The Fiverr Portfolio section in your profile is for your OWN work - Not for fake projects!

[breals]

As a web designer, I get the opportunity to design websites from scratch, but more recently, redesign sites from customers who have had a shoddy service from 'so-called' experts.   

When I look at what has been delivered to them, vs what has been promised, I see one clear factor to blame.   THE PORTFOLIO section of the freelancers profile! 

If you create a portfolio of work, it has to be your work, no one elses, no templates and nothing lifted from Google. 

In the last 6 months I have sat on Zoom calls and seen customers in tears becuase of false promises made by freelancers.  Why? Becuase inexperienced people feel that they can lie about thier skills with the aim of extracting money from hard working businesses.  It's not good enough people! 

This section of your profile is your credabilty and nothing else. It allows you to stick out from the crowd and show what you're capable of.  If you can't do this honestly, then don't add anything at all.

Don't create fake project descriptions, with fake project costs and fake screenshots/images, and make them out to be your own, as you will get caught out! 

By making false claims about your abilities you're putting your account at risk, and more importantly, stopping good honest businesses from getting off the ground. 

Please. take heed and listen.

I for one am reporting these profiles as I come across them, as it sickens me to know that unsuspecting and trusting customers are being taken advantage of. 

Rant over! 

[melissaharlowvo]

 Very insightful @breals 

This is how I felt when someone stole my voice! A longtime client had the nerve to use some of our project content and create a synthetic voice. Not on this platform by the way! Then created videos with it! Yuck! How embarrassing for me as my voice was the brand so it sounded terrible! NAVA has a wonderful rider so voice actors can use it in their order requirements.

You should somehow explain that your portfolio samples are all created by you but you may already do that.  I am not sure if the description in each portfolio is part of the algorithm but my guess is that it is so use it for that purpose! 

It depends on your portfolio too. My portfolio samples are all my voice. Some I created but most are what the client created. Since we are limited to 50mb I always have to cut out a portion of the project to make it fit. I think Fiverr is working on upgrading the space limitations. 

 

[katakatica]

For this reason, I don't share full projects in my portfolio (or with buyers in general). Every once in a while, I get some people (who often happen to be writers on Fiverr without any gigs) who DEMAND a full sample and get borderline cross/aggressive when I don't send it. 

I have a large file filled with bits and pieces of my work (all original samples.) This might deter some buyers (who are serious) who want to see more, but I really don't want my work stolen from me... especially when it's full scripts! So... I just do my best to convince them with the 600 reviews I have (and... just the years and years of experience.)

To be fair, I think the portfolio is a great tool in general, but it's kind of limited. I've tried setting mine up several times, but my writing never quite... shows up right (even when it looks fine in the doc I set up.).

 

 

[filipdevaere]

3 minutes ago, katakatica said:

For this reason, I don't share full projects in my portfolio (or with buyers in general).

Same here.
I'm only showing a few pages of my user manuals.

[ahmadraza448]

I had a case on Fiverr where one of my customers also had a seller account offering the same services as me. Before starting our work, he asked me to share some recent sales screenshots from the accounts I manage. I sent him the screenshots, he was happy, and we began working together. He’s generally a good buyer, but one day I checked his seller profile and saw the same screenshots I’d shared posted as fake portfolio pieces and gig images. It was surprising and funny.

Edited October 27, 2024 by ahmadraza448

[donnovan86]

6 hours ago, katakatica said:

Every once in a while, I get some people (who often happen to be writers on Fiverr without any gigs) who DEMAND a full sample and get borderline cross/aggressive when I don't send it. 

Those people are the ones I avoid as well. Why would you need a full article as a sample? The main focus of a sample is to show you how I write. Same with 100-200 word samples. They will say "it's just 200 words", you can do it. But they will ask 20 writers for 200 words, all of a sudden they have a 4000 word article for free. 

 

Edited October 27, 2024 by donnovan86

[navid_zafar]

13 hours ago, breals said:

If you create a portfolio of work, it has to be your work, no one elses, no templates and nothing lifted from Google. 

Unfortunately, this kind of misrepresentation goes beyond just THE PORTFOLIO section. I’ve seen cases where people copy an entire gig image and description without even changing a comma or full stop. And it’s not limited to Fiverr – I’ve encountered the same issue on Upwork.

[maheennadeem814]

18 hours ago, breals said:

In the last 6 months I have sat on Zoom calls and seen customers in tears becuase of false promises made by freelancers.

Happened to me once, I was so excited to find someone who could help me grow my social media accounts. The seller seemed really nice and their portfolio was impressive, with tons of happy customers. I trusted them and placed my order, but then... crickets. No response, no updates, nothing.

I was so frustrated, so I scheduled a meeting with the seller on Fiverr. That's when things got really weird. It turned out they weren't a one-person operation. It was a whole team of people, and the person I was talking to wasn't even the one who would be doing the work! They kept passing me off to different people, each claiming to be just a small part of the process.

It was a total nightmare. I felt completely deceived and taken advantage of. And the worst part? The seller was from my own country. It made me lose faith in other sellers like me who might be genuinely trying to do good work (because people sometimes judge you based on your country).

I learned a hard lesson about the importance of relying on online portfolios. It's a shame that some people are willing to take advantage of others' trust.

[dereck_s]

Design websites from scratch? I feel like now a days to have any level of efficiency you need templates with something like web design. 9 times out of 10 the client has almost no info or photos. Do you take professional grade photos to list on the website? Same with writing, if the client has no info do you write it all out yourself or is somehow okay to be high and mighty about website templates but not the content inside them which is arguably more important than the frame itself (web design).

I feel like now a days in the world where everyone is the expert of experts I see a lot of hubris and three questions in they do the same thing as the people they complain about just in a different way or to a lesser extent.

Me for example I'm a graphic designer / brand designer and I lead a team of people who rebrand or build a brand for a company. For the most part each person has their special role but in 8/10 cases if a stock website is $600 and takes 2 days to build (because we all can do it) and a fully build custom website costs $2000 and takes a week or more they choose the stock site. Especially if they're not a 100% online business.

I think there's a place for custom build websites but I feel like the majority of mom and pop shops are totally content and prefer the cheaper option as long as the quality doesn't suffer. There's a reason why the vast majority of websites built today use wordpress or something similar.

I do agree that you need to be upfront with what you're capable of and you definitely shouldn't lie although I see sites like wordpress almost industry standard now a days.

Edited October 27, 2024 by dereck_s

[priyank_mod]

52 minutes ago, maheennadeem814 said:

That's when things got really weird. It turned out they weren't a one-person operation. It was a whole team of people, and the person I was talking to wasn't even the one who would be doing the work! They kept passing me off to different people, each claiming to be just a small part of the process.

So many "highly successful seller accounts" in our part of the world have cracked this Fiverr template of churning out a HIGH VOLUME of orders. They know that as long as they deliver a certain volume of work for a certain turnover, Fiverr will keep funneling more orders to them. And this high volume even takes care of the bad ratings they receive!!  

And like you experienced - such accounts are usually multiple people hiding inside a trenchcoat !! 🤦‍♂️

[megha_anan]

11 hours ago, ahmadraza448 said:

I had a case on Fiverr where one of my customers also had a seller account offering the same services as me. Before starting our work, he asked me to share some recent sales screenshots from my accounts. I sent him my accounts,was happy, and we began working together. He’s generally a good buyer, but one day I checked his seller profile and saw the same screenshots I’d shared posted as fake portfolio pieces and gig images. It was surprising and funny.

What will be your advice for this topics ,for a new seller as you are an experienced .

[vickiespencer]

On 10/26/2024 at 8:24 AM, breals said:

If you create a portfolio of work, it has to be your work, no one elses, no templates and nothing lifted from Google. 

 

On 10/26/2024 at 8:24 AM, breals said:

This section of your profile is your credabilty and nothing else. It allows you to stick out from the crowd and show what you're capable of.  If you can't do this honestly, then don't add anything at all.

Don't create fake project descriptions, with fake project costs and fake screenshots/images, and make them out to be your own, as you will get caught out! 

By making false claims about your abilities you're putting your account at risk, and more importantly, stopping good honest businesses from getting off the ground. 

Please. take heed and listen.

Sadly, the sellers who should read and follow this advice won't. 

 

 

Edited October 27, 2024 by vickiespencer

[satu_das_gupta]

Thank you for sharing this—it’s such an important message. Hearing about clients who’ve had bad experiences because of misleading portfolios is really tough, especially when they come in trusting freelancers to help them grow their businesses.

You’re absolutely right: authenticity and honesty are everything in our work. Our portfolios should reflect what we can truly deliver, not just to stand out but to ensure clients get exactly what they’re paying for. When we all prioritize integrity, it not only builds trust with clients but also strengthens the Fiverr community for everyone.

Thanks for standing up for quality and fairness—we need more voices like yours here!

[listing_guys]

Nice topic