signed out now as I am away for a few days, But it is really odd to feel so invisible. I've had some work from my regular clients but nothing new for well over a month. Worrying. 

Would be interesting to know if others are noticing the same. If not I guess I'll just wait it out until things improve. 

same problem January was great February was average the march is the worst month in years

[worldfast844]

Same here

[tinants]

I came looking whether I'm the only one, and it seems that I'm not.

December and January were among the best months since I started freelancing here (nearly four years ago). It was a good ride so far, Fiverr became the main source of my income and I developed long-term clients. Of course, I had dry-spell periods, but it would never last more than one or two weeks.

And now? It's been nearly two months that the number of new buyers reaching out has decreased alarmingly. Sometimes days pass without no one contacting me (except for annoying spammers). My long-term clients never again said anything after our last order completed (all early February), and they haven't been on Fiverr for weeks.

Some sellers already mentioned it, and I must agree - I think this has something to do with Chat GPT4. I'm a content writer, putting me in "easily-replaceable" category. That is my only explanation and it doesn't leave me with too much hope. I guess I'll start looking for a regular job.

[worldfast844]

Same here. This is so dissapointing

[wd_nayem]

😑

[uiuxtanim]

 

On 11/14/2022 at 12:02 PM, thefarrahmonste said:

I'm honestly a little flummoxed.  I've been actively selling on Fiverr for years now, it's a pretty major part of my income and has been steady with basically no problems.  I've never had trouble finding clients, and have amassed over 500 5-star reviews. 

Then, this month happened.  I have literally never had a month like this in my entire tenure on this site.  My conversion rate, with seemingly no reason, has absolutely plummeted INSANELY low.  I normally average around 20 sales per month on here... in November, I've had two sales.  I am genuinely scared lol the strangest thing is... I'm still getting a pretty typical number of impressions but my conversion rate has dropped HUGELY without any change, practically overnight.  October was a great month, in fact one of my most profitable months this year.  And then November... suddenly nothing.   I'm not even getting messages!  I normally wake up to 5+ new messages from interested buyers every morning, in November I've had less than 10 messages all month.

Has the algorithm turned against me?  I try not to whine.  I love working on Fiverr, I love freelancing, I've made some amazing industry contacts, some friends.  It has been an awesome experience for me, has helped keep a roof over my head at times, has paid for medical bills when I developed a chronic health condition... this is really blowing my mind.  Fiverr has been so great for me in so many ways until now.

I was wondering to know how is your gig performing now after a couple of months now. 

[andreea_91]

same here. but the strange think is my gigs are not even showing up when searching, even if i use the whole text in the title. The strange thing is that support said there is nothing they can do. Immagine that after 5+ years on this site, you recive such answer.