Need Help with Buyer

[enormousstyle]

So, I had someone contact me and ask for a sample of my writing. I sent them one and they posted it to their blog without paying for it. They said they removed it and when I checked it wasn’t there. They purchased a gig and wanted two 250 word blog posts. They also asked if I could provide images and I agreed (should have said no). I delivered their order and in their feedback they said they wish there would have been more content. =/ I actually wrote “more” than the 250 words each, otherwise the articles wouldn’t have made sense.

AND NOW I get a message from them asking where’s the other three articles? They did originally want five but before they purchased I told them I could only do two for 5 and they sent a message which shows they understood that. I know there isn’t but I wish there was some way I could ban them so they can’t order from me again. They are driving me crazy and if they keep ordering and leaving lower feedback my rate will go down very quickly.



I just checked and my sample article IS back up on their blog… although they did add a few extra words here and there. Not happy!



Is there anything I can do? What should I do about my sample article which they posted on their blog without paying for it? That just isn’t right.



Thanks in advance for your advice

[enormousstyle]

Wow, 22 views and not one comment. Oh well! :))

[Guest celticmoon]

All experienced sellers will tell you this: NEVER give out samples/free work. It usually leads to abuse. Either watermark a sample, create an incomplete piece of work showing your writing style, or you can direct the buyer to somewhere that your work is published (as long as it doesn’t contain any personal contact information).

As to this situation, I would copy/paste segments of your conversation with this buyer showing that he/she purchased just the 2 articles, not 5, and that it was clearly understood. If the buyer continues to purchase your gigs, I guess you can request a cancellation, but if the buyer refuses you could still be stuck with the gig.

As to the sample work that the buyer is using, be sure to remind him/her that using material that he doesn’t legally own is against the law, and that if he persists, you’ll be forced to contact his website provider. Most will quickly close him down for DMCA violation because they don’t want the legal headache. Then be sure to follow through.

[tylady]

Hello, I’m a new seller, got my level 1 title 2 weeks ago. I know some buyers ask for samples sometimes, to protect myself and my work I always give them incomplete work as a sample. Just like What celticmoon said above. I’m sorry you have to deal with such a buyer.

[Guest joethorn]

Not handing out samples at all will be detrimental to business, as even if just 10% of those who request samples buy your work, that’s still a lot of orders you’d miss out on.



Sending an incomplete sample in Jpeg format will do the trick. As far as I’m concerned, anybody who wants to type out an incomplete piece of work, reading around the watermark, can have the text it took me 4 minutes to write! 🙂



I’m sorry you had to go through that. It sounds frustrating.

[Guest mikemiki]

Always tell buyers who request sample that you don’t keep samples. But try to convince them that you provide an OUTSTANDING!!! Job.

[emasonwrites]

@joethorn’s jpeg idea is perfect. Alternatively, you could create a free blog where you post samples (that’s what I do). I still send them the word doc, but if they try to distribute the sample as their own, it’s already posted online and easier to prove that I wrote it and they don’t have the right to use it.



Like @celticmoon said, it’s important to let him know, calmly and politely, that you will be filing a DMCA complaint and then really do follow through with one.

[davidlustrup]

im definetly a fan of the watermark, when I send someone a mastered audio track sample I send them then whole track, but every 10 seconds they hear me saying " Audio Watermark" lol they cant remove that or work around it, then if they like the way the track sounds, they buy the gig and they get the track without the watermark…win win