What's worse canceling an order or bad review?

[willstauff]

Wha’t s worse having your order canceled or getting a bad review? What’s going to hurt you the most on Fiverr? Had 1 customer who wasn’t happy. If the order was completed I know he would give me a bad review. We agree to cancel instead. Completion rate is at about 93%. If falls below 90, It will move me back to level 1 if I’m not mistaken. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

[janali]

Well, I think both are sort of bad. But I am not sure if you also get a bad review if the order is cancelled. I had about 3 orders canceled by the customer support because of a double order for example, so it wasn’t my fault and in this case, my completion rate went down but I didn’t get any bad review. If the client cancels because you didn’t deliver in time, you automatically get a 1 star review and your rates go down. But in your case, I am not actually sure if you would get a 1 star review anyway if you cancel this order.

I personally think it depends on your stats in first place. If you delivered enough orders so that your completion rate doesn’t drop that far down, it’s not that bad. However, if your average rating is 4 stars then I would try to avoid any further bad reviews.

[Guest offlinehelpers]

You can control client reviews to a certain extent by providing what you promised in your gig description - I know it doesn’t always work out like that though!

I’m in the process of recovering from 3 cancellations of ‘buyer ordered by mistake’ - I’ve just managed to get my orders completed back to 100% today after those in January, and it reduced me from level 2 to new seller because of Fiverr wanting to get rid of the ‘cancel to avoid a negative review’ situations by counting all cancellations against the seller regardless of the reason.

You’ve got lots of good feedbacks - take the negative. If you cancel to avoid a negative review and then get a few ‘ordered by mistake’ cancellations which you can’t control you’ll be demoted anyway.

[karinegreen]

You can control client reviews to a certain extent by providing what you promised in your gig description - I know it doesn’t always work out like that though!

I’m in the process of recovering from 3 cancellations of ‘buyer ordered by mistake’ - I’ve just managed to get my orders completed back to 100% today after those in January, and it reduced me from level 2 to new seller because of Fiverr wanting to get rid of the ‘cancel to avoid a negative review’ situations by counting all cancellations against the seller regardless of the reason.

You’ve got lots of good feedbacks - take the negative. If you cancel to avoid a negative review and then get a few ‘ordered by mistake’ cancellations which you can’t control you’ll be demoted anyway.

I have also had this happen. I CLEARLY state in my advert that I am not qualified to evaluate non-fiction, yet somehow two people purchase my gig to look at dog training and other on relationship psychology. I had to cancel them. There was no way I could give them what I advertised because my expertise in these areas isn’t even close to enough to be able to help them. I don’t own a dog and my advanced degrees are in Forensic Science- so unless it becomes a domestic violence crime scene involving a dog I have no education or experience to help them.

Yet, this is somehow my fault and my entire account was paused and all my badges stripped from me- so even regular clients couldn’t buy :-(. Fivver needs to protect BOTH customer and seller. They could take a few from Amazon on this. Not only that, but they won’t accept my degrees and certificates to help me become a pro-seller. It’s almost like they were so offended by this they want me to leave Fivver.

[eoinfinnegan]

Will, you have over 300 reviews - you should be way beyond worrying about getting a negative review here and there. Respectfully, I would suggest that you should have a bit more respect for the platform, the other sellers, and yourself by not encouraging the “cancel to avoid negative review” mentality.

What it does is makes certain buyers think they can do the same to others and thus makes the problem worse. Every business gets negatives now and then - some unfair, others fair - a handful of negatives is not going to affect how anyone sees you.

[misscrystal]

In the recent past I’ve had two buyers demand a refund immediately upon delivery of their orders. In both cases I refused, as neither gave a reason aside from changing their minds. Neither left a bad review.

Which is worse for you, a bad review or a cancellation?

[willstauff]

Will, you have over 300 reviews - you should be way beyond worrying about getting a negative review here and there. Respectfully, I would suggest that you should have a bit more respect for the platform, the other sellers, and yourself by not encouraging the “cancel to avoid negative review” mentality.

What it does is makes certain buyers think they can do the same to others and thus makes the problem worse. Every business gets negatives now and then - some unfair, others fair - a handful of negatives is not going to affect how anyone sees you.

That definately is not my mentality. I’ve run into 1 in particular that wants to cancel. I’m at 93% as far as cancelation rate. If I drop below 90 it bumps me down to the next level. I’d feel more comfortable canceling if I absolutely had to if it was at 95%

[willstauff]

That definately is not my mentality. I’ve run into 1 in particular that wants to cancel. I’m at 93% as far as cancelation rate. If I drop below 90 it bumps me down to the next level. I’d feel more comfortable canceling if I absolutely had to if it was at 95%

She agreed to cancel today, my cancellation rate just dropped from 93 to 92 so it looks like I’m good. There are some instances where you have no choice but to cancel. If you see the experience truly getting sour and the buyer’s behavior getting worst then you have to decide what you are going to do. The “customer is always right” has it’s limitations. I have respect for the platform but I have more respect for myself.

[eoinfinnegan]

She agreed to cancel today, my cancellation rate just dropped from 93 to 92 so it looks like I’m good. There are some instances where you have no choice but to cancel. If you see the experience truly getting sour and the buyer’s behavior getting worst then you have to decide what you are going to do. The “customer is always right” has it’s limitations. I have respect for the platform but I have more respect for myself.

I get that there are some instances where, for your own sake, it is better to cancel. I would suggest though, that if you have worked on something substantially and/or have delivered something that could actually be used, then cancelling is not a good idea. Obviously you can make your own decision on when to cancel and when not to but my point is really that doing so to avoid a negative review should never be the reason because they really do not have the effect that people think they do.

[willstauff]

I get that there are some instances where, for your own sake, it is better to cancel. I would suggest though, that if you have worked on something substantially and/or have delivered something that could actually be used, then cancelling is not a good idea. Obviously you can make your own decision on when to cancel and when not to but my point is really that doing so to avoid a negative review should never be the reason because they really do not have the effect that people think they do.

i agree absolutely correct