Update: Addressing new level system questions and feedback

[Alex.M]

Something is clearly wrong with the entire website at the moment. Chrome is blocking every attachment when I try to download files from the order page , I get this warning message 

[emmatopping]

2 minutes ago, Kesha said:

Hi! There is not a set time in which your success score will change. It can vary based on several key metrics. 

Like what please @Kesha? Since the future of my business depends on this…

[Alex.M]

3 minutes ago, Kesha said:

Hi! There is not a set time in which your success score will change. It can vary based on several key metrics. 

well, this kinda leaves a lot of room for interpretation...  if 'Fiverr' doesn't like you you'll get a 5/10 success score from 10/10 by tomorrow ... 

[voicedbyken]

Just now, emmatopping said:

Like what please @Kesha? Since the future of my business depends on this…

The transparency of those metrics is nonexistent. We don't get to see them, only the result of them.

So far they've mentioned these include, secret reviews and comparison to unknown sellers in our category. 

 

It's all a farce

[graphicballads]

20 minutes ago, Kesha said:

Hi @jackmuas! To clarify, this just means that if a seller is going against our  terms of service, they will not be able to participate in the level system. Sellers who are not flagged or restricted, will all have updated levels come March 14. 

@Kesha And what will happen to Sellers who are flagged or restricted? will they still be able to sell on the platform or appear in search results? will they have any levels displayed on their accounts?

[crawford_copy]

1 hour ago, Kesha said:

Best of luck to you!

Hi @Kesha, I still haven't seen an official answer to this question which has been mentioned several times.

The number of active gigs for L2 sellers is being reduced from 20 to 10. Why?

What happens in March - does Fiverr randomly delete half our gigs, or do we get some time to decide which ten gigs we need to delete?

Thanks!

[katherinasim]

I have a feeling the new review system is glitching for buyers, just look at my recent review. 

I have delivered exactly what she wanted and exceeded expectations, yet the level of effort was not enough? The value for money is 4/5, but she tips me $18?

I also heard from a couple of clients that they wanted to leave a review but Fiverr didn't allow them or was giving an error.

.... And imagine based on that glitching system our earnings and our lives will depend.... I feel so hopeless lately, I even don't want to get new clients anymore and only accept returning ones

[graphicballads]

2 hours ago, Kesha said:

@alanletsgo Yes, requesting to extend the delivery date can impact your score. I would recommend that when setting your original deadline, you do the best you can to account for potential delays including revisions and unexpected obstacles. 

@Kesha, the reason I request to extend my delivery date, is that some buyers place an order without any requirements or instructions provided for even more than 24 hours, and other buyers keep changing their instructions in the process that requires more time to work. this new level system is surely imperfect in so many ways 

 

[nadiappp]

1 hour ago, Kesha said:

Hi! Remember the Success Score is an internal metric that can only be viewed by you. Levels are how you rank in the public marketplace. There could be several reasons for a Level 0 in the new system. including not meeting either of the following requirements: 

• 5 orders from at least 3 unique clients
• $400 in earnings 
• A Success Score of 5+
• A Rating of 4.4+
• 80% Response Rate

 

Hi Kesha, thanks for the reply. The problem is that my overall success score is not being calculated at all (there is no score, just a dash), although my gig's score is 8...?

[carineb]

12 minutes ago, katherinasim said:

The value for money is 4/5, but she tips me $18?

My last client also gave me a $15 TIP, but he answered 4/5 to the 3 questions.

I think that clients are completely confused by this new form. I've never had an "inconsistent" review in over 1,300 orders, but I've had 2 inconsistent reviews in less than a week.

When I see that it's also happening to lots of other sellers to whom this has never happened, I'm convinced that there really is a problem to be solved with this new form.

Change those damn smiley faces and replace them with stars. 
And replace the word Exceptional with Excellent.

[webcut]

41 minutes ago, Kesha said:

Hi! There is not a set time in which your success score will change. It can vary based on several key metrics. 

@Kesha My one gig success score is 5 and my profile overall score is 8. Now if I pause my low success gig, will my success score increase? Also, if I get good review or order for those 5 score gig, will my success score increase instantly? Or it will take time until the Fiverr monthly evolution period to increase the score?

[gracefulvoice]

Not a fan of the new system. I don't understand how my scores have been calculated - my best performing gig has the worst score (a 6) and it's bringing me down to level 1. And yet I don't understand how the score has been calculated in the first place. If I knew what went wrong specifically I could do something about it, but this doesn't seem very fair. It's like driving in the dark.

[dereck_s]

12 hours ago, zeecreations said:

What if the buyer is unresponsive and you don't have enough information? That's why they changed it to auto accept after 2 days instead of getting cancelled. 

It's not always our fault. 

So the idea here is that you should have gotten all the information you needed before the order was started so in this case it likely would have been decided it was your fault but I don't really know. Fiverr considers delivery Extensions a "Last Resort". Here's what my Success Manager said on the topic.

Edited February 16 by dereck_s

[mysticalphotog]

13 minutes ago, graphicballads said:

@Kesha, the reason I request to extend my delivery date, is that some buyers place an order without any requirements or instructions provided for even more than 24 hours, and other buyers keep changing their instructions in the process that requires more time to work. this new level system is surely imperfect in so many ways 

 

@Kesha I'm a UGC creator and we get shipped physical product. There have been multiple times where I have had to extend the delivery date because the product was lost or delayed in shipment. When I asked customer service about this they said to make the order and just extend the delivery time so that's what I've been doing for a year. I did everything they told me to do and am now being penalized for it because my gig is marked a 4 for "late deliveries" when I have not had a late delivery, so I know it must be the extensions impacting it. What are we supposed to do in situations like this that are beyond our control? 

There's no wiggle room for sellers to set any boundaries and we're at the mercy of the buyer. If they ask for free extras we have to give it to them or risk being demoted for bad scores in "value for money" or bad private reviews, even if we followed their original order's directions. I have messaged customer support about this and they essentially told me I have to do the work until the buyer is happy, which has resulted in me having to do things like travel 4 hours to a location with no reimbursement for time or gas to get an extra photo the buyer wanted so they wouldn't wreck havoc on my score. HOW are we supposed to deal with situations like this?? None of this is okay! 

[emmaki]

1 hour ago, Kesha said:

To clarify, this just means that if a seller is going against our  terms of service, they will not be able to participate in the level system. Sellers who are not flagged or restricted, will all have updated levels come March 14. 

Is this a permanent non-participation or a temporary one? Or do they stay in the old (current) levels system? 

What exactly does it mean for a seller who is not able to participate in the levels system. Is it effectively the same as being unapproved as a seller and only being able to buy? 

And, while I don't expect you to answer this next question, how does Fiverr plan to deal with the inevitable false positives that the algorithm will flag, causing sellers to be exiled from the levels system? Will there be any appeals system in place at all through T&S or some other mechanism?

[katherinasim]

6 minutes ago, dereck_s said:

So the idea here is that you should have gotten all the information you needed before the order was started so in this case it likely would have been decided it was your fault but I don't really know. Fiverr considers delivery Extensions a "Last Resort". Here's what my Success Manager said on the topic.

 Just got the message from a potential client:

My answer now - No. I can't. 

 

[sunshine15]

1 hour ago, Kesha said:

Hi! There is not a set time in which your success score will change. It can vary based on several key metrics. 

Are there set rules or metrics for literally anything  with this new system?! Kesha, the more you're replying, the more confused I get about every single thing.

[emmaki]

Nothing is set in stone. It's a live test and we are the rats lost in the maze... 

[voicedbyken]

1 minute ago, sunshine15 said:

Are there set rules or metrics for literally anything  with this new system?! Kesha, the more you're replying, the more confused I get about every single thing.

This is why they need to stop having Kesha and Lyndsey answer questions about this. Neither of them knows anything and though I feel Kesha is genuinely trying to help but giving confusing answers, Lyndsey is making things worse. We need someone in here who is part of making this decision to tell us exactly what is going on and answer the hard questions that are being outright ignored. They made the decision and need to explain why, what, and how instead of tossing lower level employees to the wolves.

[leonormiserol]

It seems to me that there is not much more we can say here. We have all already expressed our rejection and suggestions.
We know that we are not going to get a response through this means, we can only hope that they take our comments into account and do something about it.
For my part, I asked CS to review my case, I am still waiting for a response. I imagine they have thousands of the same messages.

[emmaki]

Oh, I don't know. I could probably squeeze another 100k words of outrage about this on demand. 

[voicedbyken]

3 minutes ago, leonormiserol said:

It seems to me that there is not much more we can say here. We have all already expressed our rejection and suggestions.
We know that we are not going to get a response through this means, we can only hope that they take our comments into account and do something about it.
For my part, I asked CS to review my case, I am still waiting for a response. I imagine they have thousands of the same messages.

IMO, We need to keep the fire going until then, otherwise, they may get the idea that we're now okay with the changes.

[virgoca]

Just now, voicedbyken said:

IMO, We need to keep the fire going until then, otherwise, they may get the idea that we're now okay with the changes.

They may get the idea that we will just fall in line and get over it out of exhaustion 

[emmaki]

Just now, voicedbyken said:

IMO, We need to keep the fire going until then, otherwise, they may get the idea that we're now okay with the changes.

Yeah, about that, there was massive outrage when they went from thumbs up review system to the star system, massive outrage when they attached the level system to metrics, mass outrage last Sept when they did the cancellations stuff....

...The fire always burns out, and Fiverr gets to do what it wants. All they have to do is send a few sacrificial lambs out to deal with mob and wait for time to take care of the rest. 

What's actually needed is for sellers to down tools for a month or two. All of them. But that is never going to happen, so this will. 

They'll write books about this one day, how the internet and AI wiped out an entire century and a half of progress for worker's rights. And some of those books will note just how docile the workers were during this transition, buffeted as they were by the insidious nature of late-stage capitalism in its dying throes. 

But for now, we'll just have to glumly be a part of that history. 

[lenasemenkova]

29 minutes ago, dereck_s said:

So the idea here is that you should have gotten all the information you needed before the order was started so in this case it likely would have been decided it was your fault but I don't really know. Fiverr considers delivery Extensions a "Last Resort". Here's what my Success Manager said on the topic.

So, essentially, Fiverr is gently nudging everyone to make a ‘request to order’ the norm, yes? That’s the only way to guarantee that every seller has all the required information before the order is started. 

Someone mentioned it before but Fiverr seems to be overly invested in creating the atmosphere of animosity between buyers and sellers for no reason. It was already extremely annoying when a buyer would place an order and go: 

“I’m working on the text, it’ll be ready once I’m back from a holiday, byeee”. How am I supposed to feel now, when I know that I’m stuck with this buyer and there is no way for me to get out of the situation unscathed at all? 

I can’t even tell them that they’re screwing me over without meaning to because it’d be “manipulating the buyer”. All of this is just so bleak. 

Edited February 16 by lenasemenkova