Seriously irritated with buyers not following instructions

[soudaniet]

just as the title suggests, a buyer orders a video gig and the requirements clearly states for example (logo + 4 pictures) couldn’t be clearer and yet some buyers just throw on 2 pictures and let you deal with half details, some of them never answer messages of you asking them to provide the rest of the details and the order gets cancelled eventually and some others suggest that you “pick” something for them which is not a part of the deal but you try to help and do your researches and provide what’s missing and then the order gets “rejected” and the buyer now wants change…

I mean wow! I sound irritated, don’t I? it’s because i really am, this has been going on for WEEKS!



Does this happen to every seller or is it like something exclusively for me? any tips? it would be much appreciated.



Thanks!

[soudaniet]

Reply to @madmoo:

Yes that’s the thing, after every little thing that goes wrong i kind of blame myself thinking that i may have not been clear enough and left things to the guessing, but i’ve changed the instructions like a million times, but it seems they just don’t read, that’s the problem, i’ve been a buyer for a year before i started selling and i never imagined myself making an order without the full requirements, as a matter of fact i often messaged sellers beforehand to make sure i get everything they need before I place my order…

[voiceoverwork]

My instructions begin with…

"Please follow these instructions, even if we had a prior discussion about your project."



I still get orders that say…

“All set. You know what to do.”

"Sent you everything a week ago."



And my favorite…

“I don’t see any reason to follow these instructions. We already had a discussion about my project.”

[vannamber1]

I dont understand the point of the section that says buyers instructions… I even took the time out to write in all caps for them to message me first before they order. Yet someone manages to order and then expect perfect results on time. Im concerned because the buyer could give me bad feedback or they could refuse to pay because I didnt deliver good results. Im aggravated that fiverr does not do anything about it either.

[hellocharlie]

Fiverr actually doesn’t care about sellers. The system has been made to please a buyer, not seller. I am a level 2 seller and I’m thinking to quit fiverr, this is not just enough money for problems that buyers made.

[soudaniet]

Reply to @vannamber1: I don’t think Fiverr can do anything about this any way, they can’t just follow every gig and every order, would be insensitive for us to ask that, but an option to reject an incomplete order would be very welcome, or they could add like an option where a seller confirms he got all the details, because for now a buyer can make an order and go like “hello” and that can be taken as requirements submission and boom, it’s an active order that you have to deal with and the time is ticking.

[jason_777]

I just had my first bad experience with a buyer. This buyer wanted 2 pictures. They were to be slightly better than a stick man picture, but not cartoonish. I sent him two free sketches of various things that he mentioned in differing variations of quality. He told me the first most simplest drawing was what he was looking for. So I sent him the first two drawings to complete the 2 gigs, and he says that he was supposed to get 4 drawings. He then tells me my first gig drawing is not professional quality. I’m thinking, okay… you wanted slightly better than stick man quality, but now it’s not professional enough… I told him I would redo the parts of the drawing he complained about, and I made the character more realistic. He then states that he still needs the other two drawings. So i’m thinking this guy is satisfied so I created the other two drawings (4 total now) and I make sure they are very nice and in practically comic book quality.



So at this point he asked for 2 drawings that were basically stick drawings, and now he wants 4 semi-realistic, but he had only purchased 2 gigs. I told him if he wanted to buy two more gigs that was fine, but if he didn’t that was OKAY TOO. He then replies back and says all the drawings are bad quality and wants to cancel both gigs, and he hopes that I am not weary of him! I reply back saying that he got way more then he originally wanted, but he waits until he gets all four drawings and now he wants to cancel? He then replied back saying not to contact him again and something about reclaiming. I have no idea what he meant.



All of his messages to me were in very broken English. I don’t think he had the necessary English skills to explain to me what he wanted. If that is not the case, then he basically got exactly what he wanted and just ripped me off. I can’t seem to find some type of support area of Fiverr to discuss this with an admin. I spent at least 3 hours doing 4 gigs for the price of 2 gigs. I’m not happy about it, and I don’t see how I can prevent this from happening in the future. Especially with art work gigs, how can you stop a buyers from ruining your reputation when art work is subject to a persons taste. This buyer had a certain picture in his head, and although he didn’t get that exact picture he did get what he asked for. He actually got a total of 6 sketches for the price of 2, and then cancelled. SO HE GOT IT ALL FOR FREE…



My main concern is that I wanted to get to Level 1. I have already completed the 10 gigs needed, and I just need to finish my 30 days out without any issues. I haven’t cancelled any buyers gig requests. I’m not sure if I will be penalized over this. I used the resolution center, and it allowed a mutual cancellation. I went ahead and accepted it for both gigs. Does anyone know if this going is to cause me to further delay achieving Level 1 status?

[dynamation]

What I learned so far, only a few weeks in, is to clearly explain everything, what you will do what you won’t do, and for what price.

If a buyer asks for extras, refer back to these instructions, and gently say no, or tell them how much it will cost.

If you are not sure about the buyers intentions, you can say ‘lets finish what you originally bought and we’ll look at adding extras afterwards.’ If they pay up, then you can continue with less risk.



Bottom Line:

You need to stand up for yourself after you have clearly defined the rules.



http://fiverr.com/dynamation

[ryuken]

What madmoo said above. Happens to all of us. Many buyers just order and expect us to pick the rest. For 5$ they expect us to move mountains and honor them as we are the one working on low cost and we need to adjust. Such treatment does make many of us irritate to the core. Just do your best as much as you can, money does add up in the end, so such hassle can be ignored with practice. lol atleast I am learning to do that 😃

[champto12]

Hi! I’m kind of in the same boat; got a request modification this morning. I’m gonna mutually cancel today because a buyer basically wants me to redo an entire drawing. I guess it wasn’t realistic enough for him, even if my description says “semi-realism” “portrait” and they ordered a full body with a animal in a complex background. Let’s not even mention they were unclear with what they exactly wanted. I know the scope of my abilities and its okay to tell them that this goes outside of my comfort zone, so I will unable to do this for you.

Here’s an option I just thought of, why not put a watermark over the delivered work; and when they say yay, Iove it and review blah blah blah; then inbox them the un-watermarked version as an attachment. I’m gonna start doing that from now on.



Some orders just require a mutual cancellation; It’s not worth it if you lose hours or another day on a drawing you spent the previous day on- 2 days lost on 5 bucks??..not good business. Especially if you have other orders in queue. And chances are if your other customers love your work, they WILL be back. Art has many different styles and whatnot so for the guy to call your style unprofessional-he can kick rocks, because requesting work that is not part of the gig details is unprofessional.



Wish you the best in you endeavors and hope you have better gig experiences in the future.

[emasonwrites]

Reply to @champto12: On the other hand, it sucks to loose those five (four) bucks because someone else can’t read the directions. I’m not saying you should ever let a buyer bully you, but, especially if you really do deliver exactly what the gig says you will, you deserve payment for the time spent on that order. You shouldn’t not get paid because the buyer couldn’t be bothered to read the instructions.