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How do you react on 4 star ratings


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I got my first 4 star rating.
It wouldn’t be very interesting to me if buyer didn’t write:
“Thank you very much for the XYZ you made for me! I’ll consider you again for my next XYZ .”

I asked buyer:
“Why aren’t you completely satisfied?”

And he replied:
“I didn’t review you as “not completely satisfied”. I am completely satisfied. Was it the very best? Was it exceptional? No, I don’t believe it was. For other people, maybe it would be but I already knew over 95% of what was on that report.”

Questions for sellers are:

  1. Do you try to find out why buyers didn’t give you 5 stars?
  2. Do you offer them free revision or additional services in order to get 5 star rating?
  3. Is there anything else you would do when you receive less than 5 star rating?

Question for buyers:
Do you take into account Positive Rating of the seller or just rating of a particular gig?

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I never query reviews with buyers. I had a regular buyer who gave me 4 stars every single time, I think 10 orders at this stage. He can review me however he chooses.
I hope that buyers do start reviewing more accurately (not speaking about you specifically) rather than just giving 5 stars because the seller delivered something. The sooner the fantasy land of 80%(or more) of orders being worth 5 stars finishes the better. Buyers will be able to actually use reviews as a proper reference then and the best sellers will get the best ratings.
PS. Odd that the buyer who gave you that is no longer to be found!

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I never query reviews with buyers. I had a regular buyer who gave me 4 stars every single time, I think 10 orders at this stage. He can review me however he chooses.

I hope that buyers do start reviewing more accurately (not speaking about you specifically) rather than just giving 5 stars because the seller delivered something. The sooner the fantasy land of 80%(or more) of orders being worth 5 stars finishes the better. Buyers will be able to actually use reviews as a proper reference then and the best sellers will get the best ratings.

PS. Odd that the buyer who gave you that is no longer to be found!

The review system is too complicated. Buyers have to click on a lot of things. When I started on Fiverr, it was simple - thumbs up or thumbs down.

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It’s annoying, but one has to remember that 4 stars is pretty good anywhere else. For an established seller, it shouldn’t be remarkable; if it’s your first ever review or you don’t have a lot of reviews, it can be disastrous (e.g. not being able to access BR).

Personally, I let them slide although I might make a snide comment if they were difficult. I did try very hard once and the whole rigmarole ended with “actually, I like the OC better” but by that time the something had passed, they didn’t know how to edit and they couldn’t and… fookit for a game of soldiers.

I only challenge 1-star reviews now. Mainly because they’re complete baloney.

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The review system is too complicated. Buyers have to click on a lot of things. When I started on Fiverr, it was simple - thumbs up or thumbs down.

Meh, 3 things. The thumbs up/down thing is too simplistic for gigs with packages though. If everything was still $5 then sure, it worked well. For larger orders the review should be more precise and take a couple of factors into consideration which it does.

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Meh, 3 things. The thumbs up/down thing is too simplistic for gigs with packages though. If everything was still $5 then sure, it worked well. For larger orders the review should be more precise and take a couple of factors into consideration which it does.

A star system is more sophisticated, and I don’t disagree with it (I do miss the binary thumb days though), but without being able to view buyer profile reviews (let’s face it, buyer profiles are a desolate wasteland if you’re on an info expedition) .

Most of my less than perfect reviews are to do with my communication. It’s only lately that I’ve been able to see that. If 2/40 buyers need handholding, and I know that I’ll get a 4.5 star out of it because I got fed up and didn’t respond, that’s fine. So there is a utility to the star system. It’s feedback that I can act on (or not).

But equally so, seeing a buyer’s reviews allows sellers to also judge. Then again they’re not pluck off the tree kinda sites, so shrug. I know the arguments against, and they’re fine. My argument is that the whole feedback system seems to be remarkably skewered towards judging a seller while not even providing the smallest morsel of info about a buyer back. That’s… not a fair system.

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A star system is more sophisticated, and I don’t disagree with it (I do miss the binary thumb days though), but without being able to view buyer profile reviews (let’s face it, buyer profiles are a desolate wasteland if you’re on an info expedition) .

Most of my less than perfect reviews are to do with my communication. It’s only lately that I’ve been able to see that. If 2/40 buyers need handholding, and I know that I’ll get a 4.5 star out of it because I got fed up and didn’t respond, that’s fine. So there is a utility to the star system. It’s feedback that I can act on (or not).

But equally so, seeing a buyer’s reviews allows sellers to also judge. Then again they’re not pluck off the tree kinda sites, so shrug. I know the arguments against, and they’re fine. My argument is that the whole feedback system seems to be remarkably skewered towards judging a seller while not even providing the smallest morsel of info about a buyer back. That’s… not a fair system.

Agreed, it is.

The thing is though, having buyer reviews at the moment would not make much of a difference as you can’t pick and choose to work with people, unless they message you first and you manage to convince them not to.

Even then, I imagine many reviews by sellers would simply be a reflection of the review they got.

I would still like to have them as it would be better than nothing but I don’t think they would do as much as we would hope in terms of showing up the bad buyers.

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Agreed, it is.

The thing is though, having buyer reviews at the moment would not make much of a difference as you can’t pick and choose to work with people, unless they message you first and you manage to convince them not to.

Even then, I imagine many reviews by sellers would simply be a reflection of the review they got.

I would still like to have them as it would be better than nothing but I don’t think they would do as much as we would hope in terms of showing up the bad buyers.

Well there’s always the hurt ego going “YEAH AND YOU SUCK TOO”. But it’s the same thing. One bad experience in a sea of otherwise glowing reviews? There’s little accountability for buyers at the moment, particularly for bad buyers. A review system isn’t going to fix someone setting out to scam any more than the current general model, but it would provide a warning system. As sellers, we can opt out with risk to our position, so… I don’t think it would be a choice taken lightly. Many people have enough issues quitting a wrongly ordered gig, for starters!

It’s pretty easy to convince people not to work with you. Be fabulously dumb/rude! All I’m asking for is more equal accountability. I’m not sure how that could work outside the review system, particularly as all my ideas involve decreased money coming into the system, which essentially makes them untenable to the penny people.

Of all the freelance networks that I know of, Fiverr has the most skewered system. There’s no perfect fix right now, but why not just have the reviews anyway? At the same time you might as well vet new sellers via an interview process to “guarantee quality”. Sure, that’s full of holes too, but you can snip a lot of crap there too.

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I never query reviews with buyers. I had a regular buyer who gave me 4 stars every single time, I think 10 orders at this stage. He can review me however he chooses.

I hope that buyers do start reviewing more accurately (not speaking about you specifically) rather than just giving 5 stars because the seller delivered something. The sooner the fantasy land of 80%(or more) of orders being worth 5 stars finishes the better. Buyers will be able to actually use reviews as a proper reference then and the best sellers will get the best ratings.

PS. Odd that the buyer who gave you that is no longer to be found!

You should talk to that buyer. When I get a 4-star review, that buyer usually doesn’t come back. Have a heart to heart with him, tell him that his 4-stars is hurting your overall rating. Tell him you appreciate his business, but it would be better for him not to rate you if he can’t give you 5 stars.

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It depends. Sometimes I give them 4 stars which writes “Good Experience.”

If they wrote nasty things, I reply that. Of course, you have to mind your manners since your reaction might either help you or harm you in the eyes of the buyers. What buyers want to see is an explanation.

Here’s a few of my replies to 4 star reviews.

=====
Thank you. My only confusion is why did you give me 4 stars for “service as described” and “buy again or recommend.”

=====

I think that I found you some great brand names for your company. RegalDrones.com, SeerDrones.com, MySpotters.com, SituationDrone.com, AerialAwareness.com, VigilanceDrone.com, and RankerDrone.com

=====

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You should talk to that buyer. When I get a 4-star review, that buyer usually doesn’t come back. Have a heart to heart with him, tell him that his 4-stars is hurting your overall rating. Tell him you appreciate his business, but it would be better for him not to rate you if he can’t give you 5 stars.

I could be completely wrong but I don’t think it really hurts my business. Sure, if all my clients did it I could end up with an 80% rating overall which sounds bad on Fiverr, but most other places that would be seen as good. I appreciate that my service may not have been worthy of 100% and that’s ok. Maybe my communication could be improved slightly or maybe I made a mistake somewhere.

I probably could mention it to the client but it really doesn’t bother me and as a buyer I would find it irritating if a seller complained about a 4 star review. I’m happy enough for him to show me his satisfaction with continued buying.

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It depends. Sometimes I give them 4 stars which writes “Good Experience.”

If they wrote nasty things, I reply that. Of course, you have to mind your manners since your reaction might either help you or harm you in the eyes of the buyers. What buyers want to see is an explanation.

Here’s a few of my replies to 4 star reviews.

=====

Thank you. My only confusion is why did you give me 4 stars for “service as described” and “buy again or recommend.”

=====

I think that I found you some great brand names for your company. RegalDrones.com, SeerDrones.com, MySpotters.com, SituationDrone.com, AerialAwareness.com, VigilanceDrone.com, and RankerDrone.com

=====

I was checking your gigs recently I noticed the responses that you did and found it interesting that you listed the brand names you had delivered. I was just being nosy as I knew I was going to buy from you regardless but I did think that the idea probably helps other buyers who are looking. Obviously not something that can be done by all sellers but it is an interesting idea.

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I was checking your gigs recently I noticed the responses that you did and found it interesting that you listed the brand names you had delivered. I was just being nosy as I knew I was going to buy from you regardless but I did think that the idea probably helps other buyers who are looking. Obviously not something that can be done by all sellers but it is an interesting idea.

I don’t always do that, I only do that when I think that the brand names I wrote were good and the buyer doesn’t. I think it does help me win some orders, although it might kill other orders. That’s Fiverr for you, dammed if you do, dammed if you don’t.

I’m surprised you don’t get 5 stars all the time. The people that hire you probably don’t speak English well, so how can they tell if you did a good job or not? Unless of course, you’re being hired by third parties, maybe a busy recruiter who deals with overseas clients or an educational consultant. Someone that can do what you do but doesn’t have the time.

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Sellers should truely have to earn the rating. Buyers need to be educated on what the ratings mean and how they impact a seller.

Buyers shouldn’t be commenting that they had a wonderful experience, rate 4 stars and place another order within the same 10 minutes.

It is a fact that a 99% rating on Fiverr gets alot less orders than a 100% rating.
When someone gives you a 4 out of 5 on your first week and causes your rating to be 80%, you may not be able to overcome that.

I am all for people rating truely. I think we should be selling 5 star experiences. It is difficult if a buyer will never give a 5 star review to anyone on this platform. (I have been told that.)

Before rating a seller on ebay, it is important to know how the ratings impact sellers. According to this article, dropping below a 4.3 rating on Ebay can cause you to lose your seller rights. According to most buyer’s definitions, that is a rating of almost 90%. Ebay Ratings Article.

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Just wondering, What is the purpose to give review to the buyer. (review that seller gives to buyer after order completion.)

Anything useful in this for buyer or seller.?

Just wondering, What is the purpose to give review to the buyer. (review that seller gives to buyer after order completion.)

Anything useful in this for buyer or seller.?

I think in most cases it’s only ‘purpose’ is to provide your side of the story if the buyer gives you a bad review. that way when people are scrolling by it and see a negative review on your page, you’ve had a chance to explain yourself in hopes that future buyers won’t be deterred by it.

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It’s annoying, but one has to remember that 4 stars is pretty good anywhere else. For an established seller, it shouldn’t be remarkable; if it’s your first ever review or you don’t have a lot of reviews, it can be disastrous (e.g. not being able to access BR).

Personally, I let them slide although I might make a snide comment if they were difficult. I did try very hard once and the whole rigmarole ended with “actually, I like the OC better” but by that time the something had passed, they didn’t know how to edit and they couldn’t and… fookit for a game of soldiers.

I only challenge 1-star reviews now. Mainly because they’re complete baloney.

remember that 4 stars is pretty good anywhere else.

…including in the military 😈 That would make him a Major General or something.

I read the other replies on this thread, let’s say they implemented a seller feedback option, and we are now able to see the feedback left by sellers for a buyer. How would us sellers be able to enforce it? do we refuse to work with someone who has bad reviews from other sellers? should the Fiverr system levy an extra charge on buyers who have a bad rating? are our potential buyers going to go through the trouble of clicking on the profile link of a bad buyer in our feedback section? will the search algorithm be amended to make sure bad ratings from bad buyers have less impact on sellers? There’s no way to enforce a system of accountability from the buyer side of things.

The way I see it, the Fiverr trust and safety team can still view all the feedback a buyer has all in one place, if they feel that a buyer is being malicious. Right now, there is division of labor between the Fiverr team and sellers, wherein the Fiverr team only steps in if there is a prospective refund that is being talked about, but does not bother itself with subjective evaluations that buyers and sellers heap upon each other. That is left for the sellers to handle with their soft skills.

I like your idea of filtering sellers right at the start. If someone claims to have a degree or certification, make them upload the documents to Fiverr and have the trust and safety team verify it. A lot of meksells will be filtered out right away.

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remember that 4 stars is pretty good anywhere else.

…including in the military 😈 That would make him a Major General or something.

I read the other replies on this thread, let’s say they implemented a seller feedback option, and we are now able to see the feedback left by sellers for a buyer. How would us sellers be able to enforce it? do we refuse to work with someone who has bad reviews from other sellers? should the Fiverr system levy an extra charge on buyers who have a bad rating? are our potential buyers going to go through the trouble of clicking on the profile link of a bad buyer in our feedback section? will the search algorithm be amended to make sure bad ratings from bad buyers have less impact on sellers? There’s no way to enforce a system of accountability from the buyer side of things.

The way I see it, the Fiverr trust and safety team can still view all the feedback a buyer has all in one place, if they feel that a buyer is being malicious. Right now, there is division of labor between the Fiverr team and sellers, wherein the Fiverr team only steps in if there is a prospective refund that is being talked about, but does not bother itself with subjective evaluations that buyers and sellers heap upon each other. That is left for the sellers to handle with their soft skills.

I like your idea of filtering sellers right at the start. If someone claims to have a degree or certification, make them upload the documents to Fiverr and have the trust and safety team verify it. A lot of meksells will be filtered out right away.

If someone claims to have a degree or certification, make them upload the documents to Fiverr and have the trust and safety team verify it.

Anyone can make a false degree or certificate.

Regarding college diplomas, I don’t know if you’ve ever tried to verify those but I have and it either can’t be done often due to policies at many colleges or it takes days and tons of effort.

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If someone claims to have a degree or certification, make them upload the documents to Fiverr and have the trust and safety team verify it.

Anyone can make a false degree or certificate.

Regarding college diplomas, I don’t know if you’ve ever tried to verify those but I have and it either can’t be done often due to policies at many colleges or it takes days and tons of effort.

I haven’t tried to do it personally, but I’ve seen other sites that do. You’re right. It probably does take them a lot of time and effort to verify it. I wanted to add a writing gig in my quiver but I am not a native English speaker and I do not have the certifications to be a writer so I was not sure if I should add that gig.

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I haven’t tried to do it personally, but I’ve seen other sites that do. You’re right. It probably does take them a lot of time and effort to verify it. I wanted to add a writing gig in my quiver but I am not a native English speaker and I do not have the certifications to be a writer so I was not sure if I should add that gig.

I tried to verify my own degree one time and there was no way to do it.

Oh anyone can be a writer, no type of certification needed. I can see that you write well using correct grammar so that’s all that you need, aside from tons of practice. ( Not saying you in particular need practice, just that writing is something that benefits from lots of practice at it over time.)

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I never query reviews with buyers. I had a regular buyer who gave me 4 stars every single time, I think 10 orders at this stage. He can review me however he chooses.

I hope that buyers do start reviewing more accurately (not speaking about you specifically) rather than just giving 5 stars because the seller delivered something. The sooner the fantasy land of 80%(or more) of orders being worth 5 stars finishes the better. Buyers will be able to actually use reviews as a proper reference then and the best sellers will get the best ratings.

PS. Odd that the buyer who gave you that is no longer to be found!

I never query reviews with buyers.

Interesting. I wish to know what I could do better. Feedback is always useful.

With this particular seller:

I asked him second time what can I do to deserve 5 star rating . I even offered him a refund since I have a money-back guarantee in gig description.

This offended the buyer and among other things he said at the end: "I won’t ever do business with you again."

I will continue to ask for a feedback, but only once, since it can irritate certain buyers if you ask them twice.

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A star system is more sophisticated, and I don’t disagree with it (I do miss the binary thumb days though), but without being able to view buyer profile reviews (let’s face it, buyer profiles are a desolate wasteland if you’re on an info expedition) .

Most of my less than perfect reviews are to do with my communication. It’s only lately that I’ve been able to see that. If 2/40 buyers need handholding, and I know that I’ll get a 4.5 star out of it because I got fed up and didn’t respond, that’s fine. So there is a utility to the star system. It’s feedback that I can act on (or not).

But equally so, seeing a buyer’s reviews allows sellers to also judge. Then again they’re not pluck off the tree kinda sites, so shrug. I know the arguments against, and they’re fine. My argument is that the whole feedback system seems to be remarkably skewered towards judging a seller while not even providing the smallest morsel of info about a buyer back. That’s… not a fair system.

But equally so, seeing a buyer’s reviews allows sellers to also judge. Then again they’re not pluck off the tree kinda sites, so shrug. I know the arguments against, and they’re fine. My argument is that the whole feedback system seems to be remarkably skewered towards judging a seller while not even providing the smallest morsel of info about a buyer back. That’s… not a fair system.

I support this. This way seller can know more about buyers. Most buyers’ profiles are empty and you don’t know anything about them.

This wouldn’t help with first-time buyers, but it would help with repeat buyers.

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I got a 4-star review once from a regular buyer & once from a one-off.

I never offered a refund (after all, 4’s still a positive review).

For the one-off, the review came in really late after delivery and the buyer had been annoying so I was just kind of meh & ignored it. It had a temporary dip in my rating down from 100%.

For the regular customer I asked what I could do to make it a 5 because I only wanted to deliver solutions that fully met his expectations (I’d already offered a revision when I don’t include them in my gigs simply because he was a regular and he’d supplied conflicting information that I wasn’t sure I’d done the right thing with but was a very slow communicator so I didn’t have time to verify with him before delivery).

I wasn’t so much trying to get him to change this review but prevent future 4’s.

He didn’t get annoyed at the question but managed to not tell me what was wrong and what could be improved in the future so I dumped him - told him I didn’t think I was the right seller for him because it was important for me to deliver good solutions. Cheeky bugger came back 3 days later with a new order which I cancelled, with a repeated message that I didn’t think I was the right seller. The point is that I needed to know what I could do to better meet his expectations next time. Without that feedback the 4 rating is useless to me and meaningless to other buyers. Without that feedback, every gig is going to result in, what to me, is a random review.

I do believe in correct reviews and as @eoinfinnegan says it would be a lot more useful if all reviews were more realistic. It’d be easier for buyers to choose quality/price (and sellers in the top 20% could rightly charge more perhaps), but on this site, 5’s mean a seller did a satisfactory job. There’s no way to indicate this seller went above and beyond satisfactory. Everyone would have to start rating differently for it to work any other way, not just the odd buyer.

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I never query reviews with buyers.

Interesting. I wish to know what I could do better. Feedback is always useful.

With this particular seller:

I asked him second time what can I do to deserve 5 star rating . I even offered him a refund since I have a money-back guarantee in gig description.

This offended the buyer and among other things he said at the end: "I won’t ever do business with you again."

I will continue to ask for a feedback, but only once, since it can irritate certain buyers if you ask them twice.

Sure, it could be useful to get feedback but on top of the reasons for not requesting it that I mentioned above, chances are that the issue is something stupid like I didn’t respond quick enough or I was showing as online but didn’t respond immediately. When I was starting out it would have bothered me to get 4 and I might have asked then but not now. As far as I remember the only non 5 star reviews I got were for <$10 orders which are about 5% of my work.

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