Fiverr Refunds Explained (For Buyers & Sellers)

While Fiverr is generally a reliable place to find freelancers, occasionally things don’t go to plan. A seller may need to cancel a gig for personal reasons. Or a buyer might be unhappy with the standard of work. When this happens, it’s useful to know about Fiverr’s refund policy.

Fiverr refunds the gig and service fee to a buyer when a gig is cancelled. Both sellers and buyers can cancel a gig, either through Fiverr’s resolution centre or customer support. A refund is then sent to the buyer’s Fiverr balance or their original payment account.

In this article, we take a closer look at Fiverr’s refund policy, how it works, and the process to request a refund.

Can You Get A Refund On Fiverr?

Buyers can get a refund on Fiverr, even after a gig has been completed. Fiverr issues refunds when a seller cancels a gig or for non-delivery of service, poor quality of work, or fraudulent activity.

Fiverr’s cancellation and refund process is relatively straightforward. Here are some of the most important things to know about it.

How Refunds Work On Fiverr

Fiverr refunds a buyer’s payment when a gig is cancelled for any reason. A gig can be cancelled at any time including:

• While the gig is still active
• During the safety clearance period for payment (usually 14 days)
• After the safety clearance period ends, if special circumstances exist

Fiverr’s refund policy is one of the ways it tries to ensure a positive experience for users.

Fiverr Refund Policy Explained

Fiverr’s refund policy is ultimately designed to protect buyers’ funds in the event they don’t receive the service they paid for.

But before resorting to cancelling a gig and getting a refund, Fiverr encourages parties to try and resolve any issues. This includes allowing the seller to correct or revise the work.

So before seeking a refund, always communicate with the other party to try and work things out. You can do this via Fiverr’s messaging platform or resolution centre.

If this doesn’t work and you want to cancel the order, it’s useful to keep in mind that:

• Fiverr’s service fees are now included in refunds
• Fiverr processes refunds in the same currency used to buy the gig
• Refunds can only be made to a buyer’s Fiverr balance or the original payment account

Let’s take a closer look at this last point.

Will Fiverr Refund To Your Bank Account?

Fiverr automatically refunds gig and service fees to a buyer’s Fiverr balance. If a buyer wants the money refunded to their bank account, they need to make a request, as Fiverr will not do this automatically.

In the first instance, Fiverr credits refunds to a buyer’s Fiverr balance. The funds then appear in the buyer’s Fiverr profile.

If a buyer wants these funds sent to their original payment account, such as PayPal or a bank account, they need to send a request to Fiverr.

There’s a limit to how many times you can request a refund to your original payment account. Doing so may also attract transaction fees. The time it takes to process refunds varies between payment methods.

How Long Do Fiverr Refunds Take?

The time it takes for a Fiverr refund to appear in a buyer’s original payment account varies. For PayPal, the funds are usually available within 24 hours of the refund request being processed. Credit cards have a longer processing time and can take between 7 and 14 days.   

If you need to cancel a gig and get a refund, Fiverr’s refund process is easy to follow.

How To Get A Refund On Fiverr

Fiverr automatically processes a refund when a gig is cancelled. There are different ways for buyers and sellers to cancel a gig, depending on whether it’s active or complete.

Active Gigs

Sellers

A seller might cancel a gig because of personal reasons or when they realize they don’t have the skills to complete the order.

If you’re a seller and you want to cancel an active gig:

1. Go to the order page
2. Click on the Visit Resolution Centre button
3. Select Ask the buyer to cancel this order
4. Add details of the cancellation request and submit

The buyer can accept or decline your request. If they decline, you can go to Fiverr’s customer support to resolve the issue. And if the buyer doesn’t respond within 48 hours, the gig is automatically cancelled and a refund issued.

Buyers

There are several scenarios where a buyer may want to cancel a gig, including when the seller:

• Fails to deliver work
• Delivers work that doesn’t fit the gig description
• Stops communicating
• Behaves fraudulently

If you’re a buyer and you want to cancel an active gig:

1. Go to the order page
2. Click on the Visit Resolution Centre button
3. Select Ask the seller to cancel this order
4. Add details of cancellation request and submit

If the seller declines your request, you can involve customer support to settle the dispute. If the seller doesn’t respond within 48 hours, Fiverr automatically cancels the gig and issues a refund to the buyer.

Completed Gigs

There may be situations where a buyer wants to cancel a gig after it’s been marked as complete. For example, the buyer may later discover the work contains material that violates copyright law.

If you’re a buyer wanting to cancel a completed gig, you can’t request a cancellation through the resolution centre. Instead, you’ll need to contact Fiverr customer support. They manually review your request and decide whether to cancel the gig.

The steps to request the cancellation of a completed gig are:

1. Go to the completed order in your profile
2. Click on Fiverr support
3. Provide the details of your request and submit

As with any cancellation, Fiverr encourages parties to try and resolve the issue between themselves before contacting customer support.

Hopefully You Won’t Need To Use Fiverr’s Refund Process!

While Fiverr is generally a trustworthy platform, there may be situations where you need to cancel a gig. In these cases, Fiverr will issue the buyer a refund. It’s easy to request a one, either through the resolution centre or customer support, by following the above steps.

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