The Journey of a Fiverr Top Seller

[teamiqbal]

Hello everyone,

I want to share my story and some concerns I have. My name is Muhammad Iqbal, and I started using Fiverr in 2016 after finishing a course in graphic design. At first, I didn't get any orders, so I decided to improve my skills by taking more courses online and offline. Since I also studied software engineering, I really liked working in the UI/UX category.

I got an internship with a company called The Nerd Camp, and after a few months, I got a job with a company called SMSAMI, where I worked for almost two years as UI UX Designer and where I got the title, "The Father of UI UX Design". Then, in December 2018, I decided to give Fiverr another try. Surprisingly, I started getting lots of orders, and within two months, I reached Level 1 and Level 2 status as a seller.

I have achieved the top-rated status since 2021, and unexpectedly, Fiverr elevated my account to Level Two in June 2023 without any specific reason. I've always worked hard to make sure every order is perfect, and I've never received any negative feedback. With a 5-star rating, I've earned over $200,000 on Fiverr. This money has helped me support my family, buy a house, and even start my own team called Welldux, which focuses on UI/UX design. My goal is for Welldux to become a top UI/UX agency by the end of the year.

I've always been loyal to Fiverr, and I've even convinced some of my offline clients to start using it. But about a year ago, my account started having problems. I tried everything to fix it, including upgrading to a Seller Plus account and getting help from a Success Manager, but nothing worked.

Then, on April 18th, I got a shocking email saying that my account was disabled, some of my orders were canceled, and a meeting with a client was called off.

Now, I have some questions for Fiverr:

1. Is my eight-year career on Fiverr going to be ruined because of this?
2. If there's any proof that I broke the rules, could you please show me?
3. What should I do about the team I've built? Should I let them go?
4. What about my regular clients who bring in $4,000 to $8,000 each month? Should I stop working with them on Fiverr?

I'm waiting for your response and hoping for a solution to this problem

[graphicdone1]

Your story is inspiring and painful at the same time.

But wish you the best for your future.

[teamiqbal]

7 minutes ago, graphicdone1 said:

Your story is inspiring and painful at the same time.

But wish you the best for your future.

Thanks a lot, for the support.

[dereck_s]

1. Probably but who knows really without the official word from CS

2. They'll always be vague and in most cases you'll never fully know anything in my experience.

3. You're not suppose to have a team of people working off of 1 account to begin with. That's what fiverr considers to be an agency or in the past ... studio. You're suppose to list yourself as an agency if you have a team. With Fiverr's new system everyone is competing against each other for search ranking and it's unfair to the other sellers.

4. If you can work with them on fiverr you should do so. If these are clients you met outside of Fiverr I'd never suggest adding a middle man where one isn't needed because it comes with a 20% price cut for you and added fees for the buyer.

[fariddoodles]

Thank you for sharing your journey with us :)

[teamiqbal]

38 minutes ago, dereck_s said:

1. Probably but who knows really without the official word from CS

2. They'll always be vague and in most cases you'll never fully know anything in my experience.

3. You're not suppose to have a team of people working off of 1 account to begin with. That's what fiverr considers to be an agency or in the past ... studio. You're suppose to list yourself as an agency if you have a team. With Fiverr's new system everyone is competing against each other for search ranking and it's unfair to the other sellers.

4. If you can work with them on fiverr you should do so. If these are clients you met outside of Fiverr I'd never suggest adding a middle man where one isn't needed because it comes with a 20% price cut for you and added fees for the buyer.

1. They said I broke their rules in an email, but I'm sure I followed them all.

2. You're right, it's important to keep my account stable. But I can't contact customer support right now.

3. I applied to be a Fiverr agency, so I made a team for that reason.

4. I think having someone in the middle can be helpful for projects. That's why Fiverr exists. I've tried my best to follow their rules.

[teamiqbal]

7 minutes ago, fariddoodles said:

Thank you for sharing your journey with us 🙂

Thanks a lot, for supporting me.

[navid_zafar]

This is a problem with Fiverr. They can harm your freelancing career suddenly. It would be better if they give a warning and review system instead of banning you without explaining why.

[teamiqbal]

14 minutes ago, navid_zafar said:

This is a problem with Fiverr. They can harm your freelancing career suddenly. It would be better if they give a warning and review system instead of banning you without explaining why.

Exactly, Navid.

This isn't just about a month or two; it's about my career, and my dreams. Now is my time to shine, and suddenly, I receive an utterly disappointing email. I was hoping for your support in moments like these. 

Kindly look at the attachment of Linked It's almost 8 years.

[kakoliaktar5659]

 

Listening to your words. I personally Liked your Story May your days be better. I Wish you More good things.

[donnovan86]

1 hour ago, dereck_s said:

With Fiverr's new system everyone is competing against each other for search ranking and it's unfair to the other sellers.

I am sure Fiverr was comparing accounts with each other before Agencies became a thing. I know for a fact a lot of the writing competitors that I have are agencies/outsourcers and they've always ranked very high in search because they can output 5x my work and deliver more orders quicker. You can't compete with them. There's also at least one Pro seller that I know uses AI and also hired people, but they say they write everything themselves. So there's a lot of stuff like this on Fiverr, but in the end it doesn't matter if it makes the platform $$ and doesn't break the rules. It does break morality rules but who cares about that really, if it's financially feasible, right?

[sanaaliabbasi]

Hi, 

 

I have a question. If your Fiverr account is disabled, How are you allowed to use Fiverr's forum?

[donnovan86]

4 hours ago, teamiqbal said:

• If there's any proof that I broke the rules, could you please show me?
•  

What does the email say? Usually it says the reason why this happened.

Normally, if the account is disabled, it will go through a dedicated team that checks it again. If it was a mistake, they restore it. But if they said in the email that the decision is final.. that might be final. At this point all you can do is wait for them to send a message. 

[navid_zafar]

52 minutes ago, sanaaliabbasi said:

Hi, 

 

I have a question. If your Fiverr account is disabled, How are you allowed to use Fiverr's forum?

Fiverr Official site and Fiverr Fourms are independent sites, what I know.

[navid_zafar]

1 hour ago, teamiqbal said:

Exactly, Navid.

This isn't just about a month or two; it's about my career, and my dreams. Now is my time to shine, and suddenly, I receive an utterly disappointing email. I was hoping for your support in moments like these. 

Kindly look at the attachment of Linked It's almost 8 years.

Reach out to Customer support and how about creating the similar post on linkedin and taging fiverr there. I have heared some cases where they took linkedin post more seriously than a regular email to customer support?

Edited April 19 by navid_zafar

[teamiqbal]

1 hour ago, kakoliaktar5659 said:

 

Listening to your words. I personally Liked your Story May your days be better. I Wish you More good things.

Thank you so much for your support!

[teamiqbal]

1 hour ago, donnovan86 said:

I am sure Fiverr was comparing accounts with each other before Agencies became a thing. I know for a fact a lot of the writing competitors that I have are agencies/outsourcers and they've always ranked very high in search because they can output 5x my work and deliver more orders quicker. You can't compete with them. There's also at least one Pro seller that I know uses AI and also hired people, but they say they write everything themselves. So there's a lot of stuff like this on Fiverr, but in the end it doesn't matter if it makes the platform $$ and doesn't break the rules. It does break morality rules but who cares about that really, if it's financially feasible, right?

Absolutely, the main thing for me is to have my account restored. I'm confident I didn't break any rules.

[teamiqbal]

1 hour ago, donnovan86 said:

What does the email say? Usually it says the reason why this happened.

Normally, if the account is disabled, it will go through a dedicated team that checks it again. If it was a mistake, they restore it. But if they said in the email that the decision is final.. that might be final. At this point all you can do is wait for them to send a message. 

This is the email I received yesterday!

[teamiqbal]

1 hour ago, donnovan86 said:

What does the email say? Usually it says the reason why this happened.

Normally, if the account is disabled, it will go through a dedicated team that checks it again. If it was a mistake, they restore it. But if they said in the email that the decision is final.. that might be final. At this point all you can do is wait for them to send a message. 

Thats the email I received today!

[teamiqbal]

28 minutes ago, navid_zafar said:

Reach out to Customer support and how about creating the similar post on linkedin and taging fiverr there. I have heared some cases where they took linkedin post more seriously than a regular email to customer support?

I will do that now! thanks.

[sanaaliabbasi]

4 hours ago, navid_zafar said:

Fiverr Official site and Fiverr Fourms are independent sites, what I know.

Okay, thanks. I didn't know that.

[dereck_s]

8 hours ago, teamiqbal said:

Absolutely, the main thing for me is to have my account restored. I'm confident I didn't break any rules.

This is the TOS item I was referencing. It's against the rules as I understand them but I'm sure there are some loop holes. There's also a path to create an agency and not have to worry about this at all.

[teamiqbal]

12 hours ago, dereck_s said:

This is the TOS item I was referencing. It's against the rules as I understand them but I'm sure there are some loop holes. There's also a path to create an agency and not have to worry about this at all.

I wish to clarify that I do not possess multiple accounts on Fiverr, nor do I permit anyone else access to my account. As someone who educates others on professional practices on the platform, it would be inconceivable for me to make such an error.

[donnovan86]

What I don't get is how they canceled only some of the orders. When an account is disabled, all orders are canceled. So that's confusing, unless they did cancel all the orders and I did not understand correctly.

There's nothing you can do, really. Fiverr's team tends to go over these things at least one more time, especially if your account was disabled by AI, which does happen. However, it if wasn't a mistake, they will say the decision is final. Aside from going to customer support, there's honestly not a lot you can do. 

And that's the thing, you can't create a business relying on a third party platform. Promote your business and generate sales that way, use sites like Fiverr as an extra revenue source. Because especially these days, Fiverr has become very inconsistent sales-wise. 

[teamiqbal]

17 minutes ago, donnovan86 said:

What I don't get is how they canceled only some of the orders. When an account is disabled, all orders are canceled. So that's confusing, unless they did cancel all the orders and I did not understand correctly.

There's nothing you can do, really. Fiverr's team tends to go over these things at least one more time, especially if your account was disabled by AI, which does happen. However, it if wasn't a mistake, they will say the decision is final. Aside from going to customer support, there's honestly not a lot you can do. 

And that's the thing, you can't create a business relying on a third party platform. Promote your business and generate sales that way, use sites like Fiverr as an extra revenue source. Because especially these days, Fiverr has become very inconsistent sales-wise. 

Thank you, Donnovan86,

Fortunately, I've contacted customer support, and I'm optimistic they will assist me in stabilizing my account. I sincerely appreciate everyone's support during this time.