Buyers Seems to be Reselling my Voice Overs and won't buy Commercial License?

[brotheron]

Well, I’m only 16 years old so I’m not very experienced in the field of business. Now that fiverr has released the “For Commercial Use” extra, I have one buyer who will not buy it. This sent me a message asking for a sample of my voiceovers, so I sent him one. Then he says “By the way just a heads up our clients love your voice and we are really looking forward to it”.



So he bought some voice overs from me, and I decided to ask him how much he will be reselling them for and he replied “No we dont resell… we use it for our own clients …”. I always thought if it were for his “client’s” that would be considered reselling? Anyway, I guess I don’t have a problem with people reselling as long as they buy the right amount of gigs and gig extras.



So then they released the commercial use license extra, he bought another gig without it and I stated



"From your script it appears this is for a company. If that is the case, it is required that you buy the “for Commercial Use” extra.



I’m willing to do this one without and give you the rights, because I’m assuming you didn’t know but if you’re purchasing more in the future for and business related use, you must buy the extra next time.



For future reference! :)"



to which he replied



"please deliver at your earliest thank you…



Also as stated earlier we do not resell the audio we use it for our own projects…"



to which I replied



"You stated earlier that they’re for your “clients”, which would mean that it’s for business related use"



and he said



"yes and for our own projects again and we do not resell … please do let us know if you have a problem with that …“



So then today he purchased another gig. the description was as follows



"VO revisions requested. Client’s comments:

”- have the VO guy do the voiceover using the correct script (attached).

• have him put some energy and inflection in his voice. Sounds very monotone and frankly boring right now. We are selling a product here and need it to sound EXCITING."
  
  
  
  Final script is attached."
  
  
  
  and I said
  
  
  
  "If you’ll read this: http://support.fiverr.com/hc/en-us/articles/204791227--For-Commercial-Use-License-Details-
  
  
  
  You’ll see it clearly states "“Permitted for Commercial Use” means any business related use; such as, advertising, promotion"
  
  
  
  and in your message you said "We are selling a product here and need it to sound EXCITING."
  
  
  
  if you are selling a product with it I would GREATLY appreciate if you would buy the license for it.
  
  
  
  Anyway, I will get around to recording this soon; disregarding the fact that you didn’t listen to my earlier statement because you’ve already bought the gig.
  
  
  
  I’m just curious, what is your business? That you’re getting these voice over’s for your clients?"
  
  
  
  Anyway, did I handle this properly? I’m getting quite annoyed by this buyer, he has bought 7 gigs from me and he has yet to submit a review. Also, he never accepts my deliveries he just makes me wait the 3 days until it is accepted and then proceeds to purchase another gig for a different company.
  
  
  
  I apologize if I seem ignorant to this, I just don’t know much about this commercial use License. And it would be nice if I could get some opinions from other voice actors; is it worth it to leave the commercial use license on?
  
  
  
  I don’t think it is if future buyers will be like this.
  
  I didn’t expect this to be so long, anway; thanks!
  
  
  
  
  

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http://support.fiverr.com/hc/en-us/articles/204791227--For-Commercial-Use-License-Details-//p6.zdassets.com/hc/theme_assets/38806/1752/1980X350_6.jpg

Fiverr Customer Support

http://support.fiverr.com

[onlinedzshop]

Don’t use it if you want buyers to comeback, you were already working before the commercial licence did you have a problem ? No.

most if not all top rated voiceover artists here on fiverr disabeled it because they thought it’s a bad experience fr the buyer and they are just doing fine without it.



commercial licence is like :"here’s your order but you can’t use it, pay more now"

nobody will like that, you will end up loosing buyers.



that my opnion, Good luck 🙂

[steveeyes]

It’s a rip off. As a seller I refuse to use it and as a buyer I refuse to buy it.

[fonthaunt]

I agree with those who are saying that the Commercial License extra is likely to cause you more problems than good. Fiverr would love for you to use it because they don’t have to do anything but make more money.



If you decide you want to use it anyway, your primary option is to offer a mutual cancellation. They might accept that and move on and you’ll lose their business.



The only other alternative you have is to give them the work with the disclaimer that they have no right to use it. Then you can try to prove they are using it commercially and file a lawsuit or perhaps a DMCA takedown. It’s not difficult to enforce a takedown if a buyer doesn’t pay at all and uses your work online anyway. It’s not so easy to enforce a separately purchased license of this type.

[david388]

Reply to @steveeyes: Stevie. Yes to this. 🙂

[steveeyes]

I don’t understand how someone can sale your voice over



If I get a voice over done I’m getting it done for a certain script. Unless I can find a buyer who has the exact same script I used for the voice over, why would they buy it. Doesn’t make sense.

[belengarcia]

Reply to @steveeyes: I assume that the reseller first finds his own client, and then comes to Fiverr and orders. Not the other way round.

[fastcopywriter]

If I pay you to do a voice over for me, your product becomes my property unless I request a refund. It’s just like brand names, if I give you ChefCleaver dot com, I can’t give that to another client unless the buyer requests a refund or leaves a review of 3-stars or less, which I assume it means he won’t be using my work.



If you want to make money with gig extras, offer real things, such as doing the job in 24-hours, or offering more sound effects, or mixing the audio with the video. But commercial licenses? That’s a joke.

[sincere18]

First, don’t let your buyers know you are 16, just keep it professional.



And you were correct in what you first said, but you do not need to go into the difference of reselling vs. them using it for their clients. And to be honest, it seemed a little inappropriate of you to ask how much they are selling/charging their clients for services, that’s not your business. Many people buy products and services and resell them as part of their own full service agency, it is very common. And most people doing this are not going to tell what their business is, they don’t want you to know, because they don’t want their clients to know anything is outsourced or where it’s outsourced from.



HOwever, they are using your voice overs for commercial use. End of story. If they were making a video for their Mom’s birthday, it’s personal use. As part of their own business to give to a client that right there is commercial sue.



Sounds like this guy is trying to pull one over on you, and maybe take advantage of you since you are young if they are aware of it.



In all honest if the buyer tries this again, you need to stand your ground. Say in a polite message, I have already explained this to you two times, so I apologize that I will have to cancel your gig. And just do a mutual cancellation from the getgo. If they refuse, send a polite note to Customer Support saying you have explained this before and this buyer has disregarded your notices, and offer them to take a look at the various past two gigs messages.



One business lesson you need to learn, and we all do at various times, is sometimes you have to let a few clients go in order to make room for the good clients who actually respect you when they tell you something.



And to be honest, if this person doesn’t understand that they are using the VO’s for commercial purposes, just let them go.



And future buyers will not be like this one. The ones already used to ordering without it are just the problem. But the bigger problem is the fact that this person does not understand the basic TOS or what basic commercial use is to begin with. So in that case you have to decide if that is the kind of client you want in general.

[sincere18]

p.s. - by the way, just to make sure you are also doing everything legit, I just clicked on your profile and saw all your Morgan Freeman photos…you did buy/license each of those photos from a proper stock photography company, correct?