Buyer feedback should have a time limit - - But DOESN'T

[beatcraigslist]

Many of you may not be aware of this so I am bringing it to your attention. Did you know that a buyer can leave feedback on your gig at ANY time they please? Even AFTER the gig is completed and sitting there for months. I just found this out the hard way. I had a guy leave a negative feedback after the gig has been completed for one full month. He never contacted me to express any problems, then out of the blue just leaves a bad feedback. I am trying to contact him to find out what the heck the problem is, but this is ridiculous. After you think something is done, it can come back to bite you.



I deal in the information business. I see a huge problem with this because I have the following situation happen many times. I will sell a gig. OK, after the deal is done, people think for some reason that they can continue to pry information from me for free. They will use me as their own personal consultant. So I have always been patient and given info away for free, but there is a time limit. I can’t keep answering questions for free forever. Now I realize that if I don’t, or if I say I cant give you info for free forever, they can come back and give you a negative feedback just because you didn’t giveaway stuff. This is like the sword of Damocles hanging over our heads. This is a really bad policy and I think it should be changed.



I did contact Customer Support and asked then the very same thing. I said that I thought feedback had a time limit after a gig was already delivered and stamped as completed. The response was “Customers can leave feedback at any time they wish”, So in fact, NO TIME LIMIT.

[beatcraigslist]

Another thing that I find very frustrating is that for some reason a negative feedback shows up on your gig instantly when it is written, BUT when I leave a response to the negative feedback it doesn’t show up. What type of censorship is this? I have a right to speak in my own defense yet it is held even though there was nothing offensive in my response. Even though that person has not (and may never) responded to me…I think the problem is that he didn’t follow the links I gave him. He followed one, and thought that was the end of it and maybe wasn’t satisfied. I can only estimate since he hasn’t responded yet. But any reasonable person should have contacted me and expressed some sort of unhappiness where I could then have tried to figure out the problem. Negative feedback with no contact makes me wonder what the heck is up with this person.

[Guest tn5rr2012]

I hope this is an issue that is addressed in 2013, in regards to missing feedback. I have left response back to positive feedback and it took several days to show up

[metalriot]

I agree that there should be a limit on time to leave feedback, I mentioned this in a thread last week. It seems it would go a long way to solving some of the disputes between buyers and sellers.

[steve41]

I’ve has this happen. Had a great relationship with a buyer for nearly a year. Then things went sour, not because of anything I’d done, but because what I wouldn’t/couldn’t do. The buyer threatened me, I refused to give in, so he went back and gave neg feedback for past gigs that he was quite happy with at the time. He only stopped neg’ing the old gigs when he got bored with it. Consquently I dropped from 100% approval to 96%.



So this ability for a buyer to give feedback months after a gig is completed is a major flaw, as everything is biased towards the buyer, and they can destroy a gig’s reputation overnight.



E.g. over 12 months you get 1000 positive feedbacks. 100 of those feedbacks are from 1 person. Things turn ugly at some point, and they go back neg 100 gigs. And they ne’ged not because they were unhappy with the gig at the time, but because of some future occurrence down the track. That puts your gig straight in the toilet, which could take months to recover from.



IMO, I think a 6 week window at most is acceptable, after that, the ability to add/change buyer/seller feedback is locked. The question is though, will Fiverr listen and take action to prevent this in the future?

[caiterz]

They can change it?? WHAAA??



Fiverr needs to address this… like right now.

[beatcraigslist]

Two days later and this person still has not replied to my email asking what the problem was, but fortunately my response has appeared on my gig page. Like I said, I get a lot of scammers or oddballs in my niche and it makes it very difficult to deal with the good people. I mean honestly, this is not just me complaining. How many people would wait 1 full month without saying a single word, and then turn around and write a negative review without even trying to remedy the situation? Sounds like a competitor maybe.

[coolandcute]

I know this is an old thread but would rather just add on instead of opening up a duplicate one. I think 2 weeks is plenty of time for someone to leave a review. After the order has been delivered that is plenty of time for the buyer to contact the seller or leave a review. Would be a lot less stress on the sellers.

[mab3803]

From a buyer’s perspective, I have not left feedback for a couple of gigs, both done well, because I cannot find out how to leave feedback! Sellers on other threads have asked the same on buyers’ behalf, too, but no answers. I find the Fiverr site rather difficult to navigate. When I get a job to review, how do I mark it complete? I replied to one seller, who took ages to get back to me because that was the “wrong” place to respond. This is a problem with the site management, not a seller problem.

[coolandcute]

Ohh I didn’t think of it that way from the buyer’s perspective. The old feedback system was sooo much easier when it was a thumbs up or down system. I agree with you, the new feedback system is not as straight forward. Also the thumbs up or down rated system was either good or bad. Now with the star rated system, a 3 or even 4 star rating while not negative, counts against the seller’s rating. I’ve noticed lately more buyers not leaving feedback,

[adrifz]

I really hope fiverr changes this. Clients can come back any time with new requests that you feel pressured to complete, because they may leave negative feedback if you don’t. If they’re getting free gigs, everyone loses! I’m a buyer too, and I think it is perfectly reasonable to have a time limit for leaving and modifying feedback.

[emasonwrites]

Reply to @adrifz: There is a time limit. Buyers only have thirty days to leave a review and three days to change the review after its been left. Not sure why buyers have soooooooo much time to modify a review after it’s been placed, but at least they can’t change it whenever they feel like it in the future.

[isaacroot]

Reply to @emasonwrites: I agree that 30 days is way too long. I had a customer leave feedback on the 30th day. They left 4 stars which still isnt great for me (I have only received a few 3 stars and about 70 5 stars). And then after I asked the customer if there was anything that I could change to ensure their complete satisfaction, They never responded. But a 4 star review probably isn’t that bad, I’m just too much of a perfectionist i’m afraid.

[adrifz]

Reply to @emasonwrites: Thanks for letting me know!

[nukeblaster]

Agreed.

[teamvideomaker]

I think delayed feedback will hurt a buyer especially when an order was properly done, the Buyer did not get back to the Seller, and the order was closed due to the 3-day buffer Fiverr gives.



Sometimes, when there is already an agreement that any revisions will NOT be done after the order is complete, you have no choice but to do the order in fear of a negative rating.

[raselkhondokar]

Agree with you.

[emasonwrites]

THERE IS A TIME LIMIT NOW.



Repeat: A TIME LIMIT EXISTS.



READ THIS: There is a time limit on feedback.



I’m pretty sure it was introduced when the new rating system arrived, which would have been…late summer 2014? But anyway, we don’t have to keep asking for it, since it’s been bestowed upon us by the Fiverr gods.

[sunnymoo]

Reply to @emasonwrites: I agree that 30 days is way too long. I had a customer leave feedback on the 30th day. They left 4 stars which still isnt great for me (I have only received a few 3 stars and about 70 5 stars). And then after I asked the customer if there was anything that I could change to ensure their complete satisfaction, They never responded. But a 4 star review probably isn’t that bad, I’m just too much of a perfectionist i’m afraid.

Here’s some insight into one fiver buyer (myself). I can tell you that if I use a fiverr vendor, it’s sometimes because I’m swamped and going to fiverr at 3 am for help. And therefore I can use more time to review. I’ve only needed more time twice, but in my own particular case, I was glad to have it because I was grateful and generally always like to leave positive reviews. I love the idea of fiver, however, and might not be typical.

[misscrystal]

This thread was started in 2012.

[Anna]

Ressurection of old thread.