Buyers and samples

[rubywryte]

a supposed buyer sent me a message asking me for a sample article on an SEO topic, told him i didn’t have any the he told me to write an 800 word article as a sample for him to see, this is the 3rd time i’m receiving this kind of request from buyers.am just wondering… am i supposed to be writing 800 word articles as a sample???

[theslackjaw]

I would say no. If they ask for a sample, request they purchase a gig. It would be too easy for them to take what you send and use it free of charge. (I sometimes send samples free of charge in my VO work, but I use generic phrases like “The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.” in the VO style they want. Half the time I already have a recording to send along.) But if there is a chance they could use your sample instead of buying the gig, it is not out of line to ask for a gig purchase for a sample.



It may be a good idea to have a “sample” ready to go, that way you can just send that along right after they purchase the gig.



Good Luck.

[Guest joethorn]

If you’re really struggling for business, it’s up to you whether or not you’d want to do that in order to gain a sale.



Personally, as a fellow writer, I would never write a sample for anybody that size. That’s worth two of my gigs, and somebody wants it for free? I may write them a 4 line paragraph so they can see that English is my first language, but if that wasn’t acceptable, I’d have to say thanks but no thanks.

[catwriter]

That sort of a request is usually a scam to get articles for free.

[emasonwrites]

I’d definitely suggest preparing a single sample–something short, like @joethorn said, just a few lines–that you can send to anyone who asks for a sample. That is, send the same sample to each person who asks for one.



Don’t spend your time writing up samples for individual buyers. Someone who asks you to do something for free, as a “sample,” is likely not going to pay you for that transaction, nor come back and buy from you later. They already have what they want, why would they pay for it?

[alysmcdonough]

800 word “sample” for free? No way. Have value for yourself and for your time.

[designer_geeth]

guys, sorry for take your topic away. I join only 2 weeks ago and tried hard to get my first sale anyhow. 2 days ago i got my first job trough massage, he ask me weather i can do or not? since i new to fiverr and coz of my hunger to have a job I accepted the Job and started that. we had a long chat and i do revisions more than 5 times. anyhow we came to end and we finalized that logo. So i ask him to purchase my gig to handover the files. so he said that he don’t know how to pay. I told the way and he said he is on his paying process. so i upload all the files and sent him. but he didnt pay and after that he didn’t talk to me also. so wt can i do. i worked realy hard on that and end of the day i didn’t even got a positive feedback from him. I



is there anything that i can do.??

[arty182925]

If he wanted sample article, he wouldnt asked specific subject.



Same thing happen to me few times. Buyers asked me for sample excel files that are calculating this and that and that looks professional. And stuff like that.



I always say to them, I cant give my clients work, if you want my service take a look at reviews and you will see that people love what I do. And they never responde to that lol. They just want free work nothing more.



I had enough of working for free. Only thing I am giving to clients is quick draft of something they need, nothing more.

[rubywryte]

although sales hasn’t been good, but i value my time a lot. I’d rather watch tv with my time than write for free. thanks for the advice, was just wondering if i was doing the right thing. thanks once again.

[cdavis1988nov]

I wouldn’t I just had someone ask me for a sample today and you know what I did? I took a screenshot on my phone of some of the work. I feel like if you did write the article as a sample, he may steal it without paying. Start a blog or something and give him a link.