Dear Fiverr®
I’m Larry The Tech Guy, and every once in a while I use your platform to hire amazing freelancers that are highly skilled, very knowledgeable, and extremely talented. This has been a great experience, and I am actively looking to hire many more programming freelancers, as you have probably noticed. However, after all the value that Fiverr® delivers, I am left wanting just one thing, and that is what this open letter is about.
The Problems
Sometimes, I need a large project completed that requires me to hire multiple freelancers from Fiverr® and elsewhere. Even when hiring on Fiverr® alone, I find it to be quite a laborious, time consuming, and complex task to sift through request responses, organize freelancers based on skill, and differentiate between prospects and currently contracted freelancers. Yes, I know that the inbox and another system (I don’t know the name of it, but it’s where delivered projects are located) are virtually married together. I am aware of “staring” a message in the inbox. I am aware of the fact that all of the things that I have listed above can be done, but as mentioned, it’s a very slow and cumbersome task. Quite frankly, it has the end effect of making it take that much longer before I am able to come back on Fiverr® and hire the next round of freelancers I may need.
The other problem that I face that is solved by my workaround is the fact that you limit me to 2500 characters max when posting a request. The project I am currently hiring for, and future projects will require far more than 2500 characters, as you can see in this example: https://larrythetechguy.com/fiverr-project-night-owl/
My Current Workaround
A Quick Note
Before I explain the workaround that I currently use, please notice that my workaround has included and respected the Fiverr® Terms of Service as well as copyrights and trademarks. Also, notice that my workaround aims to keep freelancers within the Fiverr® Platform and Ecosystem. Please, read this letter to the end as I spent many hours putting everything together, and painstakingly made sure that I have followed all of Fiverr®’s rules. My workaround does touch a gray area of Fiverr®’s TOS, but that’s the reason for this letter. I am attempting to explain myself, my problem, my workaround, and my suggested solutions. I hope that you will find favor in me taking this approach, and not just shut me down.
The Workaround
Simply, my workaround is a simple form that is hosted on my website. All references to Fiverr® include the required “®” as per the Fiverr® Press Kit. I only collect the bare minimum information that I need in order to organize the teams that I build on Fiverr®. Once the form is completed, the user is directed straight back to https://Fiverr.com/ and is not given an option to navigate anywhere else. Please, see an example here: https://larrythetechguy.com/fiverr-project-night-owl/
This workaround allows me to organize freelancers as well as fully describe my project without a 2500 character limit while keeping 100% of all other communication on the Fiverr® platform. I even ask for the user’s Fiverr® Profile or Gig® link in order to have direct access to them on the Fiverr® Platform. I place these links into my web based dashboard for managing each project. Using my form allows me to automate the process of adding said data to said dashboard. This way I don’t have to burn precious time sifting and sorting by hand.
Proposed Solutions
I propose multiple possible solutions. They are as follows:
- Develop a system within the Fiverr® website that streamlines the process of hiring, managing, and organizing multiple freelancers simultaneously. Include the ability to build questionnaires that customers can send to perspective freelancers as well as actively contracted freelancers. Maybe have a separate area dedicated to only the current freelancers a customer has an open contract with, and make it easy to locate and use.
- Allow much greater than 2500 characters when crafting a custom request. I’m not sure why you chose an arbitrary 2500 char limit, but to each their own. I have successfully listed previous requests and found 2500 characters too be more than enough, however other times like now I find 2500 char to be nowhere near enough. Therefore, I am having to result to this method of treading the line of what you allow on your platform, and I don’t like it because I’m not sure how you’ll react. I am doing everything I can to keep you happy while also meeting the goals and deadlines that I have for such a large project.
- Alternatively, you could allow customers to use or even embed customer forms like the ones I am using, and specifically allow it in your Terms of Service so long as said form is compliant with the remaining Terms of Service.
Conclusion
In conclusion, I hope that Fiverr® will find this letter to be helpful. Overall, I am highly satisfied with my experience on Fiverr®, and only wish to help Fiverr® improve by providing my feedback. I hope this letter is met with warm welcome as it was written out of respect, appreciation, and a desire to synergize with a platform that I have come to be quite fond of. I have used Fiverr® sparsely in the past, but that changes starting with this project: https://larrythetechguy.com/fiverr-project-night-owl/
I hope to get to know what Fiverr® thinks about this open letter. Please, feel free to message me inside my Fiverr® Account (this way I know it’s authentic), or publicly reply with an open letter of your own.
Thank you very much, Fiverr® for your time, consideration, and the critical services that you provide.
To many successful years of business,
-Larry The Tech Guy