2.7 RATING. Yeyyyy!

mjaninea · February 15, 2021, 9:37pm

Okay, so it’s me again with another low rating. This is getting frustrating, seriously…

This buyer purchased a wedding logo and sent me one of my previous works and another photo telling me she wanted a particular thing from my previous work and another detail from the other photo. I followed the instructions, she didn’t indicate anything else. I sent her the first draft which she didn’t like. She said she wanted the exact same fonts I have used in my previous works. Okay. So I edited it and sent it to her. She said she didn’t like the font. There were two fonts used in the wedding logo and she said they didn’t match (but those were actually the ones I used in my previous work that she loved). And so the story goes on and on and on. I have spent hours searching for a font she would like. Until I finally found it and she tells me that’s perfect and was very happy about the final product. In fact this is her reply after the delivery:

THEN, she asked me to send her the fonts. I usually hesitate in sending the fonts to the buyers, specially when they purchase just the basic package. And so I told her I don’t usually send the fonts, but this time I’ll do. And she tells me “other buyers have no problem in sending the fonts”. And after a while she leaves a review. How I wish I have blocked her right away after delivering the work. SHE LEFT THE LOWEST RATING I HAVE EVER RECEIVED - 2.7… Oh gosh I’m sure this will affect my stats. I hate this.

marinapomorac · February 15, 2021, 9:50pm

THIS is scary and shocking to read. Especially over such a simple logo.

It makes me wanna change all my GIG mandatory requirements and add another question where they have to type 5 concrete sentences or do 50 pushups before order start just to activate their brain cells.

This will hurt you for sure. My account was hurt with just one 4 (5,5,4) I had orders on that GIG constantly and now nothing. I get orders on others but the main one has dropped.

This is the wrong wording. In logos, you are not typing you are drawing. License for a logo doesn’t extend to the typography used in font.
For example, if I created logo text that is in a form of certain typography that is usually paid I can do it because I am drawing letters not typing them. License is paid for a font, not typography.

This is horrible and I truly hope you recover quickly. Everyone here is scared of this moment. I think once you get over this it will be easier to work on Fiverr, you just have to push through.

Also, I hope you have your landing page and studio promoting you, not “you on Fiverr”.
You are a designer, not Fiverr designer.

I am trying to make it for my studio but I keep getting long projects.
You should have told here you do not type logos, you draw them. Even for final delivery logos must be converted to objects so in case of end user doesn’t have a matching font on his computer it would not matter.

mjaninea · February 15, 2021, 10:03pm

Thank you so much for replying to me! I know this is gonna affect my stats and it’s soooo sad. Specially when you try to give you best in every project. Plus, this is not a very nice period for me on Fiverr, I haven’t been getting the usual flow of orders for the past 1-2 weeks. And then, this… Ugh.

I know maybe I should have just sent her the fonts, but I’m an overthinker and she was asking me for the font even when I hadn’t delivered the order yet. After sending her the second draft with the requirements she sent me, she said she didn’t like it and asked me to change the initial font she requested… but then she asked me if I could send her the initial font anyway and I was like, why?? If you don’t like it, why do you want it? So I started thinking that maybe she wanted to get the font so she could work on it on her own or ask someone else to do it and cancel the order she had with me. So I didn’t answer her question and just sent her another concept. I forgot to mention that in the end, I delivered the logo with the initial font she requested. So all that re-searching for a font she would like for NOTHING. Or better, for a 2.7 review…

I am not saying I wanted a 5 star review. I understand we cannot please everybody, but for the way I worked, for the hours I spent working on her logo, I really don’t think I deserved a 2.7 rating…

Thank you for this! But as of now I am working only here on Fiverr and don’t have my own landing page… I would not know where to start, honestly.

katakatica · February 15, 2021, 10:08pm

I didn’t mean to meddle - checked out the review and it’ll definitely affect you (but hopefully not in the long run!) Is there a chance that there was some sort of miscommunication going on? People from that country (I AM ONE) tend not to speak English well (there are exceptions, but…) aand I can see them not really understanding how ratings can hurt you (or just not caring). I do notice that some people automatically rate you lower if you have to do even just one quick revision - I don’t see HOW that works in all genuine honesty (I’d rather do some back and forth to create something cool…
Anyway, I’m sorry for your experience! (PS.: I’m not Italian, only fiverr thinks haha)

mjaninea · February 15, 2021, 10:15pm

Hello! Thanks for your words. I really thought you were from Italy, then I read the PS. Haha!

Anyway, maybe at first there was a miscommunication, because she told me she only wanted specific details from the samples, when in reality she wanted it almost exactly the same. But then after that she just didn’t like the font and wanted another one, only to end up delivering one of the first drafts.

I actually prefer creating drafts and send them to the buyer to understand if we’re on the same boat. That has always worked well for me, until today. In fact in the review she says that “we had a long journey till we had the final version”. That’s because I sent her different concepts and she always wanted a different font. Ugh.

Anyway, thank you so much! I hope it will not affect me in the long run too. But right now I feel so frustrated and unmotivated.

marinapomorac · February 15, 2021, 10:33pm

And this is where you learn to never EVER mention FONT. Designers do not use the font, we use typography.

She doesn’t know the difference between font and typography or typeface so your answer to her when she said “give me font” should be “What font? I am drawing the logo, not typing it”

Don’t. As you see here Fiverr fluctuates and you as the freelancer can not “keep all eggs in one basket”.
So far I get most of my orders here but as soon as I noticed how one 4 can impact your income I learned my lesson and started to think about more options online.

Fiverr is still the best, though. I like the “they search for me” concept rather than me applying for projects that means I have to be online all the time and refresh to catch a good one.

This is what happened to me after one 4 (4,5,5) the order in between was my returning client so I am skipping that one. So basically I was gone due to 4, you do not get messages or orders so I pumped up my promotion like crazy on Twitter and all over, especially during Super bowl and now it is getting momentum.

looseink · February 15, 2021, 10:29pm

I wouldn’t worry about it.

You did exactly as the Buyer wanted.

Clearly, the Buyer eventually had no clue what they wanted.

What caught my attention the the response you received upon saying you don’t share fonts.

When she said “other buyers have no problem in sending the fonts” that would have been a red flag to me that you are being played by someone who has placed the same kind of order with several sellers looking for the best result.

As for the 2.7 rating, it’ll get buried after you get some more 5’s and 4’s.

marinapomorac · February 15, 2021, 10:55pm

Just a little math for you. It is necessary that you get 250 orders with all 5* to get to 4.9 average on that GIG.
Maybe consider (PLEASE DO NOT LISTEN JUST ME BUT DO SOME RESEARCH on the forum) deleting that GIG and starting new one. You will keep the bad review in your overall profile but not on the GIG itself. Basically the negative will be covered by the 5* you have on your profile.
Even if the person clicks to see negative it will not be connected to any of your GIGs.

If this was your main GIG I would not suggest this but you have only two reviews so it should not be a big loss to start over on that one.

Also your reply to her is too emotional. When you are responding to negative review you do not address the message to the person who left the review you are talking to the future client considering to buy from you or not, so wording should be “This client asked for logo to be made as per sketch and when it was presented as such she changed her mind. I offered multiple revisions and accommodate the buyers whimsical approach towards logo design, and she liked the end logo but demanded fonts to be delivered. Designers do not sell font, and we use typeface.”

mattboa · February 15, 2021, 11:25pm

Ahhh, you see, you got a backstabber: nobody has also rated her in the past or she’s lying. And she says all the sellers send her fonts (including probably paid stuff nicked from the internet) - from this you know she’s a pest or she’s, again, lying and coaxing you to send it to her. She’s given you a 2.7 out of spite, not because she dislikes the work, she’s probably going to use it along with another font in a flyer for her wedding or whatever.

But you did a biiiiiiig mistake answering to her like that…

You got a bad apple but you really shouldn’t have replied with that tone, rule number one when getting a negative review is not to panic. CS may play it in favour of the buyer* if they read that, IDK if you dug your own grave with it but I’m very sorry.

*This because if she wanted you to send licensed fonts, it could’ve been fit for reporting, and what she did is not nice anyways. “The buyer gave me a 2.7 for not pirating fonts for her” could’ve been a deal sealer on the cancellation of that review.

benedictrm · February 16, 2021, 12:03am

If anyone asked me to send the the Font, I would decline. I may send them the name of the Font to go google and download if it is a freebie. It is not appropriate to have become a software distributor when a graphic designer.

Let them make their own agreement with the font Developer/Owner, otherwise you are potentially in breach of the TOS of the font people.

“Other people do it” is just bullying. When people try that “poop” with me I just remind them that these “other people” are people who are not professional and I cannot stoop to that level. If dishonorable in one thing, probably dishonorable in all tings ;-). If they want my quality of work, they need to behave appropriately. No loss when they leave.

mjaninea · February 16, 2021, 8:08am

Thank you so much to everyone for taking your time to read and reply!

Thanks @marinapomorac for all the advices! I was actually “studying” my profile last night and also thought of deleting the gig since it has a 3.8 rating now, while fortunately all my other gigs are good. I have 1 order in queue right now in this gig, so I think I’ll complete that and then consider deleting the gig.

Thank you so much for this! I will consider this! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

@looseink Thank you for your comforting words! I really hope it will not affect my profile, even though I think it will. But I’ll try my best to keep going and be more aware of those kind of buyers.

During the order process, I visited her profile and noticed too that she never had reviews. She’s been a member since 2017 but never got a review as a buyer, so I thought she generally doesn’t leave feedback. But she did, with me.

Thanks! That’s exactly what I did, I did not send her anything. I just gave her the name of the font, and after that she left the review, so I think that’s what she got mad about.