vickieito

Hi there! I saw several posts from newbies asking about the benefits of the forum, so I thought it might be helpful to share what I’m doing to get the most out of it and hopefully get others to talk more about this topic. I am also new to the forum. I made my first post on May 3rd, so I’ve been active on the forum for 25 days now. This is actually my second attempt at it—I signed up for the forum five months ago, took one look, and ran away. There was too much information (and misinformation). Too much spam. And it was really hard to find the answers because as a new seller, I was pretty clueless. This time around it has been a much better experience because I learned how to filter out a lot the noise and concentrate on the content that I find most meaningful. First, I want to clarify two things: 1) Being active on the forum will not get you more orders or more gig impressions. The forum is a great source of information and a fun place to interact with others who are using the Fiverr platform, but it will not result in more orders or get you more sales. If anything, more time on the forum simply means less time that you could be working on your business. 2) As a newbie to the forum, your first priority should not be about making posts. I discovered this quickly because when I made my first post, I received only one response and a confused-faced emoji. This taught me that I would be better off following conversations, responding to others’ posts, and observing more experienced members on the forum. So far, I’ve only started five conversations and out of the five, three could probably be deleted because they aren’t providing any value to the forum. So, how can a newbie get the most out of the forum? As a newbie, I spend most of my time on the forum browsing, observing, reacting, following, bookmarking, and verifying. It helps me and it may help you, too! 1) Browsing – Instead of posting your question, why not look it up in search on the forum or the Help Center? Most likely someone has already asked the same question and you can find your answer much quicker by searching. I see many newbies posting a question, waiting around, and then reposting the same question again a week later. They could have easily looked up answers to their questions in a matter of minutes. 2) Observing – Learn how to act on the forum by watching others. How are others posting and reacting? Pay attention to the posts that get called “spam,” down voted, a confused-face emoji, or negative/interesting responses from other forum members. Look at how others react to your posts as well. Try to find out why others are reacting in negative ways, and avoid making similar posts. 3) Reacting – You can react to posts with emojis, up voting, down voting, or, if you encounter spam, you can report it. All of these reactions (when used responsibly) add to conversations and creates value for other forum members. 4) Following & Bookmarking – When you like someone, follow them. When I follow someone, it’s because they’ve impressed me in some way. When you find good content, bookmark it in your browser or follow the conversation. Following good content is a great way to filter out a lot of the nonsense that is on the forum. Bookmarking it will help you retrieve that content again when you need it. 5) Verifying – Just because it is on the forum doesn’t mean that it's true. If you read something, look into the person who made the post. Do they have authority to make the claims that they make in their posts? Are they using credible sources, such as the Help Center? I find it alarming that many newbies are so willing to take advice from someone with zero experience that they turn down the advice of the more experienced members of the forum. If these newbies just took a little time to look into the backgrounds of those who were posting, they would have a better idea on who they could trust. Doing these five things have really helped me to create order out of all the information that is out there on the forum. There really are nuggets to be found, so it’s worth it to take the time to search out good content and good people to follow. Now it’s your turn. 😊 I wrote this post with less than a month’s worth of experience on the forum so I’d love to hear from the rest of you! How has the forum been for you? And how are you getting the most out of it?

So far, Buyer Insights has been really handy for me! I received two inquiries today and my first customer averages $51-$100 per order, so I was able to negotiate a price slightly higher than what I'd normally offer. The second customer I spent about 20 seconds on because I knew I was priced higher than his average order price and he was demanding a 24-hr delivery. It also looks like the 2nd buyer opted out of showing his completed orders, rating, and what he usually orders. However, I can see his rating and number of orders in the section above ... and if I really wanted to spy on him, I could click on his order find out who he bought from and know what he usually orders, too. So I'm not sure how helpful the opt out feature is for buyers because the information they're opting out of is already public information.

The decision I made was definitely survival instinct rather than a strategic plan like @mariashtelle1 did ... the changes felt quite drastic at the time but I was in survival mode and just wanted to stop the influx before I broke down. 😂 Luckily I was able to keep up with it all. I listed my first gig Nov 2021, so I'm like you too, I'm still trying to learn how to run this business in a sustainable way. I'm glad the longer delivery times are working for you as well! ....And what you said about the psychological advantage is true! I was thinking I was just awesome (getting good reviews), but it looks like a lot of my good reviews are because I'm delivering early. 😅 On prices, I ended up increasing the minimum package from $15 to $50. My orders are about 50% what it was before, but I still get orders every day, so I'm not too worried. I hope you're able to figure out prices that work for you, too!

... 10+ orders would've killed me! 😂 Really, I start complaining if I have to do more than 2 orders a day. I'm glad the longer delivery times are working for you too! Like you said, it's a balancing act trying to figure out the financial model that works best, without compromising too much in income, quality, or sanity. I'm glad you were able to find a system that works for you! Good points here, and well said too. I used to think that sellers had to offer the quickest times to their buyers. So I would often let buyers push me around and I would sacrifice everything to get the orders out as quickly as I could. This seems to be another "myth" or "rumor" that is floating around... 🤔 Being firm with what we will and will not do gives buyers reason to respect and value our services even more. I'm surprised with the number of buyers who want to work with me even though I my delivery times are longer than what they were initially asking for. That's true, isn't it? Fiverr likes it when we deliver much quicker than our stated delivery times. I'm like you...I offer 14 days on things that usually take only a day or so to do. Congratulations on your big order!!!! 🥳🎉 I honestly have never figured out how to price expedited deliveries (that buyers will pay and that is worth it for me). How much do you charge? Double rates? I agree with your statement on delivery times, quality, and price. The buyers who are willing to go with my longer delivery times do so because value quality over time. And I have definitely learned the 'buy cheap, buy twice (or thrice)' lesson as well!

Last month I received a huge influx of orders. Instead of doing 1-4 orders a day, I was suddenly forced to do 6-8 orders a day. On top of the regular orders coming in, there were buyers placing orders for expedited 24-hr deliveries. So I decided to remove all options to expedite and extended my delivery times from 2-5 days to 10-14 days on my packages. I also increased my gig prices. It's now been a month since I made the changes and I'm reluctant to change it. I love the longer delivery times! I usually deliver in half the time, but there have been some instances when I needed all 14 days. It's great to have that flexibility. I also love the visibility it gives my business. I used to schedule orders out only 1 week in advance but now I can schedule orders out a month in advance based on the orders in queue. This means I can have a good idea of how much I'll make before the month even starts and can take action earlier if I need to make more income. The best thing is that my buyers aren't even asking for shorter delivery times (many have asked for more time). So for me, the longer deliveries have been working really well so far. I know every business is different, so I'm curious. How are delivery times working for you? Do you find yourself needing to expedite orders to stay competitive? Or are you enjoying longer delivery times like I am?

Once it's in revision, it stays in revision until you redeliver the order. Then the 3-day time period applies. So the 3-day time period only applies to deliveries. As long as your first delivery is on time, your order will be considered delivered on time. Even though it goes into revision mode (and the timer may show up as late), it will be counted on time once you redeliver (see image below):

Hi Merzaifatima, welcome back to Fiverr! You can still get orders through buyer's requests and the quality of them just depends on the quality of the buyers who are submitting the requests. New sellers also have a lot of competition for buyer's requests and sometimes the request will disappear as you are writing your offer. So don't expect to hear back from most of the offers you send in. That is normal. However, I still think this is a great way to get orders when times are slow. Buyers will be busy at different times of the day, so find the times when your buyers are most active so that you can send in an offer quickly.

This depends on what goals you have for coming here. If it's achieving your goals, then you are getting benefits. If it's not, it's best not to be on the Forum all day.