Update: Addressing new level system questions and feedback

[duashahid345]

4 minutes ago, aybizzlle said:

The most frustrating thing is, Fiverr Support only gives generic and non-personal answers that do not solve anything.

I have went to them for the same thing, its been more than 24 hours and didn't even get their "templated" response lol

[Kesha]

2 hours ago, melanielm said:

@KeshaSo, the official word is that we should never delete a gig or open a new one because it could damage our score. We can pause ones, but if we launch a new one, it will bring our overall score down automatically because it does not have a history and therefore will not have a high score. That's what you're saying here, yes?

Noted. I'll never open another gig again. (Sigh!)

Hi! Choosing to keep or delete your gig is up to you as there is no wrong or right answer. You will just want to weigh the pros and cons for both scenarios. Also, this is not to discourage you to start new gigs. New gigs start with a neutral score and does not negatively impact your performance. 

[Kesha]

4 minutes ago, duashahid345 said:

I have went to them for the same thing, its been more than 24 hours and didn't even get their "templated" response lol

Your concerns are important to us. Please allow up to 48 hours for a response from our Customer Support staff.

[harperjohn]

I have 180 reviews on Fiverr and up until the rule changes I had never gotten less than 5 stars. Now in just 48 hours I've already gotten two 4 star ratings, in part due to the new "value" metric. I was eligible to be a TRS and have been for 3 months. I was a Level 2 Seller for almost 1 year, and now suddenly I'm a Level 1 Seller again. The sudden 4 star ratings are really discouraging. One of the two 4 star buyers loved my work and made a new order the same day. Now I'm worried about getting another 4 star rating because someone who seemingly is totally happy with the first order ended up giving a review that wasn't reflective of that. I also have no idea how to improve on communication. I am polite, I over communicate to buyers, and I remind buyers almost constantly to please contact me any time with any questions. I also embrace any/all revision requests and have many times done twice the amount of work to assure buyers are satisfied. Buyers also don't understand the time and effort needed to give them what they want, so I struggle to understand how they can determine if the final product is worth the price. I wish I could ask buyers how I could improve, but I worry that Fiverr will determine that I may be pressuring buyers to give better ratings. This is all very disappointing. I feel I've done everything right for almost 2 years and this has absolutely blindsided me. 

[Alex.M]

1 minute ago, harperjohn said:

Now in just 48 hours I've already gotten two 4 star ratings, in part due to the new "value" metric.

Well yes, some buyers don't know how to rate and it seems that Fiverr is forcing them to give us lower reviews because in their opinion 4 is bigger than 5, however, we still have to maintain a minimum of 4.7 average rating to be a TRSfor instance. Lower reviews are more ' credible ' in Fiver's opinion ( and only Fiverr's opinion I think ) 

[crawford_copy]

6 hours ago, uk1000 said:

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?

Still haven't seen an official response to this.

Why no difference between L1 and L2 (both 10 active gigs), but then a huge jump to 30 active gigs for TR?

I'm a copywriter and graphic designer (L2).

I have 19 gigs, all for different services. Fiverr search results are very keyword based. The right keywords need to be in the title or the five keyword tags, or else the gig won't be found in search results.

I have gigs for Business Plans, Proposals, Capability Statements, Reports, White Papers, Company Profiles, Pitch Decks, Case Studies, Brand Style Guides, Brochures, Sales Copy, Video Scripts, Elevator Pitches, Press Releases, Landing Pages, Website Content, Blogs/Articles, and Consulting.

Each gig is different and the titles and keyword tags are used for keywords that buyers will be searching for, specific to that gig.

Could you at least change L2 to 15 active gigs instead of 10?

I really don't want to delete half my gigs. It took a long time to set them all up, create great gig images, write the descriptions and FAQs, analyze the right keywords etc.

Surely there should be a difference between the number of active gigs allowed for L1 versus L2.

Edited February 15 by crawford_copy

[gunawanguan]

@Kesha

Hello Kesha.
Sorry for asking it here.

I just check my level page and got this warning messages.

Your level progress is on hold

You’ve received a warning about activity that violates Fiverr’s policies. Your progress in the level system is on hold until the warning expires on Feb 21, 2024.

What does it means?
I mean, where can I know what activity that I did that violates Fiverr's policies?
Thank you.

[harperjohn]

Anyone who makes and sells art knows that some buyers will almost certainly undervalue the work. Simply put, people don't understand what it takes. Not only all of the time committed, but the money invested back into the art. My home studio is thousands of dollars and of course I factor that into my price point. But a buyer may never even consider that, much less have the knowledge necessary to understand the process. I mean if they understood what it took, then they would just do it themselves right? For a lot of buyers, this is there first time even thinking about a budget and what that constitutes. So why should they get to determine the monetary value of what they already agreed to pay for? That is determined at the point of sale. 

It feels as if we are being treated as a product and not a service provider. I'm truly shocked at the lapse in judgement. A platform that's entire purpose is freelance doesn't understand the life of a freelancer. Ask anyone outside this platform that sells art. Everyone knows what it feels like to be dm'd by a potential customer who wants great work for a low price, because they simply have never considered it before.

Edited February 15 by harperjohn

[rapidtech1898v2]

2 hours ago, vegvarieszter said:

About the effective communication score: 

How can it be, that in one of my gig it says strong positive impact, in the other on : room for growth and in the next one: negative impact. I am communicating always professional, polite and effective - in all of my gigs, I do not make any difference between them. Who and how can evaluate this anyway?

This is insane... 😱

Its simply the private reviews

[terrygrantvo]

What's baking my noodle currently is that, just a couple of months ago, they announced they were relaxing the qualifications for the Pro program to the point where a woodland creature with a smartwatch & a sunny disposition could get in, and now fast forward to today where it seems like they're hell bent on making literally all of us as miserable as possible.

Who is making the decisions over there and why is the answer three kids in a trenchcoat?

[carineb]

This review system is driving sellers crazy, but it also completely confuses buyers.

I received a message from a customer at 11:41 a.m. I replied 10 minutes later...
He placed the order 20 minutes later.
I delivered the next day at 10:26 p.m., that means 32 hours later (the delivery time for this gig is 7 days).

I got a 4-star review. The client ticked that I should improve my response time and delivery time.
I was completely floored when I read this. So I asked the client what the problem really was.
Here's his answer.
So I really misread the evaluation, I thought it was the positive points that had to be selected...

Don't laugh, I'm crying!

This isn't the first time we've heard that clients haven't understood this new form.

Someone really needs to look into this issue to avoid any misunderstandings.

Edited February 15 by carineb

[visualstudios]

3 minutes ago, carineb said:

Here's his answer.
So I really misread the evaluation, I thought it was the positive points that had to be selected...

Same thing happened to us. Luckily the buyer noticed his mistake and went to CS to correct the rating. Our Success Manager told us a massive number of buyers were opening tickets with CS to correct their ratings ever since this new system was implemented.

[alanletsgo]

Does "Request: Extend delivery date" affect the success score of a gig? Because in the notes it says "Sometimes you just need more time, but keep in mind this can affect buyer satisfaction."

 

There are a lot of times that I do not have the full details to complete an order and have to extend the due date.

[alanletsgo]

1 hour ago, crawford_copy said:

Still haven't seen an official response to this.

Why no difference between L1 and L2 (both 10 active gigs), but then a huge jump to 30 active gigs for TR?

I'm a copywriter and graphic designer (L2).

I have 19 gigs, all for different services. Fiverr search results are very keyword based. The right keywords need to be in the title or the five keyword tags, or else the gig won't be found in search results.

I have gigs for Business Plans, Proposals, Capability Statements, Reports, White Papers, Company Profiles, Pitch Decks, Case Studies, Brand Style Guides, Brochures, Sales Copy, Video Scripts, Elevator Pitches, Press Releases, Landing Pages, Website Content, Blogs/Articles, and Consulting.

Each gig is different and the titles and keyword tags are used for keywords that buyers will be searching for, specific to that gig.

Could you at least change L2 to 15 active gigs instead of 10?

I really don't want to delete half my gigs. It took a long time to set them all up, create great gig images, write the descriptions and FAQs, analyze the right keywords etc.

Surely there should be a difference between the number of active gigs allowed for L1 versus L2.

I am on the same boat as you. 20 down to 10 is going to be a very difficult downgrade. Hoping they revisit this idea.

[stanhenderson]

If Fiverr had any sympathy for its sellers, they would revert to the old system as soon as possible and delete any negative reviews resulting from this change. The longer this stays the more concerned I am getting. 

The metrics in the success score is a good idea, but it has to tell us in detail what the problem is and have a shorter lifespan. How else can we learn from it? If we cant use it to grow and improve, why do we need it?

[kerpoostudio]

Hello, @Kesha - We have been working on Fiverr for about 5 years as a team. We have done more than 1400 projects on Fiverr and have over 800 reviews here. Our account is flagged as well. However, we never had any location inconsistency or something like that. We are a part of the Fiverr community and are doing our best to keep Fiverr as the best freelancing website.

What is the reason for this situation? We are extremely nervous about our job. Fiverr is our primary job to do. If this is a bug, would you please remove it? I hope you will come up with some good news that this will be solved soon.
Thanks so much

[voicedbyken]

The idea of losing TRS over a single point in my so-called success rating is driving me mad

[maddy216]

@Kesha 

I think the metric is skewed too heavily for gigs with a higher volume. My best selling gig is now at a 4, and I refuse to believe that all those 5 and 4 star reviews with repeat clients, tons of thanks and praise, tips, are secretly rating me poorly. I've been oscillating the last year for my OTD being at or around 90% due to having a bad day or two a month, usually conveniently right around the 14th or so of the month, plus my family suffering from massive health changes or passing away in the last year. So I get why my metric for that has a strong negative impact, but when it's been 90% and now at 93% according to the App for the last month and a half...? I literally just got the notification that I was back at level 2 yesterday. I think the new level metric needs to reflect that 10% of OTD for Level 2. 

It's honestly extremely demoralizing to be blindsided like this.  I thought I was doing the best I could and my work was reflecting that. This Success Score System being so heavily skewed is like being kicked in the face. How am I supposed to "do better" when I'm literally doing everything I realistically can for my clients? 

Also, @Kesha can you please confirm that when you pay for Seller Plus/Seller Plus Premium, it'll be reinstated if you lose your level and then eventually gain it back? It doesn't seem fair to me that something that I was paying for every month to lose willy-nilly based on metrics. That seems counterintuitive to get sellers to opt back into the program, especially if they originally got it at a discount when the program started.

 

Edited February 15 by maddy216
Clarification.

[phoebe_johnson]

@Kesha Sorry to say, but this is the worst update. It feels like you guys implemented it directly, almost like a test run, without thinking twice. It has the potential to cause a lot of issues for hardworking sellers on this platform. The metrics are unclear, and this system is completely unacceptable.

[donnovan86]

6 minutes ago, phoebe_johnson said:

The metrics are unclear, and this system is completely unacceptable

I mean, they are quite clear, they show you exactly what's wrong and also a link to a page where it shows how to improve. And obviously a lot of those people with scores like 4 or 5 had bad private reviews. Sure, people left them a great review publicly, but the actual private review was negative. And a lot of people wonder why this is happening. Some buyers randomly leave reviews, even private reviews. Even my success manager told me last year that despite having only great reviews publicly, I had some negative private reviews. And that's despite me asking people if I can help with anything else after delivery, etc.

So in my case, I was expecting to see random reviews and low scores, even in my case I do have to deal with a lower score. Since the ratings are all-time, older sellers have the most to lose here, but as I always say.. it's not our platform, Fiverr will make some changes like removing support-canceled orders from the success score, however the bulk of this change will remain. It's always been like this when a new system was implemented. That's why I am adapting to this and understanding how it works, because I know the chances of changing anything are minimal. 

[gunawanguan]

1 hour ago, alanletsgo said:

I am on the same boat as you. 20 down to 10 is going to be a very difficult downgrade. Hoping they revisit this idea.

Maybe it's a typo, cause it's like an odd jump from 10 - 10 - 30.
Maybe it should be 10 - 20 - 30?

[bamisesoile]

5 hours ago, aubergine07 said:

100%.

This feels like a gut-punch. After being level 2 for a couple years, I'm now dropped to level 1 and my most popular gig is a success score of 6, but I have had no negative feedback from any clients. I have several gigis showing negative impact from "communication" but I have no idea how since I respond immediately to anyone who messages me and haven't had anyone say their work wasn't what they wanted. I know private reviews are a thing, but come on!

I work so hard every single day and this has really made me feel like giving up. I mean, if I've been bending over backward already and it hasn't been enough, why bother? I dont know what more I could do aside from time-traveling to deliver immediately and having dollar store prices. 

I guess I just really didn't need this today. Or at all. Fiverr Team, i hope you're all paying attention to our response to the new system. 

Girl! I feel you, my best gigs have "customer satisfaction " as the negative impact. I have had a 5.0 rating since 2019. It makes no sense. 

[vhskid]

11 hours ago, Kesha said:

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.

How rating in private is transparent?

How I can learn from feedback that I cannot see?

Elusive rating scoring system with tips for better yet non-measurable in practice communication behavior is not a way for people to grow and provide better service.

[bamisesoile]

18 minutes ago, donnovan86 said:

I mean, they are quite clear, they show you exactly what's wrong and also a link to a page where it shows how to improve. And obviously a lot of those people with scores like 4 or 5 had bad private reviews. Sure, people left them a great review publicly, but the actual private review was negative. And a lot of people wonder why this is happening. Some buyers randomly leave reviews, even private reviews. Even my success manager told me last year that despite having only great reviews publicly, I had some negative private reviews. And that's despite me asking people if I can help with anything else after delivery, etc.

So in my case, I was expecting to see random reviews and low scores, even in my case I do have to deal with a lower score. Since the ratings are all-time, older sellers have the most to lose here, but as I always say.. it's not our platform, Fiverr will make some changes like removing support-canceled orders from the success score, however the bulk of this change will remain. It's always been like this when a new system was implemented. That's why I am adapting to this and understanding how it works, because I know the chances of changing anything are minimal. 

People leave private reviews? I didnt know about that

[Alex.M]

I am not sure if it was asked or not.. there are too many messages to go through but perhaps @Kesha has an answer to this.

 

Will partial refunds have any negative impact in the overall success score?