Money Back for Making Up Slogans?

[pix_studios]

Hello Again Everyone!



I have a question about giving refunds to my buyers. I would like to offer a Money Back Guarantee on my logo design service, but I am skeptical about doing so. My logo service includes a gig extra for slogans and taglines. What should I do if a buyer takes one the slogans I create, uses it but then decides to ask for a refund? This is something that worries me. I already know how to protect my logos by submitting the concepts as a low resolution jpeg file. But slogans and taglines are words that can be memorized and used. Also, how do you give someone their money back since Fiverr is holding the funds?



These may seem like silly questions but I know there are a few people out there who want services for free. Most people are not that way but how does everyone else here protect themselves?

[emmaki]

Let’s say that you deliver a slogan to a seller, and they get nasty (“this is rubbish, so are you, I can’t believe you call yourself an etc etc etc”). So you issue a refund just to get rid of them. A little later you check up on their website and they’re using your horrible work!

So you go to Customer Support with proof and hope for the best. How that will go seems to depend on how your particular God is feeling on that day. I can only really say that sometimes things go horribly wrong and you get screwed, and all you can really do is move on… luckily these kind of buyers are pretty easy to sniff out. The only protection you really have is your own judgement. Fiverr’s going to cling onto that buyer money no matter what the outcome and has a fine line to walk to justify (or simply ignore!) their policies. When in doubt, do what you think is right.

[pix_studios]

Reply to @emmaki: Thanks! I will keep this in mind.

[sincere18]

You just have to know that it happens from time to time. This is the same as working for yourself as a freelancer. Someone doesn’t pay the bill but goes ahead and uses your work…you would have to issue a cease and desist letter first to ask them to remove it, then you could hire a lawyer as needed.

I would not offer money back gaurantees, in some ways that’s already built into Fiverr and there is no real way to police the internet to the extent you want to.

[twistedweb123]

Personally, I wouldn’t offer a money back guarantee at all. The prices on Fiverr are heavily discounted, which means there has to be a bit of give in regards to what you do and don’t include for the knocked-down price. If the service were standard market value with more revisions, more drafts etc you may consider incorporating some sort of guarantee but to do it from $5 seems excessive and detrimental to you.

Remember, people aren’t just paying for your finalised product, they are paying for your time, effort, experience and expertise required from you to get to that product.

They don’t like the logo? They have still received something of benefit from you. They have learned what they don’t like. Let’s say they ask you for a swoosh and don’t like it - they now know the swoosh wasn’t a good idea and can take that forward with them - that is valuable.

I have found many buyers will often spray $5 orders around to multiple designers to see their preferred logo. They will then select the best and upgrade their package accordingly. In that scenario, do you think it’s fair to request/be given refunds from every single order except the one they have chosen? Fiverr isn’t about offering no-spec work like certain other sites. The initial $5 investment is a minimal risk and a clear benefit to the buyer. I don’t think you need to go further and offer guaranteed refunds on top of that.

As I say, if we were talking full market prices, there would be a different approach but I don’t think so when it comes to $5.

Personally, I charge for revisions so the design goes as far as the buyer wants it to. If they don’t like a design and refuse to pay for revisions, that is them opting out of my reduced price service - not me delivering a sub-par product.

[pix_studios]

Reply to @twistedweb123: Thank you for that advice. I was just talking to someone today about the fact that someone getting a logo for $5.00 is a great deal. Prices on the full market price are much higher going up to several hundred dollars so I really can’t understand why someone would request a refund after so much work has already been done.

[jamesbulls]

I’ve offered a money-back guarantee since I started on Fiverr and although none of my clients have come right out and said it, I think I’ve only had 2 clients who feigned dissatisfaction in order to get a refund. The way I see it, you can either choose to offer a money back guarantee and handle refunds on your own terms, or wait for clients to leave you a bad review and then still hit you with a charge-back.

[pix_studios]

Reply to @jamesbulls: Okay. There are very good arguments on both sides on whether to offer a money back guarantee. But now I just decided to offer a money back guarantee. I figure that my gigs start at $5.00 but I am counting on buyers to purchase some gig extras so the price can go up to $50 or more. Some people won’t make a big deal about a $5.00 logo, but I don’t know anyone who wants to part with $50.00.

So I will just offer refunds and take my chances. Thank all of you for your valuable feedback.

[sincere18]

Reply to @pix_studios: I just looked at your gig, you give everyhting for $5. 3 designs, high res files, etc. ,etc. So the only extras are more concepts and slogans. So you may get more $5 gigs. But I would suggest adding more photos of real logos, if you have been a designer since 1999 surely you have more samples than that, right? Remember logo design is a very over saturated and competitive category. In fact maybe you should offer a second gig just for “Logo Slogans” see if you get any bites for that as well.