emmaki

April 28

You're just playing your cards too early with that one. Be more circumspect and explain you don't do discounts on first orders but are open to negotiation on long-term work following an initial test project (or more).

Trust me, that works just as well and you don't lock yourself into a discount when you have no idea what the work will look like. Speaking of which, you don't need to discount. Just shave things off the service to "save money" and make sure the buyer knows that this deal isn't a discount - it's an alignment of your service to their budget.

As for the large discount people who are taking the badword, I just reject them outright. Not worth wasting time negotiating with.

April 28

Fiverr does have a seller approval process now, you know.

The question isn't whether you should start a new account, but whether your services are good enough. And, perhaps, the correct way to deactivate a Fiverr account, because most people in your shoes skip the most important part and end up getting hit with a multiple account problem.

The best thing you can do is some research and decide for yourself.

April 28

That is my guess too, but I find it curious that not all the posts were done in one go (notwithstanding rule violations). Of course, the weird double posting issue does make 50% more work...

Anyway, no worries. I'm quite enjoying myself with this hidden stuff, especially on posts where it's the only useful answer with explanation and guidance. I don't mean that discourteously - it's just a simple fact. The phrase "hoist by one's own petard" comes to mind.

April 28

I found a really good article about AI. In fact, the whole website is great. It's someone with a real bee in their bonnet about the abuses of big tech today. I love it. A quick sample of the delights within:

But anyway, this article reveals a looming crisis in the future of AI. It's something that is never discussed, and yet at the same time far more important than how much money the technology can make. It also points to one thing that doesn't really need an article to explain, but that AI does not empower workers (that's you and I) despite the technology (gen AI) needing us to produce more to feed the machine. Who does it empower? Well, if you read what I've been saying all along you already know, but it's nice to hear someone who is really into researching AI this put the whole thing on blast. Glorious, even.

https://www.wheresyoured.at/bubble-trouble/

I recommend the whole website. I'm spending my Sunday reading it. This, by the way, is the kind of information that I consider to be "empowering". Take note, Fiverr. This is freely available content on the internet. Now compare it to the AI Hub. Hopefully, Fiverr will now realize why I - and other people with any real interest in AI - are giving Fiverr's AI mania the short shrift it deserves.

I also recommend the thrilling article on how Google destroyed its own search from this same website. I haven't yet found an article about Fiverr, but I bet he would make a tasty meal from the fruits of his research.

11/10 would read again. Fiverr probably won't though. Let's wait to see what insightful new articles plop out of the AI Hub's rear end next week.

EDIT: This is also good https://www.wheresyoured.at/peakai/ and this one - https://www.wheresyoured.at/are-we-watching-the-internet-die/ - which has an interesting section on "degenerative AI". Yes, the author is unfashionably critical of AI, but he's asking the questions that Fiverr doesn't. @levinewman, I have no idea if you're ghosting around on the forum, but if you're still being courted by Fiverr and thinking about the media stuff, here's a writer who you might like to read.

April 28

It's interesting that this wasn't investigated, either. I've already passed comment on why I think only some posts from last night were approved and others weren't. Because I also know that the option to just click delete is there.

That suggests that.... you know. I'll figure it out. I have two weeks. I'm smart.

April 28

It's... what, 12 hours later and the one useful comment hasn't been approved here.

Why is that? Isn't this forum meant to help people and act, partially, as a cheap replacement for CS while also being proof of "community" and "engagement" to wow and woo investors with?

Hm? Now, why wouldn't all of the comments be approved in one go? Is there a limit? Is there some sort of hierarchy and second opinion? Did more other important tasks come up? I am interested. I suppose it is difficult - I may be entangled in a neverending web of spam.

April 28

On 2/1/2023 at 4:56 PM, adrian_success said:

Whenever possible, communicate with buyers before they purchase your Gig.

Isn't it odd that Fiverr's best advice is to communicate to buyers before a gig - and then to gate that action behind Seller Plus Premium, a "nice to have" and "non-essential" feature that costs $39pcm? Or $19, as it is illegally (according to EU law) being advertised on my page. I've bought this up with customer support and they said it was a "visual discrepancy" and that they would get back to me when it was fixed. That was a few days ago. Well, in a few more days, if it is not fixed and some people get the wrong price and live in the EU....

If I had written this article, I would be checking to see if we want to promote SPP and writing this to suggest that it isn't essential but can impact the end price of the order since you can upsell pre-ordering. But does this article do that? No. It just crashes into a wall and reveals a slice of Fiverr greed - and inadvertently reveals that staff are more than aware that sellers being unable to force discussions before ordering creates a lot of problems that end up sucking away a lot of CS time.

What really tickles me is that SP is mentioned at the end of this article, but that there's a whole missed opportunity. I'm not going to talk about SPP, because that wasn't introduced until Feb 18th, almost 3 weeks after this was published. But for now, this article from Fiverr incorrectly states that SP (basic) members have a success manager.

Again, maybe Fiverr should think about hiring a writer who happens to be an expert on Fiverr, freelancing, and does research and can nitpick (or henpeck) articles to death? There's no point telling sellers to contact CS for help with an order sagging under the weight of project creep, since CS will say "talk it out".

I can go on. Then again, I do understand this was a 2023 content marketing strategy that has since been replaced by asking people what their favorite drink is. Either the great well of Fiverr-specific topics has dried up or the company is trying to be more "relatable". I would say that this is semi-succeeding, but more of a plaster over the serious issues on the platform.

And content marketing strategies should include updating old articles which are wrong to avoid confusing users. As I said, article is very out of date. But at least it isn't illegal. Unlike this:

Fiverr is perennially out of date, it would seem.

Of course, this may simply be that changing this pricing - which is for a maximum of 200 people only, as it was a "locked in price until cancellation" <--- There's that EU consumer law again <---- may not have been seen as an "economically viable move" when coders have so many other broken things to fix on Fiverr. So. Fiverr will claw back an extra $4,000 from 200 sellers pcm as a "price alignment", and apparently the loss of trust from 200 sellers it deemed its best - the ones who were invited to SP before anyone else because they already had free success managers, which suggests they were the top earners for the company.... I mean... I am not a business visionary, but Fiverr appears to value the trust and its relationship with sellers incredibly cheaply. It's either that, or there are serious financial issues at Fiverr that aren't quite visible just yet. Between breaking consumer law and most likely EU AI law (not in effect yet), it paints a picture.

I still haven't decided whether to cancel. But you can bet that I will be kicking up a fuss on May 18th if I'm charged $39 when it is advertised as $19 - the price to which I agreed based on very specific terms. On the other hand, I could buy something useful with $39, like a miniature batmobile that was made in China. The paint will flake off as soon as you touch it and the glue will dry out a week later, but it still offers more value than Fiverr's SP program - that this article reveals is nothing more than a cynical cash grab that sellers need to do its own recommended best practice and help CS not be overloaded all the time. But as former CS agents on Glassdoor have said, CS is just a tacked on afterthought for appearances sake, and agents who try to do things get fired.

Still, I expect you know all that.

April 28

Is there a reason a music video didn't pass muster in the morning round slew of comment approvals? I mean, if chocolate quotes are fine, I'm sure one of the best theme songs from one of the best TV shows of the 2000s is fine.

It doesn't criticize Fiverr and is positive for a start. Except for the story, but it's hardly my fault if a video game is full of tragedy, d-word, and trauma, is it?

April 28

Is there a reason a music video didn't pass muster in the morning round slew of comment approvals? I mean, if chocolate quotes are fine, I'm sure one of the best theme songs from one of the best TV shows of the 2000s is fine.

It doesn't criticize Fiverr and is positive for a start. Except for the story, but it's hardly my fault if a video game is full of tragedy, d-word, and trauma, is it?

April 27

It's almost like I'm the only person who knows about Pro buyer accounts, isn't it? Such a simple solution.

If only there was someone who knew this who could post it and explain it to OP. .

Oh, wait.

Did you like how the double posted hidden content got split up by a previous response of OP? I did. Which one will you pick for the best chronological order? Just kidding, I know it's like, a click, not a fraught decision.

Well, that's.... 6 things to deal with on here now. Should only be three, but once again, I'm not the one double-posting. In fact, I did double post once to see what happened, and you know what happened? There were only 3 posts. As in the first double posted, but the extra click yielded the correct number.

Curious, isn't it? I do realize this is third party software, but it makes me wonder. A lot of Fiverr's stuff - inc. the SS - is third party, isn't it? Is any of it working correctly? I ask, of course, in the interest of the new, transparent spirit of Fiverr as unveiled on Valentine's Day.

Well, that's this comment done. Will it ever see the light of day? Who knows.

EDIT: If anyone is wondering about the slightly odd nature of this posts, they are all auto-hidden pending approval until May 10. If a queue builds up and I know they won't be approved for hours, I start to mock the process and Fiverr in the comments. And for anyone wondering about the comment sandwich, the first comment was chosen. Once, yesterday, both comments in a very long double post were approved, which amused me. I wrote another comment to point that out, so maybe it has been rectified. Who knows? Either way, every comment I made last night was not approved until just a couple of hours ago. Guess who will be a forum expert on the times of day there is human oversight of the forum by the end of this? And no, post edits aren't hidden. Isn't this fun? And completely off-topic.

April 27

Is that you MissCrystal? Where have you been?

I was wondering how Fiverr's recent changes had affected you and your overall category, especially since Fiverr's basically pushed it out of sight, out of mind (along with Fiverr Learn, which has also been removed from the Fiverr Affiliate program...)

Here is my average "performance"

My conversion rate is a nice 0% at the moment because you know, I have RTO turned on, a SS 10, and the leads are.... not SS10 material.

Mind you, if the SS is stuck, maybe I should take on someone? Might as well get paid for writing on Fiverr for once...

2 hours ago, coerdelion said:

It's almost as if the algorithm would run better if shut off for most of any given month and only run occasionally - say ... the 15th of every month ... ?

That's an interesting theory and I think we should all be observing our successes and failures come May 14. Which reminds me, I should probably do at least 1 gig before then so I don't disappear as a badly underperforming seller. Oops, sorry, I meant one of Fiverr's best writers with all the badges, gongs, and knowledge and a SS of 10.

We shouldn't complain too much. Whatever Fiverr cooks up next will invariably be even more.... interesting.

April 27

2 words: semantic seo.

have fun.

April 27

Tragically, nobody is around to approve a comment that gave you a good answer.

Oh, wait.

April 27

16 minutes ago, smashradio said:

whole currency conversion thing

Ah, you mean when a seller has AUD, a buyer has CAD, and the prices are in USD, but everyone is talking about their own D?

I mean I avoid this easily enough by saying my quote is in USD and then hopping over to a currency converter to find out whatever the rate is in their local (dollar) currency and then noting that with the extra 5.5% fee it will "probably be around" $ballpark. But still, if the currency is going to be cosmetic only, it should be noted that the other user is viewing stuff in *whatever* and....

Oh hey, I just had another cool AI idea. How about an "AI calculator" (it's not really AI, but buzzwords!) that automatically translates pricing between accounts using different currencies? This is definitely a feature for Seller Plus Premium that everyone will want to pay $100 a month for. Mind you, that adds transparency to the process, which is unfortunate.

April 27

19 minutes ago, donnovan86 said:

You can use a single account for buying and selling. There's no buying and selling account.

To be fair, if OP swaps his OP account (or asks CS to) to a Pro buyer account, having multiple accounts is perfectly legit! It isn't exactly obvious at a casual glance to someone, considering that Fiverr Pro seller accounts (now "Pro Verified, as if that makes a huge distinction) also exist and all of this information is buried in a help center that's almost impossible to find information in unless you already have a good idea what page stuff is on.

The simple fact is that Fiverr is at war with multiple accounts due to bad actors, which means any innocent mistakes are shot down in the crossfire - while the bad actors just keep on making fresh accounts with names like "Fiverr Support" without a care in the world.

April 27

Nope, the finest moment was John Marston building home with Uncle (did Uncle help? I can't remember him being anything other than drunk and useless, getting kidnapped all the time) to this banging tune. It's the perfect bit of jauntiness can-do American spirit after all the death and misery. A brief respite from the emotional assault. Let's face it, all the chapters leading up to that part were pretty rough. And it was all Ian McShane's fault!

Now I want to watch Deadwood again. That has an amazing theme song.

April 27

7 minutes ago, mamunurrashid_ said:

However, my argument is to use human judgment in this type of matter.

Unfortunately, Fiverr drank the AI kool-aid and uses it for everything. You can try badgering CS about this, but bear in mind that - per usual, despite AI template responses - they are overwhelmed and you will need to keep responding to tickets to point out that you got the wrong template to get a pound of flesh and blood to respond to you.

Fiverr didn't exist 30 years ago. The internet barely existed 30 years ago, come to think of it... I was only just about to discover it and its wonderland of anarchy and free thought. How times change. Don't worry though - if you made that mistake when you appealed to CS, rest assured that nobody really read it before the AI told them to click a template reply, so your blushes are spared.

April 27

Fiverr should really fix that hidden posts are double posts. A very minor thing, but it is fewer clicks. I'll leave it as it is, since someone will probably have to come and investigate this comment. Well, both of them.

April 27

Nah, they just disable your account if you are not in compliance with DAC7.

Are you living in a different country to where your EU tax details are, or do you often use a VPN that shows you in another location when you use Fiverr? That's what location inconsistency boils down to. IRRC Fiverr also whacks people for "associations" with others who have broken the rule. I believe that's a vague way to get people for multiple accounts without saying so.

Your only option is to contact CS and explain why you aren't location inconsistent.

April 27

Reminds me that I made a topic that included the subject of pricing that wasn't approved earlier. Why not? It involves AI and Fiverr so I would have thought it would have been fine. It is relevant, because I will refer to it below. And, eventually, if someone sees fit to accept my writing - not AI, sadly - I can link the two up.

This article forgot considering the tax man 🙂 It's also worth noting that a consumers generally don't enjoy paying "extra" for a service and that many sellers use package prices as a bait and switch pricing model, getting clicks with low prices then springing the "real price" later on. That's when they're not scrabbling to pull them away from the platform. Of course, gig extras were only introduced as a way to help sellers charge more than $5 in the first place because sellers were demanding it, what, 10 years ago?

Make note of that. Gig extras were there to increase the value of $5 gigs.

Wouldn't it make more sense - you'll need to refer to the topic I created that is languishing somewhere among the Thai love spell spams and other assorted rubbish - to just eliminate gig extras altogether? Since realistically, they've moved from "helping sellers to charge more" to "locking essentials behind a hidden price wall". You know that I am correct on this because Fiverr has had to enforce certain gig extras as mandatory as well as category pricing minimums. You also know that complaints about this are not uncommon.

So why not shake it up? Why not use AI to "price competitively"? Remember the little extra tip in that topic I posted on top of GPT's suggestion? That's right, Fiverr has control of the algo and can give things a nice bulky weight at the higher end. It's basically the same as the "must charge $80 for websites" policy, but more subtle and gradually pulling the marketplace up. Like your Investors Reports tell people, Fiverr is aiming upmarket and AI is its big love.

Was that idea so terrible that my post could not be published and discussed with the community?

I'll ignore that the conclusion reads more like an introduction and also basically tells sellers that bait and switch is kinda OK because it's "attractive" to price your gigs low and hide the good stuff behind gig extras. You don't need me to tell you how many sellers will read this and come to the wrong conclusion.

Don't worry, I don't expect anyone to read this. It's intelligent and insightful - if somewhat critical - commentary that points out the flaws in Fiverr's content marketing strategy on a necropost - not exactly the raison d'être for this forum or indeed any of Fiverr's recent moves. One final point: this article was written just over a year ago. Since then, 200,000 buyers have left.

Has Fiverr not considered that as AI improves and becomes even more user friendly, this trend will only worsen? Repeat after me: complex AI services can easily be performed by a GPT agent in the near future. Without the wait - and at a cost that probably equals 1 gig for 1 small thing each month. During the industrial revolution, small businesses all got swallowed up by factories. Eventually, what happened was that capitalism found that these "old fashioned" products that were "hand made" could be charged at a premium because they were "artisan" rather than factory made. History may not repeat, but it often rhymes. Another little industrial revolution era factoid for you: we only have the 5-day workweek because prior to that, factory owners were working people to the bone 7 days a week. As it turned out, this was bad for their mental and physical health. The weekend is a modern invention of capitalism.

Workers in the Middle Ages had many more holidays than we do today. And what we're actually seeing with platforms like Fiverr is a neo-feudalism that also mixes in the worst bits of classical, industrial-era capitalism. All those rights won over the course of the 19th and 20th centuries are slowly being eroded. Again, Fiverr does note that a unionization of freelancers would threaten its business model. It's in the investor docs.

If nobody at Fiverr can see the toweringly huge elephants lumbering in the room around it, then this company is doomed.

April 27