Update: Addressing new level system questions and feedback

[phanduy]

Honesly, I have been crazy with the new rating system last days, I've just finished a job, client gave the review : very satisfied, and then I got 4.3 stars (see the attachment)
and now I continue to been crazy with the new level system

[vovkaslovesnyy]

17 minutes ago, rehman_b said:

I have 5 star rating on communication and here it is showing a negative impact🫤

 

It basically means the following: 

- When a buyer places an order, you need to send a long message explaining how happy you are to work with them. 

- In 1-2 days, you need to send one more message telling that you are working on their task and that you are happy!

- Now, it's time for a long delivery message. (Are you still happy?!)

- Finally, you need to thank them for constant business and ask for an honest review (that will make you happy 😁).

Don't forget to add a lot of words, which will trigger AI (collaboration, deadline, experience, etc.)

I know, it's not needed in many cases, but your repeat buyer score and communication score won't grow without these absurd messages (by absurd, I mean that if I have a translation task that was discussed in detail, there's no need for these messages). 

This is what your customer sees, sooooo...

 

At the same time, I understand the idea. Whenever I place an order, I get nothing or "Thanks for order..." in 90% of cases.

Edited February 19 by vovkaslovesnyy

[exdesigns]

Hereafter I should pay attention to delivery time 😝😒

Edited February 19 by exdesigns

[emmaki]

Complaining to who, each other? 

It seems pretty clear to me at this point that Fiverr's response is:

• We have webinars! 
• A new post barely addressing anything said
• A notable lack of frequent "we're listening!" posts
• The occasional staff appearance on much quieter posts to say nothing can be done

This week Fiverr is going to release their Q4 report. It would be much more effective a protest if this news breaks out of the forum and into the media. 

Until then, this is just a storm in a teacup that will blow over as they always do when sellers sadface this into their lives. Or walk, but realistically, the vast majority of sellers are not going to walk. 

All Fiverr has to do is keep listening, observing the child silently until their tantrum finally stops. 

[fabinhopereira]

I am very sad about this update, as it is very unfair.
I am a level 2 provider, more than 550 5-star ratings and success level 6? They demoted me to level 1 too. I am sending several emails to support asking for better attention regarding the classification. I believe that the more everyone sends, the more we will be heard.

[catwriter]

2 minutes ago, fabinhopereira said:

I am sending several emails to support asking for better attention regarding the classification. I believe that the more everyone sends, the more we will be heard.

Sending multiple tickets about the same issue can get you blocked from support.

And then you definitely won't be heard.

[donnovan86]

3 minutes ago, fabinhopereira said:

I believe that the more everyone sends, the more we will be heard.

Or ignored.

Aside from potential bugs that might be in the system, there's also the fact that they rely on older data as well as newer data. So even if you have a good general score, that doesn't mean everyone left you great private reviews. In fact, many happy customers don't leave private reviews or even public reviews, at least in my case. So the importance of bad private reviews becomes a lot higher. I know because it's happening to me right now.

Edited February 19 by donnovan86

[rehman_b]

1 minute ago, donnovan86 said:

In fact, many happy customers don't leave private reviews or even public reviews

Thats ture, My repeated client did not leave a review.

[rajamani255]

40 minutes ago, vovkaslovesnyy said:

 

 

"Love your order, or else the seller delivering the order gets shadowbanned."

There I fixed the copy.

[emmaki]

Can people stop using the word "shadowbanned" with reference to Fiverr and their badly-performing gigs? It is incorrect. 

 - le me, fiber defener

[aemphis]

I am absolutely devasted by this update like many sellers here.

I have been working on Fiverr for over 5 years now. I create videos, mainly music videos, and I take care of all stages of production (directing, shooting, and editing). I never use stock footage, and every client always receives a unique project tailored to his/her vision, artistry, and need.

I have over 200 orders on my main gig (create a music video) with 5-star ratings on almost all the orders. All stats are always high, and I always make sure to stay on top of all the metrics/requirements on Fiverr.

Fast forward to a few days ago, when I opened Fiverr and saw that I was demoted to level ZERO from level 2 with a success score of 4 out of 10. The main problem seems to be in my main gig, of course (the one with over 200 orders and a 5-star rating).

Order cancellation has a very negative impact (I had 11 cancellations and 200 orders over those years, so around 5 percent), and both delivery time (again, there were only a few late deliveries for the 200 orders) and client satisfaction (the gig is rated 5 stars) have a negative impact.

So, now I am being told that all those years I have been doing something wrong, even though the platform was indicating the opposite. The customer service is writing generic messages not answering any single question, but just advising to keep up the best work. 

How is it possible and fair that we, sellers, work on this platform, earn experience, and orders, rely, and adhere our work to the metrics for years just to one day learn that all of this was a joke and some new metrics cancel everything you've done over the years? On top of that, now, we do not even understand any of those metrics in terms of real numbers and statistics. 

There is ZERO transparency for the sellers on this platform. Instead of working on a system that will bring out and support professionals and gigs that are unique and that almost originated specific offerings on this platform (when I started, I was the only one offering to produce a dance/music video that is actually with the original to the client footage), you make us feel betrayed and confused.

I am hoping you are going to hear all of us out now and adjust/change the new metrics system or/and reevaluate how it is going to affect existing sellers working here for years and years.

[voicedbyken]

I just want to clarify:

I don't dislike Fiverr or feel it is a bad platform, but I do feel like bad decisions are being made that may have good intentions and may result in unjustly punishing sellers who are not causing problems.

I started my account on Fiverr in 2018 with no idea how to use it and so it sat for over a year with no gigs and no activity. 2019 came around and I decided to set up shop and see how it goes. I made level 1 after my second month and level 2 on my third month and it felt wonderful. I couldn't believe how well it was going for me. By month 5 I was bringing in an average of 2k per month and thought about quitting my job to focus on Fiverr, but logic told me this could just be a fad so I kept working both. Then Covid happened, I lost my job, and was looking for another one with no luck. I decided this is my chance to test the waters and see what I could make of it and I made up for the loss of income in 2 months on Fiverr alone. Shortly after the end of my first year, I made TRS and the high I felt from that was unreal. Since then I always thought of Fiverr as being the greatest freelancer platform to ever exist. IMO, it saved my life and opened up many opportunities both inside and outside the platform. 

Now with this new update and my score reflecting an 8 with that malicious red warning constantly haunting my dashboard "Your Top Rated status is at risk" I feel betrayed. I can't get ahold of my Success Coach, CS gives generic copy/paste replies, and we get nothing but BS answers here in the forums. There is no information in the level update "success score" documentation on how to fix my score, only generalizations that have little to nothing to do with my situation. I see many saying that losing TRS is no big deal because I have Seller Plus Premium, but that isn't good enough. Like many of you, I worked my butt off, made sacrifices in my personal life, and have always gone out of my way to please each and every buyer I work with and it makes no sense how I can fall when there isn't a single obvious indicator in my stats or relationship with my clients that I am doing something wrong. TRS/PRO is not just a shiny meaningless badge to me. I love Fiverr and I don't want to see it fail. I just wish that those making the big decisions could take into consideration the collateral damage and be proactive in preventing the unjust demotions that are going to occur in the coming weeks.

My apologies for the rant. I just needed to get this out.

 

 

 

Edited February 19 by voicedbyken

[maitasun]

2 minutes ago, voicedbyken said:

but I do feel like bad decisions are being made that may have good intentions

Sorry to disagree. None are good intentions. We're paying the price for Fiverr not doing what it should do. 

[amberlilyreadin]

I often pause my gig to control my workflow. I'll get way too many orders if I keep it active all the time. My gig while active is a 10, but I just noticed today that my score dipped to a 6 after pausing. Because it only measures active gigs, and I only have 1 gig. So, apparently my score dips if I pause it. This seems like it's going to cause a lot of sellers anxiety when they want to take a break. We shouldn't feel punished for that.

I'm also hesitant to start any new gigs, because I feel like it will negatively affect this score. There isn't enough transparency in how this all works for me to feel comfortable enough to expand my work here on Fiverr. Currently, creating new gigs feels like a risk rather than an opportunity.

[virgoca]

Just now, voicedbyken said:

I just want to clarify:

I don't dislike Fiverr or feel it is a bad platform, but I do feel like bad decisions are being made that may have good intentions and may result in unjustly punishing sellers who are not causing problems.

I started my account on Fiverr in 2018 with no idea how to use it and so it sat for over a year with gigs and no activity. 2019 came around and I decided to set up shop and see how it goes. I made level 1 after my second month and level 2 on my third month and it felt wonderful. I couldn't believe how well it was going for me. By month 5 I was bringing in an average of 2k per month and thought about quitting my job to focus on Fiverr, but logic told me this could just be a fad so I kept working both. Then Covid happened, I lost my job, and was looking for another one with no luck. I decided this is my chance to test the waters and see what I could make of it and I made up for the loss of income in 2 months on Fiverr alone. Shortly after the end of my first year, I made TRS and the high I felt from that was unreal. Since then I always thought of Fiverr as being the greatest freelancer platform to ever exist. IMO, it saved my life and opened up many opportunities both inside and outside the platform. 

Now with this new update and my score reflecting an 8 with that malicious red warning constantly haunting my dashboard "Your Top Rated status is at risk" I feel betrayed. I can't get ahold of my Success Coach, CS gives generic copy/paste replies, and we get nothing but BS answers here in the forums. There is no information in the level update "success score" documentation on how to fix my score, only generalizations that have little to nothing to do with my situation. I see many saying that losing TRS is no big deal because I have Seller Plus Premium, but that isn't good enough. Like many of you, I worked my butt off, made sacrifices in my personal life, and have always gone out of my way to please each and every buyer I work with and it makes no sense how I can fall when there isn't a single obvious indicator in my stats or relationship with my clients that I am doing something wrong. TRS/PRO is not just a shiny meaningless badge to me. I love Fiverr and I don't want to see it fail. I just wish that those making the big decisions could take into consideration the collateral damage and be proactive in preventing the unjust demotions that are going to occur in the coming weeks.

My apologies for the rant. I just needed to get this out.

 

 

 

I feel you man. Although I do feel somewhat betrayed by this update. Which may be my problem for taking this personal, but then again, I am at risk of losing my main source of income if I step out of line for even a second now. Walking over eggshells (as a freelancer!). 

I’m a comic book artist, and I come from a severely underdeveloped country (Dominican republic) where saying you want to be an artist is a good way to end up homeless. Trying to get into an industry that’s as saturated as is gets, seeing how there’s a million amateur artists out there that want to be the next big thing, for companies that literally cannot afford to hire more people than they are already employing (like DC or Marvel).

fiverr allowed me not only to start working doing what I actually wanted to do since I was a kid, but also allowed me to make a good enough earning to live off of it and support my family (at least by my countries standard, considering that what would be minimum wage in the U.S. is WELL above average here, which has allowed me to live relatively comfortable). 

as you can imagine, I’ve talked about fiverr to just about anyone who’d listen in the local art community here, and I’ve even mentored a couple people that now also live exclusively off their gigs in this platform. This was shaping up to be my biggest year yet professionally after having landed the biggest long term project I’ve ever even dreamed of working on just a couple months ago… and then this update rolls out and sends me into a never ending free fall of desperation over what tomorrow will bring. I don’t know if I’m going to wake up tomorrow not having an account anymore, or having lost my level and reputation I’ve worked my a** off building and maintaining for the better part of 3.5 years. I was lucky and the update didn’t hit me personally as hard as others, but for how long? How long can I keep up doing whatever I’m doing “right” if I don’t even know what is it? Or how long until I have a bad experience with a client that is enough to plummet all my metrics in one strike. Makes me feel bad for the people I’ve helped growing here, and makes me afraid of my work security, and now I’m researching alternatives just in case. 

[arianelaurent]

10 minutes ago, amberlilyreadin said:

I often pause my gig to control my workflow. I'll get way too many orders if I keep it active all the time. My gig while active is a 10, but I just noticed today that my score dipped to a 6 after pausing. Because it only measures active gigs, and I only have 1 gig. So, apparently my score dips if I pause it. This seems like it's going to cause a lot of sellers anxiety when they want to take a break. We shouldn't feel punished for that.

I'm also hesitant to start any new gigs, because I feel like it will negatively affect this score. There isn't enough transparency in how this all works for me to feel comfortable enough to expand my work here on Fiverr. Currently, creating new gigs feels like a risk rather than an opportunity.

Do you have access to the Request to Order feature? 🙂

[fabinhopereira]

19 minutes ago, virgoca said:

Eu sinto você, cara. Embora eu me sinta um tanto traído por esta atualização. O que pode ser o meu problema em levar isso para o lado pessoal, mas, novamente, corro o risco de perder minha principal fonte de renda se sair da linha por um segundo que seja. Pisando em ovos (como freelancer!). 

Sou um artista de quadrinhos e venho de um país extremamente subdesenvolvido (República Dominicana), onde dizer que você quer ser um artista é uma boa maneira de acabar sem teto. Tentar entrar em uma indústria que está tão saturada quanto possível, vendo como há um milhão de artistas amadores por aí que querem ser o próximo grande sucesso, para empresas que literalmente não podem se dar ao luxo de contratar mais pessoas do que já empregam (como DC ou Maravilha).

fiverr me permitiu não apenas começar a trabalhar fazendo o que eu realmente queria fazer desde criança, mas também me permitiu ganhar um salário bom o suficiente para viver disso e sustentar minha família (pelo menos pelos padrões do meu país, considerando que o que seria o salário mínimo nos EUA está BEM acima da média aqui, o que me permitiu viver relativamente confortável). 

como você pode imaginar, falei sobre fiverr para praticamente qualquer pessoa que quisesse ouvir na comunidade artística local aqui, e até orientei algumas pessoas que agora também vivem exclusivamente de seus shows nesta plataforma. Este estava se preparando para ser meu maior ano profissionalmente, depois de ter conseguido o maior projeto de longo prazo em que já sonhei em trabalhar apenas alguns meses atrás... e então esta atualização é lançada e me envia para uma q***a livre sem fim de desespero sobre o que o amanhã trará. Não sei se vou acordar amanhã sem ter mais uma conta ou tendo perdido meu nível e reputação. Trabalhei muito para construir e manter durante quase 3,5 anos. Tive sorte e a atualização não me atingiu tanto quanto os outros, mas por quanto tempo? Por quanto tempo poderei continuar fazendo tudo o que estou fazendo “certo” se nem sei o que é? Ou quanto tempo até eu ter uma experiência ruim com um cliente que seja suficiente para despencar todas as minhas métricas de uma só vez. Me faz sentir mal pelas pessoas que ajudei a crescer aqui, e me deixa com medo da segurança do meu trabalho, e agora estou pesquisando alternativas por precaução. 

I'm in the same situation, brother... I'm musician and I really don't know what I'll do after this new update from fiverr.

[ntrxmusic]

33 minutes ago, virgoca said:

Te siento hombre. Aunque sí me siento algo traicionado por esta actualización. Cuál puede ser mi problema por tomar esto como algo personal, pero claro, corro el riesgo de perder mi principal fuente de ingresos si me salgo de la línea aunque sea por un segundo. Caminando sobre cáscaras de huevo (¡como autónomo!). 

Soy dibujante de cómics y vengo de un país muy subdesarrollado (República Dominicana) donde decir que quieres ser artista es una buena forma de acabar sin hogar. Tratar de entrar en una industria que está tan saturada, ver cómo hay un millón de artistas aficionados que quieren ser la próxima gran novedad, para empresas que literalmente no pueden darse el lujo de contratar más personas de las que ya están empleando (como DC o Maravilla).

Fiverr me permitió no solo comenzar a trabajar haciendo lo que realmente quería hacer desde que era niño, sino que también me permitió ganar lo suficiente para vivir de ello y mantener a mi familia (al menos según el estándar de mi país, considerando que lo que sería el salario mínimo en los EE.UU. está MUY por encima del promedio aquí, lo que me ha permitido vivir relativamente cómodo). 

Como puedes imaginar, he hablado sobre fiverr con casi cualquier persona que quisiera escucharme en la comunidad artística local aquí, e incluso he sido mentor de un par de personas que ahora también viven exclusivamente de sus conciertos en esta plataforma. Este se perfilaba como mi año más importante a nivel profesional hasta ahora después de haber conseguido el proyecto a largo plazo más grande en el que jamás había soñado trabajar hace apenas un par de meses... y luego aparece esta actualización y me envía a una caída libre sin fin de desesperación por lo que traerá el mañana. No sé si me despertaré mañana sin tener más una cuenta, o habiendo perdido mi nivel y reputación que he trabajado duro para construir y mantener durante la mayor parte de 3,5 años. Tuve suerte y la actualización no me afectó personalmente tanto como a otros, pero ¿por cuánto tiempo? ¿Cuánto tiempo podré seguir haciendo lo que sea que estoy haciendo “bien” si ni siquiera sé qué es? O cuánto tiempo hasta que tenga una mala experiencia con un cliente que sea suficiente para desplomar todas mis métricas de un solo golpe. Me hace sentir mal por las personas a las que he ayudado a crecer aquí y me da miedo por la seguridad de mi trabajo, y ahora estoy investigando alternativas por si acaso. 

I feel you, I'm from Venezuela and I'm a DJ and Mashuper/Remixer and in this industry is super saturated and Fiverr help me to grow here a lot, and this is my only income, and I'm now in 0, so I'm super worry about this, I hope Fiverr can improve this... A lot of people work on this since years and this is our unique job 

[leonormiserol]

37 minutes ago, amberlilyreadin said:

I often pause my gig to control my workflow. I'll get way too many orders if I keep it active all the time. My gig while active is a 10, but I just noticed today that my score dipped to a 6 after pausing. Because it only measures active gigs, and I only have 1 gig. So, apparently my score dips if I pause it. This seems like it's going to cause a lot of sellers anxiety when they want to take a break. We shouldn't feel punished for that.

I'm also hesitant to start any new gigs, because I feel like it will negatively affect this score. There isn't enough transparency in how this all works for me to feel comfortable enough to expand my work here on Fiverr. Currently, creating new gigs feels like a risk rather than an opportunity.

It's good to know that.

So, as I understand it, if I pause my gig with the lowest score and keep the gig with the highest score, only the one that is active is reflected?

[voicedbyken]

4 minutes ago, leonormiserol said:

It's good to know that.

So, as I understand it, if I pause my gig with the lowest score and keep the gig with the highest score, only the one that is active is reflected?

I attempted that 2 days ago and only left gigs with 9 and 10 up and my score didn't change, so today I activated them again.

Edited February 19 by voicedbyken

[almostfauxreal]

6 minutes ago, voicedbyken said:

I attempted that 2 days ago and only left gigs with 9 and 10 up and my score didn't change, so today I activated them again.

Somewhere here in the forum they officially said that pausing gigs doesn't have an influence. It only does when you delete the negative ones.

[leonormiserol]

7 minutes ago, almostfauxreal said:

Somewhere here in the forum they officially said that pausing gigs doesn't have an influence. It only does when you delete the negative ones.

Yes, that's what Kesha said a few pages ago. That's why the comment made me curious.

[amberlilyreadin]

1 hour ago, arianelaurent said:

Do you have access to the Request to Order feature? 🙂

I didn't know that was a thing! Thank you for sharing that.

[leannelrivers]

2 hours ago, vovkaslovesnyy said:

- When a buyer places an order, you need to send a long message explaining how happy you are to work with them. 

From now on, I'll be aiming for an average of 5000 words of communication per order. 

[amberlilyreadin]

18 minutes ago, leonormiserol said:

Yes, that's what Kesha said a few pages ago. That's why the comment made me curious.

Yeah I'm super confused what is going on with my rating then. I only have 1 gig, and it says that gig is a 10. No improvement required. Yet my overall score is a 6. All other requirements are green as well. The only thing that changed recently was that I paused the gig a few days ago.