Gave writing samples and then told they didn't pass Copyscape. Am I being scammed?

[Guest firedxupp]

I got a request from a potential buyer for writing samples. It might have been from a buyer request I responded to, as I didn’t see the message attached to any of my gigs. Instead of asking “what kind of writing are you looking for” so I could send samples that fit, I just said some of the types of writing I frequently do, and attached 8 samples.



Two days later, I got this response:

"Sorry, but these are not original articles…there are multiple copies of them on Copyscape."



Obviously, I’m beyond frustrated. I’ve never plagiarized any of my writing knowingly, but since I don’t have Copyscape and the person didn’t answer and provide me with any evidence (screenshots, links, etc) I have no way to verify. I also mentioned in my response that I don’t know what my customers do with my writing after I give it to them. Sometimes they post as is, sometimes they change it and post it, and other times I never hear from them about where it is being posted. So I have no way of verifying (once it appears online) that I was the writer, as I don’t ask for credit unless someone offers me the option to “guest post”.



I just read another post about providing samples and realized that I’ve probably been making some mistakes, but I like to choose the content that I’m most proud of, as I often have no clue where or when my stuff gets published. It seems like the nature of this business.



Has anyone had a similar situation happen to them? Does this request for samples and subsequent response come off as a little fishy to anyone else? And finally, how reliable is Copyscape?

[Guest firedxupp]

Obviously I don’t really want to work with this person anymore after they accused me of sending unoriginal samples, as I fear that anything I sent them they would somehow plant so that it would not pass Copyscape, then cancel. But I’m puzzled and hoping someone has some experience or wisdom to share?

[muradbougraine]

😃

[Guest firedxupp]

Reply to @muradbougraine: I’m sorry, I don’t know if I understand what you mean.

[muradbougraine]

Reply to @firedxupp:

[sincere18]

That is an interesting question…as a side note, if a potential buyer simply goes into your profile they can contact you directly through there so it wouldn’t be attached to a specific gig.



As for sending samples, since you write for people and have no idea what they do with it, then I think anytime you send along a sample, maybe you just need to say that these were originally written for a client and then they go on to post it. It’s also very possible that other people are copying your stuff as well, so that it could be you were the original writer but now a dozen other people make claims to your stuff now.



What I would suggest you do yourself just for some knowledge, is take the articles you gave as samples, and google the title and see what comes up. Then maybe google a catchy sentence inside your article with quotes on it to see if and where any matches show up.



This request was for just a 250 word article as that is what one of your gigs is mainly for, correct?

[Guest firedxupp]

Reply to @sincere18: Thank you for your thoughtful response. A personal friend of mine said that I should indicate that I am a syndicated writer.



A lot of times, I see one of my gigs at the top of a message, so I’m not sure if perhaps you can contact on an individual gig and just generally? I’ll have to look at it again.



I’m definitely going to try googling some of my articles and see where I find them. Its possible someone could have copied from my clients and reposted my writing as their own,



Yes, one of my gigs is for general content writing. I don’t think that I can find any buyer request that match so it must have been random.



Interestingly, they have been active on fiverr for a long time and in their profile they state “get in touch if you need top quality articles written, edited, proofread” but don’t have a gig for anything other than something unrelated to writing.

[sincere18]

Reply to @firedxupp: Actually the idea of using the word syndicated is a good one.



Yes, buyers can contact you through either a gig or directly through their profile, I have done both I believe.



That is interesting about this person who was buying from you. It’s very possible that this person buys and resells stuff or is some kind of scammer.



When the person requested samples, what did they say the job was for, what did they need the article for? Or did they not say?



I think in general, this is also a bigger issue relating to things not just on Fiverr but as a writer in general. Even as an independent freelancer, of which I have done that in the past, advertising in other places like craigslist for example, sending out samples to anonymous people is always an issue and makes me feel uneasy. But it’s just part of the nature of the terrain.



Do you make a lot off of doing the article writing gigs here on Fiverr?

[Guest firedxupp]

Reply to @sincere18:

I am a little suspicious now. They have a 75% positive rating, so I’m wondering if they have had some repeat issues. I also wonder if they had their other rated gigs removed or took them down themselves… I may never know.



I guess I am a bit naive; I should have been feeling uneasy, but I haven’t. I need to consider a better way to handle sharing samples.



I would say that I make a decent amount but not as much as I’d like to. It isn’t my best selling gig, so I’m always eager to get more customers on that gig.

[sincere18]

Reply to @firedxupp: In all honesty I wouldn’t worry about this so much. And if your articles are being copied somewhere, then feel flattered!!! 🙂 lol…did you google and find anything?



It’s just a part of doing business as a writer, and Fiverr being a fairly anonymous site add another dimension of that. Just be mindful about it going forward and you should be fine. It’s nothing to really sweat about. And if a buyer asks for requests or anything that doesn’t feel right just politely say you are not able to do it at this time.

[Guest firedxupp]

Reply to @sincere18:

Thank you for putting me at ease a bit. I got the person to forward me screenshots of the Copyscape results, and they were COMPLETELY different articles with a shared phrase. I told the person I hardly felt that was grounds for bluntly telling me that my articles were not original.



First time in my year on Fiverr that I’ve had anyone make me feel so uneasy.

[fonthaunt]

Here are a few tips on CopyScape:



CopyScape is fairly accurate in terms of finding matches for content that matches another document to a high percentage. CopyScape searches indexed portions of the internet as well as many known books and other publications. If something ends up with a 80% match or higher than CopyScape has likely located an orginal source that would make that content appear plagiarized.



On the other hand, many ordinary articles that are original would still get a 1-15% match simply because certain phrases are common in certain types of writing. That is not necessarily an indication of plagiarism. Anything in the middle (between 15-80%) is more of a judgement call, but the higher the percentage the more likely something is not original.



You don’t have to have a paid CopyScape account to check your articles, it is just harder with the free version. You can obtain a free website easily. When you want to check a document, put the document on the website. Then paste the URL for the document into the URL field on the free version and it will give you a basic percentage return.



The paid version is easier to use because you can copy and paste a whole document instead of going to the trouble of uploading it to a website. If you are going to do a lot of online writing, though, it can be worth the trouble to do some of your own checking either free or paid. The last time I had a buyer who was really freaked out about plagiarized content, he did buy a gig. When I delivered I also sent a screenshot of my own CopyScape run which cost me .05. The order was for more than 1 gig so I felt the investment was worth it since he had a strong chance of being a return buyer once he had renewed trust.



So, that’s a primer on CopyScape in case it is helpful to you or anyone else. Mentioning you are syndicated could be of use if it is true, although in my opinion it is of limited use. A buyer can’t check on that without knowing what name you are syndicated under which is information I wouldn’t personally provide on Fiverr. Also, in many cases you have given up partial rights to syndicated work so using it for samples to a buyer could be legally questionable. That one depends on too many factors for me to comment further.

[sincere18]

Reply to @firedxupp: It’s not even worth trying to defend yourself, maybe just a thank you for sharing that these are only phrases and not duplicate articles. I think some people feel that some phrases may be unique or that they all should be. But in any case, as you can see now, nothing to worry about. Though you should still google your own work every now and then.

[Guest digilancer99]

Are you handing out writing samples of previous articles you’ve already delivered to other people? If so, that’s probably the problem. Your previous buyers have published your articles online, and thus the writing samples are sounding off alarm bells.



In my opinion, you shouldn’t be providing articles that you’ve already delivered to someone else, even if it’s as a sample. Maybe you can just rewrite the article so it passes Copyscape instead?



If you insist on providing full samples in the future, my advice to you is that you take some time and write a completely original article that you’ve never delivered to anyone, and use that as your sample. Make sure you always do a free plagiarism check before you send a potential buyer your sample article as well. Of course, finding that original sample published online later is just a risk you’d have to take.



I personally don’t want to take the risk of having people take my original samples and post them online, so I just provide a couple of paragraphs or ask that the buyer purchase a single gig as a test run.

[Guest seoann20]

most buyer scam a lot when it come to uniqueness i have came across many but i know how to handle them

[sincere18]

Reply to @digilancer99: Also, you should not be giving out samples of other clients work without their permission either. That is also something to factor into. Select a few pieces that you really like, and ask those clients if you can use them in your portfolio.

[anki_24]

Hi Firedxupp,



You should buy copyscape credits. It is like oxygen for a writer. Copyscape is really cheap. You will get 100 searches for $5 (1 search up to 2000 words). You can’t be a successful writer without copyscape.



All the best,

Anki_24

[scandalous]

Turn this experience into more money.

1. A condition of your writing gig is you must be told where the written piece is going to be used and given a link to the source once it’s posted/published. There’s really no way to enforce the latter but you’d be surprised at how many buyers will comply.
   
2. Charge an extra fee for each additional ‘licence’ for you work. In other words, if the buyer plans to use your work in multiple places, each place is an extra gig and you’ll need a link to each place.
   
3. Use copyscape to track your pieces and threaten a DMCA notification if you find it used beyond the reported sites.
   
4. Sell an ‘unlimited’ license gig ($25? $50?) for the the buyer to use your work any place they want.