[Why I love Fiverr and, you should too!]

That's definitely one reason! 
Honestly, I'm not sure I could be earning a living as a writer if it wasn't for Fiverr - sure, there's.. not-so-great things about the site, but don't all companies/workplaces have some issues? I think I've mostly seen two types of complaining/hating on Fiverr - one from very new sellers who were enticed by the idea of 'you only have to register and you'll get rich' (which...we know is not true, but they don't, and the other is what I can relate to more: seasoned sellers pointing out issues/things that could be changed.

To be honest I also have a tendency to blame other people for my own shortcomings (like some type one complainers) but the more I work as a writer, the more I sort of realize that I'm not perfect either. We all make mistakes and that's OK - but how you react to them is what's important. 

That being said, I'm glad you got compensated! I've had some rough-ish experiences in the past year as well, some ended with cancellations (some not) but yeah, clients (or scammers) can be...

Mean. (or knuckleheads, as you'd said.)

[The official, obligatory Costume Thread]

I just put a flower crown on my head in a half-hearted attempt to be the Corpse Bride {which honestly was inaccurate to start with)- I was going to put effort into it but work messed up my plans (out of my control unfortunately.)

If my hair is still blue next year I'll try to do Sadness from Inside out though!

 

[Listing Gigs exclusively on Fiverr Business]

My first hunch was that maybe people in certain niches (logo making, voice acting, etc.) could potentially benefit from having only 'vetted' clients? It makes absolutely no sense in my case (indie games/books) but.. if there is some sort of an extra boost if you use you FB, I can sort of see it but otherwise, doesn't feel like a feature that will help me out personally!

[How do you make friends?]

So - the question is more or less simple (though might sound odd at first) but... I'm mostly addressing people who freelance more or less full-time (or at least work from home/away from large offices. 

As an expat/immigrant/digital nomad (a bit of everything, honestly), I often find it a struggle to find like-minded people at first. I'm not a huge fan of large gatherings so that might also be why! That being said, what's great about my schedule is that it's flexible for the most part. If someone wants to go out on a Tuesday evening, I'm totally OK to go! 

Still - working from home/alone gets a bit lonely sometimes. 

So.. what are your ways to make sure you still socialise? Do you have a large network of friends around you? Or if you've settled down near home, did you manage to keep in contact with old friends?

(this is genuinely out of curiosity! I have very social weeks and then just... disappear into nothing for a month but it's a decent balance to be honest, however I'm also not completely alone here which is why I think my experience might be a bit different from others!)

[Buyer Request Marketplace - is it gone?]

Well give that the feauture itself is going to be deleted completely, yes. 

That doesn't mean that newbies who show potential can't get orders or briefs though. Only those who relied on BR and never got their business going the way its intended two are in trouble. 

[I'm in depression now due to algorithms]

15 minutes ago, waqasiqbal763 said:

I have not seen my  gig on second page, why? Drop of ranking means gigs will go down from 1st page to 2nd, 3rd or 4th or 5th.

If you do some digging on the forum you'll find that ranking doesn't exist the same way as before - Fiverr now matches you up with the seller who's most likely to actually get an order from you (or sellers). Now, of course, it IS possible that you got a few bad private reviews (because those are very important) and due to that, you're recommended less, but just because you can't find your own gig you shouldn't get depressed.

I'd probably see about signing up for seller plus to get indepth analytics (if you haven't yet) and see what happens. 

Your category IS overcrowded, and ups and downs are to be expected unfortunately - even if it seems like your competition is doing just fine. You can't know for sure if they have higher impressions than you.

(having a huge team like that, I understand the pressure you're under, but the only way to solve it, probably, is to increase your performance/maybe try promotion again when it comes back? It HAS been a bit buggy for me recently as well, but I'm sure it'll work out OK. What you saw probably with the promotions/orders stopping was actually a negative (private) review, which honestly, when you handle so many orders is likely very normal... 

[I'm in depression now due to algorithms]

12 minutes ago, waqasiqbal763 said:

What is happening here? Still i have 50+ orders in Queue. It just gives depressiona nothing else. Can someone help me with experience?

If you have 50 orders in queue, clearly, it's a glitch.... why would you still obsess over you impressions if clearly, business was blooming for you? I understand that it looks scary, but I've long stopped thinking about impressions (unless I had 0 orders in queue, which likely said that I had a dip in performance (aka, likely a bad private review for whatever reason.) 

IF you stop getting orders (even from regular clients, etc.) I would get worried - but not depressed. (Depression is a mental illness and a very serious matter. If work pushes into it, you might want to talk to a professional/think about how to improve your mental health (and so on). 

 

[Can anyone suggestion me how can i rank my gig ?]

If you publish them just for the sake of having 7 gigs, no. If you actually take the time to make 7 GREAT gigs that WORK and people actually want, maybe. 

[CAN I GET A RESPONSE FROM FIVERR SUPPORT FINALLY PLEASE? #8436262]

1 hour ago, finalcutallen said:

I have been level 2 for two years in a row, I have never experienced any priority support, it's all bs clearly. 

 

I'm going to start with the fact that most people on here are sellers so I'm not sure if you will be able to get faster help by posting here.

BUT!

I realize that CS can be slow - it's annoying for sure, however I can see that they'd be swamped now (imagine how many no level/level 1 sellers are messaging them because 'buyer requests are gone'... add some of the technical glitches (impressions not showing up) that happened recently into the mix and...yeah. You have overworked support, even if they are supposed to give priority to level 2/TRS (and I think seller plus?)

Now, if I were you, I would do one thing mainly: wait.

I would potentially try to extend the order just to have an ease of heart but I don't think it will matter because if if IS ruled sketchy by CS, it will be cancelled and it won't affect your rating. Now if by some chance they don't believe it to be sketchy, things will be a bit... messier, but the one time I had an order like that, they told me that I only have to work on the order if I feel comfortable doing so (which to me equals 'we will take care of it if you don't.) I understand your frustration, but I wouldn't work myself up about this so much. 

Grab a coffee, take a walk and make sure you listed all the reasons why it's sketchy clearly. Maybe the CS agent who saw your mail needed someone else to check it as well... who knows. 

I know it's easy for someone else to be saying this, but keeping your cool in situations like this CAN be important to how the case will end (or so it feels to me.)

[Buyer Requests (Again?)]

Honestly, they might be just cleaning BR up for good, getting ready to take it off the site completely. 

I find that after a while, briefs have gotten way better / more relevant to what I offer. It just takes time. BR was... Chaotic and while briefs will take a while to really work out I think they'll end up a lot less messy due to all the extra features like marking things as spam, etc. 

I understand the frustration but I think it's a good initiative. I don't think BR was supposed to be a major factor to how sellers get orders. At least for me it always seemed like a faulty extra. 

[I need help with solving this mystery...]

4 minutes ago, webgaragepro said:

Hello is not restricted word on fiverr!

In itself it isn't - but I think you missed the point of my post. 

People who spam other sellers for work mindlessly often type 'hello' or 'hi' to start with (and nothing else). My theory is that mixing up the greeting makes it harder for the spam filter to catch on. (As I'm assuming these people are spamming several accounts at the same time.)

[I need help with solving this mystery...]

6 hours ago, miiila said:

I hope you also got the hy ones, at least, else, your collection is lacking even with the hlo one. 😄

hy is very common, hlo I think I've gotten before. Maybe even 'h'? 

The most common seems to be just 'give me money' though but oh well!

(that being said, I HAVE had 'hy' being a typo and gotten an order out of it before I think. )

 

THAT  aside I wonder if all these forms of 'hi' are because they know that 'hello' often gets marked as spam right away, so they outsmart the spam filter? Or... am I thinking too much into it?

[How to Set a Per-Word Pricing Format]

11 hours ago, rehtael said:

So are you able to submit a custom invoice once the service is rendered, or do you need to stay strictly to increments of five for the sake of processing on Fiverr's end?

So you're able to send a custom offer for 'any' word count, but from what I can see, it does have to be dividable by five (the fee, not the wordcount) which basically means rounding up/down for the most part. I've had this issue before as well for certain services, which is why I ended up figuring out a different way (having a much smaller 'sample' package than I'd like, but oh well!)

I hope that this system will work out fine for you! 

[How to Set a Per-Word Pricing Format]

The sort of 'issue' with Fiverr is that the price of your product has to be divided by five (so for example, you can't sell, say, 650 words in your case, etc - or at least for now that has never happened to me. The best that you can do is write how much you charge per extra words in your gig packages because that way it'll be customizable to some extent.

 

The downside of that is that for some reason while other extras will add extra days to your deadline, this feature doesn't (might be a recent change?) which means that if someone increased the wordcount you might have to write faster than you'd like ( this has only ever been an issue for me once but...) 

Another good way to offer custom word count is to use custom offers (but of course again that's somewhat restricted.) My current pricing is awesome for this but I reckon once I raise it a bit it'll be a bit harder to count all the time!

[What's your favourite thing to drink? (recommendations accepted)]

58 minutes ago, zeus777 said:

The vending machine stayed broken like that for about a year then finally some b*****d fixed it!!

It took them quite a while to do that though! I mean, a whole year? (I'm guessing the students weren't so eager to report what was going on thougjh, so it makes sense.)
I feel like if I drink 1,5 liters all together that's already 'good' (as in, I barely drink more than that.) Tried cute waterbottles, flavouring but.. nope. I do love juiceboxes though!

[What's your favourite thing to drink? (recommendations accepted)]

9 minutes ago, breals said:

We had run out of coffee and I didn't want to venture out during the pandemic.

Do you have a brand you prefer? I used to order Bird&Blend (their chocolate mint tea is amazing) before there were new taxes on tea (well, everything) from the UK, but I'm hoping to splurge on something nice before Christmas. Swedish tea just isn't quite the same (though some specialty brands are awesome) 

[Romantic series of virtual somethings]

12 hours ago, sabinespoems said:

That's such a fun and (let's not forget) personal gift! 

16 hours ago, katakatica said:

What I forgot to add is that it IS technically something anyone could write themselves (with more/less success of course!) but all the way more personal! I feel like a lot of people overlook writing as a gift, but I remember years and years ago when friends would write fanfiction for me (and vice versa!) It's just..fun!

[What's your favourite thing to drink? (recommendations accepted)]

So, the story goes (because with me, there will always be a story) is that -I'm not good at staying hydrated At all. I don't like water and honestly struggle with other drinks as well (not always, depends.) 

Now what I do love is copious amounts of tea - so when I can be bothered, that's what I make (or coffee). Even now, I have a coconut lemon meringue tea on the side of my desk, with loads of honey (I caught a bit of a cold in Poland, probably because I couldn't figure out how NOT to have the AC on in my hotel room (it MIGHT also be a new requirement of not heating up the place too much, but based on how dry/cold the air was, it felt like AC.) 

Anyway, so I'm always up to trying new things (new flavours, juices, etc.) so..

Tell me, what keeps YOU hydrated? Are you a water-all-day person? Or do you sip on soda while working? 

We ordered some box hot chocolate mix weeks ago but never got it (eek) so I'm even considering picking that up next time in the store. 

I'm also (just in general) curious about people who primarily freelance/work from home - how good are you at reminding yourself to drink? When I nannied/taught, I feel it was easier in a way since I saw the kids drink and my brain went 'oh. by the way, it's 2 and you haven't had a single sip of water since the morning'. 

So yeah, I'd love to hear what you love to drink / how you make sure you don't get dehydrated!

(this post is unedited/not proofread as I'm just bored/sick and curious.)

 

[Romantic series of virtual somethings]

I'm planning a holiday exclusive choose your own adventure story gig (featuring the gifted/loved ones) - not a card but writing can be a pretty personal gift!

[TIP FOR SELLERS, HOW TO CONVERT IMPRESSIONS & CLICKS TO ORDERS]

I'll have to echo the rest. People who don't 'understand' time zone differences aren't necessarily people I want to work with/for, to start with. While I do reply until I head off to bed/once I wake up, I have 7-10 hours a night (depending on how much I manage to sleep) when I'm offline and... it works. 

I understand that being avaliable might seem as a good trait, but can you really work (or even just write) 100% well/correctly when you just wake up, especially in the middle of the night?) In all genuine honesty, the way I think is that my customers deserve the 'best' version of me (and so does my partner/so do I.) If I don't mute my phone/computer, I will wake up, throw my phone away and go back to sleep. The only thing it achieves is... making me mad.

Now, I do understand where you come from. SOME people might not care - but... again, that's not really the type of people you want to work with. Respect is incredibly important, after all. 

Especially as a TRS, I think it's important to show that you expect to be respected as a seller. We are supposed to be good at what we do, so why lower ourselves? I want new writers to know that it's OK to set boundaries (even if sometimes I still struggle.) 

If I didn't follow my own advice/the way I preach, who would I be? 

[How are you guys in the EU and UK?]

I feel like I'm torn - my partner and I are fine - (for now). Sure, we're affected but not as badly as my parents back in Hungary. They are in the middle of moving (on top of everything) and the new cost of basically everything is... not necessarily something they can afford as easily as we can. (The country is... 'fun' as well, though it has been struggling madly for the past what... 12 years or so? so that's not really much of a surprise. I feel like what makes me sad is that there's only so much I can do for them.

As for the war... I'm not sure what will happen. It's hard to tell, though I'm hopeful that eventually things will quiet down a bit. 

[Do you regret?]

I spent five years traveling and doing odd jobs instead of studying OR getting a job that paid well. The only thing I regret is how some of those jobs affected my mental health. I'm 27 now and doing just fine figuring out what I like to do.

Honestly, I don't think people should hurry up (granted it IS privileged to be able to get 'serious' later than some others.) There's plenty of time later in life.

Of course I do sometimes wonder if it'd been easier to just write from when I was twenty seriously (so not just here and there) but... All the memories I've made abroad make up for the money.

(... NOT for the mental scars. But those were just bad BUT temporary choices.)

[What's your fall comfort food?]

22 hours ago, rabihumakhan said:

If I'm to choose one single dish (a vicious decision), I would say 'gosht karahi' 

That looks so good! My boyfriend loved (they closed) this small restaurant's chicken karahi (I think that's what it was called) so I've been hunting for a recipe (I'd be open for any meat with it 😄) I love meat in curries / sauces, but still figuring out how I like my steak lol

23 hours ago, mandyzines said:

Did the version you had in Italy have cream? Ooh, pastina dishes look good, and simple! I love cheese. I've never seen it in the stores, and sadly my belly doesn't like pasta, but I could definitely substitute cauliflower for it. 

I'm actually not sure! I might have to ask one of my old hosts for her recipe! I just remember the bread and just how rich it was. 

I wonder if pastina recipes would work with rice (cooked longer, of course) so it's almost like a rice soup/congee? Not the same of course, but they can be sooo cosy as well. Can't wait until we have a ricecooker (waiting to get our broken airfryer back before daring to buy anything again -.-) because congee is a bit of a hassle to make! 

Cheese in Sweden has been something expensive to be honest, so only recently did I find some brands that are really tasty... because of that now we have charcuterie as a side for pasta sometimes 😄

[What's your fall comfort food?]

1 hour ago, zeus777 said:

Fall is when it starts to get colder, so tonkotsu ramen for sure! Add some pot stickers to the side for sure.
Also it's not food, but hot wine.

I guess I should add chocolate to the list, but I eat that thing throughout the entire year so it's not just during fall season 😅
Also taiyaki, takoyaki, roasted chestnuts, etc etc etc.

Sorry, there's too much stuff to eat!!

I've only had tonkotsu ramen a few times but it's so good! Unfortunately making it for two doesn't feel worth it (a quick spicy miso base is just easier!) but if we have friends over eventually I'd love to try making it. Takoyaki is something I've been hunting for here for ages but haven't found it yet, though I think I've seen it on a menu somewhere. It was my ultimate go-to after a bad day in China. 

I'm always happy to hear even more foodie ideas to be honest 😄 I often find it hard to decide what to cook, so it's helpful. 

[What's your fall comfort food?]

1 hour ago, vickiespencer said:

I like the homemade ramen best too, because the packaged brand has way too much salt.

I make my own broth when we have it for dinner, which has been such a treat and the recipe I use isn't so hard (though it's not the most complicated ramen ever so it makes sense.) I've been wanting to recreate a dish I had in Italy (which was honestly just meatballs but with a different type of pasta I think.) We've come to the point where 4-5 times a week we manage to cook from scratch (for the most part) but the rest is... pretty junk food-y (though it's always very tasty.) I make this spice mix for chicken nuggets that has sechuan pepper in it - that with a garlic dip is another comfort meal, to be honest!