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Why contacting the seller should be mandatory?


daredez

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Hello my fellow sellers.

This is not the first time i came across buyers who don’t read description and who order automatically as soon as they see my gig. And i bet i am not the only one. Even though i made it in the top of my description that they should contact me first before ordering a gig (bold letters). Only thing they do is they make a problem for us. They order something they want without asking if that’s the right thing to do.
Would you agree that contacting the seller should be mandatory and that you can’t order a gig before you do so?
That would be helpful to many people here. Now i need to waste my time explaining to him why, what and where instead of working on a current project with the man who obviously read what i had to say in my description. And the worst part of it is that i would probably need to cancel the order which would ruin my rating and what not.

Tell me please what do you thing about this issue. Maybe you have some better idea.

Best Regards
Daredez

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Fair enough. What do you propose?

You’ve done all you can by asking potential buyers to contact you prior to purchase - there’s not much you can do if they don’t.

What you can do is to make your requirements really specific so that you have all the information you need before you start, so that no further conversation is required.

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How would you make something optional mandatory? Or even, something mandatory optional?

Well, every seller gets an option in their gig setup to make it mandatory or not. Depending what they want. If they check the box then buyers have to contact them before they get an option to order, or even seller can allow that option to appear after the talk is done. Something like that.

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@daredez I hate to break it to you, but Fiverr’s system is setup so that buyers shop around at will.

I don’t know what your gig is about, or why you need for them to contact you first but apart from having a disclaimer, and hoping for the best, there’s little else you can do.

But a word of advice:

If you need buyers to contact you before each order, you are doing something wrong.

I mean your offering needs to be seriously reconsidered.

Otherwise the system will always work against you, your mutual cancellations will skyrocket and your gig will gradually disappear in the vast ocean that is the Fiverr marketplace.

Again: I have no idea what the kinks are, or why you need for every buyer to message you beforehand, I’m just kind of showing you the proper way to go about this.

What you do with this advice is 100% up to you.

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I ask in my gig description whether people can contact me first and in my experience it works like a charm. It helps to weed out some bad buyers and I can sometimes do some upselling before the buyer actually orders. But I don’t know how many people choose to buy their gigs elsewhere because of the delay involved in messaging first.

But I have to say I am a bit of peculiar seller. My gig is copywriting in Dutch, so that means my average audience is different than other sellers. Almost all of my buyers are Dutch and I think it’s a bit part of our culture to get acquainted with somebody at least a bit before doing business.

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Your gig is kind of a novelty. I think it is likely that buyers will treat it differently to something like a company website or an important document. Often it will be an impulse buy so they don’t want to contact you first, they just want it.
The other thing is, the problem may actually be that they read all of your description. You offer unlimited revisions - why would they bother to contact you when you are offering to make as many changes as they like from now until the end of time. People pay more attention when not paying attention will cost them more.

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Your gig is kind of a novelty. I think it is likely that buyers will treat it differently to something like a company website or an important document. Often it will be an impulse buy so they don’t want to contact you first, they just want it.

The other thing is, the problem may actually be that they read all of your description. You offer unlimited revisions - why would they bother to contact you when you are offering to make as many changes as they like from now until the end of time. People pay more attention when not paying attention will cost them more.

You might be right. I like what you are telling me. I could change revisions, so then they will have to be careful how they explain their idea to me and they will have to take a different approach unless they are willing to spend a lot of money.

You learn something new every day. Thanks eoinfinnegan

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You might be right. I like what you are telling me. I could change revisions, so then they will have to be careful how they explain their idea to me and they will have to take a different approach unless they are willing to spend a lot of money.

You learn something new every day. Thanks eoinfinnegan

Exactly!

It means that if a customer is difficult then you will probably get more money for it which makes it worthwhile. You can always do a revision for free if you want to, if it is small or if the client has been easy to deal with but at least the decision is yours.

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Exactly!

It means that if a customer is difficult then you will probably get more money for it which makes it worthwhile. You can always do a revision for free if you want to, if it is small or if the client has been easy to deal with but at least the decision is yours.

Yes, you make a good point. Thank you very much.

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Not all gigs need extra conversations between buyers and sellers - it depends on the requirements of the gig.

Making it mandatory wouldn’t be appropriate for all gigs.

I agree, not all gigs need to be contacted before ordering but some do. Fiverr could easily add an option that can be turned on or off per gig if you want to be contacted before buyiing. I have 8 gigs and if I had this option I would turn it on for 5 of my gigs and turn it off for the remaining 3.

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I don’t think contacting the seller first is always necessary, but I would like the option to reject inappropriate orders within a reasonable amount of time (within, say, 12 hours?) and not getting penalized for a cancelled order. I’ve had problems with a few buyers not reading gig descriptions or just disregarding them and ordering my “Basic” gig when the work they are requesting is what I offer in my “Standard” or “Premium” level gig. At first, I just went ahead and did the work thinking that getting good reviews would pay off in the long run and maybe it has, to a degree, but now that I’ve been on Fiverr for 6+ months I really don’t want to continue getting stuck with several hours of work for $5-10 – minus 20% of course.

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I don’t think contacting the seller first is always necessary, but I would like the option to reject inappropriate orders within a reasonable amount of time (within, say, 12 hours?) and not getting penalized for a cancelled order. I’ve had problems with a few buyers not reading gig descriptions or just disregarding them and ordering my “Basic” gig when the work they are requesting is what I offer in my “Standard” or “Premium” level gig. At first, I just went ahead and did the work thinking that getting good reviews would pay off in the long run and maybe it has, to a degree, but now that I’ve been on Fiverr for 6+ months I really don’t want to continue getting stuck with several hours of work for $5-10 – minus 20% of course.

That’s exactly what happened to me. That’s why i actually made this post.

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I’m not sure if I want to order a gig then wait around for hours to see if the seller is willing to accept the work or not. It’s sort of like I am begging to give someone money and do work for me. It’s kinda humiliating.

I mean what kind of a platform makes the customer wait and beg.

I don’t have the option to deny people on Amazon when they want to buy my books - I wish I could block some buyers. There are plenty of cheezy, scammy buyers who will read the eBook and return it for a full refund. Really annoying. 😏

I don’t even know who these buyers are on Amazon - only what country they live in. At least on Fiverr, you sorta know who the customers are and communicate with them - you can leave them a bad review in return for the bad review they give you. If they don’t review you then you don’t review them.

Chargeback is a pain on Fiverr - from what I’ve read - but on Amazon, they just flat-out refund the customer.

I mean are there that many buyers on Fiverr that are so horrible that you need to really make everyone beg?

If I see a gig I like or want, I will order, I will fill out your requirement, if you have questions - ask me, if not, then deliver by the deadline. If you don’t want to work with me, then fine, refund me and I’ll go my merry way and order from someone else.

There are plenty of sellers on Fiverr. I won’t beg or sit around waiting for someone to accept or reject my money.

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I’m not sure if I want to order a gig then wait around for hours to see if the seller is willing to accept the work or not. It’s sort of like I am begging to give someone money and do work for me. It’s kinda humiliating.

I mean what kind of a platform makes the customer wait and beg.

I don’t have the option to deny people on Amazon when they want to buy my books - I wish I could block some buyers. There are plenty of cheezy, scammy buyers who will read the eBook and return it for a full refund. Really annoying. 😏

I don’t even know who these buyers are on Amazon - only what country they live in. At least on Fiverr, you sorta know who the customers are and communicate with them - you can leave them a bad review in return for the bad review they give you. If they don’t review you then you don’t review them.

Chargeback is a pain on Fiverr - from what I’ve read - but on Amazon, they just flat-out refund the customer.

I mean are there that many buyers on Fiverr that are so horrible that you need to really make everyone beg?

If I see a gig I like or want, I will order, I will fill out your requirement, if you have questions - ask me, if not, then deliver by the deadline. If you don’t want to work with me, then fine, refund me and I’ll go my merry way and order from someone else.

There are plenty of sellers on Fiverr. I won’t beg or sit around waiting for someone to accept or reject my money.

That’s why I think the market should be allowed to do its work. Some sellers experience problems and they are happy to let some business go to the competitors if that means that they have more control over the orders coming in.

If you ask for contact first, and you’re doing generic work, you will lose out. If you have a bit of an odd gig or if you’re selling bigger orders, it will probably save you some hassle.

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I’m not sure if I want to order a gig then wait around for hours to see if the seller is willing to accept the work or not. It’s sort of like I am begging to give someone money and do work for me. It’s kinda humiliating.

I mean what kind of a platform makes the customer wait and beg.

I don’t have the option to deny people on Amazon when they want to buy my books - I wish I could block some buyers. There are plenty of cheezy, scammy buyers who will read the eBook and return it for a full refund. Really annoying. 😏

I don’t even know who these buyers are on Amazon - only what country they live in. At least on Fiverr, you sorta know who the customers are and communicate with them - you can leave them a bad review in return for the bad review they give you. If they don’t review you then you don’t review them.

Chargeback is a pain on Fiverr - from what I’ve read - but on Amazon, they just flat-out refund the customer.

I mean are there that many buyers on Fiverr that are so horrible that you need to really make everyone beg?

If I see a gig I like or want, I will order, I will fill out your requirement, if you have questions - ask me, if not, then deliver by the deadline. If you don’t want to work with me, then fine, refund me and I’ll go my merry way and order from someone else.

There are plenty of sellers on Fiverr. I won’t beg or sit around waiting for someone to accept or reject my money.

You can’t compare amazon to a freelance site. You are hiring someone just like you would hire a contractor to work on a project – i.e. build a house. If you are smart, you would want to talk with them before hiring them to make sure you are on the same page.

Wait around for hours, beg, a bit dramatic. Don’t wait and don’t beg – no one is holding a gun to your head. If they don’t respond in a reasonable time move on. It is your money, but it is our time. I’m not for sale so you can keep you money.

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You can’t compare amazon to a freelance site. You are hiring someone just like you would hire a contractor to work on a project – i.e. build a house. If you are smart, you would want to talk with them before hiring them to make sure you are on the same page.

Wait around for hours, beg, a bit dramatic. Don’t wait and don’t beg – no one is holding a gun to your head. If they don’t respond in a reasonable time move on. It is your money, but it is our time. I’m not for sale so you can keep you money.

I’m not for sale so you can keep you money.

Okay! 😀

[…]

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I´m asking buyers to contact me for anything beyond 1000 words, and most of my customers have more than that and usually contact me. Anything below 1000 words I can always deliver within the stated timeframe, or adjust my timeframe and/or ‘allowed orders queue’ accordingly, and for such short things, and for anything where no talking is required or questions come up, the ‘Browse, buy, done’ works splendidly for me in the passive, ‘be browsed, get booked, work, done’, spending a lot of time talking about small orders wouldn´t be any more in my interest than in that of the customer.

Up to now this worked pretty well, but I think an optional accept/mandoatory contact/whatever-button, for sellers who want it, with the choice of selectively putting it on one or some gigs, why not. Buyers can forego those gigs then, if they want to book right away, maybe a filter function for that too, like you can filter for 24 hour gigs, and if the sellers who have that button still get orders and prefer it that way, all fine.

A possibilty to reject orders though, generally, for example if someone orders from you and you somehow know they are a ‘bad buyer’, is another thing again, and I absolutely understand people who had to deal with bad buyers and don´t want to work with them further or with more of them, or don´t want to go through the time-wasting of order cancellation and fear of plummeting rating because of buyers who don´t read or just ignore gig descriptions.

I’d guess the point Gina brings up from buyer’s side is the reason there is no such mandatory contact or reject button, and I can understand fiverr there, it would add something, and the less complicated the system is, the better to get buyers to use it, but they definitely should make the cancellation system so that it deals better and fairly with all possible cases and so that sellers aren´t afraid of using it because of dropping rates and such, if they didn´t do one wrong thing.

In short, I´m against mandatory, but for an option and to leave it up to sellers if and to which of their gigs they’d apply it.

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That is the problem. Or when they order one thing before contacting you first to see if that’s how it should be…

Often I can’t even get them to read the messages I routinely send new buyers. They ask the same questions that I answer in the messages I send them. They expect things I say in the gig description they don’t get.

They just refuse to read anything and then are all confused afterwards asking all the questions they would have known the answers to if they had just read everything.

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