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Fiverr closed my account for good :(

by Vibrant Warrior
42 replies
Hi

Fiverr closed my account saying that I had violated their terms a few times over, which really isn't the case. One time before my account was suspended for sharing my contact details which I think I might have done. But never again after that. They can't even tell me what the reason for the suspension is.

I have about 50 active gigs with them which comes to about $250 in cash and they are refusing to even give me the money for another 45-90 days after a verification process. 90 days is a bit over the Paypal claim period which is what concerns me. Do you think opening up 50 claims to get my money back is a bit far fetched?

Has this happened to anyone here and did they finally give you your money?

Thanks.
#account #closed #fiverr #good
  • Profile picture of the author Simon Phillips
    Have you asked for the reason? What was the response?
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    • Profile picture of the author Joseph G Spiteri
      I havent had any problems with Fiverr but saying that i have never ordered 50 gigs at one time.
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      • Profile picture of the author bertranddo
        Originally Posted by spyjoe View Post

        I havent had any problems with Fiverr but saying that i have never ordered 50 gigs at one time.
        I dont think he ordered 50 gigs but rather that he was running 50 gigs on Fiverr (?).

        Thats a big loss in income (plus brand image damage), I am very sorry for you. I hope you ll be able to bounce back on over monetisation strategies.

        All the best,

        Bertrand.
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  • Profile picture of the author Vibrant Warrior
    I asked them for a reason and all they did was give me a link to their terms and conditions. And when I insisted on a justification, they just didn't reply back.
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  • Profile picture of the author Vibrant Warrior
    I did order 50 gigs. I normally hundreds every week. Fortunately it was only around 50 I had in the queue this time. I don't run any gigs on Fiverr.

    And the funniest thing is I am receiving notifications from buyers saying that my work was delivered which means that Fiverr never cancelled any of my outstanding orders. If the work is deliver (to nobody), there will eventually be no money for them to reimburse.
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    • Profile picture of the author vverrall
      I do not know what your circumstances were; but I have had to give people my email address for gigs that I ordered that rendered it necessary. Each time I was reminded it was not in the terms but it was necessary so I ignored. I have not been banned to date.
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    • Profile picture of the author Steven Miranda
      Originally Posted by Vibrant Warrior View Post

      I did order 50 gigs. I normally hundreds every week. Fortunately it was only around 50 I had in the queue this time. I don't run any gigs on Fiverr.

      And the funniest thing is I am receiving notifications from buyers saying that my work was delivered which means that Fiverr never cancelled any of my outstanding orders. If the work is deliver (to nobody), there will eventually be no money for them to reimburse.
      I am quite confused here. You said you are not a seller but you are getting notifications from buyers?
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  • Profile picture of the author Vibrant Warrior
    I had so many people messaging me there with their email addresses which I completely ignored.
    I did mention the word, money and payment very often but I am always referring to paying through gigs and I make it a point to mention this also in my communications. But I don't think the reasoning would matter now. They have completely shut the door to my communications asking me to get in touch in 45-90 days so that they can allow my funds to be taken out. But if all my orders are "delivered into the ether" with no recipient I am losing both the work and the money in the process. I asked them to atleast cancel my orders if I not going to get any work delivered but I don't think they'll even bother. I don't think this sounds legal. How can they hold on to my money for that long when it's not theirs and on top of it all, do they not even have the courtesy to cancel my orders so that the funds would atleast be preserved? I am basically looking for some advice that will get my funds back safely.
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    • Profile picture of the author ttenner
      All,

      I think what had to be done first is to contact you individually and discuss this with yourself, just shutting the door on you without reason is unreasonable.

      In this case I would open 50 individual cases on PayPal and I'm pretty sure PayPal will refund the money.

      As I fellow owner I would not even consider not paying you back, after all this is clearly your money, even if you had violated their terms. Maybe the worse case would have been to loose the money for the gig which had violated their terms, even then it doesn't feel right.

      Obviously in this case there is both a buyer and there is the seller of the gig(s) as well who might have started the work and if his gig is cancelled then he would loose out as well.

      The best way forward would have been to let you complete the 50 orders, both from a buyers and a seller’s perspective.

      Thomas
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      • Profile picture of the author Michael Oksa
        Originally Posted by ttenner View Post

        In this case I would open 50 individual cases on PayPal and I'm pretty sure PayPal will refund the money.
        That sounds like a recipe for getting the PayPal account shut down.

        Seriously.

        Some people claim that they are unfair, but if they suddenly get 50 disputes all at once, that is going to raise red flags, as it should.

        All the best,
        Michael
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        • Profile picture of the author msufan
          Seems like someone buying hundreds of gigs per week would be Fiverr's favorite customer. Clearly something else has to be going on in this case.
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          • Profile picture of the author professorrosado
            Yeah, they did that to me and I'm still waiting for my money.

            Don't bother with fiverr - it was the best thing for me when they closed me down.

            IMGigz is good and I've made more money with them than at fiverr.

            Also 5dollarr.com where you CAN contact your buyers directly, make way more money than fiverr and 5dollarr.com promotes your gigs actively with software and package deals marketed by the website.

            They even have a 5DO which is a $5 version of the WSO and both gigs and 5DOs come with Sales page formats!

            Its time to move on from Fiverr and begin to expand your reach with other newer and more marketer amenable gig and micro-job sites.
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          • Profile picture of the author fluffythewondercat
            Originally Posted by msufan View Post

            Seems like someone buying hundreds of gigs per week would be Fiverr's favorite customer. Clearly something else has to be going on in this case.
            The OP already admitted to sharing his contact details. Probably trying to buy articles or backlinks in bulk directly from sellers, then reselling them.

            All it takes is one seller to report a buyer like that. I mean, why would anyone want to work for even less than $4?

            I'll bet there isn't a freelancer out there who hasn't heard the old "If you give me a special (low) price on these, I have a lot more work for you."

            fLufF
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            • Profile picture of the author Kay King
              They aren't taking your money - you just have to wait for a while to get it back. No, you don't get the work and the money, too.

              Open 50 paypal disputes only if you want to lose your paypal account, too.

              As a community and a marketplace, we cannot accept undermining our community by creating or promoting alternative services when done not in accordance with our editorial guidelines and terms of service.
              They just told you what the problem was - and I expect you know exactly what you did. Either that, or you didn't bother to read the editorial guidelines.
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        • Profile picture of the author sbucciarel
          Banned
          Originally Posted by Michael Oksa View Post

          That sounds like a recipe for getting the PayPal account shut down.

          Seriously.

          Some people claim that they are unfair, but if they suddenly get 50 disputes all at once, that is going to raise red flags, as it should.

          All the best,
          Michael

          ^^^^^^^
          You need to decide which is more important to you ... the $250 or your Paypal account.

          It's funny. I've read a few threads now where Fiverr closed/banned buyers accounts and these were buyers who bought hundreds of gigs.

          Out of curiosity, I'd love to know what's really going on here and why the accounts have been shut down.
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        • Profile picture of the author Daniel Evans
          Originally Posted by Michael Oksa View Post

          That sounds like a recipe for getting the PayPal account shut down.

          Seriously.

          Some people claim that they are unfair, but if they suddenly get 50 disputes all at once, that is going to raise red flags, as it should.

          All the best,
          Michael
          I agree.

          Be very careful when you are considering opening PayPal disputes. From a business standpoint, PayPal want to intervene as little as possible.

          It's best to keep your account in good standing and take the loss of the money on the chin.

          Daniel
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  • Profile picture of the author MIRENGE
    you must have done something that is against their rules and regulations otherwise the just don't suspend people's account without a good reason.
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    • Profile picture of the author 1byte
      Originally Posted by MIRENGE View Post

      you must have done something that is against their rules and regulations otherwise the just don't suspend people's account without a good reason.
      How can you be so sure?

      If there was a "good reason" then it seems reasonable that Fivver could explain to the buyer why they closed the account, rather than just point to their TOS. Or perhaps it's because it's only in the "internet marketing" world where businesses don't have to explain why they are terminating a business relationship, other than say you have somehow violated their TOS.
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  • Profile picture of the author Vibrant Warrior
    @ Steven Miranda
    I am getting notifications from Sellers, not buyers

    @MIRENGE
    They suspended my account once before (temporary suspension that time) and when I got in touch with them they told me that it must have been in error. This time around they don't have any reasoning either.
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    • Profile picture of the author ctaylordill
      Fiverr has closed many accounts. I think they do it randomly, but for what reason, I do not know. I have had my accounts closed four times (using different ips and payment email addresses). Yes, I tried to get over using various ips. They have lost a lot of money from me and I have lost many gigs that were due to me. Well it's probably not a lot of money to them as they make millions a year.

      I have always received some bogus message as to why they canceled me. Some times I was both buyer and seller, and other times I was just the buyer. It doesn't matter with them.

      Here is the message I got when I tried to log into my account those 4 times:

      "This account was disabled.
      If you feel this was done in error, please contact our support team."

      So I contacted support.

      Here is a message from a Julia (from Fiverr) saying to me in a support ticket response to why my account was canceled:

      Hello XXXXXXX,
      We are unable to reinstate your account at this time. As a community and a marketplace, we cannot accept undermining our community by creating or promoting alternative services , when done not in accordance with our editorial guidelines and terms of service.
      Users who get their account permanently blocked can receive their revenues (if any) after a safety clearing period. Please contact us again in 45 to 90 days. We will allow you to withdraw revenues you may have left in your account at that time, after an account verification process.
      Regards.
      Follow @FiverrHQ on Twitter for live site and service updates

      --------------------
      Regards my foot. Anyway, I never undermined the community or even promoted any of my services. Just plain weird. Anyway, I tried to explain that I did not of these things and never heard back from them. And they get to keep all my money for up to 45 to 90 days. I can dispute via PayPal, and PayPal will eventually refund me (as they have done that in the past).

      These people just do what they want to do.

      Cam
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      • Profile picture of the author fluffythewondercat
        The two top reasons for being banned on Fiverr:

        1. You oh-so-cleverly tried to do an end run and contact the customer directly, perhaps by putting your contact information in a deliverable just as so many Warriors have advised you to, or

        2. You were already banned and tried to come back by opening an account with a different IP and different PayPal address.

        People should not assume that PayPal doesn't cooperate with Fiverr on account inquiries and that you are "safe" if you give them another of your eight PayPal addresses. All you have to do is read the various BH forums to realize this isn't working.

        fLufF
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    • Profile picture of the author joseph7384
      [DELETED]
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      • Profile picture of the author CASHsystems
        OK, I will probably get flamed for this post, but I just can't keep my mouth closed on this one. It just amazes me that people would immediately jump to the conclusion that the OP did something wrong to violate Fiverr's TOS.

        I on the other hand believe that the OP probably DID NOT do anything to violate their terms for a couple of reasons.
        1) The exact story that he reported has been reported on many occassions. Just check here on the warrior forum or Fiverrbanned.com or on Google and you will see this is not unusual.

        2) The 2nd biggest reason I believe the OP is the exact same thing happened to me. And I know I did nothing wrong to violate their Terms. I read the terms over and over and there was nothing. I like the OP and so many others asked for a specific reason and they DO NOT respond.

        I had gigs that I had ordered and could not receive. there response was to wait "90 days"... That is laughable, for when I did wait the 90 days and ask for my money back, they said it was past Paypal's refund period. So I lost (no strike that)..... They Stole my money for no reason. Yes I said it...

        Fiverr STOLE my money!!!

        I say it here and I said it in my correspondence to them. There is absolutely nothing you can do except get the word out so others will not lose their money. There are other microjob sites out there, but I will never, never, NEVER use anyone that steals from their customers. I mean even if someone did violate their TOS, they still have no reason to take their money and not provide a service or a refund.

        So all you haters that accused the OP of doing something wrong, I pray you do not get ripped off by their "random" selection of who they are going to steal money from.

        If I sound mad, I guess I am and did not realize it, but so be it. I got so mad that I started my own microjob site which I want post here because I don't won't somebody to think I am only posting this rant to get business. I advise the OP and any others who have had their hard earned money stolen by Fiverr to go to Fiverrbanned.com and post your story. I also encourage you to find another microjob site and get going again. They are not the only game in town and despite them being first and the biggest, they will diminish as more customers and sellers come to realize their business practices are not customer friendly and in my opinion illegal.

        Now that I have gotten that off my chest..... back to your regular programming.
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  • Profile picture of the author travlinguy
    Consider it a blessing in disguise. Now go out and offer your services for real money.
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  • Profile picture of the author jkrupey
    Was it really possible to get quality service when buying jobs on there without being able to contact and speak with the client either by e-mail, skype or some kind of instant messaging? I just launched my own skin and my take is that people will need to communicate in an efficient way to provide the quality service they need to complete many of the gigs.

    Does that mean that in some cases I'm going to get circumvented? Yes for sure but some of that is just the cost of doing business, and I hope that a majority of the users will respect the process and be fair and not begrudge the % fee to support the site.

    Now policing for all out spam and customer poaching is a different story

    Any Thoughts or tips on how to make the process the most efficient for users on micro job sites?
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  • Profile picture of the author Michael Oksa
    I just realized there are two meanings to the title of this thread.



    ~Michael
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    • Profile picture of the author Raydal
      Originally Posted by Michael Oksa View Post

      I just realized there are two meanings to the title of this thread.



      ~Michael
      That's good!

      -Ray Edwards
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  • Profile picture of the author HelpingYouBeAnExpert
    Just move on. I was born in a Communist country and a looser with no skills would take a government job for the reason of denying me to sell, or do something without telling me why.

    They just like doing it!

    Go and make money some other way!

    Good luck!
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  • Profile picture of the author jvreview
    I don't know your situation perfectly, hope things work out.

    When it comes to your major source of income, it's really important to make sure everything is done accordingly. For example, if I earn 5-figure monthly from Adsense, I'd do everything possible to work within Google's terms and conditions. It's not easy, however, just like an employee, if you value your job, you don't want to do anything that'd get you fired ... all the best.
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  • Profile picture of the author Randall Magwood
    I've read about a guy who ordered only 5 fiverr gigs in one day, and his account got banned. For this reason, this is why i order only 1 gig a day (in circumstances when i need to do so).
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    • Profile picture of the author sbucciarel
      Banned
      Originally Posted by Randall Magwood View Post

      I've read about a guy who ordered only 5 fiverr gigs in one day, and his account got banned. For this reason, this is why i order only 1 gig a day (in circumstances when i need to do so).
      But that's what I'd like to know... why ordering multiple gigs would trigger a ban, if it actually does. What are these people really doing wrong. Surely just ordering gigs wouldn't be reason to ban. Most sites that make money from people using them, want people to use them a lot.
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      • Profile picture of the author Bruce NewMedia
        Originally Posted by sbucciarel View Post

        But that's what I'd like to know... why ordering multiple gigs would trigger a ban, if it actually does. What are these people really doing wrong. Surely just ordering gigs wouldn't be reason to ban. Most sites that make money from people using them, want people to use them a lot.
        Completely agree with you, Suzanne. Why in the world would ordering more than one gig cause the BUYERS account to be closed?? There has to be more to that, or we are not hearing the whole story.
        _____
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        • Profile picture of the author fluffythewondercat
          I like the OP and so many others asked for a specific reason and they DO NOT respond.

          No, they don't give out detailed information. Other large companies (eBay, Amazon, Yahoo, Google...) have the same practice and that tends to enrage the people they ban as well. You are not alone.

          The reason why they don't go into what you did wrong is if they tell you in detail, you will figure out what their fraud prevention methods are and devise a way around them.

          When there's money involved, people will try anything.

          fLufF
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          • Profile picture of the author CASHsystems
            Originally Posted by fluffythewondercat View Post

            The reason why they don't go into what you did wrong is if they tell you in detail, you will figure out what their fraud prevention methods are and devise a way around them.

            --
            Thanks Fluff for your input on that, and I can appreciate that angle, but there are some of us that are honest business people and to be treated in dishonest way by even "the big guys", is jsut not the way things should be. I would never treat my clients that way and I am always respectful of them, even when they may have done wrong, but then, that is just me. I still work on the adage of "do to others as you want done to yourself."
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          • Profile picture of the author stevenh512
            Originally Posted by fluffythewondercat View Post

            The reason why they don't go into what you did wrong is if they tell you in detail, you will figure out what their fraud prevention methods are and devise a way around them.
            I've heard that one, it's the worst excuse I've ever seen. If I broke a rule, you can tell me what rule I broke without going into any detail about your fraud prevention methods. For example, Fiverr could easily tell you "You attempted to contact a seller outside of Fiverr" without telling you "We have fraud detection algorithms that detect email addresses in Fiverr messages" or "We take a random sampling of all messages to scan for fraud" or anything like that.

            If someone is keeping your money under the pretense that you broke their rules and they can't even tell me what rule or rules they think you broke, how is that not fraud?
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    • Profile picture of the author fluffythewondercat
      Originally Posted by Randall Magwood View Post

      I've read about a guy who ordered only 5 fiverr gigs in one day, and his account got banned. For this reason, this is why i order only 1 gig a day (in circumstances when i need to do so).
      I don't think you can infer cause and effect from that. I frequently order more than 5 gigs at a time.

      fLufF
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  • Profile picture of the author SOCAL777
    Sorry to hear that. I've only been on Fiverr for several months and have never had any issues.

    About one month ago I shot them an email to seek clarification regarding solicitations to do work off Fiverr. I told them I didn't want to violate any terms so I was covering myself. They provided a nice little breakdown of what I can and can't do. Referring them off Fiverr just isn't worth it. After you've become a Level 2 Seller there's plenty of Gig Extra options to make more money.
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  • Profile picture of the author Gec
    I think the most logical and reasonable explanation is this.

    The OP must have, unknowingly, done something against TOS. With so many thousands of gigs ordered over time, it's possible (and quite likely) that you slipped something in there, perhaps in an attachment etc. They must be running "random spot checks" and having real people manually open random attachments.

    The more gigs you order, the more likely you are to be subject to some random spot check. And the more you do it, the more likely you are to slip in some email address or whatever. This would explain why statistically people who order a lot of gigs get their account banned more often than the others (yeah there was the guy with 5 gigs but statistics allow for that too ).

    What to do now? I would say, and hope you won't take this the wrong way, as always in such situations, damage control, look for options or alternatives, choose... and all the while, remember to breathe

    Good luck to you!
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  • Profile picture of the author sudeep765
    i also have an account suspended with fiverr.they are saying about my account please talk after 90 days. i have around 5 gigs active.
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  • Profile picture of the author parmarjeet
    According to me, Fiverr also audit conversations among buyers and sellers. We all should take care that we are not sharing any contact info(not even name of any website). Fiverr team audits this and take action after some time(may be after some months).

    I hope this will help

    Thanks
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  • Profile picture of the author NetUsher
    Banned
    When your business is totally reliant on anyone service or individual, this is a recipe for disaster. It is time to really scramble and try and diversify your reliance. So many thriving business have been destroyed by other services, because of conflict of interest.
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    • Profile picture of the author GTCRESSY
      The same thing has happened to me by ODesk. It seems to be an ongoing thing in our industry. In my case I posted a job on ODesk and hired a website designer in India. One thing about thos job posting that I felt was strange was that I got a lot of replys but, none from the Philippines or the United States or even South America. No, they were all from India, Pakistan, or other countries within that area. Anyhow, this man did a really bad job and I never did get a finished product from him. But, while he was doing no work he kept charging me for hours that I knew he was not working in. I called ODesk and they refused to assist me in any way. I finally got one of the bosses in his company and he agreed to what I was saying and we split the cost. But, ODesk refuses to accept this agreement by the company. They say that I still owe this money and they have suspended me. I have on many occassions asked where they are located and they refuse to answer me (I suspect they are in India.) I have also stated that I intend to sue them and asked for the name and contact information for their attorneyh and they refuse to give me that information also. I want the Warriors Forum to issue a warning about this company and I will supply them with any information that they need.
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