A Fiverr Cancellation "Bolt From the Blue!"

"What in the world?" I asked, as I opened up my Fiverr account the other morning. There was notification of a cancellation. That's happened to everyone at one time or another, but NEVER had it happened like this, at least to me.

Normally, cancellations come during an order, usually because the buyer either didn't want to pay the extras their order required, or they had placed the order by mistake. Those more-typical scenarios are addressed in other blogs and Studio Takes podcasts, so I won't explore them here. What made this cancellation unique is that it seemed to be for an order that had long-since concluded. Yeah, the order was over. Delivered. Delivery accepted. Done and over with. How...in the WORLD...can a cancellation come at that late stage?

The Game's Afoot!

More out of curiosity than exasperation, I wrote to Customer Service, explained the situation, gave them the order number, and asked them how the mystery cancellation had occurred. I explained that I had not only treated the customer well, but had even sent a style read first for approval, and then delivered early to help them out. It was a real head scratcher!

I heard back the same day from a CS representative, as follows:

===========

Hi there,

I hope you’re doing ok.

I am (name omitted) from Customer Support and I'm happy to assist you today.

I completely understand your confusion. The order that you contacted us about was cancelled because the buyer opened a dispute on their payment with their payment provider. Fiverr cannot prevent or would have known about any fraudulent transactions. They are handled through a third party payment vendor, not through Fiverr. Any person that uses a stolen payment method, such as a credit card or hacked Paypal account, may process an order through a third payment system to create an order on Fiverr. When we are able to determine a chargeback due to fraud, we immediately cancel the order and return the funds back to the third party as we are required to do so to comply with our payment vendors Terms of Use. There is no way around that process.

Don't worry, Fiverr’s got your back, so we compensated you for the funds you earned on this order, and you will be able to withdraw these funds after the 7 day clearance period. :)

In the meantime, check out the following https://sellers.fiverr.com/en/article/chargebacks-and-seller-protection

Let me know if you have any further questions.

=============

Classy

Alright, so apparently order had been placed fraudulently. Purchased digitally with the equivalent of a bad check. When the payment "bounced," Fiverr had to pay the "chargeback" money back to the offended entity. Despite that, Fiverr still made sure I was compensated for the job, even though they took a loss on it. I think that's pretty classy.

How Often?

How often does this happen? Well I've done over 3,000 orders on Fiverr, and this is the first time I've seen it...so it's apparently pretty rare, if my experience is typical. Moral of story? When weirdness happens, whether something like this, or something else that "extends beyond the borders of imagination and into the Twilight Zone," contact Customer Service and let them help. Hint: Stay completely calm and courteous with them. They're just folks like you and me, and like kind treatment as much as anybody!

There's so much you and I can do together to improve your gig's performance. Schedule your Gig Doctor appointment by hitting the Gig Checkup link at the top of this page for an inexpensive personalized checkup and consultation!

For those of you who do voiceovers, or who are interested in entering that fun profession, I can help there too. Check out my voiceover coaching services.