New Buyers should buy from Established Sellers

[timothykoen]

On 11/22/2021 at 1:41 PM, gina_riley2 said:

Bad grammar, misuse of punctuation, incoherent sentences, etc.

Although wise advice, I disagree with this. I have to because this platform is in English. What to a native English speaker may seem like bad word usage, probably seems excellent to the writer. Also consider, sentence structure and spelling vary from language to language. And since this platform uses translation software what we see in English may have been written by and translated from another language. Not having excellent grasp of the English language should not be a red flag. However, well written descriptions are a plus. Bad ones shouldn't be a minus.

[imagination7413]

2 hours ago, timothykoen said:

because this platform is in English. What to a native English speaker may seem like bad word usage, probably seems excellent to the writer. Also consider, sentence structure and spelling vary from language to language. And since this platform uses translation software what we see in English may have been written by and translated from another language. Not having excellent grasp of the English language should not be a red flag. However, well written descriptions are a plus. Bad ones shouldn't be a minus.

That depends on the service being offered. If it's a gig that involves 'writing' in any capacity, than yes, poor English is a red flag. 

Quick clarification:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_flag_(idiom)

Quote

The term red flag could mean [...], as a metaphor, a sign of some particular problem requiring attention.

This particular case (poor English) doesn't outright mean 'reject or avoid a gig', just 'proceed with caution and stay alert'. It's only one aspect to look at. 

HOWEVER: Consider also the idea of 'perceived quality' and 'perceived value'. Human behavior is erratic and irrational. People who are not self-aware are HIGHLY susceptible to biases, fallacies, and false assumptions. (Same for consumer behavior, which it's own whole sub-section of studies.) 

[catwriter]

3 hours ago, timothykoen said:

Not having excellent grasp of the English language should not be a red flag.

It depends.

If the seller is offering writing, proofreading, or editing in English, then bad English is definitely a red flag, because it means that that person is offering something they're unable to provide.

If they offer data entry, a poorly written gig description filled with errors is also a problem, because data entry has to be error-free.

And if the seller's English is really really really terrible, it's a huge problem no matter what they're selling, because communication is going to be a nightmare (and it's very possible that they simply won't be able to understand what the buyer needs from them).

[manuelmarino]

the interesting thing is that many many sellers are not english sellers, and in a worldwide marketplace like ours, the quality of the products is more important than the descriptions grammar. But yes, good grammar is a plus but not a game changing issue.

Edited January 13, 2023 by manuelmarino

[topazonanton]

On 11/22/2021 at 8:41 PM, gina_riley2 said:

As an experienced buyer, I still find it daunting to filter thru thousands of gigs to find the right sellers. After hundreds of gig purchases, sometimes, I still get swindled by a newbie seller. Although, it's 2nd nature to me now, my 1st purchase was confusing and an overall bad experience.

A newbie buyer ordering from a newbie seller is basically, blind leading the blind. Neither one of you are sure how things work. One of you should have the experience to guide the other one on how to order, accept, and other questions.

Tips for new buyers:

1. Don't worry about levels, that's useless.

2. Look for sellers with at least 200 reviews. This will ensure the reviews are legit. Unfortunately, there are still scammers who buy or trade reviews.

3. Look at gig picture. Does it look nice or sloppy? Is it stolen off the internet (right click & reverse search) or original?

4. Actually read the sellers description on that gig. It doesn't matter what kind of gig you are buying, there is a universal sign for troublesome sellers:

* Bad grammar, misuse of punctuation, incoherent sentences, etc.

* Short description is a bad sign. The seller should write out what they will deliver and what they expect from you (the buyer).

* Sloppy description means sloppy delivery. If you see things like: Sir, Dear, etc. Not a good sign.

5. Do not message them via inbox, unless it's necessary.  As a buyer, once you contact a seller that way, they have unlimited access to contact you. It's a headache.

* Most established sellers should know better but not all of them follow the rules. You can get spammed with buy one get one free offer that you don't need or want.

* If you find a great seller that you are confident about then by all means have a convo with them about the order.

* If you have to message them, don't do a, "Hello, are you there." They may think you are a spammer. Add your question that wasn't answered in the gig description.

6. I know that there are different customs around the world where price negotiations are an every day thing. This platform is not one of them. Don't ask for a discount or offer them future work. There is no way to guarantee that. Established sellers will politely tell you to go away and then block you.

7. Regardless of who you hire, order a sample gig first. If they don't have a sample gig, it's okay to ask them, "Can I ask for a $10 or $20 sample?"

* They can send you a custom offer where they can do a small portion of your project. Afterwards, either you fit or not. Don't ask for modifications on a sample order.

* Don't ask for free samples. Time is money. You're not sampling wedding cakes for free, this is a freelance platform, pay for it!

* If sample is good or fits your need, discuss the project and place order.

* If sample isn't what you wanted, say thank you and go elsewhere. Just chaulk up your $20 as cost of doing business.

Note: In order for me to have found some really amazing sellers, I had to spend money on not so good and/or nightmare sellers. Don't let your first experience be a bad one. Buy from an established, well rounded seller.

After you've gained experience in buying, then you can trek into the pool of newbies to get yourself that diamond in a haystack. Many great and true professional sellers have to start here as a newbie and they need a chance.

Happy holidays everyone. 💙💛🤎

Here is my story,from other platform,but here i have the same problem.I gave proposal to buyer to cooperation.He unsered its too hard you cant do it.He concluded that from my history of selling services.Only because of he opened massages i could answer him.And send his edited image for free.Reaction was like wwooww fantastik exelent and said i better hired you than other freelancer.And i still work with him.And there are many jobs that i could do easily,but buyers just dont trust sellers without history or rating.Its so stresfull. 

[rashed10203]

👉 Clients will get lower prices and better quality services 

So who will work for the new sellers? Earlier Fiverr had a buyer request option, where work was found by reply. It does not exist now. Now brief option is enabled but it doesn't come to new sellers and mine doesn't come so far, I don't get a brief in my profile. So please tell how new sellers can get work. I think clients need to work from new seller, before ordering from new seller see enough portfolio and skills, new sellers will give better service than expert sellers with full response and attention, because he has other sellers. There is more time than He will work overtime. As a result, clients will get lower prices and better quality services

Edited November 27, 2023 by rashed10203

[bitwiseauto]

On 11/27/2023 at 1:51 PM, rashed10203 said:

new sellers will give better service than expert sellers with full response and attention, because he has other sellers. There is more time than He will work overtime. As a result, clients will get lower prices and better quality services

I respectfully disagree with this. Top Rated Sellers and other high level sellers get so many orders for a reason, they are excellent at what they do, have very good time management skills and their customers are obviously satisfied with the level of service they receive. It is not like once a seller gets to Level 2 or Top Rated Seller they stop caring, they have to work hard to maintain that level. Would you stand by your comment that new sellers would be able to provide a better service than you if you one day get to Level 2 or TRS?

[priyank_mod]

Pretty old thread and one thing a lot of NEW SELLERS are missing out on, in the entire discourse is that -

When a new buyer works with an established seller, their probability of having a fruitful experience and eventually becoming a regular buyer on the platform is very high!! And a regular buyer will sooner or later work with a worthy new seller too for their business needs!!

This entire argument about ONLY new sellers offering great attention/service and cost-benefit is just delusional thinking!!🙅‍♂️

This is the reason why Fiverr puts greater emphasis on the gigs which service the new buyers well and even informs them through a separate mail when a 1st-time buyer places an order with them!! ⬆️

[nurl_marketer]

Your post is informative, but what about us new sellers.???

[imagination7413]

Maybe a visual aid will help:

[a_junkins]

I have to disagree on this one, just because of my experience. I chose a seller based off the reviews; I’m huge on reviews in all areas of life whether it be Amazon all the way to physicians- trust me.

Quote

 

I chose someone that had 4.9 stars, I think, and the reviews were great. When I asked her to add a job to my résumé, shorten the other job descriptions to make it fit onto 2 pages exactly, and to spruce up my LinkedIn. Shortening the other job descriptions should’ve been easy considering I’m a travel nurse, and the job is kind of repetitive; so even when the original was written a week prior, we were even stretching to get that much info into the job descriptions to begin with. Then I asked her to go ahead and throw in a cover letter. I asked her to tell me how much that would be, and she told me. I thought it was too little, but I also told her regardless of this app, I wanted to pay her more when I got a new job. That’s me and my thing; that’s not what my post is about here. 

My first order, it was not that great. She only listed two jobs – one of them being the job I asked her to add, and the other was my most recent job that I quit within two weeks due to dangerous work conditions…so not much experience to list. She did not even add the jobs that were in the beginning before I became a traveler, which were very important. She assured me she had experience working with nurses and experience with the ATS system . 

When I hired her, the whole point was that I was a pediatric nurse but, I had a lot of experience in other things, and I needed to bring that out, so that it did not appear that my experience  was strictly children. I wanted my ER experience to be highlighted, the job as a 24 hour caregiver for my mom for eight years highlighted, and several other things I did that were not related to pediatrics. Those are the jobs she left off completely, not to mention she did not change my email like I asked her or the city town like I asked her—simple things, no biggie. She said she would be glad to revise it considering there were three revisions in my package . When she sent it back, my blood drained from my face. 

She had centered my cover letter like it was a poem, so it look like an upside down pyramid if that gives you any idea of what I was looking at. She listed my job as a 24/7 caregiver not once, but twice back to back. Her margins were completely off, cutting off words. Her headings were crooked and slanted so they were partly up in the last sentence and sliding down into the first sentence of the next paragraph. She used the same sentences over and over and over, starting with “demonstrated blah blah,” and then she would literally copy and paste that sporadically throughout, enough to catch my attention. Those are just a few. 

That was when I decided OK, I’m just going be nice but I’m going to ask her to fix it and fix it right whereas before, the little things I was just going to fix on my own. So again, I reminded her that I felt like she was doing way more than what she was charging me for, but that I would pay her more later, whether she believed me or not, but I acknowledged it. But she should not have offered it. If that’s not what she expected, I could be one of those customers that didn’t even care. So I sent the corrections to her and a day or two later she blocked me. She never once said anything negative or voiced any hesitation, or disagreements, nothing. She would say things like “it’s OK that’s part of my job”, or “no I’m fine I guarantee revisions in my package” and, “I want my customers to be happy, so I welcome feedback.”

My problem is that she did not communicate with me anything other than that. I was so nice to her when I could’ve been very demanding because I’ve worked with the public. I know how they can be. I just strive not to be that person. Not to mention, I needed to start submitting for jobs, and I gave her two weeks- even an extension because I’m an empathetic person. But for her to block me was so disrespectful and unprofessional, I was furious. All she had to do was talk to me.

Now I’ve reread her profile, and I realize that she had to have pulled that off of something. Those are not her words/ adjectives, and they are just way out there and way too above how she is writing! I don’t want somebody else to be taken advantage of . But the thing about it is, she’s false advertising for one, and two, she came back with a response to my review, claiming I was demanding and unrealistic, and I don’t know what else, but they were lies. I literally went through customer service. I had to do all these things for them step by step, and they obviously refunded my money, which was not what— I didn’t even mention or even think about the money. I simply wanted to be able to leave a review and for them to investigate to see if she had done this to others because if she had blocked people repetitively, how would anyone know if they didn’t report her? She may not have scammed anyone else; I’m not saying she did, but they sided with me because it was THAT obvious. I have the entire conversation still, and yeah, she’s false advertising and it wouldn’t take a rocket scientist to read her advertisement and see exactly what I’m talking about when I say far-fetched, and definitely way too advanced for the quality of her work.

On top of that, she does not know ATS whatsoever. Her capitalization wasn’t even correct in my résumé I was astonished . I was on here looking for something else, and I saw that she had responded to my review and that’s what got me upset again because I wasn’t lying, and I cannot stand to be accused of it. I know there are people out here that scam others. She even said I was a scammer—which y’all are probably like just leave it alone! I cannot. What if other people are being taken advantage of and what about her fellow sellers that are advertising and they choose her over another seller because she’s falsely advertising?

 I don’t know; I feel like she needs to be called out. Funny thing is, I was probably gonna pay her $100 easy;  travel nurse money is good, I just have to get back in there. I don’t know, it’s the nurse in me. I’m just very protective of people , even if it’s unsolicited.

I just noticed there was a forum, so I thought I would come add this as a buyer.

 

Beware somebody above said, investigate yes, I don’t know how but really, really look into it because her samples look great! She had good reviews, and she turned out to be not only horrible, but I swear on my life, I could’ve written a better résumé in high school than that! I would love to show people because it’s so bad it’s actually kind of comical and should be used for sellers as an example of what not to do and should be used for buyers to see how truly bad some sellers can be when advertising. So yeah, that’s my story of my very first Fiverr experience! 

[lekestue]

On 11/22/2021 at 7:41 PM, gina_riley2 said:

Actually read the sellers description on that gig. It doesn't matter what kind of gig you are buying, there is a universal sign for troublesome sellers:

* Bad grammar, misuse of punctuation, incoherent sentences, etc.

Bad grammar could also be a universal sign for lack of language skills in a platform where people from all over the world communicate in English. Yes, that includes me. And I consider myself a serious seller.

[dereck_s]

On 11/22/2021 at 1:41 PM, gina_riley2 said:

As an experienced buyer, I still find it daunting to filter thru thousands of gigs to find the right sellers. After hundreds of gig purchases, sometimes, I still get swindled by a newbie seller. Although, it's 2nd nature to me now, my 1st purchase was confusing and an overall bad experience.

A newbie buyer ordering from a newbie seller is basically, blind leading the blind. Neither one of you are sure how things work. One of you should have the experience to guide the other one on how to order, accept, and other questions.

Tips for new buyers:

1. Don't worry about levels, that's useless.

2. Look for sellers with at least 200 reviews. This will ensure the reviews are legit. Unfortunately, there are still scammers who buy or trade reviews.

3. Look at gig picture. Does it look nice or sloppy? Is it stolen off the internet (right click & reverse search) or original?

4. Actually read the sellers description on that gig. It doesn't matter what kind of gig you are buying, there is a universal sign for troublesome sellers:

* Bad grammar, misuse of punctuation, incoherent sentences, etc.

* Short description is a bad sign. The seller should write out what they will deliver and what they expect from you (the buyer).

* Sloppy description means sloppy delivery. If you see things like: Sir, Dear, etc. Not a good sign.

5. Do not message them via inbox, unless it's necessary.  As a buyer, once you contact a seller that way, they have unlimited access to contact you. It's a headache.

* Most established sellers should know better but not all of them follow the rules. You can get spammed with buy one get one free offer that you don't need or want.

* If you find a great seller that you are confident about then by all means have a convo with them about the order.

* If you have to message them, don't do a, "Hello, are you there." They may think you are a spammer. Add your question that wasn't answered in the gig description.

6. I know that there are different customs around the world where price negotiations are an every day thing. This platform is not one of them. Don't ask for a discount or offer them future work. There is no way to guarantee that. Established sellers will politely tell you to go away and then block you.

7. Regardless of who you hire, order a sample gig first. If they don't have a sample gig, it's okay to ask them, "Can I ask for a $10 or $20 sample?"

* They can send you a custom offer where they can do a small portion of your project. Afterwards, either you fit or not. Don't ask for modifications on a sample order.

* Don't ask for free samples. Time is money. You're not sampling wedding cakes for free, this is a freelance platform, pay for it!

* If sample is good or fits your need, discuss the project and place order.

* If sample isn't what you wanted, say thank you and go elsewhere. Just chaulk up your $20 as cost of doing business.

Note: In order for me to have found some really amazing sellers, I had to spend money on not so good and/or nightmare sellers. Don't let your first experience be a bad one. Buy from an established, well rounded seller.

After you've gained experience in buying, then you can trek into the pool of newbies to get yourself that diamond in a haystack. Many great and true professional sellers have to start here as a newbie and they need a chance.

Happy holidays everyone. 💙💛🤎

You're totally right about the levels, they pretty much mean nothing now in terms of a buyer using it as a metric to help ensure a good product. Great post that is well said and well written.