smashradio

Your first priority should be to be good at what you do before you create a gig. Your second priority should be to stop following bad advice about "being active" for a certain number of hours. Your performance matters. You hitting F5 to refresh the page doesn't. Your third priority should be to read @williambryan392's post, linked above.

If it was shown on film-festivals, I would charge broadcast rights because of a "large audience". You might not earn money on this short film, but perhaps my voice will be one of the reasons why a famous director discovers you and you end up making blockbusters in ten years. Because of examples like that, I don't really care if you're gonna make money now. I care about audience size. If a non-profit comes to me asking for a voice for a large audience I'd say the same. There's no way for me to know how much money a project will earn the creator. I know other VAs who would just go for commercial rights on this one, so you'd really have to ask the talent about it. They might have questions about the usage that could help clear this up.

Glad it worked out in the end! Business is business, and the support team probably just wanted to save you from a cancellation on this one. I've had cases where I had to open lines of communication with blocked buyers before. To avoid getting orders from them while keeping the line open to see what's up, I've set myself as unavailable first, and then unblocked them. That way, they can explain the issue without me running the risk of having to work with them again. That being said, I fully support your right to refuse, but if you had done so (even without the support agents efforts to explain it to you), you could run the risk of support refunding the client and cancelling the order. If that's a risk you're willing to take to not communicate with a previous buyer, then by all means, it's up to you.

You simply edit your gig. Usually, a good way of identifying pricing factors to change, is to look at your orders. Is your base price much lower than the sellers at the top of the search results? Then it might be a good idea to increase it. Do you have extras that never sell? Maybe they could be cheaper? Do you have extras you sell a lot of? Increase the price a bit. Try different ways of pricing your gig to see what works best for you, based on you niche, your competition and what makes sense for you, given the time you put into each delivery.

These systems uses automated pools of virtual numbers. Often, longer numbers are cheaper, so there's more of them used for things like OTPs. If you requested the OTP and it came, you shouldn't be worried. Since you're not in fact providing any information to third parties outside of Fiverr when entering it, it can't do any harm, and scammers wouldn't get anything out of it. If you're sure you visited the real Fiverr website to log in in the first place, you're safe, even if the OTP comes from a weird virtual number. The other day I got a call from a Google customer representative from a 15-digit number in Estonia. 🤣

The team hand-cranking the servers and keeping the community boiler lit are tired after being on duty for 13 years without a break. They have finally been granted 5 hours to get a massage and a Iced, half-caff, Ristretto, Venti, 4 pumps, sugar-free, cinnamon, Dolce soy skinny latte. Or, it's just planned maintenance like @donnovan86 said, but I like my version better.

It isn't happening to everyone. My own slump last month can be easily explained by being less active on the platform overall, and I'm still at the top of search results and have more orders than I can handle, to the point of having to set myself as unavailable to control the number of projects I get. Inflation, this being spring-time (i.e. marketing budgets are already spent before the holiday season and lots of companies holding off until the next one), tech startup crisis due to bank failures, rising costs, it all plays a part into our revenue, as does our performance. This happening to a lot of reputable people I know aren't underperforming, tells me that the current financial crisis must be affecting a lot of sellers, even the best ones. Sure, there might be changes to the algo, but I don't think Fiverr would intentially put reputable high-status sellers in a slump on purpose. @newsmike I've done a bit of searching and you consistently land on page 2 - 3 for me when searching for "american voice over" or "american male voice over". If I filter for "pro" you're among the first three results. I'm not sure how that compares to before for you, but at least your gig isn't buried on page 10. It could indicate that buyers are looking for cheaper deals at the moment, as I've experienced a similar trend with my copywriting gig (also Pro). Especially I've noticed fewer orders from regular clients, and that's not down to the algo, unless they're using it to search for cheaper sellers.

Let me see if I understand this correctly. Buyer wants you to do a project. You say yes and provide a price. Buyer pays you for the work. You do the work and deliver as agreed. Buyer don't want to pay you because they changed their mind. If you delivered what was described in the initial offer, theoretically, Fiverr will not give him a refund. But it has happened, so your money is not safe at this point. I would try to work with the client to make them understand that they can't hire you for work, then accept the delivery, and then ask for a refund, unless they have grounds to do so (i.e. it was discovered later on that your work wasn't up to scratch). If the buyer actually got through with such a demand and I felt they had no grounds for it, I would send it off to my lawyer. You can always take them to court, if you think you'll win and the amount is worth it. But I would wait and see what happens with customer support first. No need to panic over it before anything has happened. At this point, the buyer is trying to force you to give them a refund for work you have already completed. Unless they have good reason to do so (changing their mind is not a good reason!) you're most likely safe. You could try explaining to the client that you can't go into a supermarket, by a bottle of Coke, drink it, and then go back inside the store asking for a refund because you wanted Sprite instead.

If only they had the same systems in place to not charge sellers for spam clicks. They can, but they haven't done so. I'm basically paying for spammers to click my ad on Fiverr and send me "contact on t€legr@m huge data entry work sir".

Yes, while I do think the two platforms can be compared these days, given that Up is also doing the "gig thing" now, I see time as money, and right now, Up takes more time per dollar. But even so, I think a lot of sellers, most likely the ones working on big projects, will be tempted by "10%" instead of "20%". You don't have to. You can just create gigs there, too. For me, it's a matter of comfort. I simply like Fiverr better, and the buyers here are great, for the most part, so I'm not leaving anytime soon. But if Up is stepping up their game, Fiverr needs to do the same to keep their most talented pool of sellers on platform.

You most likely got an e-mail explaining why your gig wasn't approved. Have you checked your inbox?

Fiverr will prompt you if/when they want you to verify your ID. You can read more about it here: https://www.fiverr.com/support/articles/360010968038-Verifying-your-identity?segment=buyer

You do sort of "bid" on Fiverr as well. It's automated, but you're competing with your gig/profile in search results all the time, and most of the time, you're not going to get picked. The platform now also has "gigs" If I remember correctly, they even offered a "direct import of your Fiverr gig" before they launched it – description and all – so they're taking the best from Fiverr and leaving the rest behind. Dirty tactics? Maybe, but it's competition time. With that said, I don't like working on there, because I don't want to spend time bidding, and most of the Norwegian projects relevant to me are from lowballing TTS companies in China. But, for a lot of freelancers, I can see it making more sense to pay for connects and if they have the bidding process nailed down, they can save on connects too. You also get free connects for completing contracts if I remember correctly.

Indeed. I think we got a lot of importaint points across, but it is true what was said: these things have been on our agenda for years. It just hasn't been on theirs. I hope things change and I like that they're working with us. But you're right: I'm not holding my breath, either. I've had a slump in terms of new clients in february. But I blame that on me being less active on the platform due to other projects. Perhaps you just got a very negative private review? I'm sure you've already considered this and ruled it out as unlikely, but I just wanted to mention it. I had a slump last year, and I had a gut feeling about this one buyer and it turned out to be true. I fired that buyer and things slowly started improving again. But if it is like @frank_d said in his Fiverr 4.0 post, people just have to wait it out. That's not a way to treat your best and most talented sellers, in my opinion, which is why I've called for more transparancy, as @visualstudios so eloquently pointed out before me (I had a speech prepared but so did you and yours was better - haha). The Up argument is a good one, simply because it's not that difficult to move or prioritize. I haven't bothered with it because I prefer the way Fiverr works, but 10% is a better deal for sure. If they want to keep their best people, they have to adjust certain things to remain competitive. I think Fiverr has forgotten that they're not just competing for the buyers, but sellers as well. Maybe they've realized that something is about to happen now, given that people from the retention-team was present during our discussion. Inflation, reduced spend and the banking crisis is surely affecting us all, some more than others. If you have a lot of clients in the tech sector, you're going to feel the pain in the coming months if you haven't already. I also think more companies are focusing on getting through this, hopefully turning a profit, while growth is taking a back seat for now. I'm no expert, but that's what I've gathered from all the tech giant layoffs.

If the risk of working with first time buyers is getting bad reviews that count more because of them being noobs, experienced sellers will surely shy away from new buyers in many cases. Onboarding for new buyers was actually a subject in a roundtable discussion with Fiverr I joined in on today. Let's hope they do it, because it can perhaps avoid some of the growing pains new buyers clearly have.

I think this is part of Fiverr moving up-market. Usernames are not very compatible with that strategy, as recruiters are looking for real people. This change was first launched on the Fiverr Business version of the platform ages ago, where I have been going by the name Leo L. since the separate gig listings and profiles were launched. It's likely that it will pop up elsewhere as well, after Fiverr have had some time to analyze it.

That means the buyer probably has blocked you, or that the buyer sent tons of similar messages to a lot of sellers at once, and the spam filter kicked in on them. If the buyer blocked you after a two-minute conversation, your issue is most likely your communication or your offer.

In addition to the technical requirements you have to fulfill, that you can read more about in the link posted by @maxtpf – there are a number of things to keep in mind. In fact, we've had a discussion on this before, where a lot of top rated sellers chimed in (including me) with opinions on the subject. I suggest you read that thread. You'll find lots of insight from TRS sellers in it.

Gig eligibility for promotions is determined by multiple factors, including gig quality and feedback. Keep in mind that Fiverr operates with different types of feedback: public star ratings and a two-part private review that you'll never see or hear about. A buyer can leave negative feedback that only Fiverr can see, and this can, among other things, affect if your gig is eligible for promotion.

Simple: be an actual expert at what you do and learn how Fiverr works (hint: being an actual professional and not a pretender is what lands you success). That, plus a lot of hard work, patience and by treating your profile as the business it is, not thinking it's just a quick way to earn some cash.

I'm positive! I think it makes our profile more personal and it certainly gives off a better impression when you're a freelancer to use ones name instead of some random username you made back in 2014 - like I did when I just wanted a guy to sing for five dollars. I started selling and I still find messages starting with "Hello Smash" or "How are you, Mr. Radio?".

This is for all you singers, voice-overs and audio people out there. First, a short explanation: I'm a voice-over actor, but I'm also an audobook producer. Sometimes, independent writers reach out to me, wanting to record their own audiobook. "Good lord," is my first thought. "The audio quality of an amateur recording in their living room. Again?!" Editing and producing any piece of audio recorded in less-than-ideal conditions (i.e. a professional studio) can be a nightmare. Back to the project: I got the files, and as I suspected, the audio was horrible. No way you could publish anything like that and sell it. Anyway, I decided it was time for a challenge – not for me – but for AI. As we all know, the web is now littered with AI tools for anything from text and image generation to music production and graphics design. I'm probably not the only one who got the chills from watching Microsoft's last trailer for Copilot. And while AI will leave a lot of us without jobs in the future, it can also be an amazing tool too. In the case of this audiobook I was working on, I wanted to try Adobe Podcast and their new enhanchment tool for audio. It promises to make bad audio sound like it's recorded in a professional studio. Really!? I've spent thousands of bucks perfecting my studio with high-end gear and acoustic treatment. Is Adobe telling me I can now achieve the same on a smart phone? Well yes, that is what they're claiming. I don't agree, of course. It's not THAT good. But it is freakin' impressing, and then some. Just listen to the comparison attached below. The audio has only been through Adobe's enhancher and then through a simple EQ to remove rumble. That's it. I'm officially impressed. Does this mean anyone with a smartphone and a Creative Cloud subscription can now be a professional voice-over talent? Of course not. It's not the thousands I've spent on gear that makes me a professional voice actor. It's my experience. But if I'm ever on the road and my portable recording studio just won't cut it, this tool is a godsend. Comparison_mixdown.mp3

Why lie?

It's not the last one to go, that's for sure. Bank mismanagement gave us the 08 crisis. Government mismanagement gave us the inflation crisis. And now, bank mismanagement AND government mismanagement is working together to kick people in the butt. Go for gold. The physical stuff. Perhaps we can ask Fiverr to start paying us in gold nuggets. 💰

Cash advance is just another word for loan. In other words, Fiverr is offering this to people who they think needs it and can pay it back based on criteria I imagine is similar to what banks use. I've been a Top Rated Seller for years. I don't share my internal business figures on a public forum with random strangers, but safe to say, my financial situation indicates I could take out a loan with low risk to the lender. Yet, I've never had (nor would I want) the option to get an advance from Fiverr. If you have to take out what I'd call a micro loan to stay afloat, you're doing something wrong, financially speaking. As a freelancer, you should have at least one year worth of expenses set aside at any given moment, before you go into freelancing. Freelancing is just like any other business: you need to be able to operate at a loss. If you can't take that, you're not ready to be a freelancer. So, while I have a six-figure credit line on my credit card, I never use more than I can pay back in a month to avoid interest, and I use my credit card because of the miles I get. I never paid as much as a dime in interest. In my opinion, cash advance is a predatory practice by Fiverr to "hook" freelancers who shouldn't be freelancing into staying on the platform, trying to pay back their debt. As soon as it's paid, many will get to repeat the same cycle over and over again with no end in sight. Let's realize it; most who get the offer, don't take out the loan to invest it back into their business, but to pay their bills and put food on the table, instead of slowly and surely building a buffer. It's just sad. And you should probably take it as a sign that Fiverr don't think you're in enough financial trouble to take out the loan. That's most likely a good thing (not that I pretend to know your situation, though). But if you're in a tight corner, go to your bank and speak to them about it. Having a good line of credit with a serious financial institution and building a positive credit history, will do you much more good than taking up a loan from Fiverr.