Working For the KIds - Doing Assignments for Kids, A Moral Dillema? Or Capitalism at its finest?

[Guest deastman]

Scenario

I recently had a buyer purchase my technical writing gig. As usual, it started with a conversation as to what I would provide for a given price and such. My initial understanding was that it was a technical review of a recommendation to a company.



😦 The Dilemma

I quoted a price, but upon getting the order I realized it was someone’s homework assignment. And not to mention the ‘base’ document provided was rather horrendous. I conversed with them via message explaining that the requirements were unclear and such, but the feedback was not very helpful.



I did my best with the grading guide given and the base document to draw from. But in the end they were not pleased feeling that I had not stuck to the topic required. When if you were to review the ‘grading’ guide you would find I covered all ‘pointed’ topics, and even did so in individual sections (to ensure appropriate coverage).



But in the end I decided to simply cancel the order for their refund. As to me it was better to loose the money than risk reputation because they could leave negative feedback when I did exactly what they ‘provided’ requirements for.



*-🙂 Realization

I know lots of Fiverr Sellers out there make the bulk of their profit doing just this kids assignments, but does anyone else find themselves more inclined to simply say, I really think you need to study this and do it yourself? I mean afterall, if these people may end up in the field we are in some day, do we want someone who just paid for a paper rather than did the work themselves?



Moreover, what are the parents thinking letting these kids run around with credit accounts and just buying their way through homework?



~X( My Concern:

From a Fiverr Perspective, I think there should be a way for a seller to keep the profit of a sale if we think we did the work required (and can demonstrate it via documentation as I could), without fear of negative reputation repercussion from a buyer who may not know what they need, because they don’t understand the topic well enough to ask for the right thing (which is likely why they aren’t doing the work themselves in the first place). Also, as this adds to the number or percentage of cancelled orders which in time could affect ranking I don’t find that to fair either.



As a Seller, who else has experienced this, and how do you handle it?



Have a great day!

Dustin

[thepromogirl]

This topic has been bought up before on the forum, this isn’t my genre but I will say this:



First Rule of Customer Service: You’re not being paid to give opinions or have emotional influence on the task at hand. You’re simply paid to deliver the work you advertise.



With that said, if you don’t want to do homework simply note that in your gig description.



You can’t get so concerned about buyers personal dealings when they’re simply buying a service you offer. It’s the sellers job to be specific in what that is or what is isn’t.



Hope that helps and good luck! 🙂

[teenytinypress]

I would agree with the idea to put in your gig description that you won’t do homework assignments. When I added a content writing gig, I put it in my description.



There are very mixed opinions on this topic here in the forum, but for me, I don’t want to support a student in plagiarizing, and I won’t do someone’s school assignments.

[thepromogirl]

teenytinypress said: There are very mixed opinions on this topic here in the forum, but for me, I don't want to support a student in plagiarizing, and I won't do someone's school assignments.

 

You were actually the one I was thinking of, you're the teacher here on Fiverr! :D

 

[emasonwrites]

Aside from the homework issue (as a fellow writer, I get requests like this and I politely decline, though, at least in the US, I’d say the vast majority of school have a policy that would mean expulsion if professors discovered a student was paying someone else to do their homework, and I want to tell them to do their own work…)



…Aside from that, it would be amazing if there was a way to prove that we had fulfilled a buyer’s instructions, so that we could be paid for our time. Sometimes, buyers just drop a keyword in the instructions, and then reject the final order because it wasn’t what they were “envisioning.” Well, if you didn’t tell me what you were envisioning, how could I ever write that? Anyway…to be able to show the instructions and point out exactly how the delivery follows those instructions, it would definitely make the work more worthwhile and less of a gamble.



To deal with this, I usually get a feel for the buyer. If I feel like I can explain how what I wrote met their instructions without stirring them up, I’ll do that. But if they are being unreasonable, I’ll usually take the matter to CS.

[Guest deastman]

All Great points! I do think I’m going to edit the gig to say NO HOMEWORK. But I also wanted to share some great news on how Fiverr does have our backs as sellers. I posted a request to customer service and explained hte situation, and provided all the documentation as proof of what I’d done, the requirements I was given, and while I didn’t get to keep the money they were able to take away the negative markings for the cancellation! In my book that’s a win given that as a seller your reputation/percentage means everything!



The strange thing with the order is before doing the actual draft I put together a full outline of the entire paper (because a good writer plans :0) ), and the buyer loved it, and raved in their reply about it, then when I delivered just exactly what was in the outline, poof this wasn’t what they wanted at all. But it was great talking to everyone about this and getting the ideas.

[cheezees]

Reply to @deastman: Share the good news in another topic under another heading (and remove it from this one so it’s not viewed as spam). It will be “hidden” in this topic and what you’ve shared if REALLY great to know!!! 🙂