Hello,
I would really like an answer preferably from Fiverr. Why Fiverr allows a buyer to buy without any permission? I mean what is the logic behind if I want to cancel and I’m a level 1 seller this would affect my rating why? because nobody asked if I want or I have time to do a specific job.
I would like to understand the logic behind, in any business online or offline an order must be approved by the seller.
Thank you!
Well, the forum might not be the best place for you to get an answer from Fiverr. I don’t think Fiverr staff actively read forum posts and reply to them here. It is usually the buyers and sellers who are posting stuff here.
If you are looking for an official reply from Fiverr, you should contact CS at:
https://www.fiverr.com/support_tickets/new
Good luck! 
I wrote to Fiverr before posting here about my specific issue. This post is about a discussion about this situation. I don’t understand and maybe other people can explain to me.
Hello Mate,
I understand your pain, I seriously do.
when I started on Fiverr i had to embrass every order that came my way because i was trying to keep a clean sheet, but it got to a time i got tired of it and had to close my eyes and take risk of canceling some and some i can still accommodate i do them.
I am sure Fiverr will look into this, since you said you already contact the CS, I really need that option of accepting and declining if the gig clicked is wrong for the work to be done.
All i can say is be good at the services you provide, that will help you in explaining to your buyers more deeply why he/she should add extras to the order (which is called UPselling
), I have done that several times.
Thanks.
This isn’t technically true. If I walk into McDonalds on my lunch today, I don’t expect to have my order ‘accepted’ or ‘declined’ by the guy behind the counter. They’ve told me what they will offer me and for what cost, and I can go in and get it whenever I want. They can kick me out for being rude or aggressive, and if I ask for something that’s not on the menu, they can tell me that they don’t offer it, and I have to go somewhere else. That’s kind of how Fiverr works.
I’m not saying I disagree with your logic here by the way. The cancellation system in Fiverr has caused us a lot of grief, and we don’t like it. If given the choice, yes I would LOVE if we could have an approve/decline button for all orders. But I understand why that won’t happen. Fiverr have chose to create a freelance platform where you apply a ‘menu card’ approach to freelancing.
As for the rationale behind this, it gives them a Unique Selling Point when compared with almost every other freelancing website out there. Buyers who don’t want to engage in a conversation with a seller can provide all the information they need and place an order without interacting with a human. It might sound silly, but some customers come here for that very reason.
I agree. This doesn’t make any sense, and many forum users have already created many posts/threads on this topic. Apparently, Fiverr is aware of this issue; hopefully, they are doing something about it (it has been a hotly discussed topic for a long time now). Here is a recent thread that you might find interesting to peruse:
Edit: Happy Birthday @catwriter 
It is technically true. If I walk into McDonalds and they don’t have a specific burger or they are 5 minutes ahead of closing my order will not be accepted. The same for all restaurants when you have a menu system, how many times happened to you to order some food and the waiter to tell you, sorry we don’t have it today?
In this case, I might not have time, or I might not be able to do a specific task. Or, in my particular case, I have my own business model which require a selection of customer based on a long discussion before. In this niche (UX/UI), the quality comes from both sides not only the seller, but that’s another topic.
Another aspect is on my niche most of the time I need to make a custom order because each project comes with specific requirements.
However, I strongly believe Fiverr should understand these basic things and avoid forcing people to be involved in projects they are not interested or they cannot complete from objective reasons. It is just common sense.
Perhaps Fiverr isn’t the most suitable freelance marketplace for your needs?
I’m not working exclusively on Fiverr. All I want is to understand why Fiverr is doing this. I think is not fair.
It’s fair enough that you would like an answer to your question. As other people have mentioned, the forum is staffed by sellers and users of the platform, not Fiverr staff. Fiverr staff do sometimes browse and engage on the forum, but not typically on individual posts. You’re not likely to get more than the opinions of other users here, and it sounds like you’re looking for something more official.
Best of luck with your query.
Things make more sense when you remember Fiverr began life as a bargain-bucket marketplace. All sellers made a measly $4 per sale, Fiverr $1 per sale, so both parties wanted orders to come thick and fast. Back in the day, it wasn’t too uncommon for average sellers to have 40+ orders in their queue.
If ever an order didn’t work, it could be cancelled quickly with no real harm done to the buyer or seller. These cancelled orders were seen by everyone as collateral damage that allowed for mass turnover.
The problem is Fiverr has transitioned into something different but still has many of the old structures in place. Imagine trying to turn a house into a gym. Sure, you could do it, but you’d eventually find various inefficiencies within your gym because the structures in place weren’t design for their current purpose.
Fiverr hasn’t found the perfect balance yet between keeping what has proven successful and facilitating sellers on this evolved marketplace.
As I said I’m looking for opinions preferably from Fiverr staff but from other sellers or buyers too.
The following link might give the answer:
Fiverr’s Micha Kaufman said:
We asked ourselves, can we actually make the purchasing of a service online as easy as buying a product on Amazon? Which means, you just click a button and it is done.
They don’t want buyers to get discouraged by being told no they cannot place an order quickly or at all. They want all people who are ready to spend money to be able to do that no matter what.
It is up to us sellers to figure out how to deal with any situation. That includes what to do when we don’t get information on what the buyer wants or they order something we don’t offer or don’t pay enough. That’s our responsibility to figure it out.
If you go to a grocery store, do you ask for a permission to buy groceries?
Anyway, Fiverr’s tagline is Browse-Buy-Done; the entire concept is based on the idea that buyers can browse through various gigs, pick the one they like best, click on Order Now, and get the work done.
No, but I don’t go to a grocery store asking for a custom product. Four eggs are four eggs.
I think that, as the McDonalds analogy (where a BigMac is a BigMac that is a BigMac) the grocery analogy doesn’t fit well. Yet it’s understandable why they to that: to maximize their profit.
I remain still a little perplexed when I read this:
Because the dual of this question is rather tricky:
We asked ourselves, can Amazon actually make the purchasing of a service online as easy as buying a service on Fiverr?
You could list in your gig description to message you before placing an order.
It’s not really true that an order has to be approved “in any business online or offline.”
I can go to HomeDepot’s website and schedule the first appointment for an install without talking to a human or asking for permission.
I can go to Amazon and buy books and clothes without talking to anyone.
Listen, some of us are anti-social and don’t want to get into a big back and forth with people.
I started on Fiverr as a buyer, and I only ordered from sellers with clear packages that made it simple for me to place an order without talking to them. I skipped all profiles that said, “Contact before ordering.” I just want to buy what I need, get it delivered, and (hopefully) never have a conversation. I’m the type of buyer that will keep quiet about a product I’m not happy with, not ask for revisions, not leave a review, and then just disappear and never buy from that seller again.
I always get people debating that point with me when this topic comes up, trying to tell me why I’m wrong to shop this way, but agree with me or not, this is the way I shop (As a buyer I was here FOR ME, not for the seller), and there are other buyers like me that don’t want to talk to anyone before placing an order. Fiverr caters to buyers like that. It’s why I love this website and why I became a seller here.
If you want to have a conversation before every job takes place there are lots of other freelancer websites that work that way.
Fiverr’s ease of purchase and awesome user interface set it apart from other sites.
It mostly depends on the gig whether it’s needed. If Fiverr gave it as an option on each gig it would make things a lot easier. They could also have an option for whether a gig was only for offers sent to buyer requests and offers sent in response to messages and custom offer requests.
An “accept option” is needed (at least an option to sellers that want it, where they can select which gigs have it) because:
Some buyers would otherwise directly place orders for things that would be breaking the terms of service (eg. against copyright law, offensive etc.).
Even though Fiverr has a box that says something like “I have given everything required” they can still select that and put “I need it by x” even though they haven’t yet given everything required (such as a needed voice over) and saying “I need it by x” despite the package saying a specific number of delivery days.
It would help prevent cancellations (eg. “ordered by mistake”).
Complex projects especially those which rely on a customer’s source stuff need discussion before hand. It will also help give a more precise price (otherwise buyers could end up paying too much if everything was rounded up) and number of delivery days. eg. the writing and voice over categories allow prices to be specified by number of words (where the number can be entered in a box) but the pricing for the video category has no similar method to specify as precisely as possible a price & delivery days based on the buyer’s source footage and exactly what they want (eg. for some gigs, the duration or number of frames required in the delivery or what exactly is in the source footage, and also the formats, resolutions etc. required for delivery may be required to give an accurate price/delivery days.
How many good, famous post production companies would do anything their customers asked (eg. with their customer’s content) for just one of 3 possible (and reasonable) prices? None maybe, because they’d likely want to discuss what the client wants first and give them a specific price for their specific requirements and their content (and not just always use one of 3 possible prices for each gig). They would also not do work that would violate copyright law etc. Fiverr’s pricing structure should allow for more specific pricing for some gigs (but in the meantime, discussing the project first and creating an offer is often the best alternative).
Also, maybe there is a better/simpler way of achieving what the buyer wants, in particular, one that could give better quality results. Discussing before ordering could therefore allow the buyer of that gig to have a better quality delivery (and ensure they attach/link to files that would allow for that better quality delivery).
So it really depends on the gig. If the gig really depends on the buyer’s source content and what they had in mind for the delivery Fiverr really should give the option for sellers to have this option of accepting gigs. For gigs that don’t require much from the buyer (eg. only some text or a logo or something and they can specify everything in the requirement section) there’s probably little or no need for an accept/deny button.
