Buyers Not accepting proper orders

[jacks0816]

I am a recurring buyer of digital artwork on Fiverr.com, now for about 18 months.  This service provides free-lance artists, which in my case has been great due to my project to publish a book with over 125 digital paintings included.  The artists, some 12 or so I've worked with have been extraordinarily gifted, responsive and affordable.  My complaint is Fiverr management/customer service.  The normal process involves an interested buyer selecting from scores of artists whom they believe, based on online resumes as well as portfolios, whom they believe would deliver the product desired.   In all cases, the artist "asks" that you contact them with your requirements BEFORE placing an order.  This would benefit both buyer and seller and avoid either being disappointed in the results.  Yet, the Fiverr systems allows a prospective buyer to place such an order by selecting from three options of pricing: basic, standard, and premium.  Each carries not only a price but a description of accelerating capabilities, like more detail, more revisions, etc.  In several instances, especially of late, my pre-order communications with 3 different sellers, resulted in each saying they were not accepting orders; they were too busy.  In the Fiverr process, selected artists show the number of work orders they have accumulated in their queue.  In two of the three cases I could see 5 in one and 8 in the other.  Each option a seller might chose also listed the delivery times in number of days.  I know from experience and because I engaged one of these artists in online conversation about why the rejection of order, that most of these orders were submitted without pre-order discussion with the buyer.  Okay, now the real problem: Sellers CANNOT refuse an order submitted; it is accepted by the Fiverr system and goes into a queue.  The seller I "talked with" told me this has created late orders for which he can get "dinged" in ratings, crucial due to the inflated ratings and intense competition, as well as creating tremendous personal stress.  One artist I worked with months ago, with some 12 deliverables, actually had to quit for over two months due to excessive anxiety over not being able to handle sellers who opted to choose the basic (lower cost) options, but submitted an order that in reality required premium price work, and then had the audacity to ask for unpaid for revisions, many of them.  The answer which I have provide to Fiverr on multiple occasions, is to provide two changes to their system a) provide the seller a "refused order" option that does not penalize them and b) provide the seller the opportunity to rate a seller who in a pre-order communications merely refusing an order without sufficient justification.  Some artists are showing hundreds of 5-star buyer ratings based on excellent artistry, yet, I personally have would have rated an artists with whom I discussed my project and was turned down sans proper justification, very low.  The full exposure of buyer and seller communications, both pre-order and post-delivery should be captured.  This is a win-win for both buyer and seller, as I have repeatedly explained to Fiverr Resolution Center.  In one case, having been refused by the seller, I sent my issue to Customer Service and they responded that they would provide me an alternative seller, whom I in fact selected, only to be refused by them.  Such issues, 100% of the time  are then closed out with a "Resolved" stamp on the issue.  Clearly, none of my issue have actually been resolved.  In conclusion, Fiverr is a great free-lance service for both buyers and seller.  But, management/customer support is neither responsive nor interested in recommendations to improve their system, and perhaps even their bottom line, by implementing logically analyzed and presented solutions to real issues.

[smashradio]

14 minutes ago, jacks0816 said:

In all cases, the artist "asks" that you contact them with your requirements BEFORE placing an order.  This would benefit both buyer and seller and avoid either being disappointed in the results.  Yet, the Fiverr systems allows a prospective buyer to place such an order by selecting from three options of pricing: basic, standard, and premium. 

As a seller, I agree that we should have the option to only allow orders from custom offers. That would be helpful, since it would require communication before an order. 

14 minutes ago, jacks0816 said:

n several instances, especially of late, my pre-order communications with 3 different sellers, resulted in each saying they were not accepting orders; they were too busy.  In the Fiverr process, selected artists show the number of work orders they have accumulated in their queue.  In two of the three cases I could see 5 in one and 8 in the other.  

Sellers already have the option to limit how many orders they will accept in the queue. If I see that I'll be fully booked for the next few days I can easily activate it, thereby limiting the amount of orders. Other times, I'll refuse a job because the budget is too low, or because I get a bad feeling about the buyer. There could also be ethical reasons to deny a job. A way to refuse orders would simply be to only accept orders via custom offers. That would kill two birds with one stone. 

 

14 minutes ago, jacks0816 said:

But, management/customer support is neither responsive nor interested in recommendations to improve their system, and perhaps even their bottom line, by implementing logically analyzed and presented solutions to real issues.

This is a platform with millions of buyers/sellers and a high traffic volume. You're basing your opinion on Fiverr Support, on the assumption that your opinion should be resolved, and that Fiverr should change the way they operate because you say so. That's a bit arrogant, in my opinion. Sending fewer orders through the system would most likely cause a dip in revenue, not an increase.

It might seem logical to you, but there are good reasons for everything here on Fiverr, and I can assure you that their team is higihly data-driven and base everything they do on research. So saying that they are not interested in recommendations to improve their system, solely based on the fact that they haven't implemented your solution, isn't very reasonable, in my opinion. 

With all that said, I agree that we should have a way to refuse orders. We should also have a way to turn off the automated order process. A solution for limiting orders in queue is already implemented. 

[moikchap]

Ayyy! Another buyer, and in a similar industry! What's up! Welcome to the forums!

I have a lot of similar problems, and have made a few similar suggestions. I think Fiverr wants there to be problems so they can pull people into the subscription-based white-glove services like Fiverr Business. It sounds like you may already have been in VID if CS is offering alternative sellers. Buyers and sellers are probably going to need to make do with the tools available, like how smashradio described.

What are your timelines like? I had a few over-booked artists make custom offers for me with due dates a month out, as a way to get me into the queue while keeping their stats safe. If you do go that route, give them a heads-up that Out of Office would lock you from accepting the offer if they go into that mode before you accept it.