(no subject)

[hamburger.livejournal.com]

I am posting this as a user, not a mod.

WHO: Pirate-Cashoo

WHERE: FA | DA

WHAT: Digital art; to be specific a full color bust of my tentacle monster Lola.

WHEN: Paid $20 for the bust February 10th. In spite of me KNOWING BETTER, paid for it as a gift at the artist's request. No need to remind me why this was dumb. She has since taken in more commissions and seems to have finished ones that were taken after mine. Which she stated in her rules was possible, so that's not an issue.

PROOF: Screencap of the initial purchase and my paypal reciept.
Screencap of the note I sent her over a week ago that was read but not replied to.
Screencap of the shout I left 3 days ago which has also not been responded to, in spite of her uploading, favoriting, and leaving comments to others.

EXPLAIN: Pretty self-explanatory. Saw a new artist, really liked their work and got a commission. It's not the fact it's not done that bothers me at all. It's the fact that both attempts to politely request information were totally ignored. I would've even been fine with a vague reply saying 'Oh it'll take awhile longer, sorry!'. Some acknowledgement. Her rules even state:

4. Please be patient! Sometimes I take longer on some commissions than others, so please don't fret if you see a more recent commission posted before yours. I don't usually do things in the exact order I take them. If I'm taking an unusually long time (3 months+), let me know and kick me in the ass! I never give up on a commission, unless some dire emergency in my life comes up that prevents me from being able to do it for some reason. But that's extremely unlikely to happen. :P

Her work is very lovely, but this lack of communication is frustrating.

ETA: Artist just now shouted with an apology and said the piece will be uploaded tonight. Will mark as resolved when this happens. Feels good to get a response.

ETA 2: Finished piece was sent to me today, and looks great! Marking this as resolved.

Comments

[latilombax.livejournal.com]

I had this little issue with her before regarding the first commission I paid her, but on November '10, I finally got it. When I paid her for an inked pic and a regular waist-up pic, I got these fast

I hope things get resolved hopefully

[hamburger.livejournal.com]

How long did you wait for the first one?

[latilombax.livejournal.com]

it's Mar 7th '10. So it's 8 months
(edited: it's 8 months, not 7 derp)

[shukivengeance.livejournal.com]

Cashoo has a pretty poor attitude when it comes to commissions from what I experienced. It's a shame, because I love her work.

I tried to commission her a little while ago, asking if she'd accept a commission for two icons. She said yes, so I replied with information on the two human chars I wanted done and she read the note but ignored it. Never even bothered to tell me she'd decided to decline. I finally found out she wasn't going to do it when she posted a journal a few days later saying that she was closed. =/ While not beware-worthy, it is relevant here I guess as an example of poor communication.

Against my better judgement, and hoping that it was basically just a blip, I tried again and was able to get one of those sketch commissions from her.

While she did do it, it was quite obvious that not much effort was put into it compared to the other pieces. The pose is stiff and boring, and the whole thing is just blah.
Since she added a stipulation saying she was accepting anthro-only characters immediately after doing my sketch I'm led to assume that it was due to that. I won't deny being slightly irked by that, because if she'd said she would prefer not to do a human that wouldn't have been a problem and I'd have chosen one of my anthro chars instead.

[hamburger.livejournal.com]

The character I commissioned is humanoid, but I'd requested it before she made that announcement. So I guess we'll see.

[shukivengeance.livejournal.com]

Yeah if you commissioned her back in Feb that's quite a bit before I got mine. According to her journals I commissioned the sketch 19 days ago and only a few days later when opening for the very next batch is when she made the "no humans" rule. Maybe she doesn't like drawing humanoids? Either way, it's no excuse for lack of communication.

[sbneko.livejournal.com]

I don't think she doesn't like drawing them, since she seems to have drawn more of them then furs.

[kayla-la.livejournal.com]

I know how you feel. I had that happen with a really popular artist on FA whose work I really, really like. We pretty much agreed I'd buy like 3 badges from her and then when it came time to pay her, she started ignoring all my notes. I tried to contact her repeatedly but... ever since, I've been wondering how she treats her commissioners if she couldn't even bother to tell me she wasn't interested anymore after she'd accepted. She takes commissions pretty regularly but I see more personal work from her being uploaded than anything.

It's just disappointing when it feels like they're willing to work with everyone BUT you.

[shukivengeance.livejournal.com]

Yeah. Honestly I'd have been fine with it if she had actually responded at the time with a 'No' rather than ignoring me.

[kayla-la.livejournal.com]

I did confront her later, she made some journal about her commission practices or something, I don't remember. Her reply? "I don't even remember that". Gee.

[sbneko.livejournal.com]

Ugh, yes, I don't mind is it's no as long as I know. It bothers me most with commissioners, since I keep slots. I'd like to know if you can't pay right now so I can get someone else.

(frozen)

[sbneko.livejournal.com]

I'm curious, do you have a link to it to show it looks rushed/she didn't try as hard?

(frozen)

[shukivengeance.livejournal.com]

Sure. Here it is. http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk255/pirate-cashoo/Artssss/kusatsu.png

To compare, here are others she's done.
http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk255/pirate-cashoo/Artssss/cadburythealien.png
http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk255/pirate-cashoo/Artssss/lemurfreax.png
http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk255/pirate-cashoo/Artssss/conceitedcorgi.png
http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk255/pirate-cashoo/Artssss/sura_resch.png
http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk255/pirate-cashoo/Artssss/sunder-lane.png

Now I'm not saying it's horrible or anything, I was just disappointed because it's a bit bland and the pose is kind of stiff. Comparatively it just feels like she didn't put as much work into my one.

[unicorn-magic.livejournal.com]

Hmm, I was thinking of commissioning her, but this is making me change my mind. :/

[sovy.livejournal.com]

"In spite of me KNOWING BETTER, paid for it as a gift at the artist's request."

I always pay for commissions as a good and just cover the Paypal fees. Artists saying that I should pay as a Gift or Service sends a red flag up for me to not deal with that artist.

[kawaiipiepie.livejournal.com]

Service is actually the correct method for digital commissions, goods should only be used when there's something that needs shipping, like original artwork or a print.

[sovy.livejournal.com]

It is a digital good so I put it as a good with with digital commissions. Picking service is no different than picking gift as far as buyer protection goes.

[holydust.livejournal.com]

I used to do it, because I was told to by other artists and thought nothing of it. I then found out it's against PP's rules and can get your account shut down (for evading their fee system). Now I just suggest that clients are free to help with the fees if they like, but otherwise, I pay them myself. Many still don't even realize there's even a PayPal rule about it.

I would say it's a bit reactionary to immediately think an artist is sketchy (hah) for requesting payment as a gift. It doesn't always mean they're determined to screw you out of your money; sometimes they're just ignorant of the rules.

[spiffystuff.livejournal.com]

That's just it though - either they are sketchy or ignorant. Sure the second is fixable but still, not what I would call maximum pro? Especially if you politely tell them "hey I'd rather not pay as a gift here's why" and they insist.

[pariahsdream.livejournal.com]

It's a shame her communication is so sketchy, cuz from what I see from the links above, her work is quite lovely. Hopefully she'll get herself sorted out sometime soon.

[likeshine.livejournal.com]

i like her work too, but anyone with a "no refunds" commission policy raises a red flag with me :/

[louveg.livejournal.com]

I haven't read her TOS so I'm talking without knowing here, but I personally do have no refund policy. Because no one will repay me my time spent on a commission if the buyer suddenly decides he doesn't want it after all.

However, I ask for payment after the first sketch, once the general pause and shapes are decided. I do that because I don't mind losing the time spent on rough sketches (they're more easily recycled into something else would I feel the need) and that way the client has the time to not only get some work done from me on their commission before they send money my way, but also, they have time to decide whether they really want to go through this or not.

Once I have received payment, I start inking and coloring and there will be no refund past that point because I have spent enough time on the commission to warrant my pay.

But I'm talking rather quick small commissions.

I agree that if I were to commission someone for a large sum of money and that I would be expected to wait months and months for it, yeah, I'd rather have a refund policy to back me up in case an emergency comes up... But even that, I usually take into account that if I pay myself a luxury item, it's with money that I don't plan in needing even in case of an emergency because I have plenty more in my emergency funds anyways.

All that wall of text to say : Refund vs No Refund is a touchy subject.

It is only normal that the customer wants to be protected against artists taking their money and delivering nothing in return and therefore feel more comfortable with refund policies.

But it is equally normal that artists want to be protected against customers pulling the plug on commissions after the artist has wasted their time working on it for not being paid in the end.

It's also very delicate to balance what part of the original price should be refunded in case of a half-completed commission, because the value of the work involved is rather objective. For example : To me sketches are a breeze, the part that gives me trouble is the finishing. For someone else, the sketching might be the part that requires more effort from them while coloring is like a second nature.
It would be unfair to expect both of us to give the same value to sketching and coloring, monetary wise. But a customer cancelling a commission mid-term from both of us would probably expect the same % of the price.

I'm not sure I'm wording my thoughts properly... Please let me know if I'm not making sense. :p

[likeshine.livejournal.com]

perhaps i should have been more clear; i was referring to people who won't refund regardless of whether they have started or not. IMO if you havent drawn a thing, the buyer should get back what they paid if they ask for it. if you've started work, a partial refund should be worked out if it becomes necessary.

so, i agree with you :p

[hellfire99x.livejournal.com]

I'm glad to see that she's responded. Hope she's able to get your commission completed ASAP. Her artwork looks fantastic; I just hope she's able to work through her communication & prioritization issues. :/

[radiocatastrophe (from livejournal.com)]

x_x Really hope she doesn't take this long with her most recent batch (that I'm currently queued in). She just moved and needed cash fast for the rent and other things, though, she's been chatty with me somewhat when initially talking about the commission and even after sending her the money but she has yet to reply to my emails and note before & after the FA meltdown.