REPORT: How Buyers are abusing of Fiverr Review System (Flowchart)

[mateusbl]

After talk with many sellers and hear their dissatisfaction with the new Feature add by Fiverr, I decided to share a feedback from the Seller perspective and I hope Fiverr can look into it and work on improvements, that was already requested and complained by many Sellers here in the Forum.

Summary:
Buyers can use "Unlimited Extension of Time" + "Revisions" combined to postponing the orders for several weeks or even months. At each time the buyer use both options combined it gives the buyers 8 days to review each order. More visible on the following Flowchart:

 

 

Real Situations:

A) Buyer combine "Extend Review Time" and "Request Revision", at each time it gives the buyer 8 days, make this 3 times and your order will be pending for almost one month.

- Without count the necessary days for the seller work in the revision.
- This means you will need more than 1 month to complete your order.
- Taking too much time to complete the order, is that counted on Fiverr Statistics?

B) The seller already worked in one revision

- At each time the Seller make a new delivery buyer have more 3 days do analyse.
- Buyer can keep extending the review without limite (more 5 days).
- Do the buyer need more 8 days to review something that he already analysed in the first delivery?

C) Buyer can appear everyday to extend the review time.
 
- Buyers can appear to Extend the Review Time everyday.
- Buyers can choose how much days they want extend.

 

Impact on Sellers:

- Buyers extend the review time for several days and abandon the seller and order (Buyers should be more closest while Seller work in their orders)
- Seller need waits more than 1 week for some feedback.
- Seller also need waits 2 weeks for the funds be in their balance.
- Sellers need wait almost or even more than 1 month to be paid for the work done.

 

Possible Improvements:

- Buyer should be able to extend the review time only in the first Seller Delivery. (This is more than enough time to analyse the first delivery and work done)
- After the seller delivery the first revision, buyers should not be able to extend it again. (He already analyse the order one time, does he need more 8 days to do that again?)
- Buyer should be able to extend the review for 1 day, not 5 days at once click. (This will give Buyer in total 4 days to analyse and not 8 days at once)
- 1 day is not enough? Buyer can come back to extend again 1 more day. (Give the possibility of extend the review time in 5 days will only distance the buyers from their orders, letting the seller without feedback for many days)

 

Being shared the feedback, I hope Fiverr fix it to prevent any abuse from Buyers, that we know it happens daily with the thousands sellers here. Feel free to share your Seller point of view below on the comments, share your experiences with the feature, past experience with buyers. We can make Fiverr even better for everyone here!

@Kesha @fiverr_brand

Edited July 30 by mateusbl

[Kesha]

Hi @mateusbl!

I understand that this is a recurring pain point for several sellers and I appreciate your thorough explanation of the issue. I will continue passing along these sentiments to the rest of the team for consideration as we brainstorm ways to improve the Fiverr experience.

[arty182925]

14 hours ago, Kesha said:

pain point for several sellers

Sorry to say this, but it isn't only several. There are many. Buyers are abusing review extension all the time and it looks to me that Fiverr doesn't care about that.

[mateusbl]

8 minutes ago, arty182925 said:

Buyers are abusing review extension all the time

Buyers can add as many days they want on it, even more than 15 days... plus the days you need to work on it. You will receive the payment on balance in 14 days. On Fiverr you work today to be paid almost 2 months after.

10 minutes ago, arty182925 said:

Fiverr doesn't care about that.

All these issues was reported at the same day when Fiverr lauched this feature, and they never made something to update it.

We can make Fiverr Better again!

[arty182925]

If extension needs to stay, at least Fiverr can only do 2 days for weekends and that is it. 

[sunboatrecords]

@mateusbl Thank you for bringing this up. The system for extensions and revisions can definitely be abused. In my experience, when this happens, I simply choose not to work with those clients again.

I also believe that frequent extensions and revisions can negatively impact the success score of a gig, though this is just an informed guess.

I was a buyer before I was a seller and, I longed to get the e-mail that X has delivered your order. Most of the time, people who abuse the extension feature are middlemen that wait for approval from someone higher in the corporate ladder, etc.

Just my two cents ^^

[mateusbl]

8 minutes ago, sunboatrecords said:

wait for approval from someone higher in the corporate ladder

Thanks for your feedback on it. I think extend the review time in the first delivery is acceptable, if project is big the buyer will have time to analyse it properly... but after delivery the first revision, I don't think the buyer will need more 8 days to review everything again.

11 minutes ago, sunboatrecords said:

I simply choose not to work with those clients again.

I delivered one order and 1 hour after the buyer already extended the review in 5 days... this make no sense, there's too much freedom for buyers keep postponing the orders. While sellers can not delivery 1 min later.

[mateusbl]

15 hours ago, Kesha said:

I appreciate your thorough explanation of the issue

@Kesha I hope this can be improve, will make Fiverr even better. All unlimited function will be abused by any user, there space for improvements and this is impacting all sellers on Fiverr. I have one buyer that extend the review everyday and he never appear to send his changes details.

[mandyzines]

6 hours ago, mateusbl said:

While sellers can not delivery 1 min later.

Actually, the bull whip comes out at 12 hours 'til the delivery is due. YOUR ORDER IS DUE IN 12 HOURS! DELIVER NOW! Whether or not we get lashings from AI for delivering much later than that is another thing that's not so transparent. I've seen staff, CS, SM's say different things about it over the years.

But, I agree that extending more than once seems like abuse, in most cases.

[mandyzines]

7 hours ago, sunboatrecords said:

I simply choose not to work with those clients again.

Do you wait 90 days to tell them that, though? That's how long they have to leave a review, still, right?

[sunboatrecords]

11 minutes ago, mandyzines said:

Do you wait 90 days to tell them that, though? That's how long they have to leave a review, still, right?

You can just tell them that you are overbooked. No need to cause any friction 🙂

 

PS. I do not know about the review. Last I checked it was 14 days.

Edited July 31 by sunboatrecords

[mandyzines]

3 minutes ago, sunboatrecords said:

You can just tell them that you are overbooked. No need to cause any friction 🙂

 

PS. I do not know about the review. Last I checked it was 14 days.

Ah, the perks of Seller Plus Premium and the request-to-order feature! I'd have to change the delivery times on all of my gigs to avoid that one person.

[sunboatrecords]

Just now, mandyzines said:

Ah, the perks of Seller Plus Premium and the request-to-order feature! I'd have to change the delivery times on all of my gigs to avoid that one person.

Request to order is the most essential thing for your success on Fiverr. It also keeps the psychiatrist away. Like the apple. But on Fiverr. And digitally. And you don't get to eat it. Or make a smoothie.

[mateusbl]

45 minutes ago, mandyzines said:

I agree that extending more than once seems like abuse

I wonder if you take more than 1 month to complete the order affects your account, and again is one more thing outside of the seller hand... buyers still have unlimited revisions and unlimited extension of time 

Edited July 31 by mateusbl

[mandyzines]

35 minutes ago, sunboatrecords said:

Request to order is the most essential thing for your success on Fiverr. It also keeps the psychiatrist away. Like the apple. But on Fiverr. And digitally. And you don't get to eat it. Or make a smoothie.

You get the apple when signing up, but you can't make a smoothie with it until you subscribe to a membership program for $19.99/mo. You only get to eat/drink that apple if you upgrade to a premium subscription at $39/mo.

[wordpresssp]

On 7/30/2024 at 8:57 PM, mateusbl said:

Buyers can use "Unlimited Extension of Time" + "Revisions"

Recently, I created an offer for a buyer that included one revision. However, the order was placed in revisions 10-15 times, mainly for basic questions or extra time to review the work. When I contacted customer service, they informed me that no offer with such a revision limit existed. I had to clarify to the buyer that they should not put order in revisions just for basic questions, as unlimited revisions were not included in the offer and could be addressed through the inbox for any additional inquiries.

[mateusbl]

56 minutes ago, wordpresssp said:

as unlimited revisions were not included in the offer

Fiverr could earn more money if they remove the unlimited revision. If you offer 3 revisions, at each time the buyer request a revision should show the amount revisions they have "2 of 3".

After the buyer reach the limite of 3, give the buyer 2 options:
- Buy more revisions
- Talk with seller (For the case the seller forget some revision)

Buyers and Sellers that must comes to a mutual deal. Either if the seller is willing to make more small updates for free or if being a big change charge for more revisions. Again one more thing outside of Seller hands.

[mateusbl]

15 hours ago, sunboatrecords said:

Request to order is the most essential thing for your success on Fiverr

This option only shows that Fiverr know that is impossible to deal some buyers... but Fiverr should give more tools for sellers deal with that.

 

Edited August 1 by mateusbl

[mateusbl]

16 hours ago, mandyzines said:

YOUR ORDER IS DUE IN 12 HOURS! DELIVER NOW!

With 7 years on Fiverr I never delivered 1 single order late, Fiverr should not send notifications to sellers... if you are profissional enough you will make sure to delivery it on time. Those who are unable to do that will be impacted on statistics, is more than fair.

[mateusbl]

@Kesha @arty182925 @wordpresssp @mandyzines 

@sunboatrecords

This buyer is the most perfect example of abuse of the system, this is the 4th day the buyer comes to extend the review time.

What he will do next? Yes: Request a revision.

Date ordered 6 Jul 2024, 17:23 - 1 month after and the order still not complete because the buyer keeps extending the review time - UNLIMITED 🤡

[arty182925]

1 hour ago, mateusbl said:

buyer keeps extending the review time

They know exactly what they are doing and that is abusing revision period.

Actually, I don't blame buyers for all of this. I blame Fiverr for making it possible for buyers to abuse it.

What is the point of making gigs with 1 revision if they can request revision whenever they want.

Fiverr could easily fix this if they really want it:

1. If gig is saying 2 revisions, buyers can only request 2 revisions, not more.
2. Buyer can extend review time max 3 days and that is only available at weekends.

[farshad19rodar]

57 minutes ago, arty182925 said:

2. Buyer can extend review time max 3 days and that is only available at weekends.

This system was not available before. I remember in the old system, Fiverr automatically increased order review times from 3 to 8 days only at the end of the year. But now, I don’t know why they created a system that allows buyers to extend it indefinitely.

[mateusbl]

4 hours ago, farshad19rodar said:

I don’t know why they created a system that allows buyers to extend it indefinitely.

Is not a smart decision at least in Seller point of view... it require more time to complete the order. Buyers will place more orders just after finish a current order with some seller. I don't think buyer need 8 days to review all things after the seller delivery first revision.

[priyank_mod]

8 minutes ago, mateusbl said:

I don't think buyer need 8 days to review all things after the seller delivery first revision.

How about submitting the work for review and feedback instead of delivery? And one makes the 'final delivery' only after buyer is completely satisfied with the work.  

It can help in avoiding the entire drag of orders running into revisions and endless loop of extensions. 

[katakatica]

10 minutes ago, mateusbl said:

Is not a smart decision at least in Seller point of view... it require more time to complete the order. Buyers will place more orders just after finish a current order with some seller. I don't think buyer need 8 days to review all things after the seller delivery first revision.

I think this is mostly in place for companies (or just bigger teams?) who might need the extra time... which is exactly why I'd only let pro buyers who have more than 1 account linked to their base account(?) thing do it. 

Life does happen (I have health issues so I know all about that!) but I do think that 3+whatever days is just too much. 

Interestingly enough, sometimes the smaller the order the more time people need to review it! I've had people need a week (or so) for 1000 words. At that point I usually assume they are travelling or otherwise busy (but trust me if I was spending good money on work, especially for a business project I'd be checking the site all the time)!

I guess that's why I can't relate to this feature when talking as a single-person business.