Fiverr Select doesn't always mean Good Experience

[nika_3dartist]

Hey there everyone, I hope you are all doing great!

I'm creating this post to share my very fresh experience and also to warn you all about something I've been noticing for a while.

If you are a seller, certainly you will receive a message from a so called "Fiverr Select" buyer at least once. Seeing this might be pretty reassuring at first, because if means the person is very active on the platform and can be trusted. In fact, if you check their profile, you can see a few 5 stars review, which just reinforces that certainty, right?

Well, unfortunately, all that glitters is not gold as they say.

Last week I got a new message from someone who already purchased from me in the past. I completed an order a few months back and I actually didn't really have any issue with it. This time, the person basically wanted the same 3D hairstyle I created for them, but in mesh form instead of groom for gaming purposes. They sent me a file with a model that looked unfinished, saying I could use it as reference for the old hair mesh he received from someone else and that they wanted replaced because it wasn't good.

They first asked for a discount since he could no longer use the previous file and I said I couldn't really reduce the price much as I still did what was requested, no matter the final purpose. Then they corrected their statement like: "Oh no I meant additional revision" which is different than what they said but okay.

So I made the offer, added 2 revisions + 1, they accepted and the order started. I showed them the hair preview yesterday and at first it seemed okay, except that I apparently used the other model instead of the one he sent. It didn't seem clear to me that what he gave me the other day was the updated design since he talked about it as reference, but clearly I made a mistake and I immediatly corrected it. I took the finished hair, transferred it to the other modeled, fixed the shape and it was good as new. Here I could already notice some weird attitude with the person saying: "Wait, but I see you used the old model. I sent you another file, why do I see the other version?"
It right away sounded like an accusation, but since it was clearly an error on my part, there wasn't really much to say about it.

But then, after the first delivery, they came back to me saying they were getting an annoying issue with strange black outlines showing up on the hair. At first I explained it might be just about some intersections between the cards, but also that it surely wouldn't appear out of the program we were using. They didn't seem convinced, on the contrary they acted passive aggressive and basically said I was doing it wrong, even making a comparison with other hair meshes they had (only to realize the same was happening on one of them). I took some time to fix those cards and reduce the intersections, sent the edited file and still, it wasn't enough. Then I realized the black lines could disappear completely by toggling a button in the program and they confirmed it was indeed solved. After that, they used the revision button (which wasn't used before) to request a new texture for the hair. I followed their instructions, baked a new one and edited the file once again. However, today I felt the need to clarify that the first request would still cound as a first revision, since I made a bunch of edits on the hair. The person suddenly became extremely angry, accused me of robbing them of a free revision because all I did was toggling a button, they completely disregarded all the work I did, which still improved things one way or another. When I tried to explain what happened, also clarifying they had a third revision available, they continued attacking me and saying they will just take the delivery and go somewhere else, defining my work as "crap" and stating they wouldn't leave any feedback (clearly a shady move to keep their reputation intact).

Needless to say that I felt extremely humiliated and treated way less than a human being. I suspect they may do this with other sellers and just avoid leaving reviews so that their Fiverr Select title can remain intact.

Recently though, I noticed a similar behavior from at least two other Fiverr select buyers, who thankfully didn't end up ordering from me. I have the impression that, some of these people, just take their badge as an excuse to be entitled and demand things the way they want. If a seller does not comply, then the whole tanthrum begins.

I just wanted you guys to know that you should be careful. Not all buyers are like this of course, but be sure these people will not cross the line and use their abusive behavior to get what they want from you. In my case, I'm pretty sure the person tried to get even more revisions by intentionally avoiding the button for some of the requests they wanted to make.

 

 

[cs_evans]

18 minutes ago, nika_3dartist said:

Needless to say that I felt extremely humiliated and treated way less than a human being.

It is sometimes hard not to take things personally when being attacked, but just remember no one can make you feel anything you don't want to feel. You are the master of how you choose to interpret this. At the very least it is a learning experience. 

Now that I have given an unsolicited affirmation, I get what you are saying about the power of a badge, and it can be quite true, but generalities kind of muddy the water.  I have a bad habit of convincing myself people who only want to pay $5 or $10 for a high-quality gig are way pickier than those who are willing to pay more.  Your points above remind us to all treat our businesses with care and operate them by the guidelines we setup. 

[nika_3dartist]

1 minute ago, cs_evans said:

It is sometimes hard not to take things personally when being attacked, but just remember no one can make you feel anything you don't want to feel. You are the master of how you choose to interpret this. At the very least it is a learning experience. 

Now that I have given an unsolicited affirmation, I get what you are saying about the power of a badge, and it can be quite true, but generalities kind of muddy the water.  I have a bad habit of convincing myself people who only want to pay $5 or $10 for a high-quality gig are way pickier than those who are willing to pay more.  Your points above remind us to all treat our businesses with care and operate them by the guidelines we setup. 

Oh yes absolutely! I had my fair share of bad experiences in my two years of selling here and I can say that the positive ones were definitely more.
Still, I wanted to share this little story because I often see that people suffer from similar experiences and they don't know what to do when it happens. Similar behaviors can be seriously harmful, for some more than others.

For sure, that is why I clarified "not all buyers are the same", because indeed the last thing I wanted to do was to make a generalization about the category. I'm just saying that sometimes we have to be careful and if something doesn't really sit right with us, no matter the outcome we should stand our ground (professionally of course). But I absolutely agree with you, the ones wanted a big work for cheap often make things clear from the start, expecting the work within the next 24 hours or applying a good bunch of things that would each increase the basic price 😄