As a human being we all tend to resist changes. But in the world we live in, the changes are inevitable. fiverr has introduced a new advance (??) rating system recently which caused a bit of turmoil among fiverr community, especially the sellers. Do you really think that the new fiverr rating system is fair for sellers? Let’s have a quick look at why sellers are resisting the new rating system.
fiverr is a nice place to get things done for cheap. There are people who would do a logo for just $5. But you need to keep in mind that obviously there is a correlation between quality and the price you pay. I, myself make more than $300 every month via fiverr. Most of my income is generated via WordPress services that I provide for the competitive cost.
fiverr Buyers
As a seller, I know about the buyers. I often encounter a scumbag who would just buy a $5 Gig without asking for estimation from me and then will expect me to do a full-fledged professional looking website. They got to be kidding me right?
Yep, that’s the sad situation at fiverr. Buyers often come to fiverr looking for cheap services. Most of the buyers at fiverr are looking for a cheap, quick service or a seller. As the result they’ll pay less and demand more.
fiverr Sellers
Now sellers have to put up with such buyers who would demand for more for the money they paid. Some buyers will go one step ahead and blackmail the sellers that they’d give negative rating if they don’t some extra work.
If the seller is clean, they can always call fiverr support to solve such conflicts. But we all know how long it would take to resolve such issues. But keep in mind that fiverr also wouldn’t like to lose their buyers who bring in the cash for the sellers as well as fiverr itself. (fiverr takes whooping 20% from sales. Which means if you buy a $5 Gig, the seller will only get $4)
Currently, without consulting the seller a buyer can place an order. In my humble opinion, this is bad. Seller should be able to accept or reject an offer extended by the buyer. With current system, once the order is placed, if the work needs more that what the buyer is paid for then he needs to ask buyer to cancel the order. If the buyer cancels the order mutually then there is no problem. If not then it’s going to affect your level.
Advance Rating System
Midst of these existing problems, fiverr is taking one more step closer to the buyers. Now buyers can rate a seller on multiple topics. E.g. Delivery speed, quality etc.
From a buyers perspective this is something awesome. They can easily distinguish the best service provider form a bluffer.
But the problem is the mean buyers I talked about previously going to take advantage of this new rating system and going to get a free ride on top of seller’s shoulder. I think for a micro economy, this advance rating system is unnecessary and it’s totally going to ruin the ecosystem.
We’ll have to wait and see how this advance rating system is going to get reflected in the fiverr economy. Let’s hope for the best and I believe, fiverr will take steps to ensure that sellers are protected equally to buyers. If fiverr is continue to prove that it’s a buyer friendly system then great sellers will leave the arena, which will result in catastrophic end of fiverr.
Update as of 30 June 2014
fiverr is still keen on keep practicing the current star based rating system. To justify their move, they are even inviting their sellers to write Guest blog. As you have guessed this guest blog post is praising the current system. Again sellers are cursing fiverr in the comments section 🙂
Subscribe to our mailing list
Subscribe to our mailing list and receive a free udpates
AnarchoFighter says
Great post. Keep up the coverage.
Jay Mayu says
Thanks!
Tanisha Singh says
Very Informative post about fiverr. Thanks for sharing.