Seller askiing "What is your budget" so annoying!

[tigawoods]

I always contact a seller before I make an order just to make sure they are free to do a gig they advertised etc. (Hardly ever because I want to know if they can do a job)

It really annoys me when some sellers ask what is my budget question when I have already told them what I want based on the prices they have listed on their gig. I can understand if they ask which gig I want but I always state what I want and yet they still ask what my budget is. WTF do they have to put their prices then???

I never reply and just move on to the next seller. The only reply I want to read is “Sure order my gig” 99% of buyers are here because the prices are set and there is no back and forth on prices.

So yes if you want to lose some buyers keep asking these questions.

[misscrystal]

I agree that it’s unprofessional.

It’s hard when a potential buyer says to send them an offer or asks a question, since most gigs have a variety of things that can affect the price.
But still, I always send what I think is the best option.

[scottwaltonvo]

I understand why you are frustrated and I can see how that doesn’t make sence to you. But from a seller’s perspective, a lot of buyers contact you first to try and get you to do work that is BELOW what we have stated on our pages.

a few weeks ago, I had a buyer contact me and wanted me to do voice over for a commercial that needed to be in sync with a video in less than 24 hours. It was clearly for TV broadcast but they insisted on not buying the broadcast rights from me. And they wanted it all for $5. It would have been a $25-30 dollar order if they went by my posted prices, but they contacted me to haggle and give me a low-ball offer. Some buyers think a custom order is getting the world for $5.

I understand and respect your view but from my perspective, that is why I sometimes ask the “what is your budget” question.

[gina_riley2]

I understand why you are frustrated and I can see how that doesn’t make sence to you. But from a seller’s perspective, a lot of buyers contact you first to try and get you to do work that is BELOW what we have stated on our pages.

a few weeks ago, I had a buyer contact me and wanted me to do voice over for a commercial that needed to be in sync with a video in less than 24 hours. It was clearly for TV broadcast but they insisted on not buying the broadcast rights from me. And they wanted it all for $5. It would have been a $25-30 dollar order if they went by my posted prices, but they contacted me to haggle and give me a low-ball offer. Some buyers think a custom order is getting the world for $5.

I understand and respect your view but from my perspective, that is why I sometimes ask the “what is your budget” question.

If the buyer said $200, how would you have replied back?

My experience, is the sellers want my max budget. If I say $150, they quote me as such. If I say $25, again they quote me as such.

I have never had seller say, “Oh, your budget is $250? Great. It’s only $35.00.”

Seller who ask this say, “Oh, your budget is $250.00? Great. It’s exactly $250.00.” Or “It’s $240.00.”

A seller should quote what it’s worth, regardless of budget. Buyer can accept or not. You may be an honest seller but not everyone is on 5r.

[steverotter]

I hate asking potential buyers what their budget is. The reason I ask is so I know how involved the project will be. I also will know what to include for them. I also like to include some extras at no charge if they are cool and make it worth their while and more. Why would anyone ask me for a quote if my prices are already listed? A quote is for something custom, for something I don’t have listed. I kind of need to know what your budget is so I don’t offer you the world for $50. Make sense?

[scottwaltonvo]

If the buyer said $200, how would you have replied back?

My experience, is the sellers want my max budget. If I say $150, they quote me as such. If I say $25, again they quote me as such.

I have never had seller say, “Oh, your budget is $250? Great. It’s only $35.00.”

Seller who ask this say, “Oh, your budget is $250.00? Great. It’s exactly $250.00.” Or “It’s $240.00.”

A seller should quote what it’s worth, regardless of budget. Buyer can accept or not. You may be an honest seller but not everyone is on 5r.

You make a good point. as I said, I can understand your frustration. Negotiation is difficult, and a lot of sellers are just out for the highest dollar amount regardless of how it affects the community here as a whole. I want to have my first time customers become REPEAT customers. a lot of sellers don’t understand how important that is.

[jonbaas]

If the buyer said $200, how would you have replied back?

My experience, is the sellers want my max budget. If I say $150, they quote me as such. If I say $25, again they quote me as such.

I have never had seller say, “Oh, your budget is $250? Great. It’s only $35.00.”

Seller who ask this say, “Oh, your budget is $250.00? Great. It’s exactly $250.00.” Or “It’s $240.00.”

A seller should quote what it’s worth, regardless of budget. Buyer can accept or not. You may be an honest seller but not everyone is on 5r.

I have never had seller say, “Oh, your budget is $250? Great. It’s only $35.00.”

Maybe I’m weird… or just extremely honest, but I do this all the time.

[eoinfinnegan]

I have never had seller say, “Oh, your budget is $250? Great. It’s only $35.00.”

Maybe I’m weird… or just extremely honest, but I do this all the time.

Done it occasionally but generally the budget is lower than it should be for what they want so I tell them what they can get for their budget and what they want will cost.

[misscrystal]

I just send a custom offer and it is usually more than they expected but that’s ok. I’m not going to do big things for a few bucks any more.

[kha1ed]

I always ask this to tell them what gig suits their needs. If you know the price already, why do you even message them? To make sure of what? IF the gig is there that means they can do it, otherwise the gig will be paused or you will see “the seller is on a vacation” 🙂

[eclectictllc]

I ask quite often, but not to raise my price. If someone walks up to me with a $20 order and has up to a $200 budget, it’s still an $20 order, but it means they’re serious about what they’re buying, and if their needs are ABOVE what they’re asking for, I can make a recommendation to them that may be better suited to what they REALLY NEED rather than boxing them in to the gig as listed. So, for example, if they want book formatting, but they really also need editing because I can spot mistakes all over the place, I can say “I know you asked for a $35 order, but you really can and should also have this edited. Whether you use me or another editor — I hate to tell you this book really needs it!! It will look unprofessional as it stands, and reviews will reflect it.” Or something said nicer, but really pointing out that they need more VALUE since they can afford a higher fee.

If your budget is $20 and you’re asking for a $35 order, I can say “Well, since you can’t do $35, I can take away this feature and still do it within your $20 budget.”

Sure there’s people who lack integrity and will try to take advantage of you. It’s equally rude to NOT share your budget. If someone’s maxing to your budget and you know they’re just fishing for more money, kick them to the curb. Don’t deal with people who have no integrity and aren’t serving you.

A buyer who hides their budget is as bad as those restaurants without prices on the menu with the “If you need to ask, you can’t afford it” attitude. Save me time, tell me your budget, and I can say whether I can work within your budget or not. I can’t tell you how much free advice I have given away only not to close deals because they don’t like my prices (this is without telling me their budget). So this kinda goes both ways. Someone who wants the world for $5 is all too common, and a lot of us sellers are hurting after paying Fiverr fees and falling over ourselves to make sure we get good ratings for what is at the end of the day not $4 after Fiverr fees because at least in the US I also have to pay Income Tax and pay Self-Employment taxes. That $5 you think you’re paying me is more like $2.

You want a full color cookbook design in InDesign with photos, bleeds, color correction, and a complete editing/rewrite/indexing job but you have a $35 budget? Go away. You’re wasting my time. If you have $3500, we can talk, and it’s probably around a $1500 job.

Oh, and another thing — my posted price is all well and good, but someone who loves me getting 500-word article rewrites for $5 for their blog got to like their 15th order and I said look — this should really be $10. I’m hurting here. It’s a loss leader. You know my value, can we please raise the fee? She agreed. So yeah, New Buyer still gets an article for $5, but I’d have to stop working with someone keeping me that busy for something that only buys about 8 ounces of cheese at a discount grocer at the end of the day.

Many of us are giving a tremendous value, and we’re getting peanuts. So don’t quibble over $5, but yeah don’t let someone inflate their price $200 just because you happen to have a budget.

[newsmike]

I have never had seller say, “Oh, your budget is $250? Great. It’s only $35.00.”

Maybe I’m weird… or just extremely honest, but I do this all the time.

Maybe I’m weird… or just extremely honest, but I do this all the time

Me too. I just quote what the price is. no games.

[gina_riley2]

I have never had seller say, “Oh, your budget is $250? Great. It’s only $35.00.”

Maybe I’m weird… or just extremely honest, but I do this all the time.

Maybe I’m weird… or just extremely honest, but I do this all the time.

You’re like the honest half on 5r. 🙂

My experience is that many sellers over quote when they know my budget; especially on B.R. l look at the gig page and have to wonder why they are charging me $60 when they clearly have what I’m asking on B.R. for $25.

Perhaps they were hoping I will order without looking.

[tigawoods]

I always ask this to tell them what gig suits their needs. If you know the price already, why do you even message them? To make sure of what? IF the gig is there that means they can do it, otherwise the gig will be paused or you will see “the seller is on a vacation” 🙂

Why do I message them? What a ridiculous comment. I message then for a several reasons:

I am ordering a service not goods. You want a human being to do something - CONFIRM with them if anything it’s just simple courtesy! I am not dealing with a farmer dog or sheep.

I need to know they understand my needs

I need to know they are okay with what I want. I dont want the back and forth after I have made the order. Time may not be imprortant to some but I really dont have the time.

I need to know they can do the job within the window. You will be suprised how many people cannot commit

Bottom line dont ASK WHAT IS MY BUDGET when you already stated the price!

[kha1ed]

Why do I message them? What a ridiculous comment. I message then for a several reasons:

I am ordering a service not goods. You want a human being to do something - CONFIRM with them if anything it’s just simple courtesy! I am not dealing with a farmer dog or sheep.

I need to know they understand my needs

I need to know they are okay with what I want. I dont want the back and forth after I have made the order. Time may not be imprortant to some but I really dont have the time.

I need to know they can do the job within the window. You will be suprised how many people cannot commit

Bottom line dont ASK WHAT IS MY BUDGET when you already stated the price!

Okay, keep confirming then . . .😒

[markusvoice]

I ask what the buyer’s budget is often.
I have some videos in my portfolio that are not Fiverr videos, so when a potential buyer ask for work that is outside of the gig levels in my description, then I ask the budget question to find out if the job is worth the time. Plain and simple. Buyers have budgets, Seller have rates. If the work needed from the buyer falls in the gig, I simply ask them to purchase gig level “x” or I can send them a custom offer that would be the same amount.
If they want specific footage, effects, 2 voiceover (male and female)…well that’s outside the gig description and requires a custom offer. Whether I send an offer for $500 and they accept/decline or they say their budget is $150 and I decline/accept, the question isn’t the problem, lack of information is.
A Seller asking the budget question is no more offensive or out of place than a buyer asking "can you do it for…?"
Can’t really lose a Buyer if a gig isn’ t ordered, you’re simply aware of a (possible) sale you didn’t get for one reason. Buyers are have their own motivations…price, quality, delivery time, reputation, style etc…we don;'t get jobs everyday for reasons we’re unaware of.
Budget too low. No thanks. But we don’t know if we don’t ask.

[tigawoods]

I ask what the buyer’s budget is often.

I have some videos in my portfolio that are not Fiverr videos, so when a potential buyer ask for work that is outside of the gig levels in my description, then I ask the budget question to find out if the job is worth the time. Plain and simple. Buyers have budgets, Seller have rates. If the work needed from the buyer falls in the gig, I simply ask them to purchase gig level “x” or I can send them a custom offer that would be the same amount.

If they want specific footage, effects, 2 voiceover (male and female)…well that’s outside the gig description and requires a custom offer. Whether I send an offer for $500 and they accept/decline or they say their budget is $150 and I decline/accept, the question isn’t the problem, lack of information is.

A Seller asking the budget question is no more offensive or out of place than a buyer asking "can you do it for…?"

Can’t really lose a Buyer if a gig isn’ t ordered, you’re simply aware of a (possible) sale you didn’t get for one reason. Buyers are have their own motivations…price, quality, delivery time, reputation, style etc…we don;'t get jobs everyday for reasons we’re unaware of.

Budget too low. No thanks. But we don’t know if we don’t ask.

Well you said you “when a potential buyer ask for work that is outside of the gig levels in my description” This has nothing to do with my OP. Please read again the part where I stated I ask them for excalty what they stated they will do.

[tigawoods]

Well you said you “when a potential buyer ask for work that is outside of the gig levels in my description” This has nothing to do with my OP. Please read again the part where I stated I ask them for excalty what they stated they will do.

And I am going to end on this note - that all the gigs I have mentioned are jobs that will take no less than 15mins. Yes that straighforward. We are talking about the most basic stuff. And it seems to be certain sellers from certain quarters that try to push things. It’s like this is supposed to be some haggling market. Next time someone asks me what my budget for what they said they will do. I’d say $2. I Might even begin to get a kick out of this.

[jonbaas]

Maybe I’m weird… or just extremely honest, but I do this all the time.

You’re like the honest half on 5r. 🙂

My experience is that many sellers over quote when they know my budget; especially on B.R. l look at the gig page and have to wonder why they are charging me $60 when they clearly have what I’m asking on B.R. for $25.

Perhaps they were hoping I will order without looking.

Perhaps they were hoping I will order without looking.

Most likely. …

[misscrystal]

And I am going to end on this note - that all the gigs I have mentioned are jobs that will take no less than 15mins. Yes that straighforward. We are talking about the most basic stuff. And it seems to be certain sellers from certain quarters that try to push things. It’s like this is supposed to be some haggling market. Next time someone asks me what my budget for what they said they will do. I’d say $2. I Might even begin to get a kick out of this.

And it seems to be certain sellers from certain quarters that try to push things. It’s like this is supposed to be some haggling market. Next time someone asks me what my budget for what they said they will do. I’d say $2.

Since this is a global marketplace it might be a matter of what the local customs are for some sellers.