Fiverr Needs To Better Protect Buyers From Seller Scams

[tomsshop]

WOW I do this but it’s because my buyers needed more done then what my gig listed which I don’t mind or like yesterday my buyers server died and he is new don’t know this and that so I was going late did the empty thingy and still working with him. How can anyone rip anyone off is beyond me, I couldn’t sleep at night knowing I did something like that! 😦

[tomsshop]

Reply to @nickih: Wow never thought about it like that! Will prolly change the way I am doing now after reading this. Thanks a Million.

[lharrison98034]

Reply to @voiceoverwork:

voiceoverwork said: How long can you let a late order go?

Good Question!

Hope one of the seasoned Sellers can provide some insight, although I am led to believe "empty delivery" with communication/explanation to buyer is the workaround for extending deadline.

Although I don't like the use of "Empty Delivering" to extend deadlines, because that's not what it was intended to be used for.

[nickih]

Reply to @voiceoverwork: Good question. When working on some particularly large projects, I got kind of worried about the late status and contacted customer support for clarification. Both the buyer and I had a mutual understanding that since the project was much larger than a typical gig, the order would have to be delivered later than what my gig page stated. However, at the time, I didn’t know if the Fiverr system would automatically cancel a late order after a certain time or if late deliveries count against sellers.



It can’t hurt to contact CS yourself if you have specific questions, but what I was told was that sellers are not penalized in any way for late deliveries (as long as the delivery is of good quality and the buyer isn’t upset - which they shouldn’t be if you’ve communicated properly), and late orders are not automatically canceled after any amount of time.



I hope that helps!

[nickih]

Reply to @tomsshop: I’m glad I could help! I’m not saying that empty deliveries are totally bad or wrong all the time; if that’s what the buyer prefers or if you and the buyer have discussed and agreed on the issue of delivering empty, go right ahead. But I would just prefer to deliver late after communicating with the buyer. It seems like that’s the safer route as long as you know and feel comfortable that the buyer won’t force cancel the late order, leaving you with the negative feedback of “seller failed to deliver on time.” However, that shouldn’t be an issue as long as you both communicate and are on the same page.

[kite_rider]

Good thread, one which I should have read earlier on. On my very first logo gig (as a buyer) I was given a ton of excuses for the first 14 days. Waiting till after the holidays, waiting till after new years and then ‘I’m sick and in the hospital’ - but always with - I’ll get right on it, but please be patient. When I suggested that we just cancel the gig instead I’ve had a bunch of push back.



Anyway, after 27 days with no results; I’m finally leaving negative feedback and will be much more reluctant to grant the favor of waiting that some sellers request.

[lharrison98034]

@kite_rider Don’t beat yourself up and there is always a learning process. Folks here have been very eager to answer question and help hold our hands. If you still looking for a logo, hit me up in PM and I will point you to the 2 logo people I use on a regular basis

[revisalife]

I’ve had 3 SELLERS DELIVER EMPTY this week! It’s EVEN WORSE of a SCAM. They wait until the Average Delivery time is all the way up, then they mark it as “Delivered”.



I get all excited, LOG IN, and the seller has sent me a message that says “please cancel”. I ask WHY? No answer. No response. Nothing. It’s been three days since the EMPTY “delivery date”, but I have no refund, no response. I sent messages to the Resolution center, but so far, NOTHING. This is a Scam. We need better protection. Some sellers are delivering Short of what they promised.



Another thing they do is try to push you to leave feedback before delivery. One guy got all mad after I pad $30 and snatched the design off my site because I asked for 1 revision! I had to BEG for my work back and he wouldn’t even adjust it to properly fit my website. All because I pressed “Request Modification”. He says I Rejected his design. It’s getting Out of Control.



Sheriff’s Note: Please blur out other user’s names before posting a print screen attachment. Calling out other users is not allowed.

[aingham69]

nickih said: I'm not saying that empty deliveries are totally bad or wrong all the time; if that's what the buyer prefers or if you and the buyer have discussed and agreed on the issue of delivering empty, go right ahead.

 

I think that is the most important part...empty deliveries aren't totally bad if the seller and the buyer discuss and agree. That's the only time I've done it, but only after building up the trust.

 

I've had a few say "delivery whatever you have by the deadline and the rest afterwards" when they've ordered a really large project. I've not always taken them up on the offer. It all depends on the relationship I have with them and the communication we've had beforehand.

 

I don't really like gigs going late though. There's always the chance that the buyer will cancel despite the agreement, and then Customer Support don't always do anything. I've read of that happening on the forum a few times.

[nickih]

aingham69 said: I don't really like gigs going late though. There's always the chance that the buyer will cancel despite the agreement, and then Customer Support don't always do anything. I've read of that happening on the forum a few times.

 

That's very true as well. Even though I prefer to deliver late after discussing the issue with the buyer rather than delivering empty, I always feel a little nervous seeing that "LATE" status on the order page even though the buyer and I have communicated and are on the same page about the size of their project and expected deliver time. Even then, they could simply change their mind about the entire project and cancel.

 

I haven't had that happen to me yet, though, and hopefully it doesn't. But I guess whether you deliver empty or late, you're taking a chance either way.

[deeve007]

Reply to @matt_garry: Then don’t mark as complete, really simple. I’ve talked with Fiverr support after issues with a seller, and you can leave the gig as uncompleted as long as you need, just communicate with the buyer to make them aware, and then mark as complete when you actually have completed.

[aingham69]

nickih said: I haven't had that happen to me yet, though, and hopefully it doesn't. But I guess whether you deliver empty or late, you're taking a chance either way.

 

Glad to hear it's not. But you're right--there is a chance either way.

 

If a buyer doesn't agree with it, I will work my butt off to do something within the stated time frame--I do try to do that anyway. The only ones that I do deliver empty are those that have agreed to it and trust me. At the moment there's just the one buyer I do every week with because we've built up that trust (we've been working together since May 2013 and came to an agreement from the beginning that both of us have stuck to or communicated about if there is a problem.

[Guest article_real]

Sellers should avoid doing this. communication is the answer. let your buyer know your intention,surely he will understand why you are delivering late.

[seodummy]

I think if you scam anyone, it is only a matter of time before you get what Is coming to you. I always deliver Intro videos ordered from me on time and to my customers specifications. Customer service is King and it’s better to over deliver where possible. I want my customers to keep coming back for more.

[lharrison98034]

Everyday I learn something new about being a buyer and the overall relationship between buyers and sellers on Fiverr. I agree with @bachas85

bachas85 said: Sellers should always (or almost always) deliver before deadline. Unforeseen situations are understandable when orders go late, but that should be 1 in a "million".

[deeve007]

Reply to @matt_garry: Then don’t mark as complete, really simple. I’ve talked with Fiverr support after issues with a seller, and you can leave the gig as uncompleted as long as you need, just communicate with the buyer to make them aware, and then mark as complete when you actually have completed.

[deeve007]

This idea that scam sellers will eventually be found out, I’d truly like to know how? I’ve been in touch with Fiverr support about a couple of gigs/sellers, who were basically lying in their gig descriptions about what they were delivering. Weeks after Fiverr said they “would look into it” (once, the second time simply not response from support at all) and the gigs are still active, still with the same misleading description, still with buyers not technically aware of what they aren’t really being delivered purchasing the gigs.



So, when a seller can simply offer a refund and then a buyer cannot leave negative feedback, and Fiverr support having no interest in addressing the issue, how exactly would buyers be aware of this kind of seller?

[cheezees]

Reply to @deeve007: I’m primarily a seller but sometimes I buy as well. One particular seller tried to scam me, offered a refund quickly so I couldn’t protest, lied in the cancellation messages, etc. I promptly reported them to customer support. It took a few weeks but their account has been removed!

[deeve007]

Reply to @cheezees: Wow, you got some good service, I’ll be watching the two gigs I mentioned with hope but no expectations. After doing a bit of Googling the issues with Fiverr in this area are quite common it would seem. Which is not good for the good sellers, since if Fiverr’s reputation falls then that will cost you guys too.

[voiceoverwork]

nickih said:

I let the order run late instead of delivering empty and just deliver the late order when I've finished

voiceoverwork said:

How long can you let a late order go?

I posed this question to CS and here's what I was told...

 

"Thank you for contacting us about this. If your Buyer is ok with you being late on delivering, you have no limit on when you have to deliver. However, once you're late, your Buyer will have an option to cancel the order but if they don't mind waiting, you should have no such issues. Let us know if you need more help."

[nickih]

Reply to @voiceoverwork: Yes, that’s the way I understood it to work as well. Even if you deliver late after communicating with the buyer, you’re still running the risk of your buyer being able to cancel the late order if they change their mind for some reason. However, I haven’t had that happen to me yet, and hopefully it doesn’t!

[sunsetchick]

Yes, this just happened to me - usa writer - did the exact scam.

Honestly, I don’t think I can trust Fiver any longer because it offers no option to make the author fix it or refund money.

I asked for an ABout Me page for my website and got weird article about nothing.

None of the facts or information were included.

Was this person drunk when they wrote this crap.

Plus I do not see a way to rate the transaction.

[jais5678]

So sorry to hear this is occurring! Please know that there are many Fiverr sellers who deliver with integrity.



Please let me know if I can assist with any of your writing needs–all the orders I deliver are real.

[dmreeves]

Hello, I am fairly new to fiverr and I joined the program for certain services that are being offered. I have made three orders so far and two of the orders were super fast. In return I gave the a super fast and great review for the service they gave to me. Some of us have secretaries that normally do our work and when we get into a jam we send out our work. That is what I do with the gigs at fiverr. Right now I have an important gig that I hired out someone here at fiverr to do and they are late. The biggest problem with being late is that we could have had our own people do the work if it was going to be late. Sometimes we hire gigs because of time restraints for ourselves and a late project would not work for us. I always email the seller before I order a gig to make certain that they understand my need and time restraints for the project. Like I said, one of my orders is late and now I really do not need the project any longer. When I was approaching the time limit I hired another to do the job and it was done within the hour. I expect to get what I pay for and at a time I can bank on, otherwise why hire anyone to do the job?

[gigpen]

Why is that a buyer can give you a thumbs up vote, uses your articles and a year later he changes to rating to thumbs down and the articles are already online un-edited. Could this be a bug or a malicious way of destroying your career on Fiverr. How can one change the neagtive ratings or block the buyer? How can a buyer change over 150 positive ratings from 99% to 67%? Anyone out there to help me?