Leaving Fiverr as Top Rated Pro Seller. Thanks to the New Rating System

[cagdasyoldas]

Hello everyone,

Before you start, here's some quick info about me: I'm self-employed and I offer services on Fiverr that are unique due to my specific background and expertise. While others may offer similar services, none match my exact experience and approach.

I've been providing services on Fiverr for several years. Initially, progress was slow, but things took off when I was invited to become a Pro Seller and later I became a Top Rated Seller. Throughout this journey, I’ve consistently received five-star reviews, with only one negative review from a difficult client who misunderstood my services and had unrealistic expectations (it happens to everyone, right?). Despite this, I remained successful.

When Fiverr introduced the new rating system, I noticed one of my gig's success scores was at "8", with a warning to improve my rating to avoid demotion (FYI, the new rating system was asking me to improve to 9 without giving me any guidance). This was puzzling since I had consistently received five-star ratings, positive reviews, and tips from satisfied clients. When I contacted customer service, they explained that clients might be giving different private ratings to Fiverr. This made me wonder if clients were not being fully transparent with me.

I assure you, I am meticulous in my approach. I ensure my clients fully understand the service they’re receiving by explaining every detail and providing examples.

I was determined to improve. So I updated my saved messages and spent extra time clarifying details for my customers. Despite delivering numerous jobs with five-star ratings and tips after couple of months, my success score remained at "8". This didn’t make sense to me.

I contacted customer service again, and this time they told me the new rating system compares my service quality to other sellers in the same category and price range. When I asked for specific guidance, they couldn't provide clear answers, saying the system was too complex even for them to fully see what I was asking for. I explained them that if the new rating system favors another sellers service over mine, maybe if they could guide me so I could improve. Customer service didn't give me any direction but vague answers. All I asked was transparency. I stressed that I needed transparency to protect my brand, which I’ve built over more than a decade. I take great pride in my brand. And I cannot let an AI like rating system to damage my brand any further.

My inquiry was escalated to another agent, who repeated the same vague information. It was clear he hadn't checked my profile properly, as he gave incorrect information about my ratings. His response seemed like a copy-paste reply, and he mentioned that my rating "8" was high in their view. I suggested that if my rating was satisfactory, the system should reflect that positively instead of threatening demotion.

Realizing that continuing on Fiverr under these conditions could harm my brand, I decided to stop offering my services on the platform. Despite being a diligent seller and significantly contributing to Fiverr's earnings, it was time to move on.

Everything worked smoothly before the new rating system. Its introduction seems like an unnecessary disruption, creating complexity and dissatisfaction among sellers. The new system lacks transparency and is flawed. While it may address some issues for some, I only had bad experiences with it. Fiverr appears indifferent to seller concerns and fails to listen to feedback. 

It's concerning that I am seeing so many similar messages from other sellers, yet Fiverr does nothing to improve. When I was invited to become a Pro Seller, they said that I am a part of the team. Now I feel like a disposable work force for this company, the last customer support experience was horrible and I didn't feel like a part of their team at all. It is really saddening.

I hope they will listen and improve for others.

I just wanted to share my story. Thanks for reading.
 

[christiangrollm]

Hey man, sad to hear that

I can feel that pain, I experienced quite the same - except I fell from level 2 to level 0. After three months of no help at all (SM and CS) someone from CS deleted the unrightfully impacting Order Cancellations which shouldn't have impacted me in the first place out of 3 reasons at least. Meanwhile, I had dozens and dozens of 5 star orders, but no change in my score at all. I'm still on page 1 of best selling gigs for German and international voice overs though, got the repeat buyer's badge every week, Fiverr's Choice most of the time, and so on. I had all of that, including a 100% score in every metric, before the new system dropped, too, of course. Yet, no change at all, still a level 0 seller - best selling, but still level 0.

It's so sad that I can laugh about it by now, I actually thought that I might be eligible for Top Rated or even Pro due to my metrics and high-end customers like Google and several nation wide TV campaigns. But Pro isn't open for applications at the moment and well, I'm not even level 1 so I can't even run ads - Top Rated is out of reach because of an algorithm that hates me but loves my success somehow.

All the best for you, hope you can leave it behind you!

Edited May 21 by christiangrollm

[lastigo]

hey, so sorry to hear that man

i agee with you and  i am wondering why fiverr introduce a new system while the old one was working smoothly, now evryone has problems with the new system with one way or other, some face problems on success score that lead them to level demotion despite their greate performance and some are facing drop on sales just like me despite that i have 8 success score and a lot of 5 star rating but my sales has drop by 70% since 14 februry and things are getting worse, i think the descion you have make to stop offering your service will be evantually the descion of most sellers as the platform become unstable .

[mandyzines]

9 hours ago, cagdasyoldas said:

Realizing that continuing on Fiverr under these conditions could harm my brand

Your brand doesn't matter when your work environment (how Fiverr is operated) compromises your emotional, mental, and physical health.

 

Edited May 21 by mandyzines