5000 completed orders and no bad reviews?

[sophia_2018]

Hi everyone, there are always some crazy buyers who give you bad reviews no matter how hard you work for them. But I noticed there are some sellers with more than 5000 reviews and so with zero negative reviews. It does not make sense, as I mentioned earlier no matter how good you are, there are always some buyers who give you bad reviews anyway.
Does someone have an explanation?

[misscrystal]

Yes it’s possible. I was here for almost five years without one bad review and over 3000 reviews. They are just really good at what they do, and have also been lucky not to run into any malicious buyers.

It takes a lot of work though. It’s about 4 A.M. here and I haven’t yet slept for the night. I put in long hours. I have a support staff also to help me.

[frank_d]

It’s not a magic trick or something inexplicable.

It is a bit complicated though.

It all starts with the discovery phase for me, the very first step in the customer journey.

If the client is being weird, I spot red flags or I am not a good fit, I politely reject the collaboration and send them on their way.

So that way I eliminate most people who are prone to leave a negative review.

Then comes the most important part:

The actual collaboration.

You need to educate the buyer, manage their expectations, be responsive and deliver on target.

I get a lot of orders from people who ask me for unreasonable things in the middle of the order, who haggle me on price, who ask for me to deliver within minutes even after I do all of the above during the presale phase.

But if you hold your ground, anticipate issues and communicate them openly, answer in a respectful manner and empathize with them, they usually end up respecting boundaries and understand the process.

If you are still looking at it this way:
“I worked hard so why the bad review?”
then that means you need to work on listening to the client, and managing the overall experience for them.

[cyaxrex]

I think this comes down to sellers choosing to cancel a lot of orders. When I have a problem buyer, problems usually always arise for the same reasons.

• They want more work than what I offer.
• Buyers communicate their brief poorly or change their brief after delivery.
• People are intentional scammers who are determined to get work FOC.

In every case, buyers are shocked that I refuse to cancel orders. A lot of them have been members of Fiverr for a year or more and come across as people who are used to asking sellers to cancel and sellers always acquiescing.

As a case in point, my last cancellation was from a 5-year old buyer and seller on Fiverr. They asked me to cancel immediately after delivery and told me that they had found another seller. They even sent me what the other seller had written.

What the other seller had written sounded like childish gibberish and I told my buyer this. This was a month ago. However, the buyer has so far not added any content to the page of their website they needed content for. This means that they have took delivery of at least 2 orders, and likely not paid for either of these, while they continue to shop around for the perfect sales copy.

Then of course there are sellers who deliver consistently top-notch work. However, this is simply not possible when it comes to subjective services.

[tech456]

maybe his work is top notch and all his client’s are returning customers so no one dare to leave a negative feedback and lose the seller forever 😉

[misscrystal]

I’ve cancelled just one order all year when the buyer kept trying to add in a lot of things she didn’t pay for. We can’t cancel a lot and maintain our level.

Frank has a remarkable record with about 7200 great reviews and no bad ones at all. I can think of another top rated seller without any bad reviews who comes to the forum sometimes.

[lenasemenkova]

Hi everyone, there are always some crazy buyers who give you bad reviews no matter how hard you work for them. But I noticed there are some sellers with more than 5000 reviews and so with zero negative reviews. It does not make sense, as I mentioned earlier no matter how good you are, there are always some buyers who give you bad reviews anyway.

Does someone have an explanation?

no matter how good you are, there are always some buyers who give you bad reviews anyway

It’s an assumption based on personal experience, though, that doesn’t reflect the experiences other people may have.

Also, fiverr considers 3* “a positive review”.

I’ve had only positive reviews for my first 3 years. Then I got a 1* for “marking the order as complete” (which is not how fiverr works but CS told me not to push it).

Then I got myself a tradition of getting one 3* review a year. 🙂 Both of those could be avoided if I delivered a bit more and was more patient. But ultimately, I decided that throwing my hands in the air once a year would be good for my mental health.

Both of the 3* buyers were of that “returning” kind so I worked with them before a few times (not too often) and they tricked me into not studying their requests too closely. I’m usually good at weeding out potentially problematic clients and I probably would decline working with these as well if I didn’t have previous positive experiences with them.

If I was overly accommodating with difficult buyers and got myself a more sympathetic CS agent, I’d still have only positive reviews.

[misscrystal]

I had a buyer give me a four star review and then expected me to keep taking orders from him. I couldn’t get him to stop ordering for months and wouldn’t leave me alone. And it’s been a couple of years and he still asks to order from me every few months.
I don’t block him because he would just make another account. Actually there are several similar ones.

[lenasemenkova]

I had a buyer give me a four star review and then expected me to keep taking orders from him. I couldn’t get him to stop ordering for months and wouldn’t leave me alone. And it’s been a couple of years and he still asks to order from me every few months.

I don’t block him because he would just make another account. Actually there are several similar ones.

You got yourself one of those “it was okay but I wasn’t blown away” people. They’re just trying to get you to push yourself and strive for excellence. (sigh) Oh to get into their heads if just for a moment.

[miiila]

I think this comes down to sellers choosing to cancel a lot of orders. When I have a problem buyer, problems usually always arise for the same reasons.

• They want more work than what I offer.
• Buyers communicate their brief poorly or change their brief after delivery.
• People are intentional scammers who are determined to get work FOC.

In every case, buyers are shocked that I refuse to cancel orders. A lot of them have been members of Fiverr for a year or more and come across as people who are used to asking sellers to cancel and sellers always acquiescing.

As a case in point, my last cancellation was from a 5-year old buyer and seller on Fiverr. They asked me to cancel immediately after delivery and told me that they had found another seller. They even sent me what the other seller had written.

What the other seller had written sounded like childish gibberish and I told my buyer this. This was a month ago. However, the buyer has so far not added any content to the page of their website they needed content for. This means that they have took delivery of at least 2 orders, and likely not paid for either of these, while they continue to shop around for the perfect sales copy.

Then of course there are sellers who deliver consistently top-notch work. However, this is simply not possible when it comes to subjective services.

As a case in point, my last cancellation was from a 5-year old buyer and seller on Fiverr. They asked me to cancel immediately after delivery and told me that they had found another seller. They even sent me what the other seller had written.

Wow. I kind of get when buyers get the idea that might be okay as long as a seller hasn’t yet started on their order (though still only kind of), as they often have no clue about ratings, rankings and all the implications, but Fiverr should invent and apply some specific rating for sellers who do that.

And after delivery, of course, is a whole 'nother level.

I’d love to see the face of the first one to receive a notification “Your Nope, not like that, buddy! rating just dropped from 100% to 50%. You’ll need to be extra nice to your fellow sellers now to get back to 100% - but, hey, don’t worry if you simply can’t be nice by nature - this rating resets after just 365 days! Sorry for any inconveniences that may be caused by not being able to use BR and by having your gigs stuck in the last spot on the last page of the search results during that time. They might not be visible in search at all as well for random periods of time, so don’t worry about that, it’s a feature not a bug, and don’t contact us, if it happens. Thanks and good luck with your new life of being considerate of your fellow sellers, who knows, you might end up liking it.”

---

I think a lot comes down to hard work, setting your gigs and MO up to avoid working with unreasonable people, and “catastrophe management” 😉 along the lines of what Frank wrote, and probably a bit of luck is involved too (though several sayings have it that the first things favour luck, there’s luck, and there’s luck). And, of course, the subjectivity of different services, as mentioned by Cy, certainly is a factor that hits some people more than others.

Also, for old accounts, you need to account for the time when it was possible to cancel mutually without any effects on your ratings, cancellations to avoid potential bad ratings must have been far more common then.

[arjoy007]

WOW…
I just wonder if I got it!

[xuvayer_pro]

It’s not a magic trick or something inexplicable.

It is a bit complicated though.

It all starts with the discovery phase for me, the very first step in the customer journey.

If the client is being weird, I spot red flags or I am not a good fit, I politely reject the collaboration and send them on their way.

So that way I eliminate most people who are prone to leave a negative review.

Then comes the most important part:

The actual collaboration.

You need to educate the buyer, manage their expectations, be responsive and deliver on target.

I get a lot of orders from people who ask me for unreasonable things in the middle of the order, who haggle me on price, who ask for me to deliver within minutes even after I do all of the above during the presale phase.

But if you hold your ground, anticipate issues and communicate them openly, answer in a respectful manner and empathize with them, they usually end up respecting boundaries and understand the process.

If you are still looking at it this way:

“I worked hard so why the bad review?”

then that means you need to work on listening to the client, and managing the overall experience for them.

Thea’s True.😍

[misscrystal]

You got yourself one of those “it was okay but I wasn’t blown away” people. They’re just trying to get you to push yourself and strive for excellence. (sigh) Oh to get into their heads if just for a moment.

Oh to get into their heads if just for a moment.

The four stars are from narcissists. It’s a form of putdown. Not due to anything wrong but due to the psychology of the subtle putdown, which elevates them in turn. Not in every case of course, but if I know the person who does it I can sometimes see the pattern.

They also don’t like to be told no, they can’t order. It becomes a competition for them. When told no don’t order again, an extreme one immediately ordered two more just to show me who was the boss.

For example if you tell them not to look at the sun during an eclipse they will immediately look at the sun during the eclipse. It’s automatic.

[uk1000]

Also maybe in the past some sellers have asked for 5 stars in the delivery message or said they’d give some extra/bonus for giving 5 stars. Maybe it didn’t used to be against the TOS to do that. Maybe it was easier to remove reviews in the past too.

Maybe there’s some message(s)/text some current sellers use eg. in the delivery message or other order messages or the actual delivery to help get all positive reviews without it being against the TOS.

[misscrystal]

Also maybe in the past some sellers have asked for 5 stars in the delivery message or said they’d give some extra/bonus for giving 5 stars. Maybe it didn’t used to be against the TOS to do that. Maybe it was easier to remove reviews in the past too.

Maybe there’s some message(s)/text some current sellers use eg. in the delivery message or other order messages or the actual delivery to help get all positive reviews without it being against the TOS.

@uk1000 Anything like that is against the TOS. It must sound unbelievable that it’s done without any type of trick.

Look at Frank’s 7200 reviews. Do you really think he has all those without any bad ones due to using some kind of trick?

[uk1000]

@uk1000 Anything like that is against the TOS. It must sound unbelievable that it’s done without any type of trick.

Look at Frank’s 7200 reviews. Do you really think he has all those without any bad ones due to using some kind of trick?

Which part? I was asked to leave 5 stars once by someone in at least 1 delivery message (maybe more). That wouldn’t be allowed now but I don’t know whether Fiverr actually checks delivery messages properly. That bit would/should have been against the TOS but maybe they didn’t enforce it a year or so ago. This year I was asked to leave “positive feedback” which I assume is also against TOS.

Also some text could help to get a positive rating without it being against the terms of service like if a delivery kept mentioning how “positive” the person is and that it required “positivity”.

I think there’s probably more checks being done for things like “5 stars” in the messaging system than in the delivery messages.

[misscrystal]

Which part? I was asked to leave 5 stars once by someone in at least 1 delivery message (maybe more). That wouldn’t be allowed now but I don’t know whether Fiverr actually checks delivery messages properly. That bit would/should have been against the TOS but maybe they didn’t enforce it a year or so ago. This year I was asked to leave “positive feedback” which I assume is also against TOS.

Also some text could help to get a positive rating without it being against the terms of service like if a delivery kept mentioning how “positive” the person is and that it required “positivity”.

I think there’s probably more checks being done for things like “5 stars” in the messaging system than in the delivery messages.

I do get clients all the time who ask if they need to be in a “positive” frame of mind and they explain others in my category tell them that. I tell them they can be or think anything they want.

[uk1000]

I do get clients all the time who ask if they need to be in a “positive” frame of mind and they explain others in my category tell them that. I tell them they can be or think anything they want.

And couldn’t that affect reviews at all for anyone who says that they do need to be positive and say things like that multiple times to them?

[misscrystal]

And couldn’t that affect reviews at all for anyone who says that they do need to be positive and say things like that multiple times to them?

Your guess is as good as mine about that.

I doubt if Frank tells his clients they need to think positive thoughts.

[uk1000]

Your guess is as good as mine about that.

I doubt if Frank tells his clients they need to think positive thoughts.

That “positivity” but was just one example (eg. 1 category). I never mentioned Frank and wasn’t making this about individuals.

I was just saying that I have experienced things like that (people asking for 5 stars / positive feedback), and things like that will obviously have an effect on ratings. Even though they shouldn’t be asking for positive feedback/particular ratings as it says in the TOS or relevant policy.

[misscrystal]

That “positivity” but was just one example (eg. 1 category). I never mentioned Frank and wasn’t making this about individuals.

I was just saying that I have experienced things like that (people asking for 5 stars / positive feedback), and things like that will obviously have an effect on ratings. Even though they shouldn’t be asking for positive feedback/particular ratings as it says in the TOS or relevant policy.

I don’t think a seller who does that routinely would last long now.

[uk1000]

I don’t think a seller who does that routinely would last long now.

Maybe. It could also depend on the seller’s level and whether they are reported.

If they wanted to prevent things like that they could add better checks for certain text in the delivery messages and inbox messages for things like “positive feedback” or “[5] stars”.

[misscrystal]

Maybe. It could also depend on the seller’s level and whether they are reported.

If they wanted to prevent things like that they could add better checks for certain text in the delivery messages and inbox messages for things like “positive feedback” or “[5] stars”.

I know that at all times fiverr can and does check on everything. What we say, what we do, especially as top rated sellers. I just assume they see everything I do.

I assume they do have checks on things like that. I am aware that what I do on the site is under constant scrutiny and I’m ok with that.

[uk1000]

I know that at all times fiverr can and does check on everything. What we say, what we do, especially as top rated sellers. I just assume they see everything I do.

I assume they do have checks on things like that. I am aware that what I do on the site is under constant scrutiny and I’m ok with that.

While they can manually check, some words in the inbox get auto-flagged and even a warning being displayed. Other words (eg. "“positive feedback” or “[5] stars”) don’t get a warning displayed or seem to get auto-flagged. So Fiverr staff will be less likely to check them manually or ask the seller to stop doing that. So more words/word combinations/phrases could be auto-flagged and manually checked, in the inbox and order messages (and done as accurately as possible so that it doesn’t flag things that shouldn’t be flagged eg. things that just start with that text).

Maybe it shouldn’t display the warning in things like the inbox for some things (eg. “positive rating”) as that could allow the user to reword it until it doesn’t display the warning (and so doesn’t automatically get flagged and manually checked). So maybe they should auto-flag more text without the on-screen warning being displayed as soon as you type it.

[graphtersawyer]

While they can manually check, some words in the inbox get auto-flagged and even a warning being displayed. Other words (eg. "“positive feedback” or “[5] stars”) don’t get a warning displayed or seem to get auto-flagged. So Fiverr staff will be less likely to check them manually or ask the seller to stop doing that. So more words/word combinations/phrases could be auto-flagged and manually checked, in the inbox and order messages (and done as accurately as possible so that it doesn’t flag things that shouldn’t be flagged eg. things that just start with that text).

Maybe it shouldn’t display the warning in things like the inbox for some things (eg. “positive rating”) as that could allow the user to reword it until it doesn’t display the warning (and so doesn’t automatically get flagged and manually checked). So maybe they should auto-flag more text without the on-screen warning being displayed as soon as you type it.

If someone asks me to give them a 5-star, I honestly want to give them a 1 star for breaking TOS and even saying that. I usually just leave them without one, though it is very tempting.