How i got scammed as a seller on fiverr

34 replies
It was my fault I know. In short, I didn't get paid for work I delivered.

If you don't want to read my whole story at least read this: If a buyer buys multiple gigs, never deliver your work to the buyer unless he has activated all his orders. Otherwise the buyer might never activate his order so you won't get paid and fiverr support won't help you.

Here is my story:

I have a translation gig on fiverr where I translate 400 words from English to Greek. A buyer ordered 5 gigs for the translation of 2000 words. When you order a gig you then have to write a short reply and provide the seller whatever he asks. The buyer has to reply in order to activate the order. That buyer only replied in 2 of his orders.

The next day I delivered my translation. I thought that everything was ok until I saw that 3 orders were still marked as INCOMPLETE. I couldn't mark them as COMPLETED because they were not activated by the buyer. This means I couldn't get paid.

I contacted the buyer but he didn't respond. I contacted fiverr support telling them to mark those order as COMPLETED. They replied that they can't do anything. Here is their complete response:

Originally Posted by fiverr support

Hi,
Unfortunately these orders are not yet active. Only the buyer can activate these orders by responding to your requests for instructions.
To avoid this situation in future, please do not deliver your gig until all orders are active and you are able to send a short delivery message for each order using the green delivery tab.
It appears that the buyer has not visited Fiverr recently. They may be away on holiday. Could you please continue communicating with the buyer regarding their orders after the New Year, and keep me informed?
I'm here if you need anything.
I said that I contacted him several times and he didn't respond even when he got online, so he is probably trying to get his money back. Here is their second response:

Originally Posted by fiverr support

Hi,
Unfortunately, we cannot communicate directly with the buyer. All we can do at this point is to leave the orders as they are, or cancel them. Could you please continue communicating with the buyer, and keep us informed?
Warm regards,
It's been 2 months now and still no response. I don't know If he got his money back. Probably not because the orders are still there waiting for him to activate them. So he is probably not a scammer, he might not even know what's happening.
#fiverr #scammed #seller
  • Profile picture of the author Ross Cohen
    That sucks I'm sorry. Unfortunately, while there are many good people online, there will also be the people trying to get one over on you. Some times they "win", but then you learn, take a deep breath, and don't let it happen again. As with any venture, there will be failure before success (though there will be some exceptions I suppose!).
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  • Profile picture of the author esp
    Sorry to hear of your difficult situation. You are probably already doing this, however, at this point in time about all you can do is every week keep reminding the party through the unfilled 3 orders requesting a reply so you can close the tickets. It is possible the customer does not understand the proper procedure. If after two or three months you do not get results then all you can do is chalk it off to your own educational expense. As you know from this next time if you are selling 200 words per gig, only reply with 200 words at a time.
    Sometimes the persistent reminding will work.
    Best of luck in the future.
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  • Profile picture of the author Adie
    If you don't want to read my whole story at least read this: If a buyer buys multiple gigs, never deliver your work to the buyer unless he has activated all his orders. Otherwise the buyer might never activate his order so you won't get paid and fiverr support won't help you.
    This is very common even in offline transactions.

    First they order small, then medium, then bulk. After you deliver all of these orders, they will order another bulk and tell you to pay later. They are doing this to gain your trust during first transactions.

    A fellow warrior ran away with 150 unpaid articles last year after 6 months of being a good customer...
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  • Profile picture of the author Oliver Williams
    Sounds like a flaw in Fiverrs system however look on the bright side you learned valuable a lesson and it only cost you $25 for five gigs right? That is absolutely NOTHING! I have lost thousands and thousands in my past from scammers, before I wised up.
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    • Profile picture of the author Josh880
      Lesson learned...You taught me something about fiverr I didn't even know...Hopefully this doesn't happen to you again!!!

      Be positive-good things always come to good people!!!
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  • Profile picture of the author lucidsuccess
    There is some sketchy people on fiverr. Be careful what you get.
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  • Profile picture of the author planetlubs
    I think he is not a scammer. Most buyers are doing it their first time. Some to not even know where the order button is located. So they do not know much and may be he did not know that he has to activate.

    But thanks for the advice because it is gonna help many. Do not deliver until all orders are activated.
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  • Profile picture of the author Tenzho
    Aww too bad, I will becareful too since I'm also a fiverr seller!
    Just got my first order on fiverr. Buyer says he is planning to bulk buy gigs from me, so I will take your advice.
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  • Profile picture of the author xypoon
    It happens a lot to me as well. Not the same situation but similar. It appears that most of the sellers don't know that if they don't submit something to activate the order it can't be finished.
    A guy ordered 3 gigs from me and he activated only the first one and just like you I delivered within the 1 order. The other 2 orders stood there unactivated for about 2-3 weeks. Meanwhile I asked him to activate them multiple times and he didn't respond.

    After about a month he did respond and he said that he is sorry and he didn't pay attention and we finalized those gigs.
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    • Profile picture of the author Monika Morley
      Hi,

      Maybe I am missing something here... did you ask fiverr support WHY they cannot communicate directly with the buyer? By all means they have their email address. It sounds more like they do not want to communicate. :confused:

      Question:

      When orders are left "as they are" doesn't this affect your ratings?

      I frequently buy gigs and always check delivery time and ratings first. So if this does affect your ratings, you should really get fiverr support to do what they are here for and support you.

      Good Luck!
      Monika
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      • Profile picture of the author REHughes
        Originally Posted by Monika Morley View Post

        Question:

        When orders are left "as they are" doesn't this affect your ratings?

        Monika
        Hi, Monika

        I wouldn't think that an inactive order could affect ratings. In essence, the buyer really hasn't finished the order, so therefore can't rate you on that particular "inactive" order. Until the process is complete, they've technically "not" bought anything.

        I think this is right.

        Hope this helps.
        Robert
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  • Profile picture of the author Tonylee93
    I guess I learned from that, Im sorry that that happened to you, thats such a horrible thing to happen. But now us warriors know not to do an order unless its activated properly so thank you for the tips and heads up!
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    • Maybe I am missing something here... did you ask fiverr support WHY they cannot communicate directly with the buyer? By all means they have their email address. It sounds more like they do not want to communicate.

      I agree. Support has access, so they should be able to contact the buyer, see that your deliverable was 2000 words instead of 400, etc.

      A few months ago I got fed up with Fiverr's rules and deleted all my gigs on two IDs. At that time there were still three gigs in Incomplete status because the buyers had paid for them but never followed through.

      What do you suppose happens to those payments, hmm? The buyer can't get a refund; standard Fiverr policy is "no refunds", only a credit to your Fiverr account.

      I wonder if Fiverr books those payments as income.

      "I'm here if you need anything."

      Anything other than actual help, that is.

      fLufF
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  • Profile picture of the author aaaa33030
    When logging into fiverr there will be notices at the top that will stay there until they are read or deleted

    If a customer orders 5 gigs at once then there will be 5 separate notices at the top when you log in

    It is best to read through each notice one at a time, then take necessary action before dismissing the notice
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  • Profile picture of the author Sardent
    I've never had this happen.
    What does the buyer have to "activate" to complete the order?

    As a Seller, I've just put the same file in each gig and upload it so it's marked as delivered.

    I was unaware, nor noticed, that I had to do anything extra when I was a buyer.
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    • Profile picture of the author StarFinds
      Originally Posted by Sardent View Post

      I've never had this happen.
      What does the buyer have to "activate" to complete the order?

      As a Seller, I've just put the same file in each gig and upload it so it's marked as delivered.

      I was unaware, nor noticed, that I had to do anything extra when I was a buyer.
      When setting up a gig as a fiverr seller, often there is some information asked for that the buyer has to give, that is necessary to complete the order (a url, attach a photo to be worked on, wording for something, etc.). When the buyer puts that information into the form after placing an order, I think that is what activates the order. If the buyer forgets to give the needed information for any order, then that order is not activated.
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  • Profile picture of the author adammck
    I guess this is a lesson learnt. We all make mistakes and at least you won't make a bigger one in the future. This is just your first warning to put a strategy in place when dealing with a similar circumstance again.

    All the best
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  • Profile picture of the author Sue McDonald
    Yes I agree seems a flaw in Fiverr but it is a valuable lesson learnt. Not that any of us like to learn lessons the hard way but you will never make that mistake again.Nest time wait till they are all active or deliver only one at a time as he activates them.
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  • Profile picture of the author seococonuts
    I used to play around on fiverr myself and sell a few small seo gigs. After their fees and that fact that you have to wait for payment, it's not even worth the time it takes to put an ad up in MHO.
    Hopefully some people reading this will be careful and learn from your experience above.
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  • Profile picture of the author Austin357
    I have used Fiverr and bought multiple gigs and didn't have this problem. I guess I did activate my credits in a short period of time. I did not know about this loop hole. Stay positive, lesson learned and you'll make it up big time!!
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  • Profile picture of the author Simon Ashari
    Cheers for the heads up.

    While this sucks, it's a lesson learned.

    -Simon
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  • Profile picture of the author nicolas simpson
    Sorry to hear that, i guess you learn from your mistakes.
    jus dont let this happen to you again..

    Best regards
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  • Profile picture of the author ryanmilligan
    Banned
    I understand that it's upsetting getting ripped off.

    But, it happens. Move on. If you had taken the time you have used to whine about this and put it towards something productive you could have easily made another $15.
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  • Profile picture of the author Brett Hitchcock
    Wow what a bummer mate! I really appreciate you giving us the heads up on this, I will be more careful in future. Thanks!
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  • Profile picture of the author Rich Shaw
    Sorry to hear about your predicament but thanks for telling us your story.

    If it wasn't for your thread I would never had known about this problem. I'll make sure that I am more careful using fiverr in the future.
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  • Profile picture of the author TMercT
    Sorry about what happened but that for the heads-up!
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  • Profile picture of the author webmarketer8
    WOW! Sorry to hear about that!
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  • Profile picture of the author Kyro
    That sucks, but at least you're only out of pocket 25 bucks and not a sizeable sum.
    Exercise a little more caution next time
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    • Profile picture of the author CankleFish
      This is good to know as a fellow Fiverr gig seller. Sorry to hear your story, but like it has been mentioned, at least it wasn't a large sum of money...

      Better luck moving forward...
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  • Profile picture of the author Dimachaerus
    Sorry to hear your story, I have been selling on fiverr for a while now, so thanks for the warning.
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  • Profile picture of the author mal129
    Live and learn. We all have been scammed in some way so you're not alone. Luckily it was only a few bucks, not a few thousand bucks!
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  • Profile picture of the author honestkr
    we think your gig need some instruction...
    better if you don't need secret information (like us... need twitter password)
    remove your instruction and move it into gig description
    it will hang until buyer type anything on order page
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  • Profile picture of the author cogapartments
    I am very sad to read your story.But you don't worry ,its a moral for us . Take care for next time to deliver any order.Thanks for sharing.
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  • Profile picture of the author andorod77
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