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Is the seller "burning bridges" or just saving themselves from potential trouble?


markvideodesign

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Hello there fellow Sellers, usually I do not post on Fiverr forums, but felt the need today to do so.

Yesterday I politely contacted a seller asking if they would like to engage in a complimentary partnership. I asked whether they would like to refer me for their clients, and I would do the same for them, since our gigs are in the same industry but are exclusively complimentary, that is, I do not do what they do, and vice versa. Of course we would take the time to evaluate each other to see if it's a match, this was not supposed to be an irresponsible adventure.

I am aware doing this kind of partnership is not against Fiverr's Terms of Service or any other norm on the platform.

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Hi there, Steve!

First of all, congratulations on your web design gigs. Your work looks splendid! And very well done marketing, too.

I am a video editor specialized in elearning and online courses. I only edit videos for coaches, wellbeing instructors, teachers etc. But I only work with the videos part.

Some of my clients ask me about setting up their online course pages (think ific, teach able, ka jabi etc), and I do not offer this kind of service, and have no one to refer them to. You seem to do this kind of work, but do not work with videos, right?

I was wondering whether you would be interested in some kind of partnership, where I can refer clients to you regarding setting up web pages, and you could do the same about video editing.

Additionally we could exchange information about this industry, if you would like to.

But to know we can be on the same page, I would love to hear from you, about what do you think. Do you have anybody else which already does videos for you? Are you interested in this?

Thanks in advance, again congratulations on your work, you seem to only have 5 star ratings and that is awesome!

Of course I only thought about you because of your buyer feedbacks.

Looking forward hearing from you.

- Mark

I am totally aware it's entirely up to them whether they would even read my message, however I was taken by surprise when I saw that they have just blocked me, despite the message being so crafted and respectful.

I do not judge and try to not misinterpret it as being rude or unprofessional. I think there must be a completely valid reasoning behind that, and that's why I came here to have some feedback on the matter - I will continue to try forming these kind of partnerships as long as it benefits all the parts.

1) Is there something you think could have happened to them to justify the need to block me? Maybe avoiding potential trouble?

2) Would you do that yourself, considering you're not interested in the proposal, maybe just to save time?

3) Would you consider that as "burning bridges" if networking on Fiverr were to be taken seriously?

4) Or are they only trying to waste the least amount of time in a conversation in which they would just say "no" to?

5) Or even if they already have a partner that does what I would do, I promptly brought the matter first thing, so It was clear I wouldn't get in the way of their business. Or was it?

Anyway, thanks for your time reading all of this, and I appreciate all feedback and insight from you guys.

Happy selling,

-Mark

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Ooh boy...

Messaging a seller for any reason besides inquiring about a gig or placing an order is considered spam and violates the ToS, no matter how "thoughtful," "well crafted," or "respectful" the text of the message is.

1. They don't require justification. Blocking can be conducted for any reason one personally deems fit.

2. In a heartbeat.

3. One does not "network" via messaging Fiverr accounts. Networking can be conducted via a multitude of other venues. If you message a Fiverr seller, it needs to be in regards to a gig or prospective order.

4. Can't speak for the person who blocked you, but simply blocking you would be the most direct method of getting the intended point across.

5. Who knows. That is personal information that the seller doesn't need to disclose.

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@enunciatorThanks for your prompt reply. Though I still examine the matter. Given the context of that rule, it is made to prevent scamming by asking for personal data. Do you have any story or a case that further illustrates that interpretation of the Terms in a similar situation? Or is it the current interpretation by Sellers?

For point 3. Do you mean it is healthier to go outside the platform and conduct the business there? Wouldn't that violate the ToS on the spot disregarding interpretation?

 

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5 minutes ago, markvideodesign said:

Do you have any story or a case that further illustrates that interpretation of the Terms in a similar situation? Or is it the current interpretation by Sellers?

There are PLENTY of instances that can be cited on the forum alone of people sending non-gig or order related messages to other users on the platform and receiving warnings, suspension, or even account termination. It is not simply an interpretation of the rules, it is explicitly listed in the rules and standards. Here is an excerpt from the Fiverr Community Standards:

image.thumb.png.8081502c7188f31d3c3b4809a19983b2.png

10 minutes ago, markvideodesign said:

For point 3. Do you mean it is healthier to go outside the platform and conduct the business there? Wouldn't that violate the ToS on the spot disregarding interpretation?

I made no such suggestion to conduct business outside of the platform. I mentioned conducting "networking" outside of the platform, which violates no Fiverr-specific terms or conditions.

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1 hour ago, enunciator said:

It is not simply an interpretation of the rules, it is explicitly listed in the rules and standards. Here is an excerpt from the Fiverr Community Standards:

Thanks for your feedback, something I think I can see now is, it doesn't depend absolutely on the content of what you write. If people fancy flagging you as spam, they'll do it anyway and it can be detrimental to your account, and nothing you could do about it. So it might be smart not to contact people, based off that alone. Sellers might be fearful of having their accounts banned too, so that's why they immediately flag as spam to not get involved.

 

Here are some of my current thoughts:

But what bogs me is, there does seem to be a bit of interpretation here.

It was a matter of who would place the order, me or the people I was supposed to refer to them. I could even place the order myself and deliver to the original buyer if I wanted to and no way I would be against ToS. As I see it, my inquiry was indeed related to their gig in the first place. If the conversation started about asking their gig features they would go on. Later I could explain, it could become a problem if I outsourced and could ask him if he would be okay with that referral system. Then If they were interested, there could be a partnership from that conversation and Fiverr would be totally ok with that, as long as clients don't hop out of the platform.

If I had proceeded with the above, behaving more like a buyer, I'm pretty sure no one would think about spam or reporting. And the essence of the contact wouldn't change a bit. Thus a viable networking.

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4 hours ago, markvideodesign said:

Anyway, thanks for your time reading all of this, and I appreciate all feedback and insight from you guys.

Have you considered putting up a post here in the forum, indicating who you are and what sort of partner you are looking for?  You could explore starting a "Fiverr Studio" if you found the right person.  The only downside is that for every serious person who may contact you (you could ask them to DM you here in the forum), you will most likely receive dozens of semi literate, "exparts" from a certain location begging you for work.  You can just block them in one click.  But you may find that person who is a great match.

 

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47 minutes ago, newsmike said:

Have you considered putting up a post here in the forum, indicating who you are and what sort of partner you are looking for?  You could explore starting a "Fiverr Studio" if you found the right person.  The only downside is that for every serious person who may contact you (you could ask them to DM you here in the forum), you will most likely receive dozens of semi literate, "exparts" from a certain location begging you for work.  You can just block them in one click.  But you may find that person who is a great match.

Awesome idea, I haven't thought about that because I, for instance, did not care too much about the forums up until now, but maybe this whole post was needed for me to realize this and begin at some point.

If anybody reading this wants to contact me privately about working together, I receive you with open arms.

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3 hours ago, markvideodesign said:

Thanks for your feedback, something I think I can see now is, it doesn't depend absolutely on the content of what you write. If people fancy flagging you as spam, they'll do it anyway and it can be detrimental to your account, and nothing you could do about it.

Most people won't flag messages as spam randomly. I wouldn't. I only flag spam messages when it's actually random spam. I receive at least 2-3 messages from others to work with me/ for me every week, this weekend I had 3 messages in a day for that thing alone. I clearly don't want to work with others, I even state on my gig page that I work alone. So for me it becomes a headache to deal with people that just send random messages. 

I don't care about partnerships, I am not looking for one and if I would, Fiverr isn't the first place I would look for others. But to each person his own. As others stated above, sending random messages that have nothing to do with a potential order is breaching the TOS, so you shouldn't continue sending this type of messages. You might have the right to send messages revoked. 

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3 hours ago, donnovan86 said:

I receive at least 2-3 messages from others to work with me/ for me every week, this weekend I had 3 messages in a day for that thing alone. I clearly don't want to work with others, I even state on my gig page that I work alone.

Thanks for your contribution @donnovan86.

Just to clarify, If you did happen to want to work with some of these sellers despite them being on Fiverr (perhaps if they had a good performance like yours currently and you felt you could team up with them), would you rule them out?

Are they seen as 'random spam' enough to be flagged by your standards? Or would you just block them?

4 hours ago, newsmike said:

If you need a voice over artist... I sorta know a guy. 😎

I see what you did there! By the way, congratulations on your gig. Splendid sales video and lovely brands to work with.

( Maybe when we're on the same league we could team up! I'm wondering if it's worth to move on to Fiverr Pro at this point. )

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1 hour ago, markvideodesign said:

I'm wondering if it's worth to move on to Fiverr Pro at this point

You should absolutely apply.  Then you can decide if you want to do so if approved.  It is essentially:

1. 40 orders per week at $5

2.  2 orders per week at $100

Of course the buyers are so much better in #2.

 

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Hi there,

I myself have received such a message before, and yes, I DID end up agreeing with the seller's suggestions and when I get too busy
I send the buyers over to him. For me personally I did not see his message as spam because the message WAS related to my gig,
in fact I thought it was a good idea and it helped each other a lot.
His approach was very polite and professional, and for me there was no problem. I seriously do not see it as spam, even till this day.
If I get a similar message from another seller, my reaction will be the same.
Having that said though, I can see that for some people it just doesn't matter how nice you sound.

I get the feeling if you ask 20 sellers, their reactions will be 50-50.

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7 hours ago, markvideodesign said:

Just to clarify, If you did happen to want to work with some of these sellers despite them being on Fiverr (perhaps if they had a good performance like yours currently and you felt you could team up with them), would you rule them out?

 

I don't work with others on Fiverr. One way or another you end up in trouble, unless you do that via the Studios feature. And even then, you must find reliable people that you know can deliver. Plus, I don't feel ok misleading people like a lot of sellers do here, saying they do all the work on Fiverr, then they state on social media they just work 10 hours per week and everything is outsourced. 

I, for one, prefer just to work on everything myself, it's the way I do it. 

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I think fiverr is full of users (buyers and sellers alike) who don’t take rejection well. 

You may receive the most polite and well-crafted inquiry like yours, respectfully decline and get insulted immediately after. Not in a way that can be reported, too, in a sneaky, passive-aggressive way. 

Or, which is even worse, you’ll find yourself being dragged into an hour-long conversation of “but why” and “how so”. By fiverr’s standards, 1 hour is a catastrophic waste of time. I can get 50% of an order done in that timeframe. 

So on a very busy day I’d probably block a message like this. On a free day, I’d just politely decline. I do agree that Fiverr Studio sounds like a good option exactly for what you plan to do. You’ll look more legit and get less knee-jerk reactions from other sellers.

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