Fiverr order issue - buyer tricked me.. need help

[akbaig]

Hello, I’m being bothered by a buyer.

Story:

I sent him buyer request, he comes to my chat, says he can’t show me his code so I have to jump on zoom with him.

At this point, I should have reported him, but I was being naive.

I replied “ok coming”, he sent the zoom details and I joined and discussed with him.

BTW:
“The details he shared on buyer request were very simple and basic; his budget was only 6$. So I didn’t mind and sent him offer of 7$”

After discussing and seeing his proper and actual problem on zoom, I asked him about the amount and said it was not enough. He immediately went to the buyer request section and accepted the offer of my 7$. (even i was with him in call)… He didn’t listen anything and started the order and then told me “no dont worry about the money, i will give u tip to compensate etc etc - basically bluffing”

At this point, I was raged and I couldn’t do anything to resolve this. As I went on with the project, he has been bringing new things onto the order, do this, do that.

Forgot to tell: After starting the order, he told me that he wont accept mutual order cancellation request. It will be either a 1 star rating or a 5 star rating - no middle ground.

Even though I have completed his requirements several times until now, he keeps bringing up useless things → do this, do that.

What should I do? No requirements were set on the fiverr order " in the written form " because obviously he didn’t give me chance to make him a custom order. In my custom orders, I usually put the things I’ll be doing for the buyer in the custom request.

My question: What should I do? Should I report his messages of sending me zoom? Would fiverr also ban me alongwith him?

Should I open a dispute?

What should I do? I don’t care if I dont get the money and order gets cancelled. I just don’t want to get negative rating.

Doesn’t matter if order gets cancelled.

[writerrogers]

Contact the Customer support through the “Resolution Centre” and explain your problem to them. They are very understanding and will help you resolve this. Best regards.

[vickiespencer]

Hello, I’m being bothered by a buyer.

Story:

I sent him buyer request, he comes to my chat, says he can’t show me his code so I have to jump on zoom with him.

At this point, I should have reported him, but I was being naive.

I replied “ok coming”, he sent the zoom details and I joined and discussed with him.

BTW:

“The details he shared on buyer request were very simple and basic; his budget was only 6$. So I didn’t mind and sent him offer of 7$”

After discussing and seeing his proper and actual problem on zoom, I asked him about the amount and said it was not enough. He immediately went to the buyer request section and accepted the offer of my 7$. (even i was with him in call)… He didn’t listen anything and started the order and then told me “no dont worry about the money, i will give u tip to compensate etc etc - basically bluffing”

At this point, I was raged and I couldn’t do anything to resolve this. As I went on with the project, he has been bringing new things onto the order, do this, do that.

Forgot to tell: After starting the order, he told me that he wont accept mutual order cancellation request. It will be either a 1 star rating or a 5 star rating - no middle ground.

Even though I have completed his requirements several times until now, he keeps bringing up useless things → do this, do that.

What should I do? No requirements were set on the fiverr order " in the written form " because obviously he didn’t give me chance to make him a custom order. In my custom orders, I usually put the things I’ll be doing for the buyer in the custom request.

My question: What should I do? Should I report his messages of sending me zoom? Would fiverr also ban me alongwith him?

Should I open a dispute?

What should I do? I don’t care if I dont get the money and order gets cancelled. I just don’t want to get negative rating.

Doesn’t matter if order gets cancelled.

I don’t care if I dont get the money and order gets cancelled.

I would not contact Customer Support as you broke TOS by taking to your prospective buyer on Zoom which is against Fiverr’s TOS unless it is written in your gig description.

I would go with the cancellation. It will affect your stats and perhaps your gig ranking, but you would be less in danger of getting a warning against your account.

[akbaig]

I don’t care if I dont get the money and order gets cancelled.

I would not contact Customer Support as you broke TOS by taking to your prospective buyer on Zoom which is against Fiverr’s TOS unless it is written in your gig description.

I would go with the cancellation. It will affect your stats and perhaps your gig ranking, but you would be less in danger of getting a warning against your account.

But he already said he would not agree to mutual cancellation…

should I still request cancellation? what if when he sees cancellation, he sets the order as completed (even tho i’ve not made any submission until now) and gives me 1 star? Can he do that?

[salluzedits]

Although, the buyer’s mischief is clear from your narrative, but at the same time you gave your weak point by attending him on zoom, perhaps letting the buyer assume that you would never approach CS for the problems he was creating for you. So he kept on using you as long he could. It was merely a matter of 7USD, so why you would risk your Fiverr account by approaching CS team knowing that you violated Fiverr’s TOS. The only resolution of this problem would be, simply not to allow the buyer exploit you any further, thats it, and the only alternative left before you to do this, is just let the order be cancelled (may be do something so that the buyer himself cancels the order). You also would have a negative impact on your account then, but these things are far less painful than compromising your Fiverr account. Once the order is cancelled, please block the buyer permanently so that he can never interact with you, nor can place any subsequent order to you… I may be wrong, what I have shared because my suggestion is bitter that I know, but this will be a better resort in the long run. With the passage of time, you will definitely be in a position to improve your account performance and can earn thousands of more dollars then only because you would have prserved your Fiverr account… Thank you!

[isai92]

I’d would finish the job and let him mark the order as completed even when he puts a 1 star rating. Why? Because you just need to AVOID putting a review about him as a buyer. I mean, don’t make any review about him. That way his 1 star rating will NEVER show up in your profile 😉

EDIT:
Please, ignore my comment 😦 some people showed me the platform doesn’t work that way. The reviews will be published even if we don’t respond.

[vickiespencer]

I’d would finish the job and let him mark the order as completed even when he puts a 1 star rating. Why? Because you just need to AVOID putting a review about him as a buyer. I mean, don’t make any review about him. That way his 1 star rating will NEVER show up in your profile 😉

EDIT:

Please, ignore my comment 😦 some people showed me the platform doesn’t work that way. The reviews will be published even if we don’t respond.

I mean, don’t make any review about him. That way his 1 star rating will NEVER show up in your profile 😉

No, no, no! That is not true! 😬 If a seller does not review a buyer then after 10 days the buyer’s reviews will show up on the seller’s profile. In addition, the seller does not have the choice to respond to the review.

If @akbaig finishes the job he will be required to do everything the seller wants to be done even though it could involve a lot of time. Plus, if he takes your advice he will not be able to explain his side of the story, which is the buyer requested more work than his gig offers!

[isai92]

I mean, don’t make any review about him. That way his 1 star rating will NEVER show up in your profile 😉

No, no, no! That is not true! 😬 If a seller does not review a buyer then after 10 days the buyer’s reviews will show up on the seller’s profile. In addition, the seller does not have the choice to respond to the review.

If @akbaig finishes the job he will be required to do everything the seller wants to be done even though it could involve a lot of time. Plus, if he takes your advice he will not be able to explain his side of the story, which is the buyer requested more work than his gig offers!

😱 really? I haven’t been in that situation. Have you?

I don’t see it in the TOS, it only says a buyer has up to 10 days to leave a review, but that’s a different case.

[akbaig]

But he already said he would not agree to mutual cancellation…

should I still request cancellation? what if when he sees cancellation, he sets the order as completed (even tho’ i’ve not made any submission until now) and gives me 1 star? Can he do that?

@vickiespencer please share your thoughts on this?

[lloydsolutions]

😱 really? I haven’t been in that situation. Have you?

I don’t see it in the TOS, it only says a buyer has up to 10 days to leave a review, but that’s a different case.

I don’t see it in the TOS, it only says a buyer has up to 10 days to leave a review,

It is explained here: Fiverr Help and Education Center (Feedback and Ratings).

[isai92]

I don’t see it in the TOS, it only says a buyer has up to 10 days to leave a review,

It is explained here: Fiverr Help and Education Center (Feedback and Ratings).

Oh! I see!!! 😱

Thank you very much!!

[salluzedits]

But he already said he would not agree to mutual cancellation…

should I still request cancellation? what if when he sees cancellation, he sets the order as completed (even tho i’ve not made any submission until now) and gives me 1 star? Can he do that?

I am attempting to address your specific concerns, may be my views could be of some help to you in taking a right decision…

1. If Sellers and Buyers don’t agree to a mutual cancellation, then contacting Fiverr Customer Support is the next step. But, in your case, you would not like to contact Fiverr Customer Support since you have violated Fiverr’s TOS by interacting the buyer on zoom.
2. I looked into Fiverr Help pages, and tried to find an answer to the question whether a buyer can review a cancelled order or not. I couldn’t trace the same.
3. Think of this scenario…‘What if you stop responding to the buyer?’ Ultimately, he may opt in to cancel the order, let him do that (and this is what you would want). If he marks the order delivered, you have the plus point of getting his order completed, so this will not let your order completion rate adversely impact. But, you worry he might give you poor rating…let him do that at least this scenario is far less painful than compromising your Fiverr account…
4. As a concluding point, I would never suggest you to let this mischief buyer exploit you any further. Once this problematic Order’s life is over, just block this guy so that he can never bother you any more.

[vickiespencer]

But he already said he would not agree to mutual cancellation…

should I still request cancellation? what if when he sees cancellation, he sets the order as completed (even tho’ i’ve not made any submission until now) and gives me 1 star? Can he do that?

@vickiespencer please share your thoughts on this?

@vickiespencer please share your thoughts on this?

Then it is a battle of wills. You ask for a cancellation and he rejects it. The one to get tired first wins.

Or, you could send him a custom offer for each new thing he asks for and politely explain that you have already delivered the work as described in your gig. He may will decline the offer. Then you merely redeliver what you already have done for him and say the order is complete as described in your gig.

[akbaig]

@salluzedits @vickiespencer A little update, and need your kind suggestions again

So he once more asked to fix some of his issues (which were valid this time) and I fixed them, he tested and everything. He said to wait until next day so he can do his final testing.

After waiting a day, I re-sent delivery work (revision) with details.

Now he instantly marked the order as complete.

But he’s saying " once free let me know " in inbox

And he has not yet given a rating. Looking at his previous record of threatening,

I think if I block him or does not reply to him, he might give me a bad rating.

Maybe he will try to blackmail me with negative rating idk.

Please suggest something? What should I do?

[donnovan86]

I am attempting to address your specific concerns, may be my views could be of some help to you in taking a right decision…

1. If Sellers and Buyers don’t agree to a mutual cancellation, then contacting Fiverr Customer Support is the next step. But, in your case, you would not like to contact Fiverr Customer Support since you have violated Fiverr’s TOS by interacting the buyer on zoom.
2. I looked into Fiverr Help pages, and tried to find an answer to the question whether a buyer can review a cancelled order or not. I couldn’t trace the same.
3. Think of this scenario…‘What if you stop responding to the buyer?’ Ultimately, he may opt in to cancel the order, let him do that (and this is what you would want). If he marks the order delivered, you have the plus point of getting his order completed, so this will not let your order completion rate adversely impact. But, you worry he might give you poor rating…let him do that at least this scenario is far less painful than compromising your Fiverr account…
4. As a concluding point, I would never suggest you to let this mischief buyer exploit you any further. Once this problematic Order’s life is over, just block this guy so that he can never bother you any more.

looked into Fiverr Help pages, and tried to find an answer to the question whether a buyer can review a cancelled order or not. I couldn’t trace the same.

Buyers can’t review a canceled order. Not sure about private reviews, but I assume that’s not the case either. The order is canceled, so the buyer forfeited his right to review something by getting his money back.

[salluzedits]

@salluzedits @vickiespencer A little update, and need your kind suggestions again

So he once more asked to fix some of his issues (which were valid this time) and I fixed them, he tested and everything. He said to wait until next day so he can do his final testing.

After waiting a day, I re-sent delivery work (revision) with details.

Now he instantly marked the order as complete.

But he’s saying " once free let me know " in inbox

And he has not yet given a rating. Looking at his previous record of threatening,

I think if I block him or does not reply to him, he might give me a bad rating.

Maybe he will try to blackmail me with negative rating idk.

Please suggest something? What should I do?

Thankfully, he accepted the delivery…So congratulations…

Now the question, whether you should takeup his next orders or not…No one else on this Forum would know him better than you. Try to get answer to these questions by yourself, "Are you ready to put yourself in such troubles in future as well since he has created tremendous problems for you? What is the surety that he would not give you such troubles in future? Would you not like to give space to other cool and potential buyers and work with them in a stress-free envioronment? To me, a person never changes his/ her behaviour overnight. Once the TRUST is gone, everything is gone…For you, Fiverr is your career, and for him (or for that matter for any other buyer) it is merely a deal thats it. So I would suggest, work with good and genuine buyers who will give you money and respect both.

Now that he has accepted the delivery, and in case you decide to block him, pls don’t block him right away at this stage (not till the passage of 14 days from ‘the date when the order was marked delivered’ or till the time when the funds are transferred into your account). A few rare buyers might opt-in for ‘Chargeback’ even after 14 days, but such circumstances are typically rare, and at worst this chargeback will only incur a financial loss of 7USD to you.

Now coming to the rating part, …I quote Fiverr’s ToS, “Remember that reviews are subjective opinions based on individual preference, and, unfortunately, you can’t please every buyer 100% of the time. Unless a review specifically violates Fiverr’s Terms of Service it can’t be removed, by neither the buyer nor Customer Support.” Further, if he gives a review within 10 days (which he can), you too have a right to review him within the same 10 days wherein you can highlight some of his mischiefs and mishandling with you in a very polite manner (pls don’t use abusive language). Also, if you do not review a buyer within the same 10 days, you will not be able to add a review for that particular order thereafter.

Now that the question, how you are going to handle his messages, you deal with tactfully not to let him feel that as if you have any ill-feeling against him…and let the time pass on day by day, till you reach the right time to block him, so that he is not able to message you or place an order against any of your gigs.

Last but not the least, if you chose further to work for him in future, you certainly allow him to promote his own kind of likings, stereotype fancies, ‘his demands of extra work without compensating for the same’, and similar other activities of harrasments, then you be prepared to taste similar things in future or be mature enough to deal him super-smartly. All the best

[declanmaltman1]

Take the 1-star review and learn from this mistake. Don’t ever take the conversation away from the Fiverr platform. If you followed Fiverrs ToS properly, they would have had your back and cancelled the order with the problems.

[salluzedits]

looked into Fiverr Help pages, and tried to find an answer to the question whether a buyer can review a cancelled order or not. I couldn’t trace the same.

Buyers can’t review a canceled order. Not sure about private reviews, but I assume that’s not the case either. The order is canceled, so the buyer forfeited his right to review something by getting his money back.

Thank you donnovan86 for this important input.

[mattboa]

The site is now “partnered” with Zoom. Fiverr occasionally prompts me to make a videocall to buyers who have just ordered, it generates a link, no idea what happens from there but it’s true. Like for credentials exchanged for project reasons, to me it doesn’t seem like a ToS violation anymore, and if it was, you would’ve both committed one. Feels pretty even to me.

The easiest way was to simply to not deliver and to stop interacting with him other than keeping on pushing for a cancellation on the grounds that he’s given you more work. He would’ve got bored at one point knowing he couldn’t report you and you wouldn’t budge, cancelling and not giving a review in the end.

Now I just hope you won’t receive a bad review.

[akbaig]

Thankfully, he accepted the delivery…So congratulations…

Now the question, whether you should takeup his next orders or not…No one else on this Forum would know him better than you. Try to get answer to these questions by yourself, "Are you ready to put yourself in such troubles in future as well since he has created tremendous problems for you? What is the surety that he would not give you such troubles in future? Would you not like to give space to other cool and potential buyers and work with them in a stress-free envioronment? To me, a person never changes his/ her behaviour overnight. Once the TRUST is gone, everything is gone…For you, Fiverr is your career, and for him (or for that matter for any other buyer) it is merely a deal thats it. So I would suggest, work with good and genuine buyers who will give you money and respect both.

Now that he has accepted the delivery, and in case you decide to block him, pls don’t block him right away at this stage (not till the passage of 14 days from ‘the date when the order was marked delivered’ or till the time when the funds are transferred into your account). A few rare buyers might opt-in for ‘Chargeback’ even after 14 days, but such circumstances are typically rare, and at worst this chargeback will only incur a financial loss of 7USD to you.

Now coming to the rating part, …I quote Fiverr’s ToS, “Remember that reviews are subjective opinions based on individual preference, and, unfortunately, you can’t please every buyer 100% of the time. Unless a review specifically violates Fiverr’s Terms of Service it can’t be removed, by neither the buyer nor Customer Support.” Further, if he gives a review within 10 days (which he can), you too have a right to review him within the same 10 days wherein you can highlight some of his mischiefs and mishandling with you in a very polite manner (pls don’t use abusive language). Also, if you do not review a buyer within the same 10 days, you will not be able to add a review for that particular order thereafter.

Now that the question, how you are going to handle his messages, you deal with tactfully not to let him feel that as if you have any ill-feeling against him…and let the time pass on day by day, till you reach the right time to block him, so that he is not able to message you or place an order against any of your gigs.

Last but not the least, if you chose further to work for him in future, you certainly allow him to promote his own kind of likings, stereotype fancies, ‘his demands of extra work without compensating for the same’, and similar other activities of harrasments, then you be prepared to taste similar things in future or be mature enough to deal him super-smartly. All the best

To be honest, thankyou for your mature and smart suggestions.

It’s amazing to see you covered each and every aspect.

I will be following these suggestions since they match with what I had in mind; just needed an expert opinion on this.

Thankyou again!

[salluzedits]

The site is now “partnered” with Zoom. Fiverr occasionally prompts me to make a videocall to buyers who have just ordered, it generates a link, no idea what happens from there but it’s true. Like for credentials exchanged for project reasons, to me it doesn’t seem like a ToS violation anymore, and if it was, you would’ve both committed one. Feels pretty even to me.

The easiest way was to simply to not deliver and to stop interacting with him other than keeping on pushing for a cancellation on the grounds that he’s given you more work. He would’ve got bored at one point knowing he couldn’t report you and you wouldn’t budge, cancelling and not giving a review in the end.

Now I just hope you won’t receive a bad review.

It is true that Fiverr occasionally prompts sellers to interact with a few buyers via video calling, because Fiverr has given its ‘Business Buyers’ the facility to interact via video calling…akbaig may like to comment whether this buyer was a Business Buyer. Other usual or common buyers wouldn’t have this facility. akbaig’s concern is more than mere interacting with his buyer on zoom, which he has explained in detail. His overall experience with that particular buyer has been utterly bitter who got exploited and harrassed by the buyer in all possible way…

[akbaig]

Last update:

Everything went accordingly. Got good review, got rid of him.

[engr_m_aitesam]

Last update:

Everything went accordingly. Got good review, got rid of him.

Congratulations 👏,

Luckily you got rid of him.

Everyone! Let’s say thank you to @akbaig.

He brought up this issue and made us all aware of such consequences…