Can you refund via purchase?

[thefarrahmonste]

This is a weird question but, I have a customer who paid extra for fast delivery. I ended up needing an extra day due to unexpected sickness (I’m a singer so sickness is pretty much a deal breaker), and because of that, I offered to refund them the “extra fast delivery” charge ($10). Since handling money outside Fiverr is against the rules, I figured I could refund the buyer by making a purchase from their gig - that way, everything still goes through Fiverr, and Fiverr still gets to take 20%.

Well, the message I sent about that got flagged so now I’m a bit confused - is this against the rules? I thought as long as everything went through Fiverr and they still got a cut of the money, it would be fine? I feel really bad now, I wasn’t trying to do anything sneaky at all! I totally thought this would be copacetic.

[mariokluser]

This is a way to get the money back to your client. I don’t see the problem
The only thing that might be frowned on would be if the gig you purchase from them is in the same category.
You also probably want to agree with them that you don’t leave a feedback and mark the gig complete immediately.

[thefarrahmonste]

This is a way to get the money back to your client. I don’t see the problem

The only thing that might be frowned on would be if the gig you purchase from them is in the same category.

You also probably want to agree with them that you don’t leave a feedback and mark the gig complete immediately.

Oh, definitely. My gig is singing, their gig is music production / making instrumentals so I don’t think there’s any conflict there, and no feedback as well.

I find it really interesting for Fiverr to take issue with this to be honest, since they’ll actually be making MORE money this way LOL To refund him $10, I have to pay $12.50 so they’re actually making extra money!

[misscrystal]

If you purchased a $10 gig your buyer would only receive $8.

I would have asked if I could do something extra worth $10 for him. If he said no I would have asked if he would like a refund of his purchase.

Since you got a message that it is against the rules, then it must be.

[thefarrahmonste]

If you purchased a $10 gig your buyer would only receive $8.

I would have asked if I could do something extra worth $10 for him. If he said no I would have asked if he would like a refund of his purchase.

Since you got a message that it is against the rules, then it must be.

I was going to have him send a custom offer for a higher price gig so that it would come out to $10 after the 20% was subtracted.

He already purchased my largest package with all of my additional extras so there’s not really anything else I’m capable of offering him but I did consider that!

It would really be a shame to get in trouble with Fiverr over such a simple misunderstanding but I guess it’s on me in the end. Fiverr seems to automatically flag any message that says “send money directly” (I literally said “since Fiverr does not allow one to send money directly, I will purchase from your gig”), because when I resent the message reworded, it went through and did not get flagged.

[misscrystal]

I was going to have him send a custom offer for a higher price gig so that it would come out to $10 after the 20% was subtracted.

He already purchased my largest package with all of my additional extras so there’s not really anything else I’m capable of offering him but I did consider that!

It would really be a shame to get in trouble with Fiverr over such a simple misunderstanding but I guess it’s on me in the end. Fiverr seems to automatically flag any message that says “send money directly” (I literally said “since Fiverr does not allow one to send money directly, I will purchase from your gig”), because when I resent the message reworded, it went through and did not get flagged.

I would also suggest that he could offer the $10 as a tip since there is no way to give a partial refund. Since he got your biggest package he doesn’t seem to be the type to get upset over only $10.

[thefarrahmonste]

I would also suggest that he could offer the $10 as a tip since there is no way to give a partial refund. Since he got your biggest package he doesn’t seem to be the type to get upset over only $10.

Forgive me, I’m a bit confused by “offer the $10 as a tip” - what do you mean exactly?

This is making me realize, some sort of option to make a partial refund might be a good idea for Fiverr. Since the money goes right back into the buyer’s Fiverr balance, it’s money in Fiverr’s pocket anyway. This might be a good way to resolve certain types of issues with customers!

[misscrystal]

Forgive me, I’m a bit confused by “offer the $10 as a tip” - what do you mean exactly?

This is making me realize, some sort of option to make a partial refund might be a good idea for Fiverr. Since the money goes right back into the buyer’s Fiverr balance, it’s money in Fiverr’s pocket anyway. This might be a good way to resolve certain types of issues with customers!

You would need to word it very carefully and explain that since there is no way to give a partial refund of $10 he can either have the option to cancel the entire order, or consider the $10 as a tip AND on his next order receive a $10 credit toward your services.

[thefarrahmonste]

Welp, I sent a message to Fiverr yesterday explaining myself, that I had no way of knowing it was against the rules since it’s not in the terms of service etc… I got a very friendly response from CS and thought everything was fine but tonight I got a warning email and it won’t let me log into my account!

I’ve literally never delivered ANYTHING late so I can only assume this is in relation to the situation in this post, however it seems a bit counter intuitive to send me a warning like this and then lock me out of my account… can’t exactly continue to “deliver the specific work requested and within the agreed upon time frame” if I can’t log in!

I have orders due tonight and I’m freaking out. I was so forthcoming and CS was so chill, I figured this was just a simple misunderstanding. Fiverr is a great site, I love working here but I have reported literal SCAMMERS on here who I still see buying and selling so this seems like an overreaction.