What to Do When a Fiverr Buyer Threatens You

What would you do if a buyer threatened you?

I recently found myself in a difficult position. I had a Fiverr buyer threaten to leave negative feedback that wasn’t true unless I gave him a refund.

Now, I’d done the work and delivered according to his instructions and my Fiverr gig descriptions. The problem was that he wanted something more after delivering it and expected it for free. His instructions weren’t exactly clear to start with, but due to the way Fiverr is set up I had to start work and hope for the best.

So, what should you do when you’re threatened by a buyer on Fiverr?

Inform Customer Support

The first thing I did was to inform customer support. I don’t expect them to do much—I’ve heard of them not doing anything and most of the time siding with the buyer—but they need to know.

They’ve not gotten back to me yet, but I’m ready to throw their Terms of Service at them and get them to give me a straight answer why they’re not upholding their end of the deal. Not sure what it will do, but it’s worth a try.

I recommend anybody who has a threatening buyer to do this.

Don’t Give In!

Please don’t give into the threats. I’ve seen it all the time, even on the forums, of people being advised to allow the cancellation to go through. I chose to take the negative hit because I will not let a buyer get away with this sort of behaviour.

What made me really mad is that this buyer is a fellow seller (or at least used to be, but now has an 86% rating). He should know the way that Fiverr works and still went about in this uncool way.

The only time I could see someone now wanting to take the negative hit is because they’re just starting out. If you are just starting out, I’d suggest doing anything you can to avoid the negative. However, please contact support first and get them on your side if you can!

Are You in the Wrong?

Look at it subjectively first. Could you possibly be in the wrong?

I did this and was ready to apologise and make right if I was. However, I read over the instructions again and looked through the delivered work three or four times before deciding that there was nothing more I could do. I delivered as requested the first time round.

If you really believe you have delivered to the best of your ability and according to the instructions, don’t give in.

If you know that you could have done better but can’t do anything about it, accept the cancellation and move on.

Post a Polite Reply

You have the opportunity to tell your side of the story. Do it but do it positively.

I went straight online to explain the reality. It was nothing to do with quality—as the buyer suggested—it was to do with the buyer expecting more.

Remain polite at all times. Never ever show that you’re angry with the buyer. That looks bad on you to prospective buyers in the future. Explain what you tried to do to correct it and what the problem was. You have to leave a short message though because you don’t get much room!

I’m really hoping my 800+ positives will make up for this negative. The problem is its sitting at the top right now. I really need some of my buyers who I’ve delivered for over the past couple of days to come in and leave some positive reviews to push this one down.

What would you do if you had a threatening buyer? Leave your comments below!