Another Fiverr seller is profiting from my work

[tsdaniels1]

I’ve come across another Fiverr gig, very similar to mine but more expensive. The reason I noticed it was because it was titled exactly the same as my gig and by someone that I recognise as one of my buyers. I realise now this person is buying my work to pass it of as his own. It’s not like he’s scamming me (he’s paying me for my work after all) but he is deceiving his customers fraudulently which is annoying - especially as like mine, his gig has achieved level 2 status and he’s getting good reviews. I feel like that credit should be mine!

He can’t be doing this only to me either as he only purchases maybe 2 gigs a month, yet he seems to be delivering at least 5 gigs a week as a seller. There must be others out there like me that he’s ripping off.

Does anyone have any experience of this? I’m guessing it’s considered bad form but would Fiverr support do anything if I were to report him?

[cyaxrex]

If he paid for it, it’s his work. All you can do either charge him more or refuse to work with him any longer. Fiverr is built on people outsourcing and reselling other peoples services. As is the world.

That said, you can add the words, “not for resale” to your gig descriptions and insist that in future, this person buys a commercial license from you if they want to sell your work as their own.

[Guest offlinehelpers]

You’re not actually being ripped off - you’re being paid for your work, and nobody’s being deceived.

He promises X to his clients, and his clients receive X.

If he were using your gig images and descriptions etc. then you would have cause for complaint, but not really otherwise.

You could add a commercial licence to your gigs, but I can’t find your profile to see if this would work well for you or not.

You could also just message him and ask him not to order from you again if you’re unhappy with what he’s doing.

[cyaxrex]

You’re not actually being ripped off - you’re being paid for your work, and nobody’s being deceived.

He promises X to his clients, and his clients receive X.

If he were using your gig images and descriptions etc. then you would have cause for complaint, but not really otherwise.

You could add a commercial licence to your gigs, but I can’t find your profile to see if this would work well for you or not.

You could also just message him and ask him not to order from you again if you’re unhappy with what he’s doing.

@offlinehelpers I see great minds think alike simultaneously. 🙂

[tsdaniels1]

But he’s saying my work is his work… It’s not sort of the same and outsourcing, the gig is literally word for word. He’s even copied my description (which he didn’t pay for).

[Guest offlinehelpers]

@offlinehelpers I see great minds think alike simultaneously. 🙂

[Guest offlinehelpers]

But he’s saying my work is his work… It’s not sort of the same and outsourcing, the gig is literally word for word. He’s even copied my description (which he didn’t pay for).

If he’s copied your description, and you’re not happy then yes, you could complain, or you could just ask him to change it and continue earning from his sales? 🙂

[catwriter]

But he’s saying my work is his work… It’s not sort of the same and outsourcing, the gig is literally word for word. He’s even copied my description (which he didn’t pay for).

He’s even copied my description (which he didn’t pay for).

You can ask him to change the description, or report him to CS.

[tsdaniels1]

To be honest he’s also a pain in the ass and I’ve asked him not to order from me before, as he couldn’t answer basic requirements (now I understand why - he doesn’t have the information). He’s continued to order from me anyway.

I think I’ll add a ‘not for resale’ clause like you suggest and contact him to change his description. Thanks everyone.

[saddu_writer]

To be honest he’s also a pain in the ass and I’ve asked him not to order from me before, as he couldn’t answer basic requirements (now I understand why - he doesn’t have the information). He’s continued to order from me anyway.

I think I’ll add a ‘not for resale’ clause like you suggest and contact him to change his description. Thanks everyone.

There are many sellers on fiverr who does that ( outsourcing ) including me. If you have got more on your plate then you can handle, then you outsource it to some other reliable seller, keeping some profit for yourself. If he paid you for that order, then its no longer yours.

There are some buyers who want everything under one roof. They want me to write their scripts as well for video.Of course I charge them extra for that. For that purpose, I hire other script writing gigs. Now do you think I am going to tell my buyers the names of those sellers so they can go and praise them for their scripts? It sounds dumb right.

In your case, if he mentions you that the work was done originally by you, don’t you think his buyers will stop working with him and will directly contact you. Is that what you want? It don’t make any sense. Who will want to give his/her buyers to someone else.

If you don’t like this thing, stop working with him. If he keep insisting, report him so that he wont contact you again. Simples.

About the gig description, do as @offlinehelpers suggested.

Cheers 🌺

[frank_d]

To be honest he’s also a pain in the ass and I’ve asked him not to order from me before, as he couldn’t answer basic requirements (now I understand why - he doesn’t have the information). He’s continued to order from me anyway.

I think I’ll add a ‘not for resale’ clause like you suggest and contact him to change his description. Thanks everyone.

If I were you I’d change my prices to match his own. If he can resell your service at a higher price point, then you deserve more, you just need to market yourself better.

Plus he won’t order from you again as you would effectively kill his margin, so it’s a win-win.

Sometimes being aggressive gets you places you deserve to go.

[eoinfinnegan]

Copying descriptions is not ok and you can report it.

However, if someone pays you for your work then it is not your work any more, its theirs and what they do with it is none of your business provided you have not got some agreement in place that limits what they can do with it.
You also have no idea what they do with their purchase after you send it to them. They could use it for their own projects, use your work as a basis for a much bigger job, completely rewrite your work 5 times and sell it to 5 different people.

You should not care what someone does with your work as long as they pay what you ask for it.
I sell to some agencies who charge much more than I do. I buy from people and use what they do as part of bigger jobs.
Bottom line is that if you want to charge what the other person charges then do so, nobody is stopping you but remember that you don’t know whether your buyer actually sells what you do for more or not - they may add value to it in some way so perhaps your work is not worth more after all.

[designerz_edge]

#Your work is his property as he paid for it. However copying description is illegal as @eoinfinnegan said above.

[eoinfinnegan]

#Your work is his property as he paid for it. However copying description is illegal as @eoinfinnegan said above.

I need to hire you to write titles for my comments

[designerz_edge]

I need to hire you to write titles for my comments

Sorry, we’ll mention your name. Happy now?

[eoinfinnegan]

Sorry, we’ll mention your name. Happy now?

Excellent, thanks. Attribution is sufficient for when someone hasn’t paid 😃

[fastcopywriter]

There’s no fraud, I know an American woman who lives in China and understands the Chinese market. She hires me and then shows my work to her clients. I did tell her before she ordered that I won’t make revisions based on her clients and she agreed.

[saddu_writer]

Sorry, we’ll mention your name. Happy now?

Looks like someone just discovered the Heading feature and having FUN with it. 😉

we’ll

How many are YOU. 😲

[myounas853]

Hi tsdaniels1,
In my opinion if you have issue with him, the best approach is to ask him directly and demand for extra amount, as after all he is taking credit of your Gig.
If things don’t sort out, you can ask to stop using your name.

[indieoven]

What bothers me is the fact that he has not being honest with you about the subject.

Yes, whoever pays owns the project.

But, for respect, ethic, or whatever nice word that should go here, you have the right to know your work is being sold under someone elses name.

I usually outsource some services like voice over, but i always give the client the option: Look i will hire someone at fiverr, you could either do it yourself or i will include it on the budget. If they want me to handle it, i let whoever i’ll be working knoe: hey, my client needs this and that…

Is how i like to work, is not a must. But i understand how you feel.

Why does it has to be accuard…i dont know…in video team work is very important and there are different roles involved in the process, i just think it is fair that the client is aware of whoever took part of the project. If not exactly who, at least recognise is a team is behind it and not one man army.

Sorry i went emotional here haha

[grydlynnes]

Hi tsdaniels1,

In my opinion if you have issue with him, the best approach is to ask him directly and demand for extra amount, as after all he is taking credit of your Gig.

If things don’t sort out, you can ask to stop using your name.

“demand for extra amount” on what basis?

[myounas853]

“demand for extra amount” on what basis?

After all that person is using her name, her fame 🙂

[around86]

Btw, what happened with your acc?

[grydlynnes]

What bothers me is the fact that he has not being honest with you about the subject.

Yes, whoever pays owns the project.

But, for respect, ethic, or whatever nice word that should go here, you have the right to know your work is being sold under someone elses name.

I usually outsource some services like voice over, but i always give the client the option: Look i will hire someone at fiverr, you could either do it yourself or i will include it on the budget. If they want me to handle it, i let whoever i’ll be working knoe: hey, my client needs this and that…

Is how i like to work, is not a must. But i understand how you feel.

Why does it has to be accuard…i dont know…in video team work is very important and there are different roles involved in the process, i just think it is fair that the client is aware of whoever took part of the project. If not exactly who, at least recognise is a team is behind it and not one man army.

Sorry i went emotional here haha

I think the comments above have done justice to the matter. I believe OP is pained by the thought that she’d been undervaluing her gigs to the Buyer. Simple matter. Just as suggested above, she either stops dealing with this Buyer or she hikes her gigs prices to their right values. Payments for the gigs effectively transferred ownership to Buyer and what he does with the purchases are entirely his. She just has no case whatsoever (except for the copying of her gig descriptions). If I were in her shoes, I’ll do a study on how to net such high-paying clients that her smart Buyer deals with.

[lisabaarns]

What bothers me is the fact that he has not being honest with you about the subject.

Yes, whoever pays owns the project.

But, for respect, ethic, or whatever nice word that should go here, you have the right to know your work is being sold under someone elses name.

I usually outsource some services like voice over, but i always give the client the option: Look i will hire someone at fiverr, you could either do it yourself or i will include it on the budget. If they want me to handle it, i let whoever i’ll be working knoe: hey, my client needs this and that…

Is how i like to work, is not a must. But i understand how you feel.

Why does it has to be accuard…i dont know…in video team work is very important and there are different roles involved in the process, i just think it is fair that the client is aware of whoever took part of the project. If not exactly who, at least recognise is a team is behind it and not one man army.

Sorry i went emotional here haha

I usually outsource some services like voice over, but i always give the client the option: Look i will hire someone at fiverr, you could either do it yourself or i will include it on the budget. If they want me to handle it, i let whoever i’ll be working knoe: hey, my client needs this and that…

Right on! I have tons of video creators who buy VO from me. And it goes the other way, some of my VO clients ask if I know video, whiteboard or script writers.

Sometimes I manage the whole job (and charge for that), sometimes I just send the business to those other Fiverr sellers… All of which I’ve worked with many times in the past, sometimes as their subcontractor, sometimes I’m subcontracting them.

@tsdaniels1: If your prices are low enough, some people will buy your work and resell it. You can raise prices, or have a commercial license fee or keep doing what you’re doing. Life in the freelance biz.

I do agree it’s not cool/appropriate to pretend they are you and use your gig info. That’s different. That’s a matter for CS to sort out.