Freelancers keep blocking me!

[aouadizoubaier]

Hello,

 

I worked with several freelancers on the platform for quit long time, one thing i noticed is that at anytime you can get blocked by a freelancer without a clear reason !

Last couple of blocks (happened one after another lol) the freelancers this time said "i dont have time for this project" then boom blocked me ? im someone who take his time before hiring, to know im hiring the right person and to answer questions etc, is chatting/discussing for long time can affect freelancer's profile if they didint end up getting hired ? cause thats maybe the commun thing between them all.

 

Anyone have any explanations ?

[anniejenkinson]

It sounds as though sellers *possibly* perceive you could be an 'awkward buyer', i.e. asking too many questions before committing, raising all the red flags about whether you are a genuine buyer and/or whether you are too demanding in terms of how much chat you expect both before and after purchase.

Sure, we expect and want questions but some buyers just sound: **way too cautious/as if they expect the project to fail/as if they want too much for little spend/as if they really don't want to commission or spend at all/are looking for faults before we even begin/are simply always living in our inboxes with more and more questions each time we log in to help a different person/are always lurking, looking to see if we have logged on yet so we can answer more and more.**

*Cross out which do not apply! 😄

As a quick example, anyone who asks something like 'how easy is it to get a refund if I am not satisfied', or 'how many revisions do I get', or 'can you do a free sample' (or even asking for a paid sample from a busy seller!) or 'if I pay more, can you put me before everyone else' (yes, I really get that) will sound like someone who's hard to work for.

It does come across from your description above that sellers are deterred by something you're saying or the attitude they think (note, I say 'think') you show in the messages. Even if the content of your messages is fine, it may simply be that you're sending a lot of questions that trigger the warning siren! Busy sellers look for commitment after a reasonable period of time, so if you ask Top-Rated Sellers or Level-2 sellers too many questions, they will just move to a different client since many of us are so busy we are turning work away more than accepting it.

Some buyers have the view that we're desperate for work and that we need to keep 'proving ourselves'. Many of us have way too many work requests and we choose the jobs that look most enticing or the clients we'd love to help.

Every hour we spend answering messages from the same client can take away time from our other clients, so keep questions 'reasonable', a word that's open to interpretation!

I hope things improve for you. You sound very genuine and deserve a good seller.

Annie

[smashradio]

2 hours ago, aouadizoubaier said:

is chatting/discussing for long time can affect freelancer's profile if they didint end up getting hired ? cause thats maybe the commun thing between them all.

Here's the thing. I get a bunch of messages every day. A lot of them are from "buyers" who are fishing for information/inspiration, but with no real intention to buy. Others will want to chat for hours about the project before getting started, meaning they basically want me to work for free (spending time on your project is working!) and they have little to no respect for my time or process. 

This isn't to say that I don't take the time to discuss a project with a potential buyer before setting up their custom offer. That is only good business sense. 

But if a buyer sends me a 3000 word brief for a 50 dollar order, I'm not going to be very interested, am I? 

Or if a buyer wants to spend two hours chatting before starting a simple project? Well then I might just ask to get paid for my "consulation services", since, in my experience, they're after one thing, and one thing only: free advice.

Even if the project gets off the ground, I've just wasted two hours of my life working on a project for next to nothing, and that's before I know if I'll get paid or not. Yikes!

So if you're that kind of buyer, you do risk turning a lot of freelancers off.

If a gig is priced at 10 dollars, 20 dollars or even 30 dollars, don't expect the seller to take hours out of their day to consider your project.

They might have real orders in their dashboard, waiting to be completed, or messages from buyers with more simple enquiries. 

Don't get me wrong. I'm all for vetting your sellers before launching a project. But having realistic expectations about what you'll get for free, should be part of your consideration. If you want to use the seller as a consultant, you better make it worth their while: you do so by placing the order. 

Does this mean you should just launch into a project with no information from the buyer first? Of course not. But make sure you respect their time as professionals. 

I just spent about 30 minutes discussing with a buyer about a project. That was coming up to my limit. If it had went further, I would've kindly informed them that I would be happy to consult on this further, but since my time is limited, I have to focus on paid projects at this time. I would then suggest that we move the conversation inside an active order. 

I don't work for free. But I also know the importance of making a buyer feel safe about the choice of seller, so I'm not going to block them at the first sign of doubt. 

P.S. You sound like you just want to be sure about the seller before paying them. I totally get that and i commend you for it. There's far too many low-quality gigs out there, to spend your money without some form of a vetting process first. But try to keep it short, simple and to the point, without too much back and forth. If you have a big and difficult project, reach out to the seller, test the waters, and if it feels right, ask them if you could hire them as a consultant first, to hammer out the details of the project and help you decide on how to move forward. If you're offering to pay them for that work, they might be more inclined to help you out. 

Best of luck! 😄 

Edited July 1, 2022 by smashradio

[nika_3dartist]

I generally don't block anyone unless the person is a clear scammer, or the buyer caused me some serious troubles and I feel like getting away before they can message me again in the future. However:

Quote

im someone who take his time before hiring, to know im hiring the right person and to answer questions etc, is chatting/discussing for long time can affect freelancer's profile if they didint end up getting hired ? cause thats maybe the commun thing between them all.

I definitely value a potential customer who doesn't blindly order only to be disappointed later because they didn't ask enough questions (nor checked my full gig description and FAQ section), but some sellers just want to go straight to the point, myself included. When a conversation about a project becomes too long, it may look like the buyer in question is not really interested in my service, or they are just trying to decide who to go with (which is fine) and can't yet place an order. Once I have provided all the needed informations and we have agreed on the price, I expect the buyer to either purchase my gig or come back later for it. If the conversation continues without a real purpose, with countless questions that make me feel like I'm not trustworthy, I may see the client as someone who isn't serious enough to work with (I may fear recurring problems in the future too).

In other words, I guess it depends on how you present your messages to sellers. Be sure to sound professional and genuine without demanding too much for a low price (as other people have already said), although asking a few questions is totally fine.