New Scam Alert! Send Me a Sample

[faith_akano]

So I just noticed a trend… It is somewhat normal for buyers to come asking for samples of your past work, just so they be sure that their work is safe with you or perhaps, that you are skilled enough to the job.

It is excruciating that some of these people would come to asking you to do a sample of their own work; say, the supposed job is for you to be an everyday blog writer, they ask that you send one blog post on their niche as a sample to show that you understand and can research about them and be able to come up with a good article for them. You send this, and they are gone! Not even a single reply.In short, the original idea was for them to just get you to do a free job for them. I can imagine they’ll play the same game with other sellers and get themselves as many free blog posts as they want.

I only used article writing as an example. I’ve experienced this in almost all the gigs I offer. I’ve had a “buyer” come to me asking me to do a voice over of a script that he’d give me as a sample. What in the world! For crying out loud, I’ve done a few jobs in the past, simply ask for a previous work, a demo, whatever!

I’ve fallen victim of this scam twice now, and I thought to share. I think how to avoid this is to just stop sending weird samples. If the buyer is not cool with samples of your past work, let them go, the hugeness of the proposed pay notwithstanding.

If you have any other suggestions, please, let me know. I’m open to learning.

[joshblevins1991]

Just set the expectation that you do not do any work until a sale has been made. You have nothing to lose by telling them no and everything to gain by not wasting your time with them.

[blaisefaint]

Dear Faith:

I suggest you take a look at this thread: Warning Signs of a Potentially Troublesome Buyer.

Good luck,
Blaise

[taverr]

This is the quick response I use just for these types of messages.

Hi, Thanks for taking the time to contact me.
But sorry, I don’t do a part of the work as a sample prior to the order as many buyers have asked me for that and got their work done for free in the past. I am attaching few [XYZ] from the similar jobs I did in the past as samples. Let me know if I should send you an invoice here for ordering.

Thanks, Taverr.

Result in 70% of these cases : Either the buyer says something like “Sorry, we have hired someone else” or just don’t even send a reply. 😏

[joshblevins1991]

This is the quick response I use just for these types of messages.

Hi, Thanks for taking the time to contact me.

But sorry, I don’t do a part of the work as a sample prior to the order as many buyers have asked me for that and got their work done for free in the past. I am attaching few [XYZ] from the similar jobs I did in the past as samples. Let me know if I should send you an invoice here for ordering.

Thanks, Taverr.

Result in 70% of these cases : Either the buyer says something like “Sorry, we have hired someone else” or just don’t even send a reply. 😏

I think it will be best for me to edit and remove that line completely to best represent myself.

[silkroute]

Old scam, new alert.

An average gig has 3 images, 1 video and 2 PDFs which means even a gig with ZERO sales has roughly half a dozen samples on their sales page already. Those who have sales even have all the samples from their live portfolio.

If a ‘potential’ buyer feels that 6 default samples and 50+ customized samples and buyer reviews is not enough samples, well…[insert hyperbolic exasperation here].

If you feel your spidey senses tingling, just give them the benefit of doubt and politely direct them to your profile and make it known to them that all your samples are already live on your public Fiverr profile. The good ones will understand.

I have a ‘no sample’ rule. If the buyer insists that they need me to ‘do a super quick task to see if my skills match the needs of their massive project’, I politely tell them to order a super-small 5$ gig and give me a super small task to find out if my skillset is a match for their massive project or not.

Fiverr TOS requires you to be polite, positive and constructive in your interaction with buyers, none of that requires you to be a pushover. Assume good faith and tell potential buyers that enough free samples have been uploaded to your public profile already and everything else costs money, but don’t be rude or blow them off.

[faith_akano]

Dear Faith:

I suggest you take a look at this thread: Warning Signs of a Potentially Troublesome Buyer.

Good luck,

Blaise

Oh, thank you so much, @blaisefaint. I just read the post and could relate to every single point mentioned. It’s an eye opener.

[faith_akano]

Old scam, new alert.

An average gig has 3 images, 1 video and 2 PDFs which means even a gig with ZERO sales has roughly half a dozen samples on their sales page already. Those who have sales even have all the samples from their live portfolio.

If a ‘potential’ buyer feels that 6 default samples and 50+ customized samples and buyer reviews is not enough samples, well…[insert hyperbolic exasperation here].

If you feel your spidey senses tingling, just give them the benefit of doubt and politely direct them to your profile and make it known to them that all your samples are already live on your public Fiverr profile. The good ones will understand.

I have a ‘no sample’ rule. If the buyer insists that they need me to ‘do a super quick task to see if my skills match the needs of their massive project’, I politely tell them to order a super-small 5$ gig and give me a super small task to find out if my skillset is a match for their massive project or not.

Fiverr TOS requires you to be polite, positive and constructive in your interaction with buyers, none of that requires you to be a pushover. Assume good faith and tell potential buyers that enough free samples have been uploaded to your public profile already and everything else costs money, but don’t be rude or blow them off.

Thanks, @silkroute. I’ve learned that the hard way 🙂

[faith_akano]

This is the quick response I use just for these types of messages.

Hi, Thanks for taking the time to contact me.

But sorry, I don’t do a part of the work as a sample prior to the order as many buyers have asked me for that and got their work done for free in the past. I am attaching few [XYZ] from the similar jobs I did in the past as samples. Let me know if I should send you an invoice here for ordering.

Thanks, Taverr.

Result in 70% of these cases : Either the buyer says something like “Sorry, we have hired someone else” or just don’t even send a reply. 😏

[homeestates]

I am a writer and I send links to work I have done in the past, and is published.

This gives people an idea of the style of writing I will deliver but doesn’t give then anything they can’t already copy and paste from the internet.

[dabihsss]

I 've got two requests recently. Weird.

[newsmike]

Faith,

Here’s the quick response I use for these requests.

Hi,

Unfortunately, I cannot offer free samples. This is because the amount of time it takes to record a sample is equivalent to recording a 100 word voice over. There are many such requests each week, and often buyers will “shop around” by asking a dozen or more VO artists for a free sample. This creates a lot of unpaid time in the studio, as only one person will be selected for the job.

There are varied samples of my work on my gig page which will give you a very good idea of how it will sound. My demo can also be heard at https://soundcloud.com/user-965130886/newsmike-demo

Otherwise, if you still require a sample prior to ordering an entire job, I suggest you select a 100 words from the script and order a basic $5 gig to hear exactly what it will sound like.

Thanks

[adrover]

I agree. I don’t offer custom samples. If they want to test me out before hiring me for a large job, they can order one page first, but they will not get it for free.

[gina_riley2]

You know what I do when I want a custom sample?

I order a $5 gig!! 😉

[jhallawalla]

Received 1 request from a Seller asking for some Designing and according to her profile she was very accomplished graphic designer, It can happen incase of too much load of work but she has no work she is level 1 seller.

[rainny_writer]

You know what I do when I want a custom sample?

I order a $5 gig!! 😉

Yep… You are bliss to work with, even if I’m yet to work with you. Sometimes, I wish all buyers could borrow a leave from your copybook 😍.

But, really, I wonder why some buyers would just think sellers are dumb and have no other jobs but to offer freebies to “potential” buyers.

[zazi_developer]

One Rule: Never offer free work in form of samples| Never downgrade your value and your self.

Lot of people come to me on daily basis saying we have a lot of projects or we will bring you more projects and client give me best value.
The best value you already have listed in your gig package only and only change the price when you think it should be.