Don't be that kind of buyer... 5 tips to build long lasting relationships with sellers

[moonstaredits]

Hello, buyers! I get excited for every new order, but sometimes communication with buyers fails, making things difficult. Here are 5 common mistakes to avoid, and tips to improve your communication in order to build long lasting relationships with your sellers:

1. NOT BEING SPECIFIC AND CLEAR ENOUGH
   We sellers try to build an effective communication with our customers, yet some buyers don’t know how to proper communicate their requests: either they don’t know the jargon or are affraid to be bothersome to the buyer, they don’t say things effectively enough. If we sellers ask something, answer it clearly and thoroughly, and if we don’t ask it, say it anyways, to see how can we help you. Most of us are not actively ignoring you, your satisfaction is our main goal and we read carefully everything you request, sometimes we just don’t get what you’re requesting and need further clarification. Communication is crucial to satisfaction. Most of the times we sellers don’t mind answering all your questions if it means we can make you feel satisfied.

2. NOT EXPRESSING YOUR DISCOMFORT
   This goes along with point 1, but the problem here is not being verbal about something you don’t like. How can we be aware of our mistakes and shortcomings in providing our services if we don’t get any feedback throughout the working process? How can we correct them? Express how you feel, behind a screen we don’t have a way to know how you feel. For some sellers it may sting for a little while knowing we are being incompetent, but it’s better to be aware of our shortcomings and correct them, rather than receiving a negative review or a cancellation. You are investing money in our service, we are investing time in your order, value our time and honor your money by asking the seller to deliver something that satisfies your needs.

3. NOT READING AND UNDERSTANDING WHAT YOUR ORDER CONTAINS
   We have plenty of customers asking for things we can’t or don’t make. Problem is, once an order is placed, cancelling it affects our rates and therefore our reputation. Read carefully what the seller offers before placing an order, because you risk losing your money and time. There are plenty of sellers on Fiverr, if one doesn’t makes what you want, you’re going to find another one who does. If you’re not sure about something, message the seller first. It saves us lot of time too. Also, don’t ask for extra unpaid work or work that is out of the scope, or abuse the revision feature, it is against ToS and seller can report you.

4. NOT VALUING THE SELLERS’ EXPERTISE
   Trust the reviews, if someone has good reviews, it is likely because they’re good at what they do. Don’t disregard their opinions about your work, and respect them. Hearing our advise can give you a more professional result. Most of us don’t charge money to deliver something you can diy by watching a YouTube tutorial. Respect our expertise, after all, if you knew how to do it, you wouldn’t be spending money in order to have someone else doing it, would you?

5. MICROMANAGING SELLERS
   It is ok to ask for updates. It is ok to ask for drafts or prototypes. What is not ok, is messaging the seller zillion times asking for updates or drafts, specially if you have agreed on a specific number of updates or drafts. Some sellers are communicative, some aren’t. It will be ideal if every one of them kept you updated and came to you frequently, but not all sellers do it: some are busy, have orders in queue, or simply don’t want to answer unproductive messages from you because it makes them lose time. Make sure every message you send them is relevant to your order and don’t micromanage them. Change your 9 to 5 job mentality: you’re not our boss, you’re just one of our many customers.

Have a happy buying!

[imagination7413]

Quote

I am a relatively new seller. I joined on September 2020. That being said, I receive very few orders because of that. I get excited when I get a new order, and treat a 5$ order like a 100$ one, and go above and beyond when meeting buyer expectations.

This part makes this seem more a ‘Ranting Pot’ topic. Or a ‘Fiverr Stories’ topic. 

[moonstaredits]

I am a relatively new seller. I joined on September 2020. That being said, I receive very few orders because of that. I get excited when I get a new order, and treat a 5$ order like a 100$ one, and go above and beyond when meeting buyer expectations.

This part makes this seem more a ‘Ranting Pot’ topic. Or a ‘Fiverr Stories’ topic.

This part

How? It is an introduction.

[imagination7413]

Generally, if you want your advice to have credence, you don’t say ‘I’m new’ (or ‘first topic’). The rest of that block sounds like you’re advertising.

Condensed to reduce post length.

Quote

Hello! This is my first topic in this category. I’ve been very active since I discovered that buyers and sellers alike post good quality content that helps me get more familiar with Fiverr.

I am a relatively new seller. I joined on September 2020. That being said, I receive very few orders because of that. I get excited when I get a new order, and treat a 5$ order like a 100$ one, and go above and beyond when meeting buyer expectations.

But, there are customers that are a little… Difficult.

In this post I will give you mistakes you must avoid if you don’t want to appear as an undesirable customer, and tips on how to improve your communication in order to build long lasting relationships with your sellers.

This is to buyers, right? Make it about them, then, not about you. (As it’s written, this sounds like a frustrated, fed-up, disgruntled rant. Not a teaching tool crafted from a desire to help.) Plus, it rambles. Intros can be important, but you’ve got 5 seconds to grab a buyers attention, right? ALL of that can be summed up in two sentences:

Quote

Hello, buyers! I get excited for every new order, but sometimes those can be difficult. Here are 5 common mistakes to avoid, so you can have a great experience!

Short and to the point.

Quote

“Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts.”

~ Excerpt from Strunk’s The Elements of Style. “Omit needless words”

[moonstaredits]

On 3/14/2021 at 2:04 PM, imagination7413 said:

Generally, if you want your advice to have credence, you don’t say ‘I’m new’ (or ‘first topic’). The rest of that block sounds like you’re advertising.

Condensed to reduce post length.

This is to buyers, right? Make it about them, then, not about you. (As it’s written, this sounds like a frustrated, fed-up, disgruntled rant. Not a teaching tool crafted from a desire to help.) Plus, it rambles. Intros can be important, but you’ve got 5 seconds to grab a buyers attention, right? ALL of that can be summed up in two sentences:

Short and to the point.

 

Thank you for writing that explanation. I will edit it.

[creat1vepattern]

On 3/14/2021 at 7:47 AM, moonstaredits said:

sometimes we just don’t get what you’re requesting and need further clarification.

One note to new or first-time buyers. 

If you feel as if your seller only asked enough questions to generate a quote, but not enough to fully understand your brand, please know that many gigs have a gig requirements section with additional questions (even after you've had a full conversation in the message center). 

This is a great place to include any additional information you feel may be relevant to the project.

As a seller, I'll oftentimes ask just the questions I need to a) determine if I'm comfortable within the industry or niche, and b) generate an accurate quote/ timeline. The gig requirements handle the rest. 

I hope this helps! 

[dupsy4]

Honestly, I wish more buyers could seriously open up on the project at hand. I do wonder why you as a client (buyer) be hoarding an information from me the seller.

Then start giving me the informations like feeding a rat with little dose of poison... 

Mind I share my little experience.

A buyer contacted me inbox for a pitch deck business plan and claimed to be a startup business belonging to no business industry and has no business identity (name, contact or e-commerce presence). At first., I approached the project at hand the best way I could which obviously the client was happy with (word plan). Secondly., on actualization of the financial forecast of the word plan, he started providing valuable infos (business name, industry etc) which were essential to the general business plan acceptability (I.e for loans or by a potential investor)

To cut the whole long story short.. I had to cancel the order because of my work ethics which requires me to start the work from fresh. Mind you, the client was not willing to be charged more nor wants to extend the delivery date.

This cost me my time, money, sleep and also gig rank on d 5r platform

[rkcreative09]

Thanks for sharing such an awesome tips. Every buyers should be polite with the seller. Because Every seller work harder to show up their expertise and try to satisfy their clients.  I think both seller and buyers should be positive about to build up a good relationship to understand their work properly.  Seller time is very important and not to waisting our time to spend their sample creations without getting paid. I think every seller is struggling their own place and not to judge them by sample work. 

I support your sentences and think our buyers should be understand it Properly. 

Thanks. 

[gayanchamira]

Hi fiverr is a bridge what, sellers and buyers linked together, but this meeting is not easy and pleasent one to all. but i think it should be a nice and productivity meeting to both. because i believe buyer should grab all requirements from seller and seller should earn satisfied income according to his/her contribution.

so i think buyer should have a responsible to direct seller to grab 100% PRODUCTIVITY he want.

first buyer should contact and share the ideas before place the order, if he can ask a simple sample will help to discuss his requirements

after place the order buyer can wait until submit the work within his time frame,

after collect the project buyer should check all the work few times and mark the revisions

then submit revisions and other requirements clearly. it is better to submit all once, it will help to adjust simply and help to save time and data of both 

then discuss and share your ideas via message box will help to both side

it shouls give sufficient time to seller to do revisions without any stress

finally if you are satis you can confirm the order completion

 

[newsmike]

On 5/19/2022 at 3:01 PM, gayanchamira said:

first buyer should contact and share the ideas before place the order

Wrong.  Fiver is not set up to work this way. 

On 5/19/2022 at 3:01 PM, gayanchamira said:

so i think buyer should have a responsible to direct seller to grab 100% PRODUCTIVITY he want.

It is not the buyer's responsibility to develop the productivity of the seller.  You seem confused as to who the boss is in the transaction.  

[harithdeshan]

On 5/20/2022 at 12:31 AM, gayanchamira said:

then submit revisions and other requirements clearly. it is better to submit all once, it will help to adjust simply and help to save time and data of both 

This is a major problem. Some clients do not realize this. The disadvantage is, both the buyer and seller lose excessive time if all things are not mentioned once.

[workinghub28]

Since Fiverr is a supportive platform both for sellers and also it takes a good care of the buyers. There are some responsibilities that the buyer need to keep in mind. 

1. Always provide the complete "REQUIREMENTS" to the seller so that the seller can start working on your project immediately. Mostly buyers place order but get disappeared so this thing should be avoid.

2. Both buyers and sellers need to continue their conversation on Fiverr platform as it will helpful to both parties in future and Fiverr also ban those buyers and sellers who try to keep theirselves private(out of fiverr). Sometime buyer/seller open a case about the wrongdoing or bad delivery then Fiverr can identify your agreement through your chatbox.

3. Be responsive with each other in conversation as sometimes a seller need some information to process further but the buyers don't respond to his/her message.

4. Be respectful with each other and seller also need to consider their client's work as their own.

5. Don't share your personal information with everyone and especially your bank details with the seller

[noirparliament_]

Thanks a lot for this wonderful post. 😀

One thing we, buyers and sellers, must understand is that the communication is happening in a chat box and it is not a face to face conversation. Therefore, the writing in the chat is everything here. If it were a video call then we could communicate with each other in a more effective way. As far as I know, in a face to face conversation, we convey up to 70% of our feelings through body language and only 30% by the talk itself. In a chat box, we have to write in such a way so that we can make up for the 70% missing information. Hence, video call is a better for a discussion. Effective communication is very important for a freelancer working online.

Thanks much!

 

[siliconsv]

4. NOT VALUING THE SELLERS’ EXPERTISE

Well, on my current task I wanted to rely on the seller expertise, per the seller page he has "a team of professionals", all the greats features detailed.

Now that the task started, I realized he is a beginner with limited skills. I have to teach him how to do stuff with my basic knowledge. For example his page says "we create logo", but when I ask for a logo, the seller tells me "he is not sure if he can do it because he has never done it before, but he will try"

I got mad and wanted to cancel my order to contact a real professional instead, but now that I know Fiverr will penalize him a lot for a cancellation, I am reluctant to cancel. I feel stuck and I feel like I am not going to like the result despite the best effort I am trying to put to help him.

[mariashtelle1]

2 hours ago, siliconsv said:

but now that I know Fiverr will penalize him a lot for a cancellation, I am reluctant to cancel.

Cancellations affect sellers precisely for that reason if they lied on their profile and can’t deliver the work so they don’t just get away. (But Of course there are other reasons for cancellation too)  Fiverr is all about performance and you shouldn’t feel bad for the seller that lied in his profile and to you. 
Just cancel the order and move on, you will not get the delivery you want from this seller. 
P.S and don’t choose sellers that write that they are “professionals”. True professionals don’t have to specify it, their work speaks for themselves. 

[filipdevaere]

7 hours ago, siliconsv said:

I feel stuck and I feel like I am not going to like the result despite the best effort I am trying to put to help him.

Never feel sorry for a seller that lies on his Fiverr profile. Just cancel the order and move on.

[catwriter]

7 hours ago, siliconsv said:

I got mad and wanted to cancel my order to contact a real professional instead, but now that I know Fiverr will penalize him a lot for a cancellation, I am reluctant to cancel.

You have every right to feel mad. The seller deceived you.

7 hours ago, siliconsv said:

Well, on my current task I wanted to rely on the seller expertise, per the seller page he has "a team of professionals", all the greats features detailed.

Some sellers plagiarize gig descriptions. Or don't exactly plagiarize them, but write things they believe will appeal to buyers, whether those things are true or not. Needless to say, those sellers are unable to perform the task. They're hoping they will figure it out somehow, or that the buyer will pay them anyway just because they want to be paid.

On top of that, in countless articles and videos about easily making money online with no skills whatsoever, logo design is often mentioned as one of the ways to do it (so is copywriting, and that's why there's a bunch of sellers who claim to be both logo designers and copywriters, even though they can't write a single sentence without mistakes, and their knowledge of design consists of opening Adobe Photoshop once).

7 hours ago, siliconsv said:

I feel stuck and I feel like I am not going to like the result despite the best effort I am trying to put to help him.

And you probably won't get a result that you can use, at least not without getting a real professional to fix it, which would take more time and money than if the real professional was working on it from the beginning.

While everyone here appreciates your concern for the seller and while that concern is, generally speaking, a great thing, in this case, cancelling is probably the best thing to do. You will get your funds back so you can look for someone who can actually do the job, and the seller will hopefully learn a valuable lesson (and, maybe, stop lying to buyers and start offering something they know how to do instead, or invest in their education and really acquire skills they claim to have).