Threatening Buyers

[Guest suefair48]

I’ve recently had two buyers (I suspect they are the SAME buyer - similar in their conversation tone and I already had to block his other user name with Fiverr) that have been upset with me. The most recent one asked for book descriptions for a small children’s book. I supplied per my gig, but he said he didn’t like it. I am fine with that and said we could cancel the gig as he said that he just “didn’t like my writing style.” But then he replied saying “so it’s not a waist (his spelling - not mine) why don’t you leave me a review on Amazon using this description instead?” When I replied that I don’t do that - because Amazon frowns on that - he got angry and said, “I don’t know why it’s such a big deal! I’ll leave you five star review if you do it.” So do I compromise my principles and possibly my Amazon status or compromise my Fiverr status. SO frustrated Tired of being bullied by customers…

[kay2809]

Just tell him again that you don’t do that and if he keeps bothering you then contact the support.

[sincere18]

It sounds like he was trying to scam you into writing an Amazon review from the getgo. It’s against Amazons terms of use to have paid reviews.



No, do NOT compromise your principles, Amazon or Fiverr status.



Did you send a mutual cancellation notice yet? I would just do it and then I would simply contact Fiverrr Customer support, say that you have a customer who bought your gig and is now harrassing you to leave a review on Amazon which is not something you offer. You offered a cancellation, but are concerned about this buyer…or something to that effect.



Whenever you get a buyer who is threatening in anyway, always reply back to them very polite and just contact Customer Support is they keep harassing or threatening you.

[gingerwriter]

This is the exact reason sellers need full control of the cancellation button! If you don’t offer a service that a buyer is trying to bully you into providing you shouldn’t have to go to Customer Support every time the situation arises. We need an option where “at-will” cancellations are allowed and not docked against the seller. (perhaps a certain amount of cancellations per month before they turn over to be reviewed by CS?)



However, I agree with everyone else. Start by sending a cancellation request and if he refuses send it over to CS to deal with.

[thepromogirl]

If he’s asking you to do something that’s a violation of third-party Terms of Service report them asap, don’t even wait around to try and deal with the matter on your own.



Note: If you violate Fiverr’s Terms of Service (or third-parties), Fiverr does have the right to put your account under a warning and/or disable your account all together.



Do not risk your account for anyone in these regards. Report these type of requests directly to Customer Service, provide screenshot the illegal request(s) and they will handle the violation privately. Is easy to want to handle it yourself, but keep in mind Fiverr’s Trust & Safety team are the ones that get paid to handle ‘Buyers’ like these, not you.



You’re doing yourself and the community a big favor by reporting them immediately, not just in the short term, but long term as well.

[fastcopywriter]

Book descriptions? I used to write positive book reviews, that’s what writers need. It’s not a scam, Fiverr allows it, you’re just not supposed to use the word “Amazon” anywhere on your gig, or your gig could be taken down after Amazon complains.



Your Amazon status is fine, the worst they can do is remove a review they perceive as fake. It’s not like Amazon is going to ban you. Besides, there’s nothing wrong with writing positive reviews. When Stephen King writes a book, who do you think writes all those initial reviews? Chances are that his editor, account executives, interns, and others at the publishing house are doing it, or hiring third parties to do it.



Book sales is all about perception, if a book has 5 positive reviews (at least), buyers will think, “gee, that looks like a great book, I’m gonna buy it.” If it has no reviews, many buyers will hesitate unless it sells for 99 cents or they have Kindle Unlimited.



Ethical? Whatever. Most new books are being self-published by writers that don’t have resources and need to make some sales to make a living. If the book is good, they’ll get positive reviews on their own. If it’s bad, the fake reviews won’t help them unless they keep buying positive reviews, which will eat their profits (at 99 cents, the royalty is 33 cents).



If you’re worried about your reputation, just don’t use your real name on Amazon. Call yourself Betty Bookworm or Betty656. Lots of people do it.