Official feedback thread re: the new leveling system

[emmaki]

3 hours ago, dade_tilellit said:

It wasn't enough to "appropiate" 20% of our effort, now they released a paid seller plan. You can imagine where this is going, no need for 58 pages.

Apparently you don't realize that the paid seller plans have been out since 2021. 

[cucinavivace]

6 minutes ago, emmaki said:

Apparently you don't realize that the paid seller plans have been out since 2021. 

 

Or that it costs money to process payments and provide systems and support and legal compliance around the globe, which is why other platforms charge you upfront to use them. I guess one can complain about 20% or complain about monthly fees, but it's hard to make an argument for complaining about both.

[emmaki]

5 minutes ago, cucinavivace said:

 

Or that it costs money to process payments and provide systems and support and legal compliance around the globe, which is why other platforms charge you upfront to use them. I guess one can complain about 20% or complain about monthly fees, but it's hard to make an argument for complaining about both.

Yes, I think 20% is reasonable. Would I like it to be lower? Of course. But since I don't pay anything unless I get work, it's fine. Much better than playing client roulette on UW with "connects". 

[cucinavivace]

1 minute ago, emmaki said:

Yes, I think 20% is reasonable. Would I like it to be lower? Of course. But since I don't pay anything unless I get work, it's fine. Much better than playing client roulette on UW with "connects". 

 

I'm ok with it to a certain point. I'm not so fine with it being 20% on a $50 order and 20% on a $1,000 order when Fiverr doesn't have any additional overhead on the bigger order. I think it should be 20% up to a certain gig amount or up to a certain annual volume and then a lesser amount from there.

But, whatever. I spend 20% of my budget on marketing anyway. They can have it. But that's why I will not be paying for Seller Plus or for Promoted Gigs or for anything else they try to nickel and dime us on that would give them over 20% in total. If they want to give me business for 20%, great. If it's more than 20% I can spend it to get the business elsewhere without the extra headaches of working on Fiverr.

[emmaki]

Yeah, it would be nice if they had a sliding commission scale, but I don't think it's going to happen. If you look at Fiverr Enterprise, where (I'm guessing) all the really big $ business goes, there are apparently no seller fees at all, buyer pays everything.

Of course, it's been a month since I sent an email to FE team asking if this was a thing or too good to be true and nobody's gotten back to me yet. I thought it was a very simple question - silly me. 

Memo to any Fiverr staff reading this: the complete silence on this topic is why sellers don't believe you when you start talking about "transparency" and "listening to users" and why many of us think our comments are simply thrown into the nearest trash bin after precisely no consideration. 

[hamzakhan578]

On 4/9/2024 at 8:21 PM, fahimeh22 said:

I'm writing to express my concerns regarding the promoted gig feature on Fiverr. As you may know, this feature is available to sellers ranging from level 1 to top-rated. Previously, I was a level 2 seller and regularly received orders through this feature. However, due to the new level system, I lost my previous level status, making me ineligible for this feature. While I appreciate the one-month grace period Fiverr provided starting from March 14th, allowing me to continue using the promoted gig feature, I've noticed that my success score has been stuck at 4 for quite some time. 

Despite consistently receiving new orders, delivering them promptly, and receiving five-star reviews from buyers, my success score hasn't increased to above 4. This situation is both frustrating and concerning because without a success score of 5, I won't be able to use the promoted gig feature, potentially impacting my sales and income. As Fiverr is my sole source of income, this prospect is quite distressing. 

I would like to request that Fiverr consider allowing sellers who have lost their level status to use the promoted gig feature for several months to regain orders and potentially return to their previous level. This would greatly benefit freelancers like myself who rely on Fiverr for their livelihood.😥

@fahimeh22

Promoted gig Feature gone today.

[rudyabel]

Ok, so now I'm a 9 all of a sudden instead of an 8. Was that it? Did I get reviewed? Did anyone actually get a GOOD look at my account? Nothing else has changed. The one bad BSR I got last OCT is still clogging my account to a total stand still. If the BSR is going away, then I should be an 11(sarcasm). I don't have any public reviews under 4 at all. 99% of which are 5s. Does none of that matter? 

It was one thing when fiverr was an underdog discounter for those willing to work cheaply for a leg up, it's another to grow into a giant company mismanaging professional talent. You are losing millions. 

Forgive the bellyaching. I'm know I'm just a lowly merchant who should suffer in silence.

[filipdevaere]

3 hours ago, rudyabel said:

so now I'm a 9 all of a sudden instead of an 8.

The scores are changing very slowly.

I can see it on my gigs. Some of them move 1 point up, others go 1 point down.

[sshublaq]

On 4/9/2024 at 10:21 PM, fahimeh22 said:

my success score has been stuck at 4 for quite some time. 

It will be for the next 6 months. Then they will evaluate again. How ironic. SIX MONTHS!!!

[sshublaq]

Also, for anyone who is interested in this information, if their score is at 4. I received an order from a new client. So I asked them, how did you find me? Was it through search, or did you favorite my gig? He said he searched for particular criteria, and that's how he found me. So even though we are out of search, clients can still find us if they search for particular criteria. He searched for a person who speaks Arabic and is based in Indonesia.

[marinanp86]

5 hours ago, rudyabel said:

I don't have any public reviews under 4 at all. 99% of which are 5s. Does none of that matter? 

Fiver has already made it clear that it doesn't care about ratings that are public. Only private evaluations are valid.
In that case I don't understand what public ratings are for, if only the private ones will be valid, then they should leave the private ones and stop making us dizzy.

27 minutes ago, sshublaq said:

Also, for anyone who is interested in this information, if their score is at 4. I received an order from a new client. So I asked them, how did you find me? Was it through search, or did you favorite my gig? He said he searched for particular criteria, and that's how he found me. So even though we are out of search, clients can still find us if they search for particular criteria. He searched for a person who speaks Arabic and is based in Indonesia.

You were very lucky. I searched for myself by my country, language, category and I don't appear anywhere at all.
My success score is 4 for using the delivery extension. All my ratings are 5, tips on almost all orders, 0 cancellations, 0 disputes. And that's how Fiver treats me. Magnificent.

[priyank_mod]

1 hour ago, sshublaq said:

It will be for the next 6 months. Then they will evaluate again. How ironic. SIX MONTHS!!!

There are no manual evaluations and 6 month time frame is for the re-evaluation of TRS-qualified people.

Everything else is just a function of a big AI engine which runs on some complex data science model with a zillion data points to calculate gig and success score(s). 

[sshublaq]

I'm sure I read it somewh

2 hours ago, priyank_mod said:

There are no manual evaluations and 6 month time frame is for the re-evaluation of TRS-qualified people.

Everything else is just a function of a big AI engine which runs on some complex data science model with a zillion data points to calculate gig and success score(s). 

I'm sure I read it somewhere here in the forum from a staff fourm member. I will try to find it to make sure.

[sshublaq]

3 hours ago, priyank_mod said:

There are no manual evaluations and 6 month time frame is for the re-evaluation of TRS-qualified people.

Everything else is just a function of a big AI engine which runs on some complex data science model with a zillion data points to calculate gig and success score(s). 

Found it.
 

 

[emmaki]

That just means the AI thinks you're rubbish. No humans need to check to see if you're rubbish or the AI was wrong. 

 

[rudyabel]

Ok, this water is muddy as heck. 

Can somebody spell out what the actual current situation is? Is there a private review, is it going away? Are scores global? Or time delimited? Are public scores completely ignored and irrelevant? Any link will do, thank you. 

 

[priyank_mod]

2 hours ago, sshublaq said:

Found it.
 

 

Interesting, thanks for locating and sharing it back. I wasn't aware of this. 

So,

Low success score ---> Label gets assigned ------(6 months⌛)--> Label gets removed. 

And may be, gig will turn up in search results!! 

 

[rudyabel]

 

And maybe we take our ball and go home. 

Fiverr needs to know one thing. As far as the VO section is concerned you are already the outlier. This industry would like nothing more than to see you collapse.  And for every talent that goes on and seeks their clients without you. For every one that goes on to earn 6 figures. Which many pros do. YOU miss out on 20k a year. That adds up. Wake up.

Whatever you're making now on VO, is peanuts.  I don't care if RH is making 300k on VO. That's a 3 man operation sweat shop of VO. No, I'm talking about talent after talent not getting traction on this site.  I know the pro and business side is slowly maturing. But still, it's a day late and a dollar short for many. So, deal with it, don't deal with it. Sleep in the bed you made. 

Edited April 13 by rudyabel

[emmaki]

Yeah, they don't really care about disgruntled sellers jumping up and down like an enraged Rumpelstiltskin over their horrible decisionmaking. 

There are plenty of people with AI and voice cloning waiting to make money from Fiverr without lifting a finger, and Fiverr will be more than happy to lie in that bed. 

[rudyabel]

Here's a thought for you. How about you require levels to charge a base minimum like in Pro. It's  awesome for a new seller to charge 5 dollars for a 30 second local commercial. But you have TRS, on the front page selling a 30 commercial for close to that. That's an abuse of the system. No wonder they are on the front page.  No kidding, they are treading into sweatshop territory. Sorry, no, I'm not going to be a sweatshop for you. If Fiverr really wants to break out of it's shell, then it has to start being more price conscious. 

Edited April 14 by rudyabel

[rudyabel]

One last one for today. I swear. 

It's amazing that no one in your ranks has pointed out how utterly futile this minutia is.
 
The whole point of the client both giving AND receiving a review is basically a handshake between client and seller, a meme. The client wants to keep the seller happy to return later for more work. The seller basically praises the buyer with the mandatory 5 star review by default as to keep the client happy and not anger the private review demons. (Private reviews with no recourse are a breach of trust)

All this useless machining of the system is doing nothing more than causing friction between potential clients and sellers. Just more sand in the gears. 
 
What motivation would any seller have for working with a client that is dinging them left and right?!
 
Sellers are going to cancel and block their way to a stream of clients that works for them. One that gets THEM the best results.

Buyers will complain they are getting blocked by way too many people. 

It's human nature, you have absolutely no control over this. People tend to avoid pain. 

Eventually, all buyers will reflexively give the best review to keep the peace, as they do now.

You need more floodlight thinking and less flashlight thinking.

Edited April 14 by rudyabel

[greggidneyvo]

"Let's use AI... so we can be less hands-on... and sit back and collect money, and let the chips fall where they may"

Seems legit

[mandyzines]

On 4/13/2024 at 1:05 AM, priyank_mod said:

Interesting, thanks for locating and sharing it back. I wasn't aware of this. 

So,

Low success score ---> Label gets assigned ------(6 months⌛)--> Label gets removed. 

And may be, gig will turn up in search results!! 

 

If this is for real then why can't it be put on the documentation we're linked to about these scores?!

Didn't another staff member tell us it was a more fluid, dynamic phenomena?

ESG DEMERIT! 

[rudyabel]

On 4/14/2024 at 8:04 AM, rudyabel said:

Here's a thought for you. How about you require levels to charge a base minimum like in Pro. It's  awesome for a new seller to charge 5 dollars for a 30 second local commercial. But you have TRS, on the front page selling a 30 commercial for close to that. That's an abuse of the system. No wonder they are on the front page.  No kidding, they are treading into sweatshop territory. Sorry, no, I'm not going to be a sweatshop for you. If Fiverr really wants to break out of it's shell, then it has to start being more price conscious. 

New seller - $5
Level 1 - $15
Level 2 - $35
Level 3(TRS) - $50

And Pro, as you know, is already at $100

This seems equitable to me. It's a fair spread. A truly even playing field. Reachable goals. Fair Pro/demotions by actual full statistics. Not piecemeal. 

[rudyabel]

LOL, A good way to make me shut up and go away is to put me back to work.