Fiverr Community Forum

Sellers provide cheap services but violate copyright

Fiverr Tips Tips for Buyers
#1

Fiverr buyers are in for great deals! Who doesn’t? It is a normal thing, and i myself have always wanted to work with great people.
As a seller, my aim is to deliver the best and get the full reward. Many sellers are also like that - they give you nothing but the best. However, there are countless sellers here on Fiverr who knows nothing about copyright violations.

As a buyer, your purpose of using Fiverr might be to get the best at the cheapest cost. Of course, many people are using Fiverr to outsource their work. if everything is legit, you don’t have anything to worry about even if the seller agree to do your work for free. However, unfortunately, i have seen a couple of sellers who violate copyright of other people’s product/services.

Why am putting up this is to alert buyers who might not use the product/services they get but deliver it to their clients. If you’re here to outsource work, make sure that you know what the seller is up to.
One of the thing you should worry about is the “cost of getting your work done”. If you know that your project is worth $50 and a seller agree to do it for $5, make sure that you know what exactly the seller is giving you. For instance, a seller might agree to do it for $5 because they already do the same work for someone in the past, and would just deliver the same work to you. If that happens, the seller has violated the copyright of previous buyer, except they stated in their gigs that they deliver the same service/product to multiple buyers. There are other instances as well, but i can’t list everything here.

If you’re not sure about the copyright of what sellers offer you, make sure you ask so that you’ll be free to use your product anywhere without issue.

Regards,
Seofanatics!

#2

Good Post.

#3

Great post. If seller do provide licence or copyrights as gig extra, you should purchase it to avoid future issues.

#4

Given that the copyright transfers upon payment, then why worry about this? If a seller wants extra for copyright, then they can add a gig extra and you should order it. Secondly, $5 in America may not be much, but can in some countries equal a lot more purchasing power (maybe even as much as $50), so that’s a tenuous metric to use.

If I wanted copyrighted materials guaranteed, I wouldn’t come to Fiverr, end of story. I would seek out reputable “expensive” agencies/individuals who displayed knowledge of copyright laws and–even better, would give me a boutique service.

Y’all expect too much for $5, sometimes. Great deals should have been left in the supermarket, which is where they always belonged.

#5

Given that the copyright transfers upon payment, then why worry about this? What if sellers transfer copyright of another buyers without their consent?
As you’ve said, most buyers expect too much for $5, sometimes. In fact, the common attitude on Fiverr now is buyers wanting sellers to solve all their problems for $5. They are so confident that they can leave negative reviews or ask for a refund if you are not ready to work like a slave. Unfortunately, some of them end up getting the work for free.

But the truth is that copyright issue should not be taken for granted whatsoever. Some of my clients paid up to $500 to get their work done, and they deserve to enjoy it without the fear of copyright infringement.

#6

It’s not just material that they provided to someone else, it’s also people mining for copyrighted works of someone else and then selling it to you. Here is an example of a seller that tried to sell me a logo for a college football team:

https://www.fiverr.com/*********

The logo was “Bearcats” and all she did was black out the “s.” Then i looked at her previous customer comments, and they all look like material done by someone else and under copyright protection. Unfortunately, Fiverr doesn’t let you contact other users and let them know.

#7

That’s one of the reasons why i publish it here. Imagine if the copyright owner left digital watermark on the logos and Fiverr seller sell it to someone who doesn’t know the source. The buyer won’t know the implication until they are summoned.

Fiverr is getting bigger, and many companies are coming in to get their work done. If you’re in the habit of stealing copyright materials, beware!

#8

A few years later and nothing seems to have changed…

I just had to cancel an order by ****** because the flyer I received was a copy of a Summer Party flyer with a few text changes. The art portion was completely unchanged. Yet, this seller’s rating is 5/5 stars with over 2000 reviews. And, because I disputed my order, I will probably will not get to rate their service to warn other buyers because Fiverr’s system probably only allows review from completed orders…

Mod Note: “Calling out” other users on the forum is not permitted.

#9

Sorry for your bad experience.
If your seller agrees to cancel the order, you are correct - you cannot leave a public review. However, you will be able to leave feedback about your experience which goes to customer support and that is actually more likely to result in something being done about it.

If the seller does not agree, go to customer support directly and explain the situation.

Do make sure that the seller does not have permission to use the design/template first though, as many of these things are legitimately created from templates which the seller may have permission to use.

1 Like
#10

Thanks for your great post. keep it up :slight_smile: