Improvements to our availability feature

[Noam.Arik]

Based on valuable feedback from our community, we have made several fixes and improvements to our availability feature. We want you to take vacations, and want them to be stress-free! These updates will ensure that changing  your availability status does not negatively impact your business or compromise your services and visibility on Fiverr. Read more here.

[melanielm]

I've looked over that page and can't quite figure out what's different. Could you specify?

Also, what does "your visibility will not necessarily be negatively impacted" mean? That sounds like it could absolutely still be negatively impacted just like it was all along. What has changed there?

[visualstudios]

5 minutes ago, melanielm said:

"your visibility will not necessarily be negatively impacted"

this is the type of thing that makes users not trust the platform. Either it will be or it won't - this is a career for many people, so they need absolutes, not maybes. I never activated that feature, and I still won't, there's no reason to risk it. Even if they claimed "it won't", I don't know if it can be trusted or not. We need transparent systems, with transparent metrics, otherwise we can't know what affects us and what doesn't, regardless of what's said.

When I want to take some time off, I just need to keep replying to messages once a day, with request to order on. 

Edited September 21, 2023 by visualstudios

[katakatica]

On 9/21/2023 at 9:34 AM, melanielm said:

I've looked over that page and can't quite figure out what's different. Could you specify?

Also, what does "your visibility will not necessarily be negatively impacted" mean? That sounds like it could absolutely still be negatively impacted just like it was all along. What has changed there?

They said this: "However, if the unavailability period runs over 30 days within a timeframe of 120 days, the Gig ranking might be affected." (source is through the link above, right after what you said) so I'm guessing that's what they mean? So basically, you won't be affected UNLESS you are away for over 30 days in 120 days? Still strangely worded, though. 

I'm still suffering from taking vacation out in July (had my best month in June, and everything just plummeted; that's the only reason why I can think other than everyone else being away), but I'd use the feature next time as well if I knew it was fixed/had guarantee it doesn't affect me. The explanation is a touch too vague for me

(and does it also imply that before it affected us? If yes... that's a bit weird because people get sick, need to leave for whatever reasons, etc. A week off shouldn't destroy one's account. 

[priyank_mod]

20 minutes ago, katakatica said:

(and does it also imply that before it affected us? If yes... that's a bit weird because people get sick, need to leave for whatever reasons, etc. A week off shouldn't destroy one's account. 

During one of the deadly Covid waves in 2021 - I fell sick but I ensured that I completed and delivered all my ongoing orders while battling the sickness. Post that, I made myself unavailable for a week's time. Also, during that phase, Fiverr sent out emails recommending sellers to use the 'unavailability feature' in case they are sick.

But when I came back, enquiries on my gig started spiralling downwards and I endured a phase of 40-50 days without a single order. It eventually picked up and came back on track but loss of business for a couple of months due to usage of 'unavailability feature' was quite evident.🥲     

[rawque_gulia]

28 minutes ago, katakatica said:

and does it also imply that before it affected us

Can't say about others in general but it had no effect on me personally. And I was not on any short holiday. It was a looooong 1 year vacation. I was unavailable from December 2021 to January 2023. I clearly remember I joined back and reactivated my profile on 4th or 5th January and I got my first order on 7th January after the vacation. So, I didn't have to wait to receive orders and my profile went smoothly (even better as I was getting more impressions than before).

From looking at the forums, it seems like the unavailability mode affects a lot of users, but strangely it didn't affect me (even during a long vacation), so I think Fiverr should be more transparent on what factors do they take into account and how can users know whether it will impact them or not.

[farhan_editz]

Taking breaks is necessary for every freelancer and business owner, but when taking breaks, one should not fear whether my business will be handled or be affected if I do that. So I think it's a good improvement but if your unavailability feature runs over 30 days in a 120-day frame time, your gig ranking will be affected as stated by Fiverr.
But who actually is going to take an extended vacation of more than 30 days to be honest one/two weeks is enough for me. 

And one more thing is that, being a freelancer you can take care of your business from anywhere in the world, so if you happen to take longer than 30 days of vacation, you can hire a VA for that (if you still won't be available) to respond to buyers. Since it's a business.

[ajsiders]

20 hours ago, priyank_mod said:

During one of the deadly Covid waves in 2021 - I fell sick but I ensured that I completed and delivered all my ongoing orders while battling the sickness. Post that, I made myself unavailable for a week's time. Also, during that phase, Fiverr sent out emails recommending sellers to use the 'unavailability feature' in case they are sick.

But when I came back, enquiries on my gig started spiralling downwards and I endured a phase of 40-50 days without a single order. It eventually picked up and came back on track but loss of business for a couple of months due to usage of 'unavailability feature' was quite evident.🥲     

I had a similar issue. I was sick for like 4-5 straight weeks. I mean deathly sick, and in and out of the hospital, +102 fever, the whole nine yards. I struggled to deliver my orders, but I communicated with my buyers, and most of them were okay. I did have to cancel a few, and my metrics dropped one point too low in one category, and I was demoted. It took me like 6 months to get the TRS back even though my numbers rebounded pretty quickly. That whole  time I was hesitant to hit the out of office button because I knew it would trash my metrics - but in hindsight the demotion hurt worse. I hope they really did fix it where we can use the out of office button as it was likely intended. I've rarely used it, and every time I have it took way too long to get my impressions back on track. 

[visualstudios]

On 9/22/2023 at 4:01 AM, farhan_editz said:

so if you happen to take longer than 30 days of vacation, you can hire a VA for that (if you still won't be available) to respond to buyers.

Really? You'll hire someone and give them access to your Fiverr account? No way I would ever do that. I'm not even sure that's allowed according to TOS, but even if it is, nobody is getting my login. 

[beatakorozo]

I took breaks several times on Fiverr and never noticed any significant dropping in my stats long-term. The only issue I encountered was that there seemed to be an error if I set my status to unavailable on the desktop version and then didn't restart my mobile app. In such cases, I was still getting messages, which was disturbing sometimes. Other than that, all the stats came back to normal within one or two weeks after a break. I must admit, however, that I never took a break longer than 7 days.

[farhan_editz]

3 minutes ago, visualstudios said:

Really? You'll hire someone and give them access to your Fiverr account? No way I would ever do that. I'm not even sure that's allowed according to TOS, but even if it is, nobody is getting my login.

ONLY and ONLY in case, I'm sure I'm not gonna make it back within 30 days because I wouldn't want the ranking to be affected or the buyers left with unread messages.

And I agree with your concerns since giving access to our account is not recommended at all but I would have a team member from one of my team to manage that who is trustable. I think that would be a really great feature if Fiverr could introduce having team members in the account who'll have limited access.

[tantrikasound]

I don't understand. Let's say I've took 3 important jobs on Fiverr from clients, and I need to focus only on those 3 projects because I can't take more workload. Let's say that those big projects require 3 months to be finished. Why should I be penalized if i set myself unavailable for more than 30 days to focus only on those big projects?

[visualstudios]

On 9/22/2023 at 7:35 AM, farhan_editz said:

ONLY and ONLY in case, I'm sure I'm not gonna make it back within 30 days

There's a phone app for that. I don't need this feature, because no matter what I'm doing I'll have my phone with me. 

[robertvarga79]

3 hours ago, farhan_editz said:

But who actually is going to take an extended vacation of more than 30 days to be honest

Here is the mistake, regarding the unavailability feature, you only think about holidays, vacation.
What if: sickness, accident, a tragedy happens in family...should I go on with examples when it CAN be much more than 30 days?!

[farhan_editz]

On 9/22/2023 at 7:37 AM, visualstudios said:

There's a phone app for that. I don't need this feature, because no matter what I'm doing I'll have my phone with me.

But I would love this feature since It'll give me more flexibility and I would be able to assign different tasks to my team members with specific limitations.

On 9/22/2023 at 7:48 AM, robertvarga79 said:

What if: sickness, accident, a tragedy happens in family...should I go on with examples when it CAN be much more than 30 days?!

Exactly, That is why I thought of having this Feature: 

I would have a team member from one of my team to manage that who is trustable. I think that would be a really great feature if Fiverr could introduce having team members in the account who'll have limited access.

[sajee_changer]

i think it should like this, after using availability feature when we want to come back, you should keep our gigs on same earlier places, earlier pages,  so we can get same numbers of order. thats it

[sripra9007]

On 9/21/2023 at 8:50 AM, Noam.Arik said:

These updates will ensure that changing  your availability status does not negatively impact your business

Question : 

Let's say a Seller is on Page1 in the search results for specific keywords currently, and he/she takes a vacation of 1 week & put as Unavailable.

After coming back from the 1-week vacation, if the seller notices that their gig placing has gone down a few pages, what action can the Seller take?

Raise a ticket with CS?

Is CS empowered to check and restore the gig placing back to where it was earlier before the vacation started?

Or just wait and keep praying (and try to sell) that the gig position restores on it's own? But then, what's the difference in this update? 

Edited September 22, 2023 by sripra9007

[rashidhussain03]

Sometimes we need to take a break from our businesses. As a university student, I have to take a break for my exams. It's great to have a feature that can help me out without affecting my ratings.

[sangameshks]

I joined Fiverr in 2020-2021. 

I didn't have a major issue taking a break. I have taken 2-3 weekly breaks 1-3 a year. I have not faced a major hurdle. But I see the inquiries tend to plummet a bit in the starting week as soon I get back. 

But the document that is shared seems to be vague and unclear and requires immediate attention on the following point.

1. The document needs to inform me whether there will be any change in the impression if I take a vacation.

2. Will my rank be affected by "duration vacation" as of now as per the documentation it has been mentioned that gig will disappear which means people cannot see our service. how come Enabling new buyers on Fiverr to contact me will work here? very confusing 

Please address my confusion. 

Regards,

Sangamesh KS 

[patrickcharlie]

I am a bit confused and disappointed. I have asked about this in recent years, as I realized my gig dropped in ranking even after a short time off. Sometimes taking weeks or months to recover, and all this time Fiverr employees assured me that "This does not affect your rating or visibility, that would not be fair". So now you admit that it did very much impact the gigs. 

[annieamrit]

I suggest to fiverr give option of live chat with seller because its would be great option of live chat and we discuss our problem in live chat.

[anika_sultaana]

Hello! thank you to take care of workers. But It is really a bad system to get auto brief. cause See, we the new freelancer on Fiverr, don't get any brief for a long time. as example, I don't get any brief from months and months. then how can we work here? how can we use fiverr if you don't add any profitable features for the new seller on fiverr. Please BE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE NEW SELLER. 
Thank you,
Anika Sultana 

[muhammadalam]

It's really hard to get work now it was good when we were able to bid on the projects but now it's like they have taken control from us freelancer's now this online status only remains active as long as we are using the app the moment we close it it's gone.

[yikdesign01]

It's a great news though, but I am still skeptical, last year a team member of mine was getting way much orders and sometimes no able to complete some. He thought of finishing the current ones as hand and do not want to necessarily Say NO to buyers, so he put on the features and bom his account was demoted I think within 7days.🙂

[pixellabel]

I would be happier if Buyer Request feature came back.