How do deal with pushy buyers threatening you?

[joyh97]

Hey, I'm really stressed right now.

A buyer messaged me asking for a NSFW recording, to which i politely declined multiple times, sending him the terms and conditions which show this is prohibited.

He kept trying to tell me it was fine and people have done it for him before, even sending me screenshots of fiverr sellers who have done the recording for him (nothing explicit, it was fetish material, but still, this felt like a huge privacy violation to them, since they didn't have his consent to share that).

I eventually blocked him because it made me so uncomfortable and stressed, since I've dealt with people like that before in real life who just refuse to take no for an answer, and it's honestly very triggering for me to go through.

He then made a second account to continue to message me and threatened to make a website to post my name and say I'm rude and nasty (because I blocked him).

I know in the grand scheme of things this probably isn't a big deal but I have quite bad anxiety and this situation has just really stressed me out. 😞 I've sent a message to customer service about it so they hopefully don't let him message me from other accounts he might make...

Maybe I made it worse by reaching out to CS and the harassment will just continue... I guess I just wanted to get this off my chest and have some reassurance that I made the right choice

Edited May 31, 2022 by joyh97

[mateusbl]

I think you know well the terms of the platform and you made the right thing by contacting the CS. 

- The users can not have more than one account;
- Threaten is not allowed.
- NSFW is not allowed.

For sure these 3 points are redflag to avoid this kind of buyer, and to take some action by contacting the Support.

[katakatica]

39 minutes ago, joyh97 said:

Maybe I made it worse by reaching out to CS and the harassment will just continue... I guess I just wanted to get this off my chest and have some reassurance that I made the right choice

First thing first - your concerns are valid. But it will be okay. (I had a whiff of anxiety just reading this, can't even imagine how scary it must be.) 
But it IS true - you have a case against them. CS will HAVE to take your side on this one (I mean, you are being threathened and harrassed just because you don't wish to break the TOS/and just in general have limits about what you want to do, which is...normal.

I would ignore them/screenshot all the threaths/etc. (give CS as much material as you can) and maybe even get away from the screen for a bit. Make yourself some nice tea/etc. and wait for CS to reply, but try not to stress about it (I...know that's hard.)

Point is, you were completely in the right to write to CS on this one! I hope they will be able to just block the user's IP completely or something. 
(as for creating a whole website to shame you... that IS very... stalkerish, to be honest, but even if they go through with it, you can likely have it taken down for defamation/etc.) I'd guess at least!

[fastcopywriter]

Sometimes I like to refer buyers to other sellers. When I wrote brand names, I referred anything to do with logistics or high tech to others.  Sometimes buyers are dumb, they don't read the gig, they assume the seller does anything. 

Today I sent a custom offer for $30, the buyer telling me my gig says it's $20. So I sent him my gig link. The things I do to make $24 instead of $16. lol 

[callyofficial]

The first thing I would do is stop communicating with him. It's clear he's persistent and not listening to reason, so nothing you say will help, and he'll use your responses to prolong the situation. Contact Fiverr support as already mentioned and they can tell you the best course of action to take.

[Alex.M]

2 hours ago, joyh97 said:

I know in the grand scheme of things this probably isn't a big deal but I have quite bad anxiety and this situation has just really stressed me out. 😞 I've sent a message to customer service about it so they hopefully don't let him message me from other accounts he might make

You did the right thing , stop talking with him , block him even if he makes 100 account ( multiple accounts are agains the tos as someone said above as well ) and that's all , if he tries again , report / contact support again . That's all,you can discuss with support about this as many times it's necessary 

[newsmike]

2 hours ago, joyh97 said:

 I guess I just wanted to get this off my chest and have some reassurance that I made the right choice

Rather than just reaching out to CS, who are swamped with routine buyer disputes, I would suggest contacting Trust & Safety and tell them that you were harassed, and do not feel safe.  I think that might be taken with a higher priority. 

[damooch916]

Actually… (and I’m totally not supposed to do this) … 

There is a procedure that long-term Fiverrians use to rid ourselves of pests, without the help of customer service.

Guys like @frank_d and @newsmikewill tell you that a possible desperate remedy, last resort, “use at your own risk” recourse is available. Beyond that they won’t talk about it. In fact, if you press them further to the topic, they’ll develop amnesia and give you that finger-across-the throat move.

Point is, it’s very exclusive.

We’re taking executive level bathroom exclusive.

But as a recognized member/current “Administer of Offense” on the “Fiverrian Council,” I’m making the administrative decision to let you in on the way we deal with the problematic. 

We call it the “Nicky Batts” option.

Despite the pedestrian expression, the “Nicky Batts” option adheres to a strict method. It requires three steps:

1) Council votes to “handle” a problematic individual. 

2) Council retrieves the “napkin of the nameless phone number.”

3) Council calls the number and finishes with the “post call eating of the Doritos.”

Simple enough, right? Not so fast! 

A decision like this is nuanced and requires precision. Firstly, you have to resign yourself to living with having unleashed this sort of “secret resolution” into the world.

See, no one actually knows Nicky Batts. He’s a rumor. A speculation. He’s a whisper dancing in the panic of a secret rendezvous. He’s the monster standing just beyond the door you didn’t lock. He’s the spaghetti that you dare not eat after reheating in the microwave.

He’s bad news.

Bad. Like when you take your car to get serviced, and you totally have an appointment, but then you have to wait because ten other cars are there, and you’re thinking, “why even give me the appointment? Why not just tell me, ‘sure bring it in at three, here’s two magazines on zoology of the late 90’s and a television that can’t be bothered to make sound. Either way, we’ll do it when we do it.”

He’s bad news like that. 

Note: I’d like to take a moment and dispel any lingering rumors that I, myself, am Nicky Batts. Where did you even hear such a preposterous lie? Was it Mike? I bet it was Mike. Well, for the record Mike, I already had that fedora. Lots of people have baseball bats in their passenger side seats. Just because you had a few customers message you and say “did you send this guy here to threaten me…” and then they suddenly couldn’t be reached, that’s coincidence. Besides, I was just messaging them to help. I just have one of those very manly, very intimidating faces. They probably didn’t realize how friendly I was being. Maybe they just went for a long vacation? 
 

Anyways. Next is the call. The instructions must be executed to specification and without error. 
 

* The phone will ring twice. 
* Someone will answer without speaking. 
* You then say the special phrase: “Count Basie’s socks are in the oven but the turtle doesn’t wear its underpants.” 
* A voice will ask: “Who is up to bat?”

At this point, you give the details and go about your business.

So, there you go. Currently, the books are closed for council submissions, but we may consider helping you - only if you understand that one day, we may come to you for a favor.

Or donuts. We also accept donuts. 

[lalitsdmittal]

When you see that if he is messaging you again, Just Block him. Otherwise tell fiverr support, they will block it's IP and he/she will not able to create new account.

[smashradio]

You did the right thing. But as @newsmike said - reach out to Trust and Safety with this one. People like this shouldn't be allowed to be on the platform. 

[catwriter]

In addition to what others have said, and if something like this happens in the future (someone else asks for a NSFW recording), you can simply say that you don't offer that service.

When you mention the rules, they can say that it's ok, others did it too. But when you say that you don't offer that service, you leave them without that option. If you don't offer it, you don't offer it.

Something like that has worked for me in the past.