Referring other sellers?

[lcrose]

What do you do when a buyer asks for something you don’t personally offer? For example, sometimes a buyer wants formatting done or wants an article written, but those aren’t services I provide myself. I’d love to refer them to someone who can help, rather than giving a flat “no”, but I feel a little awkward about looking up other sellers and referring them to buyers when I’ve never spoken to that seller myself.

I know it would be easy for a buyer to do the research themselves, but I still think it would be nice to point them in a more specific direction. Not sure how appropriate that is, though.

[Guest netartica]

Even though outsourcing is a good solution regarding to your descriptions. You have successfully developed your trust level with your client, I would like to suggest don’t perform the middle person role, it can reflect on your relationship and trust either way. The most dangerous part when both need justifications and you would be the only answerable to both. It would be a time consuming job to select a reliable seller, which you can apply on some productivity related to your job. It is just an opinion, I wish you will got succeed and can build a good team for your future projects.

[lcrose]

Even though outsourcing is a good solution regarding to your descriptions. You have successfully developed your trust level with your client, I would like to suggest don’t perform the middle person role, it can reflect on your relationship and trust either way. The most dangerous part when both need justifications and you would be the only answerable to both. It would be a time consuming job to select a reliable seller, which you can apply on some productivity related to your job. It is just an opinion, I wish you will got succeed and can build a good team for your future projects.

That’s very reasonable, true. Maybe it’s really best to stay out of it and simply encourage the buyers to explore Fiverr instead.

Thank you for taking the time to respond and explain! I really appreciate it. 🙂

[sue_mcl]

I often just say here are some other sellers you could try (and give them a list). I have a quick response saved for several that I get frequent requests for - ie I am a voiceover artist, so I have a quick response for writers and video people

[fastcopywriter]

Sometimes I click “switch to Buying” and search “whatever,” choose three gigs I like, even if I don’t know the sellers. I like to give buyers three price options, one low, one medium, one high.

Some may see referring as a waste of time, but I believe it builds goodwill and that buyer might either refer you to others or come back for another one of your gigs.

[catwriter]

Sometimes I refer other sellers, but only if I’ve spoken to them before and if I know for a fact that they would appreciate it.

It can be tricky, you might end up recommending someone who can’t actually do it, or won’t do it for any reason, or, the buyer could turn out to be awful (you wouldn’t like it if someone sent a problem buyer your way).

[miiila]

A good compromise between “a flat no” and the things catwriter mentioned would be something like “Unfortunately I don’t provide service xyz but you can find sellers who do in category abc (link) (and also make use of the filters on the left sidebar to narrow down your search). I’m sure you’ll find someone soon!”.
Like that, you are actively helping them but don’t risk referring to someone who’d do a bad job or sending a bad buyer to someone.

[eisdesigns]

Here’s what i would do in your case.

Hello [Name],

There’s some people in the Fiverr community that i know of who could possible help you with your request, but i do not know them very well. Based on their recommendation and reviews i think they will be a good fit for your project.

• Person 1

• Person 2

• Person 3

In some cases they will remember and come back to you when they need your services.