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Gig Extras?


seancooper885

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I’m a newbie so this has probably been covered before but I can’t find anything here on an issue I’m pretty upset about.



Simply put, I need some art done - quite a lot of it over time as I’m doing a Tarot deck so it could be up to 80 images. My budget is tight, which I explained to my vendor. I really don’t have a lot of bucks at this point in my life and that’s why I’m here.



I explain my needs to the artist I’ve chosen and he makes a custom gig for me. Great product, though it came about a week late, but I left him good feedback because he gets what we’re doing and I feel good about it.



Except for the giant logo all over the images, which he now tells me will cost another $5 per image to remove.



I’ve seen a bit of this on fiverr and it strikes me as really unethical. It’s not signing his work or promoting his business - nobody will find the fiverr page from the logo. It’s just there to extort more than the agreed price.



I’m a musician, and if I sold music to spec and then gave the customer a track with me shouting all over it and politely explained that it’s extra to not have me shout all over it, I wouldn’t get repeat business from that customer. I wouldn’t get any business from anyone they talked to. No restaurant will have a menu that encourages you to pay extra for a meal without a cockroach in it. People wouldn’t even go to a business like that, but I see this sort of practice all over fiverr.



Does anyone actually pay for watermarked images? I thought those were the free ones and the ones you pay for are watermark-free. That’s how the rest of the world works, so I wonder if there’s a policy about it at fiverr?



Now I have paid for two images I can’t use, have to trash the whole collaboration because my budget doesn’t have an extra $400 and I feel lied to by someone who supposedly did a custom offer based the requirements we discussed. If you want $20 a picture, just say so. This practice of putting a giant watermark on your image and extorting extra for it’s removal reeks of scam and makes me think less of fiverr as a place where people can do real business

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Very serious issue! sorry to see you in this situation. Things here don’t work like the situation you are stuck in. You should contact Fiverr Support immediately and tell them this story in short words. They will help you quickly to solve this issue.

this type of “Traps” are not allowed on fiverr.



He should provide your logo without water marks.

as reading your story in understood that he placed many water marks on your image/logo and now he is demanding more money to remove each water mark ?

its bad.

contact Fiverr Support and keep us updated.

Thank You.

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Did you discuss anything about “commercial use” prior to ordering the gig?



While this is a work for hire, many people have added an “extra” to have it be for commercial use, and supposedly in the illustration category Fiverr actually added the extras automatically.



I hope you just did one or two test images, and not given them all the images for the deck.



What I would do is cancel the gig/ask for a refund. Just say very shortly, nowhere was it discussed prior to ordering the gig, that the final product would have a watermark and I would have to pay extra to have it removed. I was misled and am requesting a refund.



End of story.



Then see what happens. If it was just delivered you can request a refund.

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Thanks. We did discuss the project and what it was for, I did offer co-credit on the final project in addition to payment, and my understanding was that as this was a “custom offer” after discussing my requirements that the ‘remove logo’ gig extra would not be an issue.



I also checked the fiverr conditions where it says that the buyer owns all intellectual rights to the product. This means I don’t need permission to sell anything I buy.



Actually it also technically means he’s using MY image to advertise his wares, as I see it’s on his fiverr page now. I technically have the right to request that he remove it. I won’t, of course, but I could.

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Just out of interest, does anyone actually know how to contact fiverr customer support or even if there is any? I spent hours looking yesterday and all I got were hundreds of pages of FAQs. Not a great look for fiverr that contacting customer support is so extremely well hidden

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I think it needs to be clear if it will be water marked. Like in the description it should state “I will provide a logo with a watermark for $5.00”. It should also state it in the description. I shouldn’t have to read through your gig extras to see what is not included in the gig. If it wasn’t clearly stated, contact CS for a refund.

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Reply to @seancooper885: two things…one is you did in fact see the extra money to buy all intellectual rights. Maybe the seller thought they did not have to talk to you about it that you were aware because it was on the gig.



Also, the mixing of co-credits is a bit confusing. What does co-credit give him, it’s one thing to say designs by So and so, but to give credit to your actual deck, is that what you offered?



I don’t think that is a bargaining chip to a seller. You can choose to put artwork by, or not.



AS for him using your image to advertise, when your gig is delivered, you can supposedly unchceck the option to allow it to be uplaoded into the sellers Fiverr portfolio.



Did you try requesting a refund?

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Reply to @pweisflock: well aside from this matter, be sure to only do a test of one card/artwork first. Don’t just order the whole job at once.



But at least you know from this conversation, take notice if they have any extra gigs with regards to commercial use, and ask them very clearly what kind of image you will get and ensure it will be not watermarked.



Also, I would email them to get clear on if they will be providing completely original work, or if they use any stock images as part of the image. If they do, you want to try and find out where they are buying them so you can read those licensing rights.

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Reply to @landongrace: I agree with Landon - was skimming through the responses to see if someone would say this when I landed here on this comment 🙂



The key is whether or not it was specified. If it is already there, then CS is unlikely to side with you. If it wasn’t there, then I agree - it looks much more like someone was trying to manipulate you.

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Well I thank everyone for their feedback here.



First: I have two images - both of which I’d be very happy with if they were actually usable. I didn’t buy the whole lot at once. I can’t afford to anyway, and it’s unlikely that any decent artist is going to be able to make all 80 at once anyway. No way would I buy 6 month’s work of someone up front without a sample.



Second: Even though his page has a logo removal extra, he made a Custom Gig for me based on what we discussed. I didn’t go looking through his optional extras because I had no reason to - we already worked out what I want. For example, “Colour” is an optional extra but the Custom Gig he made was in colour because that’s what we designed.



Third: Even if I expected he might leave a small logo or sign his work, there’s no mention on his page about the size of the damn thing. Does this technically mean someone can agree to create an image for you, not say it’ll have a logo on it because they have logo removal in their optional extras and then provide an unusable image where the logo covers 3/4 of the image? The logos on mine aren’t that big - but they’re big enough to make the product unusable. The logic of the people who’ve responded to me that we didn’t explicitly agree the item would have no giant logo are invoking an argument that would never work in a real retail environment. If you provide a crippled version of your product without saying so because you had fine print about an optional uncrippling upgrade, you’re a creep and consumer law is not actually on your side.



Four: To sincere18 - I offered credits in form of “by me and him” on the book etc I’ll be releasing with it. It wasn’t part of the deal, just something I thought he might like. It wasn’t part of the cost or agreement and only offered as an afterthought… but if he’s so intent on self-promotion that he’s prepared to iritate his own customers and deface his work with logos that effectively turn their purchased product into his unpaid-for ad, I thought he might like the kudos and the opportunities when I deal with publishers and open some doors to the hundreds of thousands of people in the tarot/oracle world. I never meant the offer as a “bargaining chip” and I only mentioned it after I paid him.



One of the reasons I started this thread was to find out if this is accepted practice here and how you’d all respond to it. I have to go back to the drawing board and find someone I can work with instead - which is a pity because I already have a LOT of people quite excited about the project with this guy’s art. The shop I work in, my 300+ friends on social media, audiences at tarot forums and a couple of publishers. Now they’ll all know I have to drop him because he’s trying to gouge me… and because he’s placed such a big fingerprint on what I’ve shown them, they know who to avoid. It’s like reverse-advertising.



Personally, I feel the practice of selling crippleware without explicitly informing so because you also sell an “uncripple” extra is a disgusting business practice that shouldn’t be allowed here. And I feel that all the people saying “he didn’t not say he wouldn’t do it” aren’t winning a legal point - consumer affairs would reject that argument, markets reject the argument and to me this just turns fiverr into a place where people have to be very careful shopping. Congratulations, apologists… by defending the right to deceive customers you’ve turned your own shop into one we don’t trust

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Reply to @seancooper885: Did you request your refund of your two images?



And what did Fiverr say? Did you contact customer support to let them know about this situation, that this seller is creating unmarked gigs?



And while I agree with you on the part that he gave you a custom quote so you were not aware about the commerical license aspect, but didn’t you first read the sellers gig when you were researching and deciding to contact them in the first place? Usually people find a gig they like, see that it may not encompass all they need and then contact someone to get a custom quote.



But in any case, it’s fine, you should get a refund and hopefully that is on it’s way. I’m sorry it didn’t work out and your social networks and publishers are all dissapointed, but part of the issue is dealing with a bargain site like this. HOw much did you pay for the actual image?

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