Improper Cancellation

[laalawstudent]

So the story is more complicated than this, but essentially I had a gig where I gave buyers three weeks to get as many edits as they wanted on an application statement. Whether they use me one time or 20 times over those three weeks, the price was the same. They were essentially paying for my time and the time I set aside whether they used it or not.
A buyer requested a cancellation approximately 4 days before the end of the time period because I would not grant him a free extension. Obviously. I felt confident that customer support would deny the cancellation since it was clearly asking for additional work outside of the terms of my gig, but instead they chose to grant it without talking to me at all. Other problems ensued but I’m going to skip those for now.
Approximately a week later, after many many emails of me complaining and them ever failing to explain the cancellation, they have implicitly acknowledged the problem and offered to pay me half the money I would have received otherwise since they already refunded the buyer. Again, Fiverr has yet to accuse me of any fault, but they refuse to pay me the entirety of the order amount since I technically didn’t finish the order. The thing is, that’s not my fault. I was perfectly willing to, even after the request for cancellation. The unilaterally decided I wouldn’t be allowed to, and now want to punish me for it. I have since responded that I will accept 2/3 of the payment since that is closer to how much of the entire time I actually did dedicate to the project, but I have a feeling that is going to be rejected. What can / should I do? I am a level two seller with no negative reviews and have been shocked at the lack of seller support.

[laalawstudent]

To clarify, I believe I am entirely entitled to the full payment since I was providing my side of the bargain and had every intention to continue doing so. I want two thirds at least just to get it over with. Half seems insulting after everything that went on with the order and my account and the fact that I’m not at fault whatsoever for the cancellation. I feel like they’re giving me no choice or agency.

[mariashtelle1]

To clarify, I believe I am entirely entitled to the full payment since I was providing my side of the bargain and had every intention to continue doing so. I want two thirds at least just to get it over with. Half seems insulting after everything that went on with the order and my account and the fact that I’m not at fault whatsoever for the cancellation. I feel like they’re giving me no choice or agency.

Just out of curiosity: how big was the order money wise?

[laalawstudent]

Just out of curiosity: how big was the order money wise?

$120, my largest package taking up to 3 weeks of my time.

[antomtjvc]

Something like that makes me really angry. The support is… well…

I’m very sorry for you. But I don’t see how I can help you.

[designeranu]

you got a refund? That’s a good thing to hear. I was really disappointed because a buyer cancelled 4 completed orders after a month. They even use my graphic now. There was only one issue but I fixed it successfully. how ever I still got no response from CS . That would be good if CS can ask the seller about the issue before force cancelling

[tiakovolana]

did the buyer give a reason for wanting a free extention?

[laalawstudent]

did the buyer give a reason for wanting a free extention?

They vaguely blamed the pandemic, which makes no sense given that they ordered three weeks ago and the nature of the order isn’t one affected by the pandemic.

[rahulgraphics]

So the story is more complicated than this, but essentially I had a gig where I gave buyers three weeks to get as many edits as they wanted on an application statement. Whether they use me one time or 20 times over those three weeks, the price was the same. They were essentially paying for my time and the time I set aside whether they used it or not.

A buyer requested a cancellation approximately 4 days before the end of the time period because I would not grant him a free extension. Obviously. I felt confident that customer support would deny the cancellation since it was clearly asking for additional work outside of the terms of my gig, but instead they chose to grant it without talking to me at all. Other problems ensued but I’m going to skip those for now.

Approximately a week later, after many many emails of me complaining and them ever failing to explain the cancellation, they have implicitly acknowledged the problem and offered to pay me half the money I would have received otherwise since they already refunded the buyer. Again, Fiverr has yet to accuse me of any fault, but they refuse to pay me the entirety of the order amount since I technically didn’t finish the order. The thing is, that’s not my fault. I was perfectly willing to, even after the request for cancellation. The unilaterally decided I wouldn’t be allowed to, and now want to punish me for it. I have since responded that I will accept 2/3 of the payment since that is closer to how much of the entire time I actually did dedicate to the project, but I have a feeling that is going to be rejected. What can / should I do? I am a level two seller with no negative reviews and have been shocked at the lack of seller support.

I gave buyers three weeks to get as many edits as they wanted on an application statement.

This is where the problem lies. Instead of giving time, you should have offered a set number of free revision(s) say 2 or 3 and then after each revision should have charged “X” amount per revision. This would limit the buyer to request a certain number of revision(s) because ultimately it was falling on their pocket.

As you know, Fiverr works on fixed price contracts and not on hourly contracts. Giving 3 weeks of time for an “X” amount weakens your ground if in case any dispute arises.

A buyer requested a cancellation approximately 4 days before the end of the time period

It was way too easy for the buyer.

I would not grant him a free extension.

You cannot charge a buyer while sending a request for deadline extension because this feature is neither advertised nor provided while using the resolution center.

You can charge a buyer only using “extras” on an active order. If you had sent a custom extra to the buyer and they are not accepting it then you should have delivered the order and approached to the Support for mediation. This would have put your case on a stronger hand.

The only loophole to the above advise is that if you had offered “Unlimited Revisions” to the buyer then it would put them on the upper edge to request as many changes needed and put the order back to the Modification state when needed before the 3 days of waiting time-period given to each buyer on an order sitting in delivered state.

Its always advised to set limitation on the number of free revisions provided to a buyer. As it is an online marketplace: sellers needs to be extra careful while dealing.

They vaguely blamed the pandemic

Millions of businesses have suffered due to this, and is still suffering in various countries.

 

World Bank

The Global Economic Outlook During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Changed World

The COVID-19 pandemic has spread with alarming speed, infecting millions and bringing economic activity to a near-standstill as countries imposed tight restrictions on movement to halt the spread of the virus.

[laalawstudent]

I gave buyers three weeks to get as many edits as they wanted on an application statement.

This is where the problem lies. Instead of giving time, you should have offered a set number of free revision(s) say 2 or 3 and then after each revision should have charged “X” amount per revision. This would limit the buyer to request a certain number of revision(s) because ultimately it was falling on their pocket.

As you know, Fiverr works on fixed price contracts and not on hourly contracts. Giving 3 weeks of time for an “X” amount weakens your ground if in case any dispute arises.

A buyer requested a cancellation approximately 4 days before the end of the time period

It was way too easy for the buyer.

I would not grant him a free extension.

You cannot charge a buyer while sending a request for deadline extension because this feature is neither advertised nor provided while using the resolution center.

You can charge a buyer only using “extras” on an active order. If you had sent a custom extra to the buyer and they are not accepting it then you should have delivered the order and approached to the Support for mediation. This would have put your case on a stronger hand.

The only loophole to the above advise is that if you had offered “Unlimited Revisions” to the buyer then it would put them on the upper edge to request as many changes needed and put the order back to the Modification state when needed before the 3 days of waiting time-period given to each buyer on an order sitting in delivered state.

Its always advised to set limitation on the number of free revisions provided to a buyer. As it is an online marketplace: sellers needs to be extra careful while dealing.

They vaguely blamed the pandemic

Millions of businesses have suffered due to this, and is still suffering in various countries.

 

World Bank

The Global Economic Outlook During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Changed World

The COVID-19 pandemic has spread with alarming speed, infecting millions and bringing economic activity to a near-standstill as countries imposed tight restrictions on movement to halt the spread of the virus.

Most of what you said may be true, but it doesn’t apply to my case.

I did not try to charge the buyer anything extra. He initially requested the cancellation saying he wanted a free extension and I said no, which came out of the blue since he hadn’t even asked me. I denied the cancellation, then he sent in another request and reported me to CS because of the weird pandemic thing, which I maintain had absolutely no bearing on the order, he just didn’t want to pay since it was a large amount of money. There were no revisions at issue, since I had never “delivered” the order.

[laalawstudent]

I gave buyers three weeks to get as many edits as they wanted on an application statement.

This is where the problem lies. Instead of giving time, you should have offered a set number of free revision(s) say 2 or 3 and then after each revision should have charged “X” amount per revision. This would limit the buyer to request a certain number of revision(s) because ultimately it was falling on their pocket.

As you know, Fiverr works on fixed price contracts and not on hourly contracts. Giving 3 weeks of time for an “X” amount weakens your ground if in case any dispute arises.

A buyer requested a cancellation approximately 4 days before the end of the time period

It was way too easy for the buyer.

I would not grant him a free extension.

You cannot charge a buyer while sending a request for deadline extension because this feature is neither advertised nor provided while using the resolution center.

You can charge a buyer only using “extras” on an active order. If you had sent a custom extra to the buyer and they are not accepting it then you should have delivered the order and approached to the Support for mediation. This would have put your case on a stronger hand.

The only loophole to the above advise is that if you had offered “Unlimited Revisions” to the buyer then it would put them on the upper edge to request as many changes needed and put the order back to the Modification state when needed before the 3 days of waiting time-period given to each buyer on an order sitting in delivered state.

Its always advised to set limitation on the number of free revisions provided to a buyer. As it is an online marketplace: sellers needs to be extra careful while dealing.

They vaguely blamed the pandemic

Millions of businesses have suffered due to this, and is still suffering in various countries.

 

World Bank

The Global Economic Outlook During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Changed World

The COVID-19 pandemic has spread with alarming speed, infecting millions and bringing economic activity to a near-standstill as countries imposed tight restrictions on movement to halt the spread of the virus.

Oh also, all this presumes the cancellation was ruled valid. It was not. Fiverr admits the cancellation was a mistake, but they still won’t pay me in full. That’s the heart of the issue.

[rahulgraphics]

Most of what you said may be true, but it doesn’t apply to my case.

I did not try to charge the buyer anything extra. He initially requested the cancellation saying he wanted a free extension and I said no, which came out of the blue since he hadn’t even asked me. I denied the cancellation, then he sent in another request and reported me to CS because of the weird pandemic thing, which I maintain had absolutely no bearing on the order, he just didn’t want to pay since it was a large amount of money. There were no revisions at issue, since I had never “delivered” the order.

I did not try to charge the buyer anything extra.

You haven’t charged the buyer anything even after delivering 90% of the work, I guess!!

Because 👇

I had never “delivered” the order.

---

they still won’t pay me in full.

It’s one of a kind. Your case is very very rare for the CS to deal with, I think!! I haven’t heard such a case in my almost 5 years of journey on Fiverr. Fiverr still paid you even though the order wasn’t officially delivered and buyer didn’t got a chance to accept/reject it. Moreover it was cancelled by the CS resulting in a refund to the buyer.

Fiverr admits the cancellation was a mistake

If you had delivered the order then your buyer must have requested a revision by rejecting the delivery to put the order back to modification state. He won’t accept it so easily. And you would have put it again to the delivered state. It would become more of a severe headache for both parties. End result would have been a cancellation or a negative review on your profile.

There are many loopholes in the case. Forget about it and move on with your life.

Good luck!!

[mrs_emmanuel]

I agree with @rahulgraphics in reference to the way you set up the gig. I don't know what type of consultation you offer, but there seems to have been no real structure or boundaries. For three weeks this person could communicate with you and use your services at will, and only for $120? That's pretty amazing. I find that more often than not, buyers don't appreciate when you go the extra mile for them, so a structure is necessary. It's not fair for the buyer to cancel 4 days before the use was up, but to avoid the headache, setting up the gig in milestones would have been more effective. Fiverr has a sort of 'hands of' approach to things, but rightly so; in the real world, when you provide a service or good, you have to either work with the person, or just eat the loss. In this case, I'm glad you got some kind of compensation.