My experience as a new seller

[donovanherisson]

Hello, I have used Fiverr services a few times in the past and found it to be a really good platform for getting help with your projects. Regardless of the field of expertise you are looking for, you will certainly find someone with the particular skills to assist you.

As a self-employed individual, I have started to expand my activities and offer some services on Fiverr.

I would like to share my experience as a new seller on this platform. While I'm sure that Fiverr staff is well aware of the situation, as I have seen many posts discussing it, I am very surprised that no action has been taken to address the massive scam attempts targeting new sellers.

Please refer to the attached image, which shows the number of scam messages I received in less than half a day.

What I find most shocking is that, when looking at similar topics involving scammers, the responses directed at individuals who have actually been scammed often blame them, stating that accepting work from scammers is against the rules and can lead to a ban. Am I the only one shocked by those responses? Instead of taking action against these scam activities, the victims are being blamed. I wanted to write this post to express my dissatisfaction and surprise. While browsing the forum, I came across numerous other issues that I found to be quite absurd. As a new service seller on Fiverr, I highly encourage others to explore alternative platforms until necessary measures are implemented to resolve these problems.

[djteras]

be careful always! i am all new here... and i worry what happens on that stage when seller kinda delivers the service and the buyer stops suddenly responding?!?! the payment could be in advance also or?!

[catwriter]

6 hours ago, donovanherisson said:

What I find most shocking is that, when looking at similar topics involving scammers, the responses directed at individuals who have actually been scammed often blame them, stating that accepting work from scammers is against the rules and can lead to a ban.

Yes, the responses blame them, because they broke Fiverr's rules.

Everyone has to agree to Fiverr's Terms of Service when they sign up. Refusing to read them and thus not knowing the rules isn't a valid excuse (not to mention that the rules are in place to protect both sellers and buyers).

And it's not about "accepting work from scammers". It's, say, about accepting contact outside of Fiverr (not allowed), or payment outside of Fiverr (also not allowed).

6 hours ago, donovanherisson said:

Instead of taking action against these scam activities, the victims are being blamed

People responding on the forum are, with some very rare exceptions, just sellers (and sometimes buyers) on Fiverr. They're not Fiverr staff. What kind of action do you expect them to take, other than advising others?

9 minutes ago, djteras said:

i worry what happens on that stage when seller kinda delivers the service and the buyer stops suddenly responding?!?! the payment could be in advance also or?!

If you read Fiverr's Terms of Service (and you definitely should), you will learn that sellers are supposed to start working only after the buyer places an order (and pays for it; payment is available for withdrawal 2 weeks after the order was marked as complete).

[donovanherisson]

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Yes, the responses blame them, because they broke Fiverr's rules.

Everyone has to agree to Fiverr's Terms of Service when they sign up. Refusing to read them and thus not knowing the rules isn't a valid excuse (not to mention that the rules are in place to protect both sellers and buyers).

And it's not about "accepting work from scammers". It's, say, about accepting contact outside of Fiverr (not allowed), or payment outside of Fiverr (also not allowed).

New sellers who join this platform are here to provide services and generate profit. I understand the rules that specify that accepting contact outside of Fiverr is not allowed, and it makes sense. However, these individuals are not contacting sellers to provide legitimate jobs but rather to extort money from them.

Of course, new sellers have to read the rules and apply them, but if you are new and come across those job propositions, even if you read all the rules you can omit some because we are human beings. It is unrealistic to assume that new sellers who respond to offers in private messages are solely motivated by avoiding fees and bypassing the Fiverr platform.

What I find utterly disrespectful is the fact that people blame the victims for being scammed/having money extorted/working hard for free without showing compassion, assuming they did it only to avoid fees. Scammers are a threat that tarnishes the reputation of the platform.

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People responding on the forum are, with some very rare exceptions, just sellers (and sometimes buyers) on Fiverr.

You are only implying that there is no staff involved in moderating the forum, which is itself another problem.

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What kind of action do you expect them to take, other than advising others?

They are solely blaming new sellers who have been scammed while absolving Fiverr of any responsibility. The lack of empathy is deeply concerning, as well as the inaction from Fiverr in addressing the issues on their platform.

[catwriter]

8 minutes ago, donovanherisson said:

However, these individuals are not contacting sellers to provide legitimate jobs but rather to extort money from them.

And if sellers refuse to contact them outside of Fiverr, they will remain safe.

9 minutes ago, donovanherisson said:

Of course, new sellers have to read the rules and apply them, but if you are new and come across those job propositions, even if you read all the rules you can omit some because we are human beings.

There's also the general rule that if something sounds too good to be true, it probably isn't true. And those scammers offer completely unrealistic payments for simple jobs.

10 minutes ago, donovanherisson said:

It is unrealistic to assume that new sellers who respond to offers in private messages are solely motivated by avoiding fees and bypassing the Fiverr platform.

That's not what people typically assume. People typically assume that the seller didn't read the terms of service and therefore doesn't know how Fiverr is supposed to work (buyer contacts you through Fiverr, places order through Fiverr, you deliver the work through Fiverr). And if you want to earn, it's a really bad idea not to know how the platform you intend to use for earning works.

14 minutes ago, donovanherisson said:

What I find utterly disrespectful is the fact that people blame the victims for being scammed/having money extorted/working hard for free without showing compassion

When you read hundreds of complaints from people who fell for the very same scam (and sometimes those same people have asked on the forum if the offer was a scam, were told that it was, and fell for it anyway), it gets tiresome. It's as if none of them bother to learn how Fiverr works, and as if none of them bother to read the forum.

16 minutes ago, donovanherisson said:

You are only implying that there is no staff involved in moderating the forum

There's some staff moderating the forum, plus volunteers. But staff moderating the forum is not the same department that could do anything about spam/scams on the main site.

17 minutes ago, donovanherisson said:

the inaction from Fiverr in addressing the issues on their platform.

Fiverr does take some action. Plenty of scam messages end up in the spam folder and sellers never even get to see them, but there are simply too many of them and they're figuring out how to avoid the filters. Plus, whenever someone types a word that indicates possible contact outside of Fiverr, a warning in red appears below the message, warning sellers that everything has to go through Fiverr. Plus, at the very top of inbox messages, there's this: "For added safety, remember to keep all payments and communication within the platform." And yet, sellers don't read it even though it's right there, and contact scammers outside of Fiverr.

It's a bit difficult to have compassion for those who fail to read what's right in front of them. Sorry if it sounds cruel.

[donovanherisson]

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It's a bit difficult to have compassion for those who fail to read what's right in front of them. Sorry if it sounds cruel.

I get your point. While there may be some areas that need improvement, it is undeniable that Fiverr has many positive aspects and can be a valuable platform. Hopefully, Fiverr is actively working on addressing the issues and making necessary improvements to create a better environment for its users.

[catwriter]

1 minute ago, donovanherisson said:

Hopefully, Fiverr is actively working on addressing the issues and making necessary improvements to create a better environment for its users.

They're trying, but there are waaay too many scammers.

And that's why we keep insisting that sellers should be cautious and read the rules. And read what's right in front of them. Not because we say so, not because we're horrible people enjoying in mocking them, but for their own protection.

Unfortunately, way too often, it feels like all of our warnings fall on deaf ears, and that it's pointless to even try. People get angry at us, and accuse us, as if we're the ones who scammed them. And as if they shouldn't take responsibility for their own actions, instead of looking for someone to blame.

[vickieito]

29 minutes ago, donovanherisson said:

What I find utterly disrespectful is the fact that people blame the victims for being scammed/having money extorted/working hard for free without showing compassion, assuming they did it only to avoid fees. Scammers are a threat that tarnishes the reputation of the platform.

Scammers are a threat to anyone who does anything online. They are experienced social engineers who thrive off of the low-hanging fruit - people who leave their guard down and fall for their carefully engineered tactics. If you aren't vigilant in protecting yourself, it's easy to get caught unaware.

These scammers have a strategy to get you to take actions that seem harmless - clicking on links, downloading files, or visiting other sites - for their benefit. That's why Fiverr has a lot of controls in place to protect you if you follow their rules and safeguards. It's also good to be aware that there are people out there who want to scam you. Knowing this can help you to protect yourself as you interact with others on the platform (and other places online).

4 minutes ago, donovanherisson said:

Fiverr is actively working on addressing the issues and making necessary improvements to create a better environment for its users.

Many scammers create multiple accounts on a daily basis, so the more sellers use that spam button in their inbox, the better Fiverr can deal with these scammers. Fiverr automatically disables accounts that get marked as spam by multiple users. Fiverr also got rid of Buyer Requests (which was full of scams/spam) and replaced it with Buyer Briefs (which has a reporting feature for sellers to quickly report scammers or spammers). There are also safeguards that Fiverr has to prevent users from creating multiple accounts (which catches some of the scammers/spammers who are trying to create multiple accounts).

[vickieito]

8 hours ago, donovanherisson said:

As a new service seller on Fiverr, I highly encourage others to explore alternative platforms until necessary measures are implemented to resolve these problems.

I lost thousands of dollars earlier this year related to scams/online hackers that involved multiple online accounts, many of them created by others who were using my stolen identity. Fiverr was the only online account that actually covered me for my loss - even though it was my fault for not taking better security measures to protect myself.

I did click on a "harmless" link containing Malware, I did have multiple tabs open in my browser for different online accounts, and I did have several online accounts with the same password. I overly trusted/relied on my 2-factor authentication and regular checks for malware (and didn't think how easily phishing scams can get past those measures).

[smashradio]

32 minutes ago, vickieito said:

I lost thousands of dollars earlier this year related to scams/online hackers that involved multiple online accounts, many of them created by others who were using my stolen identity. Fiverr was the only online account that actually covered me for my loss - even though it was my fault for not taking better security measures to protect myself.

I did click on a "harmless" link containing Malware, I did have multiple tabs open in my browser for different online accounts, and I did have several online accounts with the same password. I overly trusted/relied on my 2-factor authentication and regular checks for malware (and didn't think how easily phishing scams can get past those measures).

The weakest link is always you. Being aware of that fact can drastically tighten your security. I've actually taken some steps most freelancers would never even consider to protect my data, up to and including using virtual machines in the cloud to open links if a site or document is unknown to me or comes from a source I would otherwise automatically trust. That automatic trust is your worst enemy.