Fiverr Community Forum

Annoying buyer? keep complaining over and over

Your Fiverr Experience The Ranting Pot
#1

Hi! i have a children book illustration gig, and i’ve been kept being messaged by the buyer that claims my illustration is not fit to be uploaded on kindle. i tried to help him a few times (5 times revision precisely - after the order completed). i tried to follow the instruction and finally it is accepted by kindle.

but the following month the buyer is ranting and angry at me (again) that the books that are printed are showing red borders around it (even though i never applied any such thing). i’m very confused because i drawn multiples e-books and this never happened, i never do this many book formatting ever, everything went smooth.

i tried to offer him to try to hire the real book formatter gig etc, but he won’t and refused. because at this point, i don’t know what exactly i should fix.

i am very tempted to block this buyer. but somehow i felt the guilt, since this is the first time i have issues with any buyer ever. but on the other hand, i helped him multiple times

please share what should i do exactly.

7 Likes
#2

Guilt? What guilt? You should have blocked him right away. Order is complete, deal is done. Client starts creating problems, bye bye.

8 Likes
#3

Show him your original work file in its software and calmly tell him that you never put any layout borders ever, and that the printed book’s misprints are not your fault in any way, but the press’.

If he’s still unreasonably mad after that, then block him.

5 Likes
#4

yes i wish, because he thinks that any book illustrator should know how to format books. i think i know the basics, and the other buyers never seems to complain about how i format books.

i tried to follow to fix it by following kindle guidelines, and he informed me that they are finally accepted to upload. but i don’t know why the print result is failed…

i told him to try to complete this issue with the publisher side (i mean, why would they accept if the product will be failed?), but he keep saying that the size of the pages doesn’t fit

#5

i have, and the final product i sent is with no borders. but i don’t know, may be it is the publishing result… very confused over this

2 Likes
#6

Could be from the bleeding edge area.
It’s just my first thought.

1 Like
#7

Hi Michelle,

I am a book editor and I don’t think you should spend time on this buyer. Illustrating books has nothing at all to do with formatting books; it’s the buyer’s own problem and he should buy a book formatting gig if he doesn’t know the basics about uploading.

When you send illustrations, you should not be expected to format–or even to know how to. It’s not a part of an illustrations gig. It’s down to him to get the illustrations into the book.

I would block this buyer as an unpleasant and ‘entitled’ person and just not spend more time on them.

Annie

10 Likes
#8

yes, but it’s kind of weird because for the revisions process: it always get rejected over and over again by kindle.

and i don’t know why when the book is accepted (doesn’t it mean that i already done the requirements needed??). the print result is… well not good.

i don’t know man… this is so confusing, whether it’s miscommunication on the author and the publisher. i just feel that i got the blame for something that is unnecessary.

2 Likes
#9

yes i think so too. that is why i tried to help him as best as i could - because children book doesn’t contain a lot of editable texts.

i did say that i am very tempted to block this buyer, but i’m afraid since it’s a 500$ worth of order that he will report this to fiverr and i’m very scared to get refunded.

(he sounds really mad at me)

#10

The mistake is not necessarily yours.
The printer or the printer’s software could be not done a perfect job.
Or the they mismatched bleeding edge template with non-bleeding edge while setting up for printing.
There are many reasons for this case.
I just mention the bleeding edge, because it’s typically in book printing and they provide this red border as templates. But it’s just my thought where the red border came from and not an evidence.
As long as it’s not your fault than stand your ground.
The fault is not only cause by the seller.
I hope you will be free from headaches as soon as possible. Best wishes

2 Likes
#11

@michelleangelap

check this https://www.kdpcommunity.com/s/question/0D5f400000zxCeACAU/red-line-on-edge-of-image?language=en_US

And I am not some extra smart designer or book editor or publisher (I am but without the “extra” part) I just googled “book printed has red edge” .

Maybe more answers will come up in search but this one was first.

2 Likes
#12

I’d write something to the extent of “The artwork was delivered as per the specifications you’ve provided. It was also reformatted multiple times to retroactively fit the new upload requirements that came up later. The final artwork that was approved is once again attached here where it can be seen that it contains no red borders. I was extremely accommodating with this order. The issues you’re experiencing are on the publisher/printer’s side. Fixing or handling them is beyond my control and I can no longer be helpful with this.”

Then you block them and forget they ever existed.

I had someone claiming my artwork contained “ink spots” when printed (the digital version had no such things). I still don’t know if they were just clueless, ran out of a certain ink color in their printer or tried get a refund, but I reported the situation to CS and then blocked the person.

I can see that as per your gig descriptions, you offer illustrations and not books. Hence, you have zero obligation to deal with this nonsense.

5 Likes
#13

Though the book and cover illustration gig is on hold and doesn’t show on the profile. That gig provides “basic formatting only”.

I’d ask him to check if it’s like that on the preview or only on the printed book. If it’s like that on the printed book only, not the preview, it might be a printing error (though sometimes a line can show on the .pdf preview but not on the printed book it it’s too thin).

#14

In that case, add a screenshot of that, add a screenshot of the publisher’s requirements, add the screenshot of the document setup page (along with the approved artwork without the red borders). Circle all the measurements on all the screenshot to showcase that they match, block the person.

1 Like
#15

Once the order is complete, you aren’t obligated to continue working. If they want more changes they can pay up. I’d say put in a ticket with CS for safe measure and block this person.

#16

hi! thanks for this info! and this is why i thought that a real book editor is really needed in this case :frowning:

#17

actually, i just added that description for my gig yesterday since i’m traumatized for this issue :frowning:
so there will be no misunderstanding with my future clients.

thanks for these info both of you :slight_smile:

#18

to be honest i just recenty active on fiverr this year, and i’m kind of confused and worried what if he is angry when i block him? and can i even submit the ticket if there are still no refund case?

until this day, the buyer is not replying to my chat anymore (2 days unreplied)

how exactly a seller defend their selves in this scenario?

#19

I read everything here and I understand people saying for you to ban to this and that, but like you said risking 500$ is not a easy thing to do. The trick here is no matter how helpful you become and do the extra work that you do not have to need to or has anything to do with you (because it is obviously some settings on his end that is producing red lines) he can tomorrow, after a month or after 6 month when his book has no sales or income, to reach the conclusion “let me get my money back”. And we know Fiverr is 50/50 in those situations. You could win or you could lose.

That is why I make emphasis to write everything to tiny detail in my offer, and requirements.

It is not a fair comparison but right now I have an order 10$ that was made by someone who did not contact me, he clicked on wrong package, and no replies what so ever. I draw him custom artwork because I can do it fast (they do not know this neither would I say that I can do same work as some designers in 80% less time). He verified when making order that he contacted me, that he knows I live in Europe and work only daytime, that he is OK with the pricing and what will be delivered (not a vector file, he stated in message he want vector, but did not selected it).
It is all clear black on white. If he goes “cancel” “refund” he is not going to get it since I have all my requirements set out he just can’t get refund if I delivered exactly as described.
I feel no remorse that I make my clients click on 10 mandatory questions and reply to get the order starting…

#20

yes, this issue is a learning point for me :frowning:
i will add a bunch of details from today on.

since i’ve done around 100 orders and never get this deep of misunderstanding before.
to be honest this is the first issue ever i got since i’ve been working on fiverr. and the risk is very much, 500$ is a month workload for me.