Facing a dilemma with one of my buyers

[zreine]

She is my very first Buyer. I got her via BR and it was clear from the start that she was the “undecided” type. On the first order she had a basic idea of what she wanted, but not much. We discussed about the project and she liked my ideas, so I went with it. Delivered, she loved it, left a very nice review and a tip, wrote to me that she would have another project for me later.

One week pass and she contact me again. She wants 4 character designs and want to divide it in 2 orders. So far, so good. Still no precise design in mind, she send me a bunch of pictures for inspiration. I mish mash them to come up with concepts. She like it, I send the custom offer for the 2 first characters. Again she loves the final product, leave a good review and give me a tip. Tell me she going to contact me next week for the 2 other characters.

A month pass, then she contact me again. Saying she have a new project, want to start selling on Fiverr and want me to draw her gig images (her gig have nothing to do with illustration). I answer positively. No news for couple of days. Then she answer that she have absolutely no idea what she wants. Nothing new here, she as done that for every orders so far, but before she was answering quickly now I wait days for an answer. I ask her if she have a basic idea of what she wants, and again after waiting a few days I get “something original and eye catching”. So I propose to talk about her gig and do some kind of brain storming together to figure it out. She answer that she likes the idea and then… silence. It’s been a week and still no news on that.

She is nice and gives tips. Fine. But I won’t lie I am a little bit annoyed. I’ve spent time discussing with her about 4 characters and ended up only doing two of them. Now I spend time with her talking about the project and getting barely any answers and no orders are getting placed. I feel like I’m wasting my time. I don’t really know what to do. She is not a bad buyer per say, but I’m afraid that this attitude will start showing in the futur orders. I’m not sure I want to work with her anymore because of that and thought about blocking her, but at the same time she didn’t do anything horrible and I feel bad about telling her I don’t want to work with her anymore… so I don’t know what to do.

Help? 😅

[gelmas12]

Maybe we should tell her about it?
That if she continues this way, the cooperation will end.

[zreine]

Maybe we should tell her about it?

That if she continues this way, the cooperation will end.

Yeah, but I don’t really know how to bring it up without sounding too pushy or harsh. By the way she talks ( and the amount of emoji she used in every sentences) she seems rather young, probably under 18. She call me “friend” and all, so I don’t want to hurt her feelings. 😔

[olyasr]

You are free to work with anyone, and you need to feel comfortable with buyers. If you don’t, the work will go much harder, If you don’t want to tell her about it, you can tell that you are overbooked, or something like that. Or you are still free to block her and never say anything

[gelmas12]

Yeah, but I don’t really know how to bring it up without sounding too pushy or harsh. By the way she talks ( and the amount of emoji she used in every sentences) she seems rather young, probably under 18. She call me “friend” and all, so I don’t want to hurt her feelings. 😔

Make sure that later it does not offend you (

[mamannans]

She is my very first Buyer. I got her via BR and it was clear from the start that she was the “undecided” type. On the first order she had a basic idea of what she wanted, but not much. We discussed about the project and she liked my ideas, so I went with it. Delivered, she loved it, left a very nice review and a tip, wrote to me that she would have another project for me later.

One week pass and she contact me again. She wants 4 character designs and want to divide it in 2 orders. So far, so good. Still no precise design in mind, she send me a bunch of pictures for inspiration. I mish mash them to come up with concepts. She like it, I send the custom offer for the 2 first characters. Again she loves the final product, leave a good review and give me a tip. Tell me she going to contact me next week for the 2 other characters.

A month pass, then she contact me again. Saying she have a new project, want to start selling on Fiverr and want me to draw her gig images (her gig have nothing to do with illustration). I answer positively. No news for couple of days. Then she answer that she have absolutely no idea what she wants. Nothing new here, she as done that for every orders so far, but before she was answering quickly now I wait days for an answer. I ask her if she have a basic idea of what she wants, and again after waiting a few days I get “something original and eye catching”. So I propose to talk about her gig and do some kind of brain storming together to figure it out. She answer that she likes the idea and then… silence. It’s been a week and still no news on that.

She is nice and gives tips. Fine. But I won’t lie I am a little bit annoyed. I’ve spent time discussing with her about 4 characters and ended up only doing two of them. Now I spend time with her talking about the project and getting barely any answers and no orders are getting placed. I feel like I’m wasting my time. I don’t really know what to do. She is not a bad buyer per say, but I’m afraid that this attitude will start showing in the futur orders. I’m not sure I want to work with her anymore because of that and thought about blocking her, but at the same time she didn’t do anything horrible and I feel bad about telling her I don’t want to work with her anymore… so I don’t know what to do.

Help? 😅

She is my very first Buyer

seller need order and helping

[english_voice]

Yeah, but I don’t really know how to bring it up without sounding too pushy or harsh. By the way she talks ( and the amount of emoji she used in every sentences) she seems rather young, probably under 18. She call me “friend” and all, so I don’t want to hurt her feelings. 😔

If you are to be a successful seller you need to always protect your account. It doesn’t matter that she’s your first buyer. The very fact that you have concerns suggests that you are no longer comfortable working with her.

You have three options. 1) Talk to her and politely explain that “while it’s been great working together, please be mindful of the time it takes for us to chat things through and the delay in replying makes it difficult to come up with a great result for you”. 2) Carry on as you are, but you will likely feel uncomfortable with this and her behaviour is unlikely to change. 3) Block her. You might feel bad (but you should not!), but at least you won’t get any more orders that will mess you around.

[zreine]

If you are to be a successful seller you need to always protect your account. It doesn’t matter that she’s your first buyer. The very fact that you have concerns suggests that you are no longer comfortable working with her.

You have three options. 1) Talk to her and politely explain that “while it’s been great working together, please be mindful of the time it takes for us to chat things through and the delay in replying makes it difficult to come up with a great result for you”. 2) Carry on as you are, but you will likely feel uncomfortable with this and her behaviour is unlikely to change. 3) Block her. You might feel bad (but you should not!), but at least you won’t get any more orders that will mess you around.

Thank you that’s an actual helpful answer. Sometimes in other thread the solution seems so obvious because the other side is being really inappropriate. If she was mean or scammy I would not hesitate and block her, but it’s not the case. I think I’ll wait to see if she comes back for this project and if she does I’ll talk to her and see if things changes. Maybe she just feel too confortable with her calling me “Friend” and need a gentle reminder that I may be friendly, but I’m not her friend, I’m here to work.

If she comes back months later with another project , though, I’ll probably block her. I’m not just gonna stand there discussing about a bazillion different projects that leads no where.

[ridwansugi]

Hi there…,

I think it’s because your reseller got a problem with his/her client?
When your reseller client has a slow respose…, ofcourse your reseller will same as slow as that.
This is why i don’t want to works for reseller.
It’s just doesn’t worth with your time.

It will took so many revisions…, plus chance that the project will end with failure is higher.

My opinions…, better to look for other clients.

[zreine]

Hi there…,

I think it’s because your reseller got a problem with his/her client?

When your reseller client has a slow respose…, ofcourse your reseller will same as slow as that.

This is why i don’t want to works for reseller.

It’s just doesn’t worth with your time.

It will took so many revisions…, plus chance that the project will end with failure is higher.

My opinions…, better to look for other clients.

Nah, I don’t think she is a reseller. Everything is always perfect for her and she never ask for a revision. She leave me a lot of artistic freedom, which I guess would not happen if her client wanted something precise. Also she kept telling me there was no rush and to not be scared to ask for a time extension if I needed more time (even if I never needed it). This is not a reseller’s behavior.

[emeraldyt1]

I mean yeah! she’s a customer but she’s not Fiverr, what i want to say is you can focus on improving your other projects and get more customers instead of waiting for her only!

[looseink]

Are you losing sleep over it?

Does it cause you anxiety to the level where you can’t function within your day-to-day life?

If you answered YES to these questions, dump her.

Your health is worth more than her “undecided” way of doing business.

If you answered NO to the two questions, then I see no problem.

Put your energy into other projects.

[zreine]

Are you losing sleep over it?

Does it cause you anxiety to the level where you can’t function within your day-to-day life?

If you answered YES to these questions, dump her.

Your health is worth more than her “undecided” way of doing business.

If you answered NO to the two questions, then I see no problem.

Put your energy into other projects.

Well, I have a general anxiety disorder, so I tend to imagine the worst scenario possible in situation like this. So it does stress me out a bit to not know what to expect, but not to the point of not sleeping. I’m probably overthinking it like I usually does. Maybe it’s best to just wait and see. I don’t think she’ll order out of nowhere without talking to me first. So I guess I could take the decision then, depending of the kind of message I get from her…if she write to me again.

[looseink]

Well, I have a general anxiety disorder, so I tend to imagine the worst scenario possible in situation like this. So it does stress me out a bit to not know what to expect, but not to the point of not sleeping. I’m probably overthinking it like I usually does. Maybe it’s best to just wait and see. I don’t think she’ll order out of nowhere without talking to me first. So I guess I could take the decision then, depending of the kind of message I get from her…if she write to me again.

Ahhh.

But you asked for help.

Part of asking for help is being prepared for what suggestions come your way.

I hope you sort it out.

You clearly have it all figured out already and don’t need help with it.

[zreine]

Ahhh.

But you asked for help.

Part of asking for help is being prepared for what suggestions come your way.

I hope you sort it out.

You clearly have it all figured out already and don’t need help with it.

Oh don’t get my comment wrong I’m still hesitating, I’ve been thinking about it since I posted this. Part of me is saying: “Just block her and move on”. The order part is more like: “You are over reacting wait before taking a decision.”

I’m the undecided now, it must be contagious. 😅

[wordsfire]

Well, I have a general anxiety disorder, so I tend to imagine the worst scenario possible in situation like this. So it does stress me out a bit to not know what to expect, but not to the point of not sleeping. I’m probably overthinking it like I usually does. Maybe it’s best to just wait and see. I don’t think she’ll order out of nowhere without talking to me first. So I guess I could take the decision then, depending of the kind of message I get from her…if she write to me again.

I tend to imagine the worst scenario possible in situation like this.

And… what’s the worst case scenario?

That she’ll discuss and not buy something? Or that she’ll eventually buy something, give you immense freedom and time, and hopefully, leave a 5 star review + generous tips?

FYI, on Fiverr, and more so in the real world, you’ll face clients that only discuss and leave. They’ll go as far as to try and implement your suggestions either by themselves or by hiring someone who agrees to do it for pennies.

The concern about age and emojis and “friend”…

It only means she’s fun and friendly. She could as well be in her 80s and use emoji’s, call you friend, sound like five, etc.

P.S. Don’t fear. Don’t give into these arguments. Listen to your gut feeling, and everything will become easy.

[benedictrm]

I understand the GAD thing. As an Aspie, I know these things:

Are you talkin’ bout me? You hate me. You think I suck…
Oh you are delighted with what I did? Yay, better call off the death squads then
(or at least hold them until next week) lol

From what you write that buyer is unsure of themselves. That is fine if they are letting you fill the gaps. If they are not, not so fine as you feel like you are carrying them completely - and they probably aren’t paying enough for that.

Now my reading (as an Aspie Musician and former Tarot Reader - so I’m psychotic give or take a few letters), this person has gotten in over their comfort zone with the idea of a business on Fiverr. They are panicking. Maybe rightly if they don’t really have anything unique to sell or wrongly if they have something cool to peddle but their pirate crew is thinking mutiny is preferable to sailing against Jack Sparrow. Either way, this is not your cross to bear. If they say it, you might give your 12 cents, but they need to be ready themselves.

Let it sit until they are ready. Even be willing to respond with an:

I will be delighted to make your project when you have the project clear. Before then, I worry that we will just spin our wheels. Let me know when you feel ready to hit the boards 🙂

🙂

[gurusol]

Nah, I don’t think she is a reseller. Everything is always perfect for her and she never ask for a revision. She leave me a lot of artistic freedom, which I guess would not happen if her client wanted something precise. Also she kept telling me there was no rush and to not be scared to ask for a time extension if I needed more time (even if I never needed it). This is not a reseller’s behavior.

s would not happen if her client want

I don’t see any problem in all your text and her behavior. This is normal. You find varied type of buyers. The thing is to get going. Just don’t waste your time and energy if someone is asking too much or ignoring. Find your next client and move on with it. This is the way it is for online work/freelancing. Don’t tell me that there is something relation oriented going on here. 😇

[zreine]

s would not happen if her client want

I don’t see any problem in all your text and her behavior. This is normal. You find varied type of buyers. The thing is to get going. Just don’t waste your time and energy if someone is asking too much or ignoring. Find your next client and move on with it. This is the way it is for online work/freelancing. Don’t tell me that there is something relation oriented going on here. 😇

Don’t tell me that there is something relation oriented going on here. 😇

No, I’ve always been strictly professional with her like with all my customers.

This morning I woke up with a clearer mind and decided to just block her and move on. I don’t want to have that in the back on my mind while working. And this quote:

and they probably aren’t paying enough for that.

Really helped me take my decision. She may be a returning buyer and give tips, but I didn’t make a lot of money with her. Since I got her via BR and offered a price according to her budget, just because I wanted to get the reviews going, I ended up doing the first job for half the price I would normally do. Which is already pretty low for the amount of time I put in each illustrations. I did online research on the lore and talk about concept of 4 characters based on actually myth creature. This took hours and that’s extra time that I’ve put on it that I wasn’t paid for, only to end up doing just half of it. This made the decision pretty clear.

[benedictrm]

Don’t tell me that there is something relation oriented going on here. 😇

No, I’ve always been strictly professional with her like with all my customers.

This morning I woke up with a clearer mind and decided to just block her and move on. I don’t want to have that in the back on my mind while working. And this quote:

and they probably aren’t paying enough for that.

Really helped me take my decision. She may be a returning buyer and give tips, but I didn’t make a lot of money with her. Since I got her via BR and offered a price according to her budget, just because I wanted to get the reviews going, I ended up doing the first job for half the price I would normally do. Which is already pretty low for the amount of time I put in each illustrations. I did online research on the lore and talk about concept of 4 characters based on actually myth creature. This took hours and that’s extra time that I’ve put on it that I wasn’t paid for, only to end up doing just half of it. This made the decision pretty clear.

You go girl. Glad I could help.

If y’all ever need music, happy to help there too.

🙂

(assuming you are a girl - not that I care either way as I am not genderist)

[maegan_bertrand]

Don’t tell me that there is something relation oriented going on here. 😇

No, I’ve always been strictly professional with her like with all my customers.

This morning I woke up with a clearer mind and decided to just block her and move on. I don’t want to have that in the back on my mind while working. And this quote:

and they probably aren’t paying enough for that.

Really helped me take my decision. She may be a returning buyer and give tips, but I didn’t make a lot of money with her. Since I got her via BR and offered a price according to her budget, just because I wanted to get the reviews going, I ended up doing the first job for half the price I would normally do. Which is already pretty low for the amount of time I put in each illustrations. I did online research on the lore and talk about concept of 4 characters based on actually myth creature. This took hours and that’s extra time that I’ve put on it that I wasn’t paid for, only to end up doing just half of it. This made the decision pretty clear.

I’m glad you came to a decision that felt right for you and your business ❤️.

Sometimes being able to talk out loud is good for problem solving. Even though we may know deep down what we should do, we may need the back and forth of a conversation in order for us to begin on the path of conscious action.

Even if that buyer didn’t do anything “bad” per se, it’s still your time and peace of mind that matters.YOU get to decide whom YOU work with 🙂.

[iamcoool]

I would be lucky to have a buyer like that.