Sellers buying from other Sellers

[benedictrm]

No doubt there is a protocol or etiquette for a Seller approaching another Seller asking for their services.

I answered a BR and this morning hear back with:

Hey benedictrm, i saw your offer and i chose you out of all the offers 😅
so i asume you want some more details before you can help me out right?, thats ok
So i got some midis i need to be remastered, i’l send you 1 midi of the game, it has to be a mobile game music wich is a bit longer than the original 30 seconds, and if you’re interested i could indeed give some information and screenshots of the game itself 😅
my budget was 10 euros and i wasnt really planning for buying the personal use since i already had to when someone created the music for me 😃 i hope you dont mind but i guess we can talk about that lateron, Could you please give me some examples of your work before we start?
Also, the midis originally where supposed to be 8bit like

I almost completed my answer then looked at their info top right and note they are a New Seller. I follow the link and guess what, they seem to sell exactly the service they appear to be asking me for/about*.

I asked for more and clearer info on what this job really was and “I also note you are a Seller, perhaps you can also explain why you are coming to me for the services you claim to provide yourself?”

His response was saying he had to think about it and may come back later. I assume that is a white lie to back away from what fees a very strange situation.

The Q: Should a Seller disclose openly who & what they are right at the beginning of communication? I know I would and if I was asking for anything related to my Gig I would be making it very clear why I was approaching someone else.

Am I just old-fashioned or was I right that this situation fishier than a tin of tuna?

🙂

*hard to say as this is too confused to make sense of. Tthere is no such thing as “midis” (or “audios”) despite what Hipster kids seem to think. I have been using MIDI for 30 years, I would know. All MIDI is 8-Bit but that is the transfer protocol and not audio-rate so nothing to do with whatever instrument you assign it to. That can be anything from a Z80 or SID arcade game chip to a VSTi synth running at 24/96 in a DAW. MIDI is also commonly used to run the big light shows at a concert so we need to know what we are talking about before I deliver a set of flashing Intellibeams with images of Space Invaders from their GoBos 😉

[humanissocial]

Absolutely.

Third-party resale isn’t cool unless you expressly permit. No company would be okay with someone doing that without a third party resale license.

[marinapomorac]

Outsourcing.

You have teams and teams of people doing that here, especially in my main category (no other way to explain logo designer with 100 orders in queue and 8 hour delivery.

You even have people who have 0 skills what so ever, they are just the manager of the account and other people do the work and they split the money.

Now, for you, since you are an intelligent educated individual, you understand the concept of outsourcing and business and working day job for 8 hours in a building that has working toilets and surrounded with concrete streets and solar cars…
But a lot of LOT of people here are not on that level of comprehension, especially if they are not fluent in English.

And the second part is the problems. Problems all over.
If he buys from you and his client doesn’t like it, he needs to pay you and evaluate you, his client is not part of your equation. But for him, that is not true. Your job was to make his client happy, not him.

My prices make me not approachable to outsourcers, but I did “attempt to outsource” sort of.

I wanted to see what would I get if I buy 5 logos for 5$ (I found two sellers that offer this).

Just from buyer’s perspective, I wanted to see if my 100$ per 1 logo design really pushing it or do I deserve to be charging that much.

The first seller delivered in 1-2 hours a bunch of Freepik and Vecteezy logos with my colors and name under them. Since I have a premium account for Freepik I know TOS and I asked for custom logos, not templates. He responded with something I can’t remember, I think he gave me a refund immediately when I showed him the links to the files. Second seller was promising, she did add more creativity in to the logos but she did not send me 5 logos, just one logo and 4 different fonts.

I explained to her (she is Level 2 with 2000 sales) that her description of the GIG and her custom offer she sent clearly states 5 logos for five dollars, all unique and all the files, vector and source files.
She told me: Yes, but none of my clients ask for 5 logos, they know I mean one, and the vector file is charged extra.

And the files she sent me were PSD with all the logos randomly all over the place (something how my moodboard looks like when I start making it).

So if someone is planning to offer logos for 50 and outsource for 5… you really need to strike gold to find a supreme designer willing to work for 5$.

For cases such as this one where you know or suspect he is outsourcing, and all the time when you are sending offer, make sure it is clear clean and bulletproof for the customer support.

Write:
As per our conversation this offer includes:
8midi mini music something something in mp3 file format with duration of custom made to suit the following style and feeling… revisions included in price are for minor bl bla something

Just be as detailed as possible.

[benedictrm]

I ain’t sending no one nuttin’ unless they can be completely clear about what they is up to.

It is odd that many clients (and I use that word loosely) seem so unwilling to explain what their project is about. Why? If it is a business then surely public is the whole aim. If I don’t know the basics of who the client is and what the project is about how do I know what to make?

I bet if Doc Marten & Nike ask me to draw a shoe they have very different expectations. If they don’t show mw who they are and what they do, I could just draw Havianas (unlikely seeing I loathe them).

Anyway, back to sellers approaching sellers and not being open about it…

🙂

[liamdormon]

I think you’re right to question them, I’ve had a couple cases where people send an order request and I look on their profile to see they are selling a product very simillar to mine. One of these people seemed very interested in my product and then didn’t message me for 3 weeks, when he began to message me again I saw that he was now a New Seller and happened to be selling a product very, very simillar to mine. Of course I refused service kindly and the blocked them shortly afterwards.

[humanissocial]

I ain’t sending no one nuttin’ unless they can be completely clear about what they is up to.

It is odd that many clients (and I use that word loosely) seem so unwilling to explain what their project is about. Why? If it is a business then surely public is the whole aim. If I don’t know the basics of who the client is and what the project is about how do I know what to make?

I bet if Doc Marten & Nike ask me to draw a shoe they have very different expectations. If they don’t show mw who they are and what they do, I could just draw Havianas (unlikely seeing I loathe them).

Anyway, back to sellers approaching sellers and not being open about it…

🙂

I ain’t sending no one nuttin’ unless they can be completely clear about what they is up to.

Hear, hear, Benedict. I’m the same.

I vet pretty thoroughly not only to protect myself but to protect others. I refuse to be used as a tool for deceit.