July 1 Fiverr "Vacation Day" ARS Protest

July 1 - TOMORROW - and due to Fiverr's unwillingness to listen to its sellers - the people who help keep them going - many of us (perhaps just a few of us) are standing up for others who use the site. We are doing this by shutting down our gigs and making it known WHY we are doing this in our profiles.

Why would we do this? Are we only hurting ourselves?

Not at all! Think about this scenario if you will:

You're a Top Rated Seller. You have a buyer who orders your gig that has a timeframe of 7 days.  You have a queue already of 5 buyers who also need their order complete. One day passes and you get a message from the new buyer asking if their work is complete yet. You write back and explain that you have seven days to get it done in. They understand that, but they need the work now. And, if it's not done, they'll give you 1-star for not getting it complete in their timeframe. You tell them they need to order an Extra Fast option to give it to them quicker. They write back, saying they know about it but refuse to pay for it. Either give them the work now or you get a 1-star rating for response.

Yep! THAT'S THE PROBLEM WITH THE STARS SYSTEM.

It's an unfair system. Does Fiverr acknowledge this? Of course not! They've got their heads stuck in the sand, refusing to believe that this could happen - that IT IS happening already to hard-working sellers.   You can read about it via the Fiverr Forum and Fiverr Blog.

What Issues Should Fiverr Really Work On 

There are so many other issues that Fiverr could have been working on to make this site the great it was turning out to be including but certainly not limited to:

• Ensuring delivery of messages
• Offering sellers the ability to accept/decline button
• Show buyer ratings (to go in hand with accept/decline button)
• Reduce hold on monies (it's increased from 14 to 15 days (after buyer approval) or from 17 to 18 days (without buyer approval)
• Removing unwarranted feedback
• Improve search rankings 

Again, this is just SOME of the many bugs on the website. Scary isn't it? How can one do business with a website where sellers (and buyers too) are revolting against an unfair buyer-sided system? I wouldn't want to do "business". And, without buyers, Fiverr cannot make money. And, without sellers, there are no buyers, which means no made can be made for Fiverr..

So, are we shooting ourselves in the foot? No... we are making sure that we are heard!  A one to three-day protest is all it takes to shake things up. That and lots of publicity. Spread the word! Share the posts about it....

Here's an article written about this July 1 protest: http://www.onlinenewsheardnow.com/fiverr-sellersbuyers-plan-july-1-protest-in-light-of-new-ars-system/3279/

Read it and spread the word - let people hear it (buyers will go elsewhere and potential sellers will opt not to sign up).  And, maybe the hurt Fiverr feels will get them to realize this system is lacking real sustenance. Perhaps they'll start to realize that the only person they're hurting is themselves. It'll take time but it can be done!

We have the power to make a change! 

WE CAN DO IT! 

Fiverr sellers and buyers.. this is the time we need to unite!

BRING IT ON!

Share your feelings about the Fiverr protest in the comments. Do you agree that change can be made?

Fiverr Sellers/Buyers Plan July 1 Protest Against New ARS

Today, I opted to write an article - for free and for a good cause - against Fiverr's new ARS through a long-term client's website. I provided him with the article and he published it for me..  If you're interested in reading the article, you can check it out here:

http://www.onlinenewsheardnow.com/fiverr-sellersbuyers-plan-july-1-protest-in-light-of-new-ars-system/3279/


Now, this is just the tip of the iceberg on the problems but it's more to highlight the July 1 protest that I, and many other sellers, will be partaking in.  Let's hope it catches their attention.. finally!

Fiverr's New STARS Rating System

I cannot stress enough.. how hard I worked to maintain a 100% rating... only to have Fiverr implement a STARS rating system that just makes it harder for sellers to maintain it.

How so,  you may ask?

Well, with the previous system, buyers only had the Thumbs Up or Thumbs Down rating to choose from. And, with it, they could post a comment. In this comment, even if they were unhappy about an aspect - time delivery for example but were happy with the overall product - they could leave a positive thumbs up and leave a remark about the delivery.

Bear in mind that sellers choose the timeframe in which to deliver their order. For example: my main rewrite gig:  http://www.fiverr.com/emeraldawnn/humanly-rewrite-1-piece-of-work-up-to-600-words  has a delivery timeframe of 29 days.. There are several reasons for this:

• Fiverr doesn't increase the timeframe for multiple orders. Therefore, if your gig is set for 3 days for a $5 order and buyer orders $40 worth of stuff, several times, you still have to complete the order in 3 days for all those orders. That's just not possible.. especially if you have to work for a living and have a family.  (Most of my orders are bulk too, as buyers seem to love what I do.. but I still worry about those $5 orders that I cannot get to until the last minute BECAUSE of the bulk orders... it has and will continue to happen).
• It stems from the fact that everybody has a life outside the Internet - may not seem like at times - but we do! We cannot stay on Fiverr 24 hours a day, 7 days a week...
• We have other orders to work on.... and they may not even be on Fiverr!

WHAT THE HELL WAS FIVERR THINKING!!!!



Now, with this STARS review, a buyer can leave feedback on responsiveness (hello, we're not always available), Service As Expected (that was seen with the old rating system) and Buy Again or Recommend (What if the buyer doesn't need anything of the sort again).  

Seriously, too much power has been given to the buyers. They can and will abuse this system. For example, there's no reason to have them buy the add-ons for quicker delivery anymore. They can just threaten me with a 1-star... Gee thanks!

Also, Fiverr claims that we can also rate buyers, and sure we can, BUT, the ratings don't show up and what good is it for us anyway when we don't have a system that allows us to accept or decline a job without using the mutual cancellation option.  This is a system sellers have been begging for for months...

Fiverr is a cheap service for goods... it doesn't need all the bells and whistles other freelancing sites have - After all,  it's just $5, not $100 or $500 an order. I would feel differently if that were the case. Fiverr thinks that to stay "Hip" it needs to make this change..

Simplicity is best.... and that's what made Fiverr great!

Fiverr needs to really look at fixing its other issues:

• Lack of customer service response (I rarely have these but have heard horror stories)
• Problems with notifications (I have this happen on a regular basis)
• Implementing an accept/decline button (something we sellers need)

And, that's just 3 issues I see from my angle..

Fiverr really needs to worry more about these and other problems, and stop trying to fix something that's not broken!

The backlash that Fiverr has received about this new system seems to go unheard. They read it and say they're still implementing it! DO WHAT?! In response to that, many sellers - myself included - are taking a 1 to 2-day sabbatical from Fiverr... starting July 1.. Let's just see how much it hurts their pocketbook when they don't see orders coming in for their sellers across the board.

In fact, many sellers have or are contemplating leaving Fiverr for good.. So sad....