How can we sellers protect ourselves against bad buyers

[paschalisblack]

Hello everyone.

Yesterday I had one of the worst experiences I ever had with an order. I offered the buyer excactly what we agreed (actually more than that) and by delivering his order I was pretty confindent I would get a 5 star review.

Instead of that guess what… I received a despute from the buyer asking me to cancel the order saying “I respect your effort but also I respect my money”!!!
Canceling the order was the last thing I wanted to do since I spend time and effort into this but by not doing that, the buyer could leave a negative review. The idea of sending a ticket about that to CS crossed my mind but according to my experience (I have been more than 4 years in fiverr), they focus on keeping buyers satisfied and I strongly doubt I would earn anything out of it.

I think situations like the one I experienced yesterday should be avoided, as refunding buyers just because they don’t know what they want or they didn’t take the time to read the gig’s terms before purchacing it is very unfair for us sellers.

[jonbaas]

Hello everyone.

Yesterday I had one of the worst experiences I ever had with an order. I offered the buyer excactly what we agreed (actually more than that) and by delivering his order I was pretty confindent I would get a 5 star review.

Instead of that guess what… I received a despute from the buyer asking me to cancel the order saying “I respect your effort but also I respect my money”!!!

Canceling the order was the last thing I wanted to do since I spend time and effort into this but by not doing that, the buyer could leave a negative review. The idea of sending a ticket about that to CS crossed my mind but according to my experience (I have been more than 4 years in fiverr), they focus on keeping buyers satisfied and I strongly doubt I would earn anything out of it.

I think situations like the one I experienced yesterday should be avoided, as refunding buyers just because they don’t know what they want or they didn’t take the time to read the gig’s terms before purchacing it is very unfair for us sellers.

I think situations like the one I experienced yesterday should be avoided, as refunding buyers just because they don’t know what they want or they didn’t take the time to read the gig’s terms before purchacing it is very unfair for us sellers.

You can’t live in fear of negative reviews. If you gain a negative review or two, so be it. You can’t please everyone – no matter how hard you try. If you did the work, and you delivered the work you promised and agreed to, then you deserve to get paid for that work. If the buyer tries to force a refund because of personal preference, say no. Fiverr even states in their terms of service that buyers are not entitled to refunds based upon personal preference, if the work was delivered as promised within your gig.

Don’t let buyers manipulate you into giving away your work for free.

[mariashtelle1]

As previously mentioned it is fiver terms and conditions that buyer signed when registered on this website and it is clearly stated that orders are not cancelled based on quality of work as long as everything was delivered according to gig description. And in some cases I even offer them “to leave an honest review after we done with the process if they are not satisfied but unfortunately cancellations are not accepted at this point according to fiverr TOS that you signed”. None of them left a bad review yet 😉

Decline cancellation request and try to contact t buyer first, explain fiverr policies and say that you’ll be happy to work on the revisions if he is not satisfied. If that doesn’t help then contact fiverr support but they would tell you something like “try to draw a map to explain client that you delivered as per gig description”.

[rahulgraphics]

Hello everyone.

Yesterday I had one of the worst experiences I ever had with an order. I offered the buyer excactly what we agreed (actually more than that) and by delivering his order I was pretty confindent I would get a 5 star review.

Instead of that guess what… I received a despute from the buyer asking me to cancel the order saying “I respect your effort but also I respect my money”!!!

Canceling the order was the last thing I wanted to do since I spend time and effort into this but by not doing that, the buyer could leave a negative review. The idea of sending a ticket about that to CS crossed my mind but according to my experience (I have been more than 4 years in fiverr), they focus on keeping buyers satisfied and I strongly doubt I would earn anything out of it.

I think situations like the one I experienced yesterday should be avoided, as refunding buyers just because they don’t know what they want or they didn’t take the time to read the gig’s terms before purchacing it is very unfair for us sellers.

First of all! Why did you accepted the dispute? And secondly, you haven’t mentioned anything besides the following:

“I respect your effort but also I respect my money”!!!

This is not a proper reason to cancel an order. You said that you have been on fiverr for 4 years, just take out some time and read the new policy updates. Things have changed over the course of years.

they focus on keeping buyers satisfied

No, its not like that. Fiverr Support doesn’t cancel an order blindly! (they need sufficient proofs from the buyer!)

If the first party raises a dispute then you have the right to fight against that dispute, unless and until you are ready with the facts and proof in your defense. If you are lacking these, then surely you will have to face a CANCELLATION.

Be Prepared for Everything (this is an online platform, Be More Aware)

Good Luck!!

[lkwelsh]

I think situations like the one I experienced yesterday should be avoided, as refunding buyers just because they don’t know what they want or they didn’t take the time to read the gig’s terms before purchacing it is very unfair for us sellers.

You can’t live in fear of negative reviews. If you gain a negative review or two, so be it. You can’t please everyone – no matter how hard you try. If you did the work, and you delivered the work you promised and agreed to, then you deserve to get paid for that work. If the buyer tries to force a refund because of personal preference, say no. Fiverr even states in their terms of service that buyers are not entitled to refunds based upon personal preference, if the work was delivered as promised within your gig.

Don’t let buyers manipulate you into giving away your work for free.

But I think @paschalisblack has a point…If most of our experience with CS has pointed toward them deciding in favor of the buyer, then we risk initiating a CS ticket that may 1. waste our time over an order that likely wasn’t more that $50, 2. get the order cancelled by CS due to some loophole (i.e. what I went through recently) and 3. worst-case get you demoted or issued a warning over some vague terminology in the ToS.

Who wants to risk any of those things? The Seller would obviously prefer having their money secured, but at what cost? I think the buyers have some awareness of this issue, and so they press us Sellers more than they should to refund their money when they were obviously in the wrong.

Unfortunately there isn’t a good solution until we can get some reinforcement from Fiverr that if a buyer acknowledges when they place the order that they are agreeing to what your “gig offers,” there shouldn’t be any course for them to request a refund…and if by some happenstance CS sides with the buyer, they should not penalize the Seller unless an obvious breach of contract is at issue.

Sorry you went through this @paschalisblack all I can say is move on, and block the buyer so they can’t try to fool you again.

[rahulgraphics]

But I think @paschalisblack has a point…If most of our experience with CS has pointed toward them deciding in favor of the buyer, then we risk initiating a CS ticket that may 1. waste our time over an order that likely wasn’t more that $50, 2. get the order cancelled by CS due to some loophole (i.e. what I went through recently) and 3. worst-case get you demoted or issued a warning over some vague terminology in the ToS.

Who wants to risk any of those things? The Seller would obviously prefer having their money secured, but at what cost? I think the buyers have some awareness of this issue, and so they press us Sellers more than they should to refund their money when they were obviously in the wrong.

Unfortunately there isn’t a good solution until we can get some reinforcement from Fiverr that if a buyer acknowledges when they place the order that they are agreeing to what your “gig offers,” there shouldn’t be any course for them to request a refund…and if by some happenstance CS sides with the buyer, they should not penalize the Seller unless an obvious breach of contract is at issue.

Sorry you went through this @paschalisblack all I can say is move on, and block the buyer so they can’t try to fool you again.

until we can get some reinforcement from Fiverr that if a buyer acknowledges when they place the order that they are agreeing to what your “gig offers,”

They already agree, if you see closely in your orders.

However, Fiverr Support should work more on the Cancellation Policy.

[lkwelsh]

until we can get some reinforcement from Fiverr that if a buyer acknowledges when they place the order that they are agreeing to what your “gig offers,”

They already agree, if you see closely in your orders.

re.PNG740×84 2.92 KB

However, Fiverr Support should work more on the Cancellation Policy.

True, I’m aware of that, but if they buyer then requests work that isn’t on the scope of the order, Fiverr still finds in the buyer’s favor…it happened to me recently. So I’m saying they need to inforce it, rather than just leave it in teeny-tiny grey font that everyone conveniently manages to overlook when there’s an issue.:thinking:

[rahulgraphics]

True, I’m aware of that, but if they buyer then requests work that isn’t on the scope of the order, Fiverr still finds in the buyer’s favor…it happened to me recently. So I’m saying they need to inforce it, rather than just leave it in teeny-tiny grey font that everyone conveniently manages to overlook when there’s an issue.:thinking:

buyer then requests work that isn’t on the scope of the order, Fiverr still finds in the buyer’s favor

Yes, that is because Fiverr cannot force a buyer to accept an order (delivery). (And this is their major reply to most of the queries/disputes)

So, the simple solution to this:

If Fiverr can’t force a buyer then Fiverr shouldn’t force a seller too. They should display a “Accept/Reject” botton on every order so a seller, should either accept the order or reject the order and they should be allowed to communicate with the buyer prior to accepting that order. Because, what I believe is that “Communication” is the only key to deal with all the solutions.

By communicating more with the buyers, as a seller I can judge pretty much everything about them and how the order will be handled by the buyer.

So, Fiverr- please let the sellers communicate with the buyers prior to accepting an order.

[paschalisblack]

But I think @paschalisblack has a point…If most of our experience with CS has pointed toward them deciding in favor of the buyer, then we risk initiating a CS ticket that may 1. waste our time over an order that likely wasn’t more that $50, 2. get the order cancelled by CS due to some loophole (i.e. what I went through recently) and 3. worst-case get you demoted or issued a warning over some vague terminology in the ToS.

Who wants to risk any of those things? The Seller would obviously prefer having their money secured, but at what cost? I think the buyers have some awareness of this issue, and so they press us Sellers more than they should to refund their money when they were obviously in the wrong.

Unfortunately there isn’t a good solution until we can get some reinforcement from Fiverr that if a buyer acknowledges when they place the order that they are agreeing to what your “gig offers,” there shouldn’t be any course for them to request a refund…and if by some happenstance CS sides with the buyer, they should not penalize the Seller unless an obvious breach of contract is at issue.

Sorry you went through this @paschalisblack all I can say is move on, and block the buyer so they can’t try to fool you again.

Unfortunately you are absolutely right. Just recently I received a warning about TOS violation because I decided to defend myself in a similar situation. Buyer left a 1 star review by mistake, writing “great service”. I messaged him and he apologized admitting he wanted to hit 5 stars. So, I sent him a request to change that. Then for some unbelievable reason he failed to do it and apologized. Next, we agreed to send both a ticket to CS about that. So we did. And the answer from CS support was my first warning for TOS violation due to trying to “manipulate” buyer’s feedback (laughing).

So yes, in a perfect world it would be a great idea to defend your rights. But unfortunately doing that here may have the sequences I faced. No more tickets to CS regarding a dispute with a buyer for me 🙂 I learned it the hard way.

[uxreview]

Unfortunately you are absolutely right. Just recently I received a warning about TOS violation because I decided to defend myself in a similar situation. Buyer left a 1 star review by mistake, writing “great service”. I messaged him and he apologized admitting he wanted to hit 5 stars. So, I sent him a request to change that. Then for some unbelievable reason he failed to do it and apologized. Next, we agreed to send both a ticket to CS about that. So we did. And the answer from CS support was my first warning for TOS violation due to trying to “manipulate” buyer’s feedback (laughing).

So yes, in a perfect world it would be a great idea to defend your rights. But unfortunately doing that here may have the sequences I faced. No more tickets to CS regarding a dispute with a buyer for me 🙂 I learned it the hard way.

No more tickets to CS regarding a dispute with a buyer for me 🙂 I learned it the hard way.

Wait, so now I can get free work from you?

I’ll place an order, cancel and you’ll say “oh well, it happens”?

Look, these 2 situations you mentioned are different and besides, CS agents are human meaning they make mistakes. Just because one issue was mishandled doesn’t mean all support requests end up the same way.

If this happens again then politely ask for explanation from the buyer, don’t accept the cancellation.

• If they don’t provide constructive feedback then simply send them TOS info about rejecting based on personal preference.
• If they get pissed then CS will see that and they won’t get their money back.

There is definitely an improvement opportunity, but it doesn’t mean CS is no use at all. This forum is not a good reference point because people with good experiences don’t usually come here.

[paschalisblack]

No more tickets to CS regarding a dispute with a buyer for me 🙂 I learned it the hard way.

Wait, so now I can get free work from you?

I’ll place an order, cancel and you’ll say “oh well, it happens”?

Look, these 2 situations you mentioned are different and besides, CS agents are human meaning they make mistakes. Just because one issue was mishandled doesn’t mean all support requests end up the same way.

If this happens again then politely ask for explanation from the buyer, don’t accept the cancellation.

• If they don’t provide constructive feedback then simply send them TOS info about rejecting based on personal preference.
• If they get pissed then CS will see that and they won’t get their money back.

There is definitely an improvement opportunity, but it doesn’t mean CS is no use at all. This forum is not a good reference point because people with good experiences don’t usually come here.

OF COURSE I don’t accept a cancellation request that easily. I try to explain to customer as politely as I can that I invested time and effort on his order and make him understand that by refunding him i won’t take back all that time and effort. But some buyers just won’t listen no matter what. So yes, I may have to accept a cancellation or not. Sometimes I may prefer to get a negative review instead of accepting it.