Official feedback thread re: the new leveling system

[huntertreat14]

10 minutes ago, huntertreat14 said:

Ill look into that and see if it makes a difference. Anything at this point cant hurt more than it already is.
Thank you.

Unfortunately its only for Plus Premium Members.

[williambryan392]

24 minutes ago, huntertreat14 said:

Has anyone found ANYTHING that IS helpful? That is actually in OUR hands?

 

32 minutes ago, charlsmcfarlane said:

Did we ever get a concrete (transparent) answer on whether deleting a low performing gig will have a positive influence on the overall success score?

I have a few gigs that I'd happily sacrifice for a positive influence on the success score, but they do occasionally bear fruit, so I'd rather keep them if it makes no difference.

 

From what I understand (read/webinar/prior marketplace knowledge), and of course I may be wrong...

I think deleting a low performing gig will have a positive impact on the overall success score.

HOWEVER, what do we mean by low performing? I think there are broadly speaking two kinds of 'low performing' gigs:

1) Low order gigs:

Removing lower performing/low order gigs, which are lower performing because they have fewer orders / lower conversion than your other gigs (and other things we don't know) will have less impact on the SS by definition because there isn't much data/reviews behind them compared to your other gigs, good or bad. These gigs would have low impact on your SS. They just aren't powerful enough to impact it.

2) Low (private) feedback gigs:

Removing lower performing/low feedback gigs, which have lots of orders, but are likely judged as lower performing because the traditional buyer satisfaction score (private reviews) is low, would have more impact on your SS. There's more data, and so it's more powerful.

To be honest I'm a bit confused just writing this and I've had a long day, but I think that makes sense?

 

Short version:

Low order gigs (less data) don't have strong impact on SS.

High order gigs (more data) do have strong impact on SS.

[ahunyady]

1 hour ago, arianelaurent said:

Can I ask if you've found that fewer people order?  

It's going to depend on how many automatic orders you get. I get fewer than 5% of my orders that way (and they’re generally not the good customers either) so it won’t make a difference for me.

I turned it on all my gigs a few days ago because with the new system, we have to do extreme vetting on prospective clients. 

Edited February 24 by ahunyady

[texvox]

1 hour ago, huntertreat14 said:

Speaking of this.

Has anyone found ANYTHING that IS helpful? That is actually in OUR hands?

 

1 hour ago, dereck_s said:

I'd suggest turning on the "Request to Order" feature if you can. This means the buyer has to reach out to you before they can place an order. It helps to have a conversation and get an idea of what you offer and what the client might expect from you before even starting an order.

I'd agree with Dereck_s here. I've had the RTO function turned on 24/7 for a long time now (I was part of the beta) and it's made a world of difference for me. I've seen no slow-down in the number of projects that come my way, and my average selling price has gone up as a result of sending custom quotes with all necessary rights factored in and not having to chase down sellers who have no intention of doing the right thing and paying for what they need. It's also helped me to pre-screen sellers to see if their expectations and my offer line up. Generally the buyers who are only interested in using and abusing you, or who have no interest in learning if you actually offer what they expect, will out themselves pretty early in the conversation once you know what to look for. 

Edited February 24 by texvox

[arianelaurent]

38 minutes ago, donnovan86 said:

It seems the last order you had on that gig, or at least review was a year ago. Maybe they changed the timeline to a year... certainly seems like it, with so many people having lower success scores all of a sudden.

The gig that changed for me has been active for under 6 months so if it's that then I don't think it's just that...

[fission_designs]

14 minutes ago, texvox said:

 

I'd agree with Dereck_s here. I've had the RTO function turned on 24/7 for a long time now (I was part of the beta) and it's made a world of difference for me. I've seen no slow-down in the number of projects that come my way, and my average selling price has gone up as a result of sending custom quotes with all necessary rights factored in and not having to chase down sellers who have no intention of doing the right thing and paying for what they need. It's also helped me to pre-screen sellers to see if their expectations and my offer line up. Generally the buyers who are only interested in using and abusing you, or who have no interest in learning if you actually offer what they expect, will out themselves pretty early in the conversation once you know what to look for. 

what do you look for ?

[Alex.M]

On 2/23/2024 at 6:37 PM, katherinasim said:

All my clients lately choose NOT to leave any review. They send me a message "thank you so much I absolutely love it" and just click complete the order.

I think this is happening to me as well... lately from 10 orders only 2 sellers left reviews, the others just marked thee order as complete 

[Alex.M]

11 hours ago, antonnzuev said:

They tell us about the transparency of the site.

well yes, they tell us that they are transparent however the reality is the exact opposite it seems. 

[dereck_s]

58 minutes ago, fission_designs said:

what do you look for ?

I run or put on my serious face when I hear:

"I've tried to work with [x] number of designers before you but they couldn't get me what I want" 

"I don't know what I want" (My go to response is generally to tell them that if that's the case then their likely not ready for me yet.)

"I don't have all the info but I'll know it when I see it" (welcome to building and revising 47 logos to have the customer cancel AND leave a bad review)

[dianeofmusgrave]

Anyone elses score drop? I have gone from a 6 to 5. My most popular gig with the most returning customers is the lowest scoring. Surely there is something wrong with that? 
 

 

I have now paused the lowest gig. It had a strong negative impact next to cancellations. (there were only two cancellations both withing a few minutes and both before requirements were submitted). 

The cancellations issue is a massive problem. They need to figure out whatever bug or whatever.

 

Who thought that implementing a higher-scoring gig and lowering so many people's numbers would be a good idea? Great way to inspire everyone bravo. I don't feel hopeless and discouraged at all.
 

[gellerthyde]

I don’t think Fiverr will do anything about sellers anymore. So some government institution or eu should do something about them. It’s shouldn’t be allowed to treat people like that. With the updates in the last 2 years, i became so anxious and stressed. Fiverr is my only income and with every update, even if i did everything perfect;

- i’m never sure if my orders will be completed and if i’m going to get payment. - I’m never sure what fiverr do to my profile.

- sometimes they cancel completed orders 1 month later after completion without asking you. 
 

- cs doing nothing on behalf sellers. If you have a problematic buyer and you go to cs for help, they always cancel the order. So buyers gets your work for free.

- they are taking %20 of your income while its %10 on other platforms. And zero protection for sellers. We are asking for addition of wise as withdrawal method but instead, they are making an ad campaign with famous premier league football player and paying millions to him. With our money 🙂

They know they have no strong alternative in the market. So they are doing everything they want. They know sellers cant abandon them. But they also know they can get more new buyers with these updates. They think they can do everything against sellers. They simply dont care.

 

European Union really needs to do something about Fiverr instead of fighting with Apple.

[fixxapp]

this new level system just doesn't make any sense, I have about 250 5 stars review, a conversation rate of 12% and I made more than 55k on fiverr...yet my success score is 4, what's success according to the fiverr team?

[patriciacoasts]

1 hour ago, dianeofmusgrave said:

Anyone elses score drop? I have gone from a 6 to 5. My most popular gig with the most returning customers is the lowest scoring. Surely there is something wrong with that? 
 

 

I have now paused the lowest gig. It had a strong negative impact next to cancellations. (there were only two cancellations both withing a few minutes and both before requirements were submitted). 

The cancellations issue is a massive problem. They need to figure out whatever bug or whatever.

 

Who thought that implementing a higher-scoring gig and lowering so many people's numbers would be a good idea? Great way to inspire everyone bravo. I don't feel hopeless and discouraged at all.
 

Yes. My score dropped over night despite getting 5 star reviews + tips, providing constant communication, etc, quick replies. I'm more confused than ever.

[dianeofmusgrave]

11 minutes ago, patriciacoasts said:

Yes. My score dropped over night despite getting 5 star reviews + tips, providing constant communication, etc, quick replies. I'm more confused than ever.

I look at my success score and honestly, I feel like I should bury it under a tree and give it a gravemarker. RIP. I have nothing left to give to Fiverr. I have been giving it everything and apparently, that isn't enough. Weekends, holidays, late nights, bowing, and scraping, I am completely stumped as to what else I can do.  Apparently, my best is only worth 5 out of 10. 
 

[mikucchi]

I

My success score is dropping down because of "strong negative impact" on the order cancellations. I checked my gig and the order cancellations is 0%. I asked the CS but they didn't answer my questions and keep saying "improve on order cancellations". What's going on? Can someone explain this to me? 😭

[dianeofmusgrave]

22 minutes ago, mikucchi said:

I

My success score is dropping down because of "strong negative impact" on the order cancellations. I checked my gig and the order cancellations is 0%. I asked the CS but they didn't answer my questions and keep saying "improve on order cancellations". What's going on? Can someone explain this to me? 😭

From what I understand and I am trying to get confirmation on this but no one wants to be straight with me. If you have ever had any cancellations ever in your history then they are being held against you if they deem that it is a "bad cancellation". How they sort good and bad cancellations I don't know. The fact that the word "transparency is part of this new system is an absolute joke.

[kingpirux]

11 hours ago, chopperbricks said:

Yep! I once had a friend who needed my services, I sent him a DIRECT LINK to my gig, he ordered from there. Yet for me it showed up as promoted... 😬

 

the same here, the badges for clients are completly fake or placed randomly, i had one that was a returner and i dont know what else, with only 1 buy for a consultation that the freelance marked as "he only wanted a few simple questions"... so seems that to gain random badges as a seller just need to hire anyone for nothing and then you are free to scamm the entire platform.

[fixxapp]

I complained with the customer care and they replied

"Hi Valerio, 
 
Boris here. Thank you for your response.
 
 I will use this opportunity to congratulate you on the success that you have made on Fiverr so far! I do not doubt that you will continue having satisfied buyers and great ratings!
 
Rest assured that the new metric system is still being optimized and that it is made to improve your performance and views. Also, the same system applies to all sellers. 
 
Let me know the direction you'd like to take this and I'll provide further assistance. 
 
Looking forward to your response, "

at this point I think they are using AI to write replies 🙂

[mikucchi]

1 hour ago, dianeofmusgrave said:

From what I understand and I am trying to get confirmation on this but no one wants to be straight with me. If you have ever had any cancellations ever in your history then they are being held against you if they deem that it is a "bad cancellation". How they sort good and bad cancellations I don't know. The fact that the word "transparency is part of this new system is an absolute joke.

Yes. You're correct. In my issue, I didn't have any canceled order since the beginning (I've been careful and aware about this matter). I just received the answer from CS :

"It is important for me to mention that we are aware of the issue of cancelations rectified by Customer Support affecting success scores. We recognize this oversight and are actively working to resolve it before the transition period concludes on March 14. We will keep you informed of any updates."

It looks like the new system still affecting the order which cancelled by CS to the success score 😔

[kingpirux]

normally when you are presenting a new rule for a new system, that has hidden information, you should have a few scenarios to explain how it works... when asking for an example to fiverr:

the saddest one was when i asked honestly a method to upgrade my score:  

so basically

when you ask custommer suport about your lower score, they don't know... if you ask a way to solve it they will tell you that you should know 

[ralphwie]

I too echo the various comments here that the new review system is a mess. I understand that Fiverr wants to improve the platform with fresh new ideas but strangely it typically hits serious sellers hard and to the extent that sellers are getting punished.  

To start with we have cancellations that are impacting the ratings. This issue we had for a long time and it has never actually been resolved adequately. Examples are orders placed in error, orders placed without reading the requirements, orders placed without reading the gig at all, and of course out of scope and no response. Those all have negative impacts and even if you spend an hour supporting that buyer and the cancelation still goes ahead, your rating goes down. Yet the actual reason being not your fault is totally ignored. So how can that be fair?

The second is the changeover from the rating system. The questionnaire is far too difficult and the star chart doesn't relate to said questions. Which in turn causes a lot of 4/4.x reviews whereas in the old system, those would have been 5. carineb in her posts on Thursday and Friday has actually hit the nail on the head with her explanation. Yet while Fiver is (from experience likely not) experimenting with formulating the questions, serious long-time sellers and the few who actually care about their public ratings are getting bombarded with 4.x reviews where the customer wants to leave a 5 * but is too confused with the questionnaire. Again this has an obvious negative impact on the sellers. To that end, one may look at eBay, Yelp, Etsy, google, amazon, or even Upwork and PPL to admire a functional and well-thought-out rating system only to appreciate their simplicity and user-friendliness. Yet, one who prefers to remain in a fictional realm may continues to explore, reinvent, and disregard a certain uniformity that has evolved between other platforms. But, must then not wonder why he/she has alienated serious sellers and created a realm of misguided buyers.  

I`m all for quality and being serious and to turn Fiverr's reputation among the other platforms, around but with the recent changes, I don't feel that Fiverr is aiming this way.  So my question is why are we punishing and deliberately disadvantaging serious sellers with something that is hastily rolled out, not thoroughly thought through, or implemented properly? 

Edited February 25 by ralphwie

[zerlina84]

Yesterday I went from 8 SS to 7.

It still just tells me Communication is having a “negative impact” (not even “strong”).

I received 3 5-star reviews since I was an 8. Like, 5 stars on all criteria. Even if they left a negative private review, I’m 100% sure they didn’t complain about communication, wtf. So NO, this does not help me AT ALL, Fiverr.

I guarantee you there is absolutely NOTHING wrong with my communication, other than… I mostly communicate in Portuguese.

Stupid AI can’t figure it out and I’m paying the price.

This new system is bull****.

[Alex.M]

and in the meanwhile it seems that this is still happening but support doesn't really care, I showed them an article online about this problem and the reply was..

 

''I kindly suggest you refrain from listening to suggestions you find on the internet over the advice from Customer Support.
We are always transparent with our users''   

 

 

[palmreader37]

By this point it seems that most of CS responses are AI generated at least the first two or three...if you are insistent with your issue than it will be answered by a real CS person. 

I was about to complain about an issue to CS the first two responses seemed like they had come from  Chat GPT...only on the third it was obvious that it was written by a real person.  

Edited February 25 by palmreader37

[gellerthyde]

12 hours ago, donnovan86 said:

Well, Apple produces things, Fiverr is just a mediator between buyers and sellers. They provide a platform with specific rules that you either agree with and sell there, or you don't and stop selling. 

 

That's the issue, you don't have all the eggs in a single basket. Diversify your income. 

I had an order canceled 6 months after the fact so... 1 month is light. 

Well, you agreed to the terms of service for the 20%. The difference with other platforms is that here Fiverr does the promotion and buyers come to you. On other platforms you pay less but you have to pay for connects and you have to apply for jobs. Buyers may or may not hire you. 

Plus, on U work I had a project get canceled by the buyer saying he didn't like it, so it's not any difference between that and Fiverr. 

Does Apple produces something in the App Store? You clearly have no information about what is happening in the world. Apple also a mediator between developers and people in the App Store and EU brings regulations to that platform. So it is very likely they can do the same for this platform.

For your other zero make sense responses, i leave your judgement to the other sellers. But it makes me laugh a lot to see that you are desperately trying to defend fiverr and clearly expecting some kind of reward from them. 🙂 

 

Sincerely…