Order Price showing in review

[lucylawless709]

Hi guys. I’ve noticed that a price range indicating how much I paid for each order is showing up alongside my reviews for sellers. This makes me terribly uncomfortable. I don’t like my spending to be visible to other buyers or sellers. It feels like someone is reading my bank statement. Does anyone know if there is an opt out option or if this is a permanent feature moving forward? Is not leaving a review for sellers the only way to keep my privacy? I don’t want to penalize the sellers I work with. 

[vibronx]

I agree. I don't like it either. I wish Fiverr would get rid of it.

[priyank_mod]

3 minutes ago, lucylawless709 said:

Is not leaving a review for sellers the only way to keep my privacy?

I won't be surprised if some of my recent buyers skipped the public reviews because of this reason!!😒 

[lucylawless709]

I value the creators I work with very much and I don’t want to make a decision which harms their standing at all. I’ve never sold on Fiverr so I’m not sure what the impact will be like if I don’t leave a review.

[uk1000]

I don't think there's an opt-out for it. There used to be an opt out to stop a seller plus member seeing your average buying spend (which is a bit related) and category but that got removed and they automatically opted people into it even when it existed.

You could contact Fiverr customer support at the help desk and see if they'd hide that info from your reviews (though they likely won't without removing the reviews) but you could ask there if they'd add an opt-out of that price range being shown.

It was introduced/re-introduced quite recently so they might still be testing it live to see what works best for them. But they might keep it.

[lucylawless709]

3 minutes ago, uk1000 said:

You could contact Fiverr customer support at the help desk and see if they'd hide that info from your reviews (though they likely won't without removing the reviews) but you could ask there if they'd add an opt-out of that price range being shown.

Thank you. I contacted them and expressed my concerns. Hopefully they take them to heart. 

[maitasun]

6 hours ago, lucylawless709 said:

I’ve noticed that a price range indicating how much I paid for each order is showing up alongside my reviews for sellers. This makes me terribly uncomfortable. I don’t like my spending to be visible to other buyers or sellers. It feels like someone is reading my bank statement.

Horrible practice!

It's like going to a restaurant and having the waitress/waiter put up a big sign on your table with the amount you paid for your dinner for everyone to see. 🙄

What a great way to protect customers' privacy... 🤦‍♀️

I hope more and more buyers complain about this. It will be the only way for Fiverr to stop implementing this nonsense.

[lucylawless709]

15 minutes ago, maitasun said:

Horrible practice!

It's like going to a restaurant and having the waitress/waiter put up a big sign on your table with the amount you paid for your dinner for everyone to see. 🙄

What a great way to protect customers' privacy... 🤦‍♀️

I hope more and more buyers complain about this. It will be the only way for Fiverr to stop implementing this nonsense.

I totally feel that. It’s also probably uncomfortable for sellers since it’s like their earning statement is being posted. And without context, a buyer might be offended wondering why they are charged more than someone else. Truly as a buyer the most helpful thing for me when choosing someone to work with are the reviews, their portfolio, their about me, and their communication style when I contact them. I don’t care what someone else paid.

[mandyzines]

58 minutes ago, lucylawless709 said:

And without context, a buyer might be offended wondering why they are charged more than someone else.

Yes! I can see how people would look at my last of three orders/reviews for a game voice over thinking that the whole thing was only $35 because the other order totals aren't in there. People come back for revisions, which start at $15 and that's not even the base price on any of my gigs. And that could be right after a review for a $400 order they also have no context for. Aside from clients potentially taking offense to prices they see in the reviews, it adds to the overall confusion about how things are priced on the site in general.

It would be interesting to know what their justification is in displaying this. I have an idea, and time will tell if that's the case, but I don't want to give them any ideas by sharing it.

I'm with you, though. I think it's uncouth. 

[lucylawless709]

1 hour ago, mandyzines said:

Yes! I can see how people would look at my last of three orders/reviews for a game voice over thinking that the whole thing was only $35 because the other order totals aren't in there. People come back for revisions, which start at $15 and that's not even the base price on any of my gigs. And that could be right after a review for a $400 order they also have no context for. Aside from clients potentially taking offense to prices they see in the reviews, it adds to the overall confusion about how things are priced on the site in general.

It would be interesting to know what their justification is in displaying this. I have an idea, and time will tell if that's the case, but I don't want to give them any ideas by sharing it.

I'm with you, though. I think it's uncouth. 

And the confusion also caused by the new review form in general. And now all this clutter in a review also informing me of how long an order took the seller to complete. I have had orders that took a couple of months for the seller to deliver and I knew that going in because the seller informed me beforehand. I’m ordering artistic work, not a hamburger from a fast food restaurant 😂 But I digress

[seofenix]

I find this completely unethical for sellers, and past buyers and misleading for potential buyers. If I were a buyer, I wouldn't give reviews anymore to keep the privacy. Also, how about the privacy of sellers? So now all people know how much money you earn in a month?

[texvox]

This is absurd. Not only does it feel very much like a violation of privacy and in poor taste (imagine if Fiverr posted their employee paychecks on social media; this feels like that), but it could also get some sellers in real legal trouble. I periodically sign NDA agreements for clients that I take on here on Fiverr, some of which legally bind me to keep details like compensation private. Fiverr could get me in legal trouble or, at the very least, cause a very awkward situation with a buyer, by disclosing this information publicly in those cases. If that happens I guarantee I'll be forwarding Fiverr the bill for any legal fees I incur as a result.

@Kesha is there no option to opt-out of this, given the sensitivity of compensation information?

Edited August 28 by texvox

[simonjonesmusic]

They are trying to move away from a gig based platform and move towards freelancer/project based.

The new professions system is clearly part of this, although it is seeing very little traffic at least for me. The projects I have listed on the professions section also display the price paid - I get to enter that myself.

I'm happy enough with that, some of these are bigger projects (film & videogame full length soundtracks) and to be honest I didn't get any of that work through Fiverr.

If Fiverr want serious sellers on their platform they need to attract serious buyers into their market. That works both ways of course.

So you can see their attempt at weeding out their seller base using stats and scores that don't work and don't reflect the merit of the seller...

And now you can see their attempt at attracting serious buyers by introducing the professions system and listing project prices on the gigs.

The videogame music market is booming right now, especially in Italy where there are tax subsidies for the games industry. I can tell you right now those studios aren't going to Fiverr.

All of these things tell a story, you all need to be branching out on your own or on different platforms at the very least. 

 

[mandyzines]

3 hours ago, texvox said:

I periodically sign NDA agreements for clients that I take on here on Fiverr, some of which legally bind me to keep details like compensation private

Dang. I never even considered this, Stephen! This is HUGE! Still, I can't help but think I know where this is going. Even BMW is now offering suspension-as-a-service.... 

[simonjonesmusic]

3 hours ago, texvox said:

I periodically sign NDA agreements for clients that I take on here on Fiverr, some of which legally bind me to keep details like compensation private.

The effect of this will be to drive serious buyers away from Fiverr, the exact opposite of what they are trying to do.

The effect of the new ratings system has already been shown to drive serious sellers away from Fiverr, the exact opposite of what they are trying to do.

However, Fiverr have increased their own margin over the last 12 months so they will be happy with these and other changes - therefore there is no reason to expect anything to change.

 

[Kesha]

Thanks for your feedback on this! I will pass it along to the product team and we will keep this in mind for future updates. 

[texvox]

Update for those concerned.

I reached out to Fiverr customer service and expressed my concern about this feature, including both the unprofessionalism of disclosing compensation which is a private agreement between two parties and not something meant for public display, as well as the potential violation of NDA contracts this could cause for sellers. The response I received was:

 

In other words, no indication was given that anyone on the team that reviewed it gave a rip about legally binding contracts and the hot water - legal or just relational - this could put a freelancer in. I asked the customer service rep to provide me with contact information for Fiverr's legal team should I need to contact them about this in the future. 

If you are a freelancer who, like me, periodically signs NDAs for higher-profile projects, be aware that Fiverr does not have this need in mind. If a potential buyer here on Fiverr asks you to sign an NDA that includes language about compensation disclosure make sure you bring this up with them to amend the NDA if needed.

 

[vickiespencer]

I have fewer and fewer buyers leaving reviews. I am sure it is because of Fiverr's practice of displaying the price beside them. 

[seofenix]

Not only about privacy, but it can be more difficult to raise prices or offer value-based services. If I've been charging 500usd and then I raise my prices to 800usd, some people will feel that I'm overcharging them just by comparison not the actual value of the service.

 

[destiaart]

On 8/25/2024 at 4:26 PM, priyank_mod said:

I won't be surprised if some of my recent buyers skipped the public reviews because of this reason!!😒 

I am also in favor of adding an option to show the price. Some of my customers have decided not to leave a review of my work because of this. This has negative consequences for both sellers and buyers.

The price is even shown on orders placed before this feature, so some customers may not realize it's now public.

Edited November 5 by destiaart

[priyank_mod]

4 minutes ago, destiaart said:

The price is even shown on orders placed before this feature, so some customers may not realize it's now public.

True. 💯 Its a violation of financial privacy of buyers as well as sellers, but Fiverr never heard our grievances. 

And I don't find it surprising because large corporates usually act on insights/findings provided by analytics as well as market research. So if they conducted market research with focused group discussions (FGDs) where multiple buyers mentioned that, "prices next to the reviews help them trust Fiverr more and increase the probability of them placing more orders on the platform."

Such insights lend them enough motivation to add duration and price range next to every review across the platform!!   

[vibronx]

I wonder if it's in violation of GDPR.

[donnovan86]

1 minute ago, vibronx said:

I wonder if it's in violation of GDPR.

I don't think so because it's not your personal data per say, and you already show the asking prices, so normally a custom offer is based on those prices anyway. Maybe someone with legal knowledge can help, but as far as I know, it doesn't violate GDPR.

 

[vibronx]

3 minutes ago, donnovan86 said:

I don't think so because it's not your personal data per say, and you already show the asking prices, so normally a custom offer is based on those prices anyway. Maybe someone with legal knowledge can help, but as far as I know, it doesn't violate GDPR.

Yeah, I don't know. Just thinking out loud. I was just thinking that it's not very ethical that older reviews are showing the price range now, even though buyers didn't know they were consenting to that, because the price range being shown with the review wasn't a thing back then.

Sometimes I have bought something for $1000+ even though the gig has a premium package of $100, and I don't necessarily want people to know that I spent that. Could lead to spam from meksells.

Edited November 5 by vibronx

[vibronx]

1 hour ago, destiaart said:

The price is even shown on orders placed before this feature, so some customers may not realize it's now public.

I didn't even see this comment before I posted lol. But exactly this! Good point!