NB: SELLERS. I'm afraid this new buyer won't be buying again

[theslackjaw]

Reply to @rich_me: He should have contacted you the second the order came through explaining he couldn’t meet the 48 deadline and tried to come up with a compromise of some sort, only resorting to cancellation as a last resort. So I’m sorry about that.



I’m still sticking with my previous statement though about contacting prior to a sale. Especially if you are asking for a larger output with specific deadline constraints. Just a suggestion from a seller who REALLY appreciates it when buyers do this. That way we’re all on the same page before money even gets put into the equation. I’m not saying that would have saved you in this situation, because it sounds like this guy was just not on the ball.



I encourage you to stick with Fiverr, there are some good folks here and even though you can’t get a straight refund, as someone else stated, you can use it with someone else with no problem. You said yourself you had planned on spending the money on Fiverr anyway. Don’t judge us all based on one schnook.



Take Care!

[rich_me]

Reply to @prinzidesign: I’m in the market for several services, but mainly voiceovers.

[rich_me]

Reply to @mystic_insight: No, that’s not what I’m asking for, only that if a Seller cancels the order before they’ve started work on it, then the Buyer can get a refund.

[rich_me]

Reply to @derek53: I 100% agree, and completely understand that sometimes things happen and a Seller might have to cancel an order. No probs. I did originally address this to Fiverr who told me the only option was to close my account entirely, which I agreed to. I added my 2¢ to the forum here, simply so that Sellers would know that the lack of refunds if a Seller cancels is the reason this Buyer isn’t going to utilise the platform in future. I may be the only one, ever, who feels this way about the refund situation, however I doubt it. I wrote this out of courtesy, just wanted to let Sellers know that if they’re going way above the $5 a gig price point that this might also prove an issue to them, if other Buyers feel like I do.

[rich_me]

Reply to @lilianarice: I actually would have looked at other Sellers, except for this refund policy. I’m just not going to risk buying 10-20 $50+ gigs from a Fiverr Seller who might need to cancel for legitimate reasons and then be left with credits. I’d happily accept a cashout floor or minimum limit, ie. a minimum of $100 can be cashed out or only amounts over and above $100 of credits, etc. but I’m not going to be stuck with thousands of dollars in credits through no fault of my own and Fiverr’s attitude of “if you want a refund, close your account”. Sorry!

[rich_me]

Reply to @theslackjaw: I do appreciate that there are great Sellers here, my first order of $60 went through without a hitch with another Seller and I was delighted. As I’ve said before, I’d accept a floor of $100 in credits after which you can cash out any additional sums, or a minimum amount of credits that you can cash out, but I’m not going to put my own business in the position of risking thousands of dollars being tied up in Fiverr credits through no fault of my own. It’s a deal breaker for me. Sorry.

[Guest prinzidesign]

Reply to @rich_me: do you have any requirements of graphics designs, photoshop? 🙂

[rich_me]

Reply to @xpertmarketer: I didn’t think it was necessary at the time, although I appreciate and accept your advice that you always need to contact Sellers if the order is over $5. I didn’t realise this. In my defence, I honestly believed it was a simple order, ie. my average budgeted gig would be along the lines of… voice over of 10 words = $5, each additional 10 words = another $5, etc. add in the option for delivery within 48 hours for an additional $10, therefore if I’m buying a voiceover of 100 words with the rush charge, each gig would equal $60.

[rich_me]

Reply to @prinzidesign: I probably will along the way, but unfortunately, given the situation over refunds, I won’t be using Fiverr in future. Sorry!

[missashley8705]

Reply to @rich_me: If upon signing up with Amazon I had to sign off on an agreement that I could only receive refunds in the form of amazon credits, then I suppose I couldn’t be upset when I received a credit for my refund. That’s my major point. The time to disagree with Fiverr’s refund policy is when you read it during sign up. If it’s a problem for you then you know what to expect and can choose to proceed or go to one of the other freelance sites you mentioned. I don’t agree with everything fiverr does, by any means, but I do applaud them for being very upfront about their returns policy. They plainly state this in their terms which they require all new users to check off on that they have read these terms in their entirety before proceeding. For those who falsely check off the box and dont actually read the material, that’s their own mistake, not Fiverrs. You haven’t been deceived. We were all given the knowledge to make an educated decision. If you instead chose to make an uneducated decision, don’t add to your mistake by trying to pass the blame.

You’re frustrated, I get it. All you can do is learn from this and the next time you are asked to confirm your agreement on a company’s terms make sure you have actually read them.

[missashley8705]

Reply to @rich_me: Just curious, did this particular seller ask buyers to message prior to placing an order anywhere on their gig description? Most sellers do request this courtesy. Often to make sure they can actually do the work and in situations such as @emasonwrites mentioned where the seller has a lot of orders and is unable to complete orders over a certain size at that time.

Think about it like this, if you were going to hire someone outside of fiverr to provide you a service, wouldn’t you contact them before hiring them to make sure the work can be completed how you want it? Some sellers don’t ask for a message prior but almost all of the sellers I have worked with do. Very rarely do buyers walk away from a fiverr sale with a negative experience if they have taken the time to work out the details prior to placing an order.

[rich_me]

Reply to @missashley8705: I didn’t claim to be deceived, I’m neither frustrated nor angry and I’ve stated clearly that I didn’t read the T&Cs which is entirely my fault. It’s also not a returns policy. It’s not like I received the goods and rejected them. It’s what happens when a Seller cancels before delivering that I’m discussing. Fiverr is being marketed as a small business “solution”, and the lower price point of $50-$100 for voiceovers would enable me to accept client projects that normally I’d reject as inadequately funded. I’m simply letting you and others in the forum know why this Buyer has decided not to spend some of his estimated $20,000+ annual budget for these lower priced jobs here at Fiverr. I should also add that I’ve also explained this in detail to Customer Services and copied MK in. I guess if someone is only doing $5 gigs, fine, it probably won’t affect them. I certainly wouldn’t object to occasionally ending up with $5 in credits. However, if any Seller is looking to earn at higher price points, ie. in my range of say $50-$100 and establish ongoing relationships with Buyers and get regular orders, then I thought it might useful for them to be aware that this policy might impact on their business in the future, especially if they have to cancel a higher priced gig for some reason. OK?! 🙂

[rich_me]

Reply to @missashley8705: No, there wasn’t any requirement to message the buyer first before ordering. I probably lucked out with my second purchase, as the Seller didn’t contact me until after the 48 hours had expired to tell me they couldn’t fulfil the order and to request a mutual cancellation. As I’ve said before, I’m not bothered by the cancellation, merely the realisation that I cannot get a refund. I could be in the position where I buy 10 x 100 word voiceovers from the same Seller for $60 a pop, message them first and they still need to cancel for whatever reason, some dire emergency. I’m OK with that. What I’m not OK with is that I’d be left with $600 in credits and no way to cash them out if I wished to use someone else on a different platform. It’s that which isn’t acceptable to me.

[rich_me]

Reply to @fastcopywriter: I have made my own position known to Customer Services and copied MK into the email. In the meantime, from my experience, I’d suggest that any Sellers who have to cancel higher priced gigs perhaps let the Buyer know at the time that they will receive credits rather than a refund? I don’t know if Fiverr ever asks Sellers for feedback on the platform in general, but if they do it might be worth suggesting that refunds be made available for sums over $100 in credits to those who request them. Just my 2¢. 🙂

[marykas]

Just a thought. Perhaps an alternative solution would have been to accept an alternative deadline between buyer and seller. Then when fiverr gave the buyer the option to cancel they could decline and accept the alternate deadline… Not sure if that would or would have worked but just a thought.

[theslackjaw]

Reply to @rich_me: I completely understand. While it is a frustrating thing, as a seller I do appreciate that it works that way. The potential for someone to place an order, receive delivery, then cancel the order with a refund and the ability to pull their funds out is too high. (Heck, it’s still a risk now the way it’s set up. Even with the risk that Fiverr will “ban” your account. Now all someone has to do is just file a dispute with PayPal. It’s against the TOS but some folks do it anyway. They are willing to risk getting banned to keep their money and get the delivery on the gig. There isn’t much risk frankly because you just need to open a new account.)



But I do appreciate your position. Good Luck!

[Guest prinzidesign]

Reply to @rich_me: sir , choose some buyers 🙂 i will make you real happy!

[rich_me]

Reply to @theslackjaw: I do appreciate your point of view regarding refunds after delivery, but I am solely arguing in favour of refunds where the Seller cancels before delivery. I can understand how infuriating it must be if scam Buyers misuse the refund process after delivery. However, PayPal certainly does have to give refunds at least within the EU, as they are incorporated there (Luxembourg?) and no T&Cs can trump local law, ie. that buyers are protected by distant-selling regulations.

[rich_me]

Reply to @marykas: I did have the option to refuse the cancellation, but fully accept that disaster can strike anyone, God-forbid a Seller’s house burns down for example! They might not be able to reschedule any time soon, or a Seller can cancel because they don’t want to do the gig or feel it’s outside their skill-set, etc. I don’t object to cancellation, just Fiverr’s policy of refusing to refund a Buyer when the Seller cancels.