Does giving a money back guarantee work?

[lloydsolutions]

Was just wondering if giving a “money back guarantee” works. Does it make buyers more likely to purchase your gig or is it likely to be abused in order to get your gig for free?

[blaisefaint]

Dear Lloyd:

Giving a money back guarantee is implicit in every gig you offer.

Please see the Fiverr Terms of Service.

Therefore, it probably does not harm you to emphasize this.

I suggest you try A/B testing by explicitly offering a money back guarantee in one of your gigs, then determining whether that gig sells better as a result.

Good luck,
Blaise

[lloydsolutions]

This question is not in relation to my gigs but a general topic of conversation mainly aimed at those who mention it in their gig description. Was just wondering if buyers abused it or if it helped their sales.

[misscrystal]

This question is not in relation to my gigs but a general topic of conversation mainly aimed at those who mention it in their gig description. Was just wondering if buyers abused it or if it helped their sales.

I know of a successful tarot card reader who advertises a money back guarantee and claims he has only had to do that a few times.

It is worth a try and you can always stop if it is not working as you hoped.

[gina_riley2]

Was just wondering if giving a “money back guarantee” works. Does it make buyers more likely to purchase your gig or is it likely to be abused in order to get your gig for free?

Was just wondering if giving a “money back guarantee” works. Does it make buyers more likely to purchase your gig or is it likely to be abused in order to get your gig for free?

I think that buyer/seller vice buyer perspective is different when it comes to the “money back guarantees.”

For me, that has zero effect on ordering or not from a seller. It’s what is on his/her profile and gig page that drives me.

What I do look for are sellers with great profile descriptions, gig pictures/write ups, nice portfolios and something catchy.

I think the money backs and unlimited revisions may open the door for scammers to take advantage of a seller.

Purely from a buyer’s perspective, I would advise against it.

[adrover]

It certainly does open up the possibility for you to be taken advantage of, but most people are honest. I offer a money-back guarantee and I have completed nearly 50 sales without a problem. Personally, I would prefer to buy from someone who offers a guarantee, since it can be hard to judge the quality of a gig before buying.

[misscrystal]

A refund is the same as a cancellation which can affect your gig’s rank.

[adrover]

A refund is the same as a cancellation which can affect your gig’s rank.

True, but I think as long as it doesn’t happen very often, I think a cancellation would be better than a bad review. It’s normal for people to cancel occasionally for any number of reasons: they ordered by accident, they changed their minds, etc. If you offer a good service, you won’t have to give many refunds.

[silkroute]

Avoid it.

It takes up space on your Fiverr page and does not add any positive value at all, like @gina_riley2 said.

It takes away the ‘professional’ edge out of your sales page and plants the sub-conscious seed that ‘there is a possibility that it may not be successfully delivered.’

The last thing you need when trying to make a sale is to even bring up the possibility of a hypothetical failure, because that will overshadow all the other positive markers on your sales page.

Professional >>

“You have a task which needs to be done, I am a seasoned professional who can do it.”

Snake oil salesman >>

“Give my services a try, I may or may not succeed, but don’t worry, because if I fail, I will give you your money back”.

Besides, the buyer already knows that he has multiple avenues to get a refund anyway (Fiverr refunds, PayPal disputes, Credit Card chargebacks). The seller isn’t doing himself any good by mentioning it on the sales page as if it’s some sort of unique selling proposition which is exclusive to his services.

[adrover]

Avoid it.

It takes up space on your Fiverr page and does not add any positive value at all, like @gina_riley2 said.

It takes away the ‘professional’ edge out of your sales page and plants the sub-conscious seed that ‘there is a possibility that it may not be successfully delivered.’

The last thing you need when trying to make a sale is to even bring up the possibility of a hypothetical failure, because that will overshadow all the other positive markers on your sales page.

Professional >>

“You have a task which needs to be done, I am a seasoned professional who can do it.”

Snake oil salesman >>

“Give my services a try, I may or may not succeed, but don’t worry, because if I fail, I will give you your money back”.

Besides, the buyer already knows that he has multiple avenues to get a refund anyway (Fiverr refunds, PayPal disputes, Credit Card chargebacks). The seller isn’t doing himself any good by mentioning it on the sales page as if it’s some sort of unique selling proposition which is exclusive to his services.

That’s an interesting thought. I feel the opposite way. I have, at times, said exactly this: “I am so confident you’ll be satisfied, I offer a 100% money-back guarantee.” Now I wonder how buyers see it. Of course, it depends on the wording too.

When I first joined as a buyer, I didn’t know you could get a refund if not fully satisfied. I’m still not sure if you can. I think the policy is that they will give a refund if the work is delivered as described. For example, if I ordered a sales letter and they gave me a sales letter, I would have to pay even if I thought it was poorly written. I’m not 100% sure about this, but maybe that just goes to show it isn’t totally clear. To me, offering a satisfaction guarantee is a step above what Fiverr offers. What do you think?

[silkroute]

That’s an interesting thought. I feel the opposite way. I have, at times, said exactly this: “I am so confident you’ll be satisfied, I offer a 100% money-back guarantee.” Now I wonder how buyers see it. Of course, it depends on the wording too.

When I first joined as a buyer, I didn’t know you could get a refund if not fully satisfied. I’m still not sure if you can. I think the policy is that they will give a refund if the work is delivered as described. For example, if I ordered a sales letter and they gave me a sales letter, I would have to pay even if I thought it was poorly written. I’m not 100% sure about this, but maybe that just goes to show it isn’t totally clear. To me, offering a satisfaction guarantee is a step above what Fiverr offers. What do you think?

offering a satisfaction guarantee

That is definitely commendable, but a refund guarantee is not the same as a satisfaction guarantee. A refund guarantee is very open ended and given that a lot of mek sels use the same keywords, you risk associating your brand value with them if there is an overlap in the terminologies you use.

The satisfaction guarantee pitch/narrative could be tailored like this instead :

You will have a good product delivered to you, because I have the skills and a proven track record, as is evident from my previous reviews.

Don’t leave a scope for ‘what if’s’ because even on a perfect sales pitch, the buyer is already thinking ‘what if it is not as good as advertised’; Closing that trust deficit is your task as a seller. By bringing up the refund scenario, you are widening that gap instead.

People love definitive answers.

Follow me, I will take you to the promised land. I know where it is.

Versus

Follow me, I will try to take you to the promised land, if we get lost in the way, I will drop you home safe and sound.

[fonthaunt]

True, but I think as long as it doesn’t happen very often, I think a cancellation would be better than a bad review. It’s normal for people to cancel occasionally for any number of reasons: they ordered by accident, they changed their minds, etc. If you offer a good service, you won’t have to give many refunds.

I think as long as it doesn’t happen very often, I think a cancellation would be better than a bad review.

Your basic point is true. The thing is, it’s hard to know whether or not it will happen often as it depends a lot on how carefully you’ve worded your gigs and what kind of services you sell. So, if a money-back guarantee would really avoid bad reviews, I could see that too and I might advise it for a seller with less than 50 sales just to increase the chance a buyer will ask for a refund before leaving a review.

I also can’t agree with the idea that Fiverr itself gives buyers a money back guarantee because in practice, they don’t always side with the buyer. Many sellers think CS always gives a refund upon request since those sellers may have gotten a rough start and lost some battles. In reality, a strong seller with a good track record has a fair chance of keeping their funds if a buyer complains but CS thinks the seller delivered as promised. You wont find a refund guarantee stated in ToS.

Some buyers don’t take you up on your guarantee and they will just leave you a bad review instead. Some buyers will tell you they are going to leave you a bad review if you don’t do UVXY and double Z. If you offer them a refund after they’ve said that and Fiverr Customer Support gets a hold of it, you might get a warning from Fiverr. If they leave a bad review and you remind them of your refund/guarantee so they will change the review, you are definitely breaking ToS under current policy.

My opinion is that there are times to offer guarantees and times not to but if you are looking for a default answer, don’t offer one. I do have one gig where I mention a guarantee but it’s very limited. Since it’s a form of research, I mention that if I find zero information on their subject, I will refund. it’s very rare that I can’t find some piece of info for them, but when it happens, I think they should have the funds back, so it just feels right to me and it keeps the buyers from worrying about ordering that gig.

Your question is a good one though. It does remind me of the unlimited revisions offer which is something I would absolutely never do, but yours is a different twist.

[adrover]

offering a satisfaction guarantee

That is definitely commendable, but a refund guarantee is not the same as a satisfaction guarantee. A refund guarantee is very open ended and given that a lot of mek sels use the same keywords, you risk associating your brand value with them if there is an overlap in the terminologies you use.

The satisfaction guarantee pitch/narrative could be tailored like this instead :

You will have a good product delivered to you, because I have the skills and a proven track record, as is evident from my previous reviews.

Don’t leave a scope for ‘what if’s’ because even on a perfect sales pitch, the buyer is already thinking ‘what if it is not as good as advertised’; Closing that trust deficit is your task as a seller. By bringing up the refund scenario, you are widening that gap instead.

People love definitive answers.

Follow me, I will take you to the promised land. I know where it is.

Versus

Follow me, I will try to take you to the promised land, if we get lost in the way, I will drop you home safe and sound.

I think my view has been shaped by my first attempt at buying on Fiverr. The first person I bought from had lots of great reviews and claimed to have 20 years of experience as a professional, and yet she had poor communication and her work had glaring errors. However, what you said makes sense too. I may experiment in the future with removing the satisfaction guarantee. Thanks for sharing your view on this.

[silkroute]

I think my view has been shaped by my first attempt at buying on Fiverr. The first person I bought from had lots of great reviews and claimed to have 20 years of experience as a professional, and yet she had poor communication and her work had glaring errors. However, what you said makes sense too. I may experiment in the future with removing the satisfaction guarantee. Thanks for sharing your view on this.

I may experiment

As a case study, check out Emmaki’s sales pitches on her gigs. “I will blow your readers out of the water” “I will take your sales copy Stratospheric”. “I’m the best, and you WILL pay me top dollar”. There is no scope left for doubt.

I’m doing a little experiment of my own by removing all the sales fluff from all my gigs and defaulting back to a one liner which basically says “I will do what the gig title says”. Let’s see if minimalism and understatement sells as well.

[adrover]

I think as long as it doesn’t happen very often, I think a cancellation would be better than a bad review.

Your basic point is true. The thing is, it’s hard to know whether or not it will happen often as it depends a lot on how carefully you’ve worded your gigs and what kind of services you sell. So, if a money-back guarantee would really avoid bad reviews, I could see that too and I might advise it for a seller with less than 50 sales just to increase the chance a buyer will ask for a refund before leaving a review.

I also can’t agree with the idea that Fiverr itself gives buyers a money back guarantee because in practice, they don’t always side with the buyer. Many sellers think CS always gives a refund upon request since those sellers may have gotten a rough start and lost some battles. In reality, a strong seller with a good track record has a fair chance of keeping their funds if a buyer complains but CS thinks the seller delivered as promised. You wont find a refund guarantee stated in ToS.

Some buyers don’t take you up on your guarantee and they will just leave you a bad review instead. Some buyers will tell you they are going to leave you a bad review if you don’t do UVXY and double Z. If you offer them a refund after they’ve said that and Fiverr Customer Support gets a hold of it, you might get a warning from Fiverr. If they leave a bad review and you remind them of your refund/guarantee so they will change the review, you are definitely breaking ToS under current policy.

My opinion is that there are times to offer guarantees and times not to but if you are looking for a default answer, don’t offer one. I do have one gig where I mention a guarantee but it’s very limited. Since it’s a form of research, I mention that if I find zero information on their subject, I will refund. it’s very rare that I can’t find some piece of info for them, but when it happens, I think they should have the funds back, so it just feels right to me and it keeps the buyers from worrying about ordering that gig.

Your question is a good one though. It does remind me of the unlimited revisions offer which is something I would absolutely never do, but yours is a different twist.

Asking a buyer to change a review after they’ve posted it is a violation of the TOS. Offering a cancellation before the order has been accepted is not a violation. 🙂

I offered unlimited revisions as a selling point before I got to level 1, but now I offer a limited number of revisions. I’ve never had to do a crazy number of revisions or give a refund though. I know there are a few buyers out there who will try to take advantage, but they have other ways of taking advantage of you anyway (namely, threatening a bad rating either explicitly or implicitly).

[adrover]

I may experiment

As a case study, check out Emmaki’s sales pitches on her gigs. “I will blow your readers out of the water” “I will take your sales copy Stratospheric”. “I’m the best, and you WILL pay me top dollar”. There is no scope left for doubt.

I’m doing a little experiment of my own by removing all the sales fluff from all my gigs and defaulting back to a one liner which basically says “I will do what the gig title says”. Let’s see if minimalism and understatement sells as well.

Emmaki’s

Thanks. Her descriptions are written very well! Or, as maybe she would say, her descriptions are killer!

[fonthaunt]

I think as long as it doesn’t happen very often, I think a cancellation would be better than a bad review.

Your basic point is true. The thing is, it’s hard to know whether or not it will happen often as it depends a lot on how carefully you’ve worded your gigs and what kind of services you sell. So, if a money-back guarantee would really avoid bad reviews, I could see that too and I might advise it for a seller with less than 50 sales just to increase the chance a buyer will ask for a refund before leaving a review.

I also can’t agree with the idea that Fiverr itself gives buyers a money back guarantee because in practice, they don’t always side with the buyer. Many sellers think CS always gives a refund upon request since those sellers may have gotten a rough start and lost some battles. In reality, a strong seller with a good track record has a fair chance of keeping their funds if a buyer complains but CS thinks the seller delivered as promised. You wont find a refund guarantee stated in ToS.

Some buyers don’t take you up on your guarantee and they will just leave you a bad review instead. Some buyers will tell you they are going to leave you a bad review if you don’t do UVXY and double Z. If you offer them a refund after they’ve said that and Fiverr Customer Support gets a hold of it, you might get a warning from Fiverr. If they leave a bad review and you remind them of your refund/guarantee so they will change the review, you are definitely breaking ToS under current policy.

My opinion is that there are times to offer guarantees and times not to but if you are looking for a default answer, don’t offer one. I do have one gig where I mention a guarantee but it’s very limited. Since it’s a form of research, I mention that if I find zero information on their subject, I will refund. it’s very rare that I can’t find some piece of info for them, but when it happens, I think they should have the funds back, so it just feels right to me and it keeps the buyers from worrying about ordering that gig.

Your question is a good one though. It does remind me of the unlimited revisions offer which is something I would absolutely never do, but yours is a different twist.

You are right about ToS, that’s not exactly what I was saying about that part. CS is awesome but not always consistent. So, what I said was:

Some buyers will tell you they are going to leave you a bad review if you don’t do UVXY and double Z. If you offer them a refund after they’ve said that and Fiverr Customer Support gets a hold of it, you might get a warning from Fiverr.

I was specifically mentioning buyers who will demand extras and other unreasonable things and saying that if you don’t do those, they will leave a bad review. Those kind need to be sent to CS and unfortunately, they do happen sometimes. Two sellers I know were in a position like this and CS said their offers were similar to bribes. I don’t think that’s consistent which is why I said they “might” warn you. It’s grey area. The definite area in ToS is as we agreed on, that it’s always a problem to trade a refund for a change as I said:

If they leave a bad review and you remind them of your refund/guarantee so they will change the review, you are definitely breaking ToS under current policy.

Ultimately I think some buyers will find a loophole around anything and some sellers will too! Carefully worded descriptions are a big key to avoiding this but the tweaking might have to go on a long time. 🙂

[adrover]

You are right about ToS, that’s not exactly what I was saying about that part. CS is awesome but not always consistent. So, what I said was:

Some buyers will tell you they are going to leave you a bad review if you don’t do UVXY and double Z. If you offer them a refund after they’ve said that and Fiverr Customer Support gets a hold of it, you might get a warning from Fiverr.

I was specifically mentioning buyers who will demand extras and other unreasonable things and saying that if you don’t do those, they will leave a bad review. Those kind need to be sent to CS and unfortunately, they do happen sometimes. Two sellers I know were in a position like this and CS said their offers were similar to bribes. I don’t think that’s consistent which is why I said they “might” warn you. It’s grey area. The definite area in ToS is as we agreed on, that it’s always a problem to trade a refund for a change as I said:

If they leave a bad review and you remind them of your refund/guarantee so they will change the review, you are definitely breaking ToS under current policy.

Ultimately I think some buyers will find a loophole around anything and some sellers will too! Carefully worded descriptions are a big key to avoiding this but the tweaking might have to go on a long time. 🙂

I was specifically mentioning buyers who will demand extras and other unreasonable things and saying that if you don’t do those, they will leave a bad review. Those kind need to be sent to CS and unfortunately, they do happen sometimes. Two sellers I know were in a position like this and CS said their offers were similar to bribes. I don’t think that’s consistent which is why I said they “might” warn you.

I’m a bit confused. What did the sellers do in this case? Did CS think the buyer or the seller was offering a bribe?

[fonthaunt]

I was specifically mentioning buyers who will demand extras and other unreasonable things and saying that if you don’t do those, they will leave a bad review. Those kind need to be sent to CS and unfortunately, they do happen sometimes. Two sellers I know were in a position like this and CS said their offers were similar to bribes. I don’t think that’s consistent which is why I said they “might” warn you.

I’m a bit confused. What did the sellers do in this case? Did CS think the buyer or the seller was offering a bribe?

In both cases the buyers demanded extra free revisions or work, that the work wasn’t do to satisfaction and that IF the seller didn’t do the free extras they would leave bad reviews. That’s enough grounds to report the buyer to CS, but both of the sellers saw the red flag and decided to offer a refund instead of reporting the buyer.

In both cases, the CS rep warned the seller by saying that the refund offer was too similar to a bribe to avoid the honest review. They were light warnings. In my own opinion, the buyers were in the wrong, but when they buyers complained to CS they apparently did so in a way to shift the blame to the sellers. Nothing else bad happened to either seller that I know of, but it made me aware sellers have to be careful of how you respond when the buyer brings up the review. For me, any buyer that demands more than the paid for in an abusive way is one I will report to CS.

[fastcopywriter]

It’s a risky proposition. One one hand, it implies that if the buyer doesn’t like your work, you won’t give him a hard time when he asks for a refund. On the other hand, you can expect the buyer to make bigger orders because he feels safe about getting his money back.

With that said, if you’re trying to build a great reputation and get orders, mentioning “money back guarantee” can help. But after you’ve had enough reviews, you can consider dropping that.

Either way, buyers can ask for a refund whether you offer it or not.

[adrover]

In both cases the buyers demanded extra free revisions or work, that the work wasn’t do to satisfaction and that IF the seller didn’t do the free extras they would leave bad reviews. That’s enough grounds to report the buyer to CS, but both of the sellers saw the red flag and decided to offer a refund instead of reporting the buyer.

In both cases, the CS rep warned the seller by saying that the refund offer was too similar to a bribe to avoid the honest review. They were light warnings. In my own opinion, the buyers were in the wrong, but when they buyers complained to CS they apparently did so in a way to shift the blame to the sellers. Nothing else bad happened to either seller that I know of, but it made me aware sellers have to be careful of how you respond when the buyer brings up the review. For me, any buyer that demands more than the paid for in an abusive way is one I will report to CS.

Ok, that’s good to be aware of.

[mnsartstudionew]

When customer not satisfy with the final product he can ask the refund. if seller agree with that he can refund by mutual cancelation. but it is harm to Orders Completed rate. 😕

[capitalquality]

If buyers are going to abuse you for free work, they’ll know the system and do that anyway I would think.

The question I suppose with ‘money back guarantee’, is, does it turn buyers off, or, as you ask, does it encourage them? For me, looking at seller gigs, I’m always wary of ‘money back guarantee’, but obviously not everyone is. No way to measure if it has a positive affect on your gig though, i.e. would that buyer have bought the gig without the money back guarantee?

[mae_creativity]

Super interesting topic. Thank you for launching it.

I am both a seller and buyer here, so here are my points of view as each:

Seller: I have a gig which I am so confident about, that I mention ‘100% satisfaction or your money back’ in the gig’s video.

(I’m 100% confident in my work for all my 11 gigs, but buyers’ satisfaction for most will be subjective, so I can’t guarantee 100% satisfaction to 100% of all buyers. Hmm. Well, actually it’s subjective for this gig as well, but I just really love this gig. So actually I don’t know what my point is or if I even have one. 😅 )

Buyer: Say the seller/profile looks shady and yet for some reason I am interested in purchasing their gig. Then, the 100% line is what will make me definitely not purchase anything.

Finally, as none of us have a definitive answer about this, my suggestion is that if you do decide to include the line–do so only for basic $5 gigs. And if the customer wants a larger order, break it down in to individual basic gigs and start work on the 2nd gig after the buyer has accepted the first order + left a review. This way if they turned out to be a scammer, you only lost $4.

[fonthaunt]

If buyers are going to abuse you for free work, they’ll know the system and do that anyway I would think.

The question I suppose with ‘money back guarantee’, is, does it turn buyers off, or, as you ask, does it encourage them? For me, looking at seller gigs, I’m always wary of ‘money back guarantee’, but obviously not everyone is. No way to measure if it has a positive affect on your gig though, i.e. would that buyer have bought the gig without the money back guarantee?

@capitalquality You bring up a new way of trying something. I’ve seen others mention that they add an optional requirement to gigs that says something like “If you have time, you’d help me out by telling me how you found my gig?” Some people even offer goodies in there, like “If you tell me you’ll get a free bonus.”

A twist on this, if used carefully, could be to ask other questions. For me, I would probably add only 1 option question to requirements at a time, 2 at max if my other requirements aren’t complex. You could rotate the question though and ask other survey questions like “Did/would you feel more comfortable ordering my gig with a money back guarantee? If so/not I would love to hear comments.”

This could be worded very simply, I made it more broad to explain it. I like the idea of getting personal buyer feedback other than reviews. One person I saw who posted about having a survey question said that he had occasionally gotten responses saying that just answering the question made them feel better because they knew the seller cared about their opinion.