ceilingeyes

I've been on Fiverr for 5 years, done over 350 orders and Ive always been 5star rated. Since this new system came in I haven't had any new orders. This is the first time Ive gone over a month without a new client. This system change has really harmed a lot of Sellers. I dont even know what to do about it.

I've noticed today my rating has dropped from 5 to 4.9. Not a big deal I know but what I'm confused about is that I havent had any new orders for about a week, meaning no new clients have given me a lower than 5 star rating. I havent had a lower than 5 star rating for quite a long time, so why has my rating dropped? Can someone explain?

I'm just so confused on these new metrics. I have done over 350 orders, im 5 star rated, i have 100% on response, ive only had to cancel 3 or 4 orders in 5 years, yet my success score is 5/10 because apparently my communication and conflict free order status "needs improvement", even though my order cancellation is positive. Then when I click to find out more about this, the wording is so vague. I have no idea how to improve "conflict free orders" or "effective communication" because as far as I can tell, neither I nor my buyers perceive any problem in those departments. Basically Id love to know how to up my success score but it all seems to vague I have no idea exactly where my metrics are failing and why. I cant think of anything I could be doing better. After 5 years on this platform this is so disappointing and disheartening.

Agreed, its completely pointless. I dont care about the information it asks for so I dont even read whether theyve put anything or not anymore, and ive noticed half of my clients dont bother filling it out so why have it there?

UPDATE: I have since passed this to Customer Support who initially gave me a copy and paste answer, so I pressed them into looking into it and they confirmed that my rating had dropped due to a conversation with a regular buyer. When I stated that their own site says that the Response Rate should only take into account replying to the very first message from a new buyer, not existing and ongoing conversations, they admitted the mistake and rectified it and my RR is back up to 100%. So for any of you whose RR drops and you know you have definitely always responded within the 24 hours, I'd recommend highlighting this to Customer Support as it seems the RR algorithm is, like a lot of things, far from faultless.

I doubt it. Im normally a Level 2 Seller, and on occasion ive been temporarily dropped down to Level 1, and every time its solely because of response rate. I always thought it was annoying but never something too difficult to get back up again and get promoted again the following month. When I first enquired about this to the site I was told they want you to respond to new messages within an hour. I thought that was quite annoying and difficult as most of my clients are from the other side of the planet and tend to message me in the middle of the night (to me) when im asleep. However now im seeing that they say they judge only if you respond within the first 24 hours or not, of a NEW BUYER only. Now Ive gone back through my inbox for the last 90 days and I absolutely know without a shadow of a doubt that Ive responded to every single message, new buyer or not, wihtin 24 hours. So......why has my RR dropped to 75%?

The metrics for the Success Score are both ridiculous and unhelpfully vague and nonsensical. Ive been a Seller for 5 years and my rating is 5-star. Out of over 350 orders ive only had 3 or 4 really be difficult and need escalating. Everyone else has been almost universally lovely and a pleasure to work with, whether they were single order buyers or regular clients. My gig is rated as a 6 out of 10 in success score. Out of the three metrics, only my "order cancellations" is positive, as I said, as only a small handful have been problematic. But the other 2 metrics, "Effective communication" and "Conflict-free orders" need room for improvement apparently. Looking at Fiverr's wording of these it sounds so vague how theyre judging these things. And I wholly believe this isnt being judged by a real person, but by some sort of algorithm. According to their own words, they seem to be judging us on things as simple and silly as how colloquially we speak to our buyers? I enjoy speaking personally and normally to my buyers, particularly those who order from me regularly. If we're both native speakers and of roughly the same age, background etc why cant i talk like friends with them if we both enjoy doing so? Ive never perceived any sort of communication issue or "conflict" with my buyers, and when there has been a language or communication issue ive always stayed professional and calm and always been able to resolve it and end up giving them work they appreciated and enjoyed. So my issue is, if neither I nor the overwhelming majority of my clients perceive any sort of conflict or communication issue, how/why is Fiverr declaring there is? it's punishing Sellers like me for a nonexistant problem. This whole system revamp needs tearing down and putting in the bin. I cannot see any benefit to anyone of this new system and its procedures, only drawbacks. This is what you get when the people in charge have absolutely no idea what the experience of actually being a Seller on their site is like.

Just throwing in my two cents in the hopes something changes. But I hate this new system. I thought the last system had its flaws but this just seems even more punishing to Sellers. Im usually a Level 2, but have sometimes been demoted due to the silly response rate algorithm telling me I have to respond within an hour. Im english and many of my clients are american so I get messages in the middle of the night and then I have a full time job so sometimes it takes me a while to be able to reply as I do this on the side. Then I would have to wait a month at Level 1 before being promoted again (been doing this 5 years, have 5stars across the board, have many regular clients etc). It happened recently and now its saying it may take even longer to get back to level 2 with this new system as it looks at more than 90 days, your whole gig lifetime? And the metrics like Success Score and value for money and Fiverr themselves saying theyre going "beyond reviews"? Well how the hell are we meant to know where weve gone wrong and how to improve then? This new system seems a slap in the face to Sellers, and an even bigger slap for those Sellers whove been here longer. I have several friends whove been Sellers and have now left bevause of how terrible they thought Fiverr was at supporting its Sellers, and theyve gone to other sites. I might have to join them if it keeps up like this.

Ive just sent my two cents to Fiverr regarding this new system. I too said its punishing sellers even more than the old system, for a number of reasons. Judging us on metrics like value for money and customer satusfaction, where they even say theyre going "beyond reviews" is stupid because we have no way beyond reviews to know how were performing in those mtrics or how to change them. Also judging a gig based on its entire history rather than just the last 90 days seems like its oging to punish sellers with gigs that have run for longer, due to, in their own words, it meaning that change will occur very slowly in someones ratings. yes ok I suppose that also means its slower to be demoted, but not necessarily. Im normally a Level 2 Seller, been on here for 5 years, 5 star rating across the board etc. and ive been demoted sometimes simply for response time as a lot of my clients are american and im english meaning i get messages in the middle of the night and ive been demoted for not replying within an hour. then i have to spend a month at level 1 before i can return to level 2. but now its looking like i may have to wait longer, and with no clear idea of how to improve this very vague "success score" metric. I wasnt fond of the system before but I absolutely detest this new one already.

Hi I’m a seller based in the U.K. I’ve been selling on here for about a year. I withdraw my money via PayPal as I’m familiar with it and it’s convenient. However, I thought the PayPal fees were around 3% but, I assume due to the currency exchange of dollars to pound sterling, I end up losing more like 9% - just through PayPal. Obviously there is the 20% Fiverr cut taken from the price of your order before you even get anything, that’s fine I understand that (although I do think that’s too high considering they also charge the buyer tax on top of what you actually charge so the site is charging you both). So say I get a $100 order, I get $80 which is roughly £65. The PayPal fees I thought would be around 3% based on the info on their site, which is about £1.95, but I actually end up losing about 3x this amount so I would end up with roughly £56, almost 1/10th of what I expected to get is now lost in fees. Has anyone else had this problem? Should I use a different method of withdrawal? Is there a way round these fees? Are they right and should I just accept it? Any help would be greatly appreciated. James / ceilingeyes