At what point should I start ignoring messages?

[misscrystal]

I know I have to answer a message when it’s from someone I’ve never gotten a message from, even if they just say hi, but at what point should I just ignore them?

Recently, possibly from this forum, I have gotten a lot of people messaging me with a lot of
ongoing questions which are not ones that indicate they seriously want to order. It is just
daily ongoing messages such as hi, what do you do here, I need (x y z) done can you do that?
and when I say no, the next question is “then what do you do here?”

I have a hard time just refusing to answer people but is it justified in these cases?
Should I just not answer? It seems to encourage more and more of the same type of
pointless and never ending messages if I answer.

Suggestions for a scripted response that is polite but firm are welcome.

[writer99025]

I have a stock message for such cases - Inbox is only for business. If you need advice on issues related to selling on Fiverr, the Fiverr Forum is the right place for that, not this.

[misscrystal]

I have a stock message for such cases - Inbox is only for business. If you need advice on issues related to selling on Fiverr, the Fiverr Forum is the right place for that, not this.

Good idea. I will need to start using scripted responses much more.

[lynnehuysamen]

Thanks for this. I have gotten a few messages with people contacting me to chat about arb things, or people wanting advice on their gigs since they saw I got off to a good start here.

And while I do consider myself a friendly and helpful person, I really am here just to work and make sales. I am not here to chat or help others to move forward with their business. If someone wants help they should ask for it in the forum, not inbox people privately.

I find it incredibly annoying since I don’t want to ignore messages or not respond since that will affect my response time and response rate if I don’t jump to reply.

[catwriter]

@lynnehuysamen Inboxing you to ask for help with their gigs is spamming. You can click on the Report button for that (after using the scripted response). They might come to the forum to cry about their messaging suddenly getting disabled after that, but that’s not your problem. 🙂

@misscrystal When they say “Hi”, I ask them to tell me what they need (or, if I’m in a bad mood, I tell them that one or more of their messages must have gotten lost, because all I’ve received is “Hi”, there were no details about what they needed from me). “Please take a look at my services” might be a useful response to “What do you do here?”

[codecture]

Personally i would love to talk to everyone whether it’s just a Hi or a long story. I feel obliged that among all the sellers they chose me. If someone needs any guidance I help them. Yes it’s impossible to satisfy each and every person but we ca give it a try. 🙂

[lynnehuysamen]

@lynnehuysamen Inboxing you to ask for help with their gigs is spamming. You can click on the Report button for that (after using the scripted response). They might come to the forum to cry about their messaging suddenly getting disabled after that, but that’s not your problem. 🙂

@misscrystal When they say “Hi”, I ask them to tell me what they need (or, if I’m in a bad mood, I tell them that one or more of their messages must have gotten lost, because all I’ve received is “Hi”, there were no details about what they needed from me). “Please take a look at my services” might be a useful response to “What do you do here?”

Thanks for that @catwriter yeah the people that inboxed me were sweet and all but I do struggle with that. I really have such limited time to work as it is since I have my kids in playschool for only 4 hours a day and I blog on my 3 websites… and I manage all my own SEO, social media marketing, email marketing and now selling gigs. Having people inboxing me for chats and arb stuff would be no problem if I had all the time in the world but I just don’t have enough time in my day to even get through my own work…

[misscrystal]

Personally i would love to talk to everyone whether it’s just a Hi or a long story. I feel obliged that among all the sellers they chose me. If someone needs any guidance I help them. Yes it’s impossible to satisfy each and every person but we ca give it a try. 🙂

Try doing that 7 days a week for four years with over ten messages a day then tell me how you feel.

Some days I spend hours at it for no reward or income while I’m doing that, neglecting personal tasks.

I just need a better way to deal with messages so I’m looking for that now. I’ve gone overboard for years with giving advise and guidance to anyone who messages me.

[dijatul]

As I always ignore them . Because fiverr inbox isnt for chat or gossiping . For chatting, fighting , gossiping , Forum is the perfect place.

So I have my quick response that We can talk in Forum Not in here. I only use this box, only for business.

So , Lets start Fighting each other On forum 💘

Most of the time, They are so sad. They are single but for me not single, Sometimes more than 10+ in daily …

So annoying

You should use quick response …✈️

[codecture]

As I always ignore them . Because fiverr inbox isnt for chat or gossiping . For chatting, fighting , gossiping , Forum is the perfect place.

So I have my quick response that We can talk in Forum Not in here. I only use this box, only for business.

So , Lets start Fighting each other On forum 💘

Most of the time, They are so sad. They are single but for me not single, Sometimes more than 10+ in daily …

So annoying

You should use quick response …✈️

only ~5% users use forum.

[codecture]

Try doing that 7 days a week for four years with over ten messages a day then tell me how you feel.

Some days I spend hours at it for no reward or income while I’m doing that, neglecting personal tasks.

I just need a better way to deal with messages so I’m looking for that now. I’ve gone overboard for years with giving advise and guidance to anyone who messages me.

I’ve been a regular user of fiverr since March I know it’s really difficult. I remember when i started i was getting 20-25 new messages daily and i couldn’t convert them.

In your case best way to deal is with stock messages.

[mgjohn78]

To messages unrelated to your gigs, just respond with a custom offer - for $xxx i will help you with or discuss x

[misscrystal]

To messages unrelated to your gigs, just respond with a custom offer - for $xxx i will help you with or discuss x

Yes I’m leaning in that direction.

[divyagoel]

I receive that kind of messages very often,…but whenever i got that…just directly ask them…is there something related to work…and they don’t reply after that…but now i like the idea of scripted response so will use that from now…

[capitalquality]

I’m pretty quick to cut off conversation that isn’t going to be valuable I have to admit. Probably comes from the fact I used to be in a job where I got around 300 new emails a day and had over a hundred staff working for me.

I have several quick responses, they don’t always fit every message but if you want them, here they are:

If someone just sends a “Hi”, or “Are you there?” type message:
"Sorry, but I will need some details before I can respond to any request."
I just keep resending that if they don’t send me any information.

If they’re other sellers asking for advice on their own gigs:
“Thanks for your message, but I can’t provide individual assistance. I suggest you post your request on the Fiverr forum under ‘Improve my Gig’ or ‘Conversations’. If you haven’t already, read the academy pages and review existing posts on the forum. You’ll find some interesting information there that might cover your question.”

If they’re asking about what I do in general, not specific:
“Thanks for your message. Here is the link to my gigs on my profile. Please don’t hesitate to come back to me if you have any specific questions on any of the gigs.”

I have a general, covers a lot of other circumstances, one that I’ve labelled ‘Brush Off’:
“Sorry, but I won’t be able to help you with this.”

[misscrystal]

I’m pretty quick to cut off conversation that isn’t going to be valuable I have to admit. Probably comes from the fact I used to be in a job where I got around 300 new emails a day and had over a hundred staff working for me.

I have several quick responses, they don’t always fit every message but if you want them, here they are:

If someone just sends a “Hi”, or “Are you there?” type message:

"Sorry, but I will need some details before I can respond to any request."

I just keep resending that if they don’t send me any information.

If they’re other sellers asking for advice on their own gigs:

“Thanks for your message, but I can’t provide individual assistance. I suggest you post your request on the Fiverr forum under ‘Improve my Gig’ or ‘Conversations’. If you haven’t already, read the academy pages and review existing posts on the forum. You’ll find some interesting information there that might cover your question.”

If they’re asking about what I do in general, not specific:

“Thanks for your message. Here is the link to my gigs on my profile. Please don’t hesitate to come back to me if you have any specific questions on any of the gigs.”

I have a general, covers a lot of other circumstances, one that I’ve labelled ‘Brush Off’:

“Sorry, but I won’t be able to help you with this.”

Those are good ideas.

When you answer a few detailed questions then send a custom offer and they continue on asking more and more questions, which I have learned usually means they won’t order, what can I send them?

This happens a lot. They seem as if they are trying to get as much free information from me as possible. I know a lot of people are curious about what I do.

[capitalquality]

Those are good ideas.

When you answer a few detailed questions then send a custom offer and they continue on asking more and more questions, which I have learned usually means they won’t order, what can I send them?

This happens a lot. They seem as if they are trying to get as much free information from me as possible. I know a lot of people are curious about what I do.

At that point I usually decide that they’re going to be too hard to work for and send them:

“Thank you for your interest in my gigs. It seems as if you have a complex requirement, and unfortunately I don’t have the capacity to take your order. I wish you good luck with your project and I’m sorry I can’t help you in this instance.”

Under some circumstances, depending on the communication, I might suggest they order a sample gig and see how it goes.

I know a lot of people are curious about what I do.

This is something that happens to me too. I get people looking for free consultancy who would ask me what solution I think is best to solve their problem, then get someone cheaper to implement it. I even had that happen to me just a couple of days ago with a regular buyer and it really annoyed me. You just need to decide at what point you want to shut them down. I just send a standard message, even if it looks like a standard message and sounds blunt by that point. Maybe it’ll let them know they’ve been rumbled.

[misscrystal]

At that point I usually decide that they’re going to be too hard to work for and send them:

“Thank you for your interest in my gigs. It seems as if you have a complex requirement, and unfortunately I don’t have the capacity to take your order. I wish you good luck with your project and I’m sorry I can’t help you in this instance.”

Under some circumstances, depending on the communication, I might suggest they order a sample gig and see how it goes.

I know a lot of people are curious about what I do.

This is something that happens to me too. I get people looking for free consultancy who would ask me what solution I think is best to solve their problem, then get someone cheaper to implement it. I even had that happen to me just a couple of days ago with a regular buyer and it really annoyed me. You just need to decide at what point you want to shut them down. I just send a standard message, even if it looks like a standard message and sounds blunt by that point. Maybe it’ll let them know they’ve been rumbled.

then get someone cheaper to implement it.

Exactly right. Then they come back and say it didn’t work when they got it someplace else.

Some want to ask 100 questions and pretend they will get the offer I sent later so I will keep answering questions.

[emmaki]

At that point I usually decide that they’re going to be too hard to work for and send them:

“Thank you for your interest in my gigs. It seems as if you have a complex requirement, and unfortunately I don’t have the capacity to take your order. I wish you good luck with your project and I’m sorry I can’t help you in this instance.”

Under some circumstances, depending on the communication, I might suggest they order a sample gig and see how it goes.

I know a lot of people are curious about what I do.

This is something that happens to me too. I get people looking for free consultancy who would ask me what solution I think is best to solve their problem, then get someone cheaper to implement it. I even had that happen to me just a couple of days ago with a regular buyer and it really annoyed me. You just need to decide at what point you want to shut them down. I just send a standard message, even if it looks like a standard message and sounds blunt by that point. Maybe it’ll let them know they’ve been rumbled.

I tend to be more direct and blunt (and get no response, or ANGER back), but I think I shall C&P your responses and check them out. I’m too much of a smartass to be truly professional, which leads to bad “shut up, Emma” auto-responses which I post anyway, as it makes them a) go away or b) flip their shit, which is entertaining.

Also, sometimes I get dragged into conversation with the “hi” people who don’t understand the word “no” or sarcasm.

[misscrystal]

I tend to be more direct and blunt (and get no response, or ANGER back), but I think I shall C&P your responses and check them out. I’m too much of a smartass to be truly professional, which leads to bad “shut up, Emma” auto-responses which I post anyway, as it makes them a) go away or b) flip their shit, which is entertaining.

Also, sometimes I get dragged into conversation with the “hi” people who don’t understand the word “no” or sarcasm.

Today a nice lady kept saying she didn’t understand at all what it was I was offering so I said “spells” and she said what is that?

She was from Pakistan so I suppose it was a new word but I didn’t have the patience to answer her, since there have been so many lately who were confused and curious. I have spent hours in the past few days answering such questions, and very little comes of it in the way of orders.

[emmaki]

Today a nice lady kept saying she didn’t understand at all what it was I was offering so I said “spells” and she said what is that?

She was from Pakistan so I suppose it was a new word but I didn’t have the patience to answer her, since there have been so many lately who were confused and curious. I have spent hours in the past few days answering such questions, and very little comes of it in the way of orders.

You need some rapid responses. It’ll make your life a LOT easier. I’ll PM you.

[misscrystal]

You need some rapid responses. It’ll make your life a LOT easier. I’ll PM you.

Yes I’m at a loss about what to say in them.

[capitalquality]

Today a nice lady kept saying she didn’t understand at all what it was I was offering so I said “spells” and she said what is that?

She was from Pakistan so I suppose it was a new word but I didn’t have the patience to answer her, since there have been so many lately who were confused and curious. I have spent hours in the past few days answering such questions, and very little comes of it in the way of orders.

Perhaps you need an FAQ that defines what a spell is?

[emmaki]

I put a spell on you… because you’re mine

[capitalquality]

I tend to be more direct and blunt (and get no response, or ANGER back), but I think I shall C&P your responses and check them out. I’m too much of a smartass to be truly professional, which leads to bad “shut up, Emma” auto-responses which I post anyway, as it makes them a) go away or b) flip their shit, which is entertaining.

Also, sometimes I get dragged into conversation with the “hi” people who don’t understand the word “no” or sarcasm.

I had a conversation with a ‘hi’ person once when I was bored. And by conversation, I don’t mean conversation in the way that you or I might mean conversation. I matched every message by them with an appropriate one word or one phrase reply. They eventually went away after 14 exchanges. 🙂