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Why Buyers MUST contact seller before ordering


flomaestro

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Hi there, I felt it is necessary for us to discuss this.

I will be delving into why all buyers must, as a matter of due diligence, contact the seller they wish to patronise.

As a buyer, please ensure you read the gig description thoroughly before you place an order. Make sure you understand EVERY WORD in the description inorder to avoid dispute. Every word counts. Every sentence must be understood. No room for ambiguity.

If you feel you have read the description and understood it, it’s time to place an order, i guess? But, hey, hold on for a sec. Why don’t you just contact the seller and tell him what it is you are looking forward to.

The reasons why you must send a message to the seller are many, some of whiçh are:

  1. To have all parties on the same page
  2. To avoid needless dispute resolution
  3. To avoid delay
  4. To assess seller’s competence
  5. To assess seller’s commitment
  6. To avoid hurting the seller’s reputation, even if you don’t want to. Cancellation hurts sellers more than buyers.
  7. To enhance productivity of both parties
  8. Improve your health condition. A good job makes you happy, which inturn results into healthy state of mind.

Go on now, do what you have to.

Thanks for reading.

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On top of that, and I don’t know if this is only the case for me, some sellers might just not be available for additional projects.
I’ve had it so many times where I had about 12 active orders I needed to work on within 2-3 days and despite being stressed and slightly sleep-deprived, I could manage to do it. But then there were direct orders that just entirely threw me off my schedule and. Sure, vacation mode is supposed to help to avoid situations like this but then I would be on vacation mode about 70% of the time.

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On top of that, and I don’t know if this is only the case for me, some sellers might just not be available for additional projects.

I’ve had it so many times where I had about 12 active orders I needed to work on within 2-3 days and despite being stressed and slightly sleep-deprived, I could manage to do it. But then there were direct orders that just entirely threw me off my schedule and. Sure, vacation mode is supposed to help to avoid situations like this but then I would be on vacation mode about 70% of the time.

Thanks for Janali for sharing a comment. Moreso, in your case, i am not sure whether you are a seller or buyer. But generally, i think you can do a few things to help you manage your orders.

  1. Take on what you can handle. A sleep-deprived mind could find it hard to deliver premium quality works.

  2. You can limit your orders. This will allow you satisfy every one. Your repeat buyers know what you can do. The moment they sense a drop in output, they will know.

  3. Negotiate time extension. You can appeal to your buyers o give you more time. It is really not difficult. I have done it before. Trust me…it works.

  4. Extend your gig delivery time.

  5. Outsourcing. You can outsource your orders if you find yourself drowning. Your ratings should be of utmost importance to you… cancellation is not an option. Late deli very is bad for business. I am guessing you know these already…lol

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Thanks for Janali for sharing a comment. Moreso, in your case, i am not sure whether you are a seller or buyer. But generally, i think you can do a few things to help you manage your orders.

  1. Take on what you can handle. A sleep-deprived mind could find it hard to deliver premium quality works.

  2. You can limit your orders. This will allow you satisfy every one. Your repeat buyers know what you can do. The moment they sense a drop in output, they will know.

  3. Negotiate time extension. You can appeal to your buyers o give you more time. It is really not difficult. I have done it before. Trust me…it works.

  4. Extend your gig delivery time.

  5. Outsourcing. You can outsource your orders if you find yourself drowning. Your ratings should be of utmost importance to you… cancellation is not an option. Late deli very is bad for business. I am guessing you know these already…lol

I would do that, but most of my customers are actually resellers. Private buyers are much easier to negotiate with but resellers have a fixed deadline and budget etc. themselves so there’s only so much they can do, I guess. And I’ve hardly ever worked with a reseller who paid me enough that I could afford to outsource. But that is more of my own personal issue and doesn’t have much to do with the customers you are addressing here. 🙂

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I would do that, but most of my customers are actually resellers. Private buyers are much easier to negotiate with but resellers have a fixed deadline and budget etc. themselves so there’s only so much they can do, I guess. And I’ve hardly ever worked with a reseller who paid me enough that I could afford to outsource. But that is more of my own personal issue and doesn’t have much to do with the customers you are addressing here. 🙂

Well said, Janali.

Resellers are in business to make profit too. Hence, not having much to offer.

Thanks for your insight.

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I don’t agree with this at all. There are lots of freelance sites where negotiation has to take place before a project starts. Bids and proposals must be submitted. I started as a buyer and I always skipped gigs that said “Contact First”-I didn’t want to have a big back and forth, I just wanted to order my book covers.

Now I’m a seller and I’d also rather people just order my gig.

If the buyer orders the wrong thing, it can be cancelled. I think maybe it’s because I was a manager at Home Depot for so long, but I’m never going to get stressed about analytics and level status. There are always going to be things outside of our control that affect those things. It was the same thing at Home Depot. Slow customers would mess up cashiers’ scan time. They were also judged on how many customers filled out the survey. None of it’s fair, but that’s fine. It’s all about doing the best you can and brushing it off when stuff happens outside of your control.
I’d rather cancel orders when the buyer is asking for things I don’t offer, than go back and forth and waste time discussing it first.

If a seller is overbooked, they can pause gigs or limit the number of orders in que.

The buyer is the customer. This is customer service. We can’t put that burden of responsibility on them. They don’t want to read gig descriptions or communicate before hand, I feel that’s up to them.

I really like that Fiverr is set up more as an online store. It sets it apart from the other freelance sites.

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On 1/29/2018 at 1:10 PM, sarwar7bd said:

I completely agree with you! I have had a lot of customers who ordered mistakenly or the wrong gig, and I had to cancel the orders and it affected the gig completion rate badly.

Hi Sarwar7bd, unfortunately most buyers don’t know that cancellation affects the business of the seller. Maybe it will help if seller’s write boldly in the gig description - MESSAGE ME BEFORE PLACINF AN ORDER.

Just thinking…lol

On 1/29/2018 at 1:17 PM, jenihiggs said:

I don’t agree with this at all. There are lots of freelance sites where negotiation has to take place before a project starts. Bids and proposals must be submitted. I started as a buyer and I always skipped gigs that said “Contact First”-I didn’t want to have a big back and forth, I just wanted to order my book covers.

Now I’m a seller and I’d also rather people just order my gig.

If the buyer orders the wrong thing, it can be cancelled. I think maybe it’s because I was a manager at Home Depot for so long, but I’m never going to get stressed about analytics and level status. There are always going to be things outside of our control that affect those things. It was the same thing at Home Depot. Slow customers would mess up cashiers’ scan time. They were also judged on how many customers filled out the survey. None of it’s fair, but that’s fine. It’s all about doing the best you can and brushing it off when stuff happens outside of your control.

I’d rather cancel orders when the buyer is asking for things I don’t offer, than go back and forth and waste time discussing it first.

If a seller is overbooked, they can pause gigs or limit the number of orders in que.

The buyer is the customer. This is customer service. We can’t put that burden of responsibility on them. They don’t want to read gig descriptions or communicate before hand, I feel that’s up to them.

I really like that Fiverr is set up more as an online store. It sets it apart from the other freelance sites.

Hi Jenihiggs, Your thoughts are quite interesting And i respect them completely.😀

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I don’t agree with this at all. There are lots of freelance sites where negotiation has to take place before a project starts. Bids and proposals must be submitted. I started as a buyer and I always skipped gigs that said “Contact First”-I didn’t want to have a big back and forth, I just wanted to order my book covers.

Now I’m a seller and I’d also rather people just order my gig.

If the buyer orders the wrong thing, it can be cancelled. I think maybe it’s because I was a manager at Home Depot for so long, but I’m never going to get stressed about analytics and level status. There are always going to be things outside of our control that affect those things. It was the same thing at Home Depot. Slow customers would mess up cashiers’ scan time. They were also judged on how many customers filled out the survey. None of it’s fair, but that’s fine. It’s all about doing the best you can and brushing it off when stuff happens outside of your control.

I’d rather cancel orders when the buyer is asking for things I don’t offer, than go back and forth and waste time discussing it first.

If a seller is overbooked, they can pause gigs or limit the number of orders in que.

The buyer is the customer. This is customer service. We can’t put that burden of responsibility on them. They don’t want to read gig descriptions or communicate before hand, I feel that’s up to them.

I really like that Fiverr is set up more as an online store. It sets it apart from the other freelance sites.

Hi jenihiggs,

While I understand where you are coming from, I do believe that if a buyer contacts you as a seller, it shows there’s an interest.

While there may be some things that buyer isn’t really clear on, I feel him contacting you as the seller goes a great length in pushing you to deliver the best without any glitch.

Though, I respect your thoughts about this issue, I still believe you should see the positive side of being contacted first by the buyer.

Like flomaestro listed out, cancelation really hurts sellers and it won’t be fair if the reason for such occurrence is as a result of a little misunderstanding of descriptions, which I feel can be easily settled under few minutes before making orders.

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Hi jenihiggs,

While I understand where you are coming from, I do believe that if a buyer contacts you as a seller, it shows there’s an interest.

While there may be some things that buyer isn’t really clear on, I feel him contacting you as the seller goes a great length in pushing you to deliver the best without any glitch.

Though, I respect your thoughts about this issue, I still believe you should see the positive side of being contacted first by the buyer.

Like flomaestro listed out, cancelation really hurts sellers and it won’t be fair if the reason for such occurrence is as a result of a little misunderstanding of descriptions, which I feel can be easily settled under few minutes before making orders.

Well said omohehiremen. Nicely articulated

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Hi jenihiggs,

While I understand where you are coming from, I do believe that if a buyer contacts you as a seller, it shows there’s an interest.

While there may be some things that buyer isn’t really clear on, I feel him contacting you as the seller goes a great length in pushing you to deliver the best without any glitch.

Though, I respect your thoughts about this issue, I still believe you should see the positive side of being contacted first by the buyer.

Like flomaestro listed out, cancelation really hurts sellers and it won’t be fair if the reason for such occurrence is as a result of a little misunderstanding of descriptions, which I feel can be easily settled under few minutes before making orders.

Like flomaestro listed out, cancelation really hurts sellers

You can’t live your life in fear of cancellations. If you need to cancel an order, cancel the order.

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To have all parties on the same page: No need, if I’m selling e-mails and you buy my gig, you get an e-mail. We’re all on the same page.

To avoid needless dispute resolution: Not true, I’ve had many complicated clients that messaged before ordering.

To avoid delay: On the contrary, messages delay order completion. Clients can make you wait 24 hours before accepting a custom offer.

To assess seller’s competence: You can do that from my reviews and portfolio samples.

To assess seller’s commitment: See above

To avoid hurting the seller’s reputation, even if you don’t want to. Cancellation hurts sellers more than buyers.

There’s no guarantee you will be a good buyer

To enhance productivity of both parties
On the contrary, Fiverr was designed for quick orders. You want bids and messages? Go to People Per Hour, have fun with their delays.

Improve your health condition. A good job makes you happy, which inturn results into healthy state of mind.

Waking up to several orders improves my health condition. Waking up with just messages drives me crazy.

Personally, I think messages are rude. I don’t message unless I want something you’re not selling, something controversial you’re likely to reject, I need a valid reason to bother the seller, and yet so many sellers think they can bother sellers with stupid questions.

Do you really need to ask me how much, how long, what’s my process? I don’t ask graphic designers how they come up with ideas, it’s none of my business. The only thing that matters is the work I get.

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Like flomaestro listed out, cancelation really hurts sellers

You can’t live your life in fear of cancellations. If you need to cancel an order, cancel the order.

Hi jonbaas,

It isn’t living my life in fear of cancellation, I was only trying to point the fact that getting a cancellation as a result of misunderstandings can actually be avoided.

More like if a buyer should cancel any deal, I’ll prefer that the reason behind such action is because I didn’t fully deliver, and not that the project I have to deliver isn’t what the buyer wants simply because there wasn’t a proper understanding of my gig description.

I hope you understand the point I’m trying to pass across?

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On 1/29/2018 at 5:40 PM, fastcopywriter said:

To have all parties on the same page: No need, if I’m selling e-mails and you buy my gig, you get an e-mail. We’re all on the same page.

To avoid needless dispute resolution: Not true, I’ve had many complicated clients that messaged before ordering.

To avoid delay: On the contrary, messages delay order completion. Clients can make you wait 24 hours before accepting a custom offer.

To assess seller’s competence: You can do that from my reviews and portfolio samples.

To assess seller’s commitment: See above

To avoid hurting the seller’s reputation, even if you don’t want to. Cancellation hurts sellers more than buyers. There’s no guarantee you will be a good buyer

To enhance productivity of both parties: On the contrary, Fiverr was designed for quick orders. You want bids and messages? Go to People Per Hour, have fun with their delays.

Improve your health condition. A good job makes you happy, which inturn results into healthy state of mind. Waking up to several orders improves my health condition. Waking up with just messages drives me crazy.

Personally, I think messages are rude. I don’t message unless I want something you’re not selling, something controversial you’re likely to reject, I need a valid reason to bother the seller, and yet so many sellers think they can bother sellers with stupid questions.

Do you really need to ask me how much, how long, what’s my process? I don’t ask graphic designers how they come up with ideas, it’s none of my business. The only thing that matters is the work I get.

Apparently you have a mindset. If it’s working for you, congratulations. What works for you might not work for thousands of others on here. Conclusively, I can piece apart every argument you have raised, but then, what’s the fun in that…lol.

Best of luck my friend.

On 1/29/2018 at 5:44 PM, jonbaas said:

You can’t live your life in fear of cancellations. If you need to cancel an order, cancel the order.

I believe cancellation should be avoided if possible. Every one, buyers and sellers alike, are on here for a purpose. You dont pull down a building because of a hole on the wall… Except if YOU can…😀

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One factor is the type of gig it is. A gig that is sending you an Ebook is pretty straight forward and probably doesn’t need any discussion before ordering.

BUT

Many gigs are always being interpreted by the buyer with a wide eyed unrealistic expectation. My gig is a prime example. I do whiteboard. A buyer will see a whiteboard done off site that has a team of illustrators, coders, script writers along with Flash and After Effects experts – they also charge $500 an hour. So after a buyer sees this $8000 whiteboard they come to Fiverr with the same expectations for $80.

They see what they want to see no matter how clear the gig description is written.

So after tons of cancellations due to buyer not reading the gig let alone actually reading it and not understanding what is involved with whiteboard animation, I now say in my gig description please contact me BEFORE ORDERING.

Problem is, does me no good if they don’t read the gig description 🙂

giphy.gif.ea097316493833e3f43deaada0acf6f1.gif

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Apparently you have a mindset. If it’s working for you, congratulations.

What works for you might not work for thousands of others on here.

Conclusively, I can piece apart every argument you have raised, but then, what’s the fun in that…lol.

Best of luck my friend.

Apparently you have a mindset. If it’s working for you, congratulations.

No, I have 5-years of experience working on Fiverr, not a mindset. I also know Fiverr is not going to change the system to force buyers to contact you before they order.

You can put the following in big bold letters in your gig description

PLEASE CONTACT ME BEFORE ORDERING.

There’s no guarantee that they will.

I believe cancellation should be avoided if possible.

Wrong, bad reviews should be avoided if possible. If a cancellation prevents a bad review, go for it. Achieving 90% completion rate is a lot easier than a 4.8 rating.

So after a buyer sees this $8000 whiteboard they come to Fiverr with the same expectations for $80.

Buyers expect what they see in your portfolio samples. They don’t expect what they see elsewhere.

Maybe you have to rewrite your gig description, tell buyers what you can’t do.

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Apparently you have a mindset. If it’s working for you, congratulations.

No, I have 5-years of experience working on Fiverr, not a mindset. I also know Fiverr is not going to change the system to force buyers to contact you before they order.

You can put the following in big bold letters in your gig description

PLEASE CONTACT ME BEFORE ORDERING.

There’s no guarantee that they will.

I believe cancellation should be avoided if possible.

Wrong, bad reviews should be avoided if possible. If a cancellation prevents a bad review, go for it. Achieving 90% completion rate is a lot easier than a 4.8 rating.

So after a buyer sees this $8000 whiteboard they come to Fiverr with the same expectations for $80.

Buyers expect what they see in your portfolio samples. They don’t expect what they see elsewhere.

Maybe you have to rewrite your gig description, tell buyers what you can’t do.

Again, wrong all the way. Still the mindset thingy.

But its ok. I respect your views.😀

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Hi jenihiggs,

While I understand where you are coming from, I do believe that if a buyer contacts you as a seller, it shows there’s an interest.

While there may be some things that buyer isn’t really clear on, I feel him contacting you as the seller goes a great length in pushing you to deliver the best without any glitch.

Though, I respect your thoughts about this issue, I still believe you should see the positive side of being contacted first by the buyer.

Like flomaestro listed out, cancelation really hurts sellers and it won’t be fair if the reason for such occurrence is as a result of a little misunderstanding of descriptions, which I feel can be easily settled under few minutes before making orders.

There are a lot of other freelance sites that work that way. It’s just tough for me to wrap my mind around choosing a platform and then criticizing a fundamental element of it. The shopping cart style that Fiverr uses sets it apart.

I just think sellers with the ‘contact first’ mentality should look at it from the buyer’s side (especially for anyone having trouble getting sales). When I was a buyer, I would literally move right on to the next gig if I saw the words ‘Contact First’. It just gave me the impression that the purchase would be a long drawn-out process. I think you need to be aware that there are probably other buyers like me doing the exact same thing.

I’m always happy to talk with customers who have questions first. But my preference will always be for clients to simply read the gig and place the order. It keeps everything rolling along on both of our sides.

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There are a lot of other freelance sites that work that way. It’s just tough for me to wrap my mind around choosing a platform and then criticizing a fundamental element of it. The shopping cart style that Fiverr uses sets it apart.

I just think sellers with the ‘contact first’ mentality should look at it from the buyer’s side (especially for anyone having trouble getting sales). When I was a buyer, I would literally move right on to the next gig if I saw the words ‘Contact First’. It just gave me the impression that the purchase would be a long drawn-out process. I think you need to be aware that there are probably other buyers like me doing the exact same thing.

I’m always happy to talk with customers who have questions first. But my preference will always be for clients to simply read the gig and place the order. It keeps everything rolling along on both of our sides.

Thank you again for your thought

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Apparently you have a mindset. If it’s working for you, congratulations.

No, I have 5-years of experience working on Fiverr, not a mindset. I also know Fiverr is not going to change the system to force buyers to contact you before they order.

You can put the following in big bold letters in your gig description

PLEASE CONTACT ME BEFORE ORDERING.

There’s no guarantee that they will.

I believe cancellation should be avoided if possible.

Wrong, bad reviews should be avoided if possible. If a cancellation prevents a bad review, go for it. Achieving 90% completion rate is a lot easier than a 4.8 rating.

So after a buyer sees this $8000 whiteboard they come to Fiverr with the same expectations for $80.

Buyers expect what they see in your portfolio samples. They don’t expect what they see elsewhere.

Maybe you have to rewrite your gig description, tell buyers what you can’t do.

Buyers expect what they see in your portfolio samples. They don’t expect what they see elsewhere.

You’d be surprised. Ask any video maker who works with templates/libraries and doesn’t make live videos, illustrations, or animations from scratch. Most buyers have no idea about the difference; they see a portfolio sample that looks nice, and think that the seller can create anything they (the buyers) imagine.

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Buyers expect what they see in your portfolio samples. They don’t expect what they see elsewhere.

You’d be surprised. Ask any video maker who works with templates/libraries and doesn’t make live videos, illustrations, or animations from scratch. Most buyers have no idea about the difference; they see a portfolio sample that looks nice, and think that the seller can create anything they (the buyers) imagine.

Don’t forget those who spot $200 custom offer in your portfolio and want it to be done for a basic price because there is no distinction in the presentation. It’s the same preview image with the review and that’s it.

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Buyers expect what they see in your portfolio samples. They don’t expect what they see elsewhere.

You’d be surprised. Ask any video maker who works with templates/libraries and doesn’t make live videos, illustrations, or animations from scratch. Most buyers have no idea about the difference; they see a portfolio sample that looks nice, and think that the seller can create anything they (the buyers) imagine.

they see a portfolio sample that looks nice, and think that the seller can create anything they (the buyers) imagine

Maybe those images need a disclaimer or a subtitle with the words THIS IS A TEMPLATE. Not to mention similar wording is in the gig description.

Either way, we all get stupid orders. I have a gig video where a gun is being fired and the bullet flies, I’ve gotten one order for that video even though it’s not what I’m selling. What I do is refund, if Fiverr was fair, they wouldn’t punish us for refunds.

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they see a portfolio sample that looks nice, and think that the seller can create anything they (the buyers) imagine

Maybe those images need a disclaimer or a subtitle with the words THIS IS A TEMPLATE. Not to mention similar wording is in the gig description.

Either way, we all get stupid orders. I have a gig video where a gun is being fired and the bullet flies, I’ve gotten one order for that video even though it’s not what I’m selling. What I do is refund, if Fiverr was fair, they wouldn’t punish us for refunds.

Oh well, refund…you meant the order was “cancelled” and it counted against you?

That’s being the point all day… If we can avoid cancellation, then do that.

If the buyer had messaged you first before placing that order, that could have been averted.

Thanks anyways for your contribution.

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Oh well, refund…you meant the order was “cancelled” and it counted against you?

That’s being the point all day… If we can avoid cancellation, then do that.

If the buyer had messaged you first before placing that order, that could have been averted.

Thanks anyways for your contribution.

If the buyer had messaged you first before placing that order, that could have been averted.

Sure, if the buyer wants you to do something you can do, you can tell him, “sorry, I don’t do that,” and he won’t order. However, most of my refunds aren’t because the buyer ordered by mistake, they’re because the buyer didn’t like my work. Since 4.8 is harder to get and keep than 90%, I choose to refund.

I also choose never to send a buyer request unless I’m 100% sure that the order will benefit me. In the past, I was more aggressive, I would bid everything related to my gigs. Not anymore.

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