I've been doing freelance work on Fiverr for about 3 months and this happened where a client asked me for a 5-minute video, approved it, paid half, and then disappeared. Now I don't know whether to ask for full deposits upfront or what to do to protect myself without losing clients.
Fiverr's platform already has an escrow system that protects you automatically, so make good use of it: clients pay the platform, not you directly, and the money only gets released when you mark the work as completed. The problem you're describing is that you probably delivered the video before the client officially approved it in the system. Next time, upload the file in Fiverr's chat, not elsewhere, and don't mark it as delivered until you get written approval in that same chat. If a client disappears after approving it, Fiverr has a dispute resolution process where you can prove you did your part.
For bigger jobs or when something seems off (client with few reviews, little information, lots of weird requests), ask for an initial partial deposit to start and another before final delivery. It's not a problem - serious clients get it and do it constantly on any platform. Some use the "milestone" feature on Fiverr if you're working on custom projects, where you split the payment into stages and only move forward when each phase is approved. If a client refuses to use these basic protection measures, they're probably not worth working with anyway.
What happened to you (approved but disappeared) is less common than it seems, and honestly a lot of those cases get resolved if you open a support ticket within the timeframe. Document everything always: chat screenshots, deliverables, approvals. That's your best defense.
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