vickieito

Yes, none of these accounts look like they are permanently suspended - they can just operate as normal, it's just that they won't have a level assigned to them. This looks to be a permanent thing, though, and who knows what the long-term effect of being "level-less" will bring. There's not much motivation if your account is permanently out of the level system (especially if you were falsely flagged). Newer accounts will get hit harder than established sellers (with lots of repeat buyers).

Based on the different threads on the forum (showing screenshots of CS responses), it looks like Fiverr decided that all past history would be relevant (this includes all cancelations -regardless of the reason - and all past/forgiven warnings). So many things that haven't affected accounts before the change are now affecting accounts and Fiverr doesn't have plans on reversing this change at the moment. At least that's what some of the CS responses were saying (I see mixed responses from CS in all the different posts). If Fiverr really doesn't have plans on changing this, that may be the reason why no one is getting a response from Fiverr regarding their account (or if they do, they are just told that the decision is final and the ticket gets closed). This is how Fiverr usually communicates with flagged accounts. However, this doesn't excuse Fiverr's actions (or lack of communication). Fiverr only states that they started implementing a "new policy," but they owe it to sellers to be transparent about what this new policy entails, what's being flagged, and why. An official statement from Fiverr really needs to be posted somewhere (and sooner is better than later) to clarify this policy to all sellers, regardless of whether their account is flagged or not. March 14th is just around the corner and it's really concerning that this hasn't been addressed by Fiverr yet (to all sellers on the platform).

Click on the "How to Improve Your Gig" button at the bottom of any gig's Success Score: I think, @katakatica, the extension request would affect the "Conflict-free orders" the most if the buyer rejects that request. But I don't really trust that CS understands all that goes into this score. For example, in my "Website Content" gig above, "Conflict-free orders" and "Order Cancellations" (along with "Effective Communication" are the top three areas that I need to improve on this gig. However, in this gig I have zero cancellations, the only conflicts I do are the order extensions, and this gig is all about communication - basically, I review their website content, tell the buyer what's not working for them, and then let them know what can be done to improve their content. Based on Fiverr's explanation for "Effective Communication," they do look at the tone of your communication (has to be a "friendly, polite tone"), so I'm wondering if my constructive criticism of my buyers' website hasn't been friendly or polite enough.

That's a good point. I bet revisions will impact it. I don't know if requests for more "review" time will. Those usually make my orders last twice as long. I think what's scary is, a lot of these metrics depend on the automated system, which makes incorrect assumptions. I use the delivery extension feature a lot, mostly because my buyers need more time (to get me information I need to complete the work, or personal issues come up on their side). I also cancel orders and open new orders with buyers who bought the expensive package (and I can see that they can do with the lesser package). I wonder if those are all seen as "high conflict orders."

Hi @samcaff, Conflict-free orders refer to the metrics indicating that there were issues in the order. This includes any disputes or Help Center tickets that are placed regarding an order. This includes: Delivery extension requests, especially if the buyer rejects or doesn't respond to the request. This indicates that the seller is unable to meet the agreed-upon deadline. Order update requests, especially if a buyer goes through the Resolution Center to requesting one (this indicates that the sellers isn't responsive). Cancellation requests, these are probably a high indicator of orders with conflict, especially if they do result in cancellations. Any Help Desk Ticket placed referring to an order number, this would also a high indicator of orders with conflicts. This metric also looks at how these disputes are being handled between buyer and seller (especially if they are constantly rejecting the other's disputes, or if it escalates to the point where Customer Service needs to step in). I'm sure there are other aspects of the "Conflict-free orders" score that aren't listed by Fiverr (like these are).

When my Fiverr account was shut down by a hacker last year (yes, I did have 2-factor authentication), I thought it was the end. The hacker withdrew all my Earnings, and closed my account with the reason of "I have multiple Fiverr accounts." All of my orders in queue were canceled and I had to wait (and hope) for Fiverr to fix things on their end. I didn't know if they would believe that I didn't actually close my Fiverr account (even though it looked like me) and that I didn't have multiple Fiverr accounts. My Fiverr account wasn't the thing that was hacked, my online ID was also stolen, so other crazy things were going on online (in my name) that I was trying to stop, which resulted in several thousand dollars lost. PayPal wouldn't believe that someone else was making online purchases in my name (even if their logins were on the other side of the globe). Since Fiverr was my only source of income, my only choice was to rely on the help of CS. Even if it took them days to respond and I couldn't communicate with any of my buyers or explain to them why their orders were suddenly canceled. It was a scary feeling to be cut off that way. Especially when I have kids at home and mouths to feed. I had a folder called "End of Fiverr" because I didn't know if I would be able to pull out of it. I was very lucky that my account was restored and that I was able to recover from that hacking incident. It really makes me more sympathetic towards those whose accounts are flagged for ToS violations (and they never get an acceptable response from Fiverr - after 60-90 days their accounts are permanently suspended). I would never wish that on anyone. You have every right to be angry. Or to feel whatever feelings you're having right now. As @emmaki mentioned, Fiverr puts its sellers through an emotional rollercoaster with its gamification of seller stats. As much as I love Fiverr, the way that they run their business does impact sellers' livelihood, mental health, and physical health. Sellers are expected to perform at 110% for each and every order, and sometimes, that's not enough. The algorithm also isn't kind if you ever find yourself on the other end of the spectrum where there may be a dip in buyer satisfaction or if you somehow trigger an account flagging. It's a very brutal system. It's really tough being a seller on Fiverr. Especially if it is your only source of income. I played Fiverr's game and got hooked. Within three months of posting my first gig, I was able to quit my day job and do Fiverr full-time. I got Fiverr's Choice orders and gazed lovingly through all of my 5-star reviews. I spend a lot of time working on making my Fiverr business better. If there was even a blip on my seller stats, I worked feverishly to correct it. And when the hacking incident happened, I went into a frenzy for months to pull myself out of that and was able to hit all-time highs in my Earnings. Then five months ago, my husband suddenly passed away. When I came home from his funeral, I got the alert from Fiverr that I finally reached TRS status. Suddenly Fiverr didn't have the same appeal. All that work, and somehow I missed what really mattered. So you are right, @cheftychefty, if I don't seem like I care much about Fiverr and their response rate. I've already checked out. Fiverr will do what they always do. But I do care about the plight of sellers. And I do want to see you all succeed. You are all still my war buddies, even if I'm not really in this war anymore.

Hi Everyone, I think @Kesha is addressing some of these questions in the main Fiverr update thread. It may be good to check the thread below or jump in on the conversation there (@Kesha can only be in one place at a time): Unfortunately, there probably won't be any new information coming from Fiverr over the next few days. It looks like @Lyndsey_Fiverr is monitoring this thread and is relaying relevant information to the Product team. I'm guessing it will be a week or more before Fiver has an official update with more information/direction regarding location inconsistencies and linkages to accounts violating Fiverr's ToS. Note: I wish I could say something more reassuring to those who have been flagged. know how frustrating it can be to be left in the dark with no answers and your account and livelihood at risk. 😟

I have to agree with you, @emmaki. Except I don't know if going to CS will do anything for these sellers. Since we still don't have a response from Fiverr, this is what we can devise, based on the sellers who have posted here: 1. There is no bug, all of this was expected by Fiverr. With Fiverr’s changes in the new leveling system, Fiverr expected a high number of sellers to 1) get really low success scores (these threads are getting responses from Fiverr) or 2) have their accounts flagged (these are treated as standard, flagged accounts – cookie-cutter responses from CS and also very little response from Fiverr on the forum). 2. Fiverr is confident in their new flagging system. Based on the CS responses, with this new launch, Fiverr instituted a “new criteria” to flag accounts that have location inconsistencies or are somehow linked to a Fiverr account that violated Fiverr’s ToS. However, this system is automated, and since Fiverr is confident in it, there doesn’t seem to be any manual reviews. At best, Fiverr CS may quickly review the alerts of this automated system and decide if there was a false flag or not. 3. Fiverr’s treatment of flagged sellers hasn’t really changed. Any flagged account will simply be “flagged for violation of Fiverr’s ToS” (notifications may not be sent but sellers will see this flag in their levels overview). Sellers may or may not be told the reason for the flagging (at least in this case, sellers are getting a reason). Sellers will be instructed to go to CS, and CS will be instructed to send the same responses to any account with this flag and to close the ticket as “resolved.” 4. Sellers are left in the dark. We don’t know what this new criteria is for “location inconsistency” or “linkage to another account.” It may all be valid, but many of us are wondering if it will be okay to use shared wifi, travel, move, work remotely, (or even be in the same area as another Fiverr seller). We also don’t know exactly what will happen to accounts that have this flag (what sellers are supposed to do if they have the flag, whether this flag is permanent, or if it eventually leads to an account suspension). I’m hoping Fiverr will provide all of us with answers, but maybe this is all part of their plan to start culling and differentiating sellers on this platform. For Fiverr, this was all to be expected and they don’t see any issues with all of the flaggings that just took place.

Thanks for all your help, @Lyndsey_Fiverr! This is really strange - I've never seen 4 pages of "reports" on the forum (all within a day), reporting the same issue. I'm curious to see what the Product Team says.

I'm wondering if users who may temporarily share the same internet with family/friends/coworkers/public wifi that is triggering this. This would happen for someone like your friend, who frequently travels. Fiverr is supposed to work for the digital nomad. I've worked in public libraries and airports before with no issues. I'm also curious to see what location inconsistency means.

Hi @ana_tomy and @Lyndsey_Fiverr - It looks like there are a high number of sellers on this thread who had their accounts flagged for "location inconsistencies." I'm not sure if it's related to the launch of the new review system or if this is something that Fiverr is now cracking down hard on. Can you reach out to the individuals on this thread to provide insight into their account flagging? @markenbuilder @jamesoliver132 @bobstouch @usamaash127 @yonixer @arsalan_design1 @iza_bell @canvabook @nrajuud Also, if this is to address a widespread issue on the platform, we might want to have @Kesha make a post to help users understand Fiverr's ToS better and what they are doing that causes their accounts to be flagged due to location inconsistencies. Thanks in advance for all of your help! Adding @backlink_work @shahzaibhameed8 @acreativeminds @amazon_zk @sajan91 @martian_guy @tayyba253

Hi @bethloveswords, I don't think anyone (including Fiverr) fully understands what goes into the success metric score. However, it's much more than just your public ratings. Fiverr's Help Center says that this score is based on six categories: 1) Client Satisfaction (public/private ratings, plus other metrics that reflect how happy buyers are with the overall order experience, 2) Effective Communication (looks at your response metrics and buyers' public/private ratings for communication), 3) Conflict-free Orders (the frequency/nature of any "dispute"), 4) Order Cancellations (the number of cancelations you have), 5) Delivery Time (factors in early, on-time, and late deliveries), and 6) Value for Money (determined by buyers) Each gig will receive a score on a scale of 1-10 in each of these categories and the top reasons affecting your score will be shown (Strong Negative Impact, Negative Impact, Room for growth, Positive Impact, Strong Positive Impact). Your success score is then calculated based on your gigs' success scores (with more weight going to the gigs with the most reviews). It looks like Fiverr also brought in historical data (from the past two years) that weren't currently being shown in our seller metrics/gig scores, but now are. I currently have a success score of 10, average rating of 5, and 100% response rate. Most of my gigs (60%) have success scores of 9, but two of my highest-performing gigs have success scores of 10 (which is why I think my overall success score is a 10). I avoid consultation calls because I think they are too risky. I still offer Zoom calls, but only as part of a service that I already provide (but the gigs that do include consultation calls seem to have lower success scores): There's still a lot of mystery that goes into the success score and if it even makes sense - I wonder if "extension requests" (which is a type of dispute) affects my "Conflict-free Orders" score. I also scored low on "Communication" for a gig where I audit websites and tell them what they are doing bad (and they usually ask me to rewrite their content). And it looks like "Cancellations" factors in some cancelations that CS mentions did not affect my seller metrics.

Hi @leacullero, Please read Fiverr's ToS, Community Standards, and Forum rules here: https://www.fiverr.com/legal-portal/legal-terms/terms-of-service https://www.fiverr.com/community/standards https://community.fiverr.com/forum_rules It worries me that you first offer services that are not allowed on Fiverr, then you have two back-to-back violations regarding feedback boosting, then wonder if you should open another Fiverr account (also against Fiverr's ToS), and also include the gig link of another seller to call them out (in violation of forum rule #6). Please read all of Fiverr's rules to make sure you don't keep violating rules that Fiverr sets for its community. This doesn't look good when Fiverr is reviewing your account for compliance. Fiverr may see you as someone who will keep breaking rules if you continue down this path. Take a break. Breathe. Read the ToS. I know how concerning it can be for your Fiverr account to be taken away but you have to do things the right way if there's even an inkling that you could get your account back. I had my account shut down by a hacker last year who made it look like me (not flagged for violations), and it took some time to get the account restored and verified again. It was tough having all my orders in queue canceled with no way to contact my buyers. Fiverr Customer Support was also taking several days to respond to each inquiry. However, I knew it would violate ToS if I had too many messages or help desk tickets on the same subject, so I allowed Fiverr to respond when they could and only messaged them if they responded to my previous message. Fiverr does sometimes falsely flag accounts for violating ToS, especially when it comes to review manipulation. Sometimes it's the action/communication of the buyer. I've seen several sellers who posted on the forum who were able to show that they did not engage in review manipulation (and their accounts were restored within a matter of weeks). One seller had a buyer who was copying/pasting the same reviews for every order. So it wasn't even the seller's fault. If I were you @leacullero, I'd go through every conversation between you and your buyers and any review that a buyer left to see if it triggered the system. You can share it here (but block out your buyers' names to be compliant with forum rules). If you have sufficient evidence that you did not engage in feedback boosting, you may be able to remove the flags from your account.

Hi @leacullero, It looks like all of your gigs were offering services that violated Fiverr's ToS: B2C lead generation. While you can offer services for B2B email lists, B2C email lists are not allowed. I noticed that two of your titles mentioned B2C email generation (and since all 4 gigs mention "email lists," all 4 probably violated this rule). This is looking at the cached version of your seller profile. It looks like all of your gigs have now been removed from your current profile. In addition to your gigs, the two warnings related to "Feedback Boosting" may have happened because you may have mentioned "5-star" review, asked for a positive review in exchange for your services, or asked buyers to leave a positive review if they enjoyed your services. Sellers may ask buyers to rate their services, but they can't ask buyers to leave a certain review (e.g., 5-star or positive review). Buyers are free to leave whatever review they feel reflects their experience and sellers are not allowed to manipulate these reviews in any way. Fiverr is very strict about this policy, especially with recent changes to the review system (that makes it easier for buyers to leave lower reviews). It's best to review all of Fiverr's ToS before offering services on Fiverr to avoid offering prohibited services (or having your account flagged for review). Normally it takes 60-90 days for an account to be reviewed, and in many cases, the accounts are permanently suspended. Accounts that did not violate any of Fiverr's ToS (i.e., you account was falsely flagged), can be restored after the 60-90 day review.

Hi @michjnich, If you are new to buying, you might want to check out @Kesha's new thread here: You do have to be careful as a new buyer, so I don't recommend that you work with sellers who have no reviews (advice from a known buyer-only member of the forum): Here's advice from a seller who also buys (like me):

Hi @michjnich, You won't be able to view your request until you start getting offers or inbox inquiries related to your request. If you don't get any offers or inquiries in your inbox, then either you have no matches or the sellers who were matched didn't think your request was relevant to their services. You won't be able to see how many sellers were matched with your request but you will get any offers or messages from interested sellers (check your inbox). As long as you get at least one offer or inquiry in your inbox, you can access your request from that message and choose to accept their offer or cancel your request. I don't really like the Brief system as a buyer. I don't think it makes good matches and it gives sellers access to your inbox if they message you or send you an offer. I prefer to just use Fiverr's search to find my sellers.

I think we are talking about two different things. Hashing out the scope of the order with the seller and then placing an order is different than trying to do a full order in the inbox and only creating a custom offer when the buyer states they have an acceptable sample. The problem is, there are sellers out there that refuse to give a custom offer until the sample is delivery-ready. This means buyers can't leave a review if the seller ends up not giving a custom offer. If the buyer decides to leave at that point, this isn't a win-win because the seller only avoids a bad review whereas the buyer is out on time, has a negative experience, and still has an unfinished project. Other buyers will only see the curated positive reviews that the seller ended up with and won't know how many buyers had their time wasted with the seller (i.e., did not get a custom offer to place an order). I don't see why all of this can't be done in an order. This gets rid of a lot of headaches. Sellers can still share different samples in an order, and the buyer can pick the preferred sample. This protects both parties and both parties need to keep up their end of the bargain. Allowing buyers and sellers to work in the inbox opens the door for a lot of abuses and Fiverr can't protect either party because there isn't a formal agreement.

Thanks for this topic, @Kesha! Most buyers won't be on the forum to see this, so maybe once you get some feedback, this could be emailed out to new buyers. It can be really hard for new buyers to find a good seller to work with. This is probably the #1 tip to avoid working with scammers. If buyers keep all conversations on the platform, they only have to worry about dealing with bad sellers. It took me a long time to figure out how to do this on Fiverr. There isn't a phone number to call and many new buyers don't know that they need to keep clicking past the "I still need help" to get to the screen with the help desk ticket. They can email Fiverr support but then they don't know how long they need to wait for a response. Often the forum provides quicker responses but sometimes the feedback from forum members isn't very helpful. Not only is this important to protect your information, it may be against third-party ToS to allow a seller access to your account. LinkedIn may shut down a buyer's profile if a seller from a different geographical location logs in. Thinkific has fees for adding users to build a course and website on their LMS platform (so they don't allow multiple users on one log-in). I agree! I think it's also important to add: Know Fiverr's ToS Newbie buyers tend to overly trust their sellers. You can have negative experiences with sellers who have over 1k 5-star reviews or even ones with the TRS or Pro badge. I've learned the hard way that some sellers will try to bend the rules when orders don't go their way. These sellers can be very convincing to new buyers who aren't experienced on the platform. They may try to make you feel like it's okay to get a partial delivery or give a good review on a partial delivery (they will deliver the rest in a few hours). But don't let them do that! Sellers doing this are trying to avoid getting penalized for late deliveries and/or bad reviews (note: both are against Fiverr's ToS). If you do as they say, they'll most likely stop responding to you because once an order closes, you are no longer a priority to them. Know your rights and get customer service involved if a seller tries to bend the rules. Pay Attention to Seller Communication How a seller communicates with you in the inbox chats will give you a good idea of what it will be like to work with them. Is your seller rushing you to place the order (and isn't fully responding to your questions)? Or is there something in your communications making you feel uncomfortable? If so, then most likely you won't have a good buying experience either. Also, if your seller claims to be a writer but has many grammatical errors in your chats (even if their portfolio samples are perfect), beware. Don't Ask For Free Work or Do Orders in the Inbox You can ask for samples of your seller's work, but if you want custom samples, place a mini-order instead. This protects both you and your seller. I've approached several sellers as a buyer just to inquire about their services and they thought I was asking them to do work. So they did free work that I didn't want or ask for. That was a waste of time and effort for them. Even if English isn't your first language, you should know that if there isn't an order, there isn't an agreement between you two. Sellers shouldn't provide free work in the inbox and buyers shouldn't ask for free work. Placing an order with your seller, even if it is a test order, will keep you and your seller accountable to each other and Fiverr can protect both of your interests. Some sellers may try to give you several custom samples of their work and once you pick one you like, they will then give you an offer for you to place an order and deliver the file to you. Avoid that. This is review manipulation and sellers are doing this so that they can flush out any bad reviews (at your expense). If you agree, you may never have a good sample (lost time for you), the seller can ignore you (you can't control the order), and there is also no way for you to let other buyers know of your experience with that seller. You can only leave reviews if you place orders.

This is because there is no way that Fiverr can include the gigs of ALL sellers who have perfect stats on the search page. There isn't enough space. You forget that it isn't just your performance that Fiverr looks at when determining which gigs to show via the Promoted Gigs feature. You are paying to bid, but you may be outbid by other sellers who are doing better than you in terms of the other quality metrics that the automated matching system is based on (i.e., the hidden quality metrics based on delivery quality and appearance quality). These two quality metrics make up a unique Gig Match score for each seller (also unknown to sellers, but mentioned in the Help Center). While many sellers may have the Promoted Gig feature (e.g., perfect stats), some will have a better chance of outbidding their competition, based on their Gig Match score. These gigs will have the "Recommended" label: If you have the recommended label on your gigs, go ahead and promote your gigs. You have a great shot at outbidding the competition. I've wondered about this as well. It seems most of the benefits go to sellers who are already getting good exposure through organic searches and briefs (not to sellers who need the exposure). However, this means Promoted Gigs is an indicator of seller quality compared to your competition, so it is good to keep tabs of your eligibility to Promoted Gigs and if you have the "Recommended" tag on your gigs.

Hi @Kesha! I really like this point because it shows sellers how strategic they need to be when deciding which FAQs to include on their gigs. There are some sellers who put up FAQs just to hit the number of 3-5 FAQs per gig. Those FAQs hardly ever get read. Then there are other sellers who are thinking about their customers, their needs, and their overall experience (even before an order is placed). These sellers know what questions their buyers will be asking and anticipate problems that could arise in communication before orders are placed. These FAQs are customer-centric and are written to make the buyer's life more easier. These sellers' FAQs are much more effective in engaging potential buyers, building up their confidence, and converting them into sales. This is why FAQs can be a powerful tool. Having good, well-thought-out FAQs will show your customers that you know them and their needs, and will take care of them, should they decide to place an order with you.

Hi @cuberuler, Once a buyer leaves a review, you'll be asked to rate your buyer. If you leave a review for your buyer, you should immediately be able to see the review that the buyer left you from the order page (this will also show up on your profile). If you choose not to leave your buyer a review, the buyer's review will not show up on your profile until after your review period expires (note: buyers and sellers have 14 days after the order closes to complete their reviews).

Great idea, @mandyzines! Adding to the comments of others...(really like the idea about anchoring and avoiding review manipulation) How about: Offering you EXCEPTIONAL value for the money at a fraction of the cost...MandyZines [and then go into your facts]

I edited my last comment - changed "students" to "clients" - something that you should probably change in your gigs as well. You should probably avoid the words "student," "assignment," and "project." These are some of the negative keywords that I have to avoid these types of clients (I also have "essay" and "thesis" as negative keywords). In your gigs, mention that you work with "clients" and "buyers." If you use the wrong keywords, you could attract the wrong clientele. Buyers can be very tricky. Some will try to give you projects that are school-related (but will deny that it is). So you should be ready to turn down orders that you suspect are school-related.

Teaching is allowed but the service you are offering here is not: This is in the gig "I will do python and computer science assignments" (which should be deleted because it violates Fiverr's Tos). To offer tutoring services the correct way, teach concepts and don't provide assistance with specific homework problems or student projects. Instead, use your own materials, lesson plans, and activities to teach your clients the subjects that they want to become proficient in.

@gertnerbot - When I typed in "Nuxt app" in Fiverr's search, there are only 78 services listed. Of those, there are 35 New Sellers, 21 Level 1 Sellers, and 22 Level 2 Sellers. Since you are a new buyer, focus on the Level 2 sellers with the most reviews. I learned the hard way that it's not a good mix to be a New Buyer with a New Seller. Once you gain more experience with finding good sellers, you can start buying from Level 1 and New Sellers. Note: what is shown on Fiverr's search page will only show their total reviews for that particular gig...click on their profile to see their total number of reviews. Read through all of the reviews and check out their portfolio to get a good understanding of how it would be like to work with that seller. Read how they respond to positive reviews (and negative ones). Reach out to the sellers that you feel good about, and pay close attention to how they communicate with you through the inbox chats. If they offer video consultations, hop on a video call to do a quick vibe check. If your spidey senses tells you not to work with a seller (even though everything else checks out fine), don't work with them. Move on to the next seller on your list.