Be careful with your words

[miacmht]

I was searching for a service and found a gig that sell ebook/audio book, was reading gig description and then I saw this gold in the reviews section:

Buyer: thanks

Seller: Just thanks? You were handed a goldmine of a course for only $5, and received it in only 30 minutes. You should be jumping for joy! Listen carefully, and you will make a fortune!

This’s when the seller go to my blacklist. So if you’re a seller then, well, be careful with your words, especially when it’s visible for everyone.

You might or might not agree with the saying “customers are always right”, but that’s how it is in business. You don’t have to be on your knees and smile “yes that’s absolutely right” when they say the Sun rise in the West and the Earth goes around the Moon. But you must treat them with respect. If you think “customers are always right” is wrong, then believing “a seller is doing all buyers a favor by allowing them to use his wonderful service” is even more ridiculous.

Yes, sellers are human, I’m also a seller and certainly understand that. But there’re place and time for everything. If you’re upset about low rating, contact your buyer and be respectful. If they refuse to change, refuse your refund and CS wouldn’t do anything about it, curse them, call them names…out loud, don’t write it down on your own profile.

[fonthaunt]

I totally get your concept and as someone who also buys often, I can see your point. Since you and I are both sellers also, I suggest one more thing to think on.

Fiverr staff has said that if a seller delivers as described that would equal a 5 star rating. Less than 5 stars implies that the seller did not do this, perhaps did something wrong and refused to revise or refund even when in the wrong. If the buyer had written “thanks” with a 5 star review, maybe even 4.5, it might have gone different. Instead, the buyer gave 3.5 stars. I can’t tell if thaf is justified or not. _

Asssuming for a moment that the seller delivered the correct book on the right topic and it was readable, they should have gotten a better rating. As sellers we know that if you get enough 3-3.5 ratings, you lose buyer requests and levels, even though 3+ is technically positive</> and I wish that policy was different. The seller may have been trying unsuccessfully to explain the confusion about the low rating. That doesn’t excuse anything, but it wouldn’t totally make me moj

[miacmht]

It seems you misunderstood my point. I totally understand the frustration and I’m not talking about whether the rating is justified or not.

My point is “But there’re place and time for everything. If you’re upset about low rating, contact your buyer and be respectful. If they refuse to change, refuse your refund and CS wouldn’t do anything about it, curse them, call them names…out loud, don’t write it down on your own profile.”

Try to solve this first. If you fail or just don’t want to solve it because you don’t want to deal with that said customer anymore, do whatever to release yours tress but don’t let it display on your business place. All I, as a customer, see here is the customer say thanks and the seller just simply blows off because this buyer doesn’t appreciate his work enough.

If the low rating would hurt your level, now the brutal replies to your buyers’ review will make you loose potential customers.

[markp]

@miacmht are you the buyer? because there is no way to know what conversation has taken place between the seller and the buyer before the feedback was left.

The customer is not always right; In fact some customers are just wrong and that is an old outdated and redundant attitude. If you take that attitude you are going to be dealing with manipulative buyers as they are the only ones who think they are always right. Buyers are not always right in business. You will find now that a lot of businesses will show abrasive customers the door and respect is also a two way street.

If you are suggesting here “refuse your refund” to refund a buyer for leaving poor feedback that is not a good attitude to take as you have done the work and should be paid for it and rated accordingly.

If the rating is correct or not is anyone’s guess as there is no way of knowing what has taken place between the two parties. The way the seller has left the feedback suggests very strong feelings about this and if as @fonthaunt stated 3.5 star feedback was left this is very poor feedback verging on the negative and either something went seriously wrong with the transaction or the buyer got out of the wrong side of the bed and decided to take it out on the seller.

As for brutal replies. I think the seller could have handled it a bit differently and if it was me I would made clear in the feedback what had taken place so potential buyers can see what has gone on instead of going into rage mode. As for brutal. This is pretty tame compared to some feedback I’ve seen where people have been attacked so badly they probably needed hospital treatment.

In my opinion a lot of feedback like this can be avoided by communicating with the buyer when they place the order and send a clear message after delivery that if there are any issues to contact you. I would definitely make use of the new default quick response templates added by fiverr for this but I have always used my own for this.

Unfortunately you are going to get some buyers who will ignore everything you have sent them and will leave poor feedback like this and then just refuse to communicate and as the feedback is not negative and they left a polite thank you there is not much customer support can do.

If the seller has communicated with the buyer after the feedback was left and there was a disagreement in some shape or form then the seller is entitled to leave their opinion on the review box just as the buyer has but as I stated they could probably have worded it differently to make it abundantly clear as to what has gone on.

[cypress_pk]

Contacting buyer with a very respectful way is best. Usually buyers cooperate with the seller if we can successfully give our point of view. In some case buyer just ignore your messages but you can resolve your issue through CS if you have a solid and valid reason.

[miacmht]

I don’t know why you have to be that defensive? I already said “I totally understand the frustration and I’m not talking about whether the rating is justified or not.”.

I know there’re worse examples, where sellers called buyers with offensive names and many other things. But the buyers were also swearing and saying bad words. And this is just my opinion but those actually make the sellers look less unprofessional, because the buyers were impolite, and they should expect the seller to deal with them in the same manner.

In this very example, the buyer simply said “thanks”, yet the seller lose his head. Again, “as a customer”, this seller would be in my blacklist. Even though as a seller, I do understand where he’s coming from, but since I still have other sellers to choose I’ll come to someone who have better control over their emotions.

My suggestion is, as I already wrote "If you fail or just don’t want to solve it because you don’t want to deal with that said customer anymore, do whatever to release yours tress but don’t let it display on your business place.”

I did exactly the “don’t want to solve it because you don’t want to deal with that said customer anymore”. I have chosen to get the bad review instead of dealing with the crazy customer. I did contact CS, but didn’t think they would help me because I really didn’t even care to try solving the problem before messaging them. But they removed the rating. However, had they refused to remove the rating and tell me to contact the buyer, I’ll just leave it as it is and not going to bluntly tell the buyer they should have jumped for joy. Because: 1. they’re crazy. 2. they would probably not come back to the gig to read it, but my potential customers would.

I’m simply saying, again as I already wrote in the title “Be careful with your words.”. If for any reason the low rating and bad review stay there on your profile, don’t make it worse by yelling at the buyer and appear to be unprofessional. And it seem you’re on the same page with me about how we should reply in these situation:

" I think the seller could have handled it a bit differently and if it was me I would made clear in the feedback what had taken place so potential buyers can see what has gone on instead of going into rage mode"

Then why are you arguing with me?

[misscrystal]

I think the seller can say whatever they want. People can see the attitude that way.
It’s not a big deal.