Buyers Scamming Sellers Like This. Sellers Beware

[ninjagrizzzly]

I got a message from a buyer, he wanted me to make a 3D model for his iOS game (pretty believable). He said it was his first time using Fiverr, and his account was made less than a month ago. I guided him on how to use Fiverr but he seemed to do everything without my help (pretty suspicious)

When he ordered, he was saying stuff like, “This is so good! This is perfect, ok, now I want you to make this,” and he just kept going, he made me waste my time making a 3D model of an elf, animating it waving, a 3D model of a Christmas tree ornament, a candy cane 3D model, a Christmas tree star 3D model, a 3D model of a present box, and animating it opening with stuff coming out of it. I charged him $55. I did all of that, and he kept asking for more and more revisions, I was getting a little tired, not going to lie, but I kept working. I did everything he asked, but he dumped more and more work on me. When he finally stopped asking for things, I delivered the work. He said that he would check the work. When he checked it, he complained about 5/7 things, he complained about the tiniest, unnoticeable details. I spent 3 hours fixing everything, then I gave it to him. He was like, “You know what, this is enough, thank you for your hard work.” I thought I was finally getting paid for my work. But no, he decides to cancel the order and say, “The quality of what I received was very bad, I am no longer confident that this order can be completed the way I want it to.” He said this after he was complimenting my work. If I accept the cancelation request, he will have all the work that I made, for free.

Fiverr needs to make something to prevent sellers from getting scammed, sure, buyers get scammed more than sellers, that’s why Fiverr makes it so you deliver before you get payed. But sellers can get scammed too.

So, moral of the story, I got scammed and this guy got all of my work for free. I’m not gonna get paid for almost a week of work. Sellers, if someone does something like this to you and offers something like this and isn’t reluctant to spend money, keep your guard up. I will not mention their username here, but they are probably going to make other accounts to scam unsuspecting sellers like me.

Oh, also, make sure to watermark your textures before you deliver your work, if they accept the work, then you can give them the unwatermarked textures. Same goes to people who deliver other things, watermark images, videos, and anything that they can use without paying, learn from my mistake.

A similar thing happened to a fellow seller named peggysuegeorge, their forum is here: Scammed By Buyer. Sellers beware of this scam

Also, I reported their profile, but I’m not sure how to contact Fiverr support, can someone help me please? Thank you.

[ninjagrizzzly]

Update: I got the money, and the guy didn’t complain, but then, a week before the money would be transferred to my account, Fiverr Support cancelled the order and the money was given back to the guy, now, I can’t do anything and he has all my work for free. Make sure to watermark your delivery and give the actual file once they confirm the order, don’t make the mistake I did.

[ninjagrizzzly]

Now, my order completion is down to 83%, this won’t be good for my orders, I hope Fiverr Support starts listening to the sellers instead of the buyers, I worked hard for my money.

[imagination7413]

If you haven’t already, edit your gigs FAQs to clearly define what does and does not count as a ‘revision’.

It’s your responsibility as a seller to make sure your contract is clear.

So many newbies are being taken advantage of here on Fiverr by a small minority of predatory “buyers”. This is my take on how to protect yourself, thereby reducing the chances of a cancellation or negative review.

Special shout out to @melissaharlowvo for the buyer requirements section. Enjoy!

[pumpkinkennedy]

I feel so bad for you , this situation seems awful for sellers . Thank you for the advice I will start watermarking. Have a good day

[visualstudios]

If you haven’t already, edit your gigs FAQs to clearly define what does and does not count as a ‘revision’.

It’s your responsibility as a seller to make sure your contract is clear.

So many newbies are being taken advantage of here on Fiverr by a small minority of predatory “buyers”. This is my take on how to protect yourself, thereby reducing the chances of a cancellation or negative review.

Special shout out to @melissaharlowvo for the buyer requirements section. Enjoy!

It’s your responsibility as a seller to make sure your contract is clear.

That doesn’t even matter in a case a like this. If the buyer is saying everything is good and then tries to cancel, that’s straight up scam. Fiverr has to deny the cancelation, there’s literally nothing the seller can do.

[ninjagrizzzly]

I feel so bad for you , this situation seems awful for sellers . Thank you for the advice I will start watermarking. Have a good day

You too! I hope Fiverr does something about this.

[uk1000]

Update: I got the money, and the guy didn’t complain, but then, a week before the money would be transferred to my account, Fiverr Support cancelled the order and the money was given back to the guy, now, I can’t do anything and he has all my work for free. Make sure to watermark your delivery and give the actual file once they confirm the order, don’t make the mistake I did.

. Make sure to watermark your delivery and give the actual file once they confirm the order, don’t make the mistake I did.

I don’t think you are actually allowed to do that. The delivered file isn’t supposed to have a visible watermark (unless it’s one Fiverr adds before they confirm it). If it’s got your own watermark on it it might be classed as incomplete.

If you want to do that it would be worth checking with CS to see if it’s okay.

[ninjagrizzzly]

It’s your responsibility as a seller to make sure your contract is clear.

That doesn’t even matter in a case a like this. If the buyer is saying everything is good and then tries to cancel, that’s straight up scam. Fiverr has to deny the cancelation, there’s literally nothing the seller can do.

Thank you for replying, unfortunately, Fiverr Support always listens to the buyers and not the sellers. Have a good day!

[ninjagrizzzly]

If you haven’t already, edit your gigs FAQs to clearly define what does and does not count as a ‘revision’.

It’s your responsibility as a seller to make sure your contract is clear.

So many newbies are being taken advantage of here on Fiverr by a small minority of predatory “buyers”. This is my take on how to protect yourself, thereby reducing the chances of a cancellation or negative review.

Special shout out to @melissaharlowvo for the buyer requirements section. Enjoy!

Thank you for helping me. I really appreciate it 🙂

[visualstudios]

Thank you for replying, unfortunately, Fiverr Support always listens to the buyers and not the sellers. Have a good day!

Fiverr Support always listens to the buyers and not the sellers.

This is not true. it’s a bit random, sometimes they go for the buyer, sometimes for the seller. Hard to predict. I have had multiple instances of CS siding with me against a buyer, I even got money straight from Fiverr after an agreed upon cancelation (that did not affect my stats). So, it varies.

[alotfy]

a year ago i faced same situation, suddenly after 7 days of order delivery and buyer completion with a good review order cancelled and support said that the buyer charged back through paypal and the only action is buyer account disabled and of course my order completion rate dropped
they should do a lot to increase sellers protection