Fiverr 4.0 - Some thoughts on the current state of things

[donnovan86]

2 hours ago, tme2012 said:

Denial of any sort of change in the algorithm and vagueness about how gigs are ranked.

Obviously they can't say how the algorithm works because people would manipulate the system. That being said... Your bad review from 3 months ago is certainly one of the major issues, even if we leave AI aside from the lack of traction when it comes to writing gigs.

Fiverr tracks the buyer satisfaction rate for 90 to 180 days, so if you are a low volume but high price seller, a negative review like this will affect you a whole lot. So that's the reason why you are having issues, most likely. Fiverr support can't share anything more than general info so I am not amazed they just sent a very general reply. 

[adam_angst]

On 6/20/2023 at 10:53 PM, donnovan86 said:

All I hear is praise too and guess what, I only survive on return clients these days, few to no new buyers...

The problem in your niche and mine (writing) isn't Fiverr, it's AI. ...

I also see you had only 4 reviews the past 3 months or so. Fiverr tracks your performance only over the past 2-3 months, and one of the reasons why you might not be getting work is that others have more reviews/orders, even if they have the same performance as you, their volume is higher. 

But as I said, AI is definitely one of the major concerns here. I've been working on Fiverr for close to 10 years now, I always worked alone and had tens of thousands of orders, but even so.., I still feel the lack of orders. We need to adapt, and find different services that fit modern times.  At least that's the solution in my case.

Yes, I know AI is a problem for us, but that would prevent people from choosing to find VO on Fiverr, it shouldn't cause my impressions to go to <300. 

I'm in the same boat as you. I hear praise, I've been tipped extra money on half of my recent jobs. But, your'e right, I have no idea what they're saying in their private reviews. So, I guess I need to start prepping clients before they do this private review. It's possible they're lying to me. 

I only had 4 reviews because I've only had like 4 jobs in the past 3 months. Fiverr is tracking performance which is down because THEY have depressed my impressions. I used to get plenty of work when I had impressions. I'm not sure what I did to get fewer impressions, and I have no idea how to turn it around. I offer the best service I can, and my clients tell me they like me. Almost all of my clients are return clients, to be honest. It's strange. But clearly someone must have said something really bad about me, and with my low number of orders that probably made up a large percentage. It only takes one person to say something bad about you if you've only had 5-10 orders in 3 months. Then it has a huge effect on your percentage wise. I'm going to have to pay for seller premium and see if I can get a personal coach to with Fiverr to help me figure out what's going on. Which is exactly what Fiverr wants. They want buyers to buy seller premium for $40/month. Who knows what's really going on. Could just be a way to get buyers to pay 40/month to find out why their impressions have disappeared. 

[minario]

Thanks for the Tips as always frank...

 

To start with, I love working with new buyers as they tend to improve my experience on customer relation and that helps a lot. New sellers or first time buyers might lack the knowledge on how the system operates which, in my case, gives me an advantage by taking them through the necessary steps and build trust overtime.

I don't know if this just me but i still prefer new buyers, to some extent, to existing buyers.

....And have a good time the cake!

[saaddennis]

On 6/21/2023 at 9:17 AM, donnovan86 said:

Obviously they can't say how the algorithm works because people would manipulate the system. That being said... Your bad review from 3 months ago is certainly one of the major issues, even if we leave AI aside from the lack of traction when it comes to writing gigs.

Fiverr tracks the buyer satisfaction rate for 90 to 180 days, so if you are a low volume but high price seller, a negative review like this will affect you a whole lot. So that's the reason why you are having issues, most likely. Fiverr support can't share anything more than general info so I am not amazed they just sent a very general reply. 

I had a question for you Donnovan, are your gigs visible on the search and getting impressions but no orders or you can locate them?

[donnovan86]

1 hour ago, saaddennis said:

I had a question for you Donnovan, are your gigs visible on the search and getting impressions but no orders or you can locate them?

Every person sees gigs differently. With that in mind, I can see them from my side but what I know for sure is I have way less clicks than I used to Pre-March 2023. That's how I know few people see me in search. The number of impressions is obviously lower too. 

[tme2012]

Just had my 19th straight message from a newb to the site who doesn't know how to use it and thinks I'm going to hire them. The last one cussed me out after I told him what he was doing wrong and suggested he try reading the directions net time. 

Meanwhile, Fiverr's new algorithm or perhaps my 2-star review from 3 months ago having me making 70% less money than I did a year ago at this time.  Wife about to kill me for the plunge in income. Good times, Fiverr, good times. 😣

[donnovan86]

3 hours ago, tme2012 said:

Meanwhile, Fiverr's new algorithm or perhaps my 2-star review from 3 months ago having me making 70% less money than I did a year ago at this time.  Wife about to kill me for the plunge in income. Good times, Fiverr, good times. 😣

I feel for you man. My wife understands things are tougher, in my case I just feel bad that there's an income plunge.. But at the end of the day all that matters is to work hard and not give up. Plus, we need to adapt. 

In your situation I think the bad review ended up attached with a bad private review and those can haunt us up to 6 months, according to my seller manager from Fiverr. We have to avoid these bad reviews as much as possible, but the truth is that you can't really do that, because you can't please everyone. No matter how good you are, there will always be a nutso to deal with..

[mfalexduncan]

Hey there @frank_d, fantastic post as always! I thoroughly appreciate your deep-dive analysis and willingness to share your observations and thoughts with us. I couldn't agree more with your interpretation of Fiverr's BSR and its subsequent impact on sales.

However, I would like to point out an area that perhaps needs more emphasis. The fact that we are not just sellers, but we are also the architects of the buyer's experience on this platform. Every interaction we have shapes not only our own BSR but influences the perception of Fiverr as a whole. We have the power to convert a first-time buyer into a repeat customer or drive them away.

I firmly believe that every time we engage with a new client, we are given an opportunity to showcase not only our own skills but also to represent the whole community of dedicated and professional sellers that inhabit Fiverr. This is not about gaming the system or finding shortcuts but elevating the entire ecosystem.

As for the "get out of jail" card and your speculation about different BSR metrics for new and existing buyers, that's a thought-provoking hypothesis. It would indeed make sense for Fiverr to weigh the satisfaction of new users more heavily as it's critical to ensure their initial experience is positive.

In the end, the secret sauce to a successful seller profile isn't just numbers and metrics, it's about genuine engagement and dedication to customer satisfaction. Fiverr, after all, is a marketplace fueled by creativity and it's in that spirit we should interact with our clients.

I appreciate your post and look forward to more enlightening discussions in the future. Here's to another year of growth and discovery on Fiverr! 🎂 🎉

[hyddar]

Discussion over Fiverr 4.0 is quite valuable and has so many insights. Thank you guys.

[khalidsaif718]

Order cancellations is the biggest enemy !

[meldawn9]

On 6/19/2023 at 7:57 AM, adam_angst said:

Fiverr is dead now. It appears they're forcing people to pay $20, or $40, per month to get any clicks. Since those seller plus payment tiers have started my gigs have all gone to less than 10 clicks per month. It's devastating. I've had zero new client inquiries in 3-5+ months. Especially the last 3/4 months. It's too bad. I've been a pro voice talent for 7 years, there's no reason why I shouldn't be getting work. My quality is great, my clients are happy (5 stars on my reviews), and I have 100% on all my scores across the board. No reason why this should be happening except the fact that I'm not paying $20-$40 for seller plus, or paying for clicks. 

Yes, Fiverr is dead. I started on here in the spring of 2014. Yes, it took a few months to get going, then I did well. Made over 5 figures each year. And then, this year, I might have made 3 figures, even with my ridiculously cheap article price. Fiverr is no longer my primary source of income. When they demanded that I update my gigs, I simply "Paused" most of them. It's just like the other ten platforms I used to write on. All gone now. I'm slowly winding things down. This will give me a chance to work on my own books next year.

[aaarifur]

I think every new seller should read the post for their better future. Too much informative. Thanks a lot. 

[melroygeorge]

worst support and incorrect warning placed by support team who are inhuman.. Time to switch to better platform

[frank_d]

8 minutes ago, melroygeorge said:

worst support and incorrect warning placed by support team who are inhuman.. Time to switch to better platform

Best of luck on all your future endeavors 

[filipdevaere]

15 minutes ago, melroygeorge said:

Time to switch to better platform

And which one is better?

[seo_nasirbd]

Still loving fiverr for a many reasons

[hassam_islam]

fiverr 4.0 also fix the messages issue 

[tme2012]

A new personal best for me. 17 people have contacted me in the last 24 hours wanting me to hire them for my own gig. Seventeen times that my app has buzzed and I think, "Yes! Finally business is picking back up." Seventeen times that it's been someone from India or Pakistan who has signed up with no idea what they are doing. 

 

FIX IT FIVERR

[donnovan86]

52 minutes ago, tme2012 said:

FIX IT FIVERR

Well how can Fiverr know what intentions a new "buyer" or user might have? It's up to the people to use it properly and yes, I have a lot of spam too. The past few days I had a bit of silence, but honestly most messages are telegram thingies or people asking for work.

[tme2012]

Use an onboarding course that they have to pass a quiz at the end of to prove they understand how to use the website. People who are here for legit reasons could do it in 5 minutes. People who aren't would give up. 

[vickieito]

12 hours ago, tme2012 said:

Use an onboarding course that they have to pass a quiz at the end of to prove they understand how to use the website. People who are here for legit reasons could do it in 5 minutes. People who aren't would give up. 

Great idea, @tme2012! If the quiz also had a 90-day wait period for retaking, that would really deter people who don't care for the rules.

[uk1000]

This video seems relevant to Fiverr 4.0 (ie. how Fiverr works & will work) because in it they're talking about and showing what system Fiverr has used in the past for search results ranking (roughly) and what they switched to (in the slide at 4:19 in the video).

And near the end of the video (around 17:29 and at the slide at 17:33) it talks about TensorFlow ranking and they seem to say (though not in English) "And we decided to go with TensorFlow Ranking.". So it seems like in future Fiverr will be using TensorFlow ranking (open source) for ranking search results/gigs.

Hopefully Fiverr could translate it properly so we could know more, but the slides in it are all in English.

[coerdelion]

It does make you wonder what Fiverr is up to when they've turned off the transcript feature ...

[saaddennis]

Anyone who have noticed anything up compared to earlier? I have lost my positions in the search every now and then but I manage to regain it either after a couple days or weeks, but I don't seem to land any orders even if my impressions and clicks got a slight upward tendence.

[tme2012]

My year-over-year sales are down 52% from 2022, so whatever search functions they've changed, have been a massive fail.