When buying, remember you are dealing with a human being

[bhernardo]

Hello,

I was going to post it as a Tip for Buyers but it probably fits best here.

I am exclusively a seller on Fiverr. My main gigs are about translation and article writing.

Recently, after around 60 gigs delivered, I had an unpleasant experience with a buyer. He ordered an article, I wrote it and, because of lots of reasons, it wasn’t really what he had expected. I missed some instructions and, unintentionally, the work wasn’t good enough.

Probably he saw that my article reviews are 100% positive and that’s why he hired me. The problem is that in this exact week I had so many things to deal with that I missed his instructions and delivered a bad work. It happens. I am a human. We all make mistakes.
k very uninspiring" and “I pretty much had to rewrite most of it myself.”

This kind of observation is unnecessary. It has nothing to do with the work. It can really make people feel bad. Since Fiverr has people from literally all over the world, some may think his comment was not that big of a deal, but others will surely understand my point of view.

My point is that, whenever you are buying a gig from someone, even e Top-Rated Seller, a Level 2 seller, and that person delivers you a poor quality work, please be neutral, point out exactly what needs to me changed and why the work can’t be used as it is. Ask for a revision, don’t play emotional games or try to bring the seller down. They may be going through a tough time, or simply made a mistake like many buyers also do when ordering. Be understanding.

Always remember you are dealing with a human being and their flaws. Show some respect and appreciation for them. After you remember this, make sure the work will be delivered as you were expecting at first. It’s your right to ask for a revision (in most cases), so make use of it.
But instead of asking for a free revision (I offer two free revisions), he went straight to a negative emotional approach saying that he “Found this work very uninspiring” and “I pretty much had to rewrite most of it myself.”

This kind of observation is unnecessary. It has nothing to do with the work. It can really make people feel bad. Since Fiverr has people from literally all over the world, some may think his comment was not that big of a deal, but others will surely understand my point of view.

My point is that, whenever you are buying a gig from someone, even e Top-Rated Seller, a Level 2 seller, and that person delivers you a poor quality work, please be neutral, point out exactly what needs to me changed and why the work can’t be used as it is. Ask for a revision, don’t play emotional games or try to bring the seller down. They may be going through a tough time, or simply made a mistake like many buyers also do when ordering. Be understanding.

Always remember you are dealing with a human being and their flaws. Show some respect and appreciation for them. After you remember this, make sure the work will be delivered as you were expecting at first. It’s your right to ask for a revision (in most cases), so make use of it.

[misscrystal]

I agree that buyers should be polite and show sensitivity when dealing with sellers.
I do not find his comment that bad though. I think that it helps to have a so called “thick skin” and be able to take comments on your work as if they do not bother you at all. It is normal to not only not do your best work sometimes but also to have some buyers be less than sensitive in their comments. We are dealing with all kinds of people with all kinds of levels of politeness.

[bhernardo]

Yes, that is true. I reckon the value of listening to this kind of critic and use it to my own benefit, although this can also be easily achieved (and in a much more healthy and respectful way) with neutral comments.

I have recently worked with an editor and it was incredible how he managed to correct me in several levels and stay neutral nevertheless. I don’t believe it’s because he is more experienced on the editorial level than Fiverr buyers, but because he is simply more understanding.

Thank you for your comment! I will surely remember it 🙂

[writer99025]

Hi, just keep going, as the Bhagwad Gita says, do your duty, without the fear of consequences, without an expectation of rewards. All the best!

[jamesbulls]

This is probably the biggest piece of advice that I could give buyers: remember that your seller is a human being. And, if this seller is somebody who seems to be a professional, full-time seller, keep in mind that this person is probably paying his or her bills, buying his or her groceries, and maybe even caring for his or her kids with the income he or she earns on Fiverr. Speaking for myself as a seller, the best way to get free work out of me (and make me happy to do it, too), is to be nice. Be polite. When buyers use their manners, I’m willing to give effort outside of the original order to take care of them. But when buyers forget their manners and start thinking I’m disposable, that’s when I shut them down and get rid of them as fast as I can. So buyers: use your manners! You’ll be surprised how far they’ll take you.

[bhernardo]

I second nearly every word of your reply.

[aleronk]

I try to be sympathetic to the buyer.

[andaluzia]

I’ll have to agree with you. It looks like some buyers don’t know how to be polite. I got so many snarky remarks instead of useful criticism that I learned how to ignore them. I try to ask them to tell me more about what they wish to see changed since I cannot work with “I don’t like it”, “change it” or “could have done better myself”. But overall the majority of the buyers are nice and understanding and they try to give useful input. 🙂

[sps0800099]

I just received a really bad and incompleted work by a seller, and I am very disappointed…he finally did the 1/3 of the whole work and he left unanswered questions…and then he disappeared…Moreover, I cant write a review…

[sps0800099]

Of course they are humans but they are expected to be also, proffesionals and no to say all the time that god will help him to do the work…he was even amateur or psychopath…I am so nervous and disappointed…There is no one to control this bad sellers…?

[jamesbulls]

If you can’t leave a review, that means that it’s been more than 30 days since the buyer delivered the work. When the seller delivers your order, you have up to 72 hours to reject the order. If you reject the order, it goes back to the seller’s order queue with your request. If you just send messages and the seller doesn’t respond, then you should request a mutual cancellation. If the buyer refuses your request, then you should contact customer support. Regarding this past order, nobody here can help you - Fiverr staff don’t do ANYTHING on this forum except post announcements that get moderated by Fiverr sellers who volunteer to be forum moderators.

[misscrystal]

say all the time that god will help him to do the work Sound like a variation on God will pay the bills theme.

[jamesbulls]

Replace all instances of “God” with “Nobody” and you’ll figure it out.

Nobody will redeem the world! Nobody will look out for widows and orphans! Nobody cares about you! Yes, you heard me - Nobody will save your soul!

[misscrystal]

Having your seller say all the time “God will help me do the work” is rather alarming I agree. After all you hired HIM not God.

[bperson]

I am EXTREME:LY disappointed. I paid for a project back in December that is NOT COMPLETE!

The person who took the assignment is from India, although our schedules were different. I gave him CLEAR written instructions.

His name is Tanuj Verma. He also asked my assistant to pay him DIRECTLY via Paypal because he stated that fiverr only paid him after 30 days & he would only get a certain percentage of the money sent.

The only good thing that he did was set up a wordpress page, but basically told me that he did not have time to enter all of the products that I had for my website, but he would show me how to update the products myself, which I did.

Before he started the project, he asked me to give him a five star rating, which I refused to do, because that would be dishonest.
He THEN “mistakenly” reserved a website under my domain name, how this happened, I have no idea. Since he is in India, I was highly pissed because I don’t know what kind of website he reserved.

My issue is the fact that I was promised a five page website, & there is one functional page that has a bunch of crap on the bottom of the page that I asked Tanuj to remove REPEATEDLY! To add insult to injury, two pages had a quick blurb, & info that I had already typed up, but he DID NOT do those pages correctly. It looks like he stole a template from somewhere, & the information from the template is still on the webpage that works.
I didn’t expect top notch work, but GOOD GRIEF, there are people at community colleges that could’ve done a better job.

I need fiverr to FIX THIS FAST!!
It’s too late for a refund, & since this sneaky guy asked me to contact him via s***e, I did not realize that he had lied about completing the project on fiverr.

Fiverr needs to investigate the people that they allow to work with others.

One more thing, Paypal is now contacting me about a Paypal account that I supposedly opened. This did not happen until this person started working on my website, & has never happened before.I cannot say for sure that he did this, but after the “mistake” of purchasing a domain under my domain after being given the passwords, it really makes me wonder.

This is a warning to others. PLEASE BE AWARE!

[fastcopywriter]

You hired a crook, you’re angry with Fiverr but it’s your fault you don’t know how to use the platform.

1. You should have demanded a refund months ago
2. You should have NEVER agreed to pay the seller through PayPal
3. Fiverr pays after 2 weeks for most sellers.
4. You used an assistant- I’ve had HORRIBLE experiences with assistants, they’re often rude, they rarely understand Fiverr, they screw things up. I’ve had clients apologize for what their assistants do.
5. You should communicate with customer service. Of course, that crooked seller might not be on Fiverr anymore.

[emmaki]

Alas, for bperson wrote this rather magnificent rant back in May…

[ladybugbusy]

Hi bhernardo!

I agree that sellers are human beings too but if you know you didn`t make a good delivery you also have to be big enough and move on.
That happens to the best sellers and I am sure you aways try to deliver your best.

[graphicz0716]

Totally Agreed with Misscrystal.
With the experience I have with communicating with lot of clients there are nasty buyers too. we can identify them in their very first message that they sent to us. If I got that feeling I respectfully decline the project. because I don’t want any pressure and bad feed-back though I delivered good product.

[fastcopywriter]

That’s the funny thing about the internet, you can comment on something posted 5 months ago, even 2 years ago, and maybe you’ll get a reply, maybe not.

[suziepeace]

I sooo understand where you are coming from! And also agree with one of the comments below. I will go ABOVE and BEYOND what I need to do for a client who is nice and polite and communicative. Even if it is only a $5 gig! I still will do things for free or deliver in less than 24 hours even though it’s. It paid for. I want the repeat business and I want people to be satisfied with my work! …I have had some rrrrreally nasty buyers who personally I think we’re just pretending to be dissatisfied so that they could cancel a gig, and not have to pay for the work I’d done. I ALWAYS notify customer service on Fiverr when I have a problem with a buyer and they have ALWAYS either been so understanding OR they have actually rectified the problem for me. I am so grateful for the Fiverr customer service! …so if anyone has a problem with a buyer, just make sure you contact the customer service and they really might be able to help 🙂

[suziepeace]

I agree with you! The platform of Fiverr is that they are “Exclusively” selling on Fiverr. I’m surprised that this buyer agreed to go off of the platform to pay this person. Unfortunately it was an expensive mistake for this buyer. Customer service can help if you are following the Fiverr rules but they can’t help if you just find someone and then go off of the Fiverr website for work/payments. So, there really is only one “beware” message here and it’s not what the buyer is stating. The “beware” message is::: find a seller on Fiverr, stick to the Fiverr protocol and you hopefully won’t be scammed. If you are, then customer service will help you and deal with it 🙂

[ayeshafarooq42]

I agree with you. A seller is not a production unit who will always work on same speed and standard. A buyer who is understand this I am willing to working with him or her even if he/she pay $20 or $30 lesser then the original amount.

[ayeshafarooq42]

You should contact the fiverr support. If he didn’t even gave you any revision.

[Guest toughbag101]

ok that is good but I am having endless problems with my human being and excuses and have sent through complain and nothing coming back.