How To Handle "Cunning Buyers" and Win Them Over

[Guest jennifer_cork]

I have had to deal with all sorts of buyers at Fiverr; the good, the bad and the ugly. The most annoying and frustrating of them all are the cunning ones; and I have come in touch with them. I now know how to handle them and I am offering some tips that I hope will help.



I had a buyer that asked me to send him some links with high PR. He wanted to buy the gig but demanded a sample link. I sent him the link and that was the end I heard from him. If he does it to 10 sellers; he will get away with 10 FREE linkages.



Another demanded for a sample ebook which i did; and till date I have not been paid for it. The stories are much. Some have even gotten softwares free and then cancelled orders. I always oblige them because to me, $5 is not supposed to be a big deal.



Here are tips that we help all sellers; especially the newbies like me:



1…Never give sample services; especially softwares. Rather tell them to ORDER and if the service doesnt meet up, they could cancel. A sincere buyer will oblige you.



2…When a mutual cancellation order comes; accept it with dignity. Dont argue. The buyer might just end up spoiling your good rating.



3…When a buyer asks you to do a job far below the price and with the promises of more jobs to come; it is usually a con. tell him you will do the job at the normal price; but will give a discount when more orders come.



Well, I need more tips from sellers who have been here longer than me. As you can see, am just barely 5 weeks around here.

[ozzieuk]

Like You I never give samples out of my work, hey its $5 or £2.49 (Less than a cup of coffee) if you convert it into pounds sterling, I have had to cancel SO many gigs when the buyer also over expects of the service and when I quiz them why they have over ordered they soon issue a mutual cancellation because they only want to pay $5 for a whole boat load of work, now I’m not saying my gig are difficult, but thats not the point. This is a market place for micro services. 95% of buyers are all good but 5% are the bad apples that spoil it for the rest of the buyers out there.

[Guest aweberr]

oldbittygrandma said: If I didn't give samples, I would have lost more

She meant personalized samples dear. For example in case of logo designs or website designs or more often in article writing gigs, people ask the seller to do a small portion of their project for free, as a 'sample' to check if you are competent or not (apparently this is the excuse they make). So lets say a buyer wants 12 articles in the dog training niche, then he will contact 12 sellers who are providing content writing services, get them to write one article each as a 'sample' and then smoothly flee without ordering anything because he got his work for free.

 

 

jennifer_cork said: I need more tips from sellers

 

These are the terms that ring red flags for me.

 

1] "How can I trust you with my login details?"

2] "I will pay you in % profits when my site starts making money"

3] "Ohh while you are logged in to my site, could you please also take care of this small thing..."

4] "I hired this other seller earlier and they did a lousy job, so I would like you to complete the project...." (a buyer with a history of bad experiences is most probably the one responsible for it most of the times)

[Guest tn5rr2012]

In regards to my family tree gig I try and be as helpful I can without being paranoid. I have no idea what is on the other side of the computer (in regards to my client) and I try not to speculate if there are other alternative motives to their order and/or questions before an order. What I consider is that someone out there is interested in starting their family tree and if I help them or spur them to get into conversations with their family then my purpose has been served

[curvalicious]

2…When a mutual cancellation order comes; accept it with dignity. Dont argue. The buyer might just end up spoiling your good rating.



I don’t get these often, but, when I do, I try to work something out with them & we are usually able to make a compromise. To me, it’s worth it to try to accommodate them, if possible. They just may turn out to be a long term client.

[Guest jennifer_cork]

@aweberr : You hit the nail right on the head! The tips you gave are sure right…and every newbie like myself would benefit from it. It could be really frustrating to have to right articles and the potential buyer “flees” with your content. Very demoralizing.



It has happened to me…and I didnt find it funny one bit. Now, no matter how the buyer pleads, i dont provide such samples. i just tell them to ORDER, and if I dont meet up to expectation, they could cancel.



If a buyer ever does cancel…it has never happened though…I will just include the content written in one of my sites or sell it in one of the sites I write for.



again, I say thanks for you poignant input here.

[fourtowers]

I also do not give personalized samples of my work; it comes from being on other sites where that is prohibited. Plus I have a lot of already published work in my name they can see to check out my writing style. I guess it’s the whole, they can just take the sample and never order; of course there are things you can do if that’s the case as well.

[jayapatel]

i’m a new seller only 2 days and this advice is very valuable, thank you! And i hope to give my own account after i’ve been on fiverr for atleast a couple of months.



I’m on my 10th order and so far no bad experiences, only really pleasant ones.

[hotwebideas]

@jennifer_cork, Hey, these are great tips. I would say you can give away samples, but make sure you add a watermark to it and only give away 10% of the book. You need to make a second ebook with a big page at the end that says, “to see the rest of the book, please order at” and give them them the fiverr address. Make it seem like they are losing a lot if they don’t purchase it.



If you want to give them a sample link, put that link content in your gig’s video.

[hotwebideas]

Reply to @jayapatel: Congrats. I am going to check out your gigs.

[Guest jennifer_cork]

@jayapatel: Thats just wonderful. I am also going to check out your gigs too…!! Congrats.



@hotwebideas : Thanks for the addition. The water mark idea is really cool and I have already started using it. After some unpleasant experience, I have decided that it might not be the best idea to be too trusting.

[kim_talented]

Good advice. When potential buyers ask for samples, I refer them to my Live Profile which has TONS of sample work/screenshots for my web design gig.



Kim

[beatcraigslist]

I get those also. “I’ll buy your gig if you can make some posts for me and prove you know what you are doing” or “Give me some free tips and ideas and if I like it I’ll buy your gig”. Really? Do I come across as that stupid? I usually don’t even respond to those because no matter what I say they will probably take it the wrong way.

[beatcraigslist]

Reply to @oldbittygrandma: I agree with you on those platforms. You can make a generic video, audio, drawing, even software that can demonstrate your abilities if you want, and it cant be stolen. Specially if you put a watermark or expiration date (on software) and protect yourself. But somethings are just not good for giving demos.

[lparziale]

Reply to @oldbittygrandma: Yup, totally agree!