There are three main ways to politely turn down client work that might dip into the illegal or questionable range of freelancer services. The things that they all have in common are that they are not a judgement on the client. You aren't ever saying that something is bad, or wrong, or disgusting. What you're saying is that due to your current situation, it isn't suitable for you to perform the gig in question. By putting the limitation on your own situation, you cleanly cut off any arguments that a client might send your way.
It might seem counterintuitive to go so far out of the way to turn down work. After all, who would know if you did something slightly questionable as a freelancer?
At the very least, Fiverr will know. And if they are contacted in a criminal investigation, they will have tons of evidence against you, because everything on the platform is recorded. Even if it doesn't reach the criminal level, any ToS violation could result in either your gig or your entire account being suspended. Or they might just silently remove your gigs from the search results, as is their right. Remember that the way you make more money on the platform is by getting excellent feedback and having a good track record. If your gig or account gets wiped out, you've lost all of that history. You'll have to start from the bottom all over again!
This applies to any gigs that promote or facilitate illegal or fraudulent services, copyright infringement, trademark infringement, spam, violence, or anything else mentioned in the ToS in the Gigs section . If you play with that fire, you're going to burn down the business that you've been carefully crafting and planning.
With all that in mind, let's have a look at the four main ways that you can turn down a client's proposal, or get a gig cancelled with no penalty.
Here are your four main protections against shady activity by buyers:
It's tempting, particularly when you're just starting out, to do absolutely anything a client asks you to do. But folding to every client demand no matter how questionable, or riding every shady trend that rolls across your industry, will not grow your business. You'll get trapped by the expectations put on you by those questionable clients, and your reputation will be tarnished if word gets out that you'll do 'any kind of work'.
Remember that Fiverr is all about carving out a specialist niche. Generalists quickly find themselves overwhelmed and racing to the bottom of the price pool, even if they stick to legitimate work. If your specialty is doing whatever shady things come your way, you'll quickly be outmoded.
That's why this course tells you how to properly turn down clients who ask you to be shady, or properly cancel gigs whose requirements shift into the underhanded or illegal range. It's a critical skill in any freelancer's portfolio, and hugely important if you want to grow a legitimate freelance business on Fiverr.
Like my other courses, this one is totally free. If you want to thank me, please use my affiliate links for joining Fiverr, for Fiverr's Learn Courses, for joining Fiverr Business, and for becoming a Fiverr Affiliate.
This refusal to accept a gig or modify a gig's requirements is one of the most common responses to being asked to perform a potentially criminal act. A more full version of this might be: "My apologies, because that request would result in me performing a potentially illegal act in my particular locality, I can't do it." This is a broad statement that covers everything from international legal standards to the laws of a particular town or district, and everything in between.
Under no circumstances should you share your exact locality with the client. If they ask where you're from, don't narrow it down further than a country. If they insist it's legal in your country, tell them that additional regional laws and restrictions may apply in your situation. Don't try to site particular laws if they argue. Simply say that the Fiverr Terms of Service require you to decline work that you believe to be illegal in your locality.
If at any point you feel threatened or bullied by the client, get Fiverr support involved. Frankly, saying that it's illegal in your area should be the end of the conversation most of the time.
The result of this conversation should either be the cancellation of the gig if there's one in progress that hasn't progressed too far, the completion of the gig if the illegal requests were made after initial delivery, or never accepting the gig in the first place if you were still in the talking phase. If the gig is completed and they 1 star you because you refused to do the illegal act, contact support and tell them that the review was the result of the client attempting to solicit an illegal work product. Provide all of the gig information and request that they investigate.
In order for this statement to be valid, two things need to happen. The first is that you need to state in the gig's FAQ that you cannot do certain kinds of work due to exclusivity agreements. For example, if you find the NFT or crypto markets to be too shady, put in your FAQ that you do not accept those kinds of work or anything related.
The second condition you need to meet is to secure an exclusive contract with someone for content on those topics in particular. In my case, I have several professional agreements that involve unbiased investigative journalism as well as government clearance requirements.
But you don't need anything that complex. It can be a written agreement with someone you know, someone you live with, even a family member. The contract can be quite simple, and the compensation can be a dollar (there must be compensation for a contract to be valid). But here's the important bit: Put a clause in called Termination for Convenience, that states that either party can terminate the contract for any reason with no written or other notice, and no notice period. That way if you find that you've changed your mind about that kind of work, you can end the exclusivity with no fuss.
You do not need to share the exact details of your exclusive contract with Fiverr or with any client. As long as you tell clients that you can't do that kind of work in the FAQ, that's all they need to know. And as a freelancer, Fiverr does not have exclusive rights to your contract portfolio. You set your own availability, and you reserve the right to accept work external of Fiverr.
The result of this should be a polite refusal to take on such work. If the client tries to spring this on you mid-gig, you need to refer them to the FAQ entry that you set up. If they then 1 star you for holding them to the original terms of the agreement, get Fiverr support involved and point them towards the conversation in question, and the FAQ entry that clearly states that you have an exclusive agreement and won't accept work surrounding that particular topic. The ratings system cannot be used as revenge mechanism to blackmail you into breaking a third party agreement.
The conflict of interest clause generally refers to you or your family having an ownership interest that might impact the quality or scope of your work, or a prior arrangement that would bias you against the client or the subject matter that the client is proposing. This is a stronger and more believable statement if you prohibit certain kinds of work in your FAQ ahead of time, citing a potential conflict of interest.
The vital line in the Terms of Service that pertains to conflicts of interest is: 'Sellers warrant that any content included in their Gigs shall be original work conceived by the Sellers and shall not infringe any third party rights'.
That means if you agreed to terms with another employer, website, or partnership of any kind, Fiverr will respect those terms. That includes any work that would be considered a conflict of interest in those third party agreements. This is spelled out in many articles, including this freelancing article published by Fiverr back in 2020. It specifically tells you to avoid conflicts of interest with your employer, as an example.
This means that you can refuse any work, or any modification to an active gig's requirements, that might prove to be a conflict of interest. You are not required to provide copies of your existing contracts, nor are you required to give any information about third parties to the client or to Fiverr. You simply need to state that you have an existing contractual agreement that requires you to avoid conflicts of interest in certain fields.
The result of this should be the same as what we discussed in the Exclusive Contract section. Again, if the client complains about you or 1 stars a gig they attempted to modify after delivery, contact Fiverr support and provide evidence as needed.
This one should be a no-brainer. Our 'seller agreement' is the general Fiverr ToS plus any individual program agreements that you're participating in (Fiverr Pro, etc.). If anything that a client asks us to do is in violations of the terms of an agreement we've made with Fiverr, we cannot do it.
If a client that you have an active gig with insists that you do something that is a violation of your agreements with Fiverr, get support involved immediately. They're normally pretty protective about their own agreements. It's exceedingly rare that they'll side with the client and give you written permission to break normal ToS.
The next step is adding high end gigs to your current selection, to kick your career into top gear. Or if you've done that, head over to my free course hub to select your next topic.
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