Contact before ordering feature

[upgradeyourself]

There are many of us sellers who need to be contacted before an order is placed.
And on the other side, there are many buyers who don’t read the gig description and just place an order right away.
The result? Cancelled orders, time wasted on both ends, and similar mess.

SUGGESTED SOLUTION:

• The seller could have a CONTACT instead of BUY option on that particular gig where he needs to be contacted. In other words the current BUY button would be replaced by a CONTACT button. So the buyer would have no choice but to contact you.

BONUS: Lets say that this solution is implemented. After the buyer clicks on the CONTACT button he gets a notice where the seller by default writes a note about what information should the buyer mention in their first encounter. This will save everyone a lot of time. For example:

The buyer clicks on the CONTACT button and gets a message: “Please don’t forget to mention your website URL”

I believe this will save time to everyone, and will significantly lower the number of cancelled orders.

[wuerz123]

Let me give my opinion on this matter:

You can clearly state in your Gigs that you would like to be contacted before opening an order, you cannot force anybody to do that, as your Gigs are open for any buyer to buy without asking… because… you offer that.
IMO the last thing Fiverr would like doing is to slow down (even more) the buyer’s purchasing time by having to contact/discuss/deal every single time they ask for a $5 job, or $100 job. The risk is having annoyed buyers due to the amount of time they lose, due to sellers not accepting the job because of X reasons, etc. and all that just because sellers want to have it easy.
The whole philosophy of Fiverr is: click, order and get an outstanding job done starting at $5
If they change this philosophy to: click, wait for an answer, deal prices and delivery time, and order (maybe) if your seller accepts… we will be all sitting in front of the fire looking at each other’s faces listening to ‘Sweet home Alabama’…
I don’t say it’s a bad idea, I myself was a loyal supporter of the “accept order” button… but now not anymore…

Changing your mind about something doesn’t mean to surrender, is being enough open-minded to adjust your ideas to the current times

[catwriter]

I doubt that Fiverr would ever implement it. It doesn’t fit with their “Browse. Buy. Done”.

[muhammad_osman]

Let me give my opinion on this matter:

You can clearly state in your Gigs that you would like to be contacted before opening an order, you cannot force anybody to do that, as your Gigs are open for any buyer to buy without asking… because… you offer that.

IMO the last thing Fiverr would like doing is to slow down (even more) the buyer’s purchasing time by having to contact/discuss/deal every single time they ask for a $5 job, or $100 job. The risk is having annoyed buyers due to the amount of time they lose, due to sellers not accepting the job because of X reasons, etc. and all that just because sellers want to have it easy.

The whole philosophy of Fiverr is: click, order and get an outstanding job done starting at $5

If they change this philosophy to: click, wait for an answer, deal prices and delivery time, and order (maybe) if your seller accepts… we will be all sitting in front of the fire looking at each other’s faces listening to ‘Sweet home Alabama’…

I don’t say it’s a bad idea, I myself was a loyal supporter of the “accept order” button… but now not anymore…

Changing your mind about something doesn’t mean to surrender, is being enough open-minded to adjust your ideas to the current times

And what about that “When buyer orders a wrong GIG”!

[Guest offlinehelpers]

And what about that “When buyer orders a wrong GIG”!

It’s a mistake - I’ll bet you’ve come back at least once with the wrong thing from the supermarket, when you’ve picked up something off the shelf without thinking? 🙂

I know I have!

[solutionshub_au]

And what about that “When buyer orders a wrong GIG”!

There’s been talk of a reject button for that exact situation - when a buyer purchases without discussion when it is necessary that they did.

[goldenlegal]

Let me give my opinion on this matter:

You can clearly state in your Gigs that you would like to be contacted before opening an order, you cannot force anybody to do that, as your Gigs are open for any buyer to buy without asking… because… you offer that.

IMO the last thing Fiverr would like doing is to slow down (even more) the buyer’s purchasing time by having to contact/discuss/deal every single time they ask for a $5 job, or $100 job. The risk is having annoyed buyers due to the amount of time they lose, due to sellers not accepting the job because of X reasons, etc. and all that just because sellers want to have it easy.

The whole philosophy of Fiverr is: click, order and get an outstanding job done starting at $5

If they change this philosophy to: click, wait for an answer, deal prices and delivery time, and order (maybe) if your seller accepts… we will be all sitting in front of the fire looking at each other’s faces listening to ‘Sweet home Alabama’…

I don’t say it’s a bad idea, I myself was a loyal supporter of the “accept order” button… but now not anymore…

Changing your mind about something doesn’t mean to surrender, is being enough open-minded to adjust your ideas to the current times

I believe the whole concept of contact before ordering would make the system lose rev.

[gina_riley2]

I believe the whole concept of contact before ordering would make the system lose rev.

I believe the whole concept of contact before ordering would make the system lose rev.

I doubt that.

As a buyer,

1. I actually support this function. This could potentially help reduce order issues with sellers.

2. On the other hand, I’d skip the sellers with the “contact me” & go to seller with “order now”

3. I dont like to wait around for unspecified amount of time for a response, if seller is busy, on a break, etc. so I would want a filter option for order now 🙂

[goldenlegal]

(post withdrawn by author, will be automatically deleted in 24 hours unless flagged)

Hope so too. TRS usually don’t come cheap. Thanks

[goldenlegal]

I believe the whole concept of contact before ordering would make the system lose rev.

I doubt that.

As a buyer,

1. I actually support this function. This could potentially help reduce order issues with sellers.

2. On the other hand, I’d skip the sellers with the “contact me” & go to seller with “order now”

3. I dont like to wait around for unspecified amount of time for a response, if seller is busy, on a break, etc. so I would want a filter option for order now 🙂

Fiverr as a balance feature as they provide an option to either “order now” or “contact me”

[abdulmoti]

The system is fine, it notifies you when an order is made, you can put requirements that enables you to start the work and work will not start unless these requirements are met, and in your gigs give yourself an extra day and stop using 24 hours delivery to avoid clients not comminucating within those 24 hours. Put at least 2 days delivery time

[rockbellstudios]

I think this is a great idea. As an optional feature of course.

I work mainly out of custom orders, since every project requires different specifics and discussing the details with the client is a better approach than having them buy the wrong package and then ask them to get the extra features or having to cancel the order since they over payed and they need to downgrade their package.
To be completely honest, my packages are useless, and custom orders is where my gig shines the most.

However, the packages offer a great outline for the client/me to figure out an approximate price. I’ve had just to people come and order a package and I had to spend some time asking for extras and or offering free services just to made up for the fact that ordered the wrong package. But like I already said before there’s no ‘right’ package since most of my clients will need a custom order 99% of the time.

If this is added as an optional feature, I don’t think there’s any reason to argue that it will slow the system or make you lose revenue, since every seller will be able to toggle this option on and off.

It might be a very specific feature that not everyone here needs but some of us would really benefit from it. I certainly don’t need it to sell but it would save me some time 😛

[rockbellstudios]

Let me give my opinion on this matter:

You can clearly state in your Gigs that you would like to be contacted before opening an order, you cannot force anybody to do that, as your Gigs are open for any buyer to buy without asking… because… you offer that.

IMO the last thing Fiverr would like doing is to slow down (even more) the buyer’s purchasing time by having to contact/discuss/deal every single time they ask for a $5 job, or $100 job. The risk is having annoyed buyers due to the amount of time they lose, due to sellers not accepting the job because of X reasons, etc. and all that just because sellers want to have it easy.

The whole philosophy of Fiverr is: click, order and get an outstanding job done starting at $5

If they change this philosophy to: click, wait for an answer, deal prices and delivery time, and order (maybe) if your seller accepts… we will be all sitting in front of the fire looking at each other’s faces listening to ‘Sweet home Alabama’…

I don’t say it’s a bad idea, I myself was a loyal supporter of the “accept order” button… but now not anymore…

Changing your mind about something doesn’t mean to surrender, is being enough open-minded to adjust your ideas to the current times

I agree with all you say but not every service works like that. Some of us have to be very detailed and use custom orders to provide the best quality and service.

[rockbellstudios]

There’s been talk of a reject button for that exact situation - when a buyer purchases without discussion when it is necessary that they did.

I’d prefer a contact button instead of a reject button. Rejecting an order sounds very rude to me and I feel it would just make me lose the sale completely. A contact button allows me to discuss the project with the client and then send a detailed custom order that fits the project.

[upgradeyourself]

Exactly. This feature would be targeted towards us sellers who mainly sell via custom offers.

We are already doing it. This new feature will only save everyone time and energy.

[wuerz123]

I agree with all you say but not every service works like that. Some of us have to be very detailed and use custom orders to provide the best quality and service.

I agree that some categories may need this option to deliver their work, however, I see it in a wider angle.

On one hand, this could be an optional, as you describe. Sellers can check/uncheck the option according to their needs.

Now, in a wider view, and as @gina_riley2 says:

Is it positive for those sellers who will use that option when buyers look for answers/jobs done?

Or is it an advantage for sellers who don’t use that option and are available to work right away without contacting them first?

Second thought that comes to my mind is:

What is the difference if you have 20 orders in queue and/or 20 “contact me” in queue.

I personally would prefer to have already the 20 orders and not 20 messages to answer and taking my time without even being certain that I will get the job.

And anyway, this is already there as “messages”. On your profile, there is the option “Contact me”.

On the other hand I believe Fiverr wants to have 20 orders already placed, than 20 messages stuck in someone’s inbox.

The whole Idea I believe is this:

Top Rated sellers or high ranked sellers will get a natural “limit” on orders as there is a specific time to deliver. If you cannot deal with all your orders, you cancel and the buyers go somewhere else, or you outsource to your fellow lower ranked sellers, and in this way Fiverr never loses.

If they allow this option, lots of clients would get stuck on some sellers inbox (mostly TRS or high ranked sellers), and the fellow lower sellers will be without work, and Fiverr will lose $$ because the buyers stuck in the inbox still didn’t order.

[rockbellstudios]

I agree that some categories may need this option to deliver their work, however, I see it in a wider angle.

On one hand, this could be an optional, as you describe. Sellers can check/uncheck the option according to their needs.

Now, in a wider view, and as @gina_riley2 says:

Is it positive for those sellers who will use that option when buyers look for answers/jobs done?

Or is it an advantage for sellers who don’t use that option and are available to work right away without contacting them first?

Second thought that comes to my mind is:

What is the difference if you have 20 orders in queue and/or 20 “contact me” in queue.

I personally would prefer to have already the 20 orders and not 20 messages to answer and taking my time without even being certain that I will get the job.

And anyway, this is already there as “messages”. On your profile, there is the option “Contact me”.

On the other hand I believe Fiverr wants to have 20 orders already placed, than 20 messages stuck in someone’s inbox.

The whole Idea I believe is this:

Top Rated sellers or high ranked sellers will get a natural “limit” on orders as there is a specific time to deliver. If you cannot deal with all your orders, you cancel and the buyers go somewhere else, or you outsource to your fellow lower ranked sellers, and in this way Fiverr never loses.

If they allow this option, lots of clients would get stuck on some sellers inbox (mostly TRS or high ranked sellers), and the fellow lower sellers will be without work, and Fiverr will lose $$ because the buyers stuck in the inbox still didn’t order.

I don’t disagree with you at all. But I still come back to my point, almost no one buys a package from gigs like mine. All clients require a custom order. I took a look at your gigs and I understand why you might not need this feature or find it useful at all.

If I want to order from you all I need to do is choose the right package, place the order and describe exactly what I want.

On gigs like mine it is very rare when someone does that. (It is also worth mentioning that you have way more sales than me, so maybe I’m doing something wrong 😛 )

But the thing is that my gig says “sound effects for your project” and “your” project could be an app, a corporate video, an explainer/draw-board video, etc…

And most clients message me asking: “how many sounds do you think I need for this?” “Can you do the music for this?” and even though it’s on my gig extras “How much will it cost to do this/that?”

These are just examples of what I see on my inbox. I usually have to discuss the details with the client and then set up a custom order.

I never had anyone order my packages until yesterday, and the client picked the wrong package, so I had to ask them to buy a gig extra. The client decided to order another package, a bigger one, thinking that would fix the problem but I still had to offer them a gig extra to fulfill the job correctly.

This is just one case and I certainly hope this doesn’t happen again since I want to avoid cancellations. But an optional “contact before ordering” feature wouldn’t hurt my business, or yours 😃

[wuerz123]

I don’t disagree with you at all. But I still come back to my point, almost no one buys a package from gigs like mine. All clients require a custom order. I took a look at your gigs and I understand why you might not need this feature or find it useful at all.

If I want to order from you all I need to do is choose the right package, place the order and describe exactly what I want.

On gigs like mine it is very rare when someone does that. (It is also worth mentioning that you have way more sales than me, so maybe I’m doing something wrong 😛 )

But the thing is that my gig says “sound effects for your project” and “your” project could be an app, a corporate video, an explainer/draw-board video, etc…

And most clients message me asking: “how many sounds do you think I need for this?” “Can you do the music for this?” and even though it’s on my gig extras “How much will it cost to do this/that?”

These are just examples of what I see on my inbox. I usually have to discuss the details with the client and then set up a custom order.

I never had anyone order my packages until yesterday, and the client picked the wrong package, so I had to ask them to buy a gig extra. The client decided to order another package, a bigger one, thinking that would fix the problem but I still had to offer them a gig extra to fulfill the job correctly.

This is just one case and I certainly hope this doesn’t happen again since I want to avoid cancellations. But an optional “contact before ordering” feature wouldn’t hurt my business, or yours 😃

almost no one buys a package from gigs like mine

That’s why I’ve said that for some categories it will be Ok to have that option 👍

(It is also worth mentioning that you have way more sales than me

Is not so relevant as the OP has way more than me 😬

maybe I’m doing something wrong

I don’t think so, you have your good reviews already 👍

But an optional “contact before ordering” feature wouldn’t hurt my business, or yours

Absolutely not, and especially if it would be an “optional” … free decision on your Gigs is what everything within Fiverr is about! 😀

[Guest jenihiggs]

I started as a buyer on this site, and I just wanted to give my perspective. I actually skipped all the gigs that wanted me to contact them before ordering. I didn’t want to have a whole conversation. I just wanted to place an order and have a book cover delivered. I found an awesome seller who did just that and continued to give her business. I’d rather just shop and add gigs to my cart. I know that not everyone is the same as me, but I kept it moving anytime I saw the gig say “Contact First”. It just made me think that the whole process was gonna be long and drawn out and I just wanted to get my book covers ordered that day.

[muhammad_osman]

I started as a buyer on this site, and I just wanted to give my perspective. I actually skipped all the gigs that wanted me to contact them before ordering. I didn’t want to have a whole conversation. I just wanted to place an order and have a book cover delivered. I found an awesome seller who did just that and continued to give her business. I’d rather just shop and add gigs to my cart. I know that not everyone is the same as me, but I kept it moving anytime I saw the gig say “Contact First”. It just made me think that the whole process was gonna be long and drawn out and I just wanted to get my book covers ordered that day.

This is not same for all categories. Like in web development, I am giving services for fixing HTML website, but buyer placed order and provided me XML website. Now I wasted 2 days for just explaining that what HTML and XML is and at the end he cancelled order. Now suppose if he contacted me before placing order and provided me few files, after seeing files my answer should be no! so easy, in 2 minutes over!

[gina_riley2]

I started as a buyer on this site, and I just wanted to give my perspective. I actually skipped all the gigs that wanted me to contact them before ordering. I didn’t want to have a whole conversation. I just wanted to place an order and have a book cover delivered. I found an awesome seller who did just that and continued to give her business. I’d rather just shop and add gigs to my cart. I know that not everyone is the same as me, but I kept it moving anytime I saw the gig say “Contact First”. It just made me think that the whole process was gonna be long and drawn out and I just wanted to get my book covers ordered that day.

Yes, yes and yes @jenihiggs.

I typically skip gig with the contact me first as well.

If it was an option to turn on or off as what I think the OP wants, then I’m all for it. If the sales drop because of it, then well, that’s for the seller to deal with individually.

[Guest jenihiggs]

Yes, yes and yes @jenihiggs.

I typically skip gig with the contact me first as well.

If it was an option to turn on or off as what I think the OP wants, then I’m all for it. If the sales drop because of it, then well, that’s for the seller to deal with individually.

Definitely. If sellers want that feature, I don’t see why they shouldn’t have it. Just as a buyer, I personally don’t want to talk to anyone before placing an order. But if other sellers want to work that way, they should be able to. Each freelancer should be able to decide for themselves what works best. Like you said, if they see a decline in sales, they can always re-evaluate 🙂

[upgradeyourself]

Well, I’ve been selling on Fiverr since 2012.

And just like @rockbellstudios mentioned, it really depends on the gig category. For example, in my category (mobile apps development - convert websites to apps) I can see that actually MOST of the gigs are with the concept “please contact me before placing an order”. So since almost the entire category works that way, then I don’t see why this feature should not be there.

My 2 gigs are the highest ranked by average customer review, on one of them (Android + iOS) I require to be contacted first, and people do that… Technical gigs are complicated, some of them. So we as a sellers actually want to give the buyers a better experience and less problems, that is why the initial contact is about.

I see your point that buyers want things to be simple. Browse, click, buy, done. 🙂 But sometimes it is not that simple, and it can be seen in my category as I mentioned, a huge number of sellers require to be contacted before an order is placed.

@jenihiggs I appreciate your opinion very much. A buyer’s opinion is very very important on every seller related topic.

[upgradeyourself]

IMPORTANT: : However, if Fiverr also decides to implement a filter for sellers who want to be contacted, then it will not be good, because the buyers are not aware of the importance of proper communication before an order is placed and hence we as sellers will lose profit because they will filter the “quick” gigs to be displayed as they don’t want to be bothered…

[wuerz123]

IMPORTANT: : However, if Fiverr also decides to implement a filter for sellers who want to be contacted, then it will not be good, because the buyers are not aware of the importance of proper communication before an order is placed and hence we as sellers will lose profit because they will filter the “quick” gigs to be displayed as they don’t want to be bothered…