Just got blackmailed on Fiverr....

12 years ago

I don't know the ins and outs of Fiverr, but it sounds to me like you CHOSE to give in. Why not keep all of the correspondence and forward it to Fiverr? Let them know what the buyer was trying to do.

That's assuming it was the buyer's fault.

At the very least, I hope you went through and double-checked your listing to make sure that it's clear what buyers get for their $5.

All the best,
Michael

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GMD

Banned 12 years ago

Originally Posted by Tonylee93

I could honestly tell you it wasn`t fun....

Basically they forced me into doing more work than the gig presented, They didn`t read the instructions correctly and they got mad at me for it.They threaten me that they would give me a thumbs down and a bad review and since ive been working really hard to keep a clean record for the whole time. I was pressured into doing more work, Its over now and I am glad.

Point taken.

But you know what?

You should have taken the damn "thumbs down".

The person who pressured you into doing more work now knows where to find you and how to push all your buttons.

...and yes, he or she can make a new "username", add a new email address to his/her existing PayPal account and then come back and bang you out of more work.

This customer obviously knew and read the instructions but still conned you into doing "more work" for free.

Next time, you write back and tell said person(s) that the instructions are clear, you've fulfilled the gig and if they want to hold you hostage for more "free work" than what's promised on the gig tell them "no" and you'll be happy to receive the stupid "thumbs down". Then when that happens leave an explanation.

Don't negotiate with terrorists -- there's a reason for that; they'll always come back for "more" once you open the door.

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Daniel Evans

12 years ago

How much extra work did you do?

This is usually the factor which decides what I'm going to do next if something like this rears it's head.

Daniel

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Kate Anderson

12 years ago

I would have reported them to fiverr rather than sit back and get forced into doing something that you weren't paid for. No way- no how. Without consequence, that person is going to continue doing this to other providers. You really should shoot Fiverr off a quick email about him/her.

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Raydal

12 years ago

That's typical bullying but he would never be satisfied now that you 'have
given in. Why should it be anything for a good review?

Kind of late now but at least next time you've received a lot
of good advice in this thread so far about what to do.

-Ray Edwards

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ShanaRN

12 years ago

You should not be obligated to do any more work than was stated on the gig. Copy to buyer exactly what the gig states in the future.

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Rich Struck

12 years ago

If you do $5 work you are going to get $5 customers.

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Charanjit 12 years ago

Originally Posted by Rich Struck

If you do $5 work you are going to get $5 customers.

I disagree, I use $5 for some tasks I dont want to do, and 99% of the time you get what you ask for, so I can be judged as being a $5 customer, who will spend time after time if the service is right.
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Flores

12 years ago

It is possible for you to write a response to any and all reviews on Fiverr. These are visible to people just as his comments are. I see it happen all the time on Fiverr. People are disgruntled with the service they received and the seller defends himself to the public that is viewing. Often times, it turns out the buyer is in the wrong, or at least it appears that way. The seller gets the last word. Anyway, good luck with your future work on FIverr!

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Arroway

12 years ago

I suggest you talk to the help desk next time; they are nice and always respond very fast. It should be no problem to get something like this sorted out.

Allen

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RichardDean

12 years ago

When you give in it only makes it worst for the rest of us.

They got away with it now other fiverr gigs are at risk, not saying you were the first.

Stick to your guns.

Fiverr will remove feedback that is wrongful doing.

You can always give the thumb down back to them...

I had some one contact me about a gig who has a 76% feedback I told them I could not do what they wanted.

Feed back works both ways I don't want customers with low feedback.

I have just reached 20 canceled orders because I don't put up with buyers crap.

Start now turn the tables your doing them a favor by offering your service for 5.00, they are not doing you any favors.

Stand tough and get back at it.

Richard

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cheerios2009

12 years ago

It's not just Fiverr where you will find this sort of bad behavior. When you sell a service or even a WSO etc... you will always have people that are rude or just looking to get something for free. And... there are total nut cases out there that learn how to use a PC, which is a pain, but it's true.

I think you've got some really great suggestions here. 100% feedback is nice but don't let it get to you that you will get the occational thumbs down.

Best Wishes,
Chrisi

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WhiteDove

12 years ago

I would of reached out to get some support and I would have referred them to the posting. Did they give you a thumbs up?

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Batou 12 years ago

As others have said I would have referred said buyer to support with the correspondence attached.
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JOSourcing

Banned 12 years ago

Truth be told, Tonylee93, you shouldn't be doing any *work* at Fiverr at all. Fiverr is appropriate for running miscellaneous tasks -- performed by some sort of script or software. It's a push-button outsourcing solution at best. If you feel you're being asked to actually work -- for $5.00 -- you might want to re-evaluate your gig and see if it would be better served in a higher paying environment. If you want some leads on this, send me an IM and I'll see if I can help.

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asimbawany

12 years ago

Originally Posted by JOSourcing

Truth be told, Tonylee93, you shouldn't be doing any *work* at Fiverr at all. Fiverr is appropriate for running miscellaneous tasks -- performed by some sort of script or software. It's a push-button outsourcing solution at best. If you feel you're being asked to actually work -- for $5.00 -- you might want to re-evaluate your gig and see if it would be better served in a higher paying environment. If you want some leads on this, send me an IM and I'll see if I can help.

I wouldn't want to offer my services there...
thought about it and even put up a fiverr but never went thru and really happy I didn't.

think about it... you're offering services to internet marketers who will most likely need those services over and over again. But your not allowed to exchange any contact details with your clients and cannot get bulk work from them once they like your services. If you're doing articles for example, they wouldn't want to go through the trouble of creating a gig for each article if they want to order 100 of those...

plus, you get only $4 out of $5 which is 20%... that's insane!

even if you go for an expensive payment processor, you'll lose somewhere around 7%...

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Alexa Smith Banned 12 years ago

Originally Posted by asimbawany

I wouldn't want to offer my services there...

This ^^^^.

And this thread is one of the reasons why I wouldn't. Because, to be honest, I don't really agree with most of the replies above: I see that it's really easy to be blackmailed this way, and that you can't possibly risk a bad review and not getting it removed by "the authorities" and my experience (as a buyer) is that they don't even respond to support requests. So I certainly wouldn't bank on it!

So this sort of scenario is just "a bad situation". But it's what places like that lend themselves to. :p

Originally Posted by asimbawany

plus, you get only $4 out of $5 which is 20%... that's insane!

Agreed.

It amazes me that in discussions of Fiverr, almost nobody ever makes this point. Those people are charging 20% commissions!! :p

(That said, I'm a happy customer, have bought 18 gigs and been happy 16 times and neutral once and unhappy only once, which you can't complain about, for $5. So I'm "supporting the place", I suppose. ).
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- fluffythewondercat 12 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by Alexa Smith
  
  It amazes me that in discussions of Fiverr, almost nobody ever makes this point. Those people are charging 20% commissions!! :p
  
  Ah, but when you become a top-level seller on Fiverr and can charge more than $5, you make it up in volume. :p
  
  fLufF
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  Tonylee93 12 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by fluffythewondercat
  
  Ah, but when you become a top-level seller on Fiverr and can charge more than $5, you make it up in volume. :p
  
  fLufF
  --
  
  I didn`t know you could charge more of than 5 dollars! Thank you for the information
  
  Also I love working at fiverr, or with it how ever you want to put it, I guess next time I will take everyones advice and stick to my guns I hope not to let people down so I wasnt sure what to do ...
  
  Thank you warriors for telling me where to take this from here!
  
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YasirYar

12 years ago

Not too familiar with Fiverr, but don't they have a cancel option where you return the money to the client and they can't do anything about it? I know eLance offers something like that.

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Entrecon

12 years ago

Depending on what the gig is, you might now have a nice piece for a portfolio for a higher paying job down the road. Fiverr is nice for a lot of people because the market is already there and they don't have to market, other than their short ad. Once you hit the higher tiers you can charge more, and if you structure your material right, there are ways to eventually connect with customers outside of Fiverr.

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MillionairesMentor

12 years ago

I believe you could have just canceled the gig and unless the buyer would have forced to keep the deal open it would have expired in a day or two. Happened to me a few times when the sellers got too busy.

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J Bold

12 years ago

You have some recourse. Take it to Fiverr support.

Also, you can cancel a gig that's been ordered, which I don't think will give you a thumbs down, but may affect your gig in a negative way somehow, that I'm not exactly sure exactly how.

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fluffythewondercat

12 years ago

Originally Posted by redicelander

Also, you can cancel a gig that's been ordered, which I don't think will give you a thumbs down, but may affect your gig in a negative way somehow, that I'm not exactly sure exactly how.

It reduces your seller rating. If you are hoping to attain Level One, Level Two or Top-Rated Seller, a single reduction in your rating makes it less likely you'll get there.

It is, of course, grossly unfair to the seller who undoubtedly wants to cancel because the buyer is asking for the moon, the stars and a hot date with a blonde for $5, but Fiverr doesn't care. They're trying to cultivate an army of drones, um, workers who will accept any assignment thrown at them in return for the vague promise of someday being able to charge more than $5 (subject to the 20% surcharge, of course).

eBay tried this same tactic -- keeping people in line through seller ratings and phony-baloney status -- it didn't work.

fLufF
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paul_1

12 years ago

You could have been better off returning the $5 then telling Fiverr Support about the blackmail...

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lacraiger

12 years ago

what people would put up with for $4

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Martin Lee Jr

12 years ago

Next time forward his statement to fiverr support, and if he gives you a thumbs down just comment on the reason you got the thumbs down.

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gracesocialmedia

12 years ago

WOW!! That guy must have been doing great on Fiverr. He must share some tips

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JayBest

12 years ago

Man that sucks.

While I agree it can be an idea to refund or take the hit - it can be one of those things that causes you to have grief, or break a perfect record.

If there are other markets where you sell your services at a decent rate, then that might be time to shuffle over there... Tenbux.com anyone? ;-)

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Simon Ashari

12 years ago

One thumbs down among many thumbs up is no real problem.

I look at the thumbs down and think "there will always be problem customers".

A person could potentially look at your 100% record and assume it's faked.

You didn't need to give in to this person. But good work with your commitment to keeping your customers happy.

-Simon

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Jase1977

12 years ago

I would never sell my writing skills for $4 for an article. Especially if they were wanting 400+ words. It could easily take an hour to write that (assuming you have to research the topic as well). That's less than minimum wage here in the U.S. No way!

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katjapalmu

12 years ago

don't give in to bullying. Report him to Fiverr.

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Hardcoremarketing

12 years ago

Thomas Edison is credited with stating that his 999 "failures" in creating the light bulb were victories in finding 999 ways NOT to make a light bulb.

Refine your offer to include a fixed number of offers and requiring that the buyer provide XYZ in advance so that you can get a close first draft.

You can report the user to Fiver, but they can just come back with a different user name.

I'd focus my energy forward and be glad it wasn't worse.

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Andrew Davis

12 years ago

I agree with what many others said here.

Take the Thumbs-down, then Report it to Fiverr.

Fiverr Staff will review the situation, and remove the Thumbs-down if it is wrongful.
Especially if you are a Level-1, Level-2 or Top-Rated Seller, you will get quicker support.

It's good that Fiverr Staff actually does something in these situations.

I've had bad experiences on another marketplace "oDesk". If a Client leaves you horrible feedback for no reason, they will do absolutely nothing to fix it.
Everything is in the Client's favour.

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silverline

12 years ago

Thanks Andrew. I know how that feels. I have also become a victim of a bullying buyer recently. Thanks for your suggestion. I am going to report it to the fiverr support and see if they can remove the thumbs-down.

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