Buyer Requests were one of my favorite features on Fiverr, and they were super useful for getting your first few clients as a new freelancer on the platform. But where can you find Fiverr Buyer Requests now?
You can’t find Fiverr Buyer Requests as of 2023, as the feature was removed from the platform in late 2022. Fiverr Buyer Requests have been replaced with the ‘Get Matched’ or ‘Get Briefs’ function, which uses AI to automatically match up buyers with relevant sellers.
Below, I’ll discuss why Fiverr has removed Buyer Requests from the platform, what this means for sellers, and my thoughts on the decision.
Are There Still Buyer Requests On Fiverr?
There are not still Buyer Requests on Fiverr, as they were removed around October of 2022. As I’ve mentioned above, they were replaced with the ‘Get Briefs’ function, sometimes called ‘Get Matched,’ and I’ll discuss that in more detail later. First, let’s recap what Buyer Requests were.
Buyer Requests allowed buyers to post specific requests for the services they needed. It was like a marketplace bulletin board where buyers could describe their project requirements and wait for talented sellers to offer their services.
Buyer Requests acted as a gateway for sellers to showcase their skills and win new gigs. Sellers could browse through the available requests and pitch their services to the buyers directly. It was an excellent way for new sellers to grab opportunities and kickstart their freelancing journey on Fiverr.
However, they’re no longer a thing on the platform, and you might be wondering why.
I have a Fiverr ebook all about my experience on the platform and how I used it to replace the income from my part-time job while still studying at university. I originally had a section in there all about Fiverr Buyer Requests as I found them to be a useful part of the platform for beginners, but obviously I had to remove that! You can check out the updated ebook here.
Why Did Fiverr Stop Buyer Requests?
Fiverr stopped the Buyer Requests feature to replace it with the Get Matched function, which uses AI to match buyers with relevant sellers. Fiverr likely made this change in an effort to make the platform ‘smarter’ and to make it easier for buyers to connect with the right freelancers.
With Buyer Requests, lots of freelancers would be shown the same requests, and they would all be able to send bids and pitches to the buyers. This no doubt overwhelmed a lot of buyers, and I imagine the Get Briefs function cuts down the number of people that can bid on each project.
Because the matching takes place through Fiverr’s algorithms, it means the platform filters the freelancers that can reach out to the buyers. With Buyer Requests, there was far more limited filtering, and as a seller I would see lots of requests that weren’t really relevant to the services I offer.
Fiverr is clearly trying to narrow down the matching process to make it more effective, but I’ll give my thoughts on how well they’ve done that soon. First, let’s give a few more details about the Get Briefs function that replaced Buyer Requests.
Fiverr’s Get Briefs Function Explained
Fiverr’s help center defines the role of the Get Briefs feature as follows:
“Get the highest quality orders from the most relevant buyers that are strategically matched to your specific service.”
They say it’s best for large, complex orders, and that it relies on AI to do the matching. They also claim it’s better than Buyer Requests, with a focus on matching buyers and sellers that are more aligned in terms of quality and budget level.
It takes into account things like your availability, skills, the niche you’re in, and your pricing to match you with buyers. You have no control over the matching process other than via the gigs you create, ensuring they’re high-quality and relevant to the services you offer.
It’s unclear how many other sellers will be matched to the same gigs as you, but Fiverr suggests it’s a fairly small number. As with Buyer Requests, you need to be quick with these, as buyers will likely get other offers in quite fast as well. You also need to offer a competitive rate in line with their budget and do a good job of selling why you’re the right person for the job.
The Get Briefs Process
Once you get matched with a buyer, you’ll be notified via the Fiverr app and by email. You can choose to create an offer or say you’re not interested (and you can give a reason for this, which I’ll explain more soon). Declining a brief won’t affect your performance metrics, and it won’t make you ineligible to receive future matched briefs.
You can pitch your services to the buyer like you would with Buyer Requests, and you can offer a price (which doesn’t have to be the same as their quoted budget). You’ll be notified if the buyer accepts your offer, if they cancel the brief, or if they close it after accepted another seller’s offer.
If they accept, it then moves forward as a normal order. But is this a good system?
My Thoughts On Fiverr Removing Buyer Requests
When I first started out on Fiverr, I got a few orders via the Buyer Requests function. However, I can’t say it’s where the majority of my orders came from, and it actually quickly got overwhelming as the platform started showing me more and more that I could pitch to (many of which weren’t great opportunities anyway).
But I’m well aware of many sellers out there who made their start on the platform via the Buyer Requests function, and a quick browse in forums will show you lots of people that aren’t happy with Fiverr’s decision to remove the feature.
However, other sellers will tell you that it was overwhelming, didn’t result in any meaningful orders, and was too competitive. I imagine as a buyer it was often overwhelming to get hundreds of pitches for your requests as well. But I can’t speak from experience there.
My Experience With Fiverr’s “Get Briefs”
What I can speak about from experience is how likely you are to get matched with a relevant buyer. I’ve had a handful of matches, and only one was relevant (which did result in an order). For some perspective, at the time I was offering website content creation services, specifically writing content (that was clear in the gig title, description, and search tags).
However, I was once matched with someone looking for me to actually build their website – totally unrelated!
So, I think it’s a bit of a mixed bag in terms of the matches you’re likely to get, and maybe over time the algorithm will improve. Each time I got an irrelevant match, I said I wasn’t interested and gave the reason that it wasn’t relevant to the services I offer. So, maybe it will get better at knowing what I do and don’t offer – we’ll have to wait and see.
Will It Make A Difference?
I don’t know if the Get Briefs function will help me much as a seller, but perhaps it will be useful for new sellers. But I feel the added layer of filtering on Fiverr’s part may make it more difficult for new sellers to get matches than Buyer Requests allowed for. But I remember at the very start not having access to many Buyer Requests anyway, so there may not be much difference!
Chris is the creator of Freelance Ready. He originally started freelancing (on Fiverr) while at university, writing and editing website content. He created this website to share his freelancing experience and help others on their own self-employed journeys. He is now a freelance SEO consultant and content editor. You can learn more about Chris here.
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