Protecting the people of Fiverr

[missashley8705]

I have an idea! Before ordering a gig is even an option, there should be a “submit your terms” button. Here the buyer gives a detailed request of work, the seller reviews the terms and provides an estimate. Both parties have to agree and sign off by either an electronic signature or by clicking an “I agree to the terms” box. At this point the gig/gigs are used and the job begins. If at any point the terms are violated, the buyer or seller would be able to submit a report and the order would be paused for review. If it’s true and the buyer was the one who violated the terms, then the order is cancelled with no option for the buyer to further harass or leave any negative reviews. Also protecting the sellers rating from being negatively affected. This would also help protect buyers from bad sellers working in reverse accept if the seller was found at fault their rating would be affected obviously.

By doing it this way, there is a “set in stone” agreement that can be easily seen and referred to. I feel like people would be less likely to attempt to enslave someone with their demands if they knew what happened for breaking terms.

This would require additional work for Fiverr, since they would have to review the violated terms report but it probably wouldn’t create more requests then there already are, they would just take a different form. Also I’m sure plenty of top rated or other leveled sellers would accept a job offer to help review term violations.

[goodgift]

Eh…yes and no. When I did book trailers, there were so many variables involved that a “set in stone” agreement would have been detrimental to the work. I also had a lot of nitpicky buyers and loophole jumpers that would try to trap me with my own words, that I’d almost have to hire a lawyer to make sure the wording was just right. It gets tiring try to beat people like that at their own game.



I see where you’re coming from, but I’m not completely sold on the idea.

[missashley8705]

I really don’t see how the basic offerings of fiverr could warrant many loopholes. Example if someone offers 1000 words of proofreading for 5$. Someone orders the gig claiming they want exactly that service for 5$, both parties sign off and when the buyer threatens the seller to get 2000 words for $5 or they will give a bad review, how would the prior agreement not benefit the seller? People also complain about not being notified prior to gig purchase, well this system would stop that too. If this were a site where the deals were made in the thousands of dollars verses by $5 increments, I would agree with needing legal advice to do it. However I don’t think there are many variables in Fiverr deals and I have seen very very few complaints that wouldn’t be solved by a system like I mentioned.

[thepromogirl]

missashley8705 said: Example if someone offers 1000 words of proofreading for 5$. Someone orders the gig claiming they want exactly that service for 5$, both parties sign off and when the buyer threatens the seller to get 2000 words for $5 or they will give a bad review, how would the prior agreement not benefit the seller?

 

Their actually isn't any loopholes. Policies are already in place to protect the seller (and buyer). I would highly recommend you take the time to read them and educate yourself when it comes to responsibilities of buyers and sellers. This will benefit you so you don't run into any headaches. It's also great to know when it comes to submitting a ticket, because Customer Service adheres to these policies as well. If your description is clear, and the buyer is violating policy they will accommodate you and begin monitoring the buyers account. I've seen a few users get their accounts shut down from bad behavior.

 

From Fiverr's Marketplace Etiquette policy:

 

"It goes without saying that we uphold courtesy and professionalism for both Buyers and Sellers - don't violate our Terms of Service, avoid using foul and abusive language towards each other, and do not purposely order a Gig with the intention to leave a negative rating on a Seller's gig (not cool).

 

From Fiverr's Terms of Service: "Posting or sending adult, illegal, rude, abusive, improper, copyright protected, promotional, spam, violent, nonsense or any uncool stuff is strictly prohibited. Doing so will get your account disabled permanently."

 

Cont'd Marketplace Etiquette policy: "Buyers: Very carefully know and understand what you paid for. Read the Sellers Gig description and check other Buyers reviews on what to expect from this Seller."

 

"Buyers should effectively communicate what they're requesting to a Seller that complies with their Gigs description. Buyers are responsible for the information sent to sellers. Consider re-reading what you want them to do versus what their Gig advertises to understand if its clear or not"

Reporting Abuse: "Posting or sending adult, illegal, rude, abusive, improper, copyright protected, promotional, spam, violent, nonsense or any uncool stuff is strictly prohibited. If you are on the receiving end of abuse, we want to know about it. Please fill in a support request in the most relevant category (Order related, Account related, Misc.) for our team to review."

 

You can read all these policies and more on the Support Page.

 

Keep in mind: A buyer has no right to threaten you, or push you to deliver work they did not purchase. Fiverr encourages all users to report any abuse or misuse of the system. If ANY ONE threatens to leave you a negative review if you don't provide them with work that is not advertised and/or requires the purchased of a Gig extra that they did not purchase - REPORT THEM. This is something that is not tolerated in the community.

 

This goes without saying, remain professional towards the buyer and if they continue to push you cancel the order and refuse to work with them in the future. Document everything, include part of Fiverr's policy (or your own) in your Gig descripition to better protect yourself from further abuse.

[missashley8705]

Reply to @thepromogirl: Trust me I have read every rule, term and guideline that Fiverr has on the site. I’m certainly not in need of an education of Fiverr rules. Your post leads me to believe that you are unfamiliar with the issues that have been happening by the hundreds and spoken about regularly on the forum. The facts are, the people who care about the rules are getting verbally assaulted and virtually manipulated by the people who don’t care about the rules.

Do I think Fiverr wants the sellers to be hurt this way? No or course they don’t! Do I think that many sellers recent pleas for justice to the powers that be have gone largely unanswered? Yes unfortunately they have (unless there’s hundreds of people making up the fact that they don’t get responses from CS).

I’m not sure where you are coming from. Those policies you pasted in your thread are irrelevant, if not enforced. I have nothing against Fiverr management, I think they do the best they can when they have the time to do it. However they don’t have much time obviously. If you reported a “breach of contract” essentially and it froze that particular job (as mentioned in my original post) until Fiverr had time to review the individuals contract and the claim against it, then the situation would never negatively effect the seller in the first place (assuming they were truly wronged) instead of the current system where sellers have to tolerate bad behavior and bad ratings from scam artists until weeks later when the problem is sometimes corrected after already damaging an innocent individuals reputation.

Not everyone is going to agree with my idea, I don’t really care if they do or don’t. My dad’s a lawyer and suggested the basis of this idea when I was discussing the current issues of the site with him. Let’s just say I think someone working in the legal system for the past thirty plus years may have a good idea or two on the subject. I know the idea isn’t full of unicorns, rainbows and world peace, but it’s real which is more important to most people when involving their income. It’s simply a suggestion on how to take action instead of writing more rules/words that half of the people never even read. Truth!

[thepromogirl]

missashley8705 said: missashley8705

 

I'm one of the many that "pleas for justice" but I haven't had any serious issues with resolving or reporting issues with Customer Service utilizing the policies currently in place. I'd recommend speaking with Customer Service on what you can do or who you can speak to about your concerns.

 

Best of luck! :)

[missashley8705]

This is more of a broad idea. I’m not speaking of how to help one person at a time. Personally I’m not a big customer support fan. My views aren’t directed at Fiverr specifically, I just haven’t found customer support to be helpful overall anywhere. I simply recognize the huge issue that is running rampant across the site and am giving my opinion about how it could be corrected.