Is there an actual rule for this?

[missashley8705]

I’m not sure if chit chat is the right category but it’s a good miscellaneous option. Anyway I have encountered a situation on a few different orders and I am curious if there is a rule about it or if it’s simply unspoken courtesy.

The scenario, a buyer purchases your gig but doesn’t tell you what he/she wants you to do for the gig. The buyer previously messaged you about the type of work they wanted to which you agreed to assist. However the gig purchase says something like “I will send you the details in a little while.” Meanwhile, the clock is counting down to the deadline. Literally days go by with no direction. By this point half the time has disappeared and you’re down to only a couple days to complete with no work. Your messages inquiring about the direction are met with more stalling.

I have no issues with the buyer, I genuinely would like to help. However I have my completion days set at a certain number for a reason. I can’t make any guarantees that if the buyer sends the details a day or two before the gig ends that I will be able to accommodate. Not to mention, that’s like giving himself an express gig for a regular gig price. I don’t think it’s intentional but regardless, it’s happening.

Is there a rule that the buyer must submit the details of their request upon ordering the gig? If there is I would like to have that rule handy when discussing this with my buyer. Does anyone know the answer or had similar experiences and can offer advice?

[missashley8705]

Reply to @madmoo: OK, I will try the mutual cancellation. I’m down to a day and a half (from six days) plus other orders in que that I need to do. Thanks for the advice, I’m going to give it a shot 🙂

[happyspace]

Yes, unfortunately asking for mutual cancellation is the only way if the buyer ignores your messages. Madmoo is right (as always) 🙂

[freelancemm]

Generally if I don’t get the information up-front I give it a few days and if still nothing, I offer a mutual cancellation saying details were never provided. That usually gets their attention and gets the order either going or it just ends up expiring and automatically cancelling. It’s rough on the cancellation rate but i’m not going to stress over a $5 to $10 order. If it’s an order with at least one extra ordered I usually give the buyer the benefit of the doubt and give them extra time. I do an extremely long lead-time for the reason of delays in communication from buyers. This way I don’t have to stress too much about it.

[missashley8705]

Reply to @freelancemm: I ended up requesting the mutual cancellation. I haven’t heard anything back and I’m assuming it will just unmutually cancel. It would be nice if they offered an option, instead of just mutual cancellation, where the seller could have a “no work details given” and the job was frozen and Fiverr sent automated messages to the buyer “Please submit complete work directions or request a mutual cancellation.” This would make the buyer responsible for their actions (new concept here on Fiverr lol) and the seller wouldn’t have to take a negative cancellation for something that the buyer did or in this case, didn’t do.

[alliemadison12]

madmoo said: send through a mutual cancellation request along with a message explaining why you want to cancel

There's really no other way to handle it other than this, but one of the problems with requesting cancellation is that buyers often realize they left out info, and they give it last minute and reject cancellation. Then, you're stuck with a "late" order and you have to work on it right then and there.

[freelancemm]

Reply to @missashley8705: I mean you could contact Fiverr support and see if they do anything but since lately they just offer canned responses they may very well cancel the order for you but it would still count against you. It’s silly but there isn’t much we can do, unfortunately.

[missashley8705]

Well a personal status update for my specific situation, the non-mutual cancellation has gone through.

Can I derail the conversation for a quick second? My current analytics show a 12% of orders cancelled. I’m sure this is accurate, but how do you know of your cancellations have negatively effected you? I mean ratings are still at 100% and all seems well on my gigs. I have just always wondered how the non-mutual cancellations show up as a negative effect… I don’t see where they have hurt my ratings.