How would you handle that?

[michal247]

My fiverr strategy was to estimate cost for a project so that I can finish it and my hourly rate will be sufficient. The problem is I didn’t thinked about clients that will spam me with small changes to project which convert 15 hours project to a 40 hours project. What should I do? Ask him to pay me for more days of work? I don’t want to risk but I don’t work for pennies also.

[cubittaudio]

I just had a quick look at your gig, and depending on the package, you’re offering anywhere from 1 to 3 revisions.

What do you class as a revision? If it’s anything like us with video work, we count a revision as a ‘revision round’… in other words, it’s an opportunity for the client to list what they’d like changing in bullet points and submit it to us to be changed. This could be 1 thing, or 20 things, but the idea is that we get everything in one list. If the client has bought a gig with 1 revision, then you get 1 round of revisions. Once we’ve completed that round, if you find something else you don’t like, that’s a new revision, and in this instance, we’d explain to the client that they can purchase an additional round of revisions for anything else they wish to change.

You do have to be quite strict with this, whilst keeping a modicum of sense about things. If the client suddenly says “any chance of changing the font from red to white?”, and you know it’s a 30 second job, it’s probably better to just do it. If the job is going to take you a long time, or if requests like that are constant, then that’s when you may need to put your foot down. Some clients will test your boundaries, and you can make things worse for yourself sometimes by being too flexible.

The most important thing is that both YOU and the client are clear about how revisions work, BEFORE the client orders from you. Some sellers will use the PDF part of their gallery to write up a kind of ‘terms and conditions’ document that covers this kind of stuff. That way, clients can’t play the “you didn’t make that clear” card when you try to ask for more money.

[michal247]

I just had a quick look at your gig, and depending on the package, you’re offering anywhere from 1 to 3 revisions.

What do you class as a revision? If it’s anything like us with video work, we count a revision as a ‘revision round’… in other words, it’s an opportunity for the client to list what they’d like changing in bullet points and submit it to us to be changed. This could be 1 thing, or 20 things, but the idea is that we get everything in one list. If the client has bought a gig with 1 revision, then you get 1 round of revisions. Once we’ve completed that round, if you find something else you don’t like, that’s a new revision, and in this instance, we’d explain to the client that they can purchase an additional round of revisions for anything else they wish to change.

You do have to be quite strict with this, whilst keeping a modicum of sense about things. If the client suddenly says “any chance of changing the font from red to white?”, and you know it’s a 30 second job, it’s probably better to just do it. If the job is going to take you a long time, or if requests like that are constant, then that’s when you may need to put your foot down. Some clients will test your boundaries, and you can make things worse for yourself sometimes by being too flexible.

The most important thing is that both YOU and the client are clear about how revisions work, BEFORE the client orders from you. Some sellers will use the PDF part of their gallery to write up a kind of ‘terms and conditions’ document that covers this kind of stuff. That way, clients can’t play the “you didn’t make that clear” card when you try to ask for more money.

This was order from buyer request and I didn’t set any revisions. But still this website it’s not for me but for my client, so how can I decline when he ask me for something? And it’s not like changing whole section, but many small tasks changing small things.

[cubittaudio]

This was order from buyer request and I didn’t set any revisions. But still this website it’s not for me but for my client, so how can I decline when he ask me for something? And it’s not like changing whole section, but many small tasks changing small things.

I don’t know much about buyer requests (we’ve never used them), but I thought when making your offer, you could submit revisions as part of the offer? (I could be wrong…)

But still this website it’s not for me but for my client, so how can I decline when he ask me for something?

I totally understand that, but if this is how you feel, you’ve kind of answered your own question.

It’s tricky because you’re quite new to Fiverr, and right now you need the reviews, so what works for us might not work for you at this moment in time. To be honest, if I were you, I would complete the job in the hopes of getting another 5-star to add to your account. When we started out, the first 6 months were ridiculous - we worked for almost no money, and we bent over backwards compared to what we would be comfortable doing now. I remember completing a job in our first month, that today would cost a client almost $1,000… we did it for $80, because we needed the positive reviews, and we knew the money would come in the long-run. I reckon it took us anywhere from 8 to 10 hours to complete back then. Less than minimum wage.

Right now, you might just have to get on with making the changes your client has asked for…

But pretty soon, once you’ve got even a handful of 5-star reviews, you’ll need to set expectations when it comes to revisions. If you were a builder, and you were building an extension for someone, you wouldn’t allow them to keep asking for new things over and over and over again… it would cost you a fortune! Building a website or producing a video is no different, and unfortunately sometimes that does require you to be firm with people.

Just my 2 cents of course, and I’d be interested to know what some of the other long-term sellers, especially in your industry, would say…

[eoinfinnegan]

When you don’t set out a revision policy then buyers are free to make their own.
The round of revisions idea would the same as mine (although I offer zero as standard). When a buyer is constantly making different changes over and over its down to laziness on their part. Once you tell them that 10 changes together are one revision or 10 separate changes are 10 revisions and cost $$ after the first one, you will see them change their tune very quickly.
Do it nicely and politely, not with an air of fear though, be professional as if you do this every day. They usually won’t query it and won’t affect the review, usually.