Project In Progress But Will Fiverr Mark It "Complete" In 3 Days Regardless?

[forebearance]

My issue, which unfortunately fell on a 3 day weekend, is that I have an agreement with a seller to deliver 34 chapters of a pdf-to-MS-word project in 25 days, for which I as buyer have already advanced the FULL SUM for the project.

The 1st of 34 chapters was delivered for review yesterday, 12/9, but the wording seems to leave me no option but to accept the 1st chapter as the ENTIRE COMPLETED project, when project is only 1/34 complete. Seller has not communicated with me since 12/9, and fiverr's policy is to automatically mark the project "complete" in 3 days, whether or not project is anywhere near completion. 

This is a HUGE loophole in protecting the buyer who is totally at risk. As there is no phone support I can locate to have this question IMMEDIATELY addressed, this is an extremely risky gap in fiverr's business model.    

Edited December 10, 2022 by forebearance

[melanielm]

If they did not deliver the entire order by the due date, they are in violation of Fiverr's TOS.

Two options: request a revision and insist on getting the rest of the order, or contact Customer Support. 

Actually, some people now get the option to request more time to review the delivery, though I'm not sure what that looks like or who has it yet.

[forebearance]

41 minutes ago, melanielm said:

If they did not deliver the entire order by the due date, they are in violation of Fiverr's TOS.

Here's the catch: what was delivered yesterday was the first milestone (1 chapter of 34) in a project that has a due date of Dec. 29.

I requested a revision yesterday, but the seller isn't communicating with me, not even via text  message. In another 2 days Fiverr will automatically mark the project "complete". At this point I feel like I've been scammed. I also opened a problem ticket with fiverr, but if they don't respond before the 3-day "automatic acceptance" deadline on Monday I've been ripped off the entire sum I advanced for this project, because it's already posted to my cc. 

I have had several previous positive experiences with a different fiverr seller, so I thought I was dealing with a legit company.         

Edited December 10, 2022 by forebearance

[miiila]

1 hour ago, forebearance said:

I as buyer have already advanced the FULL SUM for the project.

Just in case you're not aware, this part is completely normal, and how Fiverr works. As a buyer, you're forwarding the full sum, and we as sellers forward the full work. Buyer pays Fiverr, Fiverr keeps the money safe until seller delivers and the buyer accepts the delivery manually (or lets it autocomplete, where the usually 3 days come in - around Christmas, buyers get far longer, 8 days or so, I think.

And even then, the seller can't withdraw the money, but, as an additional security layer, it goes in their clearance queue for another full 14 days (seller levels 0-2), or 7 days (TRS, PRO, sellers in the seller+ program), before they can actually withdraw it.

Also, sellers even can actually get a negative balance, if Fiverr gets complaints and decide they are justified, so the buyer would get their money back, and Fiverr takes it back from future earnings of the seller.

As you can see, for buyers, the system is pretty bullet proof, as long as they know how Fiverr works (all described in ToS and Buyer Help Center), and don't accept partial deliveries or let the 3 days go by without asking for a modification if something's wrong.

Even if you miss the 3 days, or something, and the seller does something that's against the terms, like partial delivery, or ends up not delivering at all, you can still go to support and ask them to intervene.

If you already "systemically" (via request modification button) requested a revision, the order won't autocomplete, so there's not much to worry. Just check uour notifications, as the 3-day period will start anew if the seller redelivers. Of course, if they redeliver the completed job, that'd be fine, if not, reject the delivery again. Maybe the seller has internet issues or is away over the weekend and will respond on Monday. If not, you could ask support to nudge them.

 

ETA:

Ah, milestone order, I don't use those, so I'm not sure about the deadline, autocomplete, etc. specifics there. But if you opened a ticket already anyway, surely support will help you out.

Edited December 10, 2022 by miiila

[forebearance]

13 minutes ago, miiila said:

Just in case you're not aware, this part is completely normal, and how Fiverr works. As a buyer, you're forwarding the full sum, and we as sellers forward the full work. Buyer pays Fiverr, Fiverr keeps the money safe until seller delivers and the buyer accepts the delivery manually (or lets it autocomplete, where the usually 3 days come in - around Christmas, buyers get far longer, 8 days or so, I think.

And even then, the seller can't withdraw the money, but, as an additional security layer, it goes in their clearance queue for another full 14 days (seller levels 0-2), or 7 days (TRS, PRO, sellers in the seller+ program), before they can actually withdraw it.

Also, sellers even can actually get a negative balance, if Fiverr gets complaints and decide they are justified, so the buyer would get their money back, and Fiverr takes it back from future earnings of the seller.

As you can see, for buyers, the system is pretty bullet proof, as long as they know how Fiverr works (all described in ToS and Buyer Help Center), and don't accept partial deliveries or let the 3 days go by without asking for a modification if something's wrong.

Even if you miss the 3 days, or something, and the seller does something that's against the terms, like partial delivery, or ends up not delivering at all, you can still go to support and ask them to intervene.

If you already "systemically" (via request modification button) requested a revision, the order won't autocomplete, so there's not much to worry. Just check uour notifications, as the 3-day period will start anew if the seller redelivers. Of course, if they redeliver the completed job, that'd be fine, if not, reject the delivery again. Maybe the seller has internet issues or is away over the weekend and will respond on Monday. If not, you could ask support to nudge them.

 

ETA:

Ah, milestone order, I don't use those, so I'm not sure about the deadline, autocomplete, etc. specifics there. But if you opened a ticket already anyway, surely support will help you out.

Thank you for these insights, miiila.

[mariashtelle1]

28 minutes ago, forebearance said:

requested a revision yesterday, but the seller isn't communicating with me, not even via text  message. In another 2 days Fiverr will automatically mark the project "complete".

If you still see a message that the order will be autocompleted then you didn’t request a revision. Just sending a message to a seller will not count. You need to press a button to “reject” delivery, choose a reason “partial delivery” and confirm it, that will request a revision and will not let fiverr complete the order 

 

but in your case to be honest I would request a cancellation if seller didn’t deliver everything what was promised. Yes there is still time but your seller broke fiverr rules. 

Edited December 10, 2022 by mariashtelle1

[forebearance]

Thanks too for that input, mariashtelle1. The seller has since responded, explained the delay (illness) and says he's working on the remaining pieces of the 25-day project. My big qualm is with the fiverr delivery system where acceptance of a partial delivery is treated as "project complete" for full amount of the advance payment. I opened a case with customer support, which has given me the nuclear option of cancelling order and reassigning to a different seller if I choose. 

Looking back with hindsight, I should have handled this assignment as 34 separate projects (with 34 delivery dates to be reviewed, accepted and marked "complete"), instead of one gigantic project having 34 partial deliveries. Thanks to all who have posted to this topic. 👍  

Edited December 10, 2022 by forebearance

[forebearance]

On 12/10/2022 at 9:49 AM, mariashtelle1 said:

but in your case to be honest I would request a cancellation if seller didn’t deliver everything what was promised. Yes there is still time but your seller broke fiverr rules. 

Have requested a cancellation, which is "in review". ??? All communication with Seller from the start is on the fiverr platform, fiverr CS is aware of all order details including TOS violations by Seller. What is left to "review"? Seller committed 10 days ago to deliver 34 chapters in 25 days. That works out to about 1.4 chapters a day over 25 days. After delivering only 1 chapter, he stopped communicating and has ignored all my followups. So my only conclusion can be he's a fraud. I'm still willing to pay for the 1 chapter that was converted, but everything is in fiverr limbo now.

A new loophole discovered: my account shows order in "green" status, delivered and completed for FULL AMOUNT of what I advanced. The 14-day countdown on the funds held in Seller's clearance queue has already started, but fiverr did not pause that countdown while my case is "in review". What happens when this "review" drags on past Day 14 and my funds become immediately available for Seller to draw on? I've already put my cc company on high alert over this.

What a stressful, nerve-wracking nightmare this turned into.   

[mariashtelle1]

11 minutes ago, forebearance said:

A new loophole discovered: my account shows order in "green" status, delivered and completed for FULL AMOUNT of what I advanced.

So you didn’t request a revision as we advised you to? 👇

On 12/10/2022 at 5:49 PM, mariashtelle1 said:

You need to press a button to “reject” delivery, choose a reason “partial delivery” and confirm it

Is your ticket with CS in “review”? Did you request a cancellation in your ticket to support agent? What did they reply? 
 

fiverr never completes orders as long as you request a revision. If you don’t take any actions then orders are autocompleted. 
 

On 12/11/2022 at 12:09 AM, forebearance said:

My big qualm is with the fiverr delivery system where acceptance of a partial delivery is treated as "project complete" for full amount of the advance payment

No it’s not. Fiverr insists on never ever accepting partial deliveries. They even have a reason for rejecting a delivery that you can choose “partial delivery”. 

[forebearance]

58 minutes ago, mariashtelle1 said:

So you didn’t request a revision as we advised you to? 👇

Is your ticket with CS in “review”? Did you request a cancellation in your ticket to support agent? What did they reply? 
 

Yes I did request a revision. It was revised and delivered with a note saying he was working on rest of order and to "please be patient with me". That was the last I ever heard from him.

I have an open case with CS which is supposedly "in review". There are 5 headings on my Orders page: Active, Missing Details, Delivered, Completed, Cancelled. It shows Completed. 

On the page where my case is "under review" CS says "please be patient."    

 

[mariashtelle1]

6 hours ago, forebearance said:

Yes I did request a revision. It was revised and delivered with a note saying he was working on rest of order and to "please be patient with me".

You still had to request a revision again. That’s against TOS to deliver partial delivery and on top of that he broke rules two times redeliver if the same thing. 
As I said before you would’ve been better requesting a cancellation right away. 
“ill” is not an excuse not to work on an order and deliver only part of it. 
 

Can you show us a screenshot of a last message that CS sent you? 

[forebearance]

On 12/14/2022 at 9:17 PM, mariashtelle1 said:

You still had to request a revision again. That’s against TOS to deliver partial delivery and on top of that he broke rules two times redeliver if the same thing. 
As I said before you would’ve been better requesting a cancellation right away. 
“ill” is not an excuse not to work on an order and deliver only part of it. 
 

Here's what really happened: 

• Day 1 - place order with Seller to deliver 34 chapters of a manuscript in 25 days at a cost of several thousand $$$. So this order was never about, say, a $50 logo design with 1-day turnaround

• Day 5 – Seller delivers 1 of 34 chapters, labels it "Delivery #1". “Thanks for your order!” Followup questions from me about what happens with payment as project is being pieced out 1 chapter at a time go unanswered for 24 hours. I request 1 revision. 

• Day 6 – Seller delivers revision. This is "Delivery #2". Gives me sob story about illness. “Please be patient. You’ll love the results. Don’t be angry with me.” More questions from me about milestones vs. partial deliveries, what happens after fiverr automatically marks order complete in 3 days go unanswered.

• Day 7 – Seller replies still not feeling well. Says Chapter 2 of 34 done but never delivers for review. Red flags going off all over the place now. I open a dispute with CS. Last time I ever hear from Seller.

• Day 8 – CS still reviewing for possible TOS violations by Seller and order cancellation. My money goes to Seller’s clearance queue and 14-day countdown begins until he can draw it out. I contact cc company and alert them to suspected fraud.

• Day 13 – CS replies after 5 days of silence that they are sending this dispute to another department for resolution.

• Day 14 – open email inbox to find update from fiverr that I’m blocked from logging in and MY Buyer account has being PERMANENTLY DISABLED for multiple TOS violations including maintaining a false identity! (This after 6 successful projects with a different Seller.) 1 minute later a 2^nd update from fiverr that my account has just been RESTORED, so this was obviously a whoopsie by fiverr. I check my cc account and full amount of my purchase has been credited back to me. I check Seller’s account and it is “no longer available”, so it’s as if this project never happened, except for 10 days of terror over a large sum of money. I would give the Seller’s screen name but it will probably get me a citation from the Sheriff.

Among many lessons learned: Seller’s profile shows slightly nerdy-looking kid who says he's based in US, graduate of an Ivy League school and certified in several software packages, even has some 5-star reviews, but all his communications read like they’re by someone whose first language is not English. He's probably never set foot in the US.

Edited December 16, 2022 by forebearance

[mariashtelle1]

2 hours ago, forebearance said:

Among many lessons learned

Apart from vetting your sellers the big learning is here 👇 

2 hours ago, forebearance said:

Seller delivers revision. This is "Delivery #2". Gives me sob story about illness. “Please be patient. You’ll love the results. Don’t be angry with me.”

Request revisions until you receive full work. 
And don’t ignore red signs, your seller Gad loads of them. Even after first delivery I advised you to cancel the order right away because it was obvious your seller wasn’t going to deliver anything. 

[catwriter]

2 hours ago, forebearance said:

I check Seller’s account and it is “no longer available”,

Perhaps Fiverr banned that seller for multiple ToS violations.

[forebearance]

1 hour ago, mariashtelle1 said:

Apart from vetting your sellers the big learning is here 👇 

Request revisions until you receive full work. 
And don’t ignore red signs, your seller Gad loads of them. Even after first delivery I advised you to cancel the order right away because it was obvious your seller wasn’t going to deliver anything. 

"Obvious" to longtime Sellers. I'm sure every reputable Seller on this platform has been burned in the past by a negative review, cancelled order after delivery, etc. I am not that buyer. The basis of any transaction is trust between buyer and seller. It's unfortunate fiverr wasn't more proactive to flag/disable this Seller before I became his next victim. He didn't have a mark against him to "alert" that he was a phony.        

[vickiespencer]

5 minutes ago, forebearance said:

He didn't have a mark against him to "alert" that he was a phony. 

Sadly, there are FB groups where unscrupulous sellers trade reviews—choosing a seller with more positive reviews than 50 or fewer is best. 

[mdruhulamin44]

24 minutes ago, vickiespencer said:

Sadly, there are FB groups where unscrupulous sellers trade reviews—choosing a seller with more positive reviews than 50 or fewer is best. 

I agree with you. I got multiple knock in Fiverr inbox. There some unscrupulous sellers trade reviews. So, fewer review is best than 50.

[timir69]

its easy in fiver they protect buyer fund and you can claim it asking refund . contact the support they will help you 

[forebearance]

21 hours ago, vickiespencer said:

Sadly, there are FB groups where unscrupulous sellers trade reviews—choosing a seller with more positive reviews than 50 or fewer is best. 

The week-long stretch not knowing if this issue would be decided in Buyer's favor or Seller's was the worst part, but fiverr eventually redeemed itself and I will use again.  

[forebearance]

22 hours ago, catwriter said:

Perhaps Fiverr banned that seller for multiple ToS violations.

Yes, the Seller whether he/she/it has been deleted from fiverr.