If you advertise it for $5 . . . you must sell it for $5!

[ginnymenges]

Reply to @matrixdevuk:



Oh I have read it! One of my points here is that so many Sellers have not read that . . . . but should.



I can pull multiple gigs right now that advertise the “I will . . . for $5” (because of course you can’t change that) and then when you read their description they want the buyers to contact them for a quote of the “real” price because they don’t have a base gig. As I have said before, these seem to concentrate in the tech area and are not in the creative area of the gig listings.

[catwriter]

Reply to @ginnymenges: Whenever you notice a gig where literally nothing is offered for $5, report it. Fiverr doesn’t have enough staff to check every gig out, but they do remove gigs offering nothing for $5 when people report them.

[ginnymenges]

Reply to @kjblynx:



Examples please? I don’t think I have accused anyone of anything they didn’t actually post. If I have inaccurately “accused” anyone of anything, please give me a specific example. In fact the only accusation I have made is that sellers on this discussion thread are defending a bad marketing practice. Since my post was ABOUT a bad marketing practice, if anyone post anything that apposes my post, they are obviously defending that practice. That is stating the obvious, not falsely accusing someone. And to be honest with you, if you look at my post, I try really hard to criticize, address, and discuss actions, not individuals.



I get caught off guard sometimes by some people making statements that I can’t believe they actually believe. (like folks that re-address my EVERY post to them but accuse me of “ranting” when I re-address theirs- still not sure of what to make of that one.)



But most of the time I stay focused on the act I am addressing and give the people the benefit of the doubt.

[ginnymenges]

See. If I was the angry person I have been accused of being, I would spend my time doing that. But I don’t believe the sellers that do that are deliberately trying to do harm. I think they simply don’t understand that a $5 base gig is required or they don’t understand how to correctly write the headline to reflect the limitations. Hence the reason I created this discussion. Simply punishing a seller for violating the TOS is wrong when there is so many doing it. The shear number of gigs that violate this indicates to me a lack of understanding and not a nefarious intent.

[catwriter]

Reply to @ginnymenges: I’m not kjblynx (obviously), but I’m replying to this because you accused me of advocating illegal and unethical headlines. Can you please tell me when and where I did that, or quote me, or something?

[ginnymenges]

Reply to @kjblynx:



I don’t think a seller can get overwhelmed with one gig if that seller does a good job defining the scope of the gig. The only way, I can see, a seller getting overwhelmed is with too many gig orders at one time, which the vacation setting prevents.

[ginnymenges]

Reply to @kjblynx:



You need to check your settings then. Seriously. I was wondering why you had not replied back to me but that might explain it. I sent you a private communication this morning when I realized I liked you about some voice-over work I need.

[ginnymenges]

Reply to @fonthaunt:



Wow. Look how fast you get defensive when someone points out how you make THEM (Me) feel. I don’t like being put on the defensive about my personality any more that you do.



Here is a deal for you: I will not accuse you of sounding like you hate buyers if you will stop accusing me of sounding angry or disgruntled. Attack my views and my statements all you want. Open discussion of differentiating views and opinions is what a forum is all about. But when you start using any adjectives to describe me, they are personal attacks whether you mean them to be or not.



And just for the record, I don’t really think you hate buyers. But it was obviously the only way I was going to make you see the difference between attacking my ideas and attacking me was to turn the tables on you.

[ginnymenges]

Reply to @kjblynx:



I used the “Contact Me” link next to your name. Here I’ll try it again right now.

[fonthaunt]

Reply to @ginnymenges: Some of this is probably correct and I have seen gigs where the seller intentionally or unintentionally fails to offer something for $5. I do believe that the title is so limited that buyers need to read the gig description before deciding their isn’t anything offered for $5. In a perfect world the title would reflect it too, but sometimes that is tough, especially with sellers who are working in a language not native to them.



Unfortunately, many of those same sellers don’t read or respond on the forums for a variety of reasons. Some will post once or twice asking for help or complaining about lack of sales and many try to help them. Many do not read or post at all. Most of the forum regulars are not the ones violating these rules, however. The other thing to remember is that your OP was filled with legal terms that would be easily misunderstood by those with native or non-native language problems and might scare someone but wouldn’t be that helpful to them. (Editing in - I think gigs can also be created by users as young as 13 as long as long as they have adult help with payment method.) Just some things to think about, if you are not that angry person you do seem to be.

[kreativa]

Reply to @ginnymenges:



Hi Ginny, I’ve been tempted to reply your (2?) threads against sellers. I completely understand this situation that happened to you with the seller. But why all that rage? Most of the sellers are not Americans , as well as good luck finding such cheap quality services in the US.



Personally, unless I open a company in the states - I’m not into learning US laws. What I care is to follow the TOS of the website where I am offering my services as a freelancer.



Tip for next time: Choose your seller wisely, see the average response time and orders in queue - In best case contact them,before you blame them for your choice. There are unprofessional and unethical sellers that will try to trick you. Make sure you report those to the admins, yet I hope you don’t go trough such experience. But you can’t blame the whole community for this one bad experience.



I can also see you are completely uninformed about how Fiverr works from the seller side.



You can’t compare amazon and Fiverr as well - here you buy service and unless it’s a template - everything is discussion. The TITLES that are bothering are short explanation for the product - reasonable sellers will have all the details explained in the description or will ask for contact first.



Again, sorry this happen to you, but try not to make it an obsession against the website.



All the best.

[catwriter]

Reply to @ginnymenges: I doubt they’re trying to do harm. Many users don’t even bother to read ToS, so they’re not aware of the rules. I’ve seen that someone was warned on the forum that he’s breaking the rules by refusing to offer something for $5; he kept refusing. I don’t know what happened to him later.



Anyway, as far as I know, Customer Support isn’t that harsh. 🙂 They understand the language barrier, and they’ll probably warn the seller first, and only take further action if the seller refuses to comply. I seriously doubt they would send people to prison or anything of the sort for something that could have been a simple misunderstanding. 🙂

[fonthaunt]

Reply to @catwriter: Thanks for mentioning this. One reason for my reply to her was that using the forum to get all over people probably wasn’t going to work, especially with the wording that was used. Reporting sellers who don’t offer something for $5 needs to be done and the person reporting can always say that they didn’t think it was intentional.

[fastcopywriter]

The US Consumer Protection Act has no jurisdiction here, this is the NEW ECONOMY, like AirBnB or eBay, or any number of online ventures. Here people buy pretty much whatever they want. Don’t like it? Ask for a revision or a cancellation.



The last thing we need is federal oversight of Fiverr. Big Government ruins everything, so let’s keep the government far away from Fiverr and let us earn our money.

[d3services]

AGAINST DO’S & DONT’S

[lilianarice]

In my opinion, this is a totally worthless rant about something that cannot be changed easily within the context and nature of Fiverr gigs. If someone has a big problem with the status quo they CAN GO BUY FROM AMAZON OR BESTBUY!!!

[nptmedia]

You should know that a Buyer need read seller’s gig description to know what the buyer can get with a basic gig ($5). If buyer’s requirement is so complex, the buyer need contact with seller before.

Example: a seller have 1 gig as “design a great logo for $5” and in his gig description wrote that “I don’t accept cartoon logo” and “with a basic gig, You will get .png format”.

So, a buyer (need a cartoon logo) can’t order this gig if he just read GIG TITLE.

Or a buyer (need get source file as vector file) can’t just order this gig as a basic gig($5).



That is reason Fiverr gave “GIG EXTRA and QUANTITY”.



Thanks!

[steveeyes]

Reply to @lilianarice: I couldn’t agree more.

[ginnymenges]

Reply to @fastcopywriter:

It is sad to think you think you can wish the US government out of our lives and it will just happen. If that were possible I would be wishing all the time lol! Whether you like it or agree with it, the US Consumer Protection Act very much has jurisdiction here. That was the point of my link if you will just bother to read it.



Why do you think that all the gambling sites were closed down in the US? A site must comply with US rules to be allowed to do commerce in the US. I didn’t say I like it! But just simply saying



"The US Consumer Protection Act has no jurisdiction here, this is the NEW ECONOMY, like AirBnB or eBay, or any number of online ventures. Here people buy pretty much whatever they want. Don’t like it? Ask for a revision or a cancellation. " … doesn’t make it true, no matter how much you wish it was. US laws do apply!



Here is the first paragraph from the FTC’s webpage on doing business in the US on the internet:



Online Advertising and Marketing



"The Internet connects marketers to customers across the country and around the world. If you advertising online, remember the rules and guidelines that protect consumers also help businesses by maintaining the credibility of the Internet as a marketing medium. In addition, truth-in-advertising standards apply if you sell computers, software, or other tech-related products or services. "



I looked at your page. You are from the US. You should know this. I’m sure you watch the news. How can you not know that US Consumer Protection laws apply to all e-commerce conducted in the US, no matter where the server is located?

[ginnymenges]

Reply to @lilianarice:



If this “rant” was so worthless it would not have close to a thousands view and over a hundred comments in less than a day. Obviously this is an issue that needs to be addressed.

[steveeyes]

Reply to @ginnymenges: How many comments are yours? Who knows, you could of hit the browser’s refresh key a thousand times to bump up views.

[ginnymenges]

Reply to @kreativa:



You have hit the nail on the head so to speak.



Most of the folks on here as sellers are not in the US. That is why I opened my post by explain WHY anyone who sells on Fiverr is subject to US laws. Like it or not; Agree with it or not; to sell to anyone in the US via the internet US laws do apply. We here in the US can’t access gambling sites because of this fact. These sites break US laws and are banned from view here. For a site like Fiverr to be allowed, since it is based in Israel, it must follow US laws. I made the post to make you and other sellers aware of that because I assumed most of you, as with yourself, are unaware of this.



Here is the opening paragraph from the US FTC website on internet commerce:



"Online Advertising and Marketing



The Internet connects marketers to customers across the country and around the world. If you advertising online, remember the rules and guidelines that protect consumers also help businesses by maintaining the credibility of the Internet as a marketing medium. In addition, truth-in-advertising standards apply if you sell computers, software, or other tech-related products or services."



As you can see you must comply with US laws to sell to US customers. That is why I posted this. And based solely on your response alone, I was right in doing so.



As for my anger over that ONE seller, I’m not worried about that anymore. I have a saying, “Jesus may forgive but Karma will kick your you know what!” I have noticed over the years that anyone that cheats me gets theirs in the end. What you saws as anger was my attempt to warn other buyers of that sellers unethical activities.

[ginnymenges]

Reply to @steveeyes:



Does that work?



My husband has been a cop for 26 years. He tells me that people who automatically suspect fowl-play all the time usually do so because they are involved in a lot of shady activities and so they think everyone else is as well.



I would have never thought of artificially inflating the views. I have no reason to do so. I think Fiverr can tell a unique view from a continue refresh, but it sounds like you would know more about how to do that than me.

I found this. It might interest you:



“In Internet culture, the 1% rule is a rule of thumb pertaining to participation in an internet community, stating that only 1% of the users of a website actively create new content, while the other 99% of the participants only lurk”. - Wikipedia



So based on that you can also calculate the views by adding two zeros behind the number of active participants in a post thread. I did the math here. It is pretty much dead on right too.

[fonthaunt]

Reply to @ginnymenges: Wow, rolled right back downhill with accusations. I don’t know much about chicken games (bad joke - fowl play) on the forums but your reply was not nice.

[ginnymenges]

Reply to @fonthaunt:



But accusing me of hitting the refresh button a thousand times is nice? Really? Glad you are not Santa because you “naughty or nice” detector is broken.



You and a couple of others have continuously attacked me here for simply speaking the truth and trying to educate others. It has past the point of getting OLD! You think you can take pot shots at me and my opinion over and over and then when I finally defend myself you call ME not nice. Stick to the topic please. If you can prove anything is incorrect in my original post, using fact, not opinion, please share. Other wise I have had enough of the personal attacks from you and a couple of others. Most people on here are communicating because they really didn’t know that US law applies or that some sellers don’t follow the rules. You and a couple of others however are just trolling for a fight and I’m getting tired of it. This was a serious post to help many sellers understand something that no one has brought to their attention.