Suspicious buyer request (is this allowed?!)

[tiffny]

I’ve been a member of fiverr for over a year, but I only recently started getting gigs as a seller, so I’m still a little green when it comes to buyer/seller protocol. I tried looking through the FAQ and Support forums, but I couldn’t quite find the answer I was looking for.



Here is my situation: I was recently contacted by a buyer who was interested in one of my gigs. The order is a large order, or rather it would be spread out over several orders. What I’m suspicious about is this:

-buyer wants me to complete samples first and then after noting any revisions they want, they say they will submit the orders.

-after I ‘complete’ the order revisions, buyer says they will then tack on an extra quantity of orders (that are in reality not real) in order to boost my stats.



In my excitement of getting my first potential sell, I did not think it through what they were asking until today when I re-read their message. So my question is, is this allowed? Also, how does selling work? Aren’t they (the buyers) supposed to buy the gig first? If their request is “illegal” on fiverr, what do I do?



Thanks in advance!

[cheezees]

Run. Run far away. Be very wary of buyers who promise large amounts of work only after receiving some work for free. If you already have samples of your work on your gig page, there is no need for more “free” samples. Ask them to pay for the samples they want, especially if the gig is just $5.



Again, avoid buyers like this. Or, show them a sample that is heavily watermarked. (You’d be surprised at how many buyers would then ask you to remove the watermark before they can “show it to their coworkers” aka they are trying to get the finished product for free.



Ruuuuuuuuunnnnnn!

[tiffny]

Reply to @kjblynx: Thank you for answering! I haven’t started the work yet because something wasn’t sitting right about their initial messages to me, plus the fact that they haven’t sent an order kind of solidifies my suspicions.

[tiffny]

Reply to @cheezees: Hi! Thanks for your answer! Yes, I think I’m going to contact them and tell them ‘nope, no thank you!’ When they contacted me, there were samples on my gig page and they seemed cool with me telling them the ‘samples’ would be in low resolution and watermarked but I’m sure they can get around that if they’re sneaky enough to try to get work for free.



(not to mention they basically want me to re-draw various artists’ work in my own style, which in itself set off a red flag…)



I’m going to follow yours and kjblynx’s advice and pass on this one. Thank you two again for the advice!

[cheezees]

Reply to @tiffny: You’re welcome. :-). Be careful!