Why Buyers MUST contact seller before ordering

[vira_lanka19871]

I agree on the topic. I must have lost hundreds of 5$ gigs just because random buyers place a 5$ order and ask me to do something worth 60$ or even 230$ ! And when i explain why the cost is the base, ( because in 3D animation, the cost is depended on how complex and how long the duration of each animation would be )
The buyers would say, oh… sorry. i dont have that amount of budget and cancel up the order.

Would that be my fault ? since gigs start at 5$, and there are simple stuff that i can do for 5$… i cannot increase the base gig price.

Fiverr really needs to have a order gate for buyers where both the buyer and seller can discuss BEFORE going into the order. 🙂

[ollydave]

I must admit, I also see the problem.

I think it should be optional. Some gigs require some sort of consultation and others don’t. It will not be wise to force all buyers to contact sellers before they purchase.

The core idea behind Fiverr is being able to purchase a product or service seamlessly. If you force all buyers to contact sellers, they will lose a lot of money.

Imagine contacting a seller that has a 5-hour response time, that already eats into the delivery time or deadline.

Imagine having so many messages because everyone has to contact before he or she orders. That will be difficult to keep up with especially when you have a high selling gig.

Most of all, anything that adds to the process of ordering can put off many buyers at the purchase stage. You can liken it to the review process. Too many things were added and this caused a reduction in clients leaving reviews.

In my opinion, this should be optional. For the time being, keep tweaking your gigs to reduce the number of buyers that order without properly reading. Try and understand why and make changes. You probably can’t eliminate it completely because it is always bound to happen (even when the buyer discusses with you) but you can at least reduce it.

My 1 cent or should I say 1 Kobo 🙂

[flomaestro]

I agree on the topic. I must have lost hundreds of 5$ gigs just because random buyers place a 5$ order and ask me to do something worth 60$ or even 230$ ! And when i explain why the cost is the base, ( because in 3D animation, the cost is depended on how complex and how long the duration of each animation would be )

The buyers would say, oh… sorry. i dont have that amount of budget and cancel up the order.

Would that be my fault ? since gigs start at 5$, and there are simple stuff that i can do for 5$… i cannot increase the base gig price.

Fiverr really needs to have a order gate for buyers where both the buyer and seller can discuss BEFORE going into the order. 🙂

i would have loved to suggest that not all cancellations should count against the seller.

Here is why…

At the resolution center, you are asked the reason for cancellation. (I really do not know whether buyers are asked same questions)

But if buyers are asked the same questions, and both answer are - “buyer orders services not on offee” , that kind of cancellation should not against the seller.

[sanam_aly]

I think this point also have some negative impact on customer as some customer may also think that this isn’t a perfect person to assign work as he/she is asking before the order. So, that customer may think that the seller isn’t full confident about his/her gig.

I’m new on fiverr so may be I’m wrong!

[flomaestro]

On 1/31/2018 at 6:18 AM, sanam_aly said:

I think this point also have some negative impact on customer as some customer may also think that this isn’t a perfect person to assign work as he/she is asking before the order. So, that customer may think that the seller isn’t full confident about his/her gig.

I’m new on fiverr so may be I’m wrong!

If I were a buyer, for instance, I would wanna be certain the guy handling my project truly knows his onions. I would wanna be sure he didn’t just “copy and paste” his gig description. I would wanna be sure he will not cost me my time. Even if I am spending 6 dollars, every cent counts.

On 1/31/2018 at 6:23 AM, ollydave said:

I must admit, I also see the problem.

I think it should be optional. Some gigs require some sort of consultation and others don’t. It will not be wise to force all buyers to contact sellers before they purchase.

The core idea behind Fiverr is being able to purchase a product or service seamlessly. If you force all buyers to contact sellers, they will lose a lot of money.

Imagine contacting a seller that has a 5-hour response time, that already eats into the delivery time or deadline.

Imagine having so many messages because everyone has to contact before he or she orders. That will be difficult to keep up with especially when you have a high selling gig.

Most of all, anything that adds to the process of ordering can put off many buyers at the purchase stage. You can liken it to the review process. Too many things were added and this caused a reduction in clients leaving reviews.

In my opinion, this should be optional. For the time being, keep tweaking your gigs to reduce the number of buyers that order without properly reading. Try and understand why and make changes. You probably can’t eliminate it completely because it is always bound to happen (even when the buyer discusses with you) but you can at least reduce it.

My 1 cent or should I say 1 Kobo 🙂

Thing is, the charges on here are ridiculously cheap. If that’s been taken care of, is it too much for a buyer to put just a sentence forward, double-checking ?

Talking about response time, I guess that’s why there are many sellers around. It’s better to wait and get thing inorder than to be hasty and miss deadline.

My thoughts though. Thanks for your contribution.

[coderloft]

Because every project has different requirement, different level of commitment, so if send a message before ordering the Gig and discuss the nature of the job, so seller can provide exactly what buyer expecting.

[twelfthhouse]

New user here. I have just placed my first order a few days ago, for a small reading worth a fiver, which was cancelled this morning by the seller without previous communication, that that part (software I guess) on her laptop was not working.
I would not see the need for communication from the buyer (in that case me) beforehand, as I had to fill in a orderform anyway and the seller did not ask to be messaged beforehand. But I was annoyed that the response came so late that she could not do it, I would not have minded at all, if an automated response had come straight away saying "sorry, due to xxxx this order cannot be fulfilled at the moment, please contact again in xx weeks. But to wait for an order and on fulfillment day being messaged that the order is cancelled is not good customer service (I have worked many years in customer service and I think online CS should be as good as in person).

For big orders or creative orders I agree, it is common sense to enquire with the seller beforehand to see if both parties are on the same wavelenght, especially if something is not straight forward, before you part with your money.

I want to become a seller in future, and I would be hyper annoyed if people kept pestering me with messages if everything is perfectly clear outlined on the gig.

[shubhamdahale]

yes i agree some buyers directly places order without discussing and in my gig of website development its really important that customers should discuss the requirements as end results will be what they expected
i’ve also written in my gig description that "before placing order discuss project "

so now customers discuss project before they place order and they are happy with work after delivery 🙂

[vira_lanka19871]

New user here. I have just placed my first order a few days ago, for a small reading worth a fiver, which was cancelled this morning by the seller without previous communication, that that part (software I guess) on her laptop was not working.

I would not see the need for communication from the buyer (in that case me) beforehand, as I had to fill in a orderform anyway and the seller did not ask to be messaged beforehand. But I was annoyed that the response came so late that she could not do it, I would not have minded at all, if an automated response had come straight away saying "sorry, due to xxxx this order cannot be fulfilled at the moment, please contact again in xx weeks. But to wait for an order and on fulfillment day being messaged that the order is cancelled is not good customer service (I have worked many years in customer service and I think online CS should be as good as in person).

For big orders or creative orders I agree, it is common sense to enquire with the seller beforehand to see if both parties are on the same wavelenght, especially if something is not straight forward, before you part with your money.

I want to become a seller in future, and I would be hyper annoyed if people kept pestering me with messages if everything is perfectly clear outlined on the gig.

Not only for big orders. BUT you must discuss prior every and any order. What if the seller cannot provide the required project within the requested time ? what if the ordered amount of budget is way below the actual project cost ? and what if the seller actually doesn’t work with the kind of project the buyer had ordered for ?

So i always suggest to ALL buyers… please discuss with the seller no matter what the project is.

[flomaestro]

On 2/10/2018 at 9:55 AM, vira_lanka19871 said:

Not only for big orders. BUT you must discuss prior every and any order. What if the seller cannot provide the required project within the requested time ? what if the ordered amount of budget is way below the actual project cost ? and what if the seller actually doesn’t work with the kind of project the buyer had ordered for ?

So i always suggest to ALL buyers… please discuss with the seller no matter what the project is.

It is about the best thing a buyer can do for him/herself when ordering here on fiverr. What most don’t know is that, there are people here claiming to be sellers who are actually not. how else will a genuine seller know this people - it is by chatting them up. find out if they know what you are talking about.

On 2/10/2018 at 9:59 AM, coderloft said:

Because every project has different requirement, different level of commitment, so if send a message before ordering the Gig and discuss the nature of the job, so seller can provide exactly what buyer expecting.

I agree with your point of view

On 2/10/2018 at 10:03 AM, twelfthhouse said:

New user here. I have just placed my first order a few days ago, for a small reading worth a fiver, which was cancelled this morning by the seller without previous communication, that that part (software I guess) on her laptop was not working.

I would not see the need for communication from the buyer (in that case me) beforehand, as I had to fill in a orderform anyway and the seller did not ask to be messaged beforehand. But I was annoyed that the response came so late that she could not do it, I would not have minded at all, if an automated response had come straight away saying "sorry, due to xxxx this order cannot be fulfilled at the moment, please contact again in xx weeks. But to wait for an order and on fulfillment day being messaged that the order is cancelled is not good customer service (I have worked many years in customer service and I think online CS should be as good as in person).

For big orders or creative orders I agree, it is common sense to enquire with the seller beforehand to see if both parties are on the same wavelenght, especially if something is not straight forward, before you part with your money.

I want to become a seller in future, and I would be hyper annoyed if people kept pestering me with messages if everything is perfectly clear outlined on the gig.

I agree with you. But here is the issue. Some gig descriptions are super clear as to what the seller is offering. Yet, you see some buyers place order, then ask you to add something you didnt mention in your order. When you remind them that will cost extra because it is not in the description of what you offer for that package, they come up with …“sorry, i have to cancel because the work is incomplete without it”

Meanwhile, if the said buyer had contacted the buyer to discuss what s/he wanted, that could have been averted so quickly.

[anjaleelive1]

It’s better if fiverr can consider about this completion rate thing… We can’t cancel orders because of this…have to work on the project anyway.I’m fed up with this… We can control everything without this… 😦 I wish if buyers can send a message before ordering…

[flomaestro]

It’s better if fiverr can consider about this completion rate thing… We can’t cancel orders because of this…have to work on the project anyway.I’m fed up with this… We can control everything without this… 😦 I wish if buyers can send a message before ordering…

I honestly do think more can be done by fiverr in the aspect of completion rate or order cancellation rate.

Sometimes, it is totally beyond the control of the seller. Yet, S/he suffers it when order gets cancelled for no fault of hers.

Something can be done…should be done.

[anjaleelive1]

I honestly do think more can be done by fiverr in the aspect of completion rate or order cancellation rate.

Sometimes, it is totally beyond the control of the seller. Yet, S/he suffers it when order gets cancelled for no fault of hers.

Something can be done…should be done.

Hmmmmmmm… True

[vira_lanka19871]

It’s better if fiverr can consider about this completion rate thing… We can’t cancel orders because of this…have to work on the project anyway.I’m fed up with this… We can control everything without this… 😦 I wish if buyers can send a message before ordering…

See, this is one of my main points. It may be a 500$ gig a buyer has ordered without discussing anything. but what if we really cant do it ( because of any possible reason) ?

[twelfthhouse]

I agree with you. But here is the issue. Some gig descriptions are super clear as to what the seller is offering. Yet, you see some buyers place order, then ask you to add something you didnt mention in your order. When you remind them that will cost extra because it is not in the description of what you offer for that package, they come up with …“sorry, i have to cancel because the work is incomplete without it”

Meanwhile, if the said buyer had contacted the buyer to discuss what s/he wanted, that could have been averted so quickly.

Yes, flomaestro, I agree. The point here is responsibility. I guess you can not expect that everyone, buyer or seller, has enough common sense and takes responsiblity for their actions (working in school I see that every single day). I have taken in school to make my expectations hyper-hyper clear including to ASK if somnething is not clear.

So maybe every seller who wants to be messaged should have a comment stating that on their gig. Then there can’t be any discussion.

I for exampled placed my second little order this morning which is due in 5 days and got a few hours later an acknowledgement email from the seller, also noting if any changes or extras are wanted to contact beforehand.

I was very impressed with her clear communication.

If just everyone would behave like that…

[ollydave]

Thing is, the charges on here are ridiculously cheap. If that’s been taken care of, is it too much for a buyer to put just a sentence forward, double-checking ?

Talking about response time, I guess that’s why there are many sellers around. It’s better to wait and get thing inorder than to be hasty and miss deadline.

My thoughts though.

Thanks for your contribution.

I worked in a usability testing company for more than 2 years and learnt that you can’t control people’s actions, you can only try to direct them or help them to make a certain decision. Anything that is stressful or requires an additional step puts a lot of people off. I am not trying to justify those actions but simply stating the reality.

Like I said, hopefully, it is optional.

[queenj123]

Please contact sellers before placing an order and ask questions (hopefully you will receive an honest answer). I’m pretty much done with Fiverr. I ordered a few marketing videos that I can’t even use on Facebook. It seems like sellers can set up shop and just sell whatever they want without doing research or having knowledge on the product or service they are offering. I’ve wasted a lot of money only to end up with products I can’t use or are low quality. And these sellers are Top Rated!

[flomaestro]

On 2/12/2018 at 6:48 AM, vira_lanka19871 said:

See, this is one of my main points. It may be a 500$ gig a buyer has ordered without discussing anything. but what if we really cant do it ( because of any possible reason) ?

Good question right here…

On 2/12/2018 at 6:50 AM, queenj123 said:

Please contact sellers before placing an order and ask questions (hopefully you will receive an honest answer). I’m pretty much done with Fiverr. I ordered a few marketing videos that I can’t even use on Facebook. It seems like sellers can set up shop and just sell whatever they want without doing research or having knowledge on the product or service they are offering. I’ve wasted a lot of money only to end up with products I can’t use or are low quality. And these sellers are Top Rated!

So sorry about your experiences on fiverr. There are real professionals on here though.

On 2/12/2018 at 6:51 AM, ollydave said:

I worked in a usability testing company for more than 2 years and learnt that you can’t control people’s actions, you can only try to direct them or help them to make a certain decision. Anything that is stressful or requires an additional step puts a lot of people off. I am not trying to justify those actions but simply stating the reality.

Like I said, hopefully, it is optional.

You are right my friend…very right

[ollydave]

Please contact sellers before placing an order and ask questions (hopefully you will receive an honest answer). I’m pretty much done with Fiverr. I ordered a few marketing videos that I can’t even use on Facebook. It seems like sellers can set up shop and just sell whatever they want without doing research or having knowledge on the product or service they are offering. I’ve wasted a lot of money only to end up with products I can’t use or are low quality. And these sellers are Top Rated!

Apologies for this. There are a lot of professionals on Fiverr but sometimes it takes a bit of research. I understand how frustrating it is and hope you will give it another shot.

I think one major problem with the video category is, some buyers do not know the difference between sellers that produce videos with templates and the ones that create custom videos.

You are limited to the templates in your library, but with a custom video, you have a limitless possibility.

[saleheen1]

Agreed. Buyers MUST Contact Seller before ordering. I always mention that in my gig though. But most buyers don’t read gig completely.

[mitch_cman]

One of the main things that came out of this discussion is that there needs to be a fiverr function where an order can be cancelled on mutual agreement without any penalty for seller or buyer.

Sellers are living in fear of having to cancel those $5 orders which are incorrectly made or ‘on a whim’.

It’s not healthy to work like this and it doesn’t contribute to a positive working environment on this platform. Does anyone know why it still works like this?

[cagricilara]

Sellers also offer custom works such as video editing, photo retouching, character animation, some designing work etc. Unfortunatelly there is not a category for custom works yet. It will be better to show gig if it is a custom work without curtent price and delivery time (maybe avarege price and time)

[flomaestro]

On 3/22/2018 at 5:59 AM, mitch_cman said:

One of the main things that came out of this discussion is that there needs to be a fiverr function where an order can be cancelled on mutual agreement without any penalty for seller or buyer. Sellers are living in fear of having to cancel those $5 orders which are incorrectly made or ‘on a whim’. It’s not healthy to work like this and it doesn’t contribute to a positive working environment on this platform. Does anyone know why it still works like this?

You have just made an amazing summary of this thread. TBH, I do not know why the system is like that.

On 3/22/2018 at 6:00 AM, cagricilara said:

Sellers also offer custom works such as video editing, photo retouching, character animation, some designing work etc. Unfortunatelly there is not a category for custom works yet. It will be better to show gig if it is a custom work without curtent price and delivery time (maybe avarege price and time)

I absolutely agree with your view

[pucil03]

i have silent buyer… placed order without say anything…
so i did by suggestion…
after i deliver order…my lucky…he liked my job.
just lucky…
if all buyer like this i’ll be confused…

solution:
SELLER: make your gig description clear.
BUYER : Read carefully

[fastcopywriter]

I keep seeing this demand, “contact seller before ordering,” but that’s not the way Fiverr was designed.

If I search, click on a gig, I see “Proceed to Order” first, then “Contact Me” under the seller’s name.

This is why you can’t expect buyers to always contact you. If Fiverr ever changes the mechanics so buyers see “Contact Me” instead of proceed to order, then you’ll get your wish.

Until then, you have to be ready to serve your clients. If you really want them to contact you first, then raise your prices to the most expensive levels and then disclose your real prices in the gig description. The only drawback with this is that seeing high prices is the search results might discourage people from clicking on your gigs.