danno1950

It sounds like Fiverr wanting to hold on to the money for a couple of extra days. May be a sign they're hurting for money.

I agree! Fiverr implementing new features like this, but doing it unilaterally, doesn't make me feel like seller input is very valued.

Go with your instincts. If it doesn't feel right, it's fine to pass on a prospect. One of the most difficult things I've had to learn with freelancing is how to say "no" when the situation is not right for me. You'll be approached by numerous people who want you to cut your price. I've found that it's just easier to pass. If they later accepted my higher price, it would give them a point to complain about if they didn't like the product, and that could be a pain.

The procedure is described in the Help Center: https://www.fiverr.com/support/articles/4405882792209-How-to-Become-a-Fiverr-Pro

This was posted as an Open Letter to Success Managers. Can we get some input from other Success Managers? So could we hear from the other Seller Managers about this internal advocacy - this is the first I've heard about it.

I believe that if you would actually read the thread you would understand what I am saying. We have all done that and are frustrated by the lack of quality, actionable advice the SM's are giving us. There are at least a dozen people stating as much. Have you actually read the comments? I think reading the post from the beginning will be very helpful in seeing that this issue has not been effectively addressed, and it needs to be addressed at a deeper level than "brainstorm about possible solutions" - which indicates that the problem is an individual issue for each seller. This is what we're frustrated about - we haven't been feeling heard about this larger issue, which is not isolated to individual sellers.

Yes, I'm also concluding that this is the major issue impacting us now. Which lends itself to trying to figure out how to work within the Fiverr world most effectively, given the current climate, rather than trying to build a new business from scratch on a new platform that is going through similar issues.

This lack of response by the Fiverr SMs is pretty loud.

Based on the slump we all believe was caused by an adjustment to the algorithm, I'm not sure how solid they are at writing code.

Glad to help!

How? I am very curious. Because things like asking clients to review orders might help, but like you... I am not comfortable with that. I just stumbled across this whole private survey issue with my 4th SM, and none had ever mentioned it before. I suspect many new SMs don't even know about this process. A positive private survey balances out a negative private survey, and positively impacts your BSR. How much impact - no one knows. That's on the super-secret level.

I got the same feedback from my SM, but only after I first discovered the existence of the private surveys, and then inquired enough to find out they could get you out of Fiverr jail. The whole process has been very secretive for years. Yes, I am uncomfortable asking regular buyers to leave reviews.

If that troublesome buyer leads to a cancellation, that will only compound the problem of no orders because of the impact on the stats and a possible negative private review. That's plenty of reason to avoid those situations.

It really is unfortunate that we have to be so self-protective against a nightmare of a first time buyer.

Any you'd care to mention? Many here have been looking for options. Yes, I would also be interested in hearing about those sites.

Ouch - that's not encouraging. It does make sense, though, so they can just motor on without having to admit they screwed up the algorithm, and we're in the penalty box.

I agree - and if Fiverr loses revenue from the slump, it will be the best chance of getting the source addressed and resolved.

This is what happened in this instance. They placed the order without contacting me first, and the problem started there, Alex. That's why I quickly turned Request To Order back on. 😀

I just got a message from a New Buyer asking for a Custom Offer, and my first thought was "Oh, ****, do I want to risk this hassle and potential negative impact on my earnings? The new world of increased penalty potential from dealing with a new buyer.

I just had this happen to me. I had a cancellation at the end of February, because a buyer submitted a fairly large order for something I didn't offer. This is the situation where CS says that once they "adjust" the Order Completion Rate back to 100%, that no longer impacts my impressions. This morning another buyer submitted a small order outside the scope of my gig. It was from a buyer with 3 previous orders, which I believe counts as a "New Buyer" in the system. (Yes, I quickly turned Request To Order back on - I had been experimenting in case using that feature might be impacting my impressions.) It dropped my OCR to 86%, which on the face of it makes no sense - I've never had a single order drop my rate that much. But if the system was still internally counting that previous cancellation against me, then I believe things now make sense. Even though we have been assured that once the OCR for a cancellation has been manually adjusted on the Dashboard, it no longer affects my impressions, that cancellation does "remain in the database and affects impressions."

There's a simple yes or no question that would shed a lot of light on this issue. I doubt it will ever be answered, because it falls outside the transparency zone of Fiverr. The question: "Did the development team make a change to the algorithm in late January to early February?"

That makes perfect sense, and yes, it's gaslighting to say this doesn't impact us. I'll try anything at this point. I just turned off all promoted gigs. As we were talking about in another thread, the results have been disappointing anyway recently, so I don't feel like I'm losing much traction.

Even better. I just wanted to make sure the SMs were alerted to the existence of this thread. A personal email to my SM felt like it might be interpreted as a little confrontational.

I'm thinking of emailing this thread to my SM. Thoughts?

I completely agree. Thanks for posting this Mike!