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As I'm sure some of you have noticed, buyers seem to be fewer than they once were (

yes, I am aware that there are plenty of sellers who have plenty of orders

). Now, according to Fiverr's own investor reports, they 

 between '22 - '23. I'm linking to the G&M because it helpfully has an analysis of why that's bad. 

We can point to the bogeyman of AI, increased cost of living, all that stuff. 

 we could look at what buyers are actually telling us. This buyer signed up this month (er.. March). I declined his job 3 weeks ago because I don't offer proofreading. I didn't think anything of it. Pretty standard stuff. Most people say something like "oh ok thanks" and go off to find someone who offers the right service. However, they keep coming back complaining. Today, I got this: 

I'm not sure what the first sentence is referring to, and the rest just makes me want to hit the block button and - annoyingly - continue with my SPP membership just to keep RTO on to avoid an order that 

But that doesn't make this guy a bad buyer. He's new to Fiverr and doesn't understand how it works. He also doesn't understand the undercurrent of Fiverr's new review system. I don't know what he's been saying to the other sellers, but if it's anything like what he said to me, I don't want him anywhere near my feedback. 

This buyer - IDK if you'd call him "active" in financial terms - is 

 going to leave the platform after 7 sellers have basically declined to work with him. Are Fiverr's own review systems harming its bottom line by causing sellers to reject customers who could damage their profile? Is this causing otherwise "good" new buyers to leave? 

1. Deceptive AI policies and a ton of sellers using AI to sell AI without disclosure 

2. A large marketplace of Pros that is not vetted as well as it used to be 

2a) Leading to gigs worth $5 - $25 being sold for $100s 

3) "New Buyers" being weighted more heavily in algorithms (bad reviews and good) 

4) Eerily similar responses (GPT) from a large number of sellers using AI to communicate (as recommended by Fiverr) 

Fiverr's claims the the decreased number of buyers is a result of its marketing strategy, which is now targeting more upmarket people. That makes sense to me. But is Fiverr - or rather it's sellers - able to provide these upmarket visitors with the service they want? 

Or, are they getting annoyed after endless rejections from sellers who don't want to take on new buyers for a combination of reasons? Let's say this guy gives up and just orders from a random person without asking (

) who does the work with AI for $200 and discovers it's AI after the fact. You think they're gonna come back? 

Don't forget, some buyers are finding their profile disabled after they message a few sellers about their offer. They're invited to do this by Fiverr, but Fiverr's automation systems register this as spam and, well, it happens. Meanwhile, the QR code gang know this little restriction and just dance around it effortlessly. 

Let's also not forget that all accounts now start as buyer accounts and seller accounts need to be approved. I've seen far too many CS messages effectively saying "don't worry, you can still buy!" to people who have no interest in buying. They are upset and angry because they spent 3 hours filling out their profile and get dismissed with a curt message that tells them nothing about why they've been explained, and CS doesn't explain either. 

It was 200,000 buyers lost last year. This year, with the new review system in place and sellers increasingly anxious about their confusing scores, I think it could be worse. Fiverr's own policies are creating an atmosphere of fear and mistrust, rather than facilitating an open marketplace where people get on with work. 

Why Is Fiverr Losing Buyers?

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