Buyers who underpay

[george_gibb]

I think we’ve all been there. I buyer places an order and details than surpass what they’ve paid for, whether its $50 or $5, an underpayment is an underpayment, and it’s not fun.

There’s always the problem of how to approach the buyer about it, do you take the hit in the hope of return business, or do you refuse to deliver the order until they cough up?

The system I personally use a system where the first time a buyer underpays take the lower payment and deliver, but in the delivery message let them know they underpaid (in a jovial, jokey kind of tone), tell them not to worry about it this time. This way, you make the buyer remember you, feel personal with you (as it’s not just a delivery message from a stranger on the internet), and also feel like you’ve done them a favour, all 3 of these things make them come back for more!

Any repeat underpayments and I let them know in a very pleasant, casual manner, and I have had no problems, in fact, I’ve had many more tips from people who underpaid on their first purchase than others, they seem to be very grateful.

TL:DR The first time a buyer underpays, take the hit and deliver, but let them know that they’ve underpaid (very friendly), that it doesn’t matter this time and the repeat business will come flooding in!

[misscrystal]

I’ve handled this by giving them the option of paying more or cancelling, or simply explaining that they will not get what they want for such a low price. Most of the time when I then offer them an extra so that they understand that to get what they want they need to pay more, they then agree to purchase the extra. Usually if they don’t I cancel the order.

[emmaki]

I give them an invoice for the missing funds or an option to cancel. I sometimes do the friendly thing but in my experience they continue to behave like they’ve got a discount, in which case I give them an invoice for the missing funds or an option to cancel.

Mainly though, it seems to be people who can’t do simple arithmetic.

[divyagoel]

Many buyers here want to complete there job in just $5 no matter what the work should cost exactly…and i think there are many other sellers who agreed to take that job in such a less cost in case i refused to take that job. So i always appreciate the buyers who look for quality work not the cost related work.

[cyaxrex]

I now cancel these orders straight away. I have 3 regular buyers who routinely do this, and a few others who keep ordering bulk work without contacting me first, even though I have kindly asked them to do so previously.

In short, people usually know exactly what they are doing and it rattles my cage a bit. This past week, though, my serial offenders have had a shock by simply having all their orders canceled as soon as they have placed them. The best part? Because of refusing to be treated so rude/disrespectfully, I’ve been able to accept higher paying work from new clients which I wouldn’t have been able to otherwise.

I suppose it’s all about standing your ground from the beginning. This isn’t always easy if you are new but is hugely important if you want to do regular work on Fiverr and make that work worth your time.

[emmaki]

I just issue an invoice for the full amount along with a request to cancel. One or the other will get their attention and I’m not going to waste any time on it until they sort it out. (I have a pre-written message explaining all this, so it literally takes 2 minutes).

People who do it on the regular get the same, but with more bad-tempered personal messages.

[misscrystal]

What do you do when they ignore both the invoice and the request to cancel?

[emmaki]

Huh, I just noticed I wrote this twice lol. Bit brain fried today. I take it to customer support, as this kind of buyer is usually being unreasonable and I’ve provided 2 very reasonable solutions. My only other solution is to deliver whatever I think is fair for the price while alerting CS to the fact that this buyer is refusing to be reasonable and this is my attempt to fit in with their canned message about “working with the buyer”.

Trust me, getting in nice and early with CS works wonders with problematic buyers. Also leaves the buyer with considerably less leeway.

99.9% of the time they’re just going to cancel or accept. Last bloke was $275 out and canceled. I just wonder how he thought that 300 words magically made a total of 1000 on top of 10 words. Idiot.

[seochick786]

Great idea to get permanent customers.

[george_gibb]

I suppose your straight to the point approach is more suited for Top Rated Sellers (Gold T), whereas my slightly softer one chance method is better for Level 2 Sellers who don’t want to lose any business no matter how small. However little I get paid, reviews are crucial to grow my profile!

[george_gibb]

What is this invoice people are speaking of? I think I may have missed a trick, it sounds professional but also to the point.

[george_gibb]

I think it’s a good trade off, made from an unpleasant situation.

[george_gibb]

I think your point about getting in with CS is a good one, do you mean on a personal level or just with CS as an entity? Hmm, I didn’t word that very well, what I mean to say is, can CS see your previous CS conversations every time you contact them?

[george_gibb]

I should maybe be more strong and un-budging, however, as a Level 2 Seller business doesn’t come as easily as to yourself (Top Rated), so I suppose I have to back down a bit more to keep a steady flow of business and reviews 😕

[misscrystal]

Yes I understand.

[emmaki]

Ticket numbers, tickets stay open until a situation is resolved/peters out.

[emmaki]

You can do what you like, but to be honest, I’ve never found that your way (which I occasionally take) has had any significant difference. 1/3 of people won’t leave reviews (for various reasons) anyway. One chance, two choices, it’s all the same in the end. There are buyers out there who take advantage of such “confusion” and seller’s desire to get ahead. They’re not much above the buyers who troll complete newbies to do free work before placing an order imo.

[emmaki]

you can add your own extras to your gig in an order. It’s in the chat box on the bottom left. Click it and add whatever. Voila, the invoice for missing funds is complete (or adding onto an order, though I don’t generally recommend that)

[capitalquality]

I’ve done this a lot up to now - done the work for less than it’s worth, and less than I would charge if people came to me to talk about their requirements first. But I’ve had a lot of these recently, hence I’ve posted similar questions on the forum recently too.

I’ve decided not to do this any more and there are several reasons for this but the most obvious is that it’s a lot of work for not enough payback.

Yes, I’ve had more tips from people who’ve got a good deal, but it’s still less than the work was worth. And yes, some of those people have come back but a lot of people only want one thing done anyway then you don’t see them for a while. And in some cases they come back because they got a good deal and they still don’t want to pay the true value of the work.

This morning someone ordered a $20 gig but it’s going to take me hours and I’ve made them a custom offer for nearly $300. I know they’re going to cancel but do I care? Not really because I can use that time doing other work for other people who will pay a proper rate.

[george_gibb]

Wow, how wrongly did they read your gig description!? I have had a few like that, what did they ask you to do?

[emmaki]

Don’t be so pessimistic! I’ve sent out invoices as large as $400 thinking they’d get shitcanned only to have a pleasant surprise later on!

Think you’re barking up the wrong tree here, George, tbh. This is business–you stated your prices, and they’re ignoring them. Know the saying about giving people an inch and they’ll run a mile?

You’ll all–and we’ll all–be better for it if we stick to our prices, even if they are ludicrously low at the start. You’re both level 2 sellers: that’s pretty much the top level. It’s OK to stop thinking like you’ve only got one review and the next one might kill you. You should have a good portfolio, at least a few returning clients (depending on the nature of your gig/work) and a firm grasp on how to make the system work for you.

The last part does not involve bending over and opening wide. Invoice or cancel.

[capitalquality]

In fairness they probably think what they’re asking for is easy but they want a dynamic graphic for a dashboard that uses nothing that is standard in the application, which means coding everything.

[sue_mcl]

I once got a $260 order from someone who ordered a $5 order and sent a huge script (for voiceover). Turns out she was new to the platform and didn’t understand how it worked, but was more than happy to pay the extra.

I sent her a polite note explaining that she had order x number of words, but the gig only covered y number of words, so if she would like me to go ahead with the order, she would need to pay the $255 shortfall. I was expecting her to ask to cancel (I don’t mention cancelling) and low and behold 30 minutes later the order for the extra arrived! 🙂

That happened when I was fairly new to the platform, so I always now request the extra $$ when someone short orders and they usually pay it, so don’t sell yourself short and give your valuable work away for free, or you might find you get people consistently under ordering by “mistake”.

[emmaki]

Lately I find myself doing this with people I’m in the middle of negotiations with. So rude. I mean we’re talking about the job and scoping it then you go and order a test gig with a “oops, didn’t see that this was only xyz! Can we go ahead anyway?” message.

NO WE CAN’T.

[sue_mcl]

and yes, if you send people a request to pay the extra (ie what they should have paid) you will get people who will then come back to you saying “that is a rip off” or “all the other voiceover artists charge x, so you should too” or my favourite “can you do it this time, I have a lot more work in the future” etc etc. But you know what, if that is their attitude, you don’t want to be working with them anyway, no matter how new you are to the platform 😉 Just make sure your gig clearly outlines what they will get for their gig and you will have no issues with requesting them to pay what your gig says they should pay.