Update: Addressing new level system questions and feedback

[Kesha]

We're closely reviewing the questions and concerns you’ve raised and wanted to address them directly. We value your feedback tremendously and are grateful for your engagement, as your insights play a crucial role in shaping the platform for the better. So, we’re providing another update to keep you informed about what we're currently working on and what to expect.

The one-month buffer period serves two purposes: allowing you to adjust to the new system and providing us with time to consider your comments and take action. We recognize the significant impact of this change and aim to collaborate as a community on the best paths forward. Your contributions have been invaluable in maximizing this time for us to make fixes before changes are implemented in the marketplace.

One key point raised is cancellations rectified by Customer Support affecting success scores. We recognize this oversight and are actively working to resolve it before the transition period concludes. We will keep you informed of any updates.

Regarding the Order Cancellations key area that may be displayed under your Gig success score, it's important to clarify that this is different from OCR (Order Completion Rate %). The Order Cancellation key area considers various metrics around order cancellations, including factors related to the order process before determining bad cancellations. It's a smarter, more complex indicator and not a simple percentage like OCR. 

Additionally, we understand the need for clarity regarding the overall success score and the Gig success scores. The overall success score takes into account your Gig scores. Gigs with higher order volumes have a greater impact on your score, while those with fewer orders contribute less. This ensures that your success score accurately reflects each Gig's performance relative to its order activity.

Each Gig is unique, and its score reflects various factors specific to that Gig. It's not a one-size-fits-all formula; rather, it considers multiple variables for each Gig, freelancer and the marketplace as a whole. For example, this means it is possible to have 2 Gigs with the same score, but with different key areas highlighted, each with different weights. The key areas highlighted provide insight into factors affecting each Gig's evaluation. You can learn more about these key areas and tips for improvement here.

It’s important to emphasize that the displaying of these scores and metrics does not signify a sudden change in how your marketplace performance is evaluated. Instead, it represents a move towards enhanced transparency, providing you with deeper insights into the underlying evaluation processes. Your visibility into these scores is intended to empower you with knowledge on how to improve.

We are committed to fostering an environment of open communication and collaboration, and your feedback remains instrumental in driving our continuous improvement efforts. We will continue listening here in the forum. If you have concerns or questions about your individual metrics, please reach out to our Customer Support team. They will prioritize assisting you as quickly as possible, ensuring that all crucial requests are addressed before the buffer period concludes. 

[emmatopping]

@Kesha

Aside from the updates about levels, about which I have many questions, can you please inform us about the new Seller Plus Premium programme? It appears that many of the usual Seller Plus features are being moved to a new premium level which costs $39/month, up $10 from the previous programme? So, no dedicated success manager, early payout, request to order etc. unless we pay Fiverr an additional $10 a month?

Please explain the rationale behind this move and why this hasn't been communicated?

 

** EDIT ** @Kesha has kindly answered this further down the thread and clarified that there's no increase in cost 

Edited February 15 by emmatopping

[carminesannino]

Another crucial point, is Effective communication. How is this metric determined? I am Italian, and I often converse in my own language. I read on the forum that the evaluation is dictated by an Ai, how is that possible? Honestly after 7 years of hard and constant work, which has taken so much effort out of me, I feel with empty pockets. This change is not meritocratic, but you just have to be lucky not to have private reviews from a picky user. It is literally a lottery...

[arsalanco1]

Dear Fiverr 
Good day!
I just got notification on my account about Your account has been flagged for a severe violation of Fiverr policies)  but whats the reason? 
But what location violation? Or what other activity? I am living in Karachi pakistan since last 1999 and never goes on even vication as well 

Now what about my level 2 status or whats my account status at the moment? I want to know a bit more in detail please

If you want i can provide you my IP along with public IP 

Or any other document of proof you want 

I use fiverr in Karachi Pakistan and i am the student and a working professional too 

And providing service since 2019 on fiverr i have 2 laptops 1 i use in office and 1 at home i can provide you the mac address or anything you want and more i can provide you my government issue ID for verification 

And more sometimes i do use VPN on phone to watch netflix USA series but never use VPN on web while using fiverr 

[jamesoliver132]

Hello Kesha,
Apart from that What the meaning of Account flagged in new level system. I will never Violate any Fiverr Policy but they showed my account flagged and never parts of Fiverr neww level system. When I will contact with customer support they just said that

"After careful review, your account has been flagged due to location inconsistencies or other activities indicating a connection to violations of our Terms of Service. Consequently, your participation in Fiverr's level system is permanently restricted."

So Can you please let me know what the meaning of Location inconsistencies? Many other people have the same question but no one answer that from Fiverr Staff. Please solve that issue.
Thanks

[smartdezigns]

@Kesha

Question: Will the overall Success Score be affected if we pause or delete those gigs which rarely sell? 

[duashahid345]

31 minutes ago, Kesha said:

The Order Cancellation key area considers various metrics around order cancellations, including factors related to the order process before determining bad cancellations.

I'm sorry but I didn't understand this at all. And the issue of only a few parameters (like 2 or 3) being reflected to show our SS is not addressed. Also please explain regarding "Conflict of Orders", what does this comprise of?

[priyank_mod]

13 minutes ago, smartdezigns said:

@Kesha

Question: Will the overall Success Score be affected if we pause or delete those gigs which rarely sells? 

Interesting thought. ⬆️

May be there would be a grace period, after which the score will improvise. Or there will be a condition of forever losing the reviews from that gig on the account. 

On plus side, this will discourage people from creating gazillion gigs immediately after opening the account, to sell the same service. 

[chronos_1]

I have score of 10 but here is my input: 

1) Remove or change value for money:

- I set a price which I feel is justified for the experience and expertise I bring. Buyer is unknown about the work that gets put behind the curtains nor has expertise on how it is done.

- If the buyer thinks that price for the service required is high then he/ she should not start the order itself.

- I think this forces seller to reduce the prices as we get directly compared to other gigs with lower prices and provide same services. However, prices are based on final quality that you would receive which cannot be quantified without asking 2 sellers to do exact same work. 

 

2) Success score to remain TRS which is 9 is high in my opinion and it should be 8. Same goes for rating, since the new rating system has come into effect it seems 4.7* is the new 5*. To remain TRS we need to have 4.7* which I think is not good.

Edited February 15 by chronos_1

[smork]

1 hour ago, Kesha said:

empower you with knowledge on how to improve

This is absolutely not happening for a tremendous amount of people.  In fact, quite the opposite.

Where are those of us who are stuck not knowing how to proceed meant to go from here? 

In my case your system is threatening to remove my TRS rank that I have maintained since 2015 for stats that I cannot see or respond to / address.  I tagged you in a post on the very large thread you started yesterday

Here is a screenshot of a section from that post where today I your system warns me I'm going to lose my rank:

You can see how this is so detrimental to someone's well being right? 

1 hour ago, Kesha said:

Customer Support team. They will prioritize assisting you as quickly as possible, ensuring that all crucial requests are addressed before the buffer period concludes. 

The support team are using copy and paste answers and are not responding to direct questions - So that leaves people like me and many others in a limbo of dread because we can't get any clear guidance right now.

Edited February 15 by smork

[duashahid345]

8 minutes ago, smork said:

 

This describes my feelings so coherently. When a person with an expressive track record is being told that their communication either has "Room for improvement" or "Negative Impact". I dont even know what to believe anymore. What "more" can we do to improve this score? And yet they call this system "transparent".

[saadafaq]

10 minutes ago, smork said:

This is absolutely not happening for a tremendous amount of people.  In fact, quite the opposite.

Where are those of us who are stuck not knowing how to proceed meant to go from here? 

In my case your system is threatening to remove my TRS rank that I have maintained since 2015 for stats that I cannot see or respond to / address.  I tagged you in a post on the very large thread you started yesterday

Here is a screenshot of a section from that post where today I your system warns me I'm going to lose my rank:

You can see how this is so detrimental to someone's well being right? 

The support team are using copy and paste answers and are not responding to direct questions - So that leaves people like me and many others in a limbo of dread because we can't get any clear guidance right now.

Completely agreed.

My friend is also experiencing the same problem, despite the fact that everything was up to the mark before the update. This is utterly ridiculous. The amount of mental discomfort this update caused sellers is indescribable.

[uk1000]

What was the reason for decreasing the amount of allowed gigs in some categories (it says amount active gigs but Fiverr also counts the other types of gigs in the limit (eg. draft, maybe paused, eg. it won't even allow you go create a new (inactive) gig if you have the max active), at least in some levels when it really shouldn't if it says "active" in the help page).

eg. before it was Unleveled: 7 gigs allowed, level 1: 10 gigs allowed I think, Level 2: 20 gigs allowed and TRS: 30 gigs allowed

Why is it now:

Unlevelled: 4 gigs alllowed

Level 1: 10 gigs allowed

Level 2: 10 gigs allowed (again)

TRS: 30 gigs allowed.

Why decrease level 2 allowed gigs so much so that it's exactly the same as level 1's allowed nr of gigs? Surely that was one of the main incentives for becoming level 2 before? Wouldn't a fairer system increase them gradually with each level increase, instead of increasing the allowed nr of gigs by 0 when you get to level 2 and then increasing it by 20 gigs for whoever gets to TRS?

58 minutes ago, priyank_mod said:

On plus side, this will discourage people from creating gazillion gigs immediately after opening the account, to sell the same service.

With the maximum allowed "active" (probably really "total") gigs for Unlevelled seller now (once the new system goes into effect) 4 not 7 they won't be able to create the amount they could before, and it will at least pause any who have >4 and if they want to create new ones they'll have to delete them until they only have no more than 3 probably (not just pause them).

Edited February 15 by uk1000

[smartdezigns]

57 minutes ago, priyank_mod said:

Interesting thought. ⬆️

May be there would be a grace period, after which the score will improvise. Or there will be a condition of forever losing the reviews from that gig on the account. 

On plus side, this will discourage people from creating gazillion gigs immediately after opening the account, to sell the same service. 

True but still it would be better if @Kesha answers so that we can take any action regarding poor selling gigs.

[catwriter]

1 hour ago, Kesha said:

One key point raised is cancellations rectified by Customer Support affecting success scores. We recognize this oversight and are actively working to resolve it before the transition period concludes. We will keep you informed of any updates.

 

@anniejenkinson, have you seen this?

[riaus_g]

The new update is showing (But I have not done anything wrong):

Account flagged

You are not able to participate in the level system and have lost access to certain level benefits.
 

[anniejenkinson]

1 hour ago, emmatopping said:

I know of no other business that implements a pilot by going live with the changes. For example, buyers are already using the new rating system which uses confusing language when it comes to 'value for money', thus negatively impacting sellers who are receiving glowing verbal reviews and tips. This is not the definition of beta testing in any world I live in.

Bravo, @emmatopping. Same. A system should never, ever, leave so many senior, experienced people feeling blindsided, upset and confused. Especially not a system boasting about its transparency! To make this live is disastrous when we have so little comprehension of it. Nobody should be 'top performing' one day, and then the next day, they hear of performance issues and are given 30 days to address something they're hearing for the first time, despite regular check-ins on stats.

It feels as though Fiverr is implementing increasingly shaky, inexperienced and ill-conceived decisions, often rushed through to implementation at our expense. I feel very vulnerable here. A general brand survey has never come my way in the 5 years of being here, yet most progressive large firms do one when major changes are introduced (before and after).

A site-wide survey, quantitative but with a second-stage smaller qual element to underpin trends in views, would pinpoint who among the sellers, cross-tabulated by sector, level, earnings and time since joining site, feels scared, vulnerable, ill-informed, confused, unfairly treated and so on, also showing the shifts in feelings according to each measure. A quant questionnaire really ought to be distributed as a startpoint to get a full measure of at least 15% of active sellers.

[saadafaq]

2 hours ago, Kesha said:

We're closely reviewing the questions and concerns you’ve raised and wanted to address them directly. We value your feedback tremendously and are grateful for your engagement, as your insights play a crucial role in shaping the platform for the better. So, we’re providing another update to keep you informed about what we're currently working on and what to expect.

The one-month buffer period serves two purposes: allowing you to adjust to the new system and providing us with time to consider your comments and take action. We recognize the significant impact of this change and aim to collaborate as a community on the best paths forward. Your contributions have been invaluable in maximizing this time for us to make fixes before changes are implemented in the marketplace.

One key point raised is cancellations rectified by Customer Support affecting success scores. We recognize this oversight and are actively working to resolve it before the transition period concludes. We will keep you informed of any updates.

Regarding the Order Cancellations key area that may be displayed under your Gig success score, it's important to clarify that this is different from OCR (Order Completion Rate %). The Order Cancellation key area considers various metrics around order cancellations, including factors related to the order process before determining bad cancellations. It's a smarter, more complex indicator and not a simple percentage like OCR. 

Additionally, we understand the need for clarity regarding the overall success score and the Gig success scores. The overall success score takes into account your Gig scores. Gigs with higher order volumes have a greater impact on your score, while those with fewer orders contribute less. This ensures that your success score accurately reflects each Gig's performance relative to its order activity.

Each Gig is unique, and its score reflects various factors specific to that Gig. It's not a one-size-fits-all formula; rather, it considers multiple variables for each Gig, freelancer and the marketplace as a whole. For example, this means it is possible to have 2 Gigs with the same score, but with different key areas highlighted, each with different weights. The key areas highlighted provide insight into factors affecting each Gig's evaluation. You can learn more about these key areas and tips for improvement here.

It’s important to emphasize that the displaying of these scores and metrics does not signify a sudden change in how your marketplace performance is evaluated. Instead, it represents a move towards enhanced transparency, providing you with deeper insights into the underlying evaluation processes. Your visibility into these scores is intended to empower you with knowledge on how to improve.

We are committed to fostering an environment of open communication and collaboration, and your feedback remains instrumental in driving our continuous improvement efforts. We will continue listening here in the forum. If you have concerns or questions about your individual metrics, please reach out to our Customer Support team. They will prioritize assisting you as quickly as possible, ensuring that all crucial requests are addressed before the buffer period concludes. 

That is good that Fiverr acknowledged the cancellation issue, however, it was not the best strategy by Fiverr. They should have tested this before implementing it throughout the entire platform. 

Put yourself in the shoes of those affected by this. The amount of emotional stress and discomfort that people are experiencing is tremendous. 

Seeing your friends stressed out when they have done nothing is not an ideal place to be.

[bbakersvoice]

Do you value your freelancers as much as your clients?  I mean you can't have one without the other...correct?  Why do you put so much "teeth" into clients' review while the freelancer has a  simple 5 star tool with comment section?   Believe it or not some clients are not professional, friendly or/and honest.   Some want the world for nothing and no matter how fast you deliver, the quality of the work, the communication, etc. they are never satisfied.   This really comes to light with the "value for the money" rating.   Right from the start this is flawed as it is so subjective in nature.   The fact that they hired me should imply that they felt my work/service is worth paying the price.   

Your rating system creates a "power struggle" between the hardworking freelancer who make Fiverr successful and the client.   The client has all of the power over the freelancer due to the rating system and their ability to just extend/cancel projects at will.   It's obvious this is creating undue stress on many professional freelancers who are now wondering if they will see a significant drop in revenue when their 5 star reviews drop to 3.  Same quality, same service, etc. but a new tool that seems to want to drive ratings down.

It will be interesting in 3 months from now (or sooner) when potential clients come to Fiverr and search for a professional (in my case Pro Voiceovers) and see a talent pool with low ratings (i.e. 1 to 3 stars).  Are they really going to have confidence in our services?   Will they be more likely to hire us?  Time will tell.

I make a great income here on Fiverr and Fiverr benefits from this as well.   However, I definitely concerned this will change everything.

 

 

[usamarehman99]

The new level system is discouraging for existing sellers. How can you evaluate the score based on the last 2 years when we had no option earlier to check what we were doing wrong and what should've been improved? This is unjust and unfair to sellers like me who have been working on the platform with utmost dedication. 
I have all 5-star reviews on my gig. Always worked beyond the limits to ensure that the client was satisfied. Never dropped my response rate from 100 at any stage of my career with Fiverr, and I see that now it has a strongly negative impact on client satisfaction and effective communication I have always communicated with clients on each step to ensure everything is all right even after the order is completed. I was level 2 and was waiting to get top rated and suddenly today when the new system rolled my performance score was 4.

The gig itself is currently tagged as Fiverr's choice by Fiverr itself. Don't know what to do. The platform that was ever loved is sadly now creating problems and forcing sellers to shift to other freelancing sites too. People like me who were devoted to Fiverr and never worked with any other freelance companies are suffering. More and more stress for the sellers. Dont know how Fiverr is calculating these metrics there are severe irregularities in it. Unjust and unfair

[dianeofmusgrave]

2 hours ago, Kesha said:

One key point raised is cancellations rectified by Customer Support affecting success scores. We recognize this oversight and are actively working to resolve it before the transition period concludes. We will keep you informed of any updates.

Regarding the Order Cancellations key area that may be displayed under your Gig success score, it's important to clarify that this is different from OCR (Order Completion Rate %). The Order Cancellation key area considers various metrics around order cancellations, including factors related to the order process before determining bad cancellations. It's a smarter, more complex indicator and not a simple percentage like OCR. 

 

I have cancellations affecting my gigs that had no effect previously because I went through customer service or the customer bought erroneously and canceled two minutes later. But those gigs specifically have mention of gig cancellation. I can provide any proof you need where necessary. And does requesting a dispute for more time now count as a client conflict? I always thought calling an extension a dispute strange. I teach so my students sometimes have to reschedule lessons and therefore need more time. Please could you rectify the issue with cancellations as This is hitting my gigs hard and it's very odd to be sitting with 5 stars and a 6 success score. 

[visualstudios]

3 minutes ago, usamarehman99 said:

The gig itself is currently tagged as Fiverr's choice by Fiverr itself.

Do you mean a gig that is showing a success score of 4 is tagged as Fiverr's choice? That would be... very weird.

[dusuacangmon]

I still have not heard about the "value of money" the critical change that will pull down the entire seller review to 1 star.

[usamarehman99]

1 minute ago, visualstudios said:

Do you mean a gig that is showing a success score of 4 is tagged as Fiverr's choice? That would be... very weird.

Yes, that same gig with a 4 success score is currently tagged as Fiverr's choice for 1 month. Thats why i claim that there are severe irregularities in the system metric. 

[visualstudios]

Just now, usamarehman99 said:

Yes, that same gig with a 4 success score is currently tagged as Fiverr's choice for 1 month

Ok, that's bizarre. Fiverr's choice gigs should be selected based on buyer satisfaction. It makes no sense to promote a gig that is internally scored at 4. @Kesha, how can something like this happen?