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Stopping "arbitrage" and resellers


pghhearts

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I think we have a great community here, and a great sales platform. Does anyone else think that Fiverr should protect sellers by banning buyers who buy our work for $5, then sell it for sometimes as much as $100 or more?



Would it be a violation of Fiverr TOS to contact websites where our work is displayed, and let them know that we only charged $5, and if they paid more, they were ripped off?

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  • 2 weeks later...

Well, in my opinion, I don’t think there will be an option like that for 2 reasons:



1 - Most of the buyers who ask for logos for example are companies who want to brand themselves

2 - Once the design is delivered to the buyer, it becomes the property of the buyer so they feel that they can do anything with it, from using it themselves to buying it to their clients in case it’s a media buying company.



Just my opinion.

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My English law vocabulary is not very developed so I cannot bring arguments in English,(only in Romanian but I guess this is useless) but If I only resume this aspect, once you sell your product, that product becomes the property of the buyer and he can do whatever he wants with it. Its totally legal.<br /> <br /> If you dont want to sell your product with full rights, you should establish some terms and conditions with your buyer, if you both agree about these terms of use and limitations of use…than it is great!



If the buyer does not respect his word, you can sue him considering that you have the written message as a prove of establishing the limitations. For this, you need a lawyer, Fiverr is not a lawyer 🙂



Fiverr has some other issues that should solve…we all know them: cancellation ratio problems…etc



Anyway, I am sure this won`t go so far…I am just saying…🙂



Good luck with your sales! %%-



Much consideration and Best Regards from Ana! %%- :bz ~O)

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While it may be frustrating to write a great article, design a logo or draw something for a mere $4, and then realize this person resells it or profits greatly from it, when you sell a Gig doing these things, you essentially “know what you are getting into”. It is common knowledge that many come to this site for the “cheap” labor. If you do not agree with this premise, then, you should sell your wares on other sites or even your own at a price that you feel is fair if they use it elsewhere. This isn’t said meant to be snarky, but, you are not going to get protection from Fiverr in this regard: people doing these Gigs and being paid a paltry sum is their bread and butter. It is your choice to look at your talent and bottom line and decide what it is worth and what you will be comfortable with. I know that the readings I give which are 4 pages and up depending on detail are certainly worth way more than $4. But, I CHOOSE to keep doing them! If I get burnt out and it isn’t worth it for me, I will either take a break, or leave the site. But, like many things these days, independent contractors have found (especially in my line of work) that they have to diversify and cannot put all their eggs in one basket. So, along with the sites where I get paid per min, I will continue to offer my services here. It keeps me busy between callers/chats and I enjoy what I do!



I do not even think you could put a clause in your Gig stating they cannot use or resell the item for a profit and make it stick. There would be a lot of chasing down articles, logos etc . I think it would be much better to focus on other sites where you get paid a lot more than a Fiverr to provide your service. That way, you know if it ends up on someone’s blog, site or resold, you have made enough for it to not bother you.



GG

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Nah, I get it. I just have a problem with a certain couple internet forums where “warriors” wearing “black hats” encourage each other to use Fiverr as “slave labor,” and give suggestions like (I’ve actually seen this):



“Always ask for more than the seller offers. If they refuse, leave a negative review.”

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I recently had an inquiry where the potential buyer asked for a sample of my work. (I do voice over work.) But in the message he said, “Please do not watermark, brand, or give any indication that you are affiliated with Fiverr in anyway. We don’t want our client to find out where we are getting the voice over work from and find out how little we are paying for it.” (That is paraphrased but the portion about “how little we are paying for it” was definitely in there.)



So basically he admitted he would be reselling my work at a much higher profit to my face. While I found it more annoying than I expected, I realize it is reality of this site. I also realized that I would rather it happen outside of my view. Ignorance is bliss as they say.



But another way I look at it, I’m working on Fiverr now to make some money while I get my voice over career off the ground. And someday I will be able to work directly with clients and or firms that are willing to pay me more because I have a ton of experience under my belt. Experience that Fiverr gave me.



Maybe I’m just wearing rose colored glasses.

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No.



You have the potential to get exactly the same clients away from this site if you market yourself well. I don’t care if my work is sold on when people purchase it from Fiverr. It is a part of working here. I get more money away from here, but it is a nice little bit of income should I not want to go look for clients (and trust me, it is a lot of effort to find them!) you have people coming to you here. No real need to advertise anywhere. Fiverr does it for you.

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theslackjaw said: "Please do not watermark, brand, or give any indication that you are affiliated with Fiverr in anyway.

 

LOL, that's so funny.

 

The idea of opposing arbitrage seems odd to me.

 

Isn't that what all entrepreneurship is? Taking a resource from a low state of value to a higher state of value.

 

Beyond that, if they leave a testimonial backing up your value, that's awesome. And ultimately, it means if you can learn to find your own traffic and build your own ecommerce site, you have that much growth potential.

 

Finally, you can learn to sell on fiverr such that your work becomes deeper into the extras.

 

 

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This is probably what 99% of their buyers do. I don’t see them implementing such a rule as it would cut too much into their profits if they did. Essentially though, there are a lot of people that might be up-selling, but with their marketing costs, website building spending and many other variables, may actually be making less than those they’re outsourcing from simply because there is a chance for much greater volume of orders(some have 100+ sales a day!..with extras most likely) and the only time it ever costs a seller is on a per order basis.

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This was a bit misguided on my part.



I was dealing with a seller who would give me one set of instructions, accept my delivery, and not leave feedback.



Then when HIS clients needed a revision (a few weeks later), he’d ask me to re-do my work. When I asked for him to order another gig, he threatened to leave negative feedback.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Yeah, that’s not cool. If he is reselling your work to another client then he has to understand that if his client wants revisions, then he has to eat that extra cost. Unless he has made an agreement with you ahead of time, that’s his problem.



Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be any way to combat this through Fiverr right now. Thankfully the few times I have dealt with a similar circumstance the buyer understood their situation and purchased new gigs with each revision.



I’m not sure how Fiverr would handle this situation…

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Reply to @pghhearts:



If you have proof that they were doing this and they specifically threatened you in regards to it, that in itself would be grounds to get any potential bad feedback removed from CS. I think in regards to your issue, the question may be whether there can be a restriction on the time-frame in which a user can ask for a revision and a time-frame in which a user can leave feedback. It’s always worry-some for me to have someone come back after many months and potentially leave a bad feedback. I had one person from about 5 months ago come back and leave about 10 or so positive feedbacks all in a row. If they were all negatives, that could have been devastating.


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Interesting topic. I do believe it is very true. But unfortunately, there is always someone who gains GREATLY from the labors of someone else. In the business world they prosper and enjoy, unfortunately for us, we agree for the work we do. Good luck everyone and keep up with all the great work!!!

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What would it matter? The nature of business is such.

And honestly? If someone sold someone for 100 bucks, something I sold them for 5 bucks then great! That’s amazing!



When you buy bricks to make your house, at 2 bucks a brick do you think the brick maker paid that to make them? They paid pennies.



When you order a $9.99 dinner at your favorite place to eat do you think they paid that to make it?



This is how people make money. Period. And there is nothing wrong with that. It’s normal and it’s the way it should be done.



If you think you are being short-changed then charge more for what you are doing.



But the end result is this.



If you fell that selling something here for 5 bucks is enough for you. And you get that money… then why does it matter that someone else is selling your product for 20?



You got what you wanted. Let someone else do the same.

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