Jump to content

Just Been Demoted? Let's Stop it Happening Again


paulmaplesden

Recommended Posts

I can see that a fair number of people have been demoted on St. Level’s Day. Although its unfortunate if it happens to you, there are things you can do to stop this happening in future. Here are some suggestions, which I hope are useful not just if you’ve been demoted, but for sellers in general to help you maintain high standards and ratings.

Review the Turnaround Times on Your Gigs
I can see plenty of people getting demoted because of delays in completing work, extra time taken to do revisions, etc. One way around this is to lengthen the time you allow yourself to deliver a gig. Normally deliver in 24 hours? Change it to 48. Can’t make three days? Change it to five. Yes, I know that some buyers are looking for very fast turnarounds, but if trying to meet those deadlines is damaging your order completion rate, maybe its time to review that.

Use the Resolution Center
The Resolution Center is an awesome resource for sellers. It lets you extend deadlines, request extra money, modify orders, and more. If the scope of an order changes, use this to painlessly request an extension on your delivery times. If an order needs to be revised and you need an extra day or two, request that through the Resolution Center. OK, it may not work in every case, but for many it absolutely will.

Get Email Alerts When a Buyer Contacts You
You can setup Fiverr so you get an email every time you receive a message or an order from a buyer. Go into your email program and ensure it flags these as urgent. Use a service like Zapier or IFTTT to send you an SMS when you receive a message from Fiverr. Anything that gets you to your phone or computer so you can respond to the buyer and not damage your response rate.

Setup Quick Responses and Use Them
The Fiverr messaging system has templated, quick responses built in, and you can add your own. Don’t have time to reply to an inquiry in detail right now? Just set up a QR that says “Thanks for your message, I am currently traveling and will respond to you as soon as possible.” Then, when you get alerted you have a message you just need to go into your smartphone, pull up the QR, send it, and then respond properly when you have time.

I have QRs setup to thank people when I receive an order, let them know when I am starting it, for delivery, and as a single followup after delivery to check everything is good. It works very well.

Submit Unspam Requests
the way the Fiverr system works, you have to respond to every request, even spam ones. If a spam user has already been blocked, just submit an “Unblock User” request in the messaging system, and send them a “No Thanks” response.

Communicate Better and Manage Expectations
This all comes back to communication - whatever you do in your freelancing life, fast, effective, high-quality communication is at the heart of being a professional freelance worker. It sets expectations, enhances relationships, keeps buyers informed, and ultimately grows your business.

Implement these changes today, and there’s every chance you will enhance your response and order completion rates for future evaluations.

Good luck!

Please do not use this thread to complain about being demoted. This thread is intended purely as a help resource for sellers who want to avoid demotion in future. If you’re frustrated, angry, or want to vent, there are plenty of other places on the forums you can do that. Let’s keep this thread on-topic, please.

Mod Note: Just an addition to this great list - Even if you don’t have time to check the forum every day, check every 3-4 days and look at the pinned posts. In this way you will be aware of big issues such as bugs, changes etc. Also, if you see something strange on your account, check here too or ask if anyone has seen the same. Average response time on the forum is 2 minutes so it is well worth it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 187
  • Created
  • Last Reply

So what’s your recommendation when a Buyer orders by mistake, is unresponsive or doesn’t read your Gig details and requests a service that you don’t advertise (and/or advertise against) or simply wants to cancel for reasons simply out of a Sellers control?

Because (no matter the reason) if a Buyer wants to cancel an Order a Seller cannot force them not to but regardless a Buyer’s cancellation it can and will effects a Sellers “Level Status”…

I don’t see you address this, which is the biggest reason why many Sellers got demoted.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So what’s your recommendation when a Buyer orders by mistake, is unresponsive or doesn’t read your Gig details and requests a service that you don’t advertise (and/or advertise against) or simply wants to cancel for reasons simply out of a Sellers control?

Because (no matter the reason) if a Buyer wants to cancel an Order a Seller cannot force them not to but regardless a Buyer’s cancellation it can and will effects a Sellers “Level Status”…

I don’t see you address this, which is the biggest reason why many Sellers got demoted.

you have a valid point, i agree

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So what’s your recommendation when a Buyer orders by mistake, is unresponsive or doesn’t read your Gig details and requests a service that you don’t advertise (and/or advertise against) or simply wants to cancel for reasons simply out of a Sellers control?

Because (no matter the reason) if a Buyer wants to cancel an Order a Seller cannot force them not to but regardless a Buyer’s cancellation it can and will effects a Sellers “Level Status”…

I don’t see you address this, which is the biggest reason why many Sellers got demoted.

This is not intended as a universal panacea - it won’t deal with all issues, but it will deal with a significant number of them, at least based on reading forum threads here.

I don’t see you address this, which is the biggest reason why many Sellers got demoted.

Do you have evidence of this, or is it anecdotal? To me, it seems to be a huge variety of reasons that sellers got demoted, which this post was intended to help with.

Yes, there are issues caused by what you mention, which is why I would be a big supporter of a “mutual cancellations” policy that does not affect stats, or perhaps periodic “free passes” on cancellations based on how many orders successfully delivered or something like that.

But, cancellations due to circumstances genuinely beyond your control (as per you losing power and internet due to hurricanes) should be something we can do something about - that, however, is something outside our control at present. Everything I metnioned above is very much inside our control, which is where sellers should be focussing first of all.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

IMHO Fiverr has no right whatsoever to demote a seller.

Why not? If someone delivers poor quality work or doesn’t communicate, that damages the reputation of the marketplace. Fiverr has every right to take steps to demote or remove those sellers - it’s their website, when we sign up here we agree to abide by their terms of service and rules.

Will some buyers get impacted “unfairly”? Yes. That’s exactly what my original post is intended to help people with.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I can see that a fair number of people have been demoted on St. Level’s Day. Although its unfortunate if it happens to you, there are things you can do to stop this happening in future. Here are some suggestions, which I hope are useful not just if you’ve been demoted, but for sellers in general to help you maintain high standards and ratings.

Review the Turnaround Times on Your Gigs

I can see plenty of people getting demoted because of delays in completing work, extra time taken to do revisions, etc. One way around this is to lengthen the time you allow yourself to deliver a gig. Normally deliver in 24 hours? Change it to 48. Can’t make three days? Change it to five. Yes, I know that some buyers are looking for very fast turnarounds, but if trying to meet those deadlines is damaging your order completion rate, maybe its time to review that.

Use the Resolution Center

The Resolution Center is an awesome resource for sellers. It lets you extend deadlines, request extra money, modify orders, and more. If the scope of an order changes, use this to painlessly request an extension on your delivery times. If an order needs to be revised and you need an extra day or two, request that through the Resolution Center. OK, it may not work in every case, but for many it absolutely will.

Get Email Alerts When a Buyer Contacts You

You can setup Fiverr so you get an email every time you receive a message or an order from a buyer. Go into your email program and ensure it flags these as urgent. Use a service like Zapier or IFTTT to send you an SMS when you receive a message from Fiverr. Anything that gets you to your phone or computer so you can respond to the buyer and not damage your response rate.

Setup Quick Responses and Use Them

The Fiverr messaging system has templated, quick responses built in, and you can add your own. Don’t have time to reply to an inquiry in detail right now? Just set up a QR that says “Thanks for your message, I am currently traveling and will respond to you as soon as possible.” Then, when you get alerted you have a message you just need to go into your smartphone, pull up the QR, send it, and then respond properly when you have time.

I have QRs setup to thank people when I receive an order, let them know when I am starting it, for delivery, and as a single followup after delivery to check everything is good. It works very well.

Submit Unspam Requests

the way the Fiverr system works, you have to respond to every request, even spam ones. If a spam user has already been blocked, just submit an “Unblock User” request in the messaging system, and send them a “No Thanks” response.

Communicate Better and Manage Expectations

This all comes back to communication - whatever you do in your freelancing life, fast, effective, high-quality communication is at the heart of being a professional freelance worker. It sets expectations, enhances relationships, keeps buyers informed, and ultimately grows your business.

Implement these changes today, and there’s every chance you will enhance your response and order completion rates for future evaluations.

Good luck!

Please do not use this thread to complain about being demoted. This thread is intended purely as a help resource for sellers who want to avoid demotion in future. If you’re frustrated, angry, or want to vent, there are plenty of other places on the forums you can do that. Let’s keep this thread on-topic, please.

Mod Note: Just an addition to this great list - Even if you don’t have time to check the forum every day, check every 3-4 days and look at the pinned posts. In this way you will be aware of big issues such as bugs, changes etc. Also, if you see something strange on your account, check here too or ask if anyone has seen the same. Average response time on the forum is 2 minutes so it is well worth it.

Review the Turnaround Times on Your Gigs

I am demoted for this reason although no orders of mine cancelled due to late delivery. I got 5 star ratings for all the orders delivered late.

I really feel, this rule has to be amended. After all, if customer is satisfied with the end results even if the order is delivered late, and gives 5 star rating, why punish sellers?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We HAVE to respond to spam messages? Are you kidding me?
Can you really not develop a program that ignores spam messages?
Also, communication can’t go on forever. When sellers communicate with each other (I regularly buy and sell on Fiverr), and I send a ‘final’ thanks message… the other seller has to keep responding simply to maintain their response level.
This is not something that is OUR fault as sellers… and thus should NOT affect our ratings.
Find these errors in your programming and statistics and FIX them, don’t punish us for things we have no control over.
#Ridiculous

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So what’s your recommendation when a Buyer orders by mistake, is unresponsive or doesn’t read your Gig details and requests a service that you don’t advertise (and/or advertise against) or simply wants to cancel for reasons simply out of a Sellers control?

Because (no matter the reason) if a Buyer wants to cancel an Order a Seller cannot force them not to but regardless a Buyer’s cancellation it can and will effects a Sellers “Level Status”…

I don’t see you address this, which is the biggest reason why many Sellers got demoted.

therpromogirl,

Whole-heartedly agree with you, as I have had a client mistakenly double-order a gig, which they then cancel the duplicate…of course to have the Fiverr system then ‘ding’ you for their mistake is ridiculous.

I use Fiverr, as once of several platforms, to offer my design expertise to fellow entrepreneurs at prices that are extremely affordable, given the industry experience I bring. I’ve been selling as a Level 2 for years (97% of orders are 5 star through this time) and imagine my surprise when a recent client rating of 4.4 (because they ‘never give 5 stars’) brings me back down to Level 1…very disappointing.

I understand the rationale behind what FIverr is trying to accomplish here by continuously evaluating its sellers, which they should, though I feel a degree of leeway should be considered when sellers have been at a high level for years,with an excellent track record delivering for clients and hundreds of satisfied customers.

So, while the original poster’s points are all valid and common-sense ones, there must be flexibility on the part of Fiverr in these cases.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Actually some good point. Wish I’d known about them before I got demoted from TRS, after 3 years of smooth sailing. Says it was due to low response rate.

It was my assumption that its evaluated based on speed of response and if you respond to everyone. I always respond within minutes and to everyone. The only exceptions are when I receive messages while I sleep – most of my clients are in China, so there have been 6 to 8 hour delays until I wake up.

Also I did not respond to spammers or to clients when the conversation is over or we’ve moved on to the order page. Maybe I should have sent at least an “ok, thanks” or something like you suggested.

But I’m still sore at Fiverr now because its expected that I respond to the spammers, have the last word in conversations and that I have to jump out of bed at 3 in the morning to respond to a message just so i can keep my response rate…

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So what’s your recommendation when a Buyer orders by mistake, is unresponsive or doesn’t read your Gig details and requests a service that you don’t advertise (and/or advertise against) or simply wants to cancel for reasons simply out of a Sellers control?

Because (no matter the reason) if a Buyer wants to cancel an Order a Seller cannot force them not to but regardless a Buyer’s cancellation it can and will effects a Sellers “Level Status”…

I don’t see you address this, which is the biggest reason why many Sellers got demoted.

I am facing this and I think the best way of solving it is by increasing your sales so that these canceled orders don’t get your completion rate under 90%.

How to increase your sales? For me, I refuse to work on some projects, but now I changes my mind!

I don’t use “buyer request” section, but now I need to.

And I even reduced my prices for some customers.

Yesterday my completion rate was 92% and a buyer canceled the order at night! IT as emergency lol so I finished 6 orders at that night, 3 of them accepted the order which pushed my rate to 91%

I think now we van predict and feel what will happen in the evaluation day. So one week before, if you have an issue do something! make a sale for lower price or something 😃

I hope that is helpfule 😃

Link to comment
Share on other sites

All,

Although you may have legitimate complaints, I am not sure this is the thread to do that in. I created this thread to help people stop getting demoted in future - there are better places to complain about being demoted. Let’s not derail this thread.

Hi Paul

Fairly infrequent user of forums here, so where do you suggest the best place to get the attention of Fiverr product team would be?

Thanks

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Paul

Fairly infrequent user of forums here, so where do you suggest the best place to get the attention of Fiverr product team would be?

Thanks

Fairly infrequent user of forums here, so where do you suggest the best place to get the attention of Fiverr product team would be?

I would email customer service.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Fairly infrequent user of forums here, so where do you suggest the best place to get the attention of Fiverr product team would be?

I would email customer service.

Do you have an actual email address to use (instead of the help center submission form)?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes and what about the many buyers such as myself who in all my years have never delivered poor quality work. Why are we being penalized for the failure of a selected few, not to mention the failure to protect sellers from unscrupulous buyers who want nothing but to steal our hard work?

This thread is not about that. If you want to complain, there are plenty of other threads where you can do that. This thread is intended to help selelrs not get demoted in future. Let’s focus on that aspect, please.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We HAVE to respond to spam messages? Are you kidding me?

Can you really not develop a program that ignores spam messages?

Also, communication can’t go on forever. When sellers communicate with each other (I regularly buy and sell on Fiverr), and I send a ‘final’ thanks message… the other seller has to keep responding simply to maintain their response level.

This is not something that is OUR fault as sellers… and thus should NOT affect our ratings.

Find these errors in your programming and statistics and FIX them, don’t punish us for things we have no control over.

#Ridiculous

After your first response, further messages don’t affect your Response Rate…it’s just about responding to that initial message from a new contact. So you don’t have to keep responding to them after that. 🙂

Hope that’s helpful! I myself didn’t realize until recently that I have to respond to new messages that have already been marked as spam by the system.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So what’s your recommendation when a Buyer orders by mistake, is unresponsive or doesn’t read your Gig details and requests a service that you don’t advertise (and/or advertise against) or simply wants to cancel for reasons simply out of a Sellers control?

Because (no matter the reason) if a Buyer wants to cancel an Order a Seller cannot force them not to but regardless a Buyer’s cancellation it can and will effects a Sellers “Level Status”…

I don’t see you address this, which is the biggest reason why many Sellers got demoted.

When he sends u a cancellation page, reject it and message him that Customer Support will cancel the order. Contact them, they will see that the buyr wants to cancel and you will get “Order Cancelled by Customer Support”

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.


×
×
  • Create New...