So, I tried Fiverr for the first time. (I never remember which letter to double Fivver? Fiveer? or Fiverr? Inevitably, I have to Google it.)
The gig was supposed to be delivered in 7 days. The guy marked the gig as “delivered” on day 7 and said that it would actually take 2 or 3 more days but it was running and he promised it would happen. Then, he went on to essentially beg me not to leave any bad feedback during this two to three day period. Of course, if that wasn’t OK, we could cancel my order and he would refund my money.
This all sounds legit, except here is the scam:
- If I wait 2 or 3 days to give him the benefit of the doubt, then it is too late for me to leave feedback or cancel the order. (72 hour Fiverr limit)
- If I decide I’m not a sucker and mutually cancel the order, then any feedback I leave is erased from the seller profile.
- The only way for this seller to get a back review then is for me to let him keep the money, and then give him a bad review. In other words, it costs me five bucks to leave a bad review.
How often do you think this actually happens?
How many people do you think just go, “It’s only five bucks, let’s just see what happens? Then, when the review and cancel period end, he pockets the money and does nothing. Anyone who files any sort of complaint gets a “Oh, I’m so sorry, here’s a refund.” and then their review gets wiped off of the seller’s profile.
Result, a scammy seller with perfect reviews, because every negative review gets taken off, automatically, by the system.
I’m waiting 24 hours (still within the window) and see if he is legitimately delivering. If not, I’m going to leave the negative feedback and eat the five bucks. Not that it will matter, I’m sure this scam involves a lot of Fiverr accounts all setup and ready to step in when and if an account either gets suspended, or a bad review actually sticks.
Has anyone ever used Fiverr with better results? Anyone use it consistently, or is Fiverr sort of a one and done when you need something a little weird or unusual and have no other real way to make it happen cost effectively?
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I know that many “SEOs” who build garbage links and profiles love to use Fiverr gigs to get that all done quickly and cheaply. Is Fiverr just the low-rent, gray area, task rabbit-like service area of the internet?