Why Is Fiverr Losing Buyers?

[emmaki]

A post from Reddit today. Personally, I think seller 1 is using AI as well. This is the reason we have nonsense metrics like VFM/Value of Delivery, but it is clearly not affecting the real delivery. Mind you, this buyer's purchasing method probably means they see him coming from a mile off. Either way, he's probably going to end up leaving the platform since what is Fiverr going to do? How much time do people really have to waste inboxing a bunch of bait 'n' switchers using AI? 

8 hours ago, smashradio said:

P.S. Your buyer seemed like a creep. Why would someone insist so badly on buying something you're not offering? Heebie-jeebies.

Yeah, and he bothered me intermittently over three weeks about this. The good news is he's no longer on the platform. 

[donnovan86]

5 hours ago, webcut said:

This is just my own thinking!

 

It's just your own experience. I, for example, mostly have US buyers and Australian ones. But there are also Asian buyers too. I don't think Corona has anything to do. We are well behind that, and a lot of companies adjusted remote work policies a year or two ago. Who knows though. I just think it has to do more with AI removing a lot of jobs from the market, and many potential buyers using AI. Which they do. 

[filipdevaere]

 @muhammadnasi477 You are violating forum rule 4. Your post has been reported.

[smashradio]

14 hours ago, newsmike said:

If I were tuning Neo, I would instruct it to always match with the higher priced gigs. Dumb to promote $10 voice overs when you can sell $100 ones at 20% com.

If I were tuning it, I'd make sure it delivers exactly what you're asking for. While I agree that it's dumb to promote $10 voice overs, the issue wouldn't be with Neo if it did, but with the people Fiverr let onto the platform. They created a bot specifically designed to connect you with the right seller. So, if a seller is offering their voice for 10 bucks and that's what I'm looking for, then that's what it should show me. But that's not really my main point. I don't want Fiverr to sell ten-dollar VOs.

My point is that Fiverr is shifting away from catering to cheap buyers,  and that causes a decrease in the number of buyers. You'll find more shoppers at Walmart than at Tom Ford, so moving upmarket means you might lose some customers. That's not necessarily bad if the remaining clients can afford the higher prices.

That's not the only reason, obviously. I buy on Fiverr too, and what used to be a somewhat smooth experience has turned into a hassle. The review process has ballooned to three pages, plus there's that irritating email marked [ACTION REQUIRED]  (Yes, I made it look horrible on purpose because that's what I feel whenever I get it) pushing me to give private feedback on top of everything else. Plus, finding a reliable seller has become a pain unless you're an expert in that field yourself. It's always been a risk ordering here, but now, even the pro badge doesn't guarantee quality or even any resemblance of skill.

 

Edited April 8 by smashradio

[nicks_voice]

15 hours ago, visualstudios said:

There is one, and only one solution for a fair freelance marketplace - to have a team of impartial, qualified, serious conflict resolution team to judge and decide disputes. Sometimes the buyer is right, and wants a refund. Sometimes the seller is right, and wants to get paid even if the client is unhappy and doesn't want to pay. Mediation is a MUST.

Fiverr doesn't have this.

And we can go back to having cancelled orders not count for reviews, this can play into this idea here. I still have no idea why 1) a buyer can keep the delivered work, 2) they get a full refund, and 3) they still get to leave feedback if the service was delivered as described. I understand it's to maintain honesty and integrity, but it's still totally unfair, especially for honest sellers. We're not a factory, we spent time doing the work, and now they have it. Do a return on Amazon and they won't give you your money back until you send the item back, plain and simple.

Add that on top of the current way Fiverr works, where most if not all buyer mistakes still affect our accounts for absolutely no reason at all. Whether they didn't read our guidelines, or simply wish not to listen to our revision policies, we're always negatively impacted if they decide to direct their anger towards us, with no way to even leave honest reviews for difficult buyers due to private reviews still being a thing, completely eroding transparency for other sellers.

It's just a constant loop where every new order is a gamble. I'm hoping some change can be made.

Edited April 8 by nicks_voice

[newsmike]

 

Another great reason to never negotiate lower prices.  Besides having to deal with cheap buyers, you do open yourself to a perceptual cheapening of your worth. 

Just this morning...

 

The first one makes me laugh though. "Hi, I want to underpay you for a job, and if you do it I will reward you by underpaying you for lots more work."  

Edited April 8 by newsmike

[smashradio]

2 hours ago, newsmike said:

 

The first one makes me laugh though. "Hi, I want to underpay you for a job, and if you do it I will reward you by underpaying you for lots more work."  

Classic. 

[dereck_s]

14 hours ago, emmaki said:

A post from Reddit today. Personally, I think seller 1 is using AI as well. This is the reason we have nonsense metrics like VFM/Value of Delivery, but it is clearly not affecting the real delivery. Mind you, this buyer's purchasing method probably means they see him coming from a mile off. Either way, he's probably going to end up leaving the platform since what is Fiverr going to do? How much time do people really have to waste inboxing a bunch of bait 'n' switchers using AI? 

Yeah, and he bothered me intermittently over three weeks about this. The good news is he's no longer on the platform. 

Honestly as a designer this sounds like a buyer issue to me. The buyer assumes the work is easy but obviously has no idea which is why they need a designer in the first place. Literally every designer says this is more work than the buyer thinks and the buyer can't admit they might not know. They just assume they're being scammed or up sold for no reason.

With sketches it's flat art, in a lot of cases they can require a total redraw to do an edit correctly. I'd also love to see the image edit that was done with AI. As someone with midjourney and Adobe Firefly I can tell you that indivigual edits to a sketch are essentially impossible. AI has almost zero editing abilities and will instead just redraw the whole image different than the previous picture.

[nickj2013]

I think Fiverr, like many freelancing platforms, has certainly lost buyers. But the new buyers that have replaced them are of less than satisfactory quality. That's really the issue. Many businesses lose customers, or see an ebb and flow, or dip in purchases, visitors, and the like. But when new clients arise, you'd like them to keep you solvent until things pick up again and go back to normal. In the case of Fiverr, the 'fresh catch' are 'spoiled...' so to speak. They want more work for less money, give terrible directives, and ask for services they know you don't provide, in hopes of bullying you into an agreement. Furthermore, it seems, at least in my case, that the site is hemorrhaging U.S. users. Many U.S. sellers are getting solicited by foreign clients who either speak little to poor English. While some U.S. clients are running into sellers who are 'posing' as Americans, and don't even get me started on the people using AI to generate poor quality work.

At the end of the day, this dubious environment creates a murky platform, where clients and sellers don't trust one another. Er go, interactions are hostile from the jump. And many clients choose not to invest in freelancers. While freelancers, out of fear of malicious intent and their scores taking a hit, are deciding not to work with certain clients. Some of which are legitimately just trying to get a task accomplished. The aura of current Fiverr seems less lively and positive like it did before, and even during the pandemic. Now, it feels more like a wicked game of chicken. Where some clients just want to squeeze some freelancers, and some freelancers are using bad shortcuts to fill orders. Which, in the long run, hurts all freelancers on this platform.

In order for morale to improve, Fiverr needs to go back to fostering an environment where sellers and customers aren't bullish on doing business with each other.

Edited April 9 by nickj2013

[arbelkimmick]

I've just been promoted as Top Rated Seller, something that I've been wishing for and working towards for years (8 year fiverr seller here) and literally nothing's changed. I got a big order after the promotion, but otherwise, crickets. It's the first time in 8 years that I'm kinda getting worried. I teach Fiverr on social media and encourage sellers to join with the information about the success score and so many of them are worried they won't even be successful because the odds are stacked against them before they even create their first gig. 

Although, I have to say that I'm getting better quality clients coming through, but far less. 

I wonder what's going to happen, but I know for me, I'm not leaving the platform and have no plans on quitting after all these years. I think it'll just take even more time for buyers to now navigate this new marketplace that the score has created and sellers are going to be pickier than ever before - it's going to be interesting for sure. 

Edited April 9 by arbelkimmick

[levinewman]

36 minutes ago, nickj2013 said:

I think Fiverr, like many freelancing platforms, has certainly lost buyers. But the new buyers that have replaced them are of less than satisfactory quality. That's really the issue. Many businesses lose customers, or see an ebb and flow, or dip in purchases, visitors, and the like. But when new clients arise, you'd like them to keep you solvent until things pick up again and go back to normal. In the case of Fiverr, the 'fresh catch' are 'spoiled...' so to speak. They want more work for less money, give terrible directives, and ask for services they know you don't provide, in hopes of bullying you into an agreement. Furthermore, it seems, at least in my case, that the site is hemorrhaging U.S. users. Many U.S. sellers are getting solicited by foreign clients who either speak little to poor English. While some U.S. clients are running into sellers who are 'posing' as Americans, and don't even get me started on the people using AI to generate poor quality work.

At the end of the day, this dubious environment creates a murky platform, where clients and sellers don't trust one another. Er go, interactions are hostile from the jump. And many clients choose not to invest in freelancers. While freelancers, out of fear of malicious intent and their scores taking a hit, are deciding not to work with certain clients. Some of which are legitimately just trying to get a task accomplished. The aura of current Fiverr seems less lively and positive like it did before, and even during the pandemic. Now, it feels more like a wicked game of chicken. Where some clients just want to squeeze some freelancers, and some freelancers are using bad shortcuts to fill orders. Which, in the long run, hurts all freelancers on this platform.

In order for morale to improve, Fiverr needs to go back to fostering an environment where sellers and customers aren't bullish on doing business with each other.

This was all very eloquently said. I absolutely recommend people read and understand this for all that it means.

[catwriter]

15 hours ago, newsmike said:

"Hi, I want to underpay you for a job, and if you do it I will reward you by underpaying you for lots more work."  

A common one, even if your prices aren't high. They also promise recommending you to their cheapskate friends. How terrible of me to decline those offers...

[emmaki]

8 hours ago, dereck_s said:

Honestly as a designer this sounds like a buyer issue to me. The buyer assumes the work is easy but obviously has no idea which is why they need a designer in the first place. Literally every designer says this is more work than the buyer thinks and the buyer can't admit they might not know. They just assume they're being scammed or up sold for no reason.

With sketches it's flat art, in a lot of cases they can require a total redraw to do an edit correctly. I'd also love to see the image edit that was done with AI. As someone with midjourney and Adobe Firefly I can tell you that indivigual edits to a sketch are essentially impossible. AI has almost zero editing abilities and will instead just redraw the whole image different than the previous picture.

It was definitely a buyer issue. Their opening gambit of "will you do this?" followed by a link to a website when I asked what "this" was and then finally telling me what the thing he wanted me to do was after I asked for more specifics made me decide I didn't do the service. Which is true, since I don't have a gig for proofreading. I pointed him to proofreading gigs. A week or so later, he comes back angry about how 6 other sellers basically noped out of there too. 

I posed the question because these buyers have always existed on Fiverr, but in the past, I assume they found someone else or just gave up since I never heard from them again or they came back with a project I did end up working on. Now, increasingly, they're getting angry about something and coming back to yell at me (and I'm politer and nicer than I was years ago! I didn't even respond to useless  inbox messages until the levels system came along and I was forced to!). 

5 hours ago, nickj2013 said:

I think Fiverr, like many freelancing platforms, has certainly lost buyers. But the new buyers that have replaced them are of less than satisfactory quality. That's really the issue. Many businesses lose customers, or see an ebb and flow, or dip in purchases, visitors, and the like. But when new clients arise, you'd like them to keep you solvent until things pick up again and go back to normal. In the case of Fiverr, the 'fresh catch' are 'spoiled...' so to speak. They want more work for less money, give terrible directives, and ask for services they know you don't provide, in hopes of bullying you into an agreement. Furthermore, it seems, at least in my case, that the site is hemorrhaging U.S. users. Many U.S. sellers are getting solicited by foreign clients who either speak little to poor English. While some U.S. clients are running into sellers who are 'posing' as Americans, and don't even get me started on the people using AI to generate poor quality work.

At the end of the day, this dubious environment creates a murky platform, where clients and sellers don't trust one another. Er go, interactions are hostile from the jump. And many clients choose not to invest in freelancers. While freelancers, out of fear of malicious intent and their scores taking a hit, are deciding not to work with certain clients. Some of which are legitimately just trying to get a task accomplished. The aura of current Fiverr seems less lively and positive like it did before, and even during the pandemic. Now, it feels more like a wicked game of chicken. Where some clients just want to squeeze some freelancers, and some freelancers are using bad shortcuts to fill orders. Which, in the long run, hurts all freelancers on this platform.

In order for morale to improve, Fiverr needs to go back to fostering an environment where sellers and customers aren't bullish on doing business with each other.

Fiverr's not going to do a thing to improve its systems: as far as it is concerned, AI is the wunderkind that can do it all, from CS to marketplace integrity. Meanwhile, many sellers and buyers are rejecting generative AI. For buyers, it's simple. Why would I pay you to give me AI when I can do it myself? And that's fine. The problem is that there are enough sellers on Fiverr who use AI dishonestly that everyone is under suspicion. On the Seller Side, you've got mysterious private reviews and even more mysterious Success Scores that drop when you get glowing 5-star reviews from clients because - presumably - someone else in your category did better than you that day. 

Yesterday, Fiverr's messaging broke down. That's something that is measured by the SS ("Effective Communication"). I presume that's fixed, but what communication did Fiverr give that it was fixed, or that it wouldn't affect sellers, even though the glitch is on Fiverr? Remember this is judged by AI that cannot tell if negative language in an order is part of constructive criticism conversation to improve a buyer's X or just, you know, angry shouting. I may have missed the announcement, but from here, there was zip. So what's going on with that, Fiverr? Any accountability and flexibility for your mistakes when they can impact sellers?

People who thought they were 5-star sellers are now booted out of Fiverr's search because of low SS and have no idea what the problem is. Is it any wonder that sellers and buyers are now in some sort of Mexican standoff where nobody trusts each other? This atmosphere is entirely created by Fiverr, who then has the temerity to increase SPP by 100% or 50% for small groups of sellers who were promised locked-in pricing. RTO is locked behind SPP. 

Fiverr in 2024 disgusts me. It is completely disconnected from its userbase and doing very little to prevent the other big issue - the rampant scams - that also decrease trust from buyers/sellers on the platform. 

5 hours ago, arbelkimmick said:

I've just been promoted as Top Rated Seller, something that I've been wishing for and working towards for years (8 year fiverr seller here) and literally nothing's changed. I got a big order after the promotion, but otherwise, crickets. It's the first time in 8 years that I'm kinda getting worried. I teach Fiverr on social media and encourage sellers to join with the information about the success score and so many of them are worried they won't even be successful because the odds are stacked against them before they even create their first gig. 

Although, I have to say that I'm getting better quality clients coming through, but far less. 

I wonder what's going to happen, but I know for me, I'm not leaving the platform and have no plans on quitting after all these years. I think it'll just take even more time for buyers to now navigate this new marketplace that the score has created and sellers are going to be pickier than ever before - it's going to be interesting for sure. 

When I became TRS in.... 2014/15?.. it was marked by a big increase in orders and expectations. In general, I would say this was true for anyone who "made it" in the past, and that's why everyone wants TRS. As for your newbies, they should be pretty thrilled they got through Fiverr's random AI gatekeeping of who is even allowed to sell in the first place: I'm hearing so many stories of people who were rejected as sellers minutes after applying (they get the standard canned "after careful consideration..." - another example of AI and automation failure from Fiverr. It costs NOTHING to set a delay in your system!).

My quality of clients - as a writer - is rock bottom. People who can barely speak English - and sometimes not even bothering to speak English - insisting they should work for me for 50% of the order value. Scammers. The "discount and plenty more work in the future" crowd. The weirdly angry buyers that inspired this post. The "I hate AI" buyers who are a bad choice to work with since they will use AI to check your writing and they will try to use those results to squirm out of paying and Fiverr will cancel and give you a bad SS. With sellers offering fraudulent and deceptive AI gigs and making millions from clueless buyers and even those who realize and feel ripped off with no action from Fiverr, it's not surprising that buyers are asking these questions. 

But it gets worse. Now you have buyers like the one just above who are deliberately wildly overpricing their own requests to find honest buyers. I hope they realize that any smart seller is noping out of there. Fiverr has become a place of psychological warfare with serious, long-term income implications for sellers on top of the psychological warfare of the platform's own gamification habits - which it consistently refuses to address when asked about. 

Fiverr (and UW) are making everyone's lives harder for the sake of cutting costs and increasing profits. I'm not leaving Fiverr either, but I increasingly hope that the platform implodes and fails. Nobody is too big to fail, and Fiverr's own hypocrisy, greed, and arrogance should be its downfall. If any one of us sellers ran our business the way Fiverr does, we would not be on Fiverr. 

My SM failed to provide an answer when I asked her what Fiverr would do with a seller who pulled a similar trick to what they did with SPP on their buyers. As with so many things, there is no answer. Just silence. Fiverr has always been pretty toxic, but lately, they've dialed it up to 110 with AI because they will not govern their own marketplace with human oversight. The results are evident. 

/soapbox

[emmaki]

14 minutes ago, catwriter said:

A common one, even if your prices aren't high. They also promise recommending you to their cheapskate friends. How terrible of me to decline those offers...

"I was going to recommend a lot of clients to you, but now I'm not! Some of them are MILLIONAIRES!" 👹👹👹👹

[visualstudios]

9 hours ago, nickj2013 said:

In order for morale to improve, Fiverr needs to go back to fostering an environment where sellers and customers aren't bullish on doing business with each other.

I don't think that means what you think it means.

[newsmike]

10 hours ago, catwriter said:

A common one, even if your prices aren't high. They also promise recommending you to their cheapskate friends. How terrible of me to decline those offers...

Then he came back the next day and asked me to do 2,000 words for $10. I simply blocked him, but wanted to tell him that it costs $10 just to turn his silly offer down. 

Edited April 9 by newsmike

[nickj2013]

11 hours ago, visualstudios said:

I don't think that means what you think it means.

You’re right. That should read… “where customers are bullish on doing business with each other.” I was typing way too fast there. 🫠

[lalitsdmittal]

[andywarburton]

Yesterday I had a "buyer" message me, ask a bunch of questions and then ask if I would do the work for free because he is a "poor student" (this was relating to his website selling luxury interior design products btw!)

[finndev478]

On 4/3/2024 at 9:01 AM, emmaki said:

As I'm sure some of you have noticed, buyers seem to be fewer than they once were (yes, I am aware that there are plenty of sellers who have plenty of orders). Now, according to Fiverr's own investor reports, they lost over 200,000 active buyers between '22 - '23. I'm linking to the G&M because it helpfully has an analysis of why that's bad. 

We can point to the bogeyman of AI, increased cost of living, all that stuff. Or we could look at what buyers are actually telling us. This buyer signed up this month (er.. March). I declined his job 3 weeks ago because I don't offer proofreading. I didn't think anything of it. Pretty standard stuff. Most people say something like "oh ok thanks" and go off to find someone who offers the right service. However, they keep coming back complaining. Today, I got this: 

I'm not sure what the first sentence is referring to, and the rest just makes me want to hit the block button and - annoyingly - continue with my SPP membership just to keep RTO on to avoid an order that I declined 3 weeks ago. 

But that doesn't make this guy a bad buyer. He's new to Fiverr and doesn't understand how it works. He also doesn't understand the undercurrent of Fiverr's new review system. I don't know what he's been saying to the other sellers, but if it's anything like what he said to me, I don't want him anywhere near my feedback. 

This buyer - IDK if you'd call him "active" in financial terms - is probably going to leave the platform after 7 sellers have basically declined to work with him. Are Fiverr's own review systems harming its bottom line by causing sellers to reject customers who could damage their profile? Is this causing otherwise "good" new buyers to leave?

Add this to things like:

1. Deceptive AI policies and a ton of sellers using AI to sell AI without disclosure

2. A large marketplace of Pros that is not vetted as well as it used to be

2a) Leading to gigs worth $5 - $25 being sold for $100s 

3) "New Buyers" being weighted more heavily in algorithms (bad reviews and good)

4) Eerily similar responses (GPT) from a large number of sellers using AI to communicate (as recommended by Fiverr)

Fiverr's claims the the decreased number of buyers is a result of its marketing strategy, which is now targeting more upmarket people. That makes sense to me. But is Fiverr - or rather it's sellers - able to provide these upmarket visitors with the service they want? 

Or, are they getting annoyed after endless rejections from sellers who don't want to take on new buyers for a combination of reasons? Let's say this guy gives up and just orders from a random person without asking (they will only reject me anyway) who does the work with AI for $200 and discovers it's AI after the fact. You think they're gonna come back? 

Don't forget, some buyers are finding their profile disabled after they message a few sellers about their offer. They're invited to do this by Fiverr, but Fiverr's automation systems register this as spam and, well, it happens. Meanwhile, the QR code gang know this little restriction and just dance around it effortlessly.

Let's also not forget that all accounts now start as buyer accounts and seller accounts need to be approved. I've seen far too many CS messages effectively saying "don't worry, you can still buy!" to people who have no interest in buying. They are upset and angry because they spent 3 hours filling out their profile and get dismissed with a curt message that tells them nothing about why they've been explained, and CS doesn't explain either. 

It was 200,000 buyers lost last year. This year, with the new review system in place and sellers increasingly anxious about their confusing  scores, I think it could be worse. Fiverr's own policies are creating an atmosphere of fear and mistrust, rather than facilitating an open marketplace where people get on with work. 

There is alot of truth in your post, thanks for sharing.

I believe these are the main factors of Fiverrs decline:

• Covid Hype is over. The incredible rise in stock-price was due to covid which drove alot of buyers in. Now reality kicked in. A sustainable business model for all participants is neccessary to keep a marketplace alive. The decline does not neccesarily mean that Fiverr is not sustainable, but this "gold rush" is over.
• AI service policy is very difficult to handle and manage for Fiverr
• Policies that hurt both sellers and buyers experience. (only got worse since I started on Fiverr 4 years ago)
• Lack of transparency
• The over saturation of the marketplace. The quality is very low, the bar to join even lower. Its just not very attractive for buyers, because get what. Most people and businesses are interested in QUALITY over QUANTITY. Many might be joining Fiverr to get good work for very low prices, but the reality is: Many sellers offer very low prices for very low quality. And nobody wants or needs that.
• Promotion Feature imo killed the experience in some regards. It just feels like pay to win. It doesnt really matter whethere you are the right person for the job, when 50% of the offers the buyers see are paid ads.

[emmaki]

That is a seller-centric perspective. Fiverr isn't going to care about that. 

Fiverr is more concerned right now with positioning itself as a thought leader in "the future of work". Its "complex AI service" model marches to the beat of the WEF drum (lots of articles from the WEF on FoW here). Fiverr writes plenty of stuff to support its vision here. Take this article about tech executives and hiring decisions during "high stress periods" - in other words, hire freelancers temporarily and then dispose of them when the stress is gone.

That doesn't sound horrible since freelancers aren't employees and that's kind of what they do - fill in gaps - but think about how Fiverr works. Imagine a buyer who is "highly stressed" during a crunch time. We've all had to deal with those buyers, and they are usually the most difficult and unreasonable due to the pressures on them being offloaded onto us. Here's a bad diagram of how that works from ChatGPT, since I couldn't find the one I wanted on Google: 

The difference? Well, at the end of the day, the freelancer is 100% disposable to everyone, from the "highly stressed" company when things relax and everyone gets bonuses for great work, to Fiverr, whose AI systems decide that the 2-star sad emoji face and "high negative impact" score on "conflict resolution" means they're a 3 SS seller. And bonuses, benefits, or credit? Of course not. The companies don't need to pay any of that. Fiverr is positioning itself as a way of having employees without responsibilities - while also holding standards much higher and heavier than any workplace would. 

That is the "future of work". Sometimes, Fiverr tries to soften their actual role in this with articles like this, which features this golden nugget of what someone probably thinks is "joined-up thinking":

Let's translate this:

fluidity - unable to hold down a regular job 

flexible, dynamic - the process of finding a new job, due to AI (disruption) and companies scaling back on hiring people that the law requires them to have employee contracts (and expenses) with. 

Somehow, the writer of this peace manages to interpret all of that as meaning job security isn't a thing of the past - a ludicrous statement to make when "jobs for life", the gold standard of job security up until approximately 2000 (IDK actually, but the jokes about "getting a cheap watch on retiring after 45 years with the company" stopped around that time) and AI/robotics are slowly swallowing up jobs for just about everyone.

Is Fiverr going to cover any of this in its AI nonsense? No, of course not. It can barely answer simple questions from sellers about its own use of AI, or even how Fiverr Enterprise works to the sellers it invited to the program. All it knows is how to position its new, upmarket self as a virtual temp agency for those things that can't be mopped up by robots, AI, and management. 

But Fiverr's already losing talent due to its own mismanagement, losing buyers as a result of an inability to govern its marketplace correctly, and cheapening its pro-gram to include non-pros who shouldn't be there in order to artificially inflate the "value" of its workforce. Pro failed to become what Fiverr wants Enterprise to be. I don't have high hopes for Enterprise. 

But to  circle back to the initial point, the WEF is pretty much infamous at this point for envisioning a future where the "people" (that's us, not them) will own nothing and be happy. They got rid of that article over coronavirus when too many people discovered it and "misinterpreted" the headline, which literally was you'll own nothing and be happy. That was written in the pre-AI, pre-Covid era, but is still very much on-message for what is in store for the majority of humanity in the future of work, play, and living. Fiverr has obviously picked its side, and just like the rest of the elite class that does not listen to the masses it won't listen. 

Just remember that you're 100% disposable to Fiverr and everyone else. That was always true as a freelancer, but now companies are using freelancers to shore up roles where employees might be more appropriate. That is a recent development and a troubling one when the regulation and legislation around contractors is much less protective of our rights than those of employees - not to mention the global nature of our "workforce" meaning that enacting change is difficult. It's already hard enough to get 1 government to change. How can you do it across all of them (and especially when all of them are basically in the WEF, too?)

I have no idea what that future looks like, but I hope serious change is coming to wash away the current status quo, because it is as corrupt as they come and does not serve the majority of humanity - only the profits of the few. There's already a term for it: neo-feudalism. Some of you will already remember that the pandemic was one of the greatest wealth transfers in history - from the poor to the already obscenely rich. This isn't even capitalism. It's hyper-capitalism by corporate, for corporate. You? You'll own nothing and be happy. Note the use of the imperative. 

That was my Sunday Soapbox.

[design2thrive]

Pretty quiet for me past 3 days. Maybe something to do with tax day today in USA?

[kickgom]

Today i wrote my goodbye message to the platform after 10 years working here so i think i am part of those sellers leaving as you mentioned in your post, honestly i do not know every seller's reason but for me, it was a bittersweet trip...I remember several of the changes that were made to the platform and the disagreements of the users, whether they were sellers or buyers when i started on the platform it was because i previously worked for a company where i no longer felt happy, I remember like it was yesterday how i was sitting on the stairs of my office crying, I reached a point where it was an intolerable situation.

I was very happy having my freelance job, however, changes began and my happiness went down the drain.

- No more cancellations:

Why couldn't I cancel an order where I didn't feel comfortable, when the platform itself told us that not all work relationships could continue when a user was rude, or demanded more from me than I offered? Even though it is always a situation where we work and lost, sometimes it is better

- No more visible ratings

Having to rate someone with a 5 even if they were an undesirable person for fear of revenge

- The seller can rate me even if it is refunded:

Really? rating a job that wasn't even done or the money was returned seemed like a bad joke.
(I remember discovering this new feature lying on a hospital bed about being in surgery and having to cancel, contacting customer support, and explaining the situation, the funny thing is that my surgery was a result of working for long periods) 

However, we overcame this and other changes.

I even read a campaign that some will remember where it was mentioned that we sellers drank coffee and didn't sleep to work here...this was very inhuman, I think it even appeared in the news and they withdrew the campaign, i don't know who thought it would be a good idea... well, the truth is that i think the fiverr team suddenly meets to discuss ideas on how to ruin the platform more and more.

From my side, i did everything i could and i was as professional as i could and tried to resist. I could tell endless stories i lived here, good and bad, but it reminded me of that day when i was sitting crying on the stairs at my previous job, and in the end, i no longer feel valued as before.

- I am evaluated by an AI robot

- Technical support just copy and paste pre-made answers

- I have to trust hidden evaluations and a non-trusty environment

- I do not receive clear messages about where i can improve, and even if i could, a single rate can ruin my reputation

- I am no longer my boss, I am no longer a freelancer

- Now this killer-level system just screws all those 10 years of hard-working, i barely receive impressions or clicks. All these years i believed the story that i had a rating of 5 and it was all a lie from one day to the next.

Now to survive i have to pay my promoted gigs, a seller plus, and my taxes. and when i work on my numbers i have to work for 20% of what i sell and still place my happy face, It's not worth it to me anymore.

Maybe the platform is now broken and they are doing their best to keep the boat afloat and i cannot blame them, who knows? Once i was on a platform that was no longer online and where bankrupt. Maybe they are getting rid of old sellers like me as i keep track of my competition and they are suffering the same. Still have my doubts because i see sellers having 600 orders on a 2-day delivery deadline, i guess nobody can deliver good quality work making 12 orders in 1 hour assuming they do not take any sleep. Maybe quantity is more important than quality for them. But still, i receive messages from the system like "you can improve the professionalism of work" on orders where i over-delivered, made more revisions than the original offer, was polite, responded on time, and still have no clue on what to improve. It is just a system where I have a fear of working every time i get an order, Maybe that is the reason other sellers block potential buyers, personally, i did this in the past instead of risking my job.

I was very happy working here at some point and i have a lot more to do somewhere else, i want to make a lot of new happy customers. I still remember that day i was reached by fiverr to be in a contest where i won a prize when i was relevant to them. 

Working with fear is no longer an option for me, I even have my concerns writing this on the forum but i am done and i need to make decisions, maybe the platform wants sellers who can withstand everything without saying a single word, I'm not too quiet for them.

[kickgom]

this is one of the reasons sellers are leaving, you can see the response i had from CS, this is not the first time i received copy/paste answers to a different concern / topic

[donnovan86]

6 hours ago, kickgom said:

I was very happy having my freelance job, however, changes began and my happiness went down the drain.

 

It's not a job though, a job has paid benefits, a schedule, etc.

I don't know if customer support is using AI or if they copy paste stuff, they might in order to make things easier. But realistically, what did you expect as a reply to that message... I think maybe you mentioned promoted gigs in the message, that's why they said what they said. 

Regardless, even if you meet with a success manager, they will try to showcase benefits you get from staying, yet if you don't feel ok working on the platform anymore...  I wouldn't close the account, at worst it can be an extra source of income. 

I do agree that many of the newer changes were not seller-friendly, but obviously that's because a lot of people curate their reviews and they cancel stuff just to avoid bad reviews, that's why reviews for canceled orders are a thing. There are tons of people with thousands of cancellations on the platform that still have a high success score because at the time, they had mutual cancellations and those were not penalized by Fiverr. 

If you do end up deciding to leave Fiverr completely, good luck. It's sad to see people go, and you're not alone either.