Should Buyers Be Vetted Like Sellers

[darrentunstall]

Due past events on my Fiverr account, I want to know other sellers opinion about vetting buyers. I’m finding myself researching the following about buyers:

• the country where buyers are from
• how long they have been on Fiverr
• a description of themselves
• what other sellers have experienced with that buyer (i.e. buyer ratings)

With a typical buyer, none of the above is usually available, other than start date.

At the very least, I think sellers should be able to do the following when working with buyers:

• See reviews for other gigs left by the buyer (from buyers profile)
• See reviews left by sellers about that buyer (on buyers profile)
• See what the buyers overall rating is too
• Pick the country where they want to do business
• Also, a statement that says something like, “IP Verified.”

The goal is to have better quality control. As a seller, I want to work with people who seem like they would be a good buyer to work with; not do work for some unknown individual only to find myself struggling to get money back because the buyer was a fraud.

I truly believe to make Fiverr a better marketplace, their needs to be vetting on both ends of the transaction. My profile as a seller is well publicized; It’s time to start protect us (sellers) too.

I’ve also suggested in the past to allow sellers to accept or deny a request to work with the buyer.

The reason why to accept or deny is because if I discover during the process that the buyer has no history and they may be bad for my business reputation, then I feel like sellers should have the opportunity to turn away that business (not cancellation - because at this point, it seems the algorithm incorporates that into a sellers overall ratings).

Thoughts?

[vickiespencer]

When a buyer new contacts me I click on their name and can see what country they are from and how long they have been on Fiverr. Then I do a quick google search on them and see what kind of reviews they have been leaving on Fiverr to see if they are friendly. Then I proceed or say I am too busy.

[topned]

Due past events on my Fiverr account, I want to know other sellers opinion about vetting buyers. I’m finding myself researching the following about buyers:

• the country where buyers are from
• how long they have been on Fiverr
• a description of themselves
• what other sellers have experienced with that buyer (i.e. buyer ratings)

With a typical buyer, none of the above is usually available, other than start date.

At the very least, I think sellers should be able to do the following when working with buyers:

• See reviews for other gigs left by the buyer (from buyers profile)
• See reviews left by sellers about that buyer (on buyers profile)
• See what the buyers overall rating is too
• Pick the country where they want to do business
• Also, a statement that says something like, “IP Verified.”

The goal is to have better quality control. As a seller, I want to work with people who seem like they would be a good buyer to work with; not do work for some unknown individual only to find myself struggling to get money back because the buyer was a fraud.

I truly believe to make Fiverr a better marketplace, their needs to be vetting on both ends of the transaction. My profile as a seller is well publicized; It’s time to start protect us (sellers) too.

I’ve also suggested in the past to allow sellers to accept or deny a request to work with the buyer.

The reason why to accept or deny is because if I discover during the process that the buyer has no history and they may be bad for my business reputation, then I feel like sellers should have the opportunity to turn away that business (not cancellation - because at this point, it seems the algorithm incorporates that into a sellers overall ratings).

Thoughts?

The reason why to accept or deny

Does Fiverr allow you to allow or deny buyers (without penalization)?

If so then vetting buyers would make sense.

[lucycodex]

Idk, I have never done that. The main issues I have had with clients actually come from ones that have been here for much longer. Like the guy who wanted a more unique privacy policy.

Then again, I am fairly good at catching the troublesome buyers before an order is ever made.

[uxreview]

The reason why to accept or deny

Does Fiverr allow you to allow or deny buyers (without penalization)?

If so then vetting buyers would make sense.

Does Fiverr allow you to allow or deny buyers (without penalization)?

Yes. Before a buyer orders your gig you can politely say to the buyer that you’re not a good fit and recommend someone else.

I’m asking all my buyers to contact me before ordering and out of 80 orders only 3 were made without talking to me. I interview buyers as they interview me 🙂

[topned]

Does Fiverr allow you to allow or deny buyers (without penalization)?

Yes. Before a buyer orders your gig you can politely say to the buyer that you’re not a good fit and recommend someone else.

I’m asking all my buyers to contact me before ordering and out of 80 orders only 3 were made without talking to me. I interview buyers as they interview me 🙂

Before a buyer orders your gig you can politely say to the buyer that you’re not a good fit and recommend someone else.

The buyer would have to contact you first?

[uxreview]

Before a buyer orders your gig you can politely say to the buyer that you’re not a good fit and recommend someone else.

The buyer would have to contact you first?

The buyer would have to contact you first?

Yes. I ask all my buyers to contact me.

[topned]

The buyer would have to contact you first?

Yes. I ask all my buyers to contact me.

Yes. I ask all my buyers to contact me.

What would happen if a buyer does not contact you first before ordering?

[uxreview]

Yes. I ask all my buyers to contact me.

What would happen if a buyer does not contact you first before ordering?

What would happen if a buyer does not contact you first before ordering?

I handle these case by case, but fortunately due to my price range it won’t happen very often.

If I can’t work with them then I cancel, but of course that will affect my ranking in search.

[topned]

What would happen if a buyer does not contact you first before ordering?

I handle these case by case, but fortunately due to my price range it won’t happen very often.

If I can’t work with them then I cancel, but of course that will affect my ranking in search.

due to my price range it won’t happen

What about those sellers who offer cheap prices?

Glad it appears you see the need for improvement in the gig ordering process though.

[uxreview]

due to my price range it won’t happen

What about those sellers who offer cheap prices?

Glad it appears you see the need for improvement in the gig ordering process though.

Fiverr won’t probably change their ordering process because it’s in their best interest to get the orders in as quickly as possible. In fact, they are putting more focus on response time and cancellation rate so I don’t see a change in the ordering process anytime soon.

What about those sellers who offer cheap prices?

Work towards higher price range. Lower prices attract scammers and buyers who don’t pay attention to what they are buying.

[newsmike]

The reason why to accept or deny

Does Fiverr allow you to allow or deny buyers (without penalization)?

If so then vetting buyers would make sense.

Does Fiverr allow you to allow or deny buyers (without penalization)?

If so then vetting buyers would make sense.

You can refuse to work for anyone you don’t want to.

[sauringalue]

Does Fiverr allow you to allow or deny buyers (without penalization)?

If so then vetting buyers would make sense.

You can refuse to work for anyone you don’t want to.

Once, I had a annoying buyer who always wanted to pay less for the job.

I thought fiverr had a block button so I told to myself that when the order gets completed, I will block the buyer so he can’t buy me again.

After job completion, I realize that the button didn’t exist.

The buyer came to me again and bought a 5$ order without talking to me before, as he always did.

The real price for the job was about 25$.

I told him that the price was higher than the one he paid and he told me this:

“Let’s do something, i’ll pay you 5$ and if i think the work is above my expectations, i’ll pay the other 20$ as a tip”.

I told him:

I’m sorry, i don’t work that way. I request you to accept order cancellation, and I invite you to use the service of any other seller here in fiverr who is willing to work with your conditions.

I cancelled the order and in the message I wrote:

“The buyer will not use my services again”

I was never bothered again by that client and even though my cancellation rate suffered a little bit, I managed to get rid of one annoying client forever.

Just as newsmike says:

You can refuse to work for anyone you don’t want to.

[darrentunstall]

The reason why to accept or deny

Does Fiverr allow you to allow or deny buyers (without penalization)?

If so then vetting buyers would make sense.

Not that I am aware of at the moment. It’s just random thought. I do wish that sellers could choose to accept a request from a buyer to work with. It would be a great way to avoid freebies to specific buyers who expect sellers to work for nothing.

[darrentunstall]

Does Fiverr allow you to allow or deny buyers (without penalization)?

Yes. Before a buyer orders your gig you can politely say to the buyer that you’re not a good fit and recommend someone else.

I’m asking all my buyers to contact me before ordering and out of 80 orders only 3 were made without talking to me. I interview buyers as they interview me 🙂

What do you do when a buyer asks you to cancel because they ordered by mistake?

[darrentunstall]

The buyer would have to contact you first?

Yes. I ask all my buyers to contact me.

I guess you could ask them to contact you first, but that is a variable you have not control over. They can order your gig anytime they want. After that, if you still decide they are not a good fit for you, and you cancel, then your cancellation rate drops.

[darrentunstall]

Once, I had a annoying buyer who always wanted to pay less for the job.

I thought fiverr had a block button so I told to myself that when the order gets completed, I will block the buyer so he can’t buy me again.

After job completion, I realize that the button didn’t exist.

The buyer came to me again and bought a 5$ order without talking to me before, as he always did.

The real price for the job was about 25$.

I told him that the price was higher than the one he paid and he told me this:

“Let’s do something, i’ll pay you 5$ and if i think the work is above my expectations, i’ll pay the other 20$ as a tip”.

I told him:

I’m sorry, i don’t work that way. I request you to accept order cancellation, and I invite you to use the service of any other seller here in fiverr who is willing to work with your conditions.

I cancelled the order and in the message I wrote:

“The buyer will not use my services again”

I was never bothered again by that client and even though my cancellation rate suffered a little bit, I managed to get rid of one annoying client forever.

Just as newsmike says:

You can refuse to work for anyone you don’t want to.

This is a type of situation that I’m referring to when vetting buyers. There is no real way to tell if they are legitimate? Lot’s of times I feel like I’m being shopped for my questions or my deliverables.

The sad thing about your situation (which I’ve had too), once we cancel, our cancellation drops. Now, that’s not good for level evaluations. You cancel too many of these bad orders, you’re out the money plus a level drop.

[topned]

Does Fiverr allow you to allow or deny buyers (without penalization)?

If so then vetting buyers would make sense.

You can refuse to work for anyone you don’t want to.

You can refuse to work for anyone you don’t want to

Without consequences?

[sauringalue]

This is a type of situation that I’m referring to when vetting buyers. There is no real way to tell if they are legitimate? Lot’s of times I feel like I’m being shopped for my questions or my deliverables.

The sad thing about your situation (which I’ve had too), once we cancel, our cancellation drops. Now, that’s not good for level evaluations. You cancel too many of these bad orders, you’re out the money plus a level drop.

Yes,

But as there are not too many buyers in this “category”, we can manage to clean them up from time to time, so we won’t affect our cancellation rate “too much”

[dare_sum]

The biggest problem I have is that buyers do not read the gigs and when they ask for work that is not mentioned in the gig and when I cancel the gig or they cancel it, i get penalty reputation because the buyer didn’t read the description. Also I see a problem with the buyers reputation too. Since it is open to see the sellers reputation why is it closed for buyers? And another thing is that last week I had a buyer that got everything that he required and in the end left a bad rating because “he expected more for the money” even tho I was sending samples all the time during the working phase. In the end he got literally what he approved and left bad rating. When contacting the support, they said that it is their right to rate the seller as they want. What if a buyer leaves bad reply just because they feel like it or because they ask a lot more than described? Honestly, i think that fiverr has become place where buyers have all the rights and the sellers are not treated as good as they have to…

[sauringalue]

The biggest problem I have is that buyers do not read the gigs and when they ask for work that is not mentioned in the gig and when I cancel the gig or they cancel it, i get penalty reputation because the buyer didn’t read the description. Also I see a problem with the buyers reputation too. Since it is open to see the sellers reputation why is it closed for buyers? And another thing is that last week I had a buyer that got everything that he required and in the end left a bad rating because “he expected more for the money” even tho I was sending samples all the time during the working phase. In the end he got literally what he approved and left bad rating. When contacting the support, they said that it is their right to rate the seller as they want. What if a buyer leaves bad reply just because they feel like it or because they ask a lot more than described? Honestly, i think that fiverr has become place where buyers have all the rights and the sellers are not treated as good as they have to…

I think you can use your experience to improve your gigs so this can happen a little less.

You can add “warnings” in the first lines of your gig telling what’s not included according those things many buyers think are included, even if it is for no reason at all.

Try using bold font or quotation marks and most buyers will have a better idea of whats included and you can always go for the “PLEASE, CONTACT ME FIRST BEFORE BUYING!” 😄

You know that we as a service provider have to say everytime; “The customer is always right”.

Well, let’s do a few things, so they can be “Right” in our selling world as well.

[Guest chinavogirl]

For me, Fiverr is not like a shop where the customers are atracted to buy something. If I just wait and expect for Fiverr to bring me customers, then I would never make any money! My own marketing effort is how I get customers. I email and contact people every day, and when they reply, I give them options for ordering from me. If they are more comfortable with Fiverr, then we use Fiverr! :rofl: If they are more comfortable with other platforms, then we use those instead.

So I guess my point is, we are responsible to vet the customer, because Fiverr has no reason to do it for us.

[fastcopywriter]

Due past events on my Fiverr account, I want to know other sellers opinion about vetting buyers. I’m finding myself researching the following about buyers:

• the country where buyers are from
• how long they have been on Fiverr
• a description of themselves
• what other sellers have experienced with that buyer (i.e. buyer ratings)

With a typical buyer, none of the above is usually available, other than start date.

At the very least, I think sellers should be able to do the following when working with buyers:

• See reviews for other gigs left by the buyer (from buyers profile)
• See reviews left by sellers about that buyer (on buyers profile)
• See what the buyers overall rating is too
• Pick the country where they want to do business
• Also, a statement that says something like, “IP Verified.”

The goal is to have better quality control. As a seller, I want to work with people who seem like they would be a good buyer to work with; not do work for some unknown individual only to find myself struggling to get money back because the buyer was a fraud.

I truly believe to make Fiverr a better marketplace, their needs to be vetting on both ends of the transaction. My profile as a seller is well publicized; It’s time to start protect us (sellers) too.

I’ve also suggested in the past to allow sellers to accept or deny a request to work with the buyer.

The reason why to accept or deny is because if I discover during the process that the buyer has no history and they may be bad for my business reputation, then I feel like sellers should have the opportunity to turn away that business (not cancellation - because at this point, it seems the algorithm incorporates that into a sellers overall ratings).

Thoughts?

It would be nice to get a prompt

“Do you accept an order from JohnDoe33?”

I’d like to see the buyer’s cancellation rate.

the country where buyers are from

That is irrelevant, you’re going to get difficult buyers from all over the world, including America and Canada.

The goal is to have better quality control.

I agree, and if we created a system where orders are rejected before they start, where failing one metric doesn’t demote you, then we’d be better off.

However, I just want to get orders as fast as possible, that’s my main concern.

[jonbaas]

One possible option on the buyer vetting end of things, would be for Fiverr to show the ratings of buyers. I’m sure they don’t do that now, because they don’t want to scare away buyers. But, while I don’t support a system where sellers approve orders, being able to see buyer ratings would be a suitable option to assess them. And then it can be left up to the seller, whether they wish to cancel the order, or proceed as ordered.

That sounds fair to me – without challenging the mechanics Fiverr already has in play.

[fastcopywriter]

One possible option on the buyer vetting end of things, would be for Fiverr to show the ratings of buyers. I’m sure they don’t do that now, because they don’t want to scare away buyers. But, while I don’t support a system where sellers approve orders, being able to see buyer ratings would be a suitable option to assess them. And then it can be left up to the seller, whether they wish to cancel the order, or proceed as ordered.

That sounds fair to me – without challenging the mechanics Fiverr already has in play.

One possible option on the buyer vetting end of things, would be for Fiverr to show the ratings of buyers.

I think that’s an excellent idea. Of course, some buyers will disagree because the bad reviews they get are often based on the bad ratings they give. If someone rates me 1 star, I’m not going to rate him 5 stars.

Then again, if a buyer keeps getting bad reviews, maybe the problem lies with the buyer and not the seller.