Buyer taking advantage....asking for additional tasks!

[vanomad]

Hi everyone,

I am new here! I received my first gig on Fiverr at the beginning of last week (yay!) however, they seem to be taking the p***

My rates are low ($5, for 3 hours within 3 days) as I’m trying to build a reputation - this dude saw me coming !!

The buyer messaged and asked if I would be able to sign up to a website for him if he provided me with the details. I said yes and agreed to the task and he proceeded to purchase my gig. Having signed up to the website, I had to complete a series of grammar tests on the website (this wasn’t agreed however I followed through because the buyer agreed to 3 hours work).

The account I signed up for became frozen and there was a delay in the sign up. I asked the buyer if he wanted me to write to the customer support team twice; I received no reply and because it was coming to the end of the gig, I submitted the ‘completion’. After the gig had finished, he messaged and asked if I would proceed to message the customer support. So I did this (after completion) and sent him a confirmation screenshot and said: any additional work, please continue to purchase another gig.

It has been a week now, and he now wants me to sign up another user to this website and only then he will ‘approve the gig’. To me, this is considered an additional task/gig… am I wrong ?? He wasn’t upfront about the amount of work that was required, I followed his instructions and completed the task and more already!

Maybe this is the typical newbie hustle… I am still learning the Fiverr etiquette, would someone in the Fiverr community kindly advise how I should have handled this situation and what I should do next ?

Much appreciated!
M

[lisahenriques]

Hello there 🙂
That happens a lot!
You did your task and more?
Kindly inform your costumer that your task is done!
The major question here is (does he have unlimited revisions?) If yes then you have got a problem.
Never, ever offer unlimited revisions! (learn this here with some forum folks 🙂)
Well, i guess you will have to do what he is asking for if you want to have a good review. Otherwise you can contact support and cancel order but that will affect your account 😕

[uk1000]

Hello there 🙂

That happens a lot!

You did your task and more?

Kindly inform your costumer that your task is done!

The major question here is (does he have unlimited revisions?) If yes then you have got a problem.

Never, ever offer unlimited revisions! (learn this here with some forum folks 🙂)

Well, i guess you will have to do what he is asking for if you want to have a good review. Otherwise you can contact support and cancel order but that will affect your account 😕

I agree, I’d remove “Unlimited Revisions” from the gig. Maybe have about 5 max.

Technically though I think revisions aren’t supposed to be for completely different tasks, they’re still supposed to be covered by what was originally put in the original requirements/what is described in the gig.

From Fiverr’s terms of service:

Buyers may use the “Request Revisions” feature located on the Order page while an order is marked as Delivered if the delivered materials do not match the seller’s description on their Gig page or they do not match the requirements sent to the seller at the beginning of the order process.

Also, if the order is complete, surely they can’t ask for modifications on the order page - only the message system.

If you think they’re abusing the revisions system, you could contact Fiverr Support (I think Fiverr support can contact the trust and safety team).

edit: Also, I agree with lisa, a bad review when it’s the first review/one of the first could be a lot worse than if it was after many good reviews, so basically you want the first reviews to be good to ensure the gigs do well. Having the first review(s) for a gig be bad might stop others from buying it.

As well as removing “Unlimited Revisions” from the gig (and replacing it with about 5 max), and possibly contacting CS if you think it’s necessary, maybe also edit the gig description/add an FAQ to be more specific about any tasks you will and won’t do (maybe like signing up on sites/signing up other users on sites etc.).

You could also set the price of the gig a bit higher as that might stop some of the people who might take advantage.

[vanomad]

Hi lisahenriques and uk1000,

Thanks so much for taking the time to reply to my post.

I have learnt my lesson, no more ‘Unlimited Revisions’, however as uk1000 pointed out, I agree that this is not a revision, it is completely different task.

I have completed the order however my funds are no longer visible, does the buyer have to accept on the other side (presumably) ?

I am trying to complete the additional tasks the buyer is requesting however, he is providing information for fake users. Obviously it will appear spammy to these websites, which is why the buyer is setting me up for failure 😦 and so making it impossible to satisfy him. Not only that, his language is very manipulative and verging on abusive. I’m not sure what to do at this point. 😟

[catzyjade]

Hi lisahenriques and uk1000,

Thanks so much for taking the time to reply to my post.

I have learnt my lesson, no more ‘Unlimited Revisions’, however as uk1000 pointed out, I agree that this is not a revision, it is completely different task.

I have completed the order however my funds are no longer visible, does the buyer have to accept on the other side (presumably) ?

I am trying to complete the additional tasks the buyer is requesting however, he is providing information for fake users. Obviously it will appear spammy to these websites, which is why the buyer is setting me up for failure 😦 and so making it impossible to satisfy him. Not only that, his language is very manipulative and verging on abusive. I’m not sure what to do at this point. 😟

Did the order auto complete? (it takes 3days from last delivery to auto complete the order) or did buyer accept your delivery if so you need to wait 14 days to clear the funds from fiverr.

[vanomad]

Did the order auto complete? (it takes 3days from last delivery to auto complete the order) or did buyer accept your delivery if so you need to wait 14 days to clear the funds from fiverr.

Thanks catzyjade… The buyer says: complete this additional task because the original outcome wasn’t to his liking and then he’ll “close the gig”. I clicked on deliver and complete, but I suppose I’m wanting to know if the buyer has anything ‘on me’ if I don’t keep carrying out these additional tasks ?

[uk1000]

Hi lisahenriques and uk1000,

Thanks so much for taking the time to reply to my post.

I have learnt my lesson, no more ‘Unlimited Revisions’, however as uk1000 pointed out, I agree that this is not a revision, it is completely different task.

I have completed the order however my funds are no longer visible, does the buyer have to accept on the other side (presumably) ?

I am trying to complete the additional tasks the buyer is requesting however, he is providing information for fake users. Obviously it will appear spammy to these websites, which is why the buyer is setting me up for failure 😦 and so making it impossible to satisfy him. Not only that, his language is very manipulative and verging on abusive. I’m not sure what to do at this point. 😟

I have completed the order however my funds are no longer visible, does the buyer have to accept on the other side (presumably) ?

Once you deliver an order you have to wait about 3 additional days for it to auto-complete (assuming no revision is asked for in that time. It won’t auto-complete if a revision is asked and the order is no longer in the “delivered” state. Once the revision is delivered it will be about 3 additonal days from then for it to auto-complete (assuming the buyer neither accepts/rejects it - eg. by asking for another revision). Or for the buyer to set the order to complete (by accepting the delivery I think). The buyer can also review it (accept and review it) which sets it to complete. The order has to be in the “delivered” state for the buyer to accept it (which can be as soon as it is delivered) or for it to auto-complete after about 3 days. That’s for normal orders.

The terms of service page has more info about this:

https://www.fiverr.com/terms_of_service

he is providing information for fake users. Obviously it will appear spammy to these websites, which is why the buyer is setting me up for failure 😦 and so making it impossible to satisfy him. Not only that, his language is very manipulative and verging on abusive. I’m not sure what to do at this point.

If you haven’t done so already, you could contact Fiverr Support about this. You can go to the main Fiverr site and at the bottom of the page, click on “Contact Support” and describe what you are being asked to do and what the buyer is saying. If there’s any messages that are abusive there should be a “Report” button next to/under them where you can either block the user or ask the “Trust and Safety team” to check the user I think.

Also, check the terms of service page above to see what it allows and doesn’t. Don’t do anything that would be against the terms of service of Fiverr or against the terms of service of the website he is asking you to create users on (if that website’s TOS says don’t do that, just don’t do it and you can tell him that Fiverr doesn’t allow users to break the terms of service of other sites (which I think is the case) or just say that you can’t break the terms of service of that site.

I think it’s probably most important that Fiverr’s Support is contacted about this order though, probably asap. eg. Contact support at the bottom of the main Fiverr site and submit a ticket. Maybe the option from the menu could be “Trust and Safety” or “Order” or something.

[catwriter]

Hi lisahenriques and uk1000,

Thanks so much for taking the time to reply to my post.

I have learnt my lesson, no more ‘Unlimited Revisions’, however as uk1000 pointed out, I agree that this is not a revision, it is completely different task.

I have completed the order however my funds are no longer visible, does the buyer have to accept on the other side (presumably) ?

I am trying to complete the additional tasks the buyer is requesting however, he is providing information for fake users. Obviously it will appear spammy to these websites, which is why the buyer is setting me up for failure 😦 and so making it impossible to satisfy him. Not only that, his language is very manipulative and verging on abusive. I’m not sure what to do at this point. 😟

I am trying to complete the additional tasks the buyer is requesting however, he is providing information for fake users.

That sounds like a dishonest task that almost certainly violates the Terms of Service of that website. You could get banned from Fiverr for that.

[vanomad]

I am trying to complete the additional tasks the buyer is requesting however, he is providing information for fake users.

That sounds like a dishonest task that almost certainly violates the Terms of Service of that website. You could get banned from Fiverr for that.

Thanks for your reply catwriter. I think you might be right. I do not want to participate 100%. How can I get out of this without cancelling the order and risking tarnishing my entire account ?

[catwriter]

Thanks for your reply catwriter. I think you might be right. I do not want to participate 100%. How can I get out of this without cancelling the order and risking tarnishing my entire account ?

How can I get out of this without cancelling the order and risking tarnishing my entire account ?

I’m not sure it’s possible.

You can try asking the buyer to give you an honest task, but it’s unlikely to work.

You can also contact Customer Support, explain the situation, apologize for doing something dishonest, promise never to do it again, and ask them to cancel the order.

[vanomad]

How can I get out of this without cancelling the order and risking tarnishing my entire account ?

I’m not sure it’s possible.

You can try asking the buyer to give you an honest task, but it’s unlikely to work.

You can also contact Customer Support, explain the situation, apologize for doing something dishonest, promise never to do it again, and ask them to cancel the order.

You can also contact Customer Support, explain the situation, apologize for doing something dishonest, promise never to do it again, and ask them to cancel the order.

I have sent a very long and detailed message to the support team. Let’s hope no other users have the unfortunate experience of having to deal with this buyer.

[vanomad]

I have completed the order however my funds are no longer visible, does the buyer have to accept on the other side (presumably) ?

Once you deliver an order you have to wait about 3 additional days for it to auto-complete (assuming no revision is asked for in that time. It won’t auto-complete if a revision is asked and the order is no longer in the “delivered” state. Once the revision is delivered it will be about 3 additonal days from then for it to auto-complete (assuming the buyer neither accepts/rejects it - eg. by asking for another revision). Or for the buyer to set the order to complete (by accepting the delivery I think). The buyer can also review it (accept and review it) which sets it to complete. The order has to be in the “delivered” state for the buyer to accept it (which can be as soon as it is delivered) or for it to auto-complete after about 3 days. That’s for normal orders.

The terms of service page has more info about this:

https://www.fiverr.com/terms_of_service

he is providing information for fake users. Obviously it will appear spammy to these websites, which is why the buyer is setting me up for failure 😦 and so making it impossible to satisfy him. Not only that, his language is very manipulative and verging on abusive. I’m not sure what to do at this point.

If you haven’t done so already, you could contact Fiverr Support about this. You can go to the main Fiverr site and at the bottom of the page, click on “Contact Support” and describe what you are being asked to do and what the buyer is saying. If there’s any messages that are abusive there should be a “Report” button next to/under them where you can either block the user or ask the “Trust and Safety team” to check the user I think.

Also, check the terms of service page above to see what it allows and doesn’t. Don’t do anything that would be against the terms of service of Fiverr or against the terms of service of the website he is asking you to create users on (if that website’s TOS says don’t do that, just don’t do it and you can tell him that Fiverr doesn’t allow users to break the terms of service of other sites (which I think is the case) or just say that you can’t break the terms of service of that site.

I think it’s probably most important that Fiverr’s Support is contacted about this order though, probably asap. eg. Contact support at the bottom of the main Fiverr site and submit a ticket. Maybe the option from the menu could be “Trust and Safety” or “Order” or something.

If there’s any messages that are abusive there should be a “Report” button next to/under them

Thanks for bringing this to my attention! I have since flagged a few of their inappropriate messages.

Also appreciate your explanation on the task delivery/auto-completion time 🙂