What to do when buyers constantly message you

[dobguy1]

I recently had a potential buyer who sent me 21 messages in two days. The individual did not seem to know what exactly they wanted. I write articles and blogs. So, after a while I was completely frustrated with the person and just told them when you figure out what you need feel free to order. The messages became somewhat strange after that, almost abusive. Finally, I reported them and now they can’t contact me. Has anyone had one of those types that just keeps buggin’ and asking strange questions? I’ve been a seller for over two years and never ran into that before. Thanks Dave

[emasonwrites]

Occasionally. On and off I’ll encounter a buyer who sends rapid-fire messages, sometimes maybe only a few words per message, but they are all one right after another. I think some buyers see the private messaging system sort of like instant messaging–instead of sending one, concise and complete message and waiting for a reply, they just send a bunch in a row as their ideas form and then keep sending more and more to “remind” you to reply.



While I don’t always write them off, sometimes you can tell, like you did, that they don’t have a solidified concept or idea yet–which often isn’t a stage of the game where we (talking writers, specifically) can help, and it’s best to turn them away until they know what they need.

[jackyheshi]

I usually tell them to plan their ideas out and message me back.

I also enforce an one revision policy on my gigs.

[fonthaunt]

I’ve had some, though the weirdest one I’ve had is someone who wrote recently to ask me if my delivery and response times were “real” and if so, that they wanted someone else. It was actually worded in quite a rude way and they were complaining about a gig with a 7 day delivery and my response time was 2 hours. They said that “nothing takes 7 days to write.” I’m glad they didn’t author War and Peace! They also turned out to be a seller themselves with a 9 day delivery time and a 2 day response time, so go figure. I rarely go without at least answering a message but I just marked that one as spam since the intent seemed to be to insult me. Some messages are just strange!

[redleafconsult]

The most prolific “message system users” in my (limited) experience have been the people who aren’t sure what they want and/or aren’t ready to commit to the purchase.



I just had a person contact me with questions about a custom project for what appeared to be a major company, complete with details. I provided a professional, prompt response with a price quote and conditions, after which they engaged in a 15 or 20 message back-and-forth.



With each back and forth, they tried to find ways to reduce the cost until I finally set the floor and said that I wasn’t willing to continue the discussion. At that point, she admitted that she was a student working on her final project for a college class and that the marketing campaign for the major company was just an “exercise”. Then she asked if, instead of a fully produced 30 second commercial spot as originally requested, I would be willing to provide her with just the VO content.



“Of course!”, I replied.



She then asked me to give her a number of different samples of the COMPLETE CONTENT so that she could decide if she like the VO enough to pay for it.



I replied that I would be happy to provide a VO within the terms of my standard gig after she placed an order. I haven’t received a reply or an order . . .



I’ve had 4 or 5 of those in the past month. I probably shouldn’t entertain more than 4 or 5 messages with them, but I tend to carry it out a lot longer in the hopes that they’ll pan out.



So far, nothing with that type of buyer has. If they smell fishy . . . they’re usually a fish!