Jump to content

gina_riley2

Member
  • Posts

    4,479
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Everything posted by gina_riley2

  1. I see your point. I was going with the thought of someone who is established for at least a year. I forget, there are high value, complex gigs that only sell few a month. Dang it, I can't update/edit my OP. 😩
  2. As an experienced buyer, I still find it daunting to filter thru thousands of gigs to find the right sellers. After hundreds of gig purchases, sometimes, I still get swindled by a newbie seller. Although, it's 2nd nature to me now, my 1st purchase was confusing and an overall bad experience. A newbie buyer ordering from a newbie seller is basically, blind leading the blind. Neither one of you are sure how things work. One of you should have the experience to guide the other one on how to order, accept, and other questions. Tips for new buyers: 1. Don't worry about levels, that's useless. 2. Look for sellers with at least 200 reviews. This will ensure the reviews are legit. Unfortunately, there are still scammers who buy or trade reviews. 3. Look at gig picture. Does it look nice or sloppy? Is it stolen off the internet (right click & reverse search) or original? 4. Actually read the sellers description on that gig. It doesn't matter what kind of gig you are buying, there is a universal sign for troublesome sellers: * Bad grammar, misuse of punctuation, incoherent sentences, etc. * Short description is a bad sign. The seller should write out what they will deliver and what they expect from you (the buyer). * Sloppy description means sloppy delivery. If you see things like: Sir, Dear, etc. Not a good sign. 5. Do not message them via inbox, unless it's necessary. As a buyer, once you contact a seller that way, they have unlimited access to contact you. It's a headache. * Most established sellers should know better but not all of them follow the rules. You can get spammed with buy one get one free offer that you don't need or want. * If you find a great seller that you are confident about then by all means have a convo with them about the order. * If you have to message them, don't do a, "Hello, are you there." They may think you are a spammer. Add your question that wasn't answered in the gig description. 6. I know that there are different customs around the world where price negotiations are an every day thing. This platform is not one of them. Don't ask for a discount or offer them future work. There is no way to guarantee that. Established sellers will politely tell you to go away and then block you. 7. Regardless of who you hire, order a sample gig first. If they don't have a sample gig, it's okay to ask them, "Can I ask for a $10 or $20 sample?" * They can send you a custom offer where they can do a small portion of your project. Afterwards, either you fit or not. Don't ask for modifications on a sample order. * Don't ask for free samples. Time is money. You're not sampling wedding cakes for free, this is a freelance platform, pay for it! * If sample is good or fits your need, discuss the project and place order. * If sample isn't what you wanted, say thank you and go elsewhere. Just chaulk up your $20 as cost of doing business. Note: In order for me to have found some really amazing sellers, I had to spend money on not so good and/or nightmare sellers. Don't let your first experience be a bad one. Buy from an established, well rounded seller. After you've gained experience in buying, then you can trek into the pool of newbies to get yourself that diamond in a haystack. Many great and true professional sellers have to start here as a newbie and they need a chance. Happy holidays everyone. 💙💛🤎
  3. Some sellers come here without any knowledge of freelancing. They set up shop according to a guru they saw on YouTube such as background removal. I wouldn't hire a newbie for that. I'd hire one of my experienced, tried & true sellers in the photoshop category. Which goes back to $5 for 10 removal in hopes of getting orders. If they don't use good software or free software, it looks awful with jagged edges. Some people can't raise prices because they have no expertise, hence, justifiably no confidence. I think sellers should charge what they are worth for the country & city they live.
  4. I hate to point this out but these are terrible advices! You just recycled awful dribble that 100 other newbies have posted. IOW, you are spamming.
  5. Can you please elaborate on this? I don't want to be a broken record and give you advice that you've already done. What exactly do you mean by "gave my best?" 💕
  6. What makes you think that it appears on the same page to all 7 billion people? My computer may show on page 50, yours on page 100, my neighbors won't show at all, your neighbors will show on page 1.
  7. How do you know you're not already on 1st page?
  8. I see that you do lead generations. How does this work? If I were to buy your gig, how can you guarantee me the recipients will read the email? They can delete or spam it, like I do with all b2b emails. How can you guarantee me they will buy my product? You have satisfaction guarantee. Are you really willing to risk this?
  9. What have you done so far to attract buyers?
  10. One of the things that I read often is what should the seller do with a negative review. Don't feel hopeless, you are your brand; be proud to stand your ground. Wear that bad review like a badge of honor. What matters more is not what the scammer (buyer) wrote but how YOU respond. Here are my tips for you newbies: * Only contact customer support if the review contains profanity. There is very little, if any, chance the review will be removed and this will only add to your frustration. * Always reply to bad reviews, don't let future buyers only see the scammers point of view. * Be professional and factual in your reply, take emotions out. * Good grief, don't apologize if you didn't do anything wrong. 🤦🏻‍♀️ I see so many responses with, "I'm sorry you feel that way." Well, don't be sorry for them. * Remember, you only get one chance, so write it out. Make sure you are coherent with no spelling or punctuation errors. * Make sure your response flows well. Don't use Google translate. I won't have a clue what you are saying. Buyers, like me, are more interested in how YOU, the seller responds. 1. Is the seller professional? Does he use words like, "bro," "dude" or anything along that line? 2. Does the response make sense? Is he rambling? Is he pointing the finger at the buyer? 3. How's his or her writing skill? (Poor writing skills, reflects bad on you. You can hire one of your fellow sellers or a friend that is proficient in English to help you, if you're struggling.) The is only one way to overcome a bad review is to get good reviews. The only way to get more review is by getting orders. Let the future buyers know that you are a professional. Also, let future scammers know that you won't be pushed around. Happy holidays, everyone!
  11. 1. Profanity 2. Any discussion about taking work off platform 3. Giving out personal info such as email, PayPal account, etc. That is not associated with work. ** As an example, creating a website or business card may require you to get email, address, etc from buyer.
  12. Which social media are you posting?
  13. @zeus777 Tipping has gone out of control in the USA. The cashiers at Subway have tip jar, delivery driver's expect tip, tip for furniture movers, car wash, shoe shine, hair cut, make up artist, bar, restaurants, dog groomers, tour guide, etc. When I was a waitress, standard was 15% to 20%, then it was 18% to 22%, now apps recommend 20% to 30% for delivery driver. I grew up with tips and depended on them as a waitress, but geesh. I ordered a $32 pizza last week and the recommended tip for the driver was highlighted at $9.60! Can you imagine if they had a transaction/admin fee for a tip, it would have been $12.13!! Lol. 😆
  14. Unlike when I first started to buy on 5r, most sellers charge what they are worth so tipping is less common than before. I used to be able to leave a small tip like $5 or $10 & it cost me that. Now for every $5 tip, I have to pay $7.28. The $2.28 in buyer's fee doesn't seem much, but if you are running a business and tip every seller, that could be as high as $228.00 just in buyer's transaction fees. When I do tip on a tried and true sellers, I do so up front. I order an extra $10 to whatever amount at the beginning and write something like, "For the amazing work that I already know you will do." I never demand any special treatment or discount, so my regular freelancers know, it's just an extra $ to show my appreciation.
  15. Okay, I'm having some difficulty in using this forum. Can someone tell me how to do the following: 1. On discourse we were able to quote a specific line from a previous post. On here, I've only been able to quote the entire post. What is the trick to quoting a word or line? 2. When I @ on discourse, it would bring the people in the post and would remember the most used (by me) so it was easy. Here, everytime I @ it brings up random people. Is there a way for me to have it remember the users? Thanks everyone. 🙂
  16. My thought on staying online: Only say you are online, when you genuinely are online. What @vickiespencer and @mariashtelle1 are saying is that if you pretend to be online while sleeping so you can appear on the search and a buyer messages you - then what? @jayjayros you answered your buyer because you were awake and actually online when that message came through. I've messaged people that appeared online but received no response until the next day (in my timezone). Were they really online? Doubtful. I was in a hurry for once (which rarely happens), and ended up ordering from the seller that responded right away. After being on the forum for years, the advice you read from newbies are to stay online 24/7.
  17. I have been fortunate enough to have been a buyer on 5r since before the "transaction/admin fees" were instituted. Yes, that is correct, there was a time when 5r did not charge buyers a fee to buy here. During those times, it was quite a deal of trial and error to find sellers that offered great products at a very reasonable or even low low price. Even though this platform has changed quite a bit since the early days, there are still plenty of great seller's among the newbies. Although, I can not guarantee you will land one of the professionals, you can minimalize your chances of being swindled. It's going to take some time on your side, but here are my tips in finding that "Diamond in a black cole" among new sellers: 1. 5r rotates new sellers constantly so feel free to skip to page 5 or 10, by limiting yourself to page 1 or 2, you could be missing out on a great newbie that just signed up 2. Take a look at the profile picture. Stock images are okay but not if they are selling logos or illustrations, they should be displaying their original work. Right click and do a google search to see if it's stolen. If yes, move on. 3. Once you click the gig image, take a look at their description. Is it well written, is it full of grammatical errors? Is it short, is it long, is it hard to read? Regardless of what is being sold, the seller should have a nicely written, bullet points on what he/she will provide for you They should have a Q&A section, for any questions they feel the clients (us) may have - not always needed, if they captured it all in the description There should be no spelling or punctuation errors, the sentences should be coherent and make sense My definition of an expert is someone who has spent at least 1000 hours on a subject outside of school or training. So many newbies tout they are an "EXPERT" without any means to verify their abilities. After buying for a while, you will get what I mean here Stay away from all sellers that state (or similar to): I will give you best work I will give you unlimited revision until you are satisfied I guarantee you will be happy Note: All those notes above are redundant. Time is money. Ask yourself these questions: Would an expert in his/her field really need to state the obvious? Doesn't an expert photographer (as an example) always do their best work? As an expert, why would you give unlimited revision? You are an expert, your work should reflect it. No expert or not, can guarantee happiness. This is subject to interpretation. You, as the buyer, will find great sellers and professional, on this platform, do not offer unlimited revisions or guarantee satisfaction, because they know better. It may sound good on the surface, but there is a reason why they may be offering such a good deal. Take the time to actually READ the description box to see what the seller's requirements are for that gig. They may not do what you are seeking. Inbox them if you aren't sure. Give the sellers 24 hours to respond inbox quarries. They aren't robots and they could snoozing soundly with pleasant dreams on the other side of the word. Read their response carefully for grammar and sentence structures; especially if you are buying an article or any writing material. They should be responding with clear concise answers, well written and professional. I found some respond with short answers because they do not have the ability to write and will give me a plagiarized article - yes, it has happened to me. Don't use emoji's to communicate on your initial contact. After working for a while and you have a friendly relationship, then it is acceptable. First contact should be strictly professional. 4. Separate your forum relationship with 5r platform relationship. Forum is for fun and the site is for business, just because you know someone from here doesn't mean you are entitled to a freebie, special discount or anything else. I have bought gigs from a few sellers I've met on this forum and have always followed their gig requirement. 5. If the seller has a great gig, nice profile, well written description and you have communicated well - then take that leap of faith; however, I strongly advise you to buy a lower price gig for say $10 to $20 as a test run. Don't ever rush into a large project until you have worked with a newbie at least once! 6. Never buy from someone complaining about not getting any orders from this forum. [This one will be controversial and I'll probably get flack for it but, I don't care. This is my opinion - feel free to follow or not.] There may be a reason why they aren't making sales. I've gotten some really great work from newbies at rock bottom prices. Many of them are now senior sellers and have raised their prices to 10x or even 50x higher than when I worked with them. So don't dismiss a newbie too quickly!!
  18. Not sure what my forum profile has anything to do with 5r profile. What's with the personal attacks against me? Do you have any idea how many times I've been scammed on 5r? It cost me greatly to learn to find that one professional seller. Most people complaining of not getting orders have either plagiarized profile/gig or awful gig pages full of grammar errors. It looks unprofessional and deters clients. Plagiarism is a problem here. Experienced seller are constantly turning in unscrupulous, no talent sellers, for copying their gigs - word for word to customer support. Some sellers are so lazy, when they give me stolen pictures or logos, they get it from the 1st page of Google search. I've gotten stolen articles too. I've ordered from these people cause they had a decent profile. My point is, even if you are a thief, who steals other people's work - you still get orders with a good profile, until you are turned in. No matter how good you think you are, if your profile sucks, you will not get orders. Sorry you were so offended by my article. Before calling me a spammer, take a look at the other post. Scrolling to read a 1000 thank yous get annoying after a while.
  19. Already have recognition on this forum. I didn't post to get anything. 🙂 I must have hit a nerve, 'cause you spent a great deal of time replying. 😁 Lastly, thank you for your valuable information. 💕! Cheers, G.
  20. Why am I not getting orders? 😔 1. Because your profile sucks. 2. See #1. That's it, plain & simple. 💕 The following won't help: * Staying online * Buyer's request * Posting/crying/begging on forum -------------------------------------- There are over 100 posts with tips on good profile and gigs from experienced sellers. Ignore the YouTube gurus ('cause it's crap) and the new sellers posting on this forum to get recognized. -‐‐----------------------------------------- 1. Seller complaining on forum: "My English isn't good!" Buyer's interpretation: "I have a weakness and I'm too lazy to do anything about it so I'm just going to whine on the forum about how unfair life is to me." 2. Seller: "I've sent over 100 Buyer's Request & still no orders." Buyer's interpretation: "I send canned responses without reading and my profile is so bad no one wants to buy from me. I'm just gonna complain on the forum about what a bad seller I am." 3. Seller posting on forum: "Thank you for your valuable tips." Buyer's interpretation: "🙄 If you buy from me I'll have endless access to your inbox, therefore, I will spam you with multiple request for reviews, gratuity and more work.😑"
  21. 1st, don't give free samples. 2nd, every mistake is a learning experience. Good luck. 😄
  22. It boggles my mind when I see buyers come onto this forum to complain about a seller, when clearly it was their (client) fault. When I check the gig the seller is offering, it is something that is way below market value, has atrocious writing skills, items in portfolio are unmistakenly stolen, or the profile picture is a celebrity model. 😑 I don’t have time to scroll thru bunch of “good job” reviews, but I do take the time to read thru the gig description and such. Yes, I have been duped even though I am careful but as harsh as this may sound, 75% of the time, it’s the buyers fault. A simple inbox message could have solved their issue. Because they live in a fantasy la la land, they pay someone $5 or $10 to do work, they know in the real world should be at least $100 or more. Expecting a unique logo for $20 then surprised that it was stolen after they’ve printed flyers, :woman_facepalming:t2:. They say it takes money to make money. If you are a serious buyer or a small business owner, do yourself a favor, set aside at least $100 to experiment. Buy a bunch of $5 gigs for $7.27 to see how well you mesh with the seller during the process, to see what the procedures are here, and finally what the end product looks like. ** NEVER ** buy from a seller that has a short gig or profile description. It’s short for a reason. A seller doesn’t have to be proficient in English to be legit as long as they don’t offer writing gigs. An artist that cares, will take the time to hire someone to write them a great gig. My suggestion, if you hired a seller without communication, with a short & poorly written description for $10, you are getting your just deserved payback. Don’t expect freelancer to give you samples for a $10 project you are going to buy. Time is money, so if you have a large project, pay the measly $5 to get a sample. It will be well worth the time, money and headache you saved yourself. Finally, stop complaining about bad sellers, when it’s your fault. All freelance platforms have doozies and this one is no different. Pouting and saying you won’t ever buy here again is childish. There are great sellers here who offer top notch, professional work. You just have to find them.
  23. I like to think most buyers leave a very positive private review. Why do some folks automatically think negative. I’m sure occasionally but in general, I buy from tried and true sellers; therefore, I know beforehand that I’m getting top notch work.
  24. I think OP is a buyer wanting to leave a tip. 🙂 Prior to fees on buyer, I used to tip smaller amounts of $5 or $10 more often. Now, most sellers have upped their prices so gratuity isn’t as necessary as before. I tip less often and when I do, it’s a larger amount for several top notch work. Instead of $5 on every order, its like $50 on every 10th order. I know $2.50 doesn’t seem like a lot, especially in western nations but it adds up quickly. For occasional buyers, not a huge deal, but for small business buyers that’s more money out of our pocket. 1 tip of $50 = $2.50 (buyer fee) 10 tips of $5 = $25.00 (buyer fee) One year, I spent over $100 in fees just GIVING tips. 😲 I feel you, OP. It’s one of my pet peeves.
  25. Why don’t you just raise your prices to make up for the 20% loss? If you want $40 charge $50. That way you get the full amount and buyers pays the commission.
×
×
  • Create New...