Fiverr 4.0 - Some thoughts on the current state of things

[donnovan86]

26 minutes ago, leannelrivers said:

Request to Order

Due to the nature of my gigs, I can't really use that, few people will bother waiting for a reply when they want to order an article.. There are so many options to buy right away so.. 

[leannelrivers]

8 minutes ago, donnovan86 said:

There are so many options to buy right away so.. 

What I meant was, has the impact of a dissatisfied first-time buyer always been so significant? If one newbie has that much power to crash a seller's visibility, the Request to Order feature should be available to everyone IMO. Not a possible solution you can access only by spending $29-$39 a month, depending on when you started with SP.
As for private reviews, the debate is still going on in another thread. Those three all-important check-box-only questions.

[donnovan86]

2 hours ago, leannelrivers said:

Not a possible solution you can access only by spending $29-$39 a month, depending on when you started with SP.

Well request to order isn't going to be helpful for everyone. In my case, I am mostly a volume based seller, so adding that will push people away. I guess Fiverr sees Request to Order as a nice-to-have thing, not something mandatory. And I don't think it will be generally available anytime soon. They do need to bring some features so you can go for Seller Plus.. 

[filipdevaere]

6 minutes ago, donnovan86 said:

They do need to bring some features so you can go for Seller Plus.. 

Of course, Seller Plus is an extra source of income for Fiverr.
Promoted gigs are just the same. For Fiverr, it is also an extra source of income. 

[danno1950]

4 hours ago, donnovan86 said:

he wanted me to write 3 articles, the topics were great, but after sending the offer, he said he will only accept it if I offer unlimited revisions. That "first time buyer nightmare" spidey sense activated for me, and when I saw he also wants an extra for free.

It really is unfortunate that we have to be so self-protective against a nightmare of a first time buyer.

[donnovan86]

9 minutes ago, danno1950 said:

It really is unfortunate that we have to be so self-protective against a nightmare of a first time buyer.

Well I've always been like that to be honest, because I can "smell" when some buyers feel troublesome. I will be honest, whenever people blatantly say "I won't work with you unless you offer unlimited revisions", what that shows me is they will be hard to work with and expect you to change or add stuff for free for weeks or months. So that alone seems like a troublesome experience, let alone what review they leave at the end. Is it worth the hassle? Not really.. even if I have no orders I don't want to deal with this sort of issue.. At least that's how I feel. 

[danno1950]

1 minute ago, donnovan86 said:

Is it worth the hassle? Not really.. even if I have no orders I don't want to deal with this sort of issue.. At least that's how I feel. 

If that troublesome buyer leads to a cancellation, that will only compound the problem of no orders because of the impact on the stats and a possible negative private review. That's plenty of reason to avoid those situations.

[donnovan86]

6 minutes ago, danno1950 said:

That's plenty of reason to avoid those situations.

Exactly my point. My spidey sense told me to just avoid problems. I even disregard how many revisions I do just to keep people happy. But when someone specifically asks for unlimited revisions, that's a clear lack of trustand honestly it doesn't offer me any confidence that it will be a great experience for both people. After all, when you engage in business with anyone you do expect some sort of trust. If that's not there.. then.. why work together in the first place. I denied it..

[vickiespencer]

I spoke again with my SPM and found out my new seller BSR is good. So, I went back to look at the buyers I had around the time of my drop. I found two that did not leave a public review had lower review averages from sellers. Plus, around that time, I got two less than 5-star reviews from new buyers to me. 

My SPM also encouraged me to ask my regular buyers who are still ordering to complete the private surveys. She said it's especially important with repeat buyers who only sometimes fill out the survey. 

Her statement makes me think that rather than Fiverr putting us in Fiverr jail for a certain amount of time, the algorithm lets us out based on our average BSR, which will not improve much if our regular buyers who continue to order from us after the subpar BSRs do not leave a private review. 

So, yesterday I asked two of my regular buyers to be sure to leave a private review, which I do not feel comfortable doing.

[donnovan86]

1 minute ago, vickiespencer said:

So, yesterday I asked two of my regular buyers to be sure to leave a private review, which I do not feel comfortable doing.

That's the thing Vickie, Fiverr already pushes people via multiple emails to leave a review, I don't feel comfortable either to ask regulars to leave a review. Fiverr should automatically assume those orders without a review are fine, right? 

[visualstudios]

That's the problem. Fiverr consistently shifts the blame and responsibility towards sellers - so sellers look bad, never Fiverr. It's the same bs with revisions. Instead of Fiverr taking the responsibility to enforce revision limits, it's the seller that has to refuse revisions above the agreed amount, and ask for more money. So the seller is always the bad guy.

[donnovan86]

18 minutes ago, visualstudios said:

Instead of Fiverr taking the responsibility to enforce revision limits

Well no matter what you do as a seller, you will always be seen as the bad guy, unless your work is amazing. And even then, if you charge for more money than others, some people will feel they didn't get their money's worth. No matter the platform or revision policy, I find it very suspicious to impose unlimited revisions... As a seller, I think any buyer that does such a thing will most likely have a hidden agenda. 

[leannelrivers]

28 minutes ago, vickiespencer said:

So, yesterday I asked two of my regular buyers to be sure to leave a private review, which I do not feel comfortable doing.

I wouldn't be comfortable asking or being asked. 

 

19 minutes ago, visualstudios said:

That's the problem. Fiverr consistently shifts the blame and responsibility towards sellers - so sellers look bad, never Fiverr.

And it's one thing after another. You set OOO so you could have a holiday, don't do that; you didn't send out coupons, do that; your gig promotion limit is too low, your gig price is too high, ask former buyers for private reviews, don't ask other buyers for any reviews. I think I'm going to return to the strategy that served me so well here for so long: Not giving a monkeys about the variables. Just doing my best to be a professional that serves clients well. 

[visualstudios]

Just now, donnovan86 said:

I find it very suspicious to impose unlimited revisions...

Sure. The problem is, it's not the buyer "imposing" them. It's the platform. If Fiverr greyed out the revision button after the number of specified revisions had been exhausted, and switched it for a button to pay for extra revisions, as it should, then it would be correct.

[donnovan86]

42 minutes ago, visualstudios said:

The problem is, it's not the buyer "imposing" them.

In my case it is. Because he specifically said he won't work with me if I don't offer unlimited revisions. Which I obviously declined.

But in most cases yes, I agree, the platform needs to gray out the revision button after the number of paid revisions was exhausted. Then again, we still have people ordering up to 20x the gig package because they can, since Fiverr still has that option available. So there are a lot of things that need to be improved... things that directly affect sellers..

[visualstudios]

1 minute ago, donnovan86 said:

Because he specifically said he won't work with me if I don't offer unlimited revisions.

Then it's not imposing... it's very easy to say no, when no order is open. He did you a favor, actually, by showing his cards prior to order start. Good riddance.

[donnovan86]

Well if I am accepting the order, he is imposing that as one of the requirements. To give you context, he told me that only AFTER I sent the custom offer. So yeah, he imposed the requirement otherwise he wouldn't accept the custom offer. Anyway as you said, good riddance, I don't want to work with people that might seem difficult even before placing an order. 

[visualstudios]

Sure, but that's if you accept the order. If someone tells me "I want this made for $5", that's not imposing anything. I mean, it's imposing a no from me, I guess lol.

[danno1950]

2 hours ago, vickiespencer said:

My SPM also encouraged me to ask my regular buyers who are still ordering to complete the private surveys. She said it's especially important with repeat buyers who only sometimes fill out the survey. 

Her statement makes me think that rather than Fiverr putting us in Fiverr jail for a certain amount of time, the algorithm lets us out based on our average BSR, which will not improve much if our regular buyers who continue to order from us after the subpar BSRs do not leave a private review. 

So, yesterday I asked two of my regular buyers to be sure to leave a private review, which I do not feel comfortable doing.

I got the same feedback from my SM, but only after I first discovered the existence of the private surveys, and then inquired enough to find out they could get you out of Fiverr jail. The whole process has been very secretive for years. Yes, I am uncomfortable asking regular buyers to leave reviews.

[donnovan86]

12 minutes ago, visualstudios said:

I mean, it's imposing a no from me, I guess lol.

Well there was nothing said until I sent the offer. And he says he won't work with me UNLESS I offer free revisions. So that's definitely imposing something to the seller, if he takes the order. Because my offers clearly don't have that. Anyway I stopped messaging him anyway. 

12 minutes ago, danno1950 said:

and then inquired enough to find out they could get you out of Fiverr jail.

How? I am very curious. Because things like asking clients to review orders might help, but like you... I am not comfortable with that.

[danno1950]

11 minutes ago, donnovan86 said:

24 minutes ago, danno1950 said:

and then inquired enough to find out they could get you out of Fiverr jail.

How? I am very curious. Because things like asking clients to review orders might help, but like you... I am not comfortable with that.

I just stumbled across this whole private survey issue with my 4th SM, and none had ever mentioned it before.  I suspect many new SMs don't even know about this process.

A positive private survey balances out a negative private survey, and positively impacts your BSR. How much impact - no one knows. That's on the super-secret level.

Edited April 11, 2023 by danno1950

[donnovan86]

17 minutes ago, danno1950 said:

A positive private survey balances out a negative private survey, and positively impacts your BSR. How much impact - no one knows. That's on the super-secret level.

Ah, I knew that. I didn't know that a positive one will balance a bad one, that's new and very helpful information. Thank you for letting me know!

[danno1950]

1 hour ago, donnovan86 said:

Thank you for letting me know!

Glad to help!

[newsmike]

7 hours ago, visualstudios said:

switched it for a button to pay for extra revisions, as it should, then it would be correct.

Bingo. As soon as they get the number of revisions included in the base order, the text on the button switches from "Request Revisions" to "Buy additional revisions." This takes you to an order form.  

[donnovan86]

6 minutes ago, newsmike said:

This takes you to an order form

I am certain every seller (that knows what he's doing) would love to see this feature. This, the ability to turn gig multiples on/off, little things like these can really make the platform better. Hopefully they implement these ideas sooner rather than later, because they would make a huge difference for us as sellers. And let's face it, the buyer experience is improved too. If they need to pay for revisions once or twice, they naturally start reading gig descriptions and become a more astute buyer...