Read full description before you buy

[Guest lisha5684]

Hey fiverr buyers. Here’s my tip for today. Read the gig description before you buy.



I got an order from someone who wanted me to do a video testimonial but didn’t have a script. My gig is to do the testimonial for $5. However, if I need to come up with the script myself, then that will involve more research, time, energy, savviness, and brains (yep). So there’s a $10 gig extra for that. The reason why is because I truly provide great video testimonials and it’s truly worth it.



My buyer said “I trust you”. He gave me a link to their ebook which he wanted the testimonial to be about. So I wrote the script. I did the video using the title of their ebook. I delivered the video. A great video, if I do say so myself.



Later, I got a message from the buyer saying that he forgot that he changed the name of the ebook and was wondering if I could redo the video with the new title. And he did not offer anything extra for putting me out…



Well, this puts me between a rock and a hard place. There are buyers on fiverr who are super awesome and order the correct amount of gig and gig extras for what they want. These people are paying for the service. While others are only paying for a portion of the full service they’re getting. I want to work hard for the people who are actually following directions, and obviously the people who are paying more really should get priority. However, now I am going to have to do this video all over even though it was the buyers error.



Basically, I’m doing $20 worth of services for someone who only paid $5. And I think I am going to have to put a link to my tip jar gig when I deliver this guy’s second video. Hopefully he’ll take the hint. It’s only fair.



It would be awesome if all buyers would understand that there is a price to pay for awesome services. And these gigs take time and effort. So note to buyers: read the full description and order accordingly.



Thanks everyone 🙂

[anarchofighter]

lisha5684 said: Basically, I'm doing $20 worth of services for someone who only paid $5. And I think I am going to have to put a link to my tip jar gig when I deliver this guy's second video. Hopefully he'll take the hint. It's only fair.

 

Make sure you also "spell it out" he may not understand how long it takes a video to render or just how many takes you might have to do. And that, while you understand the video may not be useful to him it was still using you.

[Guest lisha5684]

Reply to @anarchofighter: Yes, true. Thanks anarcho 🙂

[wolfstarpicture]

It almost enrages me when not only do buyers not read the gig description

but receive the automated message after order, giving very detailed, numbered steps on what to do, and what information I need. couldn’t be simpler.



One customer on my video intro video and I quote

"OH MY GOD YOU DIDN’T SAY THIS VIDEO WAS ONLY 10 SECONDS LONG, I WANTED 2 MINUTES"



not only did he want 2 minutes of editing, but he ordered the wrong gig.



then continued to scream and shout at me, of the differences between a video intro and a promotional/advertisement video.

Video intro’s typically last 6-20 seconds long, MGM, Universal, Marvel etc. all are within these time frames.



Another customer, who was actually a seller on fiverr, wanted me to me an intro for his fiverr gig, 30 second’s long, animated with music.

Then complained and moaned when I asked to purchase the relevant extra’s (and I discounted)

Then kept on complaining because i was wanting more than $5

I said to him, I don’t expect to work for $4 for over an hours worth of work, in the UK I couldn’t even afford a beer for that price.



Then another customer for a math’s assosiation for smart people.



didn’t read gig description,



in my numbered 1-6 steps on my ordered gig response message.



customer made their own 1-6 step’s that gave no help what so ever, and answered no questions.



After finding out right questions again, wanting so much work for $5… then promptly cancelled.

I actually had to ask myself "And that guy own’s a maths group?"



What is with buyer’s… don’t get me wrong some are awesome, give you everything you need and can deliver in an hour or 2. without any further questions.



Others… learn some manners, and learn to read.



Very infuriating.

[Guest jeffmoses]

Yes, PLEASE read gig descriptions before ordering.



If you are unsure just ask before ordering 🙂

[Guest lisha5684]

Reply to @wolfstarpicture: that is a lot of tough stuff you had to go through wolfstar. It is also disappointing when someone you worked so hard to explain things to cancels the order. It’s not like you were paid for the time you spent explaining things which were already in the title, description, and instructions. And yes $4 is such a small amount of money. My very limit is hopefully I don’t spend more than 30 minutes doing a gig for $4. That’s still only $8, which is minimum wage in california, so if it takes me more time to go a gig then I should just go get another part time job at taco bell.

[shorya95]

i agree with u lisha

same thing happens with me

about 20 percent of my buyer order without a proper guidance and after when the order is ready they ask me that can u please change the letter like this so i can c how it look like it was ridiculous afterall when revisions were done they gave negative feedback 😦

[inkedwriter]

It seems to be common practice among many buyers to get as much as they can for as little as possible. I am bombarded with messages asking, “What is your best price for X amount of articles?” My answer is always X multiplied by 5. Like you, I work hard to deliver a quality product and don’t think that $5 is much to ask for that.

[rajatahirqasier]

Agreed

We should read the gig description before buying !

It has happened to me once when I didn’t read the description and ordered than I ask to cancell the order and seller declined mutual cancellation 😕

[uconcept]

In cases like that I would just say something like this:

‘Unfortunately, it would require me to do it all over’ so you would need to get xx gigs to do it all over. Thanks’

[chonchko]

I’m not trying to make myself sound great, but I did research before I ordered on Fiverr. First, I wanted to make sure the place was legit. Second, I saw the excessive fees that Fiverr takes out. Seriously, I don’t know how you guys put up with it.



Anyway, don’t be afraid to ask for more money if you’re doing more work. I ordered a graphic design gig, and paid the guy an extra $5, for no reason, when I asked him to do a revision (that was included anyway). Why? Because I realize that graphic design gigs are normally $40+ an hour for a professional (at least, the ones I looked at around me). I thought he did a great job, and the extra $5, which was still the least I could do, was also well below the average cost.



I think a lot of people take Fiverr for granted, sadly, and that dips into the bottom line for the wonderful sellers on here. Like I said, if you’re doing extra work, ask for the extra money. It’s not fair for you to go above and beyond for nothing. I’m usually mindful of when I’m pushing sellers to the limit, and if they go above and beyond for me, I’m willing to pitch in a little extra for them. It’s only fair. But some people just don’t get it.

[Guest lisha5684]

Hi chonchko. That is awesome that you realize how hard fiverr sellers work on here for $4. It’s not the buyer’s responsibility to make up for that 20% that fiverr takes and the way I see it, fiverr links together buyers and sellers and many sellers wouldn’t have the buyers if it were not for fiverr, so it’s kind of like fiverr is the affiliate, so if you think about it that way 20% is a small commission. However, the sellers are typically doing all the actual labor for the order, so then it might seem big because of that. But luckily, we can make that up when some people order gig extras, etc.



Anyway, I commend you chonchko for giving more when you see it is worth it.



I had a buyer last week that gave me a $25 tip out of the blue!!! I was so amazed! I don’t want to say who he is because I don’t want sellers to go bother him trying to get him to buy from them and abuse his generosity, but I would really like to recognize him anonymously in this message. I was so thankful! It is people like you and him who make a difference to us sellers and really keep us alive! 😉

[thecobra1977]

I’m in full agreement with you lisha. If you are just looking at this as a $4 gig than you are missing the big picture. The networking opportunities and the ability to find people to buy your gigs are well worth the 20 percent. As a veteran in the seo field this type of availability would cost you thousands of dollars and months of hard work to get the amount of visitors to your private business.

[mikemans]

I believe it is not funny that people out there know fully well we are doing a fantastic job here on fiverr.com for a few buck and they still are cheeky??? Lord have mercy!!!

[kash2u]

Agreed!!

This happened to me some days before, one of my buyer ordered without read the full Gig des. So after deliver the order that buyer put a negative feedback and what he described was not related to my Gig. This down my Gig rating from 100% to 99% 😦

[maxthemarketer]

Indeed, it is always a little bit of hassle when people have not read the description.



What I do to prevent myself from headaches is to have a couple of typical responses that I just copy & paste with my script I am about to launch here on Fiverr as a gig, that types my prepared response in less than 1 second.



This saves me time and I do not have to get unnecessarily frustrated but understand that people are in a hurry and some people take Fiverr for granted, but the majority of customers I have had these two years have been amazing human beings! 🙂



Take Care & Have An Awesome Day, Fellow Fiverrs! / Max “MaxTheMarketer” K.

[sincerelymegan]

What is difficult about doing testimonial gigs is that many buyers don’t bother to read your gig description. For example, for my gig that clearly states that I only work on a script (come on, I’m not going to do a 20 minute research on your service, take 30 minutes to write one up, then 15 minutes to actually film a 30 second video ALL for $4) but a lot of buyers still do 😕 Then, since I’m new to Fiverr, I work my butt off because I’m scared I’ll get a negative review.



I wish there was a way for sellers to control sales more. For example, like having an option to mark orders as “incomplete - order does not meet seller’s requirements”. That way, it can sort of “hold” the gig from your side without penalty… since “request mutual cancellation” is really in control of the buyer, and forcing cancellation has a negative rating on your part.



Future suggestion for Fiverr?



Sincerely,

Megan

[petrosianii]

That’s right. Always read full description and don’t assume that the Seller will do it, if it doesn’t say in the gig description that she will do it!

[ryangillam]

Agreed,



I am bombarded with messages asking me to reduce prices for my gig, but my standard reply is “The majority of my orders are for 8 gigs at a time, I feel no need to reduce my price” and then you have those people ordering who state that they need something quicker but can’t afford to pay for it, and finally those that try to sneak a couple of hundred extra words into what they want (They want some of the most descriptive articles ever covering about 10 or 20 keywords all compressed into 500 words…) Now I do them anyway if they aren’t too pushy, but I wish buyers would think a little bit more about the work that needs to go into something.



Ryan

[creativefate]

This could easily be fixed with a Confirmation Agreement that they read the description and have to confirm before sending the instructions (a reminder). This would take a huge load off Sellers and Support from what i am reading on the forums, it seems like a huge cumbersome problem for everyone.



** Just realized there is a thread already on this… http://forum.fiverr.com/discussion/4097/warning-popup-upon-ordering

[adrian01]

Thanks for your post, as a newbie to fiverr it’s nice to be aware of good manners that’s expected and appropriate protocol as a buyer of good quality services.

Much appreciated and keep up the awesome work.

Adrian

[Guest lisha5684]

Reply to @kash2u:



I know, and even though 99% is still very good, it looks bad because everyone on fiverr is trying to keep that 100%. It’s tough! You never know what kind of buyer is going to choose you, lol!

[Guest lisha5684]

Reply to @maxthemarketer: Yeah I do a lot of copy and paste in messages when it is the same response. But then there is always something a tiny bit different, or the way they asked makes me think I need to respond differently… some buyers you have to be extremely careful with your wording.

[Guest lisha5684]

Reply to @oldbittygrandma:



awesome! 🙂

[team_writers]

if i were you, I wouldn’t do all that for the 5 $ and would have just told him to add the extra to the order!