Leave a few communication hacks

[tafhim22]

I am new on Fiverr and I  got a message from a potential client a few days back. He wanted to know about Instagram marketing. He was asking a lot of questions. if the question was about the quality of my work then there was no issue, But he was asking how the process works. He asked the same question 4 times, and just rephrased it every time. He was basically asking for an Instagram marketing guideline from me. trying to figure out everything he needed to do the job himself.

My question as a newbie is

"Is this normal? Should I keep helping him even if he doesn't purchases any of my services?"

[donnovan86]

Some people will ask a ton of questions. Others will just ask you if you can do it and place the order. Of course there will be some that want to learn how to do it, but explaining the entire process in detail isn't really necessary. They should just know what you need to do your work and when you can deliver, what they can expect with the delivery.

[sandyroseus1]

You are a new seller. Buyer want professional service for this reason they ask some question with new seller. But if you have not want to spend much time with him/her simply ask him to order. 

[filipdevaere]

There are indeed buyers that try to find out everything from you so that they can do it by themselves, or they just use your information to let a cheaper freelancer do the job. 
I have this from time to time.  For example, 2 days ago I had a repeat buyer who was disappointed that I could not do in a short time his project. He did not want to wait and told me that he would do it by himself. And then he started by asking me how to do it. I just told him that I could not help him if he did not want to order from me. 

[lalitsdmittal]

You should explain only those thing which are needed for the client, not your work plan...

[miiila]

17 hours ago, filipdevaere said:

He did not want to wait and told me that he would do it by himself. And then he started by asking me how to do it. I just told him that I could not help him if he did not want to order from me. 

Which makes all the sense in the world.

Alternatively, OP, you can shut down too many questions by someone you're sure is trying to "spy" on you by telling them them that you're successfully doing your job since x years, and know the workflow, and that there's no reason to worry and they can simply order and leave the troublesome details to you.

An actual question you should first ask and answer yourself, though, is if you'd want to work with them if they'd turn around and want to order, after all. It's not necessarily the case, but if someone acts like that, there might be a chance that they'd still try to get the work out of you for free, once you delivered, by means of unjustified revisions, willfully pestering you in the hope you'll cancel, chargeback, or such.

When you're sure you don't want to work with someone who's acting dubiously and also want to avoid any kind of discussion or other trouble, a briefly polite "I'm sorry, I can't help you." (no "if you don't want to order from me" or anything), and then blocking them, might be the best course of action.

[melanielm]

I occasionally end a line of questioning with, "I'm sorry, but I do not offer business consultation services. I do...." and describe how my services can help them. I don't want to train people to do my job.