Fiverr Community Forum

Do people read the gig description?

Your Fiverr Experience The Ranting Pot
#1

Sometimes I wonder what’s the point of a gig description, since people seem to ignore it. Consider this part in my gig description:

"Please remember this is a subjective gig, influenced by personal feelings, tastes, or opinions. I cannot guarantee you will like my work. "

And yet what happens? Two refunds in the last few days, big ones, these clients didn’t order the basic package but the most expensive ones. Today I updated my gig description, I added this:

"I expect to get paid for the work. I don’t fight refund requests but I find them extremely unfair and insulting. When a buyer demands a refund, he or she is basically saying “I have no respect for the time you have spent working for me.”

Will it make a difference? Or will I get the same cheapskates ordering?

Here’s an idea, refunds should be 100% optional. It should be up to the seller to decide whether he refunds the money, not the buyer.

Think of airlines, they give you the option of buying travel insurance just in case you decide to cancel your trip. You can also buy a ticket that doesn’t allow modifications, or one that does. Perhaps Fiverr should offer us cancellation insurance, perhaps refunds should be 50%, not 100%. I get that buyers are the reason Fiverr exists at all, but enough is enough, we sellers should have rights as well.

4 Likes
#2

Can’t you choose whether or not to accept a cancellation request?

I agree they don’t often read the description.

1 Like
#3

I have to disagree with this. It might drive away some good buyers who want to hire you but may see this as a red flag for their own reasons.

1 Like
#4

If the project is large will read the description many times

1 Like
#5

You’d be surprised, today I got two orders on that gig, yesterday I got four orders. However, my two orders where $20 and $60 so I made more money.

I’m at my whit’s end. I’m tired of not having a 100% completion rate thanks to the refund fanatics. Today I told my buyer this (as I requested the refund since he can always go to customer service and screw me)

"Why lie? If you don’t like my work, that’s fine. If you had read my gig description, you would have seen in big letters: “I cannot guarantee you will like my work.” And yet you still ordered, and have the audacity of telling me, “I appreciated your efforts and time” while demanding a refund. So thanks to you, I wasted my precious time working for NOTHING! Do you know what that feels like? Do you have a job in the real world? Do you get paid nothing at the end of the day? Why not be RESPONSIBLE for the orders you make? You didn’t like my work, accept my delivery, and hire someone else. Or take the refund, but do me a favor, don’t hire me again. I don’t need clients that appreciate my work, I need clients that PAY ME. "

2 Likes
#6

Glad to hear that. I just hope you order instead of messaging the seller.

#7

I agree with what you’re saying, but I might say it a bit differently: (Top of mind idea, you can probably do this better.)

“I’ve helped thousands like you be more successful. However: This is subjective, creative work and I can’t guarantee you’ll love it every time. I’m battle tested with over 5,000 gigs. I’ve had major successes and look forward to assisting you too. I usually find an excellent solution for you, but sometimes you may need to tweak or use these ideas to get to the next level. I can’t guarantee each job will work, but my track record is extremely positive overall.”

Again: I’m NOT a writer, so you could probably say the same thing much better, or tweak that a bit with some thought.

My point is you can get the same idea across, but make sure buyers know you have a track record of success, even though not everybody will read it or pay attention.

I’d also include something like that when you send the “Thanks, I have your order…” and reiterate this issue there. Once someone has ordered, they tend to pay attention to what you send them. Say something like “If you’re not comfortable, I’ll provide a no stress cancellation right now…”

This is all based on my first impressions, and I’d think about it a couple days and refine.

7 Likes
#8

You say you’re not a writer, but what you wrote is perfect. Either way, you understand customer service and office politics much better than I do.

#9

It sounds like your gig description advertises you give refunds and may attract scammers for that reason.

I would personally go the opposite route and say that you do your best to please every client but there will always be times when your ideas are not going to make every buyer happy. I cannot give refunds based on someone not liking what I deliver.

That will eliminate the scammers and let them all know you expect payment and the risk is on them in case they don’t like what they get.

4 Likes
#10

This is what I say in the FAQ on my Translation gig:

Q: If I am not happy with the work will you refund me?
A: I rarely give refunds after work is complete. It is more likely that I will contact you to discuss any problems. I have high standards and want you to be happy with my work. If you can show me substantial errors or issues then I will attempt to redo it or else refund it but it is at my discretion.

It has worked well for me, I am sure you could adapt it for your gigs. Only 3 cancellations in past 6 months, 2 were the same buyer who ordered (at the same time) with stupid requirements which were unrelated to the gig, the third a large job I could not do at the time.

7 Likes
#11

If this is a substantial problem for you, you could remove all your gig packages and sell only one thing: a $5 test-gig where you do a very small portion of, uh… whatever it is that you do. And then - and only then - if they like your work, then you’ll send them a custom offer for the rest of their project. This will slow down your work-day from responding to messages, but I think it’d go a very long way to stopping clients from wasting both your time and your money.

This is how much room I’ll let you have for wasting my time and money:

5 Likes
#12

As far as I know, my personal experience is, No one read descriptions. I included even FAQs but Alas! The refund problem is same.

2 Likes
#13

Another option might be to characterize your writing style. If people know that you’re writing is full of jokes (to give an example), they will not hire you for their article about funerals. Of course, people can read your portfolio, but that’s an additional step.

#14

I hope you don’t mind me borrowing this verbatim. I like what you wrote.

1 Like
#15

I can’t afford to do that because this gig is my #1 gig, my #1 moneymaker. The least I can charge is $10 and that’s for the basic package.

What frustrates me is working for 30 minutes on a big order and then getting nothing in return.

#16

That’s what I shared it for! It has worked extremely well for me and hope it has the same effect for you.
It annoys me that some people don’t appreciate what you do. Now if there is any talk of cancellations, point them to this and keep them in your control and give them at your discretion.

3 Likes
#17

I thought refunds were up to the seller? You can tell the buyer, no, they’re not getting a refund because you did the work. I understand that sometimes they will get uppity and will go to CS and CS likely as not will give a refund, and maybe they’ll give a bad review, but you can respond to that, or argue it with CS.

I don’t think this is going to work. It would put me off as a perfectly honest buyer. It sounds as if you get a lot of refund requests which implies your work isn’t that good. Why not say something that implies they’re buying not only the words but your style, taste and opinions. And you could say that you don’t offer refunds as they have to understand the work is your style, taste, opinions etc. which may not be their style, taste opinions.

4 Likes
#18

CS agrees with the buyer 99% of the time. I’ve had orders cancelled by CS, even though I told the buyer he could click “resolution center” and start the process.

CS never evaluates the work we do, only how we communicate. I’ve never heard them say, “well, you did write great brand names, and your buyer is clueless, so I’m not going to refund his order.”

Instead, I can get in trouble if I’m insulting, aggressive, disrespectful, etc. I have to be extremely careful with what I tell buyers. In the old days, I used to write “You’re a thief!” or “why are you raping me?” Not anymore.

1 Like
#19

I have some FAQs and I find them extremely helpful in discussion during/after delivery even if buyers haven’t read them first.

The phrase, "As in my FAQs, I don’t do … " usually has most buyers understanding.

2 Likes
#20

Exactly, when I say “As it says in my FAQ/description…” it is almost always the point where a problem goes away.

4 Likes