Can this be legit?

[vickiespencer]

This is part of a Buyers Request posted today. This buyer is starting an online magazine and is looking for articles for the magazine. He says

“Please send me the article you will write with Author’s name to be displayed on the site and I will send order when your article is approved. PLEASE NOTE: I will only reply to message with an article attached. I will also send you the website address via PM for your reference. Thank you.”

My question is how is the seller protected if they send this buyer an article? Could he just keep it, publish it and never give the seller any money?

[Guest offlinehelpers]

That’s the whole idea Vickie - there’s no intention of placing an order I’m afraid. 😒

[urbancreative]

You are not protected if the buyer hasn’t placed an order but you sent them your work. I personally, never send free samples. it’s just not worth it.

[vickiespencer]

That’s the whole idea Vickie - there’s no intention of placing an order I’m afraid. 😒

That is what I thought. It sounded crooked. The buyer has 22 sellers vying to give him free articles. May he get the quality he is planning to pay for.

[writer99025]

Scam…😣

[sharoonamin]

Yup, This is a big time scam i have seen it as routine in many fb groups where people comes up with similar requests. Fiverr should pay attention to sellers protection as well. Rather just displaying of gig title in completed orders with reviews i think title of the project should be there so need of a separate portfolio link gets finished.

[cyaxrex]

He might not be a fully fledged scammer, he might just be a half scammer half idiot.

I doubt he is setting up his own magazine. He is likely submitting to someone who is or a bigger existing magazine. I had a buyer like this ages ago who I made pay upfront. My prices were $5 per 500 words then and after 8 articles the buyer lost it with me because none of my work had been successfully accepted by Buz Feed.

• My best guess is that because Buzz Feed’s TOS say ‘No Obvious Plugging’ my articles weren’t accepted because they were a little too heavy on why a random garage in Toronto was the best place to get your heavy goods vehicle snow chains and tires.

People looking for articles to submit elsewhere never read those sites terms. What is worse, even when they tell you what the site is and you point out that an article won’t be suitable, they just accuse you of being a bad writer and try and find someone else.

Silly people.