Sellers who insist you change their rating: What to do?

[kellermedia]

This has happened before and it is happening now. I always order the same graphics gig from the best 2-5 sellers, based on a review of their other projects on their page.

Invariably, one is excellent, a few might be somewhat OK, and 1-2 are terrible, lacking in all creativity in my opinion. (For example, making a stock photo into a rectangle and simply typing a few words across it, instead of using some creativity to make a more original/interesting button).

In that latter category, I rank the person how I really feel about them and that seems fair. If you spent leas than 2 minutes doing the work and it shows, well, I don’t want others to get burned. There’s obviously no reason to send “revisions” because you have shown you don’t give a $%^& about my projects.

Then comes the begging.

A seller who did this is telling me sob stories about how they will change it and they need the money; the first one who begged eventually went on and threatened me as a “bad buyer” because I wouldn’t change his rating for the terrible work he delivered.

So here’s what I believe: If we all lie and rank the bad sellers as OK or Excellent or Satisfied for crummy work, the good sellers will not get as much business and they deserve it. That’s capitalism, I’m sorry if you don’t like it.

What do you think? How do you handle sellers who beg, whine, plead or even threaten that you change their listing?

[capitalquality]

This has happened before and it is happening now. I always order the same graphics gig from the best 2-5 sellers, based on a review of their other projects on their page.

Invariably, one is excellent, a few might be somewhat OK, and 1-2 are terrible, lacking in all creativity in my opinion. (For example, making a stock photo into a rectangle and simply typing a few words across it, instead of using some creativity to make a more original/interesting button).

In that latter category, I rank the person how I really feel about them and that seems fair. If you spent leas than 2 minutes doing the work and it shows, well, I don’t want others to get burned. There’s obviously no reason to send “revisions” because you have shown you don’t give a $%^& about my projects.

Then comes the begging.

A seller who did this is telling me sob stories about how they will change it and they need the money; the first one who begged eventually went on and threatened me as a “bad buyer” because I wouldn’t change his rating for the terrible work he delivered.

So here’s what I believe: If we all lie and rank the bad sellers as OK or Excellent or Satisfied for crummy work, the good sellers will not get as much business and they deserve it. That’s capitalism, I’m sorry if you don’t like it.

What do you think? How do you handle sellers who beg, whine, plead or even threaten that you change their listing?

If we all lie and rank the bad sellers as OK or Excellent or Satisfied for crummy work, the good sellers will not get as much business and they deserve it.

As a good seller, I totally agree with this statement 🙂

I also agree that begging and whining for a change in review shouldn’t be rewarded.

I do think that if a seller communicates with you professionally and asks if there’s anything that they can do to improve their service or delivery (not directly asking for a review change) because perhaps they misunderstood the brief (okay, I know this is going to be a rare response) then you should give them a chance to do a revision, and after they’ve done that revision you should do what you feel is appropriate in amending or not amending your review.

[bigo123]

100% agree with you 😕

[miiila]

Whining, pleading or threatening wouldn´t make me change my opinion unless it was so bad I´d consider a change to fewer stars. Threatening would make me report them to Customer Support right away.

[fastcopywriter]

Begging is pathetic. The seller should learn from his experience and move on.

Of course, I hope you gave clear instructions. I hate buyers who tell me they want this, I deliver, and then they want that.

[eoinfinnegan]

Asking once about why a review was not 100% is understandable.
Once I explain that (or even if I don’t as I am busy), I would most likely take a star off each time they ask again as the overall experience with that seller would have diminished with their annoying messages. Any mention of me causing their children to starve etc would be a 1 star rating immediately. That’s not a seller, that’s a beggar and the site doesn’t need that.

PS. I am actually a nice person but business requires a modicum of professionalism.

[adityasharma3d]

I understand where you are coming from but the problem here is the creative gigs part. Creativity isn’t a one size fits all. You may not like something but that doesn’t mean he hasn’t worked on it.

There is a reason why the studio Rhythm and Hues went bankrupt even after delivering something as brilliant as Life of Pi.

Creative gigs are something that should be charged based on time. For a programmer there is a simple criteria, whether the app works or not. For data entry its simple if the data was entered or not, for article and writing it’s simple as well but creative projects aren’t a one size fits all.

But I can’t say who is at fault in this simply by hearing your side, as I remember once I had made 3D models for an indie game and at the end the client didn’t liked them. He wanted me to make another but was unwilling to pay for it. I refused, he had only described to me what he wanted in the character and this character had all those things, he was a typical sci-fi shooter suit wearing character, I had even sent him a rough draft which he had approved.
He said I cheated him cause I couldn’t deliver, I showed him the discussion we had had, I was charging him per hour and I had invested more than the time I had billed him for, his response was, “That’s not my problem.” I told him the same thing.

[jeromedl]

Everything you said is just right 🙂
As a seller, I never begged nor whined for a Rating change.

Being a high-rating seller as well, it really bothers me to the bones if someone gives me a 3-star rating or below and what I do is I try to communicate with the buyer in the most professional way possible and even give more than 3 revisions if I had to.

But I will never ask a rating change just because I will starve if business will slow down becuase of a poor rating.

This kind of behavior must never be tolerated.
I would suggest to report the seller using the resolution center if he becomes too nagging just so the staff can give him a nudge about it.

If he already, stopped, at least now you know how he handles his business.

But I believe in second chances and I hope you guys will be in good terms in the future 😉

[thehasanhabib1]

You should have simply asked for mutual cancellation if you didn’t liked seller’s work.

[easyforu]

True that you should show quality instead of crying but how about next time you communicate to them about how they not met your expectations so they can work well and improve… You can give rating however you feel like.
Sometimes buyers don’t tell what they actually want from the project in fact they don’t even know themselves in that case it is unfair to the seller when he do the project as they asked and later on don’t like it and ask for change its not the Sellers fault…

[thehasanhabib1]

Communication is a key factor. Buyers should also try to communicate well. What kind of professionalism it can be without proper communication.
Being a graphic designer I also believe design isn’t a magic. It’s a process. A series of variations so seller should respect and buyers should also respect sellers. This is what I call professionalism.
Last thing is That, patience can bring better results.

[fastcopywriter]

I understand where you are coming from but the problem here is the creative gigs part. Creativity isn’t a one size fits all. You may not like something but that doesn’t mean he hasn’t worked on it.

There is a reason why the studio Rhythm and Hues went bankrupt even after delivering something as brilliant as Life of Pi.

Creative gigs are something that should be charged based on time. For a programmer there is a simple criteria, whether the app works or not. For data entry its simple if the data was entered or not, for article and writing it’s simple as well but creative projects aren’t a one size fits all.

But I can’t say who is at fault in this simply by hearing your side, as I remember once I had made 3D models for an indie game and at the end the client didn’t liked them. He wanted me to make another but was unwilling to pay for it. I refused, he had only described to me what he wanted in the character and this character had all those things, he was a typical sci-fi shooter suit wearing character, I had even sent him a rough draft which he had approved.

He said I cheated him cause I couldn’t deliver, I showed him the discussion we had had, I was charging him per hour and I had invested more than the time I had billed him for, his response was, “That’s not my problem.” I told him the same thing.

I disagree, creativity cannot be charged on time because quality is quality and crap is crap whether it took you 5 minutes or 5 hours.

You can do quality work in 5 to 15 minutes, if you train yourself to work fast and well, it’s possible for some gigs. For other gigs it’s no always possible, which means you have to charge more. Or maybe you charge less for the sketch and more for the color or whatever you’re doing.

Besides, Fiverr doesn’t let you charge by the hour, and most clients don’t care how hard you work.

[adityasharma3d]

I disagree, creativity cannot be charged on time because quality is quality and crap is crap whether it took you 5 minutes or 5 hours.

You can do quality work in 5 to 15 minutes, if you train yourself to work fast and well, it’s possible for some gigs. For other gigs it’s no always possible, which means you have to charge more. Or maybe you charge less for the sketch and more for the color or whatever you’re doing.

Besides, Fiverr doesn’t let you charge by the hour, and most clients don’t care how hard you work.

I never said it wasn’t crap, I just meant that since I haven’t seen the work, I can’t say the work was crap.

Maybe it was just not to the sellers taste.

I have had buyers who see my work and don’t like it and that’s okay. Then when I ask then what would you like me to change in this, their response is, “make ii pop!.” or make it "better."

The thing here is, two people will have two different tastes and two different opinions on what better means to them.

This is why for me, it’s hard to judge who is at fault here without looking at all the conversation and the deliveries between this seller and buyer.

[fastcopywriter]

I never said it wasn’t crap, I just meant that since I haven’t seen the work, I can’t say the work was crap.

Maybe it was just not to the sellers taste.

I have had buyers who see my work and don’t like it and that’s okay. Then when I ask then what would you like me to change in this, their response is, “make ii pop!.” or make it "better."

The thing here is, two people will have two different tastes and two different opinions on what better means to them.

This is why for me, it’s hard to judge who is at fault here without looking at all the conversation and the deliveries between this seller and buyer.

The seller who tells you “make it pop” is doing you no favors. What does that mean? It could mean make the logo bolder or brighter or more audacious, but it isn’t clear, and the lack of clarity can cost you big time.

Also, we don’t get paid for time is because this isn’t Upwork where you can log on and the time you’re in the computer is measured. We’re also not telemarketers getting paid an hourly wage plus commission. Fiverr is all about project, the time it takes to complete it is up to the buyer and seller, just remember that if you promise 3 days, deliver in 3 days, ideally in 2 days.

[webdealspro]

Your rating should be unbiased and never manipulated. If you change your review because you feel sorry for the seller but the service is real crappy you trick other buyers who might also trust this seller and get cheated, too.