Fiverr Community Forum

Did I deserve this warning for feedback manipulation?

Your Fiverr Experience The Ranting Pot
#1

Hello everyone,

I am a Level 2 seller and was recently demoted for receiving my 2nd warning on Fiverr for feedback manipulation. I accept that the first warning was warranted (I am not going to get into it) but this time I felt like I did not violate Fiverr’s TOS and here is why:

Fiverr’s TOS about feedback manipulation states: Asking another user to edit or remove feedback, or specifically asking for positive feedback, is not allowed and is a violation of our TOS.

So with that in mind, here is the message I sent to my client word for word which resulted in the TOS violation.

"I don’t appreciate your review. It doesn’t match the hard work I put into your store. Maybe think more about it next time before leaving a bad review because it really hurts my future."

I understand now that it was wrong of me to send this message as it was in the heat of the moment and I now believe that “the customer is always right”, however, I do not think it violates the TOS as I never asked the customer to edit or remove the feedback, nor did I ask for positive feedback.

Let me know if this is something I should take up with Fiverr to remove the warning or if I am actually in the wrong.

Thanks!

6 Likes
#2

You are in the wrong. And not only in the wrong but also that was extremely unprofessional.

You got passive aggressive blaming your client, making him feel bad about his review.

Instead you should think what was wrong and why your client didn’t feel that you did an excellent job (even if you think you put a lot of hard work.) there are a lot of other factors like communication etc

9 Likes
#3

Just make yourself a discipline of NEVER using the word “review” in your messages with a client, even more when it is a unsatisfied one. Period.

You have one way to express your discontent and defend yourself in the public review of the buyer, this is here and nowhere else it should be discussed.

Also technically, even if not intended, you are trying to influence the buyer to be more gentle in the upcoming reviews by soft blackmailing him that you’ve been hurt by him.

What I would suggest you to tell him would be :

" I have read your feedback on your last order, and I am saddened that I could not meet your expectations, even though I put all my efforts in the task. In the future, let’s make sure to discuss further together so that we can both reach to a satisfactory level in our collaboration".

Edit : Yes, to me you were in the wrong.

4 Likes
#4

Thanks for your response. I understand that my response was really unprofessional, however, the TOS does not mention anything about making your client feel bad about their review. It only restricts the seller from asking the customer to edit or remove the feedback + asking them for positive feedback which I never did.

#5

Yes, you are in the wrong. You specifically talked about the review not being deserved and saying it’s not ok.

I got a warning close to 2 months ago for feedback manipulation, and in my case I didn’t even mention the word “review”. I Just asked my customer what happened, if everything was ok, and he felt bad for leaving a bad review after talking about the order and revising it once he reviewed. However I never asked for him to change anything, yet he went to customer support to have the review changed because he felt bad.

The review was removed, and I was warned for feedback manipulation. I believe that’s not warranted. What you did, you started talking about the review, and that’s a clear violation. Even in my case, I took it and I am moving on. You can’t argue with customer support over this stuff.

4 Likes
Bad Review with a Tip
#6

Yes, I totally agree with you and am now keeping my online “mouth-zipped” whenever it comes to the word “review” in messages with my clients. I also think that’s a great suggestion of how I should have responded except it gets tricky in relation to the TOS as I still feel like I did not break the rules. Even though I may have unintentionally “soft-blackmailed” my buyer, I feel like that does not strictly break the TOS since I never asked them to edit or remove the feedback and I never asked them for positive feedback. I may have insinuated that I would like them to leave positive feedback in the future but this is not restricted by the TOS as far as I know.

1 Like
#7

Technically yes, I think that this crossed the line. How you didn’t see that I understand as you didn’t directly ask, but all the same you implied that their review was not ok and in future needed to be different - more pleasing for you.

We don’t know what you buyer wrote in their review of you.

But understand that it is their review and not yours. While you want them to like you and yours, they don’t actually have to. Bummer.

You have the opportunity to respond to a review, use that official slot.

Maybe they do deserve a serve but take extreme care as people will always work on the assumption that you are wrong and have no right to say the customer is wrong. You do morally but if no one will support you in that, all you do is dig a deeper hole.

If this person likes you so little assume either that they will never return or block them so they can’t do this again.

Also take some time once you feel a little less angry to wonder how this got to be. How you let this come to be. It is not about blame but to see what caused this outcome so you can avoid being in that game again.

:slight_smile:

#8

I have a question about review if maybe someone can help me with.
I know we are not allowed to ask for any review, especially for positive one.

But if there is a client, is it okay if we asked something like : Can you give me some comments about my job?

The purpose for this is so that we can measure our work, is it satisfying client enough or not.
I had a lot of client who didn’t gave me any comments but regularly came back to me each 2 months or 3 months or so.

Did anyone here have any experience with this?

2 Likes
#9

I believe that asking the customer if he wants anything changed or so should be ok.

But honestly, you never really know anything. So what I recommend is for you to go to customer support, ask this question and share a screenshot with their reply here. This way you will help me and others as well.

2 Likes
#10

I mean ask comments after we finish the job.
Cause usually I have a client that marked the job as completed but didn’t said anything.
I just curious, what they had in mind about my service.

1 Like
#11

Honestly, I would not.

If the customer wants you to know something, they will let you know, either by asking you to change the purple unicorn to a tree, with comments in their review, by coming back, or by not coming back.

While particularly the latter is difficult as you don’t know what happened, maybe it was not you but them or that simply they are not the person you should be serving in which case getting advice can see you start doing a whole lot of things that are not you and you will fail with. Especially if your Gig is:

I will draw a purple unicorn on anything you send me

If you are master of Purple Unicorn image bombing, you shouldn’t need advice from anyone. Do you think Mozart went around the audience asking them if he should have put the fourth note on G or F? No, he may have gone around getting them to give him money, but not asking how to compose his music for him.

If many said, we is diggin’ this Mozza but hows about some Death Metal next time, he may have considered that. But only in his way, his form. He would have known that chasing the opinions of others merely led him to sound like Coldplay Unghhhhh

:slight_smile:

#12

This is make sense, thanks for sharing your viewpoint.

#13

That’s really frustrating. Having an honest discussion with the buyer about how you could improve your services in the future should be perfectly legal. I’ve received 3-star reviews where the only comment was “perfect job” - so obviously people don’t always state in the review what could be improved.

This atmosphere that Fiverr has created around reviews is really strange and unnecessary. “Just keep your head down and don’t mention the word ‘review’” is a weird system.

3 Likes
#14

Well as a seller that offers a service, it’s your right to know what’s wrong. I canceled an order last week after 2 weeks of having it in revision. Why? The dude just sent a revision request saying that he doesn’t like it. I asked what was wrong, and he never replied. He came online every time I sent a message, but didn’t bother to reply.

Even when I requested a cancellation, he saw it, came online a few times, but never replied. Also, I asked him for topics, he said I could choose whatever. So honestly, a buyer needs to have common sense to at least reply to an inquiry… we didn’t speak in the chat about this order. So… he just forced an order, never shared enough information and his revision was not conclusive to say the least. I had to take a loss on it, I wouldn’t bother again with such a buyer.

1 Like
#15

Thank you.

It is what it is… Unfortunately that’s the system. I believe these simpler “violations” go away after a few months, if I am not mistaken. Then again, I got a warning in 2019 because I reported a person that asked me to promote their services for free with my gig. So… I am not even reporting people anymore, I am not talking about reviews…

1 Like
#16

Obviously, sending this sort of message was wrong and got you into hot water. I am sure the buyer thought their review was fair based on their experience with you. I also do not agree with your

viewpoint above. Sorry, but the customer is not always right, and in fact, at times, they can be downright wrong!

What I would suggest in the future, is if you get a bad or lower than expected review, is to reply to their review - there is where you can state your side of the story (although, they don’t give us a lot of space to do so!). I wouldn’t reply to a bad review with what you wrote above though, as it does not come off as very professional. A simple, “I am sorry you were not satisfied with the work provided…” and then perhaps give a short blurb of your side.

Anytime you mention review in messages it can be flagged by the bots or the buyer may have reported it due to the nature of what you wrote, so it is best to just sit on your hands next time you feel wronged and want to send a message like this. It just isn’t worth the TOS violation on your account.

GG

1 Like
#17

Morally yes a decent human being would communicate openly and willingly.

Honestly, do you care in the slightest what that stain of pond scum has to tell you? Will he give you a nice balanced accounting for the whys and wherefores of his situation vis a vis this shared endeavor? Or will he simply slag you off or do what my new best (blocked) friends do and type things like hihi, you don’t know what you are doing, everyone else is seeing how amazingly cool I am and sending me free stuff, and things I can’t type here lest I get pinged?

I suspect the latter therefore my suggestion that if communication did not happen naturally, it is best left where it belongs - not in your head,

:slight_smile:

1 Like
#18

You deserved the warning. Unacceptable way to reply to a customer, even a bad customer.

#19

I don’t think you did anything wrong, you’re not asking for a better feedback, as you’ve said. Try sending a ticket about it, there’s nothing to lose after all

#20

Yes, I have. I have a client who comes back from me again and again and gives me work but sometimes without giving me reviews. But, I don’t bother much about these things.