Need advice from experienced sellers only

[woofy31]

Hey guys, I’m reaching out to all of you experienced sellers 🙂



The problem I’m facing is a tricky and very dangerous problem, and even if this message is a longer one it still probably affects many sellers out there.



So, there’s a country in this world (I refrain myself from specifying which country, as that would be a discriminatory thing to do), whose buyers:

• Always behave rudely to me (in over 200 orders from that country, not one single person has ever treated me politely but rather like I’m some kind of slave to them)
  
  
• bring me cancellations almost all the time due to “misunderstandings” or “mistakes” (even though I clearly specified in my gigs’ descriptions to be contacted first, but they never do that either - are gig descriptions invisible or something?! Gosh…)
  
  
  
• some of them keep trying to copy my gigs in some way or another (usually by placing “mistaken” orders so that they get more insight into what I do and how I do it, hence more cancellations)
  
  
  
  Either there’s a conspiracy against me since I’m on Fiverr from their beginnings, or there’s something really wrong with the people from that country - either way, I’m truly afraid of them, and whenever I get an order from a buyer of that country I get the shivers and get sick in my stomach 😦
  
  
  
  Now, my question is: what can I do? I mean, I can’t keep eating all the bad words they say to me, I can’t accept all that rude behavior all the time, I can’t stand seeing so many cancellations for stupid reasons, and Fiverr’s support team cannot do a thing to stop these from happening…
  
  
  
  I’ve even asked Fiverr’s support team if I was allowed to mention in my gig’s descriptions that people from that country should not order my gig, but obviously this is not allowed 😑
  
  
  
  There’s no “ban buyer” feature, there’s no “restrict gig in these countries only” feature, there’s nothing that could protect me from them… or is there?
  
  
  
  P.S. don’t get me wrong: I got absolutely nothing against the people of that country - I actually love that country, and I don’t believe in racial discrimination and such things, but somehow they don’t seem to feel the same way 😦

[woofy31]

I’ll eagerly wait for your say on this topic then 🙂

[woofy31]

Well that’s a bummer… so I guess I’ll just have to keep on dreaming about a not so distant future where Fiverr is that great & marvelous system designed around both buyers and sellers (and not just buyers), where sellers are happy since stupid cancellations don’t affect them anymore, where they can choose whom to serve, and where we all have a “schedule” system so that we can set working hours to our liking in order to be able to spend more time with our families and not sit 24/7 in front of this life-stealing computer (although the latter could be harder to implement since there’s the timezone problem, but nonetheless possible)



Ehhh… I just wish we had at least more freedom and more options regarding buyers…

[kywong85]

Pls don’t angry as I am not a experienced sellers. 😦



I am just curious about all your orders cancelled percentage %. Do you all mind to share with me? I am not sure whether my order cancelled ratio is in “dangerous” or not. Currently my cancelation rate is 7%. Is that fine? Tq.

[woofy31]

Reply to @kywong85: yep, that’s not a dangerous percentage yet 🙂

[celinedesigns]

Hey, really strange they are all coming from this one country. Makes me think - maybe it’s one person, who has a real grudge against you and makes new accounts, just to ruin your reputation.



Or maybe just a really weird coincidence. I get where you’re coming from - I hate rude customers and ones that cannot be pleased, I only get a tiny amount of these customers, but when I do get them - they can turn me off fiverr completely. But yeah - as of now there’s no way to avoid them, just have to suck it up and try to please them.



This makes me want a feature where we can accept and decline orders - which would reduce cancellation rates.

[daffo]

I have the same experienced, how I wish that Fiverr Support Team will do something about it.

[daffo]

I have the same experienced, how I wish that Fiverr Support Team will do something about it.

[daffo]

I have the same experienced, how I wish that Fiverr Support Team will do something about it.

[daffo]

I have the same experienced, how I wish that Fiverr Support Team will do something about it.

[daffo]

I have the same experienced, how I wish that Fiverr Support Team will do something about it.

[woofy31]

Reply to @celinedesigns: I just had 2 more from the same country today, 1 yesterday… it’s becoming extremely frustrating and unbelievable… and there’s no way one person could do this, because this happens for half a year now at irregular intervals (I seriously doubt that one person could have this sort of patience to destroy me and my family)



I mean, what did I do wrong to deserve this kind of treatment from the people of that country? Does my sole existence bother them so much? I just want to provide to my family, and they just kill us slowly 😦

[woofy31]

Reply to @celinedesigns: I just had 2 more from the same country today, 1 yesterday… it’s becoming extremely frustrating and unbelievable… and there’s no way one person could do this, because this happens for half a year now at irregular intervals (I seriously doubt that one person could have this sort of patience to destroy me and my family)



I mean, what did I do wrong to deserve this kind of treatment from the people of that country? Does my sole existence bother them so much? I just want to provide to my family, and they just kill us slowly 😦

[woofy31]

Reply to @celinedesigns: I just had 2 more from the same country today, 1 yesterday… it’s becoming extremely frustrating and unbelievable… and there’s no way one person could do this, because this happens for half a year now at irregular intervals (I seriously doubt that one person could have this sort of patience to destroy me and my family)



I mean, what did I do wrong to deserve this kind of treatment from the people of that country? Does my sole existence bother them so much? I just want to provide to my family, and they just kill us slowly 😦

[woofy31]

Reply to @celinedesigns: I just had 2 more from the same country today, 1 yesterday… it’s becoming extremely frustrating and unbelievable… and there’s no way one person could do this, because this happens for half a year now at irregular intervals (I seriously doubt that one person could have this sort of patience to destroy me and my family)



I mean, what did I do wrong to deserve this kind of treatment from the people of that country? Does my sole existence bother them so much? I just want to provide to my family, and they just kill us slowly 😦

[woofy31]

Reply to @celinedesigns: I just had 2 more from the same country today, 1 yesterday… it’s becoming extremely frustrating and unbelievable… and there’s no way one person could do this, because this happens for half a year now at irregular intervals (I seriously doubt that one person could have this sort of patience to destroy me and my family)



I mean, what did I do wrong to deserve this kind of treatment from the people of that country? Does my sole existence bother them so much? I just want to provide to my family, and they just kill us slowly 😦

[markp]

    It's not the country they are coming from that is the problem. In many cases they come here from specific forums.<br />

For example There is a forum which I will call "scam central". This place is full of people fighting over a few cents and prepared to do anything to get money. Note I said get money and not earn it. They do not see the difference.

 

A lot of the members are from a few specific countries and many head over here looking for ways to make quick money without doing any real work or using the one or two brain cells between their ears to generate some neuron activity.

 

What you also have to keep in mind here there are still places and still countries where 5$ will go a long way and for some people 5$ is nothing and for others 5$ is everything and they expect the impossible. Also keep in mind that some people are not crooks, but just desperate and are looking for the yellow brick road for 5$.

 

Regarding the cancellations and "mistakes". Yes, I have had this and it is so painfully obvious they are just fumbling for a way to avoid paying for the gig or just want to see what you are doing. I would just give them their money back and see the back of them or you will have them nitpicking anything and everything and they will eventually resort to threatening you with negative feedback unless you refund them.

In some cases you can usually see where this is going the minute they place an order and if you suspect bad behavior is on its way I would also take steps, so when you deliver the work, they cannot reverse engineer what you have sent them.

If people are rude to you ignore it completely. Don't fall down to their level. If they see you are not taking any notice they will stop it, or cross a line, in which case just report them and forgot about them.

Let me tell you though Karma will get them in the end. It always does. I have had numerous cases where people have been rude, demanded refunds and God knows what else, but many of them have tried to come back again. It has happened time and again.

One buyer tried to avoid paying for a gig by making up some rubbish, using threatening and abusive language and demanding a refund, which I gave to them. They then immediately tried to order another gig and they were banned. They then kept signing up to try and order again and at the last count had signed up a further six times.

You can easily keep track of many these people with creative use of the search activities box. Some of these " dodgy people" are not very bright, and that is putting it nicely and it is easy to keep track of them.

As for people copying gigs. This week alone I have had a many people asking for "samples". You and me both know what they really want and you are not the only one this is happening to. If people ask for this just refer them to your feedback as proof of happy customers. Requests for samples and people asking 101 questions to find out what you are doing and how you are doing it happen all the time.

I've got 99 problems but dealing with people like this isn't one of them. Don't let people like this get in your head or interfere with your work. Refund them, report them and forgot about them

 

[woofy31]

Reply to @markp: hey there Mark, it’s so nice seeing you around here and chatting with a fellow professional from the same niche 🙂



Well, what can I say, that was a really inspiring speech and made me think about some things, so I guess I will have to try to not let them get into my head and ruin my nerves, but still there are 2 things that I just can’t seem to shake myself off of:

• why not one single person from that country can be polite…
  
  
• if I just ignore them and refund them, we all know that eventually we’ll lose our badge for having a high number of cancellations, so how can I enjoy working and not get angry by always being aware of this fact?

[markp]

@woofy31 you sit down and look at your stats I am sure you will find some interesting facts. cancellations from troublemakers or whatever you want to call them probably account for a small fraction of your total sales. I would not offer a cancellation as a first resort though as that is inviting trouble ,once they have got their hands on the work they will be more than happy to refund.



Once you remove the people who



#1 Do not understand what you have given them



#2 The people who have misunderstood what you have given them



and



#3 The people who don’t know what they ordered from who and even leave the wrong feedback on the wrong gigs ( there are plenty of these, trust me)



you will will be left with a small minority of hardcore people intent on being serial refunders and freebie seekers. You can resolve the issues with the first three groups with simple conversation and explanation in your inbox. If someone is up to no good though it will become apparent very quickly as all they will do is chant their mantra… Refund…refund… refund…



If they fall into this last group I would just refund them as no amount of conversation or explanation will make a bit of difference and you may probably have to end up refunding them anyway or they may just leave negative feedback on your order.



There is another consideration here as well. The amount of time you spend dealing with people who are determined to refund and will tell you black is white and up is down to get a refund is not worth it. By this I mean you could spend several hours trying to reason with them and they will ignore you or refuse to listen. That is time better spent on doing other orders, promoting your gigs or creating new gigs and it is not worth it and I would just let them get on their way.

[woofy31]

Reply to @markp: I will definitely try to engage in more conversations, Mark - thank you so much for your detailed insights on these matters as well as for sharing your experience, it really means a lot to me! 🙂



Keep up the good work (and keep giving advice to people on the forums from time to time, you’re really good at it!), you’re awesome and the fact that you manage to handle that many orders is almost science fiction to me 😉

[woofy31]

Reply to @markp: question: how can you not get angry and mad when a buyer orders your gig that says you make reports and then they ask for a cancellation because “oh, I didn’t want a report, I wanted you to work on the site” ?! God almighty keep me safe already from these people!

[markp]

@woofy31 I would refuse the cancellation. Your gig does not state anywhere that it is for work on a site and clearly states it is for a report. If they supplied the info required for the gig it suggests they knew what they were ordering, but there is always the faint possibility they did not understand what they were ordering.



I would first all of all send them a polite message pointing this out very clearly. You will find out very quickly what their motives are, if any, this way.



If it is a real mistake just refund them. believe me though I have people place orders in the past when they do not even have a website… I would communicate with them first to determine what is really going on.



If this is bad behaviour & they then try any funny business, or try to cancel the order reject the cancellation. Report them to support and tell them you have reported them.



Support may well side with the buyer eventually but the buyer will realise you have reported their behavior and they are now being watched and are under the microscope

[woofy31]

markp said: I would refuse the cancellation

 

But wouldn't refusing a cancellation eventually result in a negative feedback after delivery?

[markp]

There is that possibility, but if this is an attempt to get a refund without paying for the work they will pursue that path to the end and threaten you with negative feedback to get what they want.



The objective here is not just to reject the cancellation, but to determine if they are up to no good and to report their behaviour.



Personally I would communicate with them first and determine if this is bad behaviour and if it is report them, tell them you have reported them and just refund them if they persist, but If they have just put in a mutual cancellation request as soon as the order is delivered then reject it and then send them a message to find out what is really going on.



keep this is mind. If you do contact support the first thing they are going to say is “communicate with customer”.



you want to be in a position where you can say I have already communicated with the customer and if you take a look at this ( screenshots from inbox) you can clearly see they know what they were ordering and it is not just a mistake. If you ask the buyer the right questions you will be surprised at what comes out but I would not spend too much time on this though.

[woofy31]

Reply to @markp: awesome Mark, thanks so much again - really love your long detailed answers 🙂