4 out of last 5 buyers were scammers. Is it really this common in online freelancing?

[anishdhakal718]

Hello everyone. I am not new to freelancing but I am new to online platforms like Fiverr and freelancer. Two of them were from Fiverr and the other two from the freelancer website. Everybody has their own techniques. Some straightly ask for hundred dollars before a data entry project. Others just want to bypass the Fiverr platform and communicate via messaging and emails. Some ask for account details and others want to sign an unusual contract outside Fiverr. One person asked me to only message him on WhatsApp and not to call. There was a so-called buyer who wanted to remotely access my laptop and bank account for his work.

[merkifx]

Unfortunately there is just some people out there who will be on this platform to abuse however I am sure they will be caught I hope you get it sorted friend.

[xplortec]

Not sure, But yes it is true that very little amount of buyers really follow the proper way of communication.

[anishdhakal718]

Unfortunately there is just some people out there who will be on this platform to abuse however I am sure they will be caught I hope you get it sorted friend.

Thank you merkifx. I have reported them all. Never thought my first post would go like this.

[merkifx]

Thank you merkifx. I have reported them all. Never thought my first post would go like this.

Very sad that your first post had to be like this. But more outraged at the fact with everything going on in the world surrounding covid 19 when people are struggling most for money there is people out there scamming. Report them hopefully the admins deal with it for you 🙂

[anishdhakal718]

Not sure, But yes it is true that very little amount of buyers really follow the proper way of communication.

Very true. But I think there is a difference between poor communication and luring sellers outside fiverr for a scam.

[anishdhakal718]

Very sad that your first post had to be like this. But more outraged at the fact with everything going on in the world surrounding covid 19 when people are struggling most for money there is people out there scamming. Report them hopefully the admins deal with it for you 🙂

I’ll surely do it. Thank you for your kind words. Stay safe.

[mrs_write]

It’s true there are scammer buyers now and then on these platforms, but I don’t know if this occurs that often or it was just an unhappy coincidence that you encountered so many lately. From what I’ve read and discussed here, almost every experienced seller has had at least one such encounter at one point.

Apart from what you said, from my own experience, other scamming methods include buyers messaging you with a job proposal, conditioned by you delivering a part of the work as a free sample, so they “can check if you are eligible for the project”, after which they simply ghost you, OR buyers who abuse the revision button (it doesn’t matter how many free revisions you offer, or if you even do that), keep asking for modifications, change their requirements each time, and, after you perhaps did twice or thrice the job for only the initial fee, end up asking for order cancellation.

Be careful with such red flags and, when possible, in the first situation, try to direct them to your portfolio on your gig page rather than provide a large amount of free samples.

Other than that, there are plenty of honest, great buyers out here (the majority of the buyers, I’d say), who appreciate sellers’ work, offer tips, don’t ask for unnecessary revisions etc. I hope you will not encounter (too many) other scammers from now on!

[anishdhakal718]

It’s true there are scammer buyers now and then on these platforms, but I don’t know if this occurs that often or it was just an unhappy coincidence that you encountered so many lately. From what I’ve read and discussed here, almost every experienced seller has had at least one such encounter at one point.

Apart from what you said, from my own experience, other scamming methods include buyers messaging you with a job proposal, conditioned by you delivering a part of the work as a free sample, so they “can check if you are eligible for the project”, after which they simply ghost you, OR buyers who abuse the revision button (it doesn’t matter how many free revisions you offer, or if you even do that), keep asking for modifications, change their requirements each time, and, after you perhaps did twice or thrice the job for only the initial fee, end up asking for order cancellation.

Be careful with such red flags and, when possible, in the first situation, try to direct them to your portfolio on your gig page rather than provide a large amount of free samples.

Other than that, there are plenty of honest, great buyers out here (the majority of the buyers, I’d say), who appreciate sellers’ work, offer tips, don’t ask for unnecessary revisions etc. I hope you will not encounter (too many) other scammers from now on!

Thank you mrs_white for the tips. I hope I would find much more genuine buyers than these ones. Stay safe.

[websitedesignkd]

Damn i heard this for the first time previously i knew that these kind of stuffs happens in social media and all but in freelancing website ! This is harsh 🙂

[humanissocial]

Those aren’t buyers. They were never going to buy from you so they don’t count.

If you mean why do you get so many spam messages, who knows. If you get more scams than legit buyers it’s more a reflection of your business strategy than of Fiverr. Maybe you’re superfluous in your market. Have you researched to see how many competitors you have here offering the same thing you do? Not something you can blame on Fiverr.

You’re selling writing but you write poorly. That may also be why you aren’t getting buyers. Reflect on your performance instead of asking if Fiverr is the cause of you not getting buyers. Your grammar isn’t even correct in your gigs. Why would someone hire a writer whose grammar is incorrect? It would make no sense.

[misscrystal]

A buyer told me another seller told him to pay him off fiverr and not deal with him on fiverr so he did he said. I was shocked. Also at the buyer’s attitude to it, like he saw nothing wrong with it.

[financialquazar]

I ignore all those scammers and focus on the people that are looking for help. they make it worth it.

[anishdhakal718]

Damn i heard this for the first time previously i knew that these kind of stuffs happens in social media and all but in freelancing website ! This is harsh 🙂

This happens a lot in social media groups. I joined and left few of them as they were just for exchanging gigs and favorites.

[humanissocial]

Yeah I’m gettin scammed non-stop and support is aiding them. I have reason to believe support members are part of it with their buddies. Have had $50 orders washed down the drain without a blink from Fiverr support, and them attacking me over it.

Or maybe the platform has poor spam filtering and poor moderation and word gets around that it’s easy to spam here? Not sure why you would baselessly conclude a conspiracy when there are a dozen legitimate explanations and incentives for the high prevalence of spam.

And there is no way Fiverr staff members could get away with this. All messages are trackable. There are also many reasons why they wouldn’t care when you report it. Doesn’t mean they’re in cahoots with scammers…

[bear7890]

Or maybe the platform has poor spam filtering and poor moderation and word gets around that it’s easy to spam here? Not sure why you would baselessly conclude a conspiracy when there are a dozen legitimate explanations and incentives for the high prevalence of spam.

And there is no way Fiverr staff members could get away with this. All messages are trackable. There are also many reasons why they wouldn’t care when you report it. Doesn’t mean they’re in cahoots with scammers…

Hey just wanted to say thanks for your opinion there. It’s really strange though, and I don’t really agree with it whatsoever. I’m happy that you felt it was a good idea to share it if that was able to make you happy in some way. Anywho, have a nice night.

[misscrystal]

People hate when you don’t agree with them.

[anishdhakal718]

Those aren’t buyers. They were never going to buy from you so they don’t count.

If you mean why do you get so many spam messages, who knows. If you get more scams than legit buyers it’s more a reflection of your business strategy than of Fiverr. Maybe you’re superfluous in your market. Have you researched to see how many competitors you have here offering the same thing you do? Not something you can blame on Fiverr.

You’re selling writing but you write poorly. That may also be why you aren’t getting buyers. Reflect on your performance instead of asking if Fiverr is the cause of you not getting buyers. Your grammar isn’t even correct in your gigs. Why would someone hire a writer whose grammar is incorrect? It would make no sense.

They were called potential buyers since they registered here and told Fiverr that they wanted to make a purchase. Besides, I am not blaming anyone. I just wanted to create my first post but didn’t want to create “Hi. I am new here.” ones. Rather, I genuinely wanted to know whether this is so common in online freelancing and what tips other users have to offer to avoid those mistakes. You do not have to be so rude and attack everyone personally who disagrees with you. Human is not only social but also kind, considerate, compassionate, helpful, and tolerant of other humans who might be completely different from them.

If you never had such an encounter, you can safely ignore the post and continue your amazing work! Nobody forced you to comment here. For your kind information, I am not a native English speaker and I have learned everything on my own. No special classes, amazing teachers, or mentors. And I am constantly learning everything I could in each domain. That is the basic essence of evolution. This is my first month on this platform and I offered services related to medical writing, translation, data entry, and others. I would say this again. Feedback should never be regarded as an accusation. If you have time and energy to point out the better version of my gigs, I’d surely change it. That’s what feedback is meant for. Not to spend time defending something you could have better spent correcting it if the feedback was genuine. Thank you for the warm welcome btw!

[anishdhakal718]

I ignore all those scammers and focus on the people that are looking for help. they make it worth it.

I will do the same. Thank you.

[misscrystal]

They were called potential buyers since they registered here and told Fiverr that they wanted to make a purchase. Besides, I am not blaming anyone. I just wanted to create my first post but didn’t want to create “Hi. I am new here.” ones. Rather, I genuinely wanted to know whether this is so common in online freelancing and what tips other users have to offer to avoid those mistakes. You do not have to be so rude and attack everyone personally who disagrees with you. Human is not only social but also kind, considerate, compassionate, helpful, and tolerant of other humans who might be completely different from them.

If you never had such an encounter, you can safely ignore the post and continue your amazing work! Nobody forced you to comment here. For your kind information, I am not a native English speaker and I have learned everything on my own. No special classes, amazing teachers, or mentors. And I am constantly learning everything I could in each domain. That is the basic essence of evolution. This is my first month on this platform and I offered services related to medical writing, translation, data entry, and others. I would say this again. Feedback should never be regarded as an accusation. If you have time and energy to point out the better version of my gigs, I’d surely change it. That’s what feedback is meant for. Not to spend time defending something you could have better spent correcting it if the feedback was genuine. Thank you for the warm welcome btw!

I see you are also the original poster. edit: sorry I got this thread confused with the other thread on this topic. I was thinking bear was the original poster.

[anishdhakal718]

A buyer told me another seller told him to pay him off fiverr and not deal with him on fiverr so he did he said. I was shocked. Also at the buyer’s attitude to it, like he saw nothing wrong with it.

Probably to avoid Fiverr fees but could be a scam as well.

[misscrystal]

Probably to avoid Fiverr fees but could be a scam as well.

I think it was both actually. I was mostly surprised by how casual the buyer was about it.

[humanissocial]

They were called potential buyers since they registered here and told Fiverr that they wanted to make a purchase. Besides, I am not blaming anyone. I just wanted to create my first post but didn’t want to create “Hi. I am new here.” ones. Rather, I genuinely wanted to know whether this is so common in online freelancing and what tips other users have to offer to avoid those mistakes. You do not have to be so rude and attack everyone personally who disagrees with you. Human is not only social but also kind, considerate, compassionate, helpful, and tolerant of other humans who might be completely different from them.

If you never had such an encounter, you can safely ignore the post and continue your amazing work! Nobody forced you to comment here. For your kind information, I am not a native English speaker and I have learned everything on my own. No special classes, amazing teachers, or mentors. And I am constantly learning everything I could in each domain. That is the basic essence of evolution. This is my first month on this platform and I offered services related to medical writing, translation, data entry, and others. I would say this again. Feedback should never be regarded as an accusation. If you have time and energy to point out the better version of my gigs, I’d surely change it. That’s what feedback is meant for. Not to spend time defending something you could have better spent correcting it if the feedback was genuine. Thank you for the warm welcome btw!

There is nothing wrong with learning something and not being great it, unless you’re charging money for it and wondering why people don’t buy it…

You’re asking why you aren’t getting orders. I’m telling you. People don’t buy something from someone who isn’t proficient at the thing they want to buy…

[anishdhakal718]

There is nothing wrong with learning something and not being great it, unless you’re charging money for it and wondering why people don’t buy it…

You’re asking why you aren’t getting orders. I’m telling you. People don’t buy something from someone who isn’t proficient at the thing they want to buy…

I have freelancing experience in other domains and I know it too. There is a difference in not getting orders as a new seller and getting scam messages often. Please stop making assumptions. I am not wondering about getting a few orders as a fresher. I just want to know other’s experiences about the same. No one should stop learning even if they are leading experts in the field. Thank you for your message though. I made a few changes to my gigs. Thank you.

[humanissocial]

I have freelancing experience in other domains and I know it too. There is a difference in not getting orders as a new seller and getting scam messages often. Please stop making assumptions. I am not wondering about getting a few orders as a fresher. I just want to know other’s experiences about the same. No one should stop learning even if they are leading experts in the field. Thank you for your message though. I made a few changes to my gigs. Thank you.

You may still get scam messages but my point is that a higher ratio of your messages would be legitimate if you were visibly proficient at ALL of the things you are selling.

Seeing someone sell something they aren’t proficient at it still a huge red flag even if people are interested in other things you appear to be proficient. It hurts your image regardless.

If I’m a grocery store selling stale bread, you’re going to think poorly of me even if my other products are fresh.

On top of all this, you have literally thousands of competitors. Many of them are more proficient than you. So how would you even be discovered and why would you stand out against them?