Will One Negative Feedback Ruin Your Fiverr Gig?

If you’ve looked at my Fiverr gigs lately, you’ll see that there are a couple of negative feedbacks. They annoy me, but I’ve just put up a rebuttal and left them there.

You see, for me those negative feedbacks aren’t going to instantly ruin my Fiverr gig. I’ve got 800+ reviews on one of those gigs, so three negatives is relatively minor. However, three negatives could really cause some people damage.

The Negatives vs. The Positives

If you’re worried about negative feedbacks affecting your Fiverr gig, you need to consider the number of positive comments you have. I think the majority of buyers will look at the rating before actually checking out the reviews. If the rating is 100%, then there is a high chance people will still buy. That can still happen with the odd negative review.

The problem comes if you don’t have that many positive reviews. You look like a new seller (even if it’s just the case that people aren’t leaving feedback) so just one negative will really stand out and not in a good way. People worry that that one bad experience will be their experience later on, and they look for someone with a better rating to order from.

People Expect Negatives

When you fulfil more and more orders, you’re going to get people you can’t impress. I’ve seen it with the biggest companies. Just look at the likes of Microsoft, Apple, Amazon and Google. They’ve all had bad reviews, but that hasn’t stopped people buying their products. It doesn’t stop developers creating apps or customers signing up for services.

You see, people expect negatives when you sell a lot. If they don’t see the negatives it can set off some alarm bells. There is the thought that you cover up the negatives or that you bribe people to get rid of the black marks.

The negatives show that you are human. They show others that you don’t please everyone, and that’s to be expected. One negative remark out of 500 orders isn’t going to stop that many people buying because they expect to see that someone wasn’t happy.

It’s About Your Reaction on Your Fiverr Gig

When someone sees a negative feedback, they’re looking into the details and the way that you react. I’ve seen some sellers react in very negative ways and that does way more harm than good. Reacting like this shows that you’re not professional.

But you do need to give some sort of rebuttal. This shows your side of the story and what you’ve done to try and fix problems. It shows that you’re not completely to blame, but that you’re sorry you couldn’t please the buyer this time. That puts the faith back in you as a seller for future buyers.

Hopefully that gives you a little more insight into negative feedback on Fiverr gigs. They don’t have to mean the end of your Fiverr gig, but it all depends on other factors.

If you’ve been hit with negative feedback and would like to improve your Fiverr gig, why not purchase my gig to help you? I will offer a comprehensive report looking into many different aspects of your gig, including the description, title and tags, to help improve your chances of sales.

Fiverr Seller Tips: Handling Negative Feedback

I just received another negative review. It was from a demanding buyer, who chose to not give the right instructions in the first place and then not provide the necessary information to revise the product.

It became clear that the buyer didn’t appreciate the work that goes into finding resources and creating a quality product. He tried to claim that there were spun parts in an article and when asked for the bits he believed were like that (there weren’t any), he failed to reply. That always raises alarm bells for me. It’s someone looking for a free product.

 I know plenty of Fiverr sellers in this position and they need help handling the negative reviews. I’ve given up giving into these sellers, so now I’m offering Fiverr seller tips on handling the negative reviews.

Don’t Respond Right Away

Unless you’ve already been back and forth like I have, you need to talk to the buyer first. There may have been a misunderstanding that has led to this negative feedback.

Go to the buyer as if you’re the one that’s made a mistake and apologise. That way you start on good terms to find out the exact problem. Don’t get irate. Simply listen to everything the buyer says. Not all are looking for free gigs. In fact, 99% of the time you’ll get very decent buyers who will talk to you beforehand about the work sent.

Leaving it before responding also gives you the chance to walk away and clear your head. You can think of a professional response.

Give Your Side

There are always two sides to every story. The biggest of my Fiverr seller tips when handling negative feedback is to share your side of the story, but keep it professional. Do not start attacking the buyer!

Explain the work you did, and the reason for the misunderstanding. Explain everything you did to try and avoid the negative.

There’s not much space, but I’ve often used it to explain how long it took a buyer to come back to leave feedback and any important factors in our conversations like misunderstandings and the buyer refusing to do something making my job harder.

Brush It Off

There’s no point worrying about one bit of negative feedback. Dropping a rating to 99%, especially if you have a good track record beforehand, should not be a major problem. I’ve seen people with hundreds of negatives on their profiles still sell and build their levels!

Brush the negative feedback off and chalk it up to experience. Could you have done something different that you’ll do next time? Is it a case of an unreasonable and unresponsive buyer?

Offer a Cancellation

If you’re really struggling with the feedback being there, you could offer a mutual cancellation. Make sure the buyer accepts it before it auto-completes, otherwise the negative will still be there. The best thing to do is set up a reminder to check the dispute a day or so later and abort it if there has not yet been a response.

The buyer may just wait for it to auto-complete, possibly knowing that the feedback will remain. If you abort it, you could get the buyer to come back to you and ask you about it. You can then make it clear that you expect the buyer to accept it, or it will be aborted again.

Another option is to get the buyer to state in a message that he/she will accept the removal of the feedback should there be a cancellation. You can then use that to talk to Customer Support after the refund to get the feedback removed.

Talk to Customer Support

Don’t give into bully buyers. There are plenty of them on the site (although not as many as the good ones from experience). Strangely enough, I’ve found other sellers on the site to be worse buyers than those simply looking to purchase something!

If you are dealing with a threatening buyer or someone who is breaking the Terms of Service, contact Fiverr Customer Support. Now you can’t just say “I want this feedback removed.” You need to state your case. Explain why you should have it removed, and make a copy of the bit of the TOS that has been broken.

Hopefully these Fiverr seller tips will help you with handling that negative feedback. It happens to the best sellers on Fiverr, so try not to worry about it too much.

What are your Fiverr seller tips for handling negative feedback? Share your thoughts and experiences in the comments below.