Can You Really Trust Reviews and Feedback?

[mkerogazov]

I’m quite new on Fiverr, but have been browsing quite a lot of different gigs. So far, I had one unsuccessful experience with a new seller and as a result have a question - Can you really trust all these reviews and feedbacks?

I noticed that maybe about half of all reviews are pretty much the same -
“Outstanding Experience” - “Thank you”

or even worse
"Outstanding Experience" - “Outstanding Experience”

What’s that about - are they fakes or it’s a common way of leaving a review, then why?

Another one is feedbacks. Obviously, if you have a mutual cancellation (in my case because seller was horrible and didn’t deliver), you can’t leave a review or feedback or anything. Effectively, it will not be reflected on the seller’s profile and the next buyer will not be aware of a boo-boo that this seller is offering.

Hmm… so, how can you tell if you can trust this seller or not? Or is it a fiver to check as well? 😉

[seofanatics]

Sorry about your bitter experience. A lot of buyers usually share their views on the automatic reviews left by Fiverr; Outstanding experience (5 star), Good experience (4 star) Average experience (3), Unacceptable experience (2 star). There are certain things you need to consider about the reviews.

If a buyer left a negative review without writing anything, for instance 2 star, the automatic review (unacceptable experience) will be added by fiverr. If you read such review, you can easily conclude that the seller is wack! On the other hand if a seller left 5 star review without writing anything, fiverr will automatically add “Outstanding experience”. If a buyer can believe the automatic negative reviews, they can also believe the automatic 5 star reviews.

Here are some methods to identify real reviews:

1. The orders. One of the best ways to identify real sellers is by checking the reviews for CUSTOM OFFERS. Yes, almost all the real sellers send custom offers for special projects. If you can find at least 2 custom offers with positive reviews, chances are that the remaining reviews are real.

2. The buyers’ profile. Is the buyer also selling on Fiverr? If yes, they can give fake reviews even if the service is poor. Of course, sellers will be very conscious before leaving negative reviews on fellow sellers’ gig. Before you conclude whether the review left by sellers are fake or real, check the sellers’ gig to see if they don’t really need the service. For instance, i offer market research, so don’t expect me to buy “Competition analysis gig”.

3. Repeated buyers. How many repeated buyers have reviewed the gig? If a buyer have reviewed the gig many times, check the contents of the reviews, and compare it with other reviews. Planned reviews will tend to neutralize the effects of negative reviews by contradicting it.

This is based on study and my OPINION.

[mkerogazov]

OK, that explains it (re: Outstanding Experience), thank you.

I didn’t find a way to do see to see positive rating on seller’s profile or do any or filtering on reviews - only for specific gigs. And the number of reviews on the seller’s profile is limited as well - any way to see more or filter them somehow?

[seofanatics]

If you want to see a seller’s total reviews, click on their username. For instance, when you’re reading the gig description, check the right side bar to check the username. Click the username and you’ll see the seller’s reviews at the top (Header section). See the screenshots.

[seofanatics]

Screenshot was not uploaded successfully.

[mkerogazov]

Yes, I knew about that and that what I meant - you can only see that a seller has so many reviews, but how many good, how many bad, etc. The total number is not clickable and there is nothing else to try.

[fastcopywriter]

Yes you can, look at portfolio samples, look at reviews, and use your common sense. Most people on Fiverr are ethical and honest, they can do what they sell. The ones that overpromise are the ones you should fear. If someone promises endless revisions, I fear that person. If someone offers Satisfaction Guaranteed or Your Money Back, I trust that person, I see he’s ethical and not a scammer.

[mkerogazov]

Hmm… That’s another questions - what is the point of “Satisfaction Guaranteed” or “You Money Back” promise. I can see it almost on every gig around, but to my understanding, you have 14 days to sort out everything after completing the gig and then your transaction is closed and nothing can be done about it. So, it’s sort of Satisfaction Guaranteed Limited 😉 ?

[misscrystal]

Nothing is perfect but the reviews will definitely help you find the sellers who have over the years consistently given great service and made their buyers happy.
Isn’t 14 days enough time to decide if you want your money back?

[mkerogazov]

If you’re buying a finished product - yes, but some services offered here are supposed to last up to a month and more, in which case 14 days are not enough.

[transland]

Hi,

In general, the majority of buyers usually leave one of the common reviews on Fiverr; Outstanding experience (5 stars), Good experience (4 stars) Average experience (3 stars), Poor experience (2 stars). Unacceptable experience (1 star). So I guess that you really should consider these reviews and trust the seller.

Hope that my comment is helping you.

[malaika9]

Am starting to think no. So many seller have good reviews but yet when ask to do something they barely understand your requierements or can’t do it. I also realized that their are a lot of seller from Indian or Pakistan and they don’t understand a thing. Am thinking about leaving fiver but I still have about 20$ in my account. Sad

[seofanatics]

I won’t dispute your claim, however, i still maintain the fact that many sellers (myself included) are real and professionals in their field. One of the reasons why most buyers complaint is because they are looking for extremely cheap sellers. I’ve gotten a lot of requests from buyers who want me to do thorough research and competition analysis for $5. While i maintain that such projects is worth more than $100, many Indian, or Pakistanis sellers will take the job for $10. Obviously, some may deliver good job, but majority will only download files and send it to the seller.
Sometimes most of the buyers turn to the real sellers after they might have experience something bad.

If you really want to get the best, be ready to pay accordingly. Real sellers will guarantee you 100% money back if the project is unacceptable.

[mkerogazov]

4 transland: not sure if you read my post, but the whole idea of it was that you can’t trust these reviews, or at least can’t trust them fully.

And yes, some seller could invest in improving their English as sometimes it’s not clear whether they understand what you are asking for or not (or pretty much clear that they don’t)

Also, all these fake avatar pictures… Don’t think it’s helpful either; sometimes it’s even ridiculous as I have seen at least wo sellers that were using exactly the same photo of some pretty young woman… Duh

[magy1808]

You can trust reviews which are like written not automatic from given stars. Just like someone above said, trust to reviews when seller has more then one review from same buyer, a lot of custom offers, and like I said when you see buyers actually wrote a review. I am not saying I am amazing, I am Fiverrs seller for like only 5 or 6 months, but as an example jump on my profile, check reviews and I think that should be kinda a guideline for when to trust to reviews. I believe you will find same type of reviews on all profiles from sellers which commented on your topic.

[Guest robinhawaii]

Assuming you have the contact information of the buyer, you could refund off site, via mail or by sending money to their email address in PayPal.

[webdatasolution]

It depends. If you need an unbiased opinion, ask a non-seller to test it for you.

[emmaki]

Do a $5 test. It’s the easiest way. Don’t mention its a test either. Just do it. I don’t know why everyone has to be so hellbent on the opinions of others in a marketplace that can manipulate them so easily.

[mkerogazov]

A test if fine, but even before you do this test, you need to have something to form your opinion on. Also, $5 is not much, but your time that you can potentially waste on a bad seller is. So far, I’d look on the number of reviews and starts, custom reviews on the profile, check if the profile photo looks like a real person to me (if it is not a logo), short introduction videos are helpful I think as they put a personal touch, and language of course.

[emmaki]

Meh, if you work in the general online business, you’ll pick up contacts quickly. I wouldn’t touch Fiverr with a bargepole.Unless it was giving me crap money! $5 test if you must. Why waste time? How is chucking $5 at a rando wasting time for a quick job? Either they do well or they don’t. I’m not going to watch all their marketing stuff… I write that shit every day.

[logeek]

I would not recommend this practice.

[logeek]

You can always have a refund through fiverr customer support even after the 14 days period.
And the best way is to ask the seller do it, he/she can contact fiverr support to initiate a refund request.
If the seller fails to do so, the buyer can always initiate a report against such scammy sellers. Fiverr support will look into the order, the delivery, sellers profile and correspondences between seller and buyer. If they find the case to be genuine, the order shall be refunded to the buyer.
If otherwise, the buyer is asking for a refund even after he got what he was looking for and trying to rip the seller, support will never tend to cancel such order.
So in short: You can trust them 🙂

This is all out of personal experiences, where a buyer wanted to get $400 out of me when he had only ordered $100 worth business. He contacted support, but only got his $100 back which i had offered him earlier, but he was of the view that CS will help him with his trick.
On another occasion a seller was unable to respond due to her health issues, i asked fiverr support and they refunded the money to her.

Hope that helps

Thanks,
Geek
Logeek @ fiverr.com

[logeek]

I totally agree with your stance.
Buyers are recommended to view the gig reviews and description in details. This thread is a clear help in undrstanding what the sellers reviews say about him.

One thing as suggested about paying accordingly. It matters a lot. For example in my field, logo is what gets your business an identity and if you are looking forward to targeting a worldwide market, expanding your business to countries, looking for a premium and luxurious look in the logo, it is better to pay accordingly to the seller. I’ve seen buyer which order only for $5 product when starting a multimillion dollar enterprise, well if you are a mutlimillion dollar business, spend some time in researching a seller with positive attitude and profile, reviews and portfolio worth it and CONTACT him before making the purchase. He might be able to help you understand fiverr better, will explain to you what your business needs, might ask for your ideas and help with his ideas. Once settled on the ideas, you can clearly see the price he asks becomes well justified.

I am a seller from Pakistan, and working as a graphic designer since 3 years, though my fiverr profile in new. But i encourage customers to contact me before they make the purchase. It has not only helped me gain customers that are real in finding a great logo, but has also helped me gain a strong customer base.

[logeek]

Another thing i would add to check is how the seller responds to the review.
This way you will be able to have a better insight of what the communication level of seller is.

[misscrystal]

Can you really trust reviews and feedback? It’s better than nothing and I’ve found amazing designers and writers by reading the feedback of top rated sellers. They have surpassed my expectations, so in my opinion yes if you are careful. It’s not a guarantee but you get a sense of what the seller is doing and if they are on time and do quality work.