danno1950

I think that might have happened, and we're back to unintended consequences. I used to work with software programmers who would tinker with the system, and make changes. We then had to monitor to see what impact their changes had on the rest of the system, the unintended consequences of their actions. I think that sometimes happens on Fiverr, where the developers change something and don't sufficiently monitor the impact. Then we are all left with the results, like the slump that many seem to be experiencing right now.

That makes perfect sense. I think "the ocean of sellers" is how Fiverr is clogging up their own system. @newsmike predicted a while back that this was how they would work against themselves. I didn't see it at the time, and now it's coming true. Fiverr Business for instance was supposed to be for the 'cream of the crop" sellers, and it got just as flooded as the regular platform.

Wow, that's the same time that my traffic dropped off. If a number of sellers are struggling at the same time, you do have to wonder about algo adjustment. Yes, this could be a big deal. Of course, the fact that so many sellers are struggling means that Fiverr is earning less - which is their biggest motivation to actually do something to resolve the issue.

That's an "are you kidding?" concept, but very true. I need things to pick up as well!

I'll keep you posted, Alex! Yes, there's a lot of competition in that category, but no one is getting orders. That's why I differentiated myself by specifying "business." My best gig is editing business content, so I'm hoping that will help.

I'm glad to hear it's not just me. Business has been super slow for the last two months. I think you're right, Alex. It is my opinion that a LOT of people are trying to figure out how to work AI into their content creation process. I set up a gig to "edit AI generated content for AI." No orders yet, but the analytics are unlike anything I've ever seen - more impressions and clicks than my best performing gigs by over double. I think once people figure out how to work with AI, things may pick back up. I've wondered about this same thing. After a cancelled order, CS corrects so the profile doesn't reflect the OCR bump, but does that get corrected behind the scenes or still impacts us?

I'm not convinced it is active yet. On my profile it shows up as "Manage Consultations." I haven't gotten any hits, but I think it's still in Beta testing.

I think Fiverr just throws a new initiative against the wall to see if it will stick, and then moves on to the next cool thing they want to try. Remember Fiverr Business? It got a lot of attention for a while too, and then it just sunk behind the horizon. These developer kids just don't seem to know how to support a new initiative to a successful plateau of functionality.

I just turned off the Buyer Briefs function again. I kept getting a steady diet of briefs that were so far from the services I offer that it was laughable. It's like they set up the feature, and then have made no effort to adjust to improve the quality of the matches. It irritates me to see something done poorly. Like the Fiverr Buyer Brief process.

Well that's an interesting version of the typical spam.

I turned Buyer Briefs on again last night. I've already received 9 briefs, and none of them are a match for my services. Sheesh!

I haven't noticed, since like Vickie. I turned them off. I'm going to turn them on again briefly, to see what happens.

From the Fiverr TOS, updated January 2023: Phishing and Spam - Members’ security is a top priority. Any attempts to publish or send malicious content with the intent to compromise another member’s account or computer environment is strictly prohibited. Please respect our members privacy by not contacting them with offers, questions, suggestions or anything which is not directly related to their Gigs or orders. This appears to be all Fiverr says about spamming, unless I missed something elsewhere in the TOS. Webster: Spam: unsolicited usually commercial messages (such as emails, text messages, or Internet postings) sent to a large number of recipients or posted in a large number of places. It just doesn't make sense to me how Fiverr can violate it's own stated respect for the privacy of members (and its updated TOS) by sending buyers Promoted Gig Ads in a user's inbox.

I believe it is spam - just sponsored by Fiverr, but the same type of unsolicited contact as spam. If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck - it's a duck. This walks and quacks like spam, so - it's spam. I'm not a big fan of this initiative. And as indicated earlier, if buyers currently have no way to turn off these message - that's not good. If sellers can have Promoted gigs but without the option to turn of Inbox messages - that's not good.

They're now sending me messages and emails about the new "Paid Consultation" feature that, oh by the way, hasn't been deployed yet. Seems to me it would be more effective to send those communications after we can actually do something with the feature. If they wait 3 weeks to actually deploy, my attention will be on other things, and their earlier messages will be just wasted effort.

Great suggestions for setting boundaries Mark! I had a company want to do an initial Zoom call to set up a job, then they had 5 people on the call, and wanted me to determine their marketing strategy for them. I messaged and said I could be available for paid marketing consultations, through a "Writer's Advice" gig I had set up. I haven't heard from them again, and consider it no loss. Based on your input, I just clarified my description to say "I will consult one-on-one in English to discuss your project." Set the boundary up front, and buyers have constructive notification if they try to have a whole team show up.

Here's the Help Center page with information about how Paid Consultations will work, and the FAQ page: https://www.fiverr.com/support/articles/12307695633041-Paid-Consultations-for-sellers https://www.fiverr.com/support/articles/12309284930449

Thanks for pointing this out, Frank. I just spotted it and set it up. So I'm clear - this is a new feature close to release but not yet available to buyers? Maybe it's like when Fiverr Pro came out, and I wondered if buyers would pay the higher prices - which they did gladly. I'd be glad to offer consultations, and have investigated a way to do that several times. But I'm having a bit of trouble visualizing why buyers would actually pay for this type of service. You have such great insights Frank, I'd be interested in your thoughts on how we could use a feature like this to our advantage.

That seems to be the most common occurrence, mahmud.

Congratulations! That's good news, and hopeful!

It seems to me that some of that falls on Fiverr, in not giving specific options in the brief definition process for the buyer to choose the service they're looking for. It appears that the only criterion they need to choose for my services is "writer" and no further specification. I think Fiverr has set this process in automated motion, and doesn't appear to be making any effort to refine the process. So I get many of the same briefs as @vickiespencerjust mentioned, as well as "translate this from Spanish, Russian," and a host of other languages I don't speak. The list of briefs I get that aren't remotely close to the services I provide goes on and on.

Same here. Buyer briefs are just not providing proposals that even get close to the services I offer.

Mike already approached me about this job, but the type of script the buyer is looking for is not the type of script I write. I felt it best to decline the opportunity.

Great point Mike. I think that's a solid way to utilize coupons.

This is the same logic by which I decided not to take advantage of giving out coupons. It just felt needy.