The power of saying, "NO!"

[neromare]

Yes it is. It’s about knowing your boundaries.

For me it was about remembering my price, and not forgetting that we’re all unique, including me, you, and everyone. Everyone deserves to get their price respected. I’m speaking about price because 99% of the times I said “no” was because someone was low-balling me hard.

[apettit19]

I am new to Fiverr but what I have found that works for me is I ask a lot of questions when approached about what someone needs. I’m an instructional designer and have over 20 years of experience in the field and by asking questions I can determine if the buyer is a good fit for what I have to offer. People walk away and I am totally OK with that. Now, I get what I do is not the same as what others here do. I cannot always give a blanket statement on course design and development. I can educate and I do. In addition to saying know, I say be selective who you choose to work with. And yeah I get it you need the green stuff but working with someone and the relationship is a joy suck is just a big bucket of no fun. Show your professionalism by figuring out how you can help and if you can help. Sometimes I am not the right talent and I have no problem telling someone the kind of talent they need to help them. Just my 2 cents.

[facefactory]

Thank you for this!!!

[mdmoon665]

thanks a lot brother

[videoschoice]

Thanks for the tips!

[arthur_dsgn]

A custom free sample… I like it… Who and why you would work for free? Advices are great, but what about the ratings, when costumer satisfaction comes first?

[creativesidea]

Great!! Thank you so much for the tips!

[shaork]

"So, you say “HECK NO!” and then end up with a cancellation or bad review… "
@gina_riley2 That’s why it is important to have your buyers contact you before them order. Thanks for the post Gina.
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“Part of the solution is not selling gigs for $5 if possible. Even increasing a price to $10 may help head off this kind of buyer…”
"I changed my price for the extra from $5 for 100 words to $10 for up to 200. The abusive buyer stopped requesting script writing… "
@misscrystal @voiceoverphil THAT is correct ! Sometimes the buyers just want you to do more and pay less, raising the price is the easiest way to get rid of them.
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"Sometimes they cancel the gig saying the client is not happy… "
@zarawalker Simply put them in your blacklist and never take orders from them?

[oliviercharlas]

I’m also new to Fiverr and just finished my first couple jobs. The very first one I got was a voiceover, which the customer requested for for $5 and I agreed, even though it was 50 words over the 100 word limit and should have been an uncharge. But it was my first job and I wanted to get going…

I delivered the work on time, and the customer loved it and left a 5 star review. Cool.

Now, a day after, the customer sent me a message saying the client (apparently some third party) would like to have the voiceover in a more energetic tone, which would require me to do the entire thing from scratch. Technically I offer a single revision on the job, which they did not use. Since they already closed out the job, am I under any obligation to do this for them? And more importantly, is it the right thing to do to do it over? I feel like for $5 they could have just started a new job…Just looking for some opinions on what I should do. Thanks!

[heshan7]

I’m also new to Fiverr and just finished my first couple jobs. The very first one I got was a voiceover, which the customer requested for for $5 and I agreed, even though it was 50 words over the 100 word limit and should have been an uncharge. But it was my first job and I wanted to get going…

I delivered the work on time, and the customer loved it and left a 5 star review. Cool.

Now, a day after, the customer sent me a message saying the client (apparently some third party) would like to have the voiceover in a more energetic tone, which would require me to do the entire thing from scratch. Technically I offer a single revision on the job, which they did not use. Since they already closed out the job, am I under any obligation to do this for them? And more importantly, is it the right thing to do to do it over? I feel like for $5 they could have just started a new job…Just looking for some opinions on what I should do. Thanks!

Be patient, when we are dealing with clients. Hope you understand.

[shaork]

Be patient, when we are dealing with clients. Hope you understand.

@oliviercharlas You can either raise your price or have the guts to say no. But I suggest you raise your price after finishing this one nice and politely. After all a 3-or-less star comment is bad for starters.

@heshan7 Sometimes you don’t have to be patient to some that don’t deserve it. For instances, ones who spoil / exploit / abuse / violate the rules or starters. I’ll patiently close the deal and to avoid those buyers next time, you?

[oliviercharlas]

Thanks for the advice shaork. I did wind up doing the work again and sent a nice message explaining that this is not something I would ordinarily do and was looking forward to their repeat business.

As far as raising my prices, I really am just starting out on fiverr AND in this particular field (I’ve been a musician my whole life but am brand new to voiceover work), so I thought it would be a good idea to try and build up my client list for a little and raise my prices when my profile warrants it. Honestly for my pricing I just copied a featured profile I saw doing voiceovers for $5…with over 10k 5 star reviews! I figure why would anyone use me over him if I’m double the price ha.

The thing about this job that confused me was that it was technically over - thumbs up given, payment in process, and 5-star review received. Side question: Once the buyer has left a review, can they go back and leave another one?

Thanks again!

[guilarteluis]

that’s true. If you do not like the proposal that the buyer is indicating or if you did your job well, with all the specifics and conditions that you promote. You have all the right to say NO to the things you do not like and you have problems and mental health.

[codedmode]

Nice one… I reported a buyer who was trying to be mischievous and he later calmed down before the issue got resolved.

[heshan7]

@oliviercharlas You can either raise your price or have the guts to say no. But I suggest you raise your price after finishing this one nice and politely. After all a 3-or-less star comment is bad for starters.

@heshan7 Sometimes you don’t have to be patient to some that don’t deserve it. For instances, ones who spoil / exploit / abuse / violate the rules or starters. I’ll patiently close the deal and to avoid those buyers next time, you?

Thats true, We dont want to argue but need to have patient as you said.

[shaork]

Thanks for the advice shaork. I did wind up doing the work again and sent a nice message explaining that this is not something I would ordinarily do and was looking forward to their repeat business.

As far as raising my prices, I really am just starting out on fiverr AND in this particular field (I’ve been a musician my whole life but am brand new to voiceover work), so I thought it would be a good idea to try and build up my client list for a little and raise my prices when my profile warrants it. Honestly for my pricing I just copied a featured profile I saw doing voiceovers for $5…with over 10k 5 star reviews! I figure why would anyone use me over him if I’m double the price ha.

The thing about this job that confused me was that it was technically over - thumbs up given, payment in process, and 5-star review received. Side question: Once the buyer has left a review, can they go back and leave another one?

Thanks again!

Yes, you are right, being nice and polite.

First of all, it’s not our obligation to educate customers. If some are indeed bad buyers— they won’t change whatsoever. Simply get the job done and nicely say goodbye, and make sure we won’t take their orders again.

We are doing great if buyers keep giving us 5-star reviews, which means, even if we are new to some fields, we are already qualified by satisfied buyers. Not all really care if we are born to be in certain fields, people do care, however, is our expertise and customer service. In a nutshell, we can raise our price whenever we want— as long as we don’t make a living for it.

And we don’t have to compete with those who offer $5. If we imagine Fiverr as an eco-system, we’ll figure out those who survive all play unique roles of their own… those who sell $5, those who upsell, those who promote from outside the system… So I think your priority might be just be you but not anyone else and find your own unique role in the Fiverr eco-system.

As for the 10K $5 sellers you mentioned. Well, some fiverrs do enjoy Fiverr a lot. They sell $5 gigs for the reasons that $5 is enough to live 1 day in their countries, they are doing this for fun, they simply don’t do this for living… We don’t care as long as they enjoy it. But some people like me, won’t aim for selling $5 for 10K cos personally, we think it is selling time, or as some said, selling precious life— unless by doing so, you attain utility, either mentally or physically.

So my advice will be, figure out the kind of seller you want to be then find someone of a kind as your role model and stick to it the best you can. Good luck @oliviercharlas 😉

[mariajm133]

I have came up with this matter really often. There are many intermediaries order my Logo designing gig. They request revisions again and again as the end customer is someone who is not in Fiverr. So it takes days to get revision request and ultimately I do lots of work for $5.

Sometimes they cancel the gig saying the client is not happy. It’s really hard to do business with intermediaries. Even I get so many threatening messages to do revisions for free otherwise I’ll end up with a negative review. Getting a negative review can be dangerous as hell especially for the people who do Graphics/Logo designing because the competition is really high in this sector.

I’ve been with Fiverr for almost 5 years and had no luck so far to be a TRS. This is the main reason I can’t say NO to those scammers!

That sounds like a nightmare! Is it possible to find out first if they are an intermediaries beforehand?

[firstseoexpert]

wow!! This is a good post…

[wdskemran]

Thanks for sharing your inportent post.

[melanielm]

This is an exceptionally old original post, but it still pertains to business, I think. In fact, I got to say “No” to a buyer just this morning. He suggested I accept his order at a 98% discount off my usual prices.

Value your work, guys!

[sajudesigner21]

no means no … no no no no no. yes 😁

[riyad0097]

thanks a lot…😃

[stmukta]

Very helpful post THANKS! Keep posting such motivational tips for new sellers

[frontendbd]

Very important article and it helped me a lot.

Thank you Gina

[creativesidea]

Sometimes the no didn’t works but thanks for sharing the information.