Update: Addressing new level system questions and feedback

[crawford_copy]

58 minutes ago, ana_standret said:

I got two 4.7 review in the last few days just related to the new metrics Value for Money. Still, I got tips for both orders and very nice words in feedback about client' experience. I do not understand this parameter at all. I do not force clients to order my service, so if they choose it they should consider if it is cost-effective for them. Should we all sell our services for $5 to get 5 stars for Value for money?
This new review system is a disaster. 

The system could be configured so that when a client leaves a tip, but also selects less than five stars for value for money (perhaps by mistake), they get a prompt from the system: "Thank you for leaving a tip. Are you sure this seller doesn't deserve five stars for Value for Money?"

[Alex.M]

Is anyone else experiencing this _ _ _ _  ? It's the 3rd time in 2 days 

[donnovan86]

17 minutes ago, Alex.M said:

Is anyone else experiencing this _ _ _ _  ? It's the 3rd time in 2 days 

 

I saw your post about this a few days ago, and it happened to me that exact day. Not sure if we're dealing with a serial "cancellator" or anything, but it is weird. There might be some undecided people... did you have any increase in impressions or a lot of clicks from Promoted Gigs? The canceled order I had was from Promoted Gigs. Not sure if it's the same in your case.

[prof_arehman]

On 2/20/2024 at 8:26 AM, prof_arehman said:

Returning Customer and yet he didn't find any "value for money" in the delivery 🙂 Besides that, the client is COMPLETELY SATISFIED with the delivery and didn't even ask for a single revision.

This option seems flawed. Why would clients accept the price in the first place? If they don't like the price, they wouldn't order? And if they did, and they were ok with the price, they accepted the delivery while being totally satisfied with the work then what is the point of this "value for money" option?
It is like "I worked with you before and I will keep working with you because I love the quality of your work but no, you have no 'Value for money' in the work you deliver"

@Kesha @Lyndsey_Fiverr
I would really appreciate your take on this. Thanks!

[voicedbyken]

1 hour ago, pyxisstudio said:

@voicedbyken Did your success score change yet after deleting the gigs or still the same ?

Nothing changed except I now I two less gigs

[leonormiserol]

Apparently the moderators have already abandoned this post, since there are many inconsistencies between what they said here and what support tells us.

Does anyone really think they take us seriously?

They are very happy with their new update, as shown by the webinars and responses.

 

The Terminator arrived and we don't have a John Connor to defend us from the AI.

[maitasun]

41 minutes ago, crawford_copy said:

I'm guessing this is because our scores are calculated relative to everyone else our categories, so as other people get reviews and move up and down, your position relative to them changes.

Yes, Fiverr is comparing low-volume, high-quality serious sellers, to cheaters, scammers, and $1-a-dozen sellers. Fantastic, isn't it?

Doing so, Fiverr just came up with a new law: apples can be compared to oranges... 🙄

Math students will be delighted to know that, from now on, they can perfectly add 'x' and 'y' terms and reach the correct solution...

 

[antonnzuev]

2 hours ago, ana_standret said:

I got two 4.7 review in the last few days just related to the new metrics Value for Money. Still, I got tips for both orders and very nice words in feedback about client' experience. I do not understand this parameter at all. I do not force clients to order my service, so if they choose it they should consider if it is cost-effective for them. Should we all sell our services for $5 to get 5 stars for Value for money?
This new review system is a disaster. 

The most interesting thing about this situation is that even selling your product for $5 doesn't guarantee you a maximum score in the "Value for Money" column."
That's just absurd.
Considering that we're on a platform where the customer is searching for a contractor. 

[leonormiserol]

2 hours ago, Alex.M said:

Is anyone else experiencing this _ _ _ _  ? It's the 3rd time in 2 days 

 

 

It is something worrying. Since this is circulating and it looks exactly like what you are saying.

https://hacksnation.com/d/27990-fiverr-de-rank-any-seller-on-fiverr-with-new-level-system

[carminesannino]

4 minutes ago, leonormiserol said:

 

It is something worrying. Since this is circulating and it looks exactly like what you are saying.

https://hacksnation.com/d/27990-fiverr-de-rank-any-seller-on-fiverr-with-new-level-system

This is very serious; the platform will suffer. @Kesha

[Alex.M]

1 minute ago, carminesannino said:

the platform will suffer.

The ones that will suffer are only us. These are the consequences of Fiverr's actions

[carminesannino]

1 minute ago, Alex.M said:

The ones that will suffer are only us. These are the consequences of Fiverr's actions

Yes, and the credibility of the platform itself. I suffered from the same thing, and now I am Level 0 and was Top Rated until 6 months ago. There are so many Top sellers in my category, (graphic designer) offering terrible work, but they stay Top and sell a lot. It is something nonsensical

[katherinasim]

I finally decided to ask our lovely Customer support about one gig, I am very curious which answer I receive - do they really use AI to reply? This gig of mine was ordered 5 times. All orders completed, clients super happy and satisfied. The resolution center was never contacted about the "unresolved issues". 

At this moment I start to think all the numbers in our new stats are just random 😆 None of them make any sense

[leonormiserol]

4 minutes ago, katherinasim said:

I finally decided to ask our lovely Customer support about one gig

I would like to give you hope, but I have had a ticket open for a week, I only receive automated responses to my questions that are very specific. Even I could answer that question for you, with some of the answers CS gave me. It is very sad.

[Alex.M]

16 minutes ago, katherinasim said:

I finally decided to ask our lovely Customer support about one gig, I am very curious which answer I receive - do they really use AI to reply? This gig of mine was ordered 5 times. All orders completed, clients super happy and satisfied. The resolution center was never contacted about the "unresolved issues". 

At this moment I start to think all the numbers in our new stats are just random 😆 None of them make any sense

Unfortunately, they won't give you a clear answer, I assume that they are going to say that this is influenced by other gigs in your category that are performing better ( they left room for this in case they don't have a real answer )

[stanhenderson]

6 minutes ago, leonormiserol said:

I would like to give you hope, but I have had a ticket open for a week, I only receive automated responses to my questions that are very specific. Even I could answer that question for you, with some of the answers CS gave me. It is very sad.

Me too. My impression is that they don't know what to do or say since they don't understand this themselves, Or they have blind faith in this update and are just sitting in silence waiting for the storm to blow past........ I hope they come to their senses soon, because every second we are left in this limbo, the more faith we lose in fiverr as a platform. They are suppose to have our back, That (and the marketplace) is the whole reason for why we are on this platform!  

[imtiazgfx]

1 hour ago, antonnzuev said:

The most interesting thing about this situation is that even selling your product for $5 doesn't guarantee you a maximum score in the "Value for Money" column."
That's just absurd.
Considering that we're on a platform where the customer is searching for a contractor. 

If client cannot understand the Value of your service or Value for Money, you have to educate the buyer about Value for Money part. You have to tell them about the order process, effort, time utilization, quality work and service value so he can understand what you are doing and how much effort you are putting in so he/she can understand that is their Value for Money for sure.

Ultimately, it depends on your guidance to buyer that will explain and justify your service with Value for Money.

[katherinasim]

26 minutes ago, Alex.M said:

Unfortunately, they won't give you a clear answer, I assume that they are going to say that this is influenced by other gigs in your category that are performing better ( they left room for this in case they don't have a real answer )

I got a reply - and it's exactly what you said 😅 

 

[virgoca]

8 minutes ago, imtiazgfx said:

If client cannot understand the Value of your service or Value for Money, you have to educate the buyer about Value for Money part. You have to tell them about the order process, effort, time utilization, quality work and service value so he can understand what you are doing and how much effort you are putting in so he/she can understand that is their Value for Money for sure.

Ultimately, it depends on your guidance to buyer that will explain and justify your service with Value for Money.

problem here is, even if we are as thorough and transparent as possible, we cannot ensure the buyer will feel that they got the best price for the result they wanted. Many buyers will always want it cheaper, I've been a witness to this already once since the new system rolled out. And if we take the route of literally explaining to them what our value for money is, explicitly, we may be risking being flagged for review manipulation. It's a very volatile metric we have no way of predicting. We CAN be extremely methodical about using proper polite and professional language. We CAN be methodical with delivering in a timely manner. There are ways we can ensure the most likely outcome to be a perfect score on those metrics. But the value for money? Well, as ugly as that notion is, that can only be determined by how cheap the buyer you are working with is. 

Edited February 21 by virgoca

[stepanc]

Dear Fiverr,

Thank you so much for your new level system! We love it! 😍

Sincerely
Your Upwork

[prolancer724]

Fiverr Support is getting worse day by day. They took very long time to respond and also gave the same replies to the sellers. When I contacted them about this issue of level system update they told me "Your account has been flagged due to activities indicating a connection to violations of our Terms of Service or location inconsistencies." 

When I asked to please explain this they took another 2 days and told me we had found a connection with another account that was disabled. I was shocked because this is my first account on Fiverr. I verified my account around 2 years ago I am level 2 low and earned more than 30K with 1100+ 5-star reviews and my all statistics are 100%.

 

I was waiting for Top top-rated badge and I had to face this issue. This is very disappointing for me and my reputation in Fiverr. 

 

Working on Fiverr nowadays has become very complex and unfavorable for the extra care of the Buyers as well.

 

All you know is how much effort we have to put into maintaining a good account status.

 

But after hard work for 2 years, it's not desirable to hear this kind of valueless news from the support team.  I also told them I could supply my documents if they need any verification documents that I don't link with any old Fiverr. 

 

They are just skipping the issue and making me harassed. Nowadays sellers are being harassed by support teams than bad clients.

 

Let me know if you agree. I am addressing this issue to maintain a neutral, friendly, and equal environment to working on Fiverr. 

 

 

 

[msw_77]

Seems like fiverr staff left this thread no answers since 5 days

[graduatescope]

I am a big level 2 seller with $280,000 earned in less than 3 years ( I started on Fiverr in 2021). I have completed 4,000+ orders as a seller and have also spent $19,000+ as a buyer. I agree with everyone here about how Fiverr is making mistakes repeatedly with their product releases and updates. 

Read my detailed post on what I think about their new updates + some feedback to improve them. Comment if you can think of any other improvement as well.  

We need to stand strong and voice our opinions without stopping to make Fiverr understand. They usually don't listen but we need to stand our ground. 

I love Fiverr and how it helped me build a successful freelance revenue stream but I am very disappointed with how they progressed over the last couple of years especially with bad product releases. 

[emmaki]

Here's the Q4 blurb if anyone's interested

https://investors.fiverr.com/static-files/29ad13ef-764e-47f7-89f7-75eee7d4a596

ChatGPT summary:

Quote

The Q4 2023 Fiverr Shareholder Letter highlights several key annual growth metrics and financial outcomes for Fiverr:

- **Revenue Growth**: Fiverr reported a year-over-year (y/y) revenue growth of 10.1%, reaching $91.5 million for the quarter.
- **Active Buyers Decline**: The platform experienced a 5% decrease in active buyers, totaling 4.1 million.
- **Spend Per Buyer Increase**: There was a 6% growth in spend per buyer, rising to $278.
- **Take Rate Improvement**: The take rate improved by 160 basis points y/y to 31.8%.
- **Gross Margin**: The GAAP gross margin increased, reaching 83.1%, with a non-GAAP gross margin of 84.6%.
- **GAAP Net Income**: Fiverr achieved a GAAP net income of $4.7 million.
- **Adjusted EBITDA**: The adjusted EBITDA was $16.1 million, representing a 17.6% margin.
- **Financial Outlook for FY 2024**: Fiverr provided a financial outlook for FY 2024, expecting revenue growth of 5-7% y/y and an adjusted EBITDA of $65.0 - $73.0 million.

These figures reflect Fiverr's operational and financial achievements, including strategic initiatives around AI and market expansion, as well as their expectations for continued growth and profitability in the coming year.

And the ELI5, because I love AI ELI5s:

Quote

Imagine Fiverr as a big playground where people come to play different games (buy and sell services). Last year, more people came to play, and they spent more money on their games, especially on the really cool and complicated ones. Fiverr also got better at picking which games to show off so that everyone can have more fun and spend their allowance wisely. They're planning to use some smart robot helpers to make the playground even cooler this year!

 

[edc_lab]

11 hours ago, graveyardshiftx said:

I love the points you are making, but let's take this a step further: what if i need an extension anyway? We are NOT employees. That's the whole point of hiring a freelancer in the first place. We are not employees and we are not beheld to the same standards as employees because we do not have the same rights and protections.

(...)

I'm not asking for preferential treatment here. But if I explain to a client why I need an extension and they accept it, I don't get why Fiverr would count that as a negative impact on my score. It's pure bollocks.

I agree with that, but the thing is, Fiverr needs bonus & malus points because they need to make rankings, so in one way or another they need to do that.
That's why I said they should make an article listing all the main bonus & malus decisions a seller can make while working on a gig.
If I need an extension and I ask for it, I need to be aware that if they refuse it I'm going to get penalized for that.
I don't want to know their rating formula, I would just like to know what's good and what's not.
If they clearly say "accepted extensions are not going to penalize you" everyone would be more than happy to know that.
When it comes to working with a client there are a lot of variables involved, but if you know where the possible traps are (bonus & malus), you'll have all the necessary info to make custom workflows for every client out there.

If a buyer made a wrong order you can't penalize the seller.
If a buyer didn't provide requirements you can't penalize the seller.
If a seller receives a tip the buyer shouldn't be able to leave negative ratings.
If a buyer needs a simple "it didn't meet my expectations" to get refunded, you can't let them abuse your sellers so easily (which are Fiverr customers too because of the fees).
And many other things that probably I'm not aware of.

Making the system transparent could help sellers become better professionals. But first of all, they need to specify what transparency means for them.

Your message is full of energy, convert it into a positive one, and remember why you're doing that.
I wish you all the best, stay strong!