How can Fiverr improve?

[ruidsmartins]

I have only used fiverr twice in a period of about 18 months. Just had an experience where the service was terrible. The person never asked any questions. The ratings were all five stars. Based on the end product, I cannot trust any ratings.

I tried to explain, but the person just said OK. It is very difficult to assess a quality seller. I offered to pay $80 and provided basic files with the basics in vector. I even gave the person a YouTube link of what I would like done. Not copied, but to describe the idea of the end product.

In my opinion, Fiverr needs to improve substantially. The way things are set up in Fiverr are minimalistic, there are no ways that we the seeker of a service can assess the seller.

I am quite disappointed and quite frankly, I think that Fiverr itself needs to do a better job. Anyone can claim the world in Fiverr and there is no way to really assess the seller the way things have been set up. It is all a hit and miss. Not impressed at all.

[wordandrecord]

Thats why it is always recommended to message the seller before…
Feel the person, and make a judgment of whether he understands your idea and can do it, or he just wants to make another sale…

Sometimes the few extra dollars are worth it 🙂

[ruidsmartins]

Thats why it is always recommended to message the seller before…

Feel the person, and make a judgment of whether he understands your idea and can do it, or he just wants to make another sale…

Sometimes the few extra dollars are worth it 🙂

Thanks. I hear what you say, but how does one “feel” the person on Fiverr? I assure you, I really tried. I nearly wrote essays.

So to spend extra - what is the norm? It gets over the hundreds, then one might simply go to an agency and not have to deal with what I think is not a very good setup in Fiverr. Anyone can pose as an expert in Fiverr and say whatever you want to hear.

[catwriter]

There are several ways to “feel” the seller.

Message them before placing the order, and see how they communicate. If all they say is OK and “plz order”, choose someone else.

Check their profile picture. If it’s a stock photo (or a celebrity), they are being dishonest, and possibly know nothing about copyright violations. Not good.

Check their portfolio. Are the images stolen from the Internet?

You can also try them out first with a small order ($5 or $10). If all goes well, you can proceed with a larger one. If not, at least you haven’t spent much.

I’m sure others can come up with more suggestions.

[eoinfinnegan]

Thanks. I hear what you say, but how does one “feel” the person on Fiverr? I assure you, I really tried. I nearly wrote essays.

So to spend extra - what is the norm? It gets over the hundreds, then one might simply go to an agency and not have to deal with what I think is not a very good setup in Fiverr. Anyone can pose as an expert in Fiverr and say whatever you want to hear.

The issue is with sellers who either knowingly or unknowingly are offering services they cannot carry out.

The solution to this is not, like other sites have, to introduce prohibitively expensive tests or time consuming interviews. Fiverr is where the cheapest sellers are, where rates are considerably lower than elsewhere. To get the most out of the site THE BUYER needs to do a test or an “interview”. But at a cost. For any order over $50, I suggest doing the following (remember that $50 on Fiverr is likely to be $80-150 of work).

• Select 3 sellers you like the look of from their reviews, descriptions, portfolio etc.
• Place a $5-10 order with each of them giving them the same info. It can help keep costs down if the test order is a small part of your bigger project. The bigger the project and expected total cost, the bigger the test order can be. Always remember to get a quote for the overall project from each seller before the test order, otherwise you could choose the seller who will charge 10 times your budget!
• Decide from those three who to give the main order to.

  Yes, the overall cost may be more but on a $50 order, the chances are you will get over $100 worth of work for $60-70. Once you have chosen a good seller, keep using them, treat them well, tip regularly and work together with them. You then make much bigger savings on every order.

  This method is based on how a buyer began with me almost a year ago and has been regular ever since. I have used it and advised others to use it and it works well.

Note Don’t tell the seller you are testing 3 sellers. Don’t say things like “if this is good I will have more for you” - It sounds patronizing at best but more irritatingly it is said by every single exaspereneur (exasperating “entrepreneur”) who has no intention of doing any more work or is trying to get a discount by giving false promises. No decent sellers actually listen to this so don’t waste your breath!

[ruidsmartins]

The issue is with sellers who either knowingly or unknowingly are offering services they cannot carry out.

The solution to this is not, like other sites have, to introduce prohibitively expensive tests or time consuming interviews. Fiverr is where the cheapest sellers are, where rates are considerably lower than elsewhere. To get the most out of the site THE BUYER needs to do a test or an “interview”. But at a cost. For any order over $50, I suggest doing the following (remember that $50 on Fiverr is likely to be $80-150 of work).

• Select 3 sellers you like the look of from their reviews, descriptions, portfolio etc.
• Place a $5-10 order with each of them giving them the same info. It can help keep costs down if the test order is a small part of your bigger project. The bigger the project and expected total cost, the bigger the test order can be. Always remember to get a quote for the overall project from each seller before the test order, otherwise you could choose the seller who will charge 10 times your budget!
• Decide from those three who to give the main order to.

  Yes, the overall cost may be more but on a $50 order, the chances are you will get over $100 worth of work for $60-70. Once you have chosen a good seller, keep using them, treat them well, tip regularly and work together with them. You then make much bigger savings on every order.

  This method is based on how a buyer began with me almost a year ago and has been regular ever since. I have used it and advised others to use it and it works well.

Note Don’t tell the seller you are testing 3 sellers. Don’t say things like “if this is good I will have more for you” - It sounds patronizing at best but more irritatingly it is said by every single exaspereneur (exasperating “entrepreneur”) who has no intention of doing any more work or is trying to get a discount by giving false promises. No decent sellers actually listen to this so don’t waste your breath!

That is fantastic advice. I did not realise that one could do this.

As I said - I am requesting a service - this is not my environment.

May I recommend that this suggestion of yours should be the first thing that newcomers to the Fiver see. Thanks!

[ruidsmartins]

There are several ways to “feel” the seller.

Message them before placing the order, and see how they communicate. If all they say is OK and “plz order”, choose someone else.

Check their profile picture. If it’s a stock photo (or a celebrity), they are being dishonest, and possibly know nothing about copyright violations. Not good.

Check their portfolio. Are the images stolen from the Internet?

You can also try them out first with a small order ($5 or $10). If all goes well, you can proceed with a larger one. If not, at least you haven’t spent much.

I’m sure others can come up with more suggestions.

Thanks for the advice. Very useful.

[eoinfinnegan]

That is fantastic advice. I did not realise that one could do this.

As I said - I am requesting a service - this is not my environment.

May I recommend that this suggestion of yours should be the first thing that newcomers to the Fiver see. Thanks!

Fiverr as a platform is developing all the time, giving new options to buyers and sellers so it is important to do your homework before a big/important order. People often come to Fiverr simply to save money which is a big attraction of this site. They get drawn in by offers that are too good to be true by incompetent sellers.

However, when searching for a new type of seller for the first time, I never really consider how much I can save - I don’t specifically try for the cheapest option. The money I save here is on the second and subsequent orders with the same sellers. It may not be a perfect system but it has given me a 95% success rate on my purchases here (over 120 times with approx 40 different sellers).

[misscrystal]

What level of seller was it that you tried?

[emblaester]

I guess that if I were to buy from a fiverr seller, I would do it from someone who has written “Contact me before ordering” in the gig description. That makes a seller seem more trustworthy to me. It means that they want to be sure that they and the buyer are both on the same page before an order starts.
Personally I hate it when someone just places an order without contacting me first. That means that they didn’t read the gig description, and maybe they don’t even understand what they have ordered. Often the buyer gives an insufficient description of what they need done, and often they have ordered the completely wrong thing. My experience says that there are ALWAYS questions to be asked before starting a project. Both cancellations and bad reviews affect a seller negatively, and the risk for both is huge when an order is placed without being discussed first. I can’t understand why any seller would want to do it differently.

One must remember, that there are just as many scamming sellers, as there are scamming buyers. So both sides have all rights to be suspicious of the other. Personally I don’t trust anyone who does not want to discuss a project before starting it. No matter how small.

[ruidsmartins]

I guess that if I were to buy from a fiverr seller, I would do it from someone who has written “Contact me before ordering” in the gig description. That makes a seller seem more trustworthy to me. It means that they want to be sure that they and the buyer are both on the same page before an order starts.

Personally I hate it when someone just places an order without contacting me first. That means that they didn’t read the gig description, and maybe they don’t even understand what they have ordered. Often the buyer gives an insufficient description of what they need done, and often they have ordered the completely wrong thing. My experience says that there are ALWAYS questions to be asked before starting a project. Both cancellations and bad reviews affect a seller negatively, and the risk for both is huge when an order is placed without being discussed first. I can’t understand why any seller would want to do it differently.

One must remember, that there are just as many scamming sellers, as there are scamming buyers. So both sides have all rights to be suspicious of the other. Personally I don’t trust anyone who does not want to discuss a project before starting it. No matter how small.

You make good points.

[perfectionist23]

The issue is with sellers who either knowingly or unknowingly are offering services they cannot carry out.

The solution to this is not, like other sites have, to introduce prohibitively expensive tests or time consuming interviews. Fiverr is where the cheapest sellers are, where rates are considerably lower than elsewhere. To get the most out of the site THE BUYER needs to do a test or an “interview”. But at a cost. For any order over $50, I suggest doing the following (remember that $50 on Fiverr is likely to be $80-150 of work).

• Select 3 sellers you like the look of from their reviews, descriptions, portfolio etc.
• Place a $5-10 order with each of them giving them the same info. It can help keep costs down if the test order is a small part of your bigger project. The bigger the project and expected total cost, the bigger the test order can be. Always remember to get a quote for the overall project from each seller before the test order, otherwise you could choose the seller who will charge 10 times your budget!
• Decide from those three who to give the main order to.

  Yes, the overall cost may be more but on a $50 order, the chances are you will get over $100 worth of work for $60-70. Once you have chosen a good seller, keep using them, treat them well, tip regularly and work together with them. You then make much bigger savings on every order.

  This method is based on how a buyer began with me almost a year ago and has been regular ever since. I have used it and advised others to use it and it works well.

Note Don’t tell the seller you are testing 3 sellers. Don’t say things like “if this is good I will have more for you” - It sounds patronizing at best but more irritatingly it is said by every single exaspereneur (exasperating “entrepreneur”) who has no intention of doing any more work or is trying to get a discount by giving false promises. No decent sellers actually listen to this so don’t waste your breath!

Great tips and suggestions as always. I love reading your posts @eoinfinnegan they are so informative and you provide the best tips and suggestions for any issue raised.

[ruidsmartins]

What level of seller was it that you tried?

Sorry - just saw your question. Honestly, I do not know. I went back to see before asking and I still do not know. I was not aware that there were levels of sellers. I can only see the number of stars.

The more I think of it - the more I am convinced that the Fiver interface needs some serious rethinking. And that is where the problem starts in my opinion.

My point is -

• Fiver is a place where design is central (design is not just pretty stuff) - yes?
• Good design gets is right the first time! What I mean here is that the test of a good structure enables the first time user to easily understand how things work and what to look for. Just look at my example - I was not even aware that there are levels.
• I truly believe that I would point fingers at who has created Fiverr and manages it. And excuses is not acceptable when you run a business. Does Fiverr conduct surveys - does it really want to find out what the users think?
• I could carry one, but like any customer - walking is the best talking!