Encountered copyright infringement

[chrisdunkin]

I am a buyer on fiver and I have hired several gigs from one specific graphic designer to help me design coloring books for commercial use. It was brought to my attention today that the images this seller supplies are, in fact, copyrighted images from artists. I am trying to make fiverr aware of this and also get a full refund TO MY BANK as opposed to fiverr money because I cannot support a place that allows this kind of practice

[english_voice]

I am a buyer on fiver and I have hired several gigs from one specific graphic designer to help me design coloring books for commercial use. It was brought to my attention today that the images this seller supplies are, in fact, copyrighted images from artists. I am trying to make fiverr aware of this and also get a full refund TO MY BANK as opposed to fiverr money because I cannot support a place that allows this kind of practice

You might be feeling annoyed, but I wouldn’t be too reactionary. The phrase “I cannot support a place that allows this kind of practice” suggests you expect Fiverr to be across every single transaction. That’s just not realistic for any online marketplace.

In the event of a problem such as yours, you inform customer service who will then investigate. If there is a clear copyright breach, then (going on actions we’ve seen taken previously) CS will take appropriate action.

There are many, many excellent sellers on Fiverr. Sadly, there are also some rogues. But you’re going to get that anywhere. Fiverr has systems in place for dealing with complaints such as yours. I’m sure it will get sorted.

[chrisdunkin]

You might be feeling annoyed, but I wouldn’t be too reactionary. The phrase “I cannot support a place that allows this kind of practice” suggests you expect Fiverr to be across every single transaction. That’s just not realistic for any online marketplace.

In the event of a problem such as yours, you inform customer service who will then investigate. If there is a clear copyright breach, then (going on actions we’ve seen taken previously) CS will take appropriate action.

There are many, many excellent sellers on Fiverr. Sadly, there are also some rogues. But you’re going to get that anywhere. Fiverr has systems in place for dealing with complaints such as yours. I’m sure it will get sorted.

Ok you make a valid point. I don’t mean to be too reactionary. However, I think Fiverr could do with an option to have funds replaced back into paypal or the bank as opposed to simply returned to your account here. I think that might aid in fostering more leniency.

[lloydsolutions]

Ok you make a valid point. I don’t mean to be too reactionary. However, I think Fiverr could do with an option to have funds replaced back into paypal or the bank as opposed to simply returned to your account here. I think that might aid in fostering more leniency.

I think Fiverr could do with an option to have funds replaced back into paypal or the bank

Refunds

• Fiverr does not automatically refund payments made for cancelled orders back to your payment provider. Funds from order cancellations are returned to the Buyer’s Fiverr Balance and are available for future purchases on Fiverr. Until January 1, 2019, funds returned to your Fiverr Balance from cancelled orders will not include service fees paid. As of January 1, 2019, Fiverr returns service fees to your Fiverr Balance once an order is cancelled. In any event, if the service fees were not returned to your Fiverr Balance following an order cancelation, such service fees’ amount will be exempted from your next purchase on Fiverr.
• Deposit refunds (i.e. refunds directly to your payment provider) can be performed by our Customer Support team, based on the Order’s original payment amount and currency. To prevent fraud and abuse, we limit the total amount of times users can request a payment provider refund, which is subject to review by our Customer Support team. Such refunds may be subject to an additional fee.

The above is from the Terms of Service at the bottom of the Fiverr main page.

[chrisdunkin]

Cheers, thank you for the information

[marinapomorac]

Cheers, thank you for the information

The inability to get money back from Fiverr as a buyer is a huge downside. I remember when I was using Fiverr for the first time as buyer 3 years ago. I tried to get some vector art, and it was a huge waste of time. They refunded me on Fiverr balance and I had that $5 or similar there for 2 years untouched.

But if the sum is larger or you have no desire to use Fiverr again, the no-solution is really bad.

I wanted to create mandala coloring book and after deep research I discovered most of them are using online photos. If you Google search sellers portfolio you get same mandalas all over internet, so definitively not custom or original.

[humanissocial]

I am a buyer on fiver and I have hired several gigs from one specific graphic designer to help me design coloring books for commercial use. It was brought to my attention today that the images this seller supplies are, in fact, copyrighted images from artists. I am trying to make fiverr aware of this and also get a full refund TO MY BANK as opposed to fiverr money because I cannot support a place that allows this kind of practice

cannot support a place that allows this kind of practice

I agree with you but it’s not reasonable to expect Fiverr to predict when sellers will sell things that don’t belong to them. Fiverr isn’t psychic.

Report it and the buyer will be reprimanded. If you read the ToS, which you already should have, you’ll see that sellers are strictly forbidden from selling things they don’t own and can be banned.

[ignareint]

There are many unethical sellers here who pretend to be professional yet steal copyrighted images from real artists. You have my sympathy.

You mentioned “graphic designer to help me design coloring books” and “copyrighted images from artists” - am I correct to assume that you are looking for an illustrator instead? Because designers are not illustrators and they don’t necessarily have the ability to draw.

If you decide to hire another seller in future, you may want to hire someone who charges professional fees (ideally no less than $20 per B/W lineart). Less than that and you risk having sellers who simply steal works online and pass them as their own.

Just a benchmark: $5-$10 before fees is a pittance everywhere even for someone from a third world country - unless someone is really, really desperate. And you don’t want to work long-term with someone who is desperate.

[hawkeye93]

I’m a graphic designer myself, and I print and sell my designs as stickers on various marketplaces. So, I came and opened a Fiverr account a few days ago (in hopes of hiring another designer to help me out with original designs), and got someone in Bangladesh to do designs for me for $7 each (he quoted the price).

Every single thing he gave me was someone else’s work. I found it the originals online, and I have the side by side comparisons. I brought it to his attention and he said, (ok ok, I fix, no problem, no copy). Then he gave me a newer design even better than the first. So, I said, "wow, this is incredible. Can I ask for the image that you used as a reference? He then linked me the same exact eagle that he just blatantly copied.

Completely worthless “work” from this so called “professional designer”.

[toolsindigo]

Copyright-infringement is a real issue among sellers offering image bundles. See an extract from a conversation we had earlier today with a seller (I'm removed their name for privacy reasons). She had provided us with a sample of images containing work "derived" from existing drawings sold on FreePik.

[consumerintheus]

I thought about this recently. What if I get copyright strikes on YouTube, because a Fiverr artist lied to me ? Do you think YouTube can defend me, if I show proof of purchase, and then I remove the content, and try to take action against the artist on Fiverr ?