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Fiverr colluding with sellers?

by EFFOR
25 replies
I've been lurking around the forums for quite some time. I'm not much of an internet markerter yet but I'm working towards that goal. I had actually started trying internet marketing back in 2004 but quickly gave up. At least it left me with a bunch of aged domains from my earlier attempts.

One thing I have done is try out some of the vendors and services mentioned frequently on this board. I've used textbroker and iwriter both with very limited success. The one thing I learned while blowing through my $300 testing budget with those services is I was writing ineffective instructions. I tried different quality levels and honestly the differences were very small. At least with both of those services I had good luck with the feedback methods.

That brings me to fiverr. I've spent about $100 on a variety of services there and have been honest with the feedback. I've gotten quite a few crappy pieces of work, but for $5 (up to $25 for some with extras) I didn't leave negative feedback because they did do the job - however poorly. But recently I tried my first link package. I didn't want a blast of 1000 links. Instead I bought a single link on a blog roll from what claimed to be a PR5 site. Once I had the link I did some digging on the site and it was clear it was spoofed PR. The domain had been the target of a massive redirect a few months ago which had been subsequently eliminated. It had 3 inbound links from places like pipl which have no real link juice. Claimed it was in a niche when the articles were in so broadly scattered among topics that only 10% of the site was in that niche.

For the first time on Fiverr I left negative feedback and indicated my displeasure that the product was misrepresented. What happened? Fiverr removed the feedback allowing the seller to keep its perfect 100% satisfaction/Level 2 rating. It's now clear to me that they are not concerned with the integrity of their feedback system and only interested in keeping the $ rolling in. So now even checking aged, "reputable", higher level sellers is suspicious. Who knows how many bad reviews have been removed.

Caveat emptor. Just my .02.
#colluding #fiverr #sellers
  • Profile picture of the author PerformanceMan
    I think the same argument has been made about eBay, Amazon, and all the marketplaces. They make their money from the sellers, really.
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    • Profile picture of the author CDarklock
      Originally Posted by PerformanceMan View Post

      They make their money from the sellers, really.
      Actually, if you think about it, they make their money from the buyers. No buyers = no money. Of course, no sellers = no buyers, but favouring either side is about equally stupid.
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      • Profile picture of the author wordwizard
        I've gotten some incredible work done for 5 bucks at Fiverr. I almost felt like I was ripping them off!

        I've been especially happy with gigs like audios and videos.

        And yes, I even had good results with Twitter tweets, but it seems that the ONE person who really delivered the goods apparently discovered he could make more money elsewhere, or he didn't want to burn his followers, so he no longer offers his services

        That's the problem with really cool gigs...

        I also bought some gigs that were rather disappointing, including tweets (hundreds of thousands of followers and, what, 5 clicks?). The worst were the flier distributors. And I can't tell if flier conversion rates are really low or if my fliers aren't any good - but in some cases I couldn't detect ANY activity at all on the site I listed on the fliers (for a freebie no less).

        I still find Fiverr very valuable, even with a few duds every now and then. So far, it has definitely averaged out in my favor.

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  • Profile picture of the author dsouravs
    Hi,
    I feel sorry for your situation but I think Fiverr also is helpless in this case. The seller did what he said he will do. He put your link. Now I dont think Fiverr generally wont go to so much detail atleast in this case to foind out whether the PR is fake or not.

    So the seller did what he said and got a -ve review but Fiverr saw the seller did his job and so removed the -ve review.

    Thank you
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    • Profile picture of the author want2knowhow
      Fivver is no different than some other sites who won't let you let you leave honest feed back and will BAN you from posting on their site if you do! How can you tell a site that is like that? Easy. Just read through all of the glowing testimonials and it is blatantly obvious and clear as to what is going on. They are protecting their bottom line $$$ and keeping their site from being *tarnished* by negative reviews. How sad. :rolleyes:
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      • Profile picture of the author Paul Myers
        Originally Posted by want2knowhow View Post

        Fivver is no different than some other sites who won't let you let you leave honest feed back and will BAN you from posting on their site if you do! How can you tell a site that is like that? Easy. Just read through all of the glowing testimonials and it is blatantly obvious and clear as to what is going on. They are protecting their bottom line $$$ and keeping their site from being *tarnished* by negative reviews. How sad. :rolleyes:
        And, of course, ALWAYS trust the opinions of someone whose signature file breaks the clearly posted rules of the site in which said opinions are offered.

        I can't speak for the Fiverr situation. I can make some general comments, though, as we hear this quite often.

        When negative comments are removed from a sales thread here, it is almost always for one of three reasons:

        1: The person leaving them did not buy the product. The rules are very clear about that.

        2: The review is abusive in tone, usually either attacking the seller personally or using unnecessary profanity. Stick to the product and leave out the swearing and you're fine.

        3: The poster has gone on a multi-post binge. You get ONE post to leave your review. Not 7. Or 37.

        No, you do not get to argue in a paid thread about whether the method is still valid. No, you do not get to ask questions which are phrased in a way that makes them appear to be accusations ended with a question mark. And no, you do not have the right to say whatever the hell you feel like in an ad, any more than you have the right to walk into someone's store and post signs accusing the owner of being a scumbag.

        The dynamic here is clearly a lot different than at a gig site. No question about that. But some of the same principles apply. I suspect the ones relating to unrealistic expectations would be more applicable at Fiverr than even here.

        If the guy really did lie about what he's delivering, there should be a way for buyers to explain that to someone who can act on the allegations. No question about that. I'm not saying you're wrong to leave the negative review. Just pointing out that there are any number of reasons for removing reviews that have nothing to do with protecting the site's income.

        The thing a lot of people forget is that a marketplace consists of two sides, and it won't last unless both sides receive rational protection. Beyond that, the need for critical thinking when spending money is the best answer.


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  • Profile picture of the author jbush2404
    If you ever use a service like fiverr or even some of the ones here on WF then always have them linking to your articles and not to your websites. You would much rather your articles take a bad hit then have your website marked for it.
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  • Profile picture of the author SteveJohnson
    If you use subjective terms in your review like 'ripped off' or 'dishonest' or 'lied', or something along those lines, your comment/review will likely be removed. You have to keep it factual, unemotional, and provable if necessary.
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  • Profile picture of the author john-7665
    This kind of sites usually prefer to remove the negative feed backs. As someone already said Amazon,e bay and other sites are directly affected by the negative reviewing of their sellers, so they prefer to clean everything with a "sponge". I am sorry that you had to go through this, but unfortunately, whenever we order a service on the Internet, we can never be sure what we will actually receive.
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    • Profile picture of the author rhinocl
      I'd be surprised if major players are deleting negative feedback that meets their guidelines. I think that would create an instant problem with the FTC.
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    • Profile picture of the author fluffythewondercat
      OP, did you talk to Fiverr customer service? You should.

      You will probably have to explain to them about fake PR and how PR can be faked. And you should focus on that as the main issue.

      In the future, insist on getting the URL before you buy the link. Don't accept any excuses.

      There are lots of sellers on Fiverr misrepresenting the link juice of what they're selling. A few of them post to the Warrior Forum and I'm always tempted to out them. It's just not right.

      fLufF
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  • Profile picture of the author Aaron Doud
    eBay is incredibly negative to sellers. Maybe years ago eBay was like this but they learned their lesson and went to far on the pro-buyer side.

    fiverr will learn the same lesson in time. The market must be see as trustworthy by both buyer and seller or they will go somewhere else.
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  • Profile picture of the author EFFOR
    @Fluff - your absolutely correct about asking for the site upfront. I realized that as soon as I saw what I received. I'm planning on contacting Fiverr about it tonight when I get home from work. I could only find a way to contact customer support via a question and it indicated it had like a 25 minute response time. I'm hoping I can find an email since I can't sit around with that site open for too long while working.

    Thank you to everyone who responded. I do realize that we buy unknowns when purchasing on the internet. My point wasn't that I was particularly surprised that I got ripped off, but rather that the exchange it was purchased through didn't care. At least thats why I always test things in small amounts before making real purchases. I think the thing that got me on fiverr is that non-level'd sellers often have negative feedback. But once they get a level established it looks like they get shielded from it by Fiverr. I assumed incorrectly that since the company left negative feedback on some that it would follow those same rules for everyone.
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  • Profile picture of the author bougalo
    Originally Posted by EFFOR View Post

    I've been lurking around the forums for quite some time. I'm not much of an internet markerter yet but I'm working towards that goal. I had actually started trying internet marketing back in 2004 but quickly gave up. At least it left me with a bunch of aged domains from my earlier attempts.

    One thing I have done is try out some of the vendors and services mentioned frequently on this board. I've used textbroker and iwriter both with very limited success. The one thing I learned while blowing through my $300 testing budget with those services is I was writing ineffective instructions. I tried different quality levels and honestly the differences were very small. At least with both of those services I had good luck with the feedback methods.

    That brings me to fiverr. I've spent about $100 on a variety of services there and have been honest with the feedback. I've gotten quite a few crappy pieces of work, but for $5 (up to $25 for some with extras) I didn't leave negative feedback because they did do the job - however poorly. But recently I tried my first link package. I didn't want a blast of 1000 links. Instead I bought a single link on a blog roll from what claimed to be a PR5 site. Once I had the link I did some digging on the site and it was clear it was spoofed PR. The domain had been the target of a massive redirect a few months ago which had been subsequently eliminated. It had 3 inbound links from places like pipl which have no real link juice. Claimed it was in a niche when the articles were in so broadly scattered among topics that only 10% of the site was in that niche.

    For the first time on Fiverr I left negative feedback and indicated my displeasure that the product was misrepresented. What happened? Fiverr removed the feedback allowing the seller to keep its perfect 100% satisfaction/Level 2 rating. It's now clear to me that they are not concerned with the integrity of their feedback system and only interested in keeping the $ rolling in. So now even checking aged, "reputable", higher level sellers is suspicious. Who knows how many bad reviews have been removed.

    Caveat emptor. Just my .02.
    Effor,

    Sorry about your Fiverr experience.
    I do know for fact that Fiverr doesn't put a rating back without a fair evaluation of both the claims made by the buyer and the answers given by sellers while attempting to contest the bad feedback. I've been there both as a seller and buyer.

    My advice: leaving a negative feedback doesn't help the seller nor does it help you. But communication and mutual resolution would help both.

    By the way, I prefer thecontentauthority over textbroker for all writing needs.

    Take care
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  • Profile picture of the author sirtiman
    Next time just ask the seller for the domain status. Still need your action to check before buying.
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  • Profile picture of the author JamesColin
    Banned
    If you search for "truth about abs" on fiverr you'll see people selling this ebook + others for $5 and there is no button to alert fiverr about those.
    So yes, fiverr couldn't care less about piracy, copyright infrigement, etc.
    They would only react if sued, in the meantime they get all the money they can, by not allowing people to report shady gigs and also by removing negative comments like you said.
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  • Profile picture of the author Nexstair
    There is no doubt they are making money and that is for what they exist.As for the feedback, sounds you might not explained everything to support or sent evidence rather seller got success in convincing them.I have completed more than 100 orders and have 99% feedback.I could not change it though. fiverr.com/nexstair
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  • Profile picture of the author icoachu
    Maybe its because there are some freelancers that charge a lot more than $5 feeling threatened by cheaper competition on Fiverr. They might try to kill off the fiverr competition by leaving bad feedback. Fiverr might clean up some dubious feedback.

    The best way to compete is just to work hard and be honest. That's the true path to success. Nothing else is sustainable.

    Originally Posted by EFFOR View Post

    I've been lurking around the forums for quite some time. I'm not much of an internet markerter yet but I'm working towards that goal. I had actually started trying internet marketing back in 2004 but quickly gave up. At least it left me with a bunch of aged domains from my earlier attempts.

    One thing I have done is try out some of the vendors and services mentioned frequently on this board. I've used textbroker and iwriter both with very limited success. The one thing I learned while blowing through my $300 testing budget with those services is I was writing ineffective instructions. I tried different quality levels and honestly the differences were very small. At least with both of those services I had good luck with the feedback methods.

    That brings me to fiverr. I've spent about $100 on a variety of services there and have been honest with the feedback. I've gotten quite a few crappy pieces of work, but for $5 (up to $25 for some with extras) I didn't leave negative feedback because they did do the job - however poorly. But recently I tried my first link package. I didn't want a blast of 1000 links. Instead I bought a single link on a blog roll from what claimed to be a PR5 site. Once I had the link I did some digging on the site and it was clear it was spoofed PR. The domain had been the target of a massive redirect a few months ago which had been subsequently eliminated. It had 3 inbound links from places like pipl which have no real link juice. Claimed it was in a niche when the articles were in so broadly scattered among topics that only 10% of the site was in that niche.

    For the first time on Fiverr I left negative feedback and indicated my displeasure that the product was misrepresented. What happened? Fiverr removed the feedback allowing the seller to keep its perfect 100% satisfaction/Level 2 rating. It's now clear to me that they are not concerned with the integrity of their feedback system and only interested in keeping the $ rolling in. So now even checking aged, "reputable", higher level sellers is suspicious. Who knows how many bad reviews have been removed.

    Caveat emptor. Just my .02.
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    • Profile picture of the author fluffythewondercat
      Originally Posted by icoachu View Post

      Maybe its because there are some freelancers that charge a lot more than $5 feeling threatened by cheaper competition on Fiverr. They might try to kill off the fiverr competition by leaving bad feedback.
      At $5 a pop, that would be a very expensive attack.

      OP, your feedback was almost certainly removed because you received a refund. That's Fiverr policy.

      fLufF
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  • Profile picture of the author 181liquid
    I'm a casual user of fiverr-and none of the marking gigs I've used have worked-like everything else in life chalk it up to experience...
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  • Profile picture of the author kstavert
    I've left negative feedback on sites
    when the negative feedback was
    warranted and the feedback was
    never posted....

    so, I do not trust the feedback that
    I see - especially since I've purchased
    things that have had rave reviews and
    the product/service that I actually
    received was sub par...

    I don't trust reviews
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    • Profile picture of the author MikeFriedman
      Originally Posted by fluffythewondercat View Post

      There are lots of sellers on Fiverr misrepresenting the link juice of what they're selling. A few of them post to the Warrior Forum and I'm always tempted to out them. It's just not right.

      fLufF
      --
      I would say about 95% of them are misleading. I'm sorry, but nobody can get a legit PR 7 or PR 9 link for $5. That's not stopping people from claiming that is what they are selling though.

      Yes, I saw a few claiming to be selling PR 9 links for a few bucks. In fact, there is a WSO in here offering that. Facebook is a PR 9. Wikipedia is a PR 9. If someone owned a domain like that, they wouldn't be wasting their time selling links for a few bucks each.
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      • Profile picture of the author fluffythewondercat
        Originally Posted by MikeFriedman View Post

        I would say about 95% of them are misleading. I'm sorry, but nobody can get a legit PR 7 or PR 9 link for $5. That's not stopping people from claiming that is what they are selling though.
        And then there's the folks who have, say, a PR 5 and they've already sold 800 outbound links. (Somehow they always fail to mention that second part.)

        fLufF
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  • Profile picture of the author Justin W
    You could always leave negative feedback but with a thumbs up. That seems much more likely to stick.
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  • Profile picture of the author ampeculiar
    No site has a squeaky clean track record. I am sure ebay, amazon and all other big players have their faults. I paid for couple of gigs on fiverr in the past and got what was promised. Another thing that I noticed from a lot of buyers is the "wanting something for nothing attitude". Like the logo sections, some buyers have requirements like they paid £500 for the logo. I like fiverr but when it comes to some serious projects, you should definitely look elsewhere.
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