Buyer Promising to Buy Gig, Fails To

[buzzle_anna]

Hi everybody, just wanted to hear your feedback, personal experience and/or opinions on this.



So I have a customer on Fiverr who recently asked me to do several transcriptions for her (she hadn’t ordered the gig then), and I agreed to do it for her. However, she never ordered my gig. We are still exchanging messages and I give her friendly reminders to order my gig so that I can get the job done at a faster rate (while earning money), but she continuously says that she will order it, but she never does. I feel like I’m doing these jobs for free but I don’t want to sound demanding or rude, so I came here to ask for advice. Should I discontinue working with my buyer or should I send her the finished transcripts and discontinue further communication with her?



Warm Regards,



Anna



P.S. She has some very successful gigs going on on Fiverr, yet she is unwilling to pay me. I’m really concerned about what I should do next.

[xpertmarketer]

Never start working on anything until the “buyer” orders your gig first. That’s how fiverr works. There’s nothing demanding or rude about it.

If she’s a seller here, she knows this and is using your newbie status to her advantage.

[catwriter]

Agreed. Unless they order the gig and pay for it, don’t do a thing. Otherwise, why would they pay you if you’ll do it all for free anyway?

[buzzle_anna]

Thank you so much for your advice. Now that I know this, what should I say to her about ordering my gig? She is going to give me another piece of transcription to do sometime today, but I don’t know what I should say in return. She’s also very persistent and keeps on demanding me to finish transcribing as soon as possible. Any suggestions?

[buzzle_anna]

Reply to @kjblynx: Many thanks for your valuable advice. Should I explain this to her before or after she sends me a message about further transcription work? Also, I fear that she’ll just tell me “please don’t say anything…I will order your gig okay” again and that’s something I really don’t want to face for a third time. Once again, thanks for your advice.

[buzzle_anna]

Reply to @kjblynx: Alright. Great idea. Persistence is the key then. Thanks so much for helping me out! 🙂

[freelancemm]

I have had buyers “order later” literally… months later. One person actually came back to me as long as a year later to work on a project with me. Sometimes they simply forget or get too busy to deal with it or consider it as a “side project” so friendly reminders over time is always a good idea. Never however start any sort of work with them until an order has been placed. I had a few people try to get me to do a bunch of work before they even bought an initial order. Generally I give them a few initial messages about what the service is about, and reminders at least once or twice a month, possibly more depending on the potential size of the order.

[buzzle_anna]

Reply to @freelancemm: Hi there. This buyer told me she once had a ‘customer’ who (I quote) “played with any job [she] gave him so [she] replaced him with [me].” I have a feeling that if I keep on reminding her to and stop transcribing for her, she’ll just move on and find another newbie seller to transcribe for her. I like how you give them a few initial messages about what the service is about and reminders a few times a month, but with this buyer she constantly tells me that she knows she has to order and that she will, but she never does.

[catwriter]

Reply to @buzzle_anna: If you stop transcribing for her, it’s perfectly possible she’ll find another newbie to do it for free. However, you lose nothing by that, you just stop working for free.

[buzzle_anna]

Reply to @catwriter: Alright. Thanks (:

[freelancemm]

@buzzle_anna yeahh seems fishy to me in general. I don’t give out anything other than some free advice at times if I feel it might lead to a big order. I had one person order a $5 gig and ask me about 30 follow-up questions. I answered about two of them… and they then kept asking again and again on a daily basis of random little things. Sometimes it’s just not worth the hassle and the archive message button can be your best friend.

[genuineguidance]

Why would you be worried that she will move on to the next newbie who may think they have to jump through hoops, do free work and worry that they may lose her? She is NOT a client of yours. Why? Because she has not even ordered a darn Gig yet! Why are you even transcribing anything? Do you value your time? Your expertise? If transcribing is your hobby, then, by all means, keep doing free work I suppose for her or anyone else who hits you up and promises to order a Gig at some point. But, if this is a site you signed up for to earn some extra money, you need to put your foot down and start treating your Gig like a BUSINESS not a hobby and tell her you will be glad to get to work on her transcriptions when she orders the Gig. PERIOD. There is no reason you need to be cowering in the corner afraid she is going to run off and USE someone else (and probably not pay them either!) Perhaps she stopped using that other person because they got wise and didn’t continue to do free work for her! LOL



I have had someone messaging me all week about questions they want to ask, and I know they are just wasting my time. I stopped responding to their messages after my last note to them telling them to go ahead and order the Gig and we can look at their issue. When they order, I will then give them insight, but not for free.



People will only push you as far as you let them. Don’t be a doormat here or you will end up feeling frustrated and want to leave the site! LOL



GG

[buzzle_anna]

Reply to @genuineguidance: Whoa…um okay 🙂 She has finally ordered my gig though. Apologies for being stupid or something, I really wasn’t sure, which was why I came here to ask.