No Overbooking! Pace Yourselves!

[Guest luna_dreamer07]

Pardon me if there is an older thread that concerns this topic. My apologies.



I have a story to tell you, ladies and gentlemen. Once upon a time, there was a Fiverr seller that just barely earned her Level One badge. In her excitement, she decided to leave her Gigs open 24/7, so anyone and everyone could order from her. ‘It’ll be all right,’ she told herself. ‘No matter how many orders I get, I’ll be able to finish them all on time! Besides, some of my Gigs hardly get any traffic!’ And this was after a two day period of silence, when no one was ordering from her.



Lo and behold, shortly after she received her Level One badge, she was hit with a pile-up at her intersection. She was slammed with orders and worked feverishly to get through them. ‘I feel like I’ve been on the Iron Woman Marathon,’ she told herself all week. And now she has two late orders she won’t be able to complete until next week. Her buyers are (currently) all right with her late status, having told her ‘don’t worry about it, as long as you deliver we’re cool’, and for that she considers herself lucky. But even if one of them cancels, she’ll chalk it up to a learning experience.



I am that seller. I mismanaged my Gigs, made the mistake of throwing open the doors, believing nothing would happen and my Fiverr was hit with a flood. Now I’m under two late deliveries, after feeling like I’ve done nothing but run twenty laps every day, for the last week. So kids, don’t end up like me. Especially if you’re not the type of Fiverr seller than can churn out 10+ orders in a week, without feeling burned out, like me. Please make sure you allow yourself not only enough time to complete your Gigs, but enough time for family responsibilities/stomachaches/vet appointments/etc to happen. Life happens. Please give yourselves ample cushion, to compensate for anything that might happen. Because just when you think no one’s paying attention, ‘oh, no one’s going to order from me’, you may very well log on and see you’ve been hit with 10 Gigs you’ve got to complete in inadequate time.



I have a customer that put in an order of 4, thanks to Gig Extras. I thought to myself: ‘oh no, I’m gonna need more time’, so I upped my time limit by three days. Unfortunately for me, the time limit remained in its original state. So before you’re hit with too many orders, give yourself that cushion. Because once a buyer puts in 4+ orders, your countdown remains the same. If you’re a Level One Seller, with one of your Gigs at a time limit of 2 days, and your buyer puts in an order of 4 of those Gigs, you’re only going to have 2 days for those 4 orders. So up your time limit by 2-3 days before anything like that happens.



If you’re going to be late, don’t beat yourself with a bat. Stuff happens. It’s happening to me. We Sellers aren’t perfect machines. Communicate with your buyers. Let them know ‘hey, I know I said I would be done in 2 days, but my dog has to go to the doctor so I’ll be busy tomorrow’. If you can get a Gig done in 2 days, up that time limit to 4 days. If you end up swamped with Fiverr Gigs and/or outside responsibilities, use the Vacation button. I put myself on a two week vacation. 🙂 You can always turn it off if you feel free enough to return to the Fiverr world.



Hope you enjoyed my story. And once again; if there is a thread that currently deals with a similar topic, my apologies.

[Guest luna_dreamer07]

Hello @madmoo. 🙂 I’ve asked my 2 buyers twice if they’d rather cancel than wait. I know there’s a stigma associated with cancellations, especially since they end up on your profile, but in this case I’d gladly accept them and chalk this up as entirely my fault. It’s not their fault I mismanaged. 🙂 Live and learn. But as of right now, both buyers accept that their late orders will be delivered no later than next Wednesday.



Even if one suddenly changes their mind and cancels for whatever reason, I’ll take the hit and learn from it.



And sadly, not every Buyer goes ‘don’t worry about it, deliver ASAP’ when a Seller runs late. The stories I’ve seen about Sellers being bashed by Buyers are monstrous. I’m all for a Buyer cancelling if they order Express and the Seller’s late, but with regular speed Gigs, things can happen.



Ah. Hopefully I’ll be able to help at least ONE person. And thank you for reading!

[doomdidoom]

Hmm I think I better suspend my gig for the meantime 😉 Feeling the pressure already!

[marybmchugh]

Thanks for this post! I’m a newbie working towards my level one badge and I’m lucky enough to have buyers. The only problem is that there are a few too many some days for me to keep up with and still chase my two-year old around. So, my question is, how does suspending a gig affect the gigs that have already been purchased? And what’s the difference between suspending your gigs and setting your profile on vacation?

I’m just learning how to navigate all this stuff, so any info is truly appreciated!