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Firstly this is just my opinion, there is no incentive for me to share the below, Fiverr hasn't asked me to do this and given the way the community is responding I’m aware I could get some (a lot of) disagreement with this. 

For context, I’m a TRS/Pro and have replaced my prior financial services/tech income using Fiverr. To be transparent I’m also a forum m0d, but please don’t think that means you can’t disagree with me. I’m not someone that hides posts, or blocks/warns people for disagreeing, only if someone is abusive/grossly unprofessional. Free speech is important so don’t be shy. 

I have learned a lot from this community over the last few years, users like 

 to name a few (I know I'm missing loads) have been awesome, and from time to time I’ve tried to contribute positively myself to help others. I also think it's great to see established sellers like 

 sharing their thoughts/concerns on these changes and also being heard by Fiverr. That doesn't mean they'll act on it, they don't owe us that, but at least they're listening. 

I get why you’re annoyed. I would be too. Everything looked great on your profile, with lots of 5* ratings and buyers leaving great written reviews. Maybe you thought this new level system was going to get you to TRS (often seen as the holy grail of Fiverr success). 

Then BAM, you’re dropping a level or more when you thought everything was going great. 

It's kind of like getting dumped by a partner when they told you they loved you the day before. The thing is, there were probably problems you weren't seeing. You feel discarded and unloved, but the only thing you can do is learn and change. 

So I’ll say again, I would be annoyed/confused/frustrated/upset too. It’s a gut punch, and not expected. I have both empathy and sympathy for you. I mean that sincerely. 

Now, I’m going to make some assumptions/(potentially obvious) statements…

Fiverr isn’t making up the data it's using.

 It has always been there, you just haven’t had visibility of it in the same way you do now, and it hasn’t been contributing to your overall score/level until now. 

Bugs do happen, it can be a 1 person startup or Google, and bugs still get through. I think Fiverr will want to know why as much as we do, that doesn’t mean they’ll tell us why, but they don’t want bugs any more than we do and will fix them. 

Stating the obvious, every seller knows this, but I think they saw a trend of buyers saying they were happy publicly when in fact they were less happy privately, and this was causing buyers to make the ‘wrong’ decision when picking a freelancer based on the public information. They tried to fix it with private reviews, and this is a further evolution of that. 

Fiverr wants sellers to be happy (it may not feel like it right now)

. Like any marketplace, Fiverr is a 2 sided ecosystem, and there needs to be a symbiosis between the 2 sides. I do believe that fundamentally Fiverr wants sellers to be successful, because if they have successful sellers, they can have buyers who get what they want, and if both sides are happy, Fiverr makes money. However, most marketplaces prioritize buyers over sellers. Uber, doordash, airbnb, you name it. It’s necessary to maintain the ecosystem. It’s far cheaper to acquire a seller/provider than a buyer. 

There are hundreds (thousands!?) of data points potentially now included, coupled maybe even with AI doing some analysis. We cannot expect every SM/CS agent/product owner/developer (or even the CEO himself!) to understand it entirely. Every account, with all its data points from all the various reviews (as well as profile setup, gig setup, everything) makes every seller account unique. This means it’s almost impossible for someone at Fiverr to give you 100% concrete feedback on why something is the way it is. 

I’m NOT saying everything is perfect, and I want to provide a balanced view so to be transparent I will share the things that concern me, and also show I'm not a Fiverr shill...

Cancellations shouldn’t automatically be considered a fail. 

I once had a buyer spend 4 figures on a business plan, and when I met with him it was clear that he didn’t in fact need a business plan (I won’t go into detail on why) but I don’t want to sell things people don’t need, and so we agreed to cancel. He was thrilled and went on and spent money with other sellers who could give him what he did need. Support did amend my OCR when I explained why, but this could have still privately impacted me which I don’t think is right. Buyers make mistakes ordering, they change their minds, and stuff happens. Sellers shouldn’t be penalized for giving a buyer a good experience by canceling. 

Revisions are part of the creative process. 

The healthy way to view revisions is that it’s an opportunity to get the work to the best possible standard according to the buyer's expectations and your ability. I don’t think revisions in themselves should penalize the seller, it shouldn’t be automatically classed as conflict, but obviously, there’s a line, and sometimes excessive revisions are because the seller has overpromised and massively underdelivered. I once had a pitch deck go through 15 rounds because the buyer changed practically everything, the name, the logo, the colour scheme, the market, the product/service. You name it, they changed it and it ended up being an entirely different business. I think I overdelivered, but this probably counted against me. 

 I know the feeling of wanting to reply quickly, you want to close the sale, and it’s important buyers get a timely reply so I understand why it’s judged by Fiverr. This pressure gave me burnout, and I actually started to actively reply slower. This meant I avoided getting into back-and-forth conversations. I used to be at 1 hour response time for my first year, and I was most recently at 3 hours (I focused on it for the last couple of months once I got my energy back), but for the second half of last year I was at 6 hours, and 

in December it hit 10 hours. This January was still my best month for revenue. My point is don’t overly sweat it,

 I think decent buyers know you have other clients & commitments, and good buyers understand waiting for a few (or more) hours for good sellers. With so many data points it’s now become less important overall. 

The rating and review form is complicated. 

I’ve had buyers message saying it’s confusing, it’s time-consuming, or even apologizing as that was not the review they wanted to leave when I asked what I could have done better. Note I’m not asking them to change it (that’s not allowed), I just ask if they have any pointers on how I could have done more to help, especially when they've already decided to work with me further. They say nothing, it was great. They could be lying, but given I work with all my buyers on Zoom I think I know them reasonably well enough to judge if they're being disingenuous, and they buy again, and they tip me. The ratings/emojis should be linear IMO, and I think the value for money is a bit of a flawed concept. I also don't like professional work being judged by emojis, but it's not my platform, it's Fiverr's. 

Promoted gig inbox message/follow-up message feature. 

Promoted gigs have helped me get sales, but promoted inbox messages have instead led to questions and even anger. ‘Why did you message me’, ‘this is spam’, ‘leave me alone’. I have to explain it’s not me, but Fiverr. This means I’ve avoided promoting my gigs that cost more and just left the cheaper CPC ones promoting. 

Order page auto messages to fill in requirements 

. I find these automated messages to not be well structured, or overly polite. They’re very blunt, and I would rather control the messaging to my buyers myself rather than rely on automated messages. It makes me wonder what the promoted gig message says. 

The consultation feature needs a buffer. 

This is to prevent back-to-back calls which ultimately means a call either starts late or finishes early, which no buyer wants. 

 With hindsight, I think more could have been done to prepare the community for the inevitable level drops (assuming Fiverr crunched the numbers for the impact beforehand), but maybe they didn’t expect it. The communication needs to be aligned as we are receiving some mixed messages. I also think it’s unreasonable for us to expect 

 to respond to everyone. That’s what support or your SM is for, but as per my earlier algo point, they can only know, or indeed share so much. Communication also goes both ways and beating down on Fiverr staff is never going to get you what you want. I think it can also undermine valid feedback, so be constructive. It’s easy to be a keyboard warrior, and I think you should only say on the internet what you’d say to someone's face. 

There needs to be a better way to rate buyers. Seller insights feature was a great step and very helpful. But still, I'm a coward, and rate every buyer as 'Great Buyer' because if I say anything else they could burn me with the private review out of spite. 

So, I want to leave you, my fellow sellers, with these sentiments…

This is a one-month transition, let's watch this space... 

Fiverr does want you to be successful because if you’re not then they won’t be either. 

I believe this change was done to make things better, not worse. 

It might not seem like it, but they will be listening (but that doesn't mean they'll implement what you want). 

You built success before on Fiverr when so many others tried and failed. 

You learned what it took to get great feedback and keep clients happy with the old system. 

You can learn how to be successful with the new system. 

You’re great at what you do? That means you’re capable, and you can do this. 

The game is still the same, but the rules have been updated. 

You don’t need to be level whatever to make money. I know a level 2 doing 5 figures a month, and a TRS doing 3 figures a month. 

Remember the person, whether they are Fiverr staff, or your fellow buyers and sellers (or me as you respond to this!). 

I'll say again I think it's great the community is giving feedback, that the forum is active and people are sharing and learning from each other. I mean it and I stated at the start that free speech is important. 

Perhaps above all remember you don’t work for Fiverr, you work on Fiverr, so make Fiverr work for you. Treat it as a business, adapt to the market, and of course don’t rely on one customer/platform/revenue stream to put food on the table. Evolve or die, that's the brutal truth, and it's true of however or wherever you make your income. You never know what's around the corner. 

Just my overly long 2 cents, and if I'm a level 0 in a month I might be making a dramatically different post, but I'll also be thinking what I can do to improve, to add value, and to grow again. 

Feel free to beat me up, venting is healthy! 

My view on the new levels and ratings (which no one asked for but thought I'd share anyway)

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