Fiverr Seller Tips: Handling Negative Feedback

I just received another negative review. It was from a demanding buyer, who chose to not give the right instructions in the first place and then not provide the necessary information to revise the product.

It became clear that the buyer didn’t appreciate the work that goes into finding resources and creating a quality product. He tried to claim that there were spun parts in an article and when asked for the bits he believed were like that (there weren’t any), he failed to reply. That always raises alarm bells for me. It’s someone looking for a free product.

 I know plenty of Fiverr sellers in this position and they need help handling the negative reviews. I’ve given up giving into these sellers, so now I’m offering Fiverr seller tips on handling the negative reviews.

Don’t Respond Right Away

Unless you’ve already been back and forth like I have, you need to talk to the buyer first. There may have been a misunderstanding that has led to this negative feedback.

Go to the buyer as if you’re the one that’s made a mistake and apologise. That way you start on good terms to find out the exact problem. Don’t get irate. Simply listen to everything the buyer says. Not all are looking for free gigs. In fact, 99% of the time you’ll get very decent buyers who will talk to you beforehand about the work sent.

Leaving it before responding also gives you the chance to walk away and clear your head. You can think of a professional response.

Give Your Side

There are always two sides to every story. The biggest of my Fiverr seller tips when handling negative feedback is to share your side of the story, but keep it professional. Do not start attacking the buyer!

Explain the work you did, and the reason for the misunderstanding. Explain everything you did to try and avoid the negative.

There’s not much space, but I’ve often used it to explain how long it took a buyer to come back to leave feedback and any important factors in our conversations like misunderstandings and the buyer refusing to do something making my job harder.

Brush It Off

There’s no point worrying about one bit of negative feedback. Dropping a rating to 99%, especially if you have a good track record beforehand, should not be a major problem. I’ve seen people with hundreds of negatives on their profiles still sell and build their levels!

Brush the negative feedback off and chalk it up to experience. Could you have done something different that you’ll do next time? Is it a case of an unreasonable and unresponsive buyer?

Offer a Cancellation

If you’re really struggling with the feedback being there, you could offer a mutual cancellation. Make sure the buyer accepts it before it auto-completes, otherwise the negative will still be there. The best thing to do is set up a reminder to check the dispute a day or so later and abort it if there has not yet been a response.

The buyer may just wait for it to auto-complete, possibly knowing that the feedback will remain. If you abort it, you could get the buyer to come back to you and ask you about it. You can then make it clear that you expect the buyer to accept it, or it will be aborted again.

Another option is to get the buyer to state in a message that he/she will accept the removal of the feedback should there be a cancellation. You can then use that to talk to Customer Support after the refund to get the feedback removed.

Talk to Customer Support

Don’t give into bully buyers. There are plenty of them on the site (although not as many as the good ones from experience). Strangely enough, I’ve found other sellers on the site to be worse buyers than those simply looking to purchase something!

If you are dealing with a threatening buyer or someone who is breaking the Terms of Service, contact Fiverr Customer Support. Now you can’t just say “I want this feedback removed.” You need to state your case. Explain why you should have it removed, and make a copy of the bit of the TOS that has been broken.

Hopefully these Fiverr seller tips will help you with handling that negative feedback. It happens to the best sellers on Fiverr, so try not to worry about it too much.

What are your Fiverr seller tips for handling negative feedback? Share your thoughts and experiences in the comments below.