Account and Gig was banned unfairly without Warning - My Fiverr Experience and how much I hate Fiverr now.

[austin_js]

I have been banned already 3 months ago and today is the time I can withdraw the funds that was left before. I've been so angry at that time when the ban happened, and I just want to express here how much I hate Fiverr one last time.

I have been a seller on Fiverr for almost two years. I have already become a level 2 seller, achieved 50+ 5 star reviews, and earned an average of $2000+ a month. My gig focuses on blockchain development, specifically automating transactions or serving as a platform for exchanges in the Ethereum blockchain for various purposes.

Just the day before I was banned, I changed a single word on my gig's title to be more precise with my services. After the gig's name was changed, my gig was suddenly marked as "denied". I brought up the issue to customer service for clarification or to fix it. I assumed it was a faulty automated security error.

A few hours later, customer service replied and told me that my account has been disabled because I violated Fiverr's terms of service. Here's what they said:

The relevant team reviewed your gigs and account and your account was permanently disabled after a careful review by our dedicated Team due to violations of our guidelines.

Fiverr is an open marketplace where users can offer or request a variety of services. However, certain types of services are prohibited, as they can pose unwanted risks for our users like legal or financial risks. Some other services simply do not align with our values and Community Standards.

I asked repeatedly what part did I violate, and I kept on explaining how none of my gig ever violated their ToS. I've read their prohibit services multiple times, and it was ambiguous. If my gig violates their terms of service, then hundreds of other gigs that currently exists in their platform should be violating it as well. There are several other gigs that offers extremely similar services to what I had. What's more ironic is I found a user that copied the exact description I had on my banned gig and account on Fiverr, but his account is still up and running. Some people have been stealing my work and yet I, the original developer, got banned on Fiverr.

They have mentioned that my services posed certain unwanted risks to users like legal or financial risk. However, as I've mentioned, my gig and services only specifically offer development of platforms and tools for the Ethereum blockchain. Half of the orders are even for non-profit purposes (Tools for token developers). I do not sell any form of pre-made strategies or fully automated trading bots for profits. I never advertise any form of guaranteed profit in my gigs that may just actually pose financial risks on the users. My gig simply falls into their categories, "Exchange Platforms" and "Decentralized Applications (dApps)" which are both subcategories under "Blockchain & Cryptocurrency". Where is the borderline between "Blockchain development services" and "services that can pose financial risks"?

The review and judgement made by Fiverr has been completely unfair. I demand Fiverr to review this case again and reconsider bringing back my account. Two years of hard work of building up profile, and disabled like it was nothing. How come the gig was up for almost two years without issues, and all of a sudden it violates their ToS? How about all the other similar Blockchain development gigs?

Talking to Fiverr's customer service is like talking to a brick wall. Avoid Fiverr at all cost if you plan to be a freelancer that plans to make a gig that involves Cryptocurrency.

Edited January 24 by austin_js

[austin_js]

I'm going to post here the whole conversation I had with Fiverr CS, so that you can see how much of a headache I had that day.

[donnovan86]

Sorry if I misunderstand your service. But I think the problem here was that you were automating transactions and stuff like that, which might be ok if you have your own platform, but Fiverr doesn't really take part into that kind of thing. The fact you had your gig active and no one reported it was why it was never denied in the first place, because there are tons of gigs out there, and not a lot of people to check them.

But once they did check it, they automatically denied it. 

Again, I don't really work with the blockchain/crypto market, so I might not understand properly. However, why would you run an exchange-like system via Fiverr? Even if you are a developer and create that kind of platform, Fiverr might not be the best place to sell stuff like that. Because it does involve some risks, and Fiverr will usually take that kind of gig down.

I will say this.. threatening the customer support team when they are just following protocol... come on man.  Most likely your service was a part of this list, in one way or another https://www.fiverr.com/community/standards/prohibited-services. The thing is, Fiverr can easily stop any gig because it's their platform, and if they decide it doesn't fit their platform, they remove it or close the account. Ideally, for this type of service, you want to create your own website and try to rank it, if there is any demand for it. Clearly Fiverr doesn't agree, nor does it want the type of service you offered, since they shut down your gig/profile so fast. 

[donnovan86]

I saw that message involving bots. Creating bots in general does bring a risk, because you never know what that bot decides, it's automated, so it could give you a profit or a loss, etc. I think that's the reasoning for Fiverr's ban, they didn't like the idea of bots taking financial decisions, even if they just facilitate transactions, there's still risk involved. And as they said in that link, if the gig has any degree of risk, they might put it down. I think that's the reason behind your ban. But only Fiverr can tell, obviously, we are just forum members, we speculate and don't know the real reason.

There's not a lot you can do anyway as a seller, because Fiverr has control over the platform and what they allow people to sell. If their department decided to remove that gig, then clearly they don't want that kind of service on the platform. Sure, some gigs like that might exist, but eventually they are taken down. It's been the same with a lot of services, there were some people banned here and guess what, they were outraging that others are still selling and they were not taken down. But eventually, they were. I can only assume Fiverr's team that checks gigs  is too small, and it might take a while until they check everything. But eventually, they do. 

[donnovan86]

Anyway, I was just sharing an opinion based on what you said. It's sad to see a talented developer get banned, but I am sure you will find other marketplaces to offer these services. Ideally, you want to contact their customer support and see if you can actually sell that kind of service. That will help you avoid unpleasant situations like this.

All the best going forward!

[austin_js]

Just now, donnovan86 said:

I saw that message involving bots. Creating bots in general does bring a risk, because you never know what that bot decides, it's automated, so it could give you a profit or a loss, etc. I think that's the reasoning for Fiverr's ban, they didn't like the idea of bots taking financial decisions, even if they just facilitate transactions, there's still risk involved. And as they said in that link, if the gig has any degree of risk, they might put it down. I think that's the reason behind your ban. But only Fiverr can tell, obviously, we are just forum members, we speculate and don't know the real reason.

There's not a lot you can do anyway as a seller, because Fiverr has control over the platform and what they allow people to sell. If their department decided to remove that gig, then clearly they don't want that kind of service on the platform. Sure, some gigs like that might exist, but eventually they are taken down. It's been the same with a lot of services, there were some people banned here and guess what, they were outraging that others are still selling and they were not taken down. But eventually, they were. I can only assume Fiverr's team that checks gigs  is too small, and it might take a while until they check everything. But eventually, they do. 

As I have mentioned in messages, I don't and I NEVER offered fully automated bots. I never wanted to pose financial risks to any of my buyers before. I have never developed and offered a "profiting" bot. Most of my orders are personal and customized scripts requested by buyers that they want to automate in the blockchain (which mostly are just token developers). The scripts I develop are more like tools and platforms.

I've had so many encounters with customer support before this happened. I've had issues with previous orders where CS is fully aware on what kind orders and gig I have. The ban happened right after I made a simple edit on the title and had this "Video denied" notification. I have a strong feeling they only made a quick but wrong judgement and just won't admit that they were wrong. It also feels like they don't even have the necessary experts on their team that is knowledgeable about Cryptocurrency & Blockchain.

And I'm sorry about the "threatening CS" part, I was very angry at the moment and was so desperate not to lose what I worked so hard for.

[austin_js]

In addition to that, they refunded an old order because a previous buyer claimed that their previous ordered script does not work anymore (Thus deducting my total amount to withdraw after the ban). There is no way my month old script would just "stop" working, how on earth am I suppose to give support to my loyal buyers if I'm banned? I tested my old scripts and there are not issues at all.

With that, I had a hunch that Fiverr absolutely have no experts that can properly review gigs and orders that involve Cryptocurrency and Blockchains.

Edited January 24 by austin_js
Typo

[donnovan86]

2 minutes ago, austin_js said:

I have a strong feeling they only made a quick but wrong judgement and just won't admit that they were wrong.

Sorry to hear that man. But again as I said, it's their platform. If Fiverr doesn't feel comfortable offering a service, they remove it. And if it went through their internal team.. clearly they don't agree with that type of service. They may or may not fully understand everything, but I assume they have some people with development knowledge and if they said no.. then they remove the gig or ban you. 

As I said, you can find other platforms and maybe you can ask beforehand if you can sell that kind of stuff.

[andywarburton]

This sucks I'm sure, but when it comes to these kinds of things, you're probably wasting your breath because nobody in CS will ever escalate your ticket because the teams doing the banning are focused on one thing only: risk management.

If your gig even remotely has the possibility of posing a risk to the company, then they will pull the plug, which their terms and conditions almost certainly will say they can do. They own the market, they decide who gets to play. 

The reason they don't escalate these tickets? Because that opens them up to more risk - if they tell you precisely why you were banned it gives you the ammunition you need to set up a new gig that gets around their detection algorithms. You can't negotiate with this, it's not a legal system, there is no due process. Same as when Facebook or other social media platforms decide to ban people.