Buyers - Have You Noticed the Complaints About Fiverr?

[eoinfinnegan]

Well, have you?
If you are on the Forum much or scroll through the posts, you will see complaints or dissatisfied customers posting in the Forum roughly every second day. This can be off-putting for you if you are considering placing an order but I wanted to point out a couple of things about this for you, before you make your decision.

An unhappy buyer will look desperately for somewhere to vent their frustration whereas a happy buyer will have left a glowing 5 star review on the seller’s profile. It is therefore quite reasonable to believe that the vast majority of unhappy buyers post their experience on the Forum. However, in contrast to those unhappy buyers, simply click on the profile of every level 2 (purple badge) and TRS (yellow badge) seller that you see. When that takes you to their profile you will see that they usually have hundreds or thousands of POSITIVE reviews.
What does this mean? The number of happy Fiverr buyers FAR, FAR outweigh the number of unhappy buyers. And there is more to consider -

So many of these “Complaint posts” contain the seller’s name (which is then removed by an admin) and of those I have seen before being removed, frankly I cannot understand why the buyer chose this seller. The offering of those sellers often are so unrealistic or exceptional that they are unbelievable. I mean literally, UNBELIEVABLE. So why do people believe them? The answer is that the buyer has chosen someone simply because they are offering to do something for a horrifically low rate. In this situation, the Latin phrase Caveat Emptor (LET THE BUYER BEWARE) is appropriate.

If someone comes to you and offers to sell you the Eiffel Tower for $5, don’t immediately believe that this is an incredible offer that you must take advantage of. Instead, question the likelihood of that being possible. Look at them, check their credentials (profile, reviews, gig description etc) and then decide if it is credible. If you do then decide to take a chance on this unbelievable offer, consider that you are pretty much buying a lottery ticket. You might win big or you might be left only with something worthy of the bin. You can blame the seller, you can even request a cancellation or go to customer support for assistance, but you cannot, CANNOT blame Fiverr or attempt to label all the sellers here as scams/frauds/cheats etc.

Finally, remember that yes, there are some sellers who offer poor service here - as there is everywhere - but also remember that there are also unreasonable people who come here to buy. If you are a reasonable person, are prepared to pay a reasonable price for the service you require and are prepared to research a little before you order, then Fiverr is an incredible marketplace full of talented people who can do a great job at a lower price than elsewhere. I am a buyer as well as a seller, and out of 100+ orders that I have placed, I have had 4 which I had to cancel, two because of the poor quality of the work.
Happy Fiverring!

[jey242]

I was an unhappy buyer before too until I took my problem to a higher power who made it all better…Fiverr Customer Support!

[eoinfinnegan]

The fact that Customer Support is there to arrange refunds etc and is so easy to go to through the resolution center, is also a major reason why I think these complaints on the Forum need to be “taken with a pinch of salt”. If the buyer has a legitimate complaint and goes to customer support then they will get their money back. If they don’t have a legitimate complaint, they seem to go to the forum.

[goodmuzik]

This is a good write up but i must point out also that some buyers make extra expensive requests which wasnt part of the initial agreement and they wont be ready to renegotiate. A buyer spoilt my level 1 seller account with very poor rating simply bcos I refused to do another extra job (running into 80usd) which wasnt part of initial negotiation.
The painful part is that customer support refused to remove the rating and review thus rendering the account useless

[eoinfinnegan]

I wouldn’t have given up on the account because of one bad review. If you get an unfair review, use the response to say what happened and why the buyer gave the bad review. I would also make sure that if the review was about not doing the extra then I would screenshot it, screenshot the conversation and send it all to CS. I would be surprised if they didn’t remove it.

[jey242]

The seller turned out to be a scammer which CS realized and disabled their account. By going to them others were spared the same fate I got. Hopefully others won’t give up and accept being scammed by dishonest vendors.

[edume]

Every business has it’s ups and downs as well as over expectation at low value.

[magy1808]

In general I think Fiverr got a bad reputation. The other day I was just browsing trough jobs on other freelancing platform, and there was job post where a person said something like apply only if your work is better then standard fiverr quality. So, all this rantings buyers do on salers is not for nothing…and the fact is they don t rant just on fiverr forum, it spreads around and it spreads really fast. I didn t know that till I started using another platform, and whenever when something i was asked for and was beyond what I can do I suggested to a client to check on fiverr, they were always like saying bad stuffs as an explanation why they would never buy here… so, fiverr moderation is way it is, and goes for quantity over quality, and that is how fiverr sadly is not a freelancing site with professional and good reputation on webs.

[eoinfinnegan]

Good to see you on the Forum again!
I agree, I don’t see a lot of positive stuff about Fiverr on the web. In places like Quora there are a multitude of discussions about whether people should “take a chance” on Fiverr. I suppose that this is due to the fact that Fiverr came about as a cheap alternative to the other sites. They did a great initial marketing campaign and got people to see it as the cheapest solution.
Unfortunately, along with the cheapness came poor quality from many buyers and so the reputation was damaged badly. It will take a large marketing campaign, well beyond the kind of feel-good stuff they are doing now, to change that. Packages allow the possibility of growth in this area but they are not widely known about yet. People still see Fiverr as the place you pay a fiver and until that changes, the reputation is still going to stick. The controversies with “reviews for sale” didn’t help either.

Also, and I see this being just as important, buyers and sellers need to lose their inhibitions about reporting bad sellers. I understand nobody likes telling tales on people but the rubbish sellers are causing this bad reputation and need to be removed. CS cannot police everyone so instead of (or as well as) getting refunded for poor work/service, these sellers have to be called out on what they are doing wrong. I have seen Fiverr take swift action on unprofessional people and the more buyers that report these people, the better.

[kapeachable]

uhmm… about the positiive reviews on the buyers profile, you realize you can actually hire people on fiverr to give fake reivews on websites, so why would i believe that a buyer with great reviews are even legit. So …

[topaz_muse]

There was also an experiment published in an online newspaper to see what types of logos could be produced for a set price some months back. A lot of people were upset to discover how the reporters went about their task which resulted in a couple of freelance sites getting frowned upon as a result. All they asked for was a logo, then a reader pointed out that it was branding campaign and that the reporters should have leveled the playing field by stating this in their requests; which they didn’t.

Fiverr has loads of remarkable creatives that go unnoticed. Many of which who compose extraordinary works.

[eoinfinnegan]

That can be checked quite easily.
Firstly, if a seller has a lot of reviews then it is unlikely they would have bought them at $5 each.
Secondly, if you are suspicious about reviews simply check the person who gave the review. If they are not a seller here then the review won’t have been bought from them. If they are a seller, check their credibility from their profile. It the original seller only has reviews from other sellers then it is very suspicious

[azaria1994]

My experience with Fiverr and the seller was horrible. I don’t consider myself to be unreasonable. I paid for a logo service and received and did not get the files I paid for. The seller said he was on vacation and I never heard from him again. I agree that all sellers should not be judged based on my experience. However, I am disappointed and think Fiverr does not care about customers (buyers) or the quality of the service provided. Fiverr needs to realize that “one bad apple can spoil the barrel”… Unlike Amazon, Fiverr DOES NOT CARE about the quality of service provided. Buyer Beware!

[eoinfinnegan]

Fiverr does care very much about the service that is provided by sellers. There is no freelance site where it is easier to cancel an already delivered order than Fiverr. It can take a little time for Customer Service but the benefit of any doubt is always given to Buyers, rather than sellers.
I find that many people who have problems buying have simply never looked closely at how Fiverr works. In every order there is a resolution center that can be used when there are problems. If an order goes late by a certain period then the buyer can cancel without consent from the seller. It is heavily weighted in the Buyers favor.
Finally, Buyers need to report unprofessional or dishonest sellers instead of complaining to other people about them. I have seen buyers have their badges removed or accounts suspended after reporting them. There are so many sellers here that Fiverr cannot possibly keep track of them all. This gives the buyer a lot of options, a low price due to high competition but it also means that there may be disappointments with work quality. That is why, in my opinion, Fiverr supports Buyers over Sellers in the majority of disputes.

[edume]

Fiverr got a bad reputation because of fraudsters trying to take advantage of this system. In the end, those fraudsters get away which is unfortunate.

The other problem is that many sellers don’t have any clue about business or communication which also creates another problem for buyers. An unhappy buyer is not going to buy again and will tell many other people about their negative buying experience. This adds to the reputation problem.

Hopefully, fiverr will re-create itself in future. There are tremendous opportunities awaiting online shopping. Innovation is the key!

[jonbaas]

Keep in mind, though, this is your opinion, not necessarily fact. There are indeed a few sellers who try to get away with fraud, and who try to tarnish the good reputation of this site in the process. But they aren’t getting away with it indefinitely, and they are, most definitely, being weeded out and removed when Fiverr discovers them. Fiverr is not carelessly or intentionally allowing these fraudsters to thrive, they just haven’t been able to find them all. It’s a constant process, as is any rules enforcement strategy.

As a mod on these forums, I can say with confidence, Fiverr does not support these kinds of actions, and is working hard – on a daily basis – to remove users who try to take advantage of the system. I’m part of that process (as are my fellow Mods and Admins). Fiverr is a fantastic place for sellers to offer their services. The good sellers rise to the top, while the bad (rule-breaking) ones are removed from the site.

Fiverr doesn’t need to recreate itself, they’ve already got a great system, great sellers, and dedicated, determined forum moderators and employees who are working hard behind the scenes to keep Fiver thriving, fair, and operating smoothly.

I’m proud to be working on Fiverr. I would hope you are as well. It is us proud, business-minded sellers that help keep Fiverr from gaining a bad reputation.

[edume]

@jonbaas Change is inevitable, without it you are left behind. I’m confident fiverr management already knows this and are working to develop new strategies.

[jonbaas]

Innovation is not based upon change, it is based upon growth and improving what you already have.

The things that Fiverr may be working on behind the scenes are designed to improve the site as we know it, not remold it into something different. Fiverr is doing a great job with innovation. I look forward to seeing what they have in store for us as this site continues to grow.

[eoinfinnegan]

I agree with Jon that Fiverr does take action when it can. I have seen a number of people either “disappear” or lose badges when I have reported them for bad behavior. If everyone does this then the site will become a much cleaner place. Unfortunately, too many people just complain or leave instead of using the possibilities that are available to improve the site.

[edume]

@jonbaas Innovation is change, development to make something better than it already is. It’s extremely difficult to do that with an over saturated fiverr system without reinventing itself for the better. Change with the times or get left behind.

In our video and broadcast business, we’ve seen incredible changes in the past 28 years in business. It really has been amazing.

[jonbaas]

Fiverr is a wonderful platform the way it is, and I am pleased to see the innovations and upgrades Fiverr continues to add to the site.

[jey242]

Actually I have seen sellers on other freelance platforms offer services where they will leave a positive review on your Fiverr gig if you pay them $6 or something.

[misscrystal]

I always report it when I see sellers with multiple accounts and have seen that they are always removed. Fiverr does remove bad sellers and gigs but there are 3 million gigs so they can’t watch each one.

I enjoy fiverr and the variety here. I think it works amazingly well considering the enormity of it.

[wp_kid]

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