Buyer seems to ghost me after a month of work

[josh_oh]

I've helped this client for a month now and this has to be one of the longest orders (typically my orders last 1-2 weeks) sometimes with empty revisions to delay acceptance which I allowed initially as eventually I always closed the order 100% but now that we're reaching the end (I give three revisions and I actually did 2 extra for free out of courtesy), I have a feeling that the client is ghosting me. As I've been a freelancer for a year now, somehow when you feel something is off, it tends to be true I think because typical reply time was around 3 days but now it's been a week without replying me, passing the ball to my court with an empty revision saying he'll get back to me. 

I've already sent a friendly reminder to review and based on reading the fiverr forum, I'll wait a few more days and then send the latest file back to him, but I somehow have a feeling he will then unghost me and start doing this toxic revision request or cancellations. In the worst case scenario, how helpful is fiverr support when it comes to dispute? 

[samus_x]

Hi josh_oh 👋

I have a straightforward solution, but first a little foreword.

I really know the feeling of what is happening to you as I believe everyone faces this kind of buyer multiple times during their career. Although the "Spidey sense" of a freelancer are often correct, I suggest you to face the situation without any kind of bias so you will be sure to act 100% correctly (and therefore be able to ask for help to CS in case you needed any).

First of all you should redeliver the order (attaching all of the things you need to attach) and tell the seller that revisions are not a tool "to buy time" (link them the TOS page if needed https://www.fiverr.com/support/articles/360010452657).

Then you should also highlight the fact that, even if they paid for 3 revisions, you gave them 5, so 2 additional revision for free and they should be thankful for that (give this "gift" of yours as much value as you can when speaking to them). Of course do not write "you should be thankful", always avoid rudeness or the link, but make them understand this message with the correct roundabout expression.

If they really need more time then they can ask for a time extension of the order directly to CS from the order page, that should be the correct procedure.

In any case, you are free to deliver and ask them to either extend delivery time (in case it is time they need) or accept delivery, because as of now they are abusing the revision mechanics and therefore are not following Fiverr's rules.

Of course all of this might be useless if they do not answer but in any case, after writing them all of that 👆 if they still do not answer for a couple of days, you can go to CS asking for help and they will see that, even if the customer ignored you, you gave them all of the intel and tools they needed in order to act correctly, so there will be no more excuses.

[josh_oh]

4 hours ago, samus_x said:

Hi josh_oh 👋

I have a straightforward solution, but first a little foreword.

I really know the feeling of what is happening to you as I believe everyone faces this kind of buyer multiple times during their career. Although the "Spidey sense" of a freelancer are often correct, I suggest you to face the situation without any kind of bias so you will be sure to act 100% correctly (and therefore be able to ask for help to CS in case you needed any).

First of all you should redeliver the order (attaching all of the things you need to attach) and tell the seller that revisions are not a tool "to buy time" (link them the TOS page if needed https://www.fiverr.com/support/articles/360010452657).

Then you should also highlight the fact that, even if they paid for 3 revisions, you gave them 5, so 2 additional revision for free and they should be thankful for that (give this "gift" of yours as much value as you can when speaking to them). Of course do not write "you should be thankful", always avoid rudeness or the link, but make them understand this message with the correct roundabout expression.

If they really need more time then they can ask for a time extension of the order directly to CS from the order page, that should be the correct procedure.

In any case, you are free to deliver and ask them to either extend delivery time (in case it is time they need) or accept delivery, because as of now they are abusing the revision mechanics and therefore are not following Fiverr's rules.

Of course all of this might be useless if they do not answer but in any case, after writing them all of that 👆 if they still do not answer for a couple of days, you can go to CS asking for help and they will see that, even if the customer ignored you, you gave them all of the intel and tools they needed in order to act correctly, so there will be no more excuses.

Thank you for the detailed response, I appreciate it. I can always handle picky customers but customers with ill intent is something I hope not come across but like you said I should still execute systematically and build my case around it. I will wait a day or two more then resubmit the deliverables, which then we'll find out what the buyer's true intent is based on how he reacts. One question is when a buyer does time extension, does it work like a revision where the ball is in my court or the order is in delivered status but has a longer time to review instead of a typically 3 day auto-closure?

[samus_x]

@josh_oh if the buyer will ask for a time extension then it will simply add X days to the countdown, but revisions and delivery will work as usual.

In the end they will be required to either accept or accept, because revisions cannot be used as they do, and time extension could trigger some CS reaction if they will ask for it multiple times. In any case you did everything you had to do to be on the righteous side.

Unfortunately dishonest customers will always come across your path. One useful tip I can give you additionally is how to block a user you have not done business with yet.

In case, while communicating before they place an order, you see too many red flags and want to prevent them from ordering one of your gigs, you will be able to block them from the Fiverr mobile app (from desktop you can block a buyer only if they already ordered from you). This trick helped me a TON of times.