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My successful running gig removed after adding FAQ


adrianturika

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Hello,

I had a successful running gig with all 5 star reviews that I used to start my Fiverr experience. My gig was simple, I will “write a review for you, anywhere” and mentioned in my description that I wouldn’t write reviews on sites that would violate TOS for any website, including Fiverr".

Buyers were ignoring my warning and made requests asking me to leave unethical reviews or those that would violate TOS. Because of this, I eventually added an FAQ explaining exactly what type of reviews I would leave and where. I mentioned that I would need to experience the service, product, or business or at the very minimum do my research and be given evidence of the work before leaving a review. I did this to ensure I was 100% not interested in doing anything unethical or something that violated anyone’s TOS.

Fiverr then shut down my gig due to “a 3rd party complaint that you have infringed on their intellectual property rights and or Terms of Service”. This happened within 4 hours of updating my FAQ. No 3rd parties were mentioned in my gig.

I read Fiverr’s TOS and used my real name on long standing accounts for my reviews. None of my reviews have been flagged by these 3rd partie sites, only my gig on Fiverr which is very suspicious.

Any tips would be appreciated. Yes, I did contact Fiverr support but based on what I’ve seen on the forums it looks grim they will right their wrong.

Thank You,

Adrian.

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Hello,

I had a successful running gig with all 5 star reviews that I used to start my Fiverr experience. My gig was simple, I will “write a review for you, anywhere” and mentioned in my description that I wouldn’t write reviews on sites that would violate TOS for any website, including Fiverr".

Buyers were ignoring my warning and made requests asking me to leave unethical reviews or those that would violate TOS. Because of this, I eventually added an FAQ explaining exactly what type of reviews I would leave and where. I mentioned that I would need to experience the service, product, or business or at the very minimum do my research and be given evidence of the work before leaving a review. I did this to ensure I was 100% not interested in doing anything unethical or something that violated anyone’s TOS.

Fiverr then shut down my gig due to “a 3rd party complaint that you have infringed on their intellectual property rights and or Terms of Service”. This happened within 4 hours of updating my FAQ. No 3rd parties were mentioned in my gig.

I read Fiverr’s TOS and used my real name on long standing accounts for my reviews. None of my reviews have been flagged by these 3rd partie sites, only my gig on Fiverr which is very suspicious.

Any tips would be appreciated. Yes, I did contact Fiverr support but based on what I’ve seen on the forums it looks grim they will right their wrong.

Thank You,

Adrian.

YOu

explaining exactly what type of reviews I would leave and where.

What exactly did you say? I need the exact wording.

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I think the ‘anywhere’ might be the culprit?
Even if you did add FAQ, many buyers just don’t read them and the ‘anywhere’ kinda contradicted what you stated in the FAQ, I guess it can be interpreted as that you consciously try to give people the impression that you will write anywhere and that you just ‘hide’ the details in the FAQ so you can say your gig is legit. I don’t say that you do that! just that I think people could see it that way.

I wouldn’t wonder much about that you dealt with CS before and they didn’t say anything to your gig as such, if the things you had to contact them for were just normal stuff they might have given the normal canned responses and not even have read the gig title or description for all I know.

Maybe a competitor who has already in their gig title something like ‘anywhere except…’ was, let’s say, worried you have an advantage because yours just read ‘anywhere’ and when they looked at it, they had to show you the 3rd party card.
Or a new search algorithm, or staff been told to comb through the gigs after the PDP issue noticed it, the timing with you putting the FAQ could either
be random, or drew someone’s or something’s eye.

Pure speculation on my part, but to me either way the ‘anywhere’ looks like the problem, maybe think about one or two different formulations and ask CS if that would be OK.
But I fear you’re right with that it looks bleak from what one reads about gigs taken down, the experience seems to be that once gone, a gig stays gone and you have to make a new one.
Probably best to ask CS beforehand so you can be sure a gig you make to replace the lost one is OK if it’s a grey area thing.

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YOu

explaining exactly what type of reviews I would leave and where.

What exactly did you say? I need the exact wording.

I said (I can’t find exact wording since my gig was removed) that if you request that I post the review for you, that it must be something legitimate as I have worked hard to build the online accounts I have and will not risk having them flagged. I said I would only post legitimate reviews and will either post a 5 star review or won’t post a review at all as I’m an all-or-nothing type person. However, before I decline your purchase, I will allow you to send me proof or reference as to why it would deserve 5 stars.

I also did not mention any specific websites or accounts that I use. I was being clear that I will not post fraudulent or fake reviews and will request information so I can do my own independent research before I post a review about what I’ve learned. A lot of these reviews were about people and their personalities from dealing with them online or people I did business with and were verified reviews.

Simply put - I mentioned I would do a review as long as it doesn’t violate any TOS of any website, if I feel morally and ethically inclined to do it, and if it isn’t something illegal. Every review that’s been posted is still online - meaning a 3rd party never even flagged it so I doubt they reported it.

PS: My original gig said “I will leave a positive review for your business, anywhere” and the description mentioned as long as your provide me research information and it doesn’t violate any TOS. It wasn’t until I added the FAQ to answer common questions I was asked by clients that it was removed by Fiverr. Still no response from CS either…

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I think the ‘anywhere’ might be the culprit?

Even if you did add FAQ, many buyers just don’t read them and the ‘anywhere’ kinda contradicted what you stated in the FAQ, I guess it can be interpreted as that you consciously try to give people the impression that you will write anywhere and that you just ‘hide’ the details in the FAQ so you can say your gig is legit. I don’t say that you do that! just that I think people could see it that way.

I wouldn’t wonder much about that you dealt with CS before and they didn’t say anything to your gig as such, if the things you had to contact them for were just normal stuff they might have given the normal canned responses and not even have read the gig title or description for all I know.

Maybe a competitor who has already in their gig title something like ‘anywhere except…’ was, let’s say, worried you have an advantage because yours just read ‘anywhere’ and when they looked at it, they had to show you the 3rd party card.

Or a new search algorithm, or staff been told to comb through the gigs after the PDP issue noticed it, the timing with you putting the FAQ could either

be random, or drew someone’s or something’s eye.

Pure speculation on my part, but to me either way the ‘anywhere’ looks like the problem, maybe think about one or two different formulations and ask CS if that would be OK.

But I fear you’re right with that it looks bleak from what one reads about gigs taken down, the experience seems to be that once gone, a gig stays gone and you have to make a new one.

Probably best to ask CS beforehand so you can be sure a gig you make to replace the lost one is OK if it’s a grey area thing.

Sure, this is the only logical thing I could think of. However, I would say this is marketing and not manipulating anyone. When the word “anywhere” is used, I except common sense to be used - as in, I won’t post something that could cause myself or other harm. Also, I obviously won’t post a review on the moon or spray-paint a skyscraper with a review. I figured with how many of the gigs are generalized - that this wouldn’t be an issue.

I dealt with CS twice before, once to try and chance my username (it was automatically generated because I created the account w/ Google), they told me I can’t. The second time was when my Response Rate dropped to 60% from 100% - but I haven’t had any unanswered messages, offers, requests, or sales. They corrected this one quickly.

Do you know the best way I can talk to CS about having my gig approved? I emailed them through the site as before but still haven’t gotten a response. It would be nice if Fiverr verified the gigs before instead of randomly shutting them down and losing all your hard work. And if it was indeed the FAQ that somehow triggered them to shut it down, it would have been nice if they denied the portion of the FAQ (or the entire FAQ itself) instead of the entire gig. At least a warning to correct it would be nice.

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Sure, this is the only logical thing I could think of. However, I would say this is marketing and not manipulating anyone. When the word “anywhere” is used, I except common sense to be used - as in, I won’t post something that could cause myself or other harm. Also, I obviously won’t post a review on the moon or spray-paint a skyscraper with a review. I figured with how many of the gigs are generalized - that this wouldn’t be an issue.

I dealt with CS twice before, once to try and chance my username (it was automatically generated because I created the account w/ Google), they told me I can’t. The second time was when my Response Rate dropped to 60% from 100% - but I haven’t had any unanswered messages, offers, requests, or sales. They corrected this one quickly.

Do you know the best way I can talk to CS about having my gig approved? I emailed them through the site as before but still haven’t gotten a response. It would be nice if Fiverr verified the gigs before instead of randomly shutting them down and losing all your hard work. And if it was indeed the FAQ that somehow triggered them to shut it down, it would have been nice if they denied the portion of the FAQ (or the entire FAQ itself) instead of the entire gig. At least a warning to correct it would be nice.

Do you know the best way I can talk to CS about having my gig approved?

Can you try to accommodate the FAQ within the main gig description itself and see if the gig gets approved? it was probably flagged by the automated system.

Maybe merge the two

Description : "I will write reviews anywhere"

FAQ : What kind of sites are allowed

to

Description : “I will write reviews on sites which don’t violate Fiverr TOS”

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Do you know the best way I can talk to CS about having my gig approved?

Can you try to accommodate the FAQ within the main gig description itself and see if the gig gets approved? it was probably flagged by the automated system.

Maybe merge the two

Description : "I will write reviews anywhere"

FAQ : What kind of sites are allowed

to

Description : “I will write reviews on sites which don’t violate Fiverr TOS”

This is a great idea, I’ll try and create one now and see how it goes.

Do you think I can ask Fiverr to review my newly created gig and if so, the likelihood of me getting my reviews attached to the new one?

I don’t understand why it was removed. I read their TOS and don’t see a violation. If it was automated - do you think they can restore it?

RELATED:

Also at the same time I had a gig request (to pay for service) removed. My text was:

"leave a 2-3 sentence comment on 5 blog posts. Must either be positive or contributing to the topic of health and nutrition on [website_url_here] ."

I was asking someone to comment on my 5 blog posts to help generate discussion since it’s a new site. Plenty of people do these gigs - it was just late at night and I was too tired to do a search. Did I use requests wrong? My last 2 got me a website and logo designed.

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This is a great idea, I’ll try and create one now and see how it goes.

Do you think I can ask Fiverr to review my newly created gig and if so, the likelihood of me getting my reviews attached to the new one?

I don’t understand why it was removed. I read their TOS and don’t see a violation. If it was automated - do you think they can restore it?

RELATED:

Also at the same time I had a gig request (to pay for service) removed. My text was:

"leave a 2-3 sentence comment on 5 blog posts. Must either be positive or contributing to the topic of health and nutrition on [website_url_here] ."

I was asking someone to comment on my 5 blog posts to help generate discussion since it’s a new site. Plenty of people do these gigs - it was just late at night and I was too tired to do a search. Did I use requests wrong? My last 2 got me a website and logo designed.

It probably looked to Amazon as if you were secretly, without mentioning that name, offering to write reviews on their site.

They have been the most outspoken about paid reviews, along with Trip Adviser. Those sites watch this one for those types of gigs.

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It probably looked to Amazon as if you were secretly, without mentioning that name, offering to write reviews on their site.

They have been the most outspoken about paid reviews, along with Trip Adviser. Those sites watch this one for those types of gigs.

This is good to know. I’ve had buyers mention their name in chats - but they can’t see those do they? (Also, I use them almost daily and have a long history of only reviewing products I own and verified)

Thank you for the information, it’s very appreciated. It’s doesn’t seem legal that they can censor my reviews. As they’re tied with my name, the internet doesn’t delete anything, so I don’t make fake or false reviews (though I’m sure many do).

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This is good to know. I’ve had buyers mention their name in chats - but they can’t see those do they? (Also, I use them almost daily and have a long history of only reviewing products I own and verified)

Thank you for the information, it’s very appreciated. It’s doesn’t seem legal that they can censor my reviews. As they’re tied with my name, the internet doesn’t delete anything, so I don’t make fake or false reviews (though I’m sure many do).

Those buyers might be employees of Amazon.

You are not even supposed to review products you got free, even without being paid, on Amazon now.

Of course they can censure anything on their site. It’s legal because a site owner is free to decide what is on their own site.

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Those buyers might be employees of Amazon.

You are not even supposed to review products you got free, even without being paid, on Amazon now.

Of course they can censure anything on their site. It’s legal because a site owner is free to decide what is on their own site.

I never realized they might be employees. Your knowledge and insight is amazing.

I didn’t know you couldn’t review items you got for free! I guess I should refresh myself with their TOS. I’ve only ever reviewed items I’ve purchased and never had any review removed/flagged on their site.

I understand it is their site/property/business and they can remove anything they want. But to file a Copyright Infringement notice to Fiverr to remove my gig on an assumption alone, without any proof, sounds like an illegal practice. They shouldn’t have jurisdiction over another website. If that’s the case, they caused harm to my income and should realize people will find crafty ways to violate their TOS instead of those that are being open and honest about what they do. I understand they don’t want fake reviews to pump up items with a bad reputation (to protect buyers) - but this is an unethical proactive reaction to their issue.

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I never realized they might be employees. Your knowledge and insight is amazing.

I didn’t know you couldn’t review items you got for free! I guess I should refresh myself with their TOS. I’ve only ever reviewed items I’ve purchased and never had any review removed/flagged on their site.

I understand it is their site/property/business and they can remove anything they want. But to file a Copyright Infringement notice to Fiverr to remove my gig on an assumption alone, without any proof, sounds like an illegal practice. They shouldn’t have jurisdiction over another website. If that’s the case, they caused harm to my income and should realize people will find crafty ways to violate their TOS instead of those that are being open and honest about what they do. I understand they don’t want fake reviews to pump up items with a bad reputation (to protect buyers) - but this is an unethical proactive reaction to their issue.

It’s not a copyright infringement. It is a violation of their terms of service. Fiverr cooperates with them to avoid a legal problem with them. Fiverr has to abide by the terms of service of other large important sites.

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It’s not a copyright infringement. It is a violation of their terms of service. Fiverr cooperates with them to avoid a legal problem with them. Fiverr has to abide by the terms of service of other large important sites.

That makes sense. I guess I expected a warning of sorts or something from Fiverr considering the cut they take. I understand I’m using their platform to market myself and it’s a cut they deserve. The reoccuring lesson I keep learning in life: Expectations are the root of all disappointment.

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That makes sense. I guess I expected a warning of sorts or something from Fiverr considering the cut they take. I understand I’m using their platform to market myself and it’s a cut they deserve. The reoccuring lesson I keep learning in life: Expectations are the root of all disappointment.

Expectations are the root of all disappointment.

I like that quote. I keep telling people to have zero expectations. It’s a funny trick that when you do that you open up the door wide to get new big unexpected prizes from life. If you have heard of The Secret, it’s the exact opposite of that.

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Expectations are the root of all disappointment.

I like that quote. I keep telling people to have zero expectations. It’s a funny trick that when you do that you open up the door wide to get new big unexpected prizes from life. If you have heard of The Secret, it’s the exact opposite of that.

Yep! I have read The Secret - I would say this is more of Murphy’s Law than anything. “Anything than can go wrong, will go wrong” lol. I try not to look at it in a negative way though. It’s just important to be conscious about how expectations are set.

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I don’t think the FAQ is the problem, I’d expect they’d want to see the ‘restriction’ in the gig title/description where you have the ‘anywhere’ right with it.
Leave the gig unpublished and ask them on the formulation first better I think.
About how to talk to them, I only ever did over tickets, obviously be nice to the staff, they didn’t make the regulations.
And yes, would be nice if they looked at gigs first, but not sure if they can because of the volume of new and changed gigs, I think I read as long as no video they get published right away, though I think they do probably have some automated system look for keywords still and maybe check especially categories where ‘gig denying’ often takes place.

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Those buyers might be employees of Amazon.

You are not even supposed to review products you got free, even without being paid, on Amazon now.

Of course they can censure anything on their site. It’s legal because a site owner is free to decide what is on their own site.

I see loads of reviews on Amazon with some kind of ‘disclaimer’ like 'I got this product for free [for a reduced price] but am not affiliated with the seller or manufacturer and its my honest opinion etc.'

And I mean the ‘for free or for a reduced price’ literally, both in the same disclaimer, so it’s pretty obvious they copy pasted it, probably from the instructions from the company they review from, without even leaving out either the free or the for a reduced price.

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I see loads of reviews on Amazon with some kind of ‘disclaimer’ like 'I got this product for free [for a reduced price] but am not affiliated with the seller or manufacturer and its my honest opinion etc.'

And I mean the ‘for free or for a reduced price’ literally, both in the same disclaimer, so it’s pretty obvious they copy pasted it, probably from the instructions from the company they review from, without even leaving out either the free or the for a reduced price.

I see loads of reviews on Amazon with some kind of ‘disclaimer’ like ‘I got this product for free [for a reduced price] but am not affiliated with the seller or manufacturer and its my honest opinion etc.’

You won’t be seeing those for long as Amazon is removing them. This is no longer the policy of Amazon to allow these.

They have an ongoing ban of reviewers who do this with new bans every day for the past few months.

Amazon has a policy now of not allowing these kinds of reviews for free products.

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I see loads of reviews on Amazon with some kind of ‘disclaimer’ like ‘I got this product for free [for a reduced price] but am not affiliated with the seller or manufacturer and its my honest opinion etc.’

You won’t be seeing those for long as Amazon is removing them. This is no longer the policy of Amazon to allow these.

They have an ongoing ban of reviewers who do this with new bans every day for the past few months.

Amazon has a policy now of not allowing these kinds of reviews for free products.

There are reviews like that for Amazon’s own ‘review club’ though, vine or what they call it.

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