melanielm

I don't believe this is shown to buyers at all. If I browse some profiles, I don't see full names anywhere.

I'm a novelist and quite active in multiple writers' groups online. These are people who regularly spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on each book: editing, proofreading, cover design, marketing, etc. They primarily use freelancers for these services. (I do, too.) Every single time someone mentions Fiverr, the majority of people commenting emphatically say "No! Stay away!" Why? Scammers, copyright infringement, people lying about their skills, using stolen assets, and now AI has taken a prominent role in the complaints. I realize this is just one market, but the shouting against Fiverr's reputation has been strong for years and is only getting stronger now that generative AI is taking over.

I discussed this issue on one of my gigs for a while with Customer Service. Sent screenshots of the orders (They were fake orders placed and cancelled immediately by scam/deleted accounts that I spoke with CS about when it happened and was assured they wouldn't affect me.) I still have a 'negative impact' for cancellations on the gig. To put it bluntly, they lied, not only to me and you, but to everyone when they announced that they'd fixed the issue on March 14th, I believe. Nothing we can do about that, though. Just letting you know you're not alone... if that helps.

I'm publishing a novel in a new series in about a month, so that's fun. I'm also moving house this summer -- finally! -- which is not fun at all. Not only is moving stressful, but having to go Out of Office on Fiverr is stressful, too. Who knows what will happen?

I've been a freelance writer for more than 25 years now. I giggle a bit when someone asks, "Have you ever written about...?" Yes, whatever it is, I've written about it. Tech specs for automated inventory retrieval units? Got you covered. How to keep spiders out of your bushwhacking hat in Australia? No problem. Marketing your SaaS to CEOs in Sri Lanka? Sure! Male health? Yup, I've done that too. One memorable buyer asked me "Do you think you can really get inside the mind of a man with peepee problems?" I guess I can. Good thing I love learning stuff. Many people suggest freelance writers pick a niche. I couldn't possibly!

I'm a $29/month person and got the email. I'm definitely cancelling. I feel a bit like a potato right now.

Really? If a buyer sends their social media link, they might get warned? I write for clients all the time who share various pages so I can get to know their business and brand. Are they getting in trouble for this? That seems impossible.

Sometimes it helps to think outside of the Fiverr box to build your business. Since you are a professional expert at SEO and ranking websites, why not build yourself a website, optimize and rank it, and watch the business orders pour in?

A little bit off-topic, but this was affecting people, so... Re: The cancellation issue isn't actually fixed for me. I still have 'severe negative impact' on one gig for fake "this won't affect your seller score" cancellations. I opened a ticket and got this as a response: "As you may know, any cancellations fixed because they weren't your fault won't impact your success score anymore." -- Which isn't true all based on my success score metrics. (Then they went on to say if I work hard, my score will go up, which has nothing to do with this issue either.) And... "With the removal of these cancellations, fewer orders might be counted towards your score for a particular Gig, which could affect your success score." -- Which means that the fake cancellations now affect my success score negatively but from a sneaky backdoor perspective. So basically... they've fixed nothing and even fake/incomplete order cancellations handled by Customer Service that state "this will not affect your seller score" still absolutely affect your score.

What bugs me (well, one of the things) is that buyers browsing won't know that the whole system was just changed or how it was changed purposefully so we don't look as good anymore. I have years of five stars and suddenly more 4.8s or whatever in the last month. They'll think I'm slipping and not doing my work as well as I used to. But, I guess the idea is that buyers will think everyone's slipping, so they'll just have to deal with it? How is making everyone look worse than a couple months ago make Fiverr look like a good option? Discussion is moot at this point. None of it makes verifiable sense.

Maybe they'll automatically create an AI version of whatever we deliver and let the buyer decide which one they want: ours for our price or the AI one for free! If they choose the AI one, we get .738 deducted from our success score every time and a big green frowny face emoji on our profile.

It was especially important since Fiverr never deemed it worthy to include a 'writing' or similar forum in the Verticals section along with graphics, audio, video, web dev, etc.

I do not know your particular issue, of course, but I've had this problem in the past. I asked Customer Service about it and got the usual "some people get it, some people don't" response. When pushed, they reinstated my ability to send them since I pointed out that I regularly used the option and had active buyers who wanted it. Best of luck! I can only suggest you ask CS to help.

This thread is eye-opening. I, of course, thank buyers for their orders and tell them about my revision process, etc., but I never thought to tell them to review me or manually accept the order. Auto-complete hurts us? Hm. Doesn't Fiverr direct buyers to leave reviews already? I'd get annoyed as a buyer if the seller did so, too... and then follow up after the order is complete AGAIN? (Don't even get me started on the new 'spam your buyers in their inbox' thing!) It looks like I'm going to have to channel some highly social person to change how I message people on the order page. Good to have clear guidelines about how not to get in trouble, at least.

"Recommend to a friend" is ridiculous. What if my client doesn't have a friend with an online business? Or a logo designer doesn't sell to someone with a friend who is starting up a new brand? Or a person who hires erotic short stories doesn't want their friends to know they buy such things? Literal people will automatically rate that low in cases like this. (Recommend to others? Recommend to someone who wants this type of service? -- I know it's general language, but "friend" doesn't fit.) The rating should reflect how well the seller did at that particular job. Also, in the original list of things you're still working on, you left out fixing the issue with Customer Service controlled cancellations (The ones that clearly state they don't affect out score or anything). Fiverr is still doing that, right? As of now, they're still affecting scores.

Absolutely not. I wish we could turn off the 12-hour one. We're professionals (Well, we're supposed to be.), and should be able to manage our time without hand-holding. I very rarely deliver within the 12-hour window, but when I do, I know exactly why and when. It's certainly not because I forgot an order!

Writing epic comedic fantasy poems and flying stunt kites.

Someone mentioned at some point the idea of decimals to see if we're trending up or down. Perhaps this tiny space before the full 5.0 is our decimal indication? Anyone else see this at a different level? Regarding bringing people to Fiverr from the outside... I think that's always what they've wanted! It was obvious from the push for 'First Time Buyer' increases a while back. I agree with the comment above, though. Why on Earth would we do that if we don't have to pay fees out there? I don't only work on Fiverr. No way I'd suggest other clients join the platform so I can earn 20% less.

December 2010. My gig with the 'severe negative impact' for cancellations that were from fake buyers (and covered by CS) and shouldn't have affected my rating (clearly stated on the order page) dropped one of my gig's scores a point this morning. I hope they're still actually working on this serious issue.

Totally off topic, but I wonder if there's anyone left who has been here longer than I have. I joined in 2010. At this point, calls for rolling back the new system are just clutter and noise. Private reviews have always existed and will always lack transparency (It's in the name...). The most frustrating bit (Besides Fiverr's lack of actual answers, but let's not hold our breath.) is that sellers can't compare notes with any efficacy to figure out what actually matters and how to fix it. I suppose this it to prevent 'gaming the system,' but it also prevents aligning efforts with what Fiverr values most so we, and they, can continue making money. It all whittles down to "Do good business" in order to counteract systemic failures as much as we can. (Like cancellations that shouldn't affect us, overly complex review systems with weird smilies, etc.)

(Emmaki, thank you for the last webinar transcript and sharing shots of the slides for this one. Definitely helps me!) I'm curious about the Buyer Diversity thing. What does that really mean? "Tailor assessments to accommodate the unique characteristics, patterns, and preferences of diverse buyers." This says nothing. Do buyers from different countries matter (Surely not!). Buyers at different price points? Those who do one-off orders vs. subscriptions? Those who order different services from various sellers on the whole platform? There is no actual, usable information about what any of this means. I'd get a serious hit to my "Client Satisfaction" and "Value for the Money" scores if I wrote this much fluff in the content I deliver.

Thank you, Frank. I was a bit upset seeing that thread closed after another nontransparent 'explanation'. Regarding the fake-order cancellations: I and a couple other people have received matching answers from Customer Service saying it's a known issue that they're working on before the March 14th update.

Buyer Requests haven't existed here for more than a year.

Just jumping in to say the same thing happened to me (not quite as many- yikes), and I pointed it out to CS as well and received basically the same answer. It's a known issue that they're working to fix. Check back with the March score. So, at least they're on the same page with this detail... hopefully.

I had one relatively inactive gig change to a -- from a score of 9. However, the gig with the Customer Support approved cancellations (which were supposed to have no impact on my rating AND that I contacted customer support about yesterday (with proof) to make sure) are still having a 'severe negative impact' on that gig's score. So... instead of doing what they said they would and fixing the cancellation issue, they left it and took away one of my other higher gig scores. Well, a year or two ago, I had to pause all my gigs because I had to have serious emergency surgery. Unfortunately, that didn't stop the orders I already had and I couldn't cancel them without buyer permission, so I actually had to do Fiverr work in the hospital. There are many good reasons to pause a gig. We've always been 'punished' for doing so. Instead of just falling out of the 'rankings' for a while, now it appears it will affect our overall score. ETA -- The confusion, conflicting information, and false claims of transparency are the real problems, I feel. If they'd just answer questions we would all have an actual chance to improve things. You'd think Fiverr would want that! They'd make more money, too.