Official feedback thread re: the new leveling system

[rad_graphic]

Does anyone face this issue with PROMOTED GIG THIS MONTH? I normally get a minimum of 1 order for every 10 clicks but this month it's insanely low. 

94 clicks and only 2 orders. 

 

Last month I got 282 clicks and 32 orders from the promoted gig. 

Edited March 15 by rad_graphic

[emmaki]

Perhaps Fiverr just needs to do an UW and charge people to work on here. How about.... $5 a gig a month? 

🙂 Well, more than that actually if you want to clear the riff-raff out. $500? 

[williambryan392]

28 minutes ago, vhskid said:

t's logical (disappointing but not surprising) that sellers who weren't negatively affected by the new system (e.g. still sit on their intact TRS status), won't criticize it as much as people whose profiles / gigs were hurt. 

But it's nice to see "unaffected TRS" @levinewman (at least status-wise) who sees the system's faults with a broader, deeper, and more careful perspective.

Frankly I find this a bit offensive. You are assuming that I would only take the side that benefits me / aligns with my own situation. I find that quite obtuse. I'm happy to disagree with things that do benefit me. It's like why I vote for parties that will raise my taxes, even though I use public services less than average. I do it because I believe it's right.

Anyway.

28 minutes ago, levinewman said:

I want to say very clearly I appreciate and respect your perspective.

And I yours.

28 minutes ago, levinewman said:

Regarding the above, I don't know how long you've been on Fiverr, but from my perspective (10 years here) I think it's an honest reaction to the amount of negative changes I've personally seen in my time here.

About 3.5 years. I can't argue that the changes haven't hurt sellers over the 10 years you've been here. I don't know, I wasn't here, maybe everyone was worried when it changed from thumbs up/down to * ratings, and I'll never say the platform isn't weighted towards buyers. But let me ask you this... over the 10 years, and this steady stream of negative changes, has your revenue on average increased or decreased? Because if we're all here for revenue then that's what matters.

31 minutes ago, levinewman said:

I think the poor communication and poor rollout are the major reasons why people are up in arms and because of these two factors, they are seriously worried about their revenue.

Again I agree! Comms and bugs have been an issue, and majorly damaged trust. But worry isn't reality, so I want to say again we need to see what happens.

33 minutes ago, levinewman said:

regard to their well-being and security, then it's 100% your fault and you (Fiverr) deserve to be held accountable.

This is where we maybe disagree a bit more... does Fiverr actually owe us anything? I've had good months and bad. Unfair cancelations etc etc. I've always felt this was 'their house party', and if they change the music to something I don't like, then I can leave, or dance to a tune I don't enjoy. Like any platform, it's their platform, not ours. I'm not saying it feels fair, but it is the way it is.

 

5 minutes ago, emmaki said:

charge people to work on here. How about.... $5 a gig a month? 

That is what's happening, just with more steps I think.

[leonormiserol]

50 minutes ago, williambryan392 said:

Ever been to a restaurant and told the waiter everything was great when in fact it wasn’t? I know I have. I dont want the hassle of making the negativity public, but if I could tell them secretly what I thought with no consequence or awkwardness then maybe I would.

I understand what you're saying, but that's exactly the point.
I can tell my companion that the food was not that good, however I tell the waiter that everything was fine, just so as not to bother him.

That private review is not going to affect the restaurant's sales, it is not going to have consequences. If I get a private survey about the restaurant I will probably expose the points that I did not like. That doesn't mean it's a bad restaurant, otherwise I would expose it publicly in a review. And I bet you that they will use that data to improve their quality.

But in this case they don't give us the tools to know where we are failing, there are only terms like "improvement in communication" or "customer satisfaction." But that is very ambiguous and we cannot improve with so little information.

I'm not saying that they give us all the information from the client's private review, but surely they can do something so that we know where we failed and how to improve it, and that is up to each one of us.

There are many ways to look at this private reviews, maybe I'm wrong but it seems to me that they can improve it.

[williambryan392]

8 minutes ago, leonormiserol said:

there are only terms like "improvement in communication" or "customer satisfaction." But that is very ambiguous and we cannot improve with so little information.

I fully agree the advice could be more actionable. It isn't hugely helpful currently.

But it is more than we had before (but perhaps just raises more questions!)

Again though I'll say that the data isn't new, and we are still the same sellers we were last month, and the same buyers are still here.

Levels might have changed, but it's often said that you don't need to be TRS to earn more, you can have success as level 1 or 2 (old system), so with that in mind I don't think we should assume that these changes are going to destroy sellers. I'm not saying they won't, I'm just saying we don't know. I do still believe that at its core Fiverr wants sellers to be successful, and buyers to be happy, because that's how they make money.

 

[donnovan86]

14 minutes ago, williambryan392 said:

you don't need to be TRS to earn more

You don't. The only problem is that you can't have 20 gigs anymore, they limited us to 10 as a level 2 seller.  I have 4 so I am not affected, but having no difference between level 1 and 2 when it comes to the number of active gigs, then all of a sudden 30 for TRS.. That doesn't sit right with me.

[williambryan392]

1 minute ago, donnovan86 said:

You don't. The only problem is that you can't have 20 gigs anymore, they limited us to 10 as a level 2 seller.  I have 4 so I am not affected, but having no difference between level 1 and 2 when it comes to the number of active gigs, then all of a sudden 30 for TRS.. That doesn't sit right with me.

Yep it seems a little odd, but I expect they are thinking there's going to be quite a lot of movement between levels 1 & 2, so it avoids the whole pausing / unpausing. I also do wonder if people need more than 10 gigs. I guess the 30 for TRS is catering towards those with big agencies that offer a lot of different things.

[donnovan86]

3 minutes ago, williambryan392 said:

I guess the 30 for TRS is catering towards those with big agencies that offer a lot of different things.

Now we get into another thing.. Those sellers that say "I will" yet they are an agency. However they don't disclose that, and buyers trust them. Dishonest practice, very common. I am proud to say I've accomplished everything I did here without external help. Yet obviously people will compare me and other solo freelancers with "agencies" that are presented to buyers as a single person working there.. 

[levinewman]

35 minutes ago, williambryan392 said:

About 3.5 years. I can't argue that the changes haven't hurt sellers over the 10 years you've been here. I don't know, I wasn't here, maybe everyone was worried when it changed from thumbs up/down to * ratings, and I'll never say the platform isn't weighted towards buyers. But let me ask you this... over the 10 years, and this steady stream of negative changes, has your revenue on average increased or decreased? Because if we're all here for revenue then that's what matters

Significantly decreased since Fiverr's adoption of AI. And when I say significantly, I was making 170k a year on Fiverr prior to the AI-Fiverr implementation, then dropped by 70k a year immediately after. So, yeah, I'm speaking strictly from a financial point of view.

[donnovan86]

1 minute ago, vhskid said:

I'm saying that you'd probably be more critical about the new system if it would hurt your business or if it looked like it would be hurt.

Everyone's business is hurt one way or the other, to be honest. The change to this new level system was not smooth, there are still a lot of unknowns. For example I saw people still complaining about cancellations damaging their success score, even if it's supposed to be fixed.

Then we have you as a seller being compared to other sellers and their performance, even if that "seller" is in fact an agency. How can I compete with another writer that outsources 30 articles a day, and I write everything myself? Come on.. if you think that's fair... That's where my issue stems here.. but at the end of the day I know that we won't have that much control. The platform has investors, stockholders, they are the ones deciding what features are added and where the platform goes. I've been asking for a way to stop people from purchasing gig package multiples.. for years and years. And it wasn't implemented, most likely never will.

I get the outrage people have and I have my own disappointments with this level system, but at the end of the day I just try to focus on my work. I talked with someone from Fiverr, shared my feedback, and unfortunately I don't think there's anything else I can do. 

[williambryan392]

3 minutes ago, vhskid said:

Calm down, Karen.

Is that really necessary/constructive/kind?

I did find your comment a bit offensive, and I can explain why... referring to someone on the other side of the debate as someone: 

4 minutes ago, vhskid said:

who sees the system's faults with a broader, deeper, and more careful perspective.

suggests by definition that I do not, that I am in fact narrower, shallower, and have a more careless perspective.

I don't think this is fair or true.

[frank_d]

7 minutes ago, vhskid said:

 

 

Calm down, Karen.

I'm saying that you'd probably be more critical about the new system if it would hurt your business or if it looked like it would be hurt.
One's perspective changes when encountering a specific experience. Imagining being in someone's shoes doesn't equal knowing how is it to wear them. 

I'm not saying that you are the face of the "less critical sellers' movement" but the disproportion of the criticisms' scope of affected and unaffected people is very noticeable. Even if we exclude strictly emotional feedback.

Please refrain from name calling, this is warning 1 out of 1.

[dereck_s]

1 minute ago, donnovan86 said:

I get the outrage people have and I have my own disappointments with this level system, but at the end of the day I just try to focus on my work.

That would be a lot easier if the last 6 months hasn't been all bad on Fiverr with no work. At the end of the day I think we all just want a fair system and a chance to make money and I feel like I've been denied that on fiverr for awhile .... hence my bitchiness I apologize for.

[vhskid]

2 minutes ago, donnovan86 said:

Then we have you as a seller being compared to other sellers and their performance, even if that "seller" is in fact an agency. How can I compete with another writer that outsources 30 articles a day, and I write everything myself? Come on..

I wonder about it myself - if these profiles are internally marked as agencies and not compared to regular freelancers or not.

The distinction should be obligatory and public. There is the "Fiverr agencies" account option, so these not-so-freelancer profiles should be converted.

[williambryan392]

11 minutes ago, vhskid said:

I wonder about it myself - if these profiles are internally marked as agencies and not compared to regular freelancers or not.

The distinction should be obligatory and public. There is the "Fiverr agencies" account option, so these not-so-freelancer profiles should be converted.

And this is something we can both agree on. Same with people that use AI but don't mention it. 

25 minutes ago, vhskid said:

I'm saying that you'd probably be more critical about the new system if it would hurt your business or if it looked like it would be hurt.

Who on earth said it hadn't!? Massive assumption on your part. If you want the facts. February was my lowest revenue month for over 2 years, about 75% lower than my average month.

You're just assuming that everything is fine with me because I'm not slamming the new system.

The arguments can go both ways. Successful sellers can say they don't like it, and sellers that are getting hammered by it can say they do. That's allowed...

[newsmike]

1 minute ago, vhskid said:

There is no objective true / false when it comes to subjective images of ourselves.

It is @frank_d 's opinion you need to be concerned with. 

[vhskid]

22 minutes ago, williambryan392 said:

29 minutes ago, vhskid said:

Calm down, Karen.

Is that really necessary/constructive/kind?

 

1 hour ago, williambryan392 said:

I find that quite obtuse.

Was this necessary/constructive/kind?

 

23 minutes ago, williambryan392 said:

30 minutes ago, vhskid said:

who sees the system's faults with a broader, deeper, and more careful perspective.

suggests by definition that I do not, that I am in fact narrower, shallower, and have a more careless perspective.

I don't think this is fair [...]

Agree to disagree.

 

25 minutes ago, williambryan392 said:

[...] or true.

There is no objective true / false when it comes to subjective images of ourselves.

[rudyabel]

muh muh moving on...

 

[williambryan392]

1 minute ago, vhskid said:

Was this necessary/constructive/kind?

 

I respond to rudeness in the same way I would respond to bullies: once, make my point, and then I'll move on and ignore.

On this note what was quite a constructive and engaging back and forth is no longer quite so constructive (in my subjective opinion) so I'll leave it here for now.

[vhskid]

15 minutes ago, williambryan392 said:

35 minutes ago, vhskid said:

I'm saying that you'd probably be more critical about the new system if it would hurt your business or if it looked like it would be hurt.

Who on earth said it hadn't!? Massive assumption on your part. If you want the facts. February was my lowest revenue month for over 2 years, about 75% lower than my average month.

You're just assuming that everything is fine with me because I'm not slamming the new system.

The arguments can go both ways. Successful sellers can say they don't like it, and sellers that are getting hammered by it can say they do. That's allowed...

I meant your level / TRS status here. Since yes, I don't know your revenue stats. 

While revenue drop might depend on different things - not only changes introduced by Fiverr - the more or less drastic levels' demotions are big indicators that things might really go bad for someone during this year.

[vhskid]

38 minutes ago, frank_d said:

Please refrain from name calling, this is warning 1 out of 1.

Got it

[vhskid]

22 minutes ago, newsmike said:

It is @frank_d 's opinion you need to be concerned with. 

Thankfully not with yours

[williambryan392]

Okay you sucked me back in, but I'm off to bed after this comment...

8 minutes ago, vhskid said:

I meant your level / TRS status here. Since yes, I don't know your revenue stats. 

And you don't know my level status either or my success score- you don't know where I stand. You're making an assumption based on my views of the new system.

8 minutes ago, vhskid said:

things might really go bad for someone during this year.

Yes they might, or they might not. That's been something I've constantly said. The fear doesn't help. We have to wait and see what the actual impact is. Ups and downs are normal on Fiverr. For the data to be meaningful we'd have to give it a few months at least to judge.

Anyway, night all.

[emmaki]

I was of course joking about $500 gigs, but $5 gigs could be workable (and probably also get rid of gig limits). I know on Etsy they charge for each listing, but that's something like 50c for 6 months (note: I made that up, but they do charge for product listings).

In unrelated news, here's a GIF:

 

[newsmike]

1 minute ago, vhskid said:

Thankfully not with yours

Like @williambryan392, I too am replying once and placing you on ignore.