‘Username’ Can No Longer Be Contacted On Fiverr

The screenshot above is a common issue encountered by most sellers on Fiverr.com. This is an issue where you can no longer contact a buyer. Be rest assured that you’re not alone. Many Fiverr freelancers have faced a similar or the same conundrum, accompanied by the perplexing message, “‘Username’ can no longer be contacted. This will not affect your response rate.”

It usually happens just after a buyer contacts you, you may reply and while you wait for them to message you back, no message comes back, so you decide to open the conversation and see that you can no longer contact them. Sometimes you may not even have replied, you see the message notification, go to reply, and realize you can’t because they can’t be contacted.

REASONS WHY YOU GET THE “USER CAN NO LONGER BE CONTACTED” MESSAGE

There are a couple of reasons why this may happen.

1.  Blocked or Restricted Account Due To Repeat Spamming Offence: This is the most common reason behind this error. The buyer’s account, whose username you’re attempting to contact, might be blocked or restricted because they’ve sent the same message to MULTIPLE sellers all at once. This can be flagged by Fiverr’s system as spam, which it is technically, and Fiverr takes various actions against users who violate its terms of service, including limiting their ability to interact with sellers or outright blocking. Now, the fact that they have been flagged as spammers and their accounts blocked, may not necessarily mean that they are dubious buyers who were looking to do you harm, these may be people who may be new to the platform and don’t know how it works, maybe in trying to speed up the process of finding the right freelancer, they just go nuts copying and pasting the same message to different sellers and end up having their account deleted. However, 9 times out of 10, these people are dubious people who have ill intentions. So it’s a grey area, on one hand, it could simply be a dumb mistake by a novice buyer or a deliberate plot by a seasoned spammer.
2. Buyer Sharing Personal Contacts and Unaccepted Links: In this situation, the buyer may have shared their contact details with you in a bid to take business between you and them off Fiverr, or they may have shared a link to a website that is not approved by Fiverr. Doing any of these almost always results in immediate account closure, especially for buyers.
   Below is a list of approved sites you can share links to in your Fiverr chats (Note that this list could be updated from time to time so it helps to refer to the Fiverr Policy Page to confirm)APPROVED URLS

   ammyy.com blogspot.com flickr.com mixcloud.com reverbnation.com soundcloud.com spotify.com

   teamviewer.com tumblr.com vimeo.com wetransfer.com wikipedia.org youtube.com

3. Buyer Flagged As Potential Scammer: Fiverr keeps track of certain messages, patterns, and schemes that scammers use to swindle unsuspecting sellers, some common ones are false claims to be working with a top brand, offering weird deals with outrageous amounts of money that come with conditions etc. and when all these red flags comes with the sender spamming many sellers all at once, there is no doubt that they are bought scammers and spammers, which of course results in instant account termination.
   – A Buyer Pretending to be from Unicef
4. Buyer Simply Blocked You: We can’t rule out the possibility that a user for some reason simply decided not to let you contact them anymore, maybe coz they found their ideal freelancer and don’t want to be bothered by anyone else, good old blocking is most definitely a reason for this sometimes.
5. Account Deletion By Buyer: Just as we suspect that the buyer may have violated some terms and had
   their account deleted by Fiverr, it is also very possible that they chose to delete their account

What Can Sellers Do About It?

Encountering the ‘Username’ Can No Longer Be Contacted On Fiverr issue can be disheartening, especially if you have an ongoing or potential project with the affected buyer. Here are some steps you can take:

1. Do Not Fret: Most new Fiverr freelancers panic when they first see this message, I know I did, and my instinct was maybe we’ve both violated Fiverr’s terms, they’ve been banned and I am next. The message simply means something has gone wrong on their end not yours, after encountering this numerous times now, I can assure you that you need not worry.

2. Contact Fiverr Support: If you suspect that the buyer’s account issue is a mistake or if you have a genuine reason to contact them, reach out to Fiverr Support. Explain the situation, provide as much detail as possible, and request assistance in resolving the matter. This will rarely be necessary, but I think it’s worth mentioning still.

3. Respect Privacy Settings and TOS: Be aware that some buyers prefer not to be contacted outside of active orders or specific circumstances. Always respect their privacy settings and Fiverr’s terms of service.

4. Learn From It: When someone who’s just contacted you may have had their account blocked, it is wise to go through the message that they sent and see what they may have done wrong, what words, links, or language did they use that could have possibly caused an issue on their account, and learn to spot such messages in the future and also avoid knowingly or unknowingly sending such messages yourself so the same thing doesn’t happen to your account.

Finally

Some sellers often think Fiverr may have stopped them from closing a sale, but it makes no sense coz if they stop a seller from selling, they also stop themselves from making a profit. I choose to see it as protection from potential harm. So the ‘Username’ Can No Longer Be Contacted message On Fiverr is nothing much to worry about, it’s either Fiverr weeding out bad actors from its platform, or users themselves protecting their privacy.