Question - Should I Charge More For This?

[goodgift]

Hey everyone,



I always get good advice here, so I thought I’d pose another question. 🙂



I recently received an order in which the buyer only purchased the basic $5 gig. He wanted his video to have special effects (or a background animation, which is the closest thing I have), which requires purchasing an Extra. I informed him of this, and he asked me to go ahead and make the plain video and he’d see about purchasing the Extra. (Every single time someone does this, I know they’ll end up ordering the Extra, so this is nothing new to me.)



So I made the video, which only had text with plain-color backgrounds and the book cover he sent me. He sent the order back with a modification request and asked for a font change and one other minor tweak (an extra space that isn’t really necessary). Then he said he did want the animated background option, so I informed him that he needed to order the Extra or, if it was too late to do so, to order a second gig. He wrote back (we’re in different time zones, so it takes a full day for me to get his responses) and said he would order another gig as soon as I send him the “plain” video with the requested changes.



So, basically…he would get the first video I sent him, the second video with the two minor but unnecessary tweaks, and a third video with the tweaks plus the animated background.



Does this sound…I don’t know, “off” to any of you? Like I should be charging a third gig for this? He said he wants to use the second video (which I haven’t sent him yet) on his site, so it would be put to use. And he would also be using the third video. I don’t know about the first. I’ve had a LOT of people try to bleed more out of me with this particular gig, so I’m always wary with these sorts of requests.



What do you all think? Should I charge two more gigs instead of just one?



Thanks,



Jaela

[cheezees]

I would not be surprised if after you send the modified video, he asks for a cancellation, keeping all of the work for free. He is not being reasonable. I say, cut your losses and cancel right now.



Think of it this way. The buyer wants the work without pay. He knows that there is no way to force him to pay after submission yet this is the only option he wants you to have. What do you think about this?

[goodgift]

He hasn’t tried to cancel, so I don’t think that’s going to be the case. It just seems like I’m doing extra work that I should be charging more for. I may just do this as a one-time thing and be sure to amend my policy.

[jauher]

After the modification in the current order, it shall be marked as complete. The client shall buy a new gig with extras for the animated background video.



Once I did this with a buyer and he never ordered the new gig with extras and marked the basic gig complete.

[adorablenames]

This isn’t directly relevant to your question, but it may help.



You should consider formatting the text description of your gig. One large paragraph is real difficult for anyone to clearly digest. Use those text formatting options, line breaks, make lists, etc.



Check out my gig description for an example if you’d like: http://fiverr.com/adorablenames/create-a-name-in-beautiful-fairy-letters

[goodgift]

Oh my gosh, I didn’t even realize we had the option to format the text! I’m so glad you pointed that out! We didn’t have that option for so long that I just got used to having that annoying block of text. So yeah, will definitely fix that when I have time.

[adorablenames]

Great! I can’t imagine what it was like without this. With that said, I still get buyers ingnoring my formatted text. But it does help! :)>-

[Guest dsaldridge]

I agree that you should insist that he either buy the extra, or complete the order. We in the writing business call this “inching.” If you give them an inch, they’ll take a mile. Cut it off and get your money for what you’ve done.

[goodgift]

Thanks so much, everyone. 🙂 I learned a couple of things!

[cheezees]

Reply to @jauher: FYI, there is no “marking as complete” per se. The gig either:

1. Autocompletes in 3 days or
   
2. The buyer leaves a review, which completes it immediately.