Update: Addressing new level system questions and feedback

[arsalan_design1]

31 minutes ago, visualstudios said:

It means you will be out of the levels system. No level.

But I don't have done any violation. Why? This is really Cruelty because I have not shared event my network without or traveled abroad or go to different cities.
Fiverr will need to take look on my account, Why they don't give me full proofs ( Reason, Time, date, day) of violation.

[inayatali911]

I want to know if is it possible to recover the flagged account to a normal one after some progress. 

[virgoca]

"those who resist transformation will be left behind." this is what Fiverr thinks of us, and what it thinks of anyone that doesn't conform to their AI vision (including the AI Big Brother system they just launched). It's over boys. We had a good run here. Abandon ship while you still can.

Edited February 17 by virgoca

[kohinaichimatsu]

I've never felt more underappreciated on a platform. I have been loyal to this company, been working for 3+ years in voiceovers and producer tags, letting a lot of "one-sided" love for the clients only. But pushing me down to level 0 after being the best selling level 2 seller in my category without any explanation or warning is bizarre. Sales have decreased massively and there is NOT ENOUGH information on how to better your gigs. The reviewing system IS TOO COMPLICATED for new buyers and non-english speaking buyers which usually just leave a review to get it over with, not giving it a second thought. It has reflected very negatively on my gigs. I am a college student and this is my only source of income. This platform is pushing away Sellers like me more and more each update they add, they do not care about us Sellers.

[ritikk173]

Hi @Kesha

New system giving seller repetitive warning means they are using old warning and they served their time and making downward gigs ranking gigs now to many se and sellers fiverr

support is saying we cant do anything decision is final kindly light on this 

 

[zerlina84]

1 hour ago, charlsmcfarlane said:

Do I now need to open the order and always have the last word, or my communication metrics will tank?

Honestly, now I will and I advise you to the same because at this point I’m suspicious of everything.

This new thing is going to turn us into psychotic people pleasers. “Hello yes please thank you you’re welcome let me know if you need anything else thank you you too no problem” 😂

[ssj1236]

I would highly urge all users to give this post a read. It's definitely worth it. 

[emmaki]

<steps on soapbox> 

Another fine quote from the Fiverr CEO, although I think the interesting part is the first part: 

"In the United States, freelancers constitute approximately 50% of the labor market, rendering the distinction between them and full-time employees meaningless"

OH REALLY 

YOU WOULD SAY  THAT WOULDN'T YOU

What is not meaningless, and what Fiverr directly profits from is that freelanccers do not have the same rights as employed workers and are treated as contractors. And you can see very clearly from how Fiverr is updating the platform that it expects its freelancers to behave as employees.

As Fiverr employees failed to address my question along this line last time I asked, is Kaufman aware of the increasing laws and regulations that surround the gig economy due to the abuses of gig economy platforms taking advantage of the lack of regulation? I know he is, investors know he is, staff know he is, everyone knows - because it is written into their investors documents that this is a literal threat to their business model. 

And then he comes up with navel-gazing guffalocks like this. Those rights which employees won against the fat cat factory owners and greedy businesses over the 19th and 20th century, gone in what the WEF called the FOURTH INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION and the NEW NORMAL of the GREAT RESET which is liable to be nothing more than a corrupt corporate technocracy. 

Yes I know that last paragraph is a bit tinfoil hat, but hey, it's all in the WEF booklets and stuff. Go figure. I like how Micha completely skips the 2 industrial revolutions in between steam power and here. 

I also like it where he says:

"Even with tools like ChatGPT, which can produce confident-sounding but completely fabricated statements, supervision remains essential"

I will say no more on that point except again: the company is riddled with internal issues and the blame for this lies at the top with management. But it will not be management who suffers. The CEO didn't even bother to launch his own product. It's right there in the January 2024 Product Launch video. How out of touch is this man with the community of sellers that have made him the rich and famous CEO that he is today?

Why does he not come to talk to his community and ask them questions? But you know, anyone here can ask @levinewman about his experience meeting the CEO. 

It's just a complete disgrace. Nobody is answering questions. Everything is being palmed off to support staff who don't have answers and are getting the full brunt of seller anger, and the management stays silent. But maybe that's better, if this is what they think of us. 

I'd say Fiverr has lost the plot, but they're just acting like every other big tech company out there. Soulless profit machines that thrive off the misery, energy, fear, and anger of the people whose souls they suck into their endlessly repulsive greed.

<steps off soapbox>

Perhaps I should have gone into politics. I've always felt I would make a good thunderer. As it is, it felt like I probably wouldn't have been very successful at it. So instead I shall thunder impotently on this platform. 

 

25 minutes ago, virgoca said:

"those who resist transformation will be left behind." this is what Fiverr thinks of us, and what it thinks of anyone that doesn't conform to their AI vision (including the AI Big Brother system they just launched). It's over boys. We had a good run here. Abandon ship while you still can.

 

[sshublaq]

Well, it's quite amusing! Fiverr seems adamant on enhancing its platform at the expense of its sellers. Over the past three years, Fiverr has been my sole source of income; virtually all my clients originated from this platform. However, there came a sudden drought—no orders, no messages, absolutely nothing—for a couple of months. It compelled me to take action, pushing me out of my comfort zone to expand my business elsewhere. I had foreseen this inevitable shift that would disrupt the status quo and cause distress to sellers, and I wasn't inclined to wait for it.

Thus, I embarked on establishing connections beyond Fiverr, focusing on clients from various platforms and nurturing strong relationships with them. Presently, I'm scarcely reliant on Fiverr for even 5% of my income, as it no longer holds the same value. Despite being a level 2 seller with impeccable performance ratings across the board, the new system seems to deem me as underperforming. Interestingly, this discrepancy is attributed to undisclosed reviews. But if that were truly the case, why do I continue to retain longstanding clients spanning several years?

Consequently, when Fiverr decides to base its judgment on private reviews, my account is rendered invisible. Yet, what about the remaining 95% of my clients with whom I've been collaborating outside this platform? Some of them I've been working with for over three years, and others for five years. While I comprehend their efforts to reduce platform competition and elevate quality, it's imperative to acknowledge that without sellers, there would be no buyers. Quite ironic, isn't it?

Want to hear something funny? That I'm still eligible to promote my gigs, yet they've been inexplicably removed from the marketplace. Now, how does one recover from such a situation? Is Fiverr implying that I should redirect my hard-earned clients, whom I've cultivated relationships with outside the platform, to utilize their money here? I firmly believe in one principle and one principle only: success in business stems from diligent self-improvement and independence from any single platform. Fiverr merely serves as a conduit for potential clients, a function that can be replicated elsewhere online. And let's not overlook the power of connections.

[vhskid]

9 minutes ago, ssj1236 said:

I would highly urge all users to give this post a read. It's definitely worth it. 

 

Looks like only Seller Plus Members can see that...

 

Edited February 17 by vhskid

[kohinaichimatsu]

On 2/15/2024 at 10:45 PM, carineb said:

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.

This is EXACTLY what I was concerned with. Buyers do not take reviews seriously, they click randomly on things without giving ANY second thoughts. They just want to get it over with, no one wants to do surveys without a reward. Especially non-english or new buyers do not understand how the review system works. I always get messages on how to even start an order, let alone complete a whole survey without any instructions! It's a horrible update, reviews given with no second thoughts while having A HUGE impact on all of us Sellers.

[ahunyady]

@Kesha Fiverr penalizes sellers for not responding to queries within 24 hours, so I’m sure we can expect the same dedication from Fiverr representatives. I have asked several basic questions that have not yet been answered. Perhaps the system is glitching, so I will ask another in hopes this gets through.

Can you please explain why revisions count against sellers when revisions are a standard and vital part of the order completion process? I provide English editing and writing services, which often require multiple rounds of revisions to complete. I would hardly call editing an edge case.

1) Many clients simply require multiple revisions. For some kinds of editing, this is just how the process works. If you need help understanding how this works, DM me and I can share some examples. Revision requests do not indicate low-quality deliveries (isn’t that what ratings are for??). On the contrary—a buyer making use of revisions indicates that I am prioritizing their satisfaction. I could just deliver any old thing, and if they have questions or need to take the wording in a different direction, I could tell them to stuff it. That’s what a no-revision policy would look like. Another example of a current order I have in revision is a long-time *business* client who needs to share my edits with people in multiple other departments. Fiverr doesn’t allow enough time for all those stakeholders to give their feedback, so they have requested a revision while they are awaiting this feedback. Note that you have previously indicated that we now must avoid delivery extensions at all costs, so revisions were the only remaining option available to give buyers more time to prepare their feedback.

2) Number of free revision is a standard part of the offer-creation process. You may be unfamiliar with the interface, but there is a box that lets sellers select the number of free revisions to include as part of a custom offer. The same applies to the pre-set packages. Extra revisions can also be offered as an extra with an optional cost. Offering free revisions is absolutely necessary for Fiverr buyers to feel confident they will get a final product that meets their needs.

If sellers are being penalized for allowing revisions—which, again, are a standard and vital element of work in some of Fiverr’s main categories—what other standard order options should we expect to be penalized next month? Should we expect that selecting “Line Editing” or “Section Rewriting” or setting a delivery time greater than 3 days will start counting against us (retroactively, of course, over all our orders over the last 2+ years)?

I do not believe you're responsible for the ignorance or incompetence of C-level management, but you are their representative to us. You are the one they’ve decided should take the blame for providing canned non-answers. I’m sure you want to give us answers, but it’s clear you don’t have permission to do so. On the other hand, maybe no one knows—and that’s the biggest concern. If possible, it might be helpful to get someone into the conversation who does have the authority to give clear answers, preferably someone who has familiarity with the order-creation process. As a TRS, I want to believe that Fiverr has our back. However, this week I have already begun reducing my Fiverr operations in favor of platforms that are not programming themselves to self-destruct. I guess that speaks of my level of confidence.

Edited February 17 by ahunyady

[ssj1236]

12 minutes ago, vhskid said:

Looks like only Seller Plus Members can see that...

 

No, you need to be logged into your account to see it. Refresh the page and check whether you're logged in. 

 

[Alex.M]

1 minute ago, ssj1236 said:

No, you need to be logged into your account to see it. Refresh the page and check whether you're logged in. 

 

it seems to be gone

[vhskid]

2 minutes ago, ssj1236 said:

15 minutes ago, vhskid said:

Looks like only Seller Plus Members can see that...

 

No, you need to be logged into your account to see it. Refresh the page and check whether you're logged in. 

 

Ummm, if I'm not logged in how am I posting on the forum?

[carineb]

10 minutes ago, kohinaichimatsu said:

Buyers do not take reviews seriously, they click randomly on things without giving ANY second thoughts.

I don't quite agree with you.
I have over 800 reviews on Fiverr. I've never had a review that was bizarre or inconsistent with what the customer told me. But in the last few days, I've fallen into a new world...
The problem is not the client. Clients haven't become stupid!
This new review system makes their notes completely inconsistent with what they write and what they do (give a tip, or reorder, for example). The problem is the new review system.

[harperjohn]

You can add me to the list of people who received a tip but the buyer somehow determined it was 4/5 star value for the money. this buyer placed a second order bc she loved the first order, tipped 25% of the cost of the second order, and didn't leave any feedback on how I can improve. She also left me two very kind and detailed public reviews. The second public review specifically praised my communication but I got 4/5 stars for communication privately.

And so somehow Fiverr will determine that as a strike against the quality of my work, and my profile rating will suffer. I had never gotten less than 5 stars before this level change, and I've now gotten three 4.3 or 4.5 star ratings in three days. I say 4.3 or 4.5 bc the desktop shows my average based on three reviews is 4.5 and my phone app shows that same average to somehow be 4.3. Even something as simple as a literal average has managed to come off as vague and unclear. Now I find myself wondering if I should work with a potential repeat buyer, who A. is really pleased with my work and B. is giving me ratings that negatively impact my business. Make it make sense Fiverr, please. 

 

 

[thesibyl]

@Kesha Could you please clarify if members of Seller Plus Premium that are not TRS will lose 7 day clearance and Early Bird with the new system? Ever since Seller Plus Premium came up I have counted on these two features (that are actually the most useful in the program) and I need to prepare since this will affect my financial planning. Thank you.

[levinewman]

13 minutes ago, Alex.M said:

it seems to be gone

Long Post Incoming

 

Quick Reference/Background:

My name is Levi and I started on Fiverr about 10 years ago. I worked hard to grind out my spot amongst the writers and in that time I've had a modicum of success. As you can see above, "top-rated", I'm considered a "Pro", and I've got a Success Score of 10. Here are a few other notables I've achieved while working on Fiverr:

• Chosen to ring the bell at the New York Stock Exchange when Fiverr when public.
• Recognized by Forbes, MSN, Business Insider, and other platforms for my success as a freelancer.
• Contributed to the Fiverr digital book and other resources.
• Contributed to more than 10 meetings with upper management and Fiverr teams (combined).
• Cultivated nearly $1.4 million in sales strictly on Fiverr.
• I've got bachelor's degrees in both English and Communication from the University of Missouri. 

Problems to Address

As the forums show, Fiverr is in a rough place. It has been for a very, very long time. Leadership doesn't listen, customer service can only respond to positive messages with boilerplate information, and buyers can take full advantage of sellers with zero safeguards. I'm going to highlight some of the issues here that I will also be sending to the New York Post, Fox News, CNN, MotleyFool, and other news/stock outlets.

1. You can get free work from any seller by simply using the phrase, "The delivery didn't meet my expectations." No exceptions. If the buyer simply states the delivery didn't meet their expectations, no matter what you do as a seller, they will get their money back and you'll be out your hard work, time, and money. This is something that continually happens to sellers at all levels. For reference, I've gotten that same message from at least three buyers this week alone. 
2. Fiverr makes a big deal about transparency but provides no actual transparency. While I'm rated a 10 above, I have no idea why. I have no idea what I'm doing compared to any other top-rated seller, Pro seller, or level 0 seller. A rating of 10 means nothing to me and no amount of shouting the word "transparency" from the rooftops is going to change that fact. I could bury my head and not care about others because I have a 10, but that's not who I am. It's not right; it's not transparent. 
3. Bugs, bugs, and more "bugs". For a long time, I thought the rating bugs and other issues plaguing Fiverr were just technical bugs. But the focus on "transparency" and the gaslighting has me questioning if they were simply trying to drag our ratings down the entire time on purpose. Now that I can see everyone around me flailing and losing out after all their hard-fought work has been for naught, it makes me realize that these "bugs" weren't really bugs at all.
4. Fairness does not exist and sellers are fodder. This is the heaviest on my heart. There is no such thing as fairness or protection for sellers on Fiverr. Any buyer can get back their money and get free work no matter what you're doing. You can't complain about it; you can't fight about it; you can't protect yourself. The bullies have won. You will take your verbal beatings, harassment, and loss of money and like it. It won't ever change until people are so mentally tired they quit; like me.
5. The community cares, but Fiverr doesn't. There are a thousand-and-one posts about the problems that exist here and the ways in which they can be fixed by sellers who are engaged, successful, and genuinely care about the work they do. @emmaki @newsmike @vickiespencer @visualstudios @ssj1236 @catwriter The list goes on and on. But Fiverr is unwilling to listen to people who are putting in the work with boots on the ground for reasons I simply cannot comprehend. 

This is my final straw. As of June 1, 2024, I will be done with Fiverr and shutting down my account because of these recent ratings changes and because I can't take the abuse any longer. This person sent the boilerplate, "The delivery didn't meet my expectations" right after my initial delivery and when I expressed I don't provide refunds, had me do minor revisions, only to again send "The delivery didn't meet my expectations" and then say they'd be talking to Fiverr support to get their refund the entire time. 

I am not going to be bullied, pressured, gamified, ridiculed, insulted, belittled, or taken advantage of by Fiverr or anyone else. No more, no longer, not ever. 

Fiverr, you gave me a lot of opportunities, but you also took advantage of my mental and physical health so often that my wife told me to quit 5 years ago. You let people take advantage of me. You don't protect me. You don't care about me. I'm a person. I'm not a number. In fact, I spent 10 years in the Army and was part of Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF1), the very first rotation into Afghanistan two weeks after 9/11, and not even that was more stressful than working here day after day.

I deserve better. These sellers deserve better. You're not listening and you don't care, but I do. And I'm willing to put my money where my mouth is by quitting altogether. 

June 1, 2024--unless you ban me because of my honesty and transparency.

@Lyndsey_Fiverr @Kesha

[emmaki]

Levi's post is GOD TIER. 

[pyxisstudio]

11 hours ago, voicedbyken said:

I wish it were so simple. I'm losing my TRS rank because of a single digit in my Success Score. I have never delivered anything subpar to any customer. I deliver on time. I let them know what is going on with their order every single day they wait for theirs to come into the queue. I answer all messages immediately even when I get the notification while I'm sleeping. I ALWAYS overdeliver. There is rarely a week that goes by that one of my gigs is not a buyer's choice or featured. Am I just collateral damage? I don't feel like it's a good thing.

Why not just penalize those accounts who are guilty of such? 

Trust Me you won't be penalized it's just a level it doesn't define your work or standard, Yeah it may give you a badge + some other features also, great features I would say. But at the end of the day, we are here to make money, right ? So I would say stop caring about it. I am very sure Fiverr loves people like you. So yeah, with the passing time you will be a TRS again. If you are not getting any work then I would say fiverr has really penalized you, is that the case rn ? 

[virgoca]

@levinewman My respect to you, sir. Your post should be printed and sent straight to every Fiverr shareholder, representative and IT developer out there. This is a Circus and they are making clowns out of us.

[voicedbyken]

4 minutes ago, pyxisstudio said:

Trust Me you won't be penalized it's just a level it doesn't define your work or standard, Yeah it may give you a badge + some other features also, great features I would say. But at the end of the day, we are here to make money, right ? So I would say stop caring about it. I am very sure Fiverr loves people like you. So yeah, with the passing time you will be a TRS again. If you are not getting any work then I would say fiverr has really penalized you, is that the case rn ? 

In the last 2 weeks I've seen a significant drop in sales. I used to receive 2-5 inquiries per day and now I'm getting one a week. Losing TRS isn't simple losing a badge, I lose my 7 day payment clearance along with same day payout. I also lose those buyers who filter their search to TRS. If Fiverr loves ppl like me, then why the punishment? I see ppl with 4.8 ratings, 98% completion rates scoring a 10/10 while I have 100% across the board and 5 star with over 2000 completed jobs. I never had a 1 or 2 star review and the only 3 star I have is from buyer who didn't get a bunch of free services after receiving a 50% discount. I've never been late on an order, I've never refused a revision and I have an 8/10 with no way of fixing it. So to you it may be "just a level" to me it's was grinding my butt off day after day, bending over backwards, quitting my day job before I was 100% sure. I take it personally, because it is.

[donnovan86]

6 minutes ago, voicedbyken said:

Losing TRS isn't simple losing a badge, I lose my 7 day payment clearance along with same day payout.

I was TRS for years, lost it and that 7 day clearance was great. However, you can get that if you have a Seller Plus Premium subscription. In fact, many of the TRS benefits are there, aside from the badge and having 30 active gigs. Which unless you are an agency or outsource like crazy, you won't have anyway. So in my case, even if I've been a level 2 seller for years now once I lost my TRS badge, the Seller Plus thing really made me feel like a TRS. And the fact I have less sales has nothing to do with badges or my knowledge, it's AI hitting my category very hard.. 

[virgoca]

4 minutes ago, donnovan86 said:

I was TRS for years, lost it and that 7 day clearance was great. However, you can get that if you have a Seller Plus Premium subscription. In fact, many of the TRS benefits are there, aside from the badge and having 30 active gigs. Which unless you are an agency or outsource like crazy, you won't have anyway. So in my case, even if I've been a level 2 seller for years now once I lost my TRS badge, the Seller Plus thing really made me feel like a TRS. And the fact I have less sales has nothing to do with badges or my knowledge, it's AI hitting my category very hard.. 

I wouldn't feel comfortable giving a company money out of my pocket to regain benefits I had already earned on my own through hard work and upstanding work ethics, and only lost because an AI deemed it so after a bunch of impossible to understand metrics were applied, while also judging us retroactively for things we weren't even aware we should've been focusing on before this whole fiasco was rolled out. It's a functional "workaround" for those losings said benefits, but I don't consider it to be an ethical workaround. And if you ask me, a lack of ethics (on fiverr's side) is what got us into this mess in the first place.

Edited February 17 by virgoca