No refund policy!

[jdadvertising]

It is unfair to have to work hard on a project (especially with unreasonable, disrespectful buyers) to have them come back weeks, months after a job is complete and file for a refund. They already got the work they wanted. Most times THEY are the ones completing the orders, but somehow they come back weeks/months after with some minuscule issue and try to bully you into fixing it via the INBOX. And their famous tactic is threatening to file for a refund. In essence they want free work at no cost, if you don’t do it, then whatever they paid before will be taken back from your account.

Why do buyers have so much privilege?

I think after three days, buyers shouldn’t be able to demand any refund.

Three days passed and your order has been closed? Then you should have taken the necessary steps to ensure that you rectify any issues with orders before that time. If you would be unavailable, consult with your seller and come to some sort of agreement.

But i am honestly tired of working hard, to have buyers come weeks/months after demanding new work (free because they think they deserve it) and actually getting refunded.

Time wasted on a job, that could have been spent on a buyer who’s worthy of it.



I would really like some feedback.

Do you fellow sellers think that we should have a no refund policy to protect our earnings for time, energy and creativity spent?

[tenthtiermedia]

I totally agree with you. Having 3 days to determine if you want modifications or a refund is plenty of time. If a buyer doesn’t take that period serious enough, then that’s on them. When a store says “you have 30 days to make an exchange or refund” and the customer decides to come back with issues after that period then the store is in the right to refuse a refund to them. The same thing should be happening on here. There’s so much protection for buyers yet the sellers barely have anything to protect us.

[sincere18]

Is this happening to you alot? It does happen every once in awhile, but if it is happenign all the time that is a problem and you may want to look at clarifying your gig descriptions or maybe figuring out some patterns and then do a mutual cancellation if a buyer doesn’t follow your orders or asks for something outside of the gig or whatever else.

There will never be a no refund policy as you are not thinking about all the sellers that actually do not do the job. Or a seller that does the job really wrong which also happens, what then? There will always be a refund policy of some kind, however it’s possible that there could be changes in terms of time when it can happen.

[jdadvertising]

Reply to @tenthtiermedia: Same thing I’m saying! Buyers literally get away with stealing and leave sellers now trying to make up what was taken. I really hope Fiverr looks into this.

[jdadvertising]

Reply to @sincere18: No it is not happening often. But it mostly happens on custom jobs where i work the hardest and put up with the most disgusting of attitudes. While still being polite!
Mutual cancellations do nothing. Why? Because even if i want to cancel, the buyer can easily decline my offer. And if i really want to close, i have to go through Fiverr CS who will only ask me to still try and work with the buyer. At the end of the day sellers are at the unfortunate mercy of disrespectful and spiteful buyers.
And there better be a no refund policy. In the event that sellers do not do their work, then buyers should be able to go through Fiverr CS and if they determine the seller is in the wrong, then refund the buyer! But most buyers like to wave the complaint to fiverr to get free work done DAYS/WEEKS/MONTHS after submission/job completion.

This incident happened. A buyer came to me a month ago. Was deeply frustrating to work with, many times i wanted to cancel, but i held on and worked through it. i offer only one modification unless you purchase more. Due to what was ordered, i notified them that to compensate for your additional mods you will not be getting the smallest piece of artwork.
THEY AGREED! and completed the order after we made all adjustments.
Today they have the audacity to demand I do work utilizing what they already paid for the modification, toward this order. Because i declined and put my PAYING buyers first, they decided it was necessary to file a complaint to get a refund. It was a large order and they already got all the artwork perfectly modified. If Fiverr gives them back the large sum of money I WORKED HARD FOR, then they get work done for their event for FREE.
There are many buyers going around on the site doing this.

So No, in my opinion buyers get way too many privileges. Time to protect the Sellers.
No refund policy should come into effect.

[sincere18]

Reply to @jdadvertising: Regarding this incident, did you contact customer support about it?

but in general if you get this on difficult buyers on custom offers, maybe that is the pattern and maybe you should be more careful about who you extend custom offers to and maybe not even do some of them if the person emails you asking for all kinds of stuff. Usually difficult people are difficult from the very beginning.

So pay attention and when they contact you for a custom offer, say politely “I am sorry I am not able to do that. There are many other sellers who can assist you. Good luck to you.” and leave it at that.

[sincere18]

Reply to @jdadvertising: but if there was a no refund policy, buyers would not buy. Remember buyers are spending money on an anonymous seller, there is a risk on the buyers side too and many buyers have problems also with sellers who do not deliver and now the buy is out the money and it’s now in Fiverr credits…there are so many parts of this.

But do you work on your own or only here on Fiverr?

[jdadvertising]

Reply to @sincere18: To the ones who Start off difficult I usually sever the communication politely as soon as I realize they have attitude issues. Then there are the few who put up a really good front.
With everything there is a risk, so I understand where you’re coming from. But is still think there should be some sort of system in place to properly protect Sellers.
With regard to my work, Fiverr is my main source of income. I do freelance for some clients in my country but due to lack of professionalism with most, I stick to Fiverr.
Thank you for taking the time to respond though.
I truly appreciate it! 🙂

[fastcopywriter]

I sympathize, but the reality is that almost everything that’s sold online comes with a refund. Amazon lets you return most item in less than 30 days. Web marketing courses often come with a 30-60 day warranty.

Most people are honest, some buyers will even let you keep the money even if they didn’t like your work (they appreciate the effort and the time you put in).

jdadvertising said: try to bully you into fixing it via the INBOX.

Whether you fix it or not is up to you, if it’s an easy fix, I will fix it. Other times I might chastise the buyer, “I delivered this 7 days ago, where were you?” But in general, I would rather refund the order than risk a bad review.

I don’t know what’s wrong with the Fiverr rating system, but no matter how many positive reviews I get, I’m still stuck at 97%. How can that be? I have 2,100 positive reviews, 29 negative ones. 1,300 not rated. 29 is 1.38%, so how come my rating isn’t 98.61% or 98% since I know Fiverr doesn’t round up the numbers?

This is why I fear negative reviews, including “fauxitives” like 3-stars and 4-stars.

[sjames210]

I definitely agree with the above points pertaining to satisfying buyer requests to avoid getting a bad review BUT don’t believe in giving away free work. You should not have to live in fear of getting a bad review so hence would recommend the following strategy;

I think if you have set out clear buyer expectations within your gig description (number of modifications, service per $5 etc.) then you have provided the buyer with information about the service you offer. I know that in a competitive market, we have to strive to give customers value for money but you should never undersell your service. If the customer is happy enough to hit the complete button after modifications, then you have completed the order and should be paid without fear of further penalty or loss of income, I have challenged (diplomatically and politely) customers who have left poor feedback, when I have gone above and beyond, and many have changed their feedback based on the fact that I have gone to the trouble to check that their okay with their order. I believe it is in the absence of information and clarity that buyers can potentially exploit (intentionally and unintentionally) a seller’s good nature. To date I complete most orders with minimal modifications - in my field of service, I might mispronounce names and such - but as customers come to me with clear guidelines of what they can expect from my service, there is little room for dispute of service.

My last piece of advice, is that if you’re gut is telling you that it’s going to be a grind for $5, then most likely it’s not worth doing the job. Hence why it’s important to have the above strategy so there is little wriggle room for customers. Should you feel you want to go above and beyond it’s extremely noticeable and goes a long way to building great links and trust with your customers.

-S

[pfpgogo]

I posted about this on here before and agree in general that there needs to be more decisive cut offs for certain things like refunds that Fiverr actually enforces where the buyer is concerned.

Custom services aren’t the same as physical products that take a while to use before you can fully decide if it performs as expected. If you hire someone to paint a picture, write a 200-word article, or record a 30-second voiceover, it doesn’t take a month to figure out that it’s not what you want. You can pretty much figure that out right then and there.

Sellers shouldn’t have money taken from them for work they provided (and the buyer gets to keep) simply because the buyer “changed their mind” weeks or months after the fact. There should be limitations. If a buyer doesn’t buy because of those limitations, oh well.