visualstudios

Apparently it was sent by mistake... so everyone who got an e-mail the same day I did (31st), probably is in the same boat. That is, if I can trust what my SM says. I don't know anymore.

Just got a response from my SM. This is beyond ridiculous. Other people who got the e-mail - contact your SM's. @newsmike @leannelrivers @williambryan392 @katakatica (Also - I f***ing knew it couldn't be accurate).

And that's before taxes and other expenses lol. You'll own nothing and you'll like it!

Lol, imagine paying to work. I had said it before, and will just double down - I won't be paying for promoted gigs. And for the people saying a 10x return on promoted gigs is good... It's not. It would be if that was the whole picture. It isn't. You're paying 10% on promotion... plus the 20% commission. Fiverr is actually taking 30% of all your earnings. Come on. When will it stop? 50%? 75%? Or, in the case of Frank's, and if all organic orders stop and all sales are promoted, 250%?

Yes, and that's what makes sense, paying for new leads but not repeated clients... if new leads don't have the power to totally screw you. If I go to a salon and dislike it, I won't go back, that's it. I won't destroy their business for months.

And another characteristic of, not only businesses, but economics in general - risk and reward are two faces of the same coin. Risk = reward. By definition. Right now, new client = extra risk, with no extra reward. Why would I take them? If they actually incentivised it (for example, 0% commission on first time client to the platform, as a reward to providing the retention and making them come back), then I could see the point of taking that risk. As it stands, Fiverr wants all the rewards to themselves, and all the risk for the sellers. That won't fly.

Judging by the quality of the people who are getting it, I would actually kinda be more worried if I didn't. Seems to be great company. If all the top guys fall for it, it means nothing. Their system is screwed up. Also, I had next to no first time buyers in this period, so this doesn't even make any sense.

Also, and I just realised this - they made it so gaming the system is WAY easier. If anything, OLD buyers feedback should count more - they are the one that pay Fiverr's bills. They are the ones that know what's good work and bad work on Fiverr, because they have experience. You just made it trivial for any bad actor to create a new buyer account, place an order with someone they don't like (or their competition), and since they are a "first time buyer" have their targeted attack count MORE. It's insanity.

I had request to order activated for everything anyway, old and new buyer alike. But needing to turn down first time buyers will hurt. Also, promoted gigs just became even worse - why pay for contacts that are likely to be first time buyers that I will need to turn down anyway?

It's a great solution for people with a ton of repeated business, or that just use Fiverr as a side hustle. If you are depending on Fiverr to pay the bills, and you don't do a lot of repeated orders, or didn't start so long ago you already have a huge list of past clients, it's a major issue.

You would think so. They don't. Or they pretend not to. I've had clients pay over $1000 just to ask a question about multiple revisions, or delivery of project files (both against what I clearly state I offer in my gigs) immediately after placing the order. I almost assume they do it on purpose to corner me.

I had a call with my SM 4 days ago. Everything was fine. Only 2 orders completed in the meanwhile. Both were happy, both left great reviews, both want to work with us again, both had ordered before on Fiverr (this was the second completed order for both of them, and their accounts weren't even made in 2023).

Just imagine, in any other type of service, having a 4.7 average review being considered bad, or grounds to being deplatformed, demoted. No other business can get screwed and lose money badly because of one idiot client. But here? You better be god, or else. But hey, even god didn't appeal to everyone, his son was crucified. I'm screwed, then.

We are overreacting? When they clearly state first time buyers are clueless, and if they are unhappy for reasons we can't control, that "can have a significant impact on your Gig’s visibility "? When they don't say exactly what's wrong, so we can't know what to improve? When this only serves to fester paranoia? I'm tired of being treated like a criminal. My buyers are happy. This is nonsense.

Nope. A first time buyer satisfaction drop. Crucial difference.

10:31 here.

Just got it. If everyone is getting it, it's meaningless. Sure, remove all the pro and trs from the search results. Leave the new buyers to go with an ever rotating roster of meksells. If this is how things are, I'll outright refuse to work with any new buyer from now on. The sheer audacity of the e-mail, btw - "Make sure to offer revisions to the Buyer so they know you can address any issues they may have Have patience! New Buyers are unfamiliar with Fiverr so it is crucial they know you are there to help them throughout the process" I have my policy revision very clear. Extra revisions cost TIME. That costs MONEY. Fiverr doesn't care. I'm not a baby sitter. I'm not CS. I'm a video editor. I don't want to be handling clueless new clients that can tank me. No thanks. Good luck fiverr, you're digging your own grave with these attitudes. I revamped my upw profile, I'll look more into getting direct clients outside platforms, and look into other platforms. I'll also sell my Fiverr shares, I don't trust this company or its management. If they keep going this route, I may actually short it. It's heading down the drain.

@donnovan86 Yes, I was aware of that as well. I've seen people here saying things will never change, again and again, for years. That 20% is a small price to pay, that Fiverr will never accept less, etc. Well, we'll see about that. Competition is good. Upw has long been considered much more professional in the industry (as opposed to the low value platform with a bunch of hacks perception that plagues Fiverr), and now it's significantly cheaper as well. If Fiverr is serious about attracting serious professionals, they have to do something. If Fiverr wants to stay true to their initial reputation as a cheap platform for cheap services, then whatever. Personally I don't think that's very smart - all low value stuff will be gobbled up by AI fast. At that point, Fiverr would be better served by just becoming an AI services company, have no sellers, and sell automated logos and copy. That seems to be their goal, sometimes - then they can keep 100%.

Upw has gone to 10% across the board. The market is shifting. Fiverr will have to adapt, or be left behind. Honestly, I'd much rather pay a fixed fee to use the platform. The % based payment always felt unfair to me - you're paying more if you make more. It's the same with taxes on work, btw. Why should success mean you need to pay more for the same thing? It shouldn't. I get the same service from Fiverr if I can sell $10000 as if I can sell $100 - same site, same cs, same marketing. Make it a flat fee, if you make more it's because you earned it.

Pointless. You can't make them read. Also, there are next to no consequences for a buyer. If they break tos, so what, they lose the account. A buyer account is worthless.

If it's your face, why would that be a problem?

You don't need to accept custom offers. You can reject them.

Well, everything will depend on the interpretation the buyer makes of the message you send. You don't control that. You can send them what you think is a perfect message, catch them in a bad mood, and be marked as spam right away. Without them even reading it, just because they were annoyed by the notification. Of course the more you know the buyer, the better command you have of the language, the better you are at marketing, the more you can mitigate that risk. But you don't control how the buyer will interpret it. If you want to risk it, fine.

One message can be spam. That's the point.

You can contact previous clients if there's a good reason for doing so. If it's to beg for work, that's no good reason to do so. If there's a chance they'll consider your message spam, there's no good reason to do so. If you have to ask, there's no good reason to do so. You can send them coupons, that's encouraged by Fiverr, and it's a reminder they can order from you again.