4.5 star review

[philtabest]

I recieved a 4.5 star review today that said "Work was definitely acceptable and communication was good. But I would have a hard time using again because of how long it took to complete a 1 page document. ". I clearly state my waiting times on my gig and do offer an extra fast delivery option, so my response was "I’m sorry to hear that, I do quote a time of 14 days for a few reasons though. The fact that I work full-time and also the quantities of orders being unpredictable being the main two. FYI, I do offer an extra fast delivery option of 3 days in case you reconsider. ".



Do you think that was a good response?

[wpfalcon]

14 Days On Average, Are you kidding me??

[philtabest]

Reply to @wpfalcon: I shit you not kind sir! I work full-time, sometimes 60 hour weeks. I then come home, cook dinner and work some more on Fiverr. I also shower, shave, poop, sleep, study(part-time) and attempt to have a life somewhere in the midst of that.

[fonthaunt]

I think if that’s what is written on the gig, it is the buyer’s issue to read it. I had to set all my gigs to the max once due to a death in the family alongside complex travel issues, so rather than suspend them I set them very long. Orders were greatly reduced (as intended) although I did get a couple of orders. I filled them within about 12 days and the buyers had no complaints.



Since I do occasionally adjust the times my other regular thing is to say in the gig description something like “Please note my maximum delivery time in case you have earlier deadlines.” Sometimes people do message me and ask if I can do something faster. If I can manage it and it’s a repeat buyer I will try to expedite for free. If they need it drastically sooner or it’s a new buyer I usually point them to my express extra or just say that I can’t if it would stress me out too much.



While I understand the sales potential of setting delivery times fast, I still think it should be the seller’s decision if they want to set their gig at any length Fiverr allows. I would be upset if a buyer gave me a lower review due to something they agreed to upon purchase. I still think it’s important to reply professionally and sometimes they will agree to change the review if they realize you have a point. Your response doesn’t sound unprofessional to me.

[sincere18]

Reply to @philtabest: we understand that, it’s just you are competing to try and make sales on a website where that is a really, really long time compared to nearly all other sellers. Remember though you have to consider the buyers perspective. They do not care what your personal life looks like, all the sellers are equal in their eyes.



I think it’s fine to write the response you did and just let it go. How long have you been selling on Fiverr? And how many sales have you received?

[sincere18]

Reply to @fonthaunt: that is a good line to have in your ads if you generally tend to have longer delivery times:

“Please note my maximum delivery time in case you have earlier deadlines.”

[tgreen7163]

Reply to @philtabest: Although you are juggling a very busy lifestyle, It may not be in your best interest to offer work that take unacceptably long to deliver. Think from the buyers perspective. Good extra change efficiently made by you… but for the buyer… Yeah, I’d consider 1 page in 5 days to be pretty long.

[tgreen7163]

Reply to @sincere18: Spot on, I often have to bring myself back to think from the buyers perspective too. It’s very important to doing good business. Good points.

[thepromogirl]

wpfalcon said: 14 Days On Average, Are you kidding me??

 

sincere18 said: Remember though you have to consider the buyers perspective.

 

I'd like to bring awareness to the fact that the Sellers do not force Buyers to purchase a Gig. Days on average is clearly advertised right on each Gig page. Buyers should use common sense and consider the days on average before ordering a Gig.

 

philtabest said: Do you think that was a good response?

 

Kuddos for you working 60-hours a week, it's tough! Chip up though, many people do understand that we are not robots and do work outside of Fiverr - what you've experienced is not common.

[emeraldawnn]

Reply to @wpfalcon: I actually have 15 days on average on one of mine currently. But. that’s mainly because of Fiverr’s own whack system. If a buyer orders 8 articles to be complete, and I set it for just 5 days for one article,… then I still have 5 days to get those 8 articles done. Thus, 15 days (as of this moment) is to handle some of the unpredictable nature of buyers who decide it’d be nice to order bulk without talking to me first. That’s why I set mine to a longer delivery time.



However, if they want their one article done sooner - then they can either order an extra fast OR… if I have time between now and the due date, I’ll get to it sooner. It’s been known to happen before.



Of course, I also work part-time at my son’s school, and have to take care of the house everyday…along with the two kids. And, I still have to take care of me - and hit the gym… (a body like this doesn’t stay this way. LOL) I am out of this house more than I am in!



@sincere18 - As for competition - I am in a highly competitive area and think I do fairly good. And, as for buyers not caring… maybe some of them don’t but the ones I’ve come across have been most understanding. It’s nice actually! I’m just upfront with the issue.

[fonthaunt]

Reply to @thepromogirl: Exactly. I do imagine the buyer’s perspective all the time as a buyer (and seller) not only on Fiverr but countless other sites.



I ordered a Halloween mask on Amazon in August 2013. I failed to read the 3rd party reseller shipping notes. They lived in an isolated location and had carefully noted that shipping could take several months. I had the option to cancel anytime. A great detailed mask arrived in late December. A friend of mine now uses it to make funny videos. I paid $6.99 and my friend has made more than $30 using the mask. As a buyer my perspective is, win-win-win!



Genuine sellers want sales and do their best.

thepromogirl said: we are not robots

I'm totally with you @thepromogirl.

[sincere18]

Yes, but here is a problem that I noticed…your gig also has an extra for 3 day delivery. So what that says to a buyer is that you can do projects in a few days, and that it doesn’t have to take you 2 weeks. I understand that costs more, but when a buyer sees that, it may make them think it’s not really going to take 14 full days.

[sincere18]

So what do you do when someone orders 3 day rush delivery? You can’t say that you work 60 hours, have to come home and cook, shower, shave, sleep, study and on and on…

[emasonwrites]

I think that was a great response. It seems a little weird to give you a lower score for something the buyer should have (in a perfect world where every buyer read the gig description and duration before order) been fully aware of before purchasing. That’s like ordering a cheeseburger and then being upset that there was cheese on your burger.



I’m not sure why so many users felt the need to chide this seller for his turnaround time. His turnaround time is what works for him. If he wanted to sell more or be “more competitive,” he could try to shorten his turnaround, but it sounds like he has a lot of other things going on, including a full-time job–so it’s not like he’s relying on Fiverr for the whole of his income. He doesn’t have to be the top performer in his category in order to pay rent, feed himself, etc. I’m really just making assumptions about the OP’s life, but I’m surprised that people felt the need to come out of the woodwork to tell him he needed to deliver faster. He’s more than welcome to take up to thirty days to deliver, according to Fiverr.



My own turnaround is in between seven and fourteen days, depending on the length of the project, because that’s what works for me. If I needed/could handle more work, I’d shorten it.



As for rush delivery–and again, this is just an assumption, this time based on my own business, but the fee covers the trouble that a short-term order causes me, i.e. rearrangement of my schedule, putting off household tasks, or losing sleep in order to get “one more thing” done, etc. It can be done, but the fee discourages most people from demanding it to be done.

[emeraldawnn]

Reply to @emasonwrites: exactly! Well said!

[elvisinstacute]

We have a delivery time of 7 days when we record new videos – and a rush option for 50 dollar. At first we didn’t have a rush option but we tried to help a customer who hadn’t read our delivery time – it ended with us having to do several retakes, make extra prints and getting no review and no extra money. Had the customer just read our info and planned accordingly she would have had a perfect result on time. Ahhh, bad timez…



So yes, we had one bad experience with delivery time and really don’t want to get involved in that mess again. And, no – no one has payed us or asked us to rush an order since we added the 50 dollar option.

[sincere18]

Reply to @elvisinstacute: But in a situation like that if a customer does not read the delivery time and then suddenly wants something right away, it may be better to just cancel at that point and let it go, let them find a seller who can do it in the time they need. I think a lot of sellers are afraid to cancel, but sometimes you have to do it or it turns out really messy working with that buyer.

[emeraldawnn]

Reply to @sincere18: Not necessarily. I’ve had an issue with a buyer that wanted their work done within 5 days… but I explained to them that my gig delivery timeframe was set up the way it was for a reason. I gave them three suggestions: that they could order an extra fast, wait until I was able to get the work done or cancel so they could find someone else. They chose to wait, and I got a 5.0 star rating on the work… It was delivered within 10 days.



Sometimes, just being upfront with the buyer and explaining where they fall in the queue helps. Sometimes it doesn’t! You win some, you lose some!

[buzzkillington]

I’m in the exact same boat. I only have a single gig, but it’s set at 7 days even though most gigs can be finished quickly. I work full-time too.



I often get people who ask me to complete it tomorrow. When I respond that I normally run up to 7 days but a rush is an extra charge, miraculously their deadline always gets pushed back. Obviously it’s anecdotal, but I’d say 8/10 people tell me they need it back immediately, but have a much larger window when it’s actually due if it means it will cost an extra $20.



Unless you’re competing with people who have a 1 day turnaround, I don’t see the purpose of an artificially low delivery day. Even if you CAN do it in 2 days - once the clock starts you have to do it. By giving yourself a longer period, it allows for unexpected delays like kids getting sick, you being tired…etc. Based on what I’ve seen, why give myself only 1-2 days to complete something when most people are wiling to wait. Plus I’ve had people actually pay the extra $20 to get it in 2 days - so it’s win win!

[buzzkillington]

Reply to @sincere18: - I disagree - to me as a seller who does the same thing it says…normally it takes me up to 14 days. But if you REALLY want it in 3 days and you’re willing to cough up some extra money, I can do it in 3. Yes that’s a big disparity, but to me that’s the point of the extra fast option - doing it faster than you normally want to because someone can’t wait.

[idansimpson]

Learn from this.



Next time you work with a buyer on a gig you expect to take a long time, you can say something like:



“Now, I can offer to get this project back to you in no more than 14 days, which is too long for some buyers. With my current schedule, I have learned not to rush orders as that sacrifices quality. If you are comfortable with this timetable, I would be glad to proceed with the order.”

[emasonwrites]

Reply to @emeraldawnn: Totally agree. There are a lot of buyers that ask if they have have their work done faster, but when the reasons behind the turnaround are explained, most are willing to wait–even when I offer to help them find someone faster. Unless I’m getting the vibe that they’re going to be a jerk about things later down the line, I won’t cancel.

[sincere18]

Reply to @emeraldawnn: Yes, that is a great way to put it to the client, but your client responded in a positive way, not all do.

[elvisinstacute]

Reply to @sincere18: Maybe next time 🙂 But that old fear of cancellations having a negative impact on rating still lingers on.

[philtabest]

Reply to @sincere18: I may understand that, but I didn’t even get a message from him first specifying that there was a deadline. If I had received such email I would have would have worked with him to achieve that.



I have had 7 orders so far in a month, I created my account a long time before that though. I kinda hesitated when it came to creating a gig.