How to review the reviews of a seller?

[will998]

Occasionally it is good to check out an unknown seller by looking at their reviews, and sometimes those reviews sound a little fishy.     Somewhere I saw the advice to "click on the link for the giver of the review" and see what that person/service is like, but as a buyer, those links are not clickable and it does not seem possible to search for buyers by name.  

So:  any ideas for how to validate a seller's reviews other than by wasting money and time with a trial order?   

[vickieito]

1 hour ago, will998 said:

it does not seem possible to search for buyers by name.  

Hi @will998, you can search for buyers (or even sellers) by name - simply type their username after Fiverr's URL. For example, yours would be: https://www.fiverr.com/will998

If the buyer is only a buyer, you will see their reviews as a buyer. If the buyer is also a seller, you will only be able to see their reviews as a seller.

Sellers on the Seller Plus program also get buyer insights which is helpful - you can see the buyer's average rating, what their order completion rate is, how often they tip, what their average spend per order is, and what category they usually order in. However, buyers don't have access to Buyer Insights.

1 hour ago, will998 said:

So:  any ideas for how to validate a seller's reviews other than by wasting money and time with a trial order?   

I tend to buy from higher-level sellers with more than 200 good reviews. However, I still rely on "mini" trial orders because I have been scammed by a seller with 1K+ reviews, fooled by fake portfolio samples, and even had a negative experience with a top-rated seller before. But those negative experiences mostly happened when I was new to buying and trusted seller reviews/levels too much. I still order from newbies from time to time (and might even be their first client), but I do move forward with caution when doing so.

As part of my due diligence, I look at the seller's portfolio samples and qualifications and only reach out to them if I'm confident that they can do the job. The inbox chats play a HUGE part in whether I move forward with a seller or not - I look to see how well they understand my requirements, their level of professionalism and knowledge, and how well we align and communicate with each other. Most of my red flags are found in the inbox chats, so this is where I screen out most of my sellers.

If there are no red flags, then I'll place a mini order. It doesn't waste much time and I can always cancel if the seller can't perform at all (which only happened once, when I found out a seller "bought" their portfolio samples and didn't have any skills - there were warning signs in the inbox chats that I ignored).

After looking at my first year as a buyer, I think all of my bad buying experiences could have been avoided if I paid more attention to the inbox chats. The seller with 1K+ reviews was a high-pressure salesman who agreed to everything and just wanted me to place to order (I also overlooked his lack of knowledge of Fiverr's ToS). The top-rated seller had tale-tell signs that things were starting to crumble for them in their life, so it wasn't wise of me to place an order at that time (they later lost their TRS status due to these issues).

Luckily, I've had 100+ positive buying experiences so far (and only about 10 negative ones). I'm really amazed at the talent that is on this platform and love working with my sellers because they really take good care of me. 😊

@will998 - I noticed you are pretty active as a buyer, so hopefully you are finding great sellers to work with, too!

[maitasun]

2 hours ago, vickieito said:

@will998 - I noticed you are pretty active as a buyer, so hopefully you are finding great sellers to work with, too!

Ohhhhhh, and he loves opera and classical music!!! ♥️😃🥰

[will998]

Thanks for the help!   Yes indeed, I have found some great sellers and not yet any really bad ones; occasionally not a great fit between what I hope to find and what they produce.

[newsmike]

On 6/2/2023 at 12:17 PM, maitasun said:

Ohhhhhh, and he loves opera and classical music!!! ♥️😃🥰

Molto bene. 

 

[maheennadeem814]

If you want to check if a seller's reviews on Fiverr are reliable without wasting money on a trial order, you can try doing these-

• Check a variety of reviews from different times and ratings to get a broader view
• Talk to the seller and see how well they communicate and understand your needs