Important Updates: Level System (now live!) and Ratings & Reviews (testing changes)

[Kesha]

6 hours ago, uk1000 said:

Also if private buyer ratings are now going to be part of the public rating score and shown to everyone, what if there was only one buyer for that gig/seller? That rating (that they intended to be private) will now be public (except for not having their name against the private one, but people can probably guess which buyer (and the seller will know) if they are the only buyer to leave a public review too or that gig). So the sellers will likely know the private ratings of the first buyers of their gigs (without the buyer's permission).

This score will only be exposed if there is a minimum number of ratings. This is to protect the buyer's privacy and prevent the score from being overly influenced by just a few ratings, ensuring the rating remains private.

[fittranslate]

I reached to the customer support, but receive just general answers:

"" the success score - which will help you understand what is considered when evaluating your performance. It is calculated based on your overall Gigs’ success score, which will be measured and classified based on a variety of key areas, such as customer satisfaction, on-schedule deliveries, value for money, order cancelations, conflict-free orders, and clear communication, to name a few.""

"As for "Client satisfaction,", as mentioned, it keeps track of all the reviews you received, along with additional data indicating buyer satisfaction. To increase your "Client satisfaction, you just need to provide the best service you can to your buyers. It may also help if you: 
 

• Add videos to your Gig that show what buyers can expect from your service in more detail.
• Upload different, more attractive Gig images.
• Write and edit the description of your service to be more transparent and more attractive.
• Try taking Skill tests in order to show off your Skills
• Share your Gig on social media by clicking on the social media buttons on the right-hand side of your Gig."
   

....Nothing constructive and not personalized, I suppose that support isn't ready for questions in terms of "new (too bad and strange) level system"

 

Edited February 14 by fittranslate

[bashir_expert1]

I've seen the updates. It seems interesting. Let's see what brings it to us 😃

[attractiveui]

Thank you so much for the informations 

[Kesha]

 

6 hours ago, chopperbricks said:

Can you please elaborate on this part? So the private/hidden feedback that clients can leave if they choose to after the order (private metric that has existed for a while) will now affect our score? This is... quite crazy. 

Hi @chopperbricks!  Private feedback has always had an effect on seller's performance.  The new system, will be a combination of the new form and the private ratings. We will test a new formula that will consider the frequency of private rating scores and the value-for-money question alongside your public ratings. This is to help create more transparency so sellers can know where they stand and how to improve. 

[adanaik]

Hello @Kesha,

Can you take a look at my scenario, my profile was eligible for being Top Rated, maybe tomorrow. But now I have a ACCOUNT FLAGGED for Inconsistent Locations. 

How can I improve? How to determine my location??

Edited February 14 by adanaik

[emmaki]

1 minute ago, visualstudios said:

Well, that's the issue with the consultation gigs, and how they're set up. They're a risk. If the client isn't happy with what they hear, they can just leave a bad review and that's it.

One of many reasons I am not a consultant on Fiverr.

Besides, half of the reason consultants exist in The Real World is to implement all the awkward bad things that the company wants to do, but doesn't want to get the blame for. Consultants swan in, ruin everything, swan out, and c-exec throws their hands in the air saying "Oh no! We never thought this would happen!" as the underlings are in uproar at the complete ineptness of their highers and supposed betters.

See also: career CEOs who are absolutely awful at their job but suspiciously keep getting new CEO jobs at companies just before takeovers or other "economic activity" beneficial to shady people in the background.

Sadly, Fiverr buyers do not tend to come with the skulduggery and just want good, honest advice - or worse, what they want to hear. And I can already tell you from personal experience that if you tell buyers what they don't want to hear - even if it's the truth - you'll get a mean private review and a nastygram from Fiverr telling you that your performance has slipped.

All made the more amusing when, a few months later, the same client comes back saying "you were right actually" WELL OF COURSE I WAS RIGHT! Tchah.

I no longer practice wide open transparency and honesty with clients if I think it will affect my scores. But that's OK, since Fiverr is a gamified mess of psychological mindgames anyway.

[Kesha]

6 hours ago, ahsansuhaib said:

I checked the Fiverr level overview page after the new level system was introduced and it showed that my current level is Level 1. Although I have been promoted to Level 1, I did not receive the Level 1 badge on my profile. Can anyone help me figure out this problem?

Hi @ahsansuhaib! Today launched the first phase of the new leveling and rating system. In this phase, your new level is still private and only viewable to you. New levels, along with the respective badge, will go live on March 14. 

[gunawanguan]

@Kesha

What about the seller plus premium program.
If we are level demoted from level 2 to level 1, can we still be part of the seller plus premium program?
For reference, I have been participated as seller plus premium before.

[ahsansuhaib]

2 minutes ago, Kesha said:

Hi @ahsansuhaib! Today launched the first phase of the new leveling and rating system. In this phase, your new level is still private and only viewable to you. New levels, along with the respective badge, will go live on March 14. 

Okay, Thank you very much for informing me. I was getting worried about it...

[bbakersvoice]

I think I'm going on 6 years now on Fiverr but mostly the "real" work has been done in the last 4 years.  Fiverr has been great for me in the VO realm.  However this trend seems to continue this trend that the client is more valued then the freelancer.  Fiverr must understand that these two stakeholders should both carry equal weight for Fiverr to continue to be successful.   In the last week it was my first time in years I started looking at other venues to work in again.   This "hold the freelancer accountable" strategy is going to backfire in my opinion.   I now have clients not even filling out the review as it is too cumbersome/long.   There is something to be said about keeping the review process simple...I mean very simple.  Just give the clients the same review tool the freelancer use.   If they really don't like your work they just won't come back to you.   This is a great example of the sausage making that normally happens in the public sector.   

[mandyzines]

9 minutes ago, bbakersvoice said:

I now have clients not even filling out the review as it is too cumbersome/long

I've noticed that, too, as well as this phenomena lessening impressions rationed to gigs afterward in general. 

There's more than one way the algorithm will not allow recovery within that grace period.

Edited February 14 by mandyzines

[thesibyl]

It looks like level 2 sellers are going to be losing the ability to get funds cleared in 7 days as well as the early payout option which is... Well, difficult after having relied on 7 days clearance for years. I have qualified for TRS for ages and it's not coming. I get "negative impact" and "strongly negative impact" on customer satisfaction in my best sellers that are consistently rated 5, 4.7, 4.5... I don't understand anything right now. 

[fittranslate]

8 minutes ago, bbakersvoice said:

I think I'm going on 6 years now on Fiverr but mostly the "real" work has been done in the last 4 years.  Fiverr has been great for me in the VO realm.  However this trend seems to continue this trend that the client is more valued then the freelancer.  Fiverr must understand that these two stakeholders should both carry equal weight for Fiverr to continue to be successful.   In the last week it was my first time in years I started looking at other venues to work in again.   This "hold the freelancer accountable" strategy is going to backfire in my opinion.   I now have clients not even filling out the review as it is too cumbersome/long.   There is something to be said about keeping the review process simple...I mean very simple.  Just give the clients the same review tool the freelancer use.   If they really don't like your work they just won't come back to you.   This is a great example of the sausage making that normally happens in the public sector.   

I completely agree. It appears that top and reliable freelancers who have grown with the platform during years are feeling pressured by Fiverr's new level update.
 

[Alex.M]

The 9/10 Success score is unreasonable though... I say unreasonable so I can avoid the word ' insane ' . 8/10 would be closer to reality in my opinion. 

 

@Kesha , perhaps this can be shared with other Fiverr Staff

[thesibyl]

57 minutes ago, Kesha said:

 

Hi @chopperbricks!  Private feedback has always had an effect on seller's performance.  The new system, will be a combination of the new form and the private ratings. We will test a new formula that will consider the frequency of private rating scores and the value-for-money question alongside your public ratings. This is to help create more transparency so sellers can know where they stand and how to improve. 

Hi @Kesha 🙂
There's a thing that I've noticed and it is that people don't usually read, they just click. I have seen this with people not fulfilling the requirements as requested and then complaining, and lately I have received several good reviews of 4.7 in which they have marked every possible option for "things to improve" which I don't think is what they meant (It makes no sense that I have a 4.7 and that they say in the review how satisfied they are with everything and then that "things to improve" has every option under the sun marked). Maybe this needs to be highlighted? 

As well, I have very good ratings on my best sellers and it says that client satisfaction is negative and strongly negative despite the gigs having a 9. I don't understand any of this. Could you please elaborate? Thank you!

Edited February 14 by thesibyl

[visualstudios]

Just now, Alex.M said:

The 9/10 Success score if unreasonable though... I say unreasonable so I can avoid the word ' insane ' . 8/10 would be closer to reality in my opinion. 

That's what it was initially. They changed it to 9/10 after the announcement.

[carminesannino]

16 minutes ago, fittranslate said:

I completely agree. It appears that top and reliable freelancers who have grown with the platform during years are feeling pressured by Fiverr's new level update.
 

Many new sellers received higher ratings. Like those who handle a high number of orders, which a freelancer alone could never manage. My Gigs are compared to sellers who have a large team, without going into ethical judgments on this type of seller, but it is a losing battle. Is Fiverr a site for freelancers or for studios?

[melanielm]

Re: the 2 year assumed range affecting the ratings. 

It has to be longer than that, because one of my gigs got a 'severe negative impact' (or whatever the words were) for cancellations. The only cancellation I had on that gig was in 2019, which was 5 years ago. 

So, it appears to be lifetime from my perspective.

[Lyndsey_Fiverr]

1 hour ago, adanaik said:

Hello @Kesha,

Can you take a look at my scenario, my profile was eligible for being Top Rated, maybe tomorrow. But now I have a ACCOUNT FLAGGED for Inconsistent Locations. 

How can I improve? How to determine my location??

Hi @adanaik, we would recommend that you reach out to Customer Service, or your Customer Success Manager if applicable. On the forum, we work to pass along updates from the company regarding changes to our systems but are not able to give insights into your specific profile or warnings. Should you have any questions about the changes to the level evaluation system or about the forum we are more than happy to shed more light. 

[dianeofmusgrave]

4 minutes ago, melanielm said:

Re: the 2 year assumed range affecting the ratings. 

It has to be longer than that, because one of my gigs got a 'severe negative impact' (or whatever the words were) for cancellations. The only cancellation I had on that gig was in 2019, which was 5 years ago. 

So, it appears to be lifetime from my perspective.

I have cancellations causing issues that were canceled before requirements and canceled by customer service. Completely mucking up the works. Have they changed the cancellation policies? Those were my only listed issues and I am sitting at a 6 success score and I have brilliant ratings everywhere else 5 stars etc.

[tomascello]

Hi @Kesha, I'm new to the forum. Could someone please assist me? I've noticed that many others are experiencing the same issue. My gig only has 5-star reviews in all aspects. I've never delivered an order late, and I've never had any cancellations. How is it possible that I have a success score of 4? Thank you in advance. Regards.

 

 

 

Edited February 14 by tomascello

[celestialsteps]

Hello! There are many issues with the new system, which I feel was already in operation in the background for the last months, causing a terrible downfall to my work. I can see now what one of the problems is. I have 66 canceled orders out of a total of 4575. Most of them are people that didn’t complete the requirements and they never responded to my messages. And, seemingly, for this reason, I have lost my Level 2 and now am a “0”. There are some reasons that cancellations are unfairly counted against us, which is not reasonable at all. Especially for people who work with a high volume of buyers, all this is very hard to handle. 

Especially indicative is the following: I have a gig, which doesn't have many orders (because of the high price). The buyer told me that they used the wrong credit card and wanted to cancel and reorder. I had read that when someone reorders within some days (this was done within the day), this cancelation wouldn't count. Unfortunately, it did count, as I see now. I wouldn't be so helpful with my buyer's request if I knew this. It is the only cancellation of this gig, which seemingly had a big impact on its score. Ironically, this person was more than satisfied with my work and communication. 

I really don't understand why we are punished for working on this platform.

[cheftychefty]

This is crazy. This is the first time in almost 7 years that I signed up to comment on the forums.

I have been a level two seller and have made over $200,000 on fiverr and today I got the update that said I am now level 0 and that ALL of my orders have room for improvement and I am now a level 0 with a metric of 4.

Are you kidding me? I have a house that I pay a mortgage for as the sole provider for me and my family. I pay the $20 a month for the fiverr plus or whatever it's called and now I can no longer access my funds within 7 days? I can no longer promote my gigs? You guys stripped away every feature I had as a level two seller and then held "private reviews" against me as I grew as an artist.

10% of my lifetime orders were cancelations and now those will all count against me even harder? I've climbed tooth and nail to get to level two and maintain it over the years  and now I have to worry about how I'm going to make a paycheck all over again. 

This isn't like the dev team just decided to try a new function that was harmless. You've quite literally turned the entire seller platform upside down and hindered/damaged the ability for millions of workers to get money.

How do you guys sleep at night? That's just crazy to me.

This explains why I haven't been getting orders regularly for the past 40 days. I was talking to my partner and was telling her how weird it was that I wasn't getting orders as regularly and may have to get a second job.

Now it all makes sense. 

Edited February 14 by cheftychefty
Missing info

[crawford_copy]

The page below says L2 sellers can only have 10 active gigs under the new system.

https://help.fiverr.com/hc/en-us/articles/360010560118-Fiverr-s-new-level-system

Under the old system it's 20 active gigs for L2 sellers.

Does this mean L2 sellers need to delete half their gigs, or is it a typo?

Edited February 14 by crawford_copy