Blocked someone, yet they were still able to place an order

[donnovan86]

I talked about a person that purposefully rated me 4 stars without any communication, telling me what's wrong, they just rated me that and sent a message saying they will need more articles. Obviously such a rating left a sour taste in my mouth, I told them I am in vacation next week (which I was), and during the vacation I decided to block them, because while their experience was great, mine was lackluster. But 2 days after I blocked them, that person was still able to place a new order. I don't get how they were able to do so, since they were blocked, unless there was an error, or blocking doesn't stop people from ordering anyway.

Now they rated me 4.3, again without any communication, when I asked if everything was ok, they said it was excellent, and then no reply about anything, no revision... Did you guys encounter stuff like this, blocked people being able to place orders? I am not sure what to do, I blocked them again because I feel my work is underappreciated and I am ignored, which isn't exactly what you want to feel as a creative.. 4+ ratings are not bad, but the lack of communication and that feeling you are treated like a robot and random reviews without any revisions or explanation what was wrong really feel bad for me, hence the reason why I decided to block this person. 

I am curious if other sellers had people they blocked place an order....

[vickieito]

@donnovan86 - I just barely started blocking people, so I'm also curious to hear what others have to say on this.

I thought that if you blocked someone, you not only stop their communication, but you also stop them from ordering from you (otherwise, what's the purpose of the blocking)?

I refuse to work with buyers who have poor communication and can't provide me with the feedback I need to deliver an excellent product. It would be horrible if those same people turned around and then ordered from me. I would probably end up canceling right away. However, that would cause me to drop a level or levels if I do that too often.

Have you reached out to your Success Manager and Customer Support to make sure this buyer really is blocked and unable to place more orders? I wonder if they can do anything about the last order that was placed after you blocked this buyer. 🤔

[donnovan86]

22 minutes ago, vickieito said:

I thought that if you blocked someone, you not only stop their communication, but you also stop them from ordering from you (otherwise, what's the purpose of the blocking)?

 

Exactly, and it worked until now without a problem. But this person managed to place a new order. 

23 minutes ago, vickieito said:

Have you reached out to your Success Manager and Customer Support to make sure this buyer really is blocked and unable to place more orders? I wonder if they can do anything about the last order that was placed after you blocked this buyer. 🤔

Pretty sure they can do nothing but cancel it. I didn't reach anyone. I was waiting to see if he will do the same 4 stars again and he did, with excellent feedback might I add. I blocked again, hopefully this time it sticks.

[vickieito]

I'm more worried about the future orders...can Customer Support make sure this person cannot place another order?

Sellers should be able to choose who they want to work with and this situation doesn't make that possible.

Edited August 28, 2022 by vickieito

[donnovan86]

5 minutes ago, vickieito said:

Sellers should be able to choose who they want to work with and this situation doesn't make that possible.

I can only assume it had something to do with the website not working properly the moment I blocked him.

I will tag you with an update on this, if he continues to order. 

[donnovan86]

But hopefully this block sticks

 

[timtil1312]

Damn that's a tricky situation. Have you tried contacting customer support?

[melanielm]

I do not remember where I read this and it was quite a while ago, but I believe blocking someone only makes it so they cannot message you and they will not see your gig in search anymore. If they bookmarked your gig or remember the URL, they can still access it and place orders.

It's absolutely not a fair way for blocks to work.

Edited August 28, 2022 by melanielm

[vickieito]

1 hour ago, melanielm said:

I do not remember where I read this and it was quite a while ago, but I believe blocking someone only makes it so they cannot message you and they will not see your gig in search anymore. If they bookmarked your gig or remember the URL, they can still access it and place orders.

It's absolutely not a fair way for blocks to work.

Thanks, @melanielm! This makes me sad, though. I'm not sure why I would block someone if they can just place an order. The whole reason why I block people is because they won't listen to me (if I tell them I'd like to decline their project and feel that they might place an order anyways). ☹️

[theratypist]

What was your method of "blocking"?

I assume it would have been the route of going to the person's profile and clicking the word "block".. This only appears after at least one order has been marked as complete with the buyer.

Once that happens it should state something like this below.

From experience, I've never had an order/message again from that said buyer again through the above route...

However, the route of reporting or marking as spam (or whatever related term) to block someone just through messages. I've noticed those were able to pass through. But the most experience I've had with that were new buyers (and not buyers I've had previous orders with)... I know its a bit off topic, but I guess you can't truly block a potential buyer from purchasing from you.

Anyhow, Fiverr help seems to confirm that you can block OLD buyers both through messages and profile page. And they should (ideally) not be able to communicate or place an order with you.

https://www.fiverr.com/support/articles/360011288898-Blocking-certain-buyers

To block a buyer:

1. Navigate yourself to the buyer's user profile page
2. Click Block.
3. Select a reason from the list. 
4. Click Submit.

Notes:

• You can also block a buyer by using the report a message feature as seen in your inbox.
• Once the buyer has been blocked, they will not be able to communicate or place an order with you.
• The blocked buyer will be unable to view neither your Gigs nor your profile.
• You may choose to unblock and do so by clicking Unblock.

 

Can I block any user?

You can only block buyers who have previously placed an order with you.

[smashradio]

I've had this happen to me when I had sent a custom offer before blocking the person. But never otherwise. I ended up making 400 bucks and got a five-star review from that buyer, but I blocked them because they initially tried to scam me. 

[mandyzines]

11 hours ago, theratypist said:

Can I block any user?

You can only block buyers who have previously placed an order with you.

And wait until 10 days after the order is complete, otherwise they can say whatever untruthful things you have documented proof of in their 1 star review. That's the bugger--what can transpire from the point that they order until then.

[donnovan86]

On 8/28/2022 at 8:52 AM, timtil1312 said:

Damn that's a tricky situation. Have you tried contacting customer support?

No, I didn't. I am just waiting to see how it plays out.

On 8/28/2022 at 5:48 PM, smashradio said:

I've had this happen to me when I had sent a custom offer before blocking the person. But never otherwise. I ended up making 400 bucks and got a five-star review from that buyer, but I blocked them because they initially tried to scam me. 

I am glad it worked out for you my friend. However, this is a bit trickier for me, because clearly the dude likes what I write, but has a shitty way of showing appreciation and the lack of communication combined with that makes writing for this person something not that appealing. Anyway hopefully it's done and if he sees there's no way to contact me, he will stop. Last time I didn't block him right away and I did tell him I am in vacation until the weekend, so he placed an order during the weekend. Now I blocked all communication so hopefully it stops...

On 8/28/2022 at 1:05 PM, theratypist said:

From experience, I've never had an order/message again from that said buyer again through the above route...

That's what I did, that's what I always do to block people (if they already had an order, otherwise blocking won't appear, as you said). So yeah, this was my first time after dozens of blocks when a person was actually able to go through with an order. That's why I think I was unlucky and dealt with a bug.

On 8/28/2022 at 1:05 PM, theratypist said:

I know its a bit off topic, but I guess you can't truly block a potential buyer from purchasing from you.

That would open the door to a lot of maleficent competitors to just buy and refund or buy and rate poorly again and again. It's any seller's right to choose who they work with. As I said, in this specific situation, the person likes how I write, clearly, but he behaves very poorly and the experience is rather bad for me. So.. it's my right to not work with the person. I didn't receive any other message or anything else yet. So I think I need to stop the ability for people to place orders if they have the link to my gig, right? I know there's such an option in the Gigs section.

[theratypist]

3 hours ago, donnovan86 said:

That's why I think I was unlucky and dealt with a bug.

Yep, likely a bug... If ever it comes that you reach out to CS about this, let us know!

3 hours ago, donnovan86 said:

So I think I need to stop the ability for people to place orders if they have the link to my gig, right? I know there's such an option in the Gigs section.

I actually didn't know there was but do update us if ever anything new arises on your situation.. Hopefully this gets resolved or at least something changes for the better.

[donnovan86]

1 minute ago, theratypist said:

Yep, likely a bug... If ever it comes that you reach out to CS about this, let us know!

3 hours ago, donnovan86 said:

I mean...if the customer won't place another order I won't go to them. But if he does, I will definitely do so. I really hope that's not the case.

Regarding the options in My Gigs, it's disabled so even if he has the link he can't order if he is blocked or I am in vacation mode. So.. it does seem it was a bug. 

 

[smashradio]

10 hours ago, donnovan86 said:

I am glad it worked out for you my friend. However, this is a bit trickier for me, because clearly the dude likes what I write, but has a shitty way of showing appreciation and the lack of communication combined with that makes writing for this person something not that appealing. Anyway hopefully it's done and if he sees there's no way to contact me, he will stop. Last time I didn't block him right away and I did tell him I am in vacation until the weekend, so he placed an order during the weekend. Now I blocked all communication so hopefully it stops...

Yeah, it sounds like a shitty situation. I hope it works out for you! This type of buyer is certainly undesireable. 

[donnovan86]

30 minutes ago, smashradio said:

Yeah, it sounds like a shitty situation.

It is, mainly because you work on something knowing the review won't be objective. So that's the worst type of order you can have. Anyway I hope I won't have to share any update and that this block really works. 

[donnovan86]

@tanvir705, please liking every post I make, it's annoying. 

And having the highest level on the forum won't give you sales. So all you are doing is annoying people. 

[gayanchamira]

i think both client and seller should involve to achieve communication barriers to success the job and i also had a bad experience with like this, so clients also can communicate with sellers properly and should get revision options according to the gig he purchase. most of clients supplied reference samples, examples or sketches about job clear and briefly. But few of of them in my carrier, did not provide sufficient details about the job and they have not clear idea what should be the final product nature and asked different types revisions very with the basic concepts that i discussed in early stage of the job. some time it was very difficult to do the task. because redesign is is take more time and waste the all effort as well. After this kind of experience some clients put bad reviews and really it will affect the future activities. 

[sarahhagwood]

On 8/28/2022 at 12:05 PM, theratypist said:

From experience, I've never had an order/message again from that said buyer again through the above route...

I definitely needed to know this!!! Phew! The people contacting me about foot pictures really need to be blocked from placing an order 🤣

[terrygrantvo]

I'm pretty sure that once there is an order history in place then there is always a 'back door' of a sort, by which buyers can still place orders with you by accessing your page via their order history.

Blocking would seem to only operate properly if you've never previously worked with the person you're looking to block.

[donnovan86]

1 hour ago, terrygrantvo said:

Blocking would seem to only operate properly if you've never previously worked with the person you're looking to block.

No, you can't block a person unless you worked with them.

 

[terrygrantvo]

19 hours ago, donnovan86 said:

No, you can't block a person unless you worked with them.

 

Are we sure about that? Because I'm pretty sure I've had the option to report and block anyone who has ever messaged me via inbox... (I can't verify right now), but if that person has a prior order with me, it'll be in their order history.

Just throwing that out there.

[vickieito]

1 minute ago, terrygrantvo said:

Are we sure about that? Because I'm pretty sure I've had the option to report and block anyone who has ever messaged me via inbox... (I can't verify right now), but if that person has a prior order with me, it'll be in their order history.

Just throwing that out there.

I just tried to block a person who was messaging me (and didn't place an order) and the only way to to that was to mark them as spam. I even submitted a ticket to CS and "reported" the buyer several times. After a day, Fiverr CS confirmed that the only way to block this buyer was to hit that spam button. So it does appear that you can only use the block function on buyers who have ordered from you before.

[donnovan86]

33 minutes ago, terrygrantvo said:

Are we sure about that? Because I'm pretty sure I've had the option to report and block anyone who has ever messaged me via inbox... (I can't verify right now), but if that person has a prior order with me, it'll be in their order history.

 

You can't block them. As Vickie said, you can mark their message as Spam and that stops them from talking with you. The Block button appears only if they had a previous order with you.