General Advice Post: Declining a Commission and/or a Trade

[oceandezignz.livejournal.com]

Be it their reputation, their attitude or just the overall theme of what they want you to draw for them - we as artists and people have the right to say 'no' to offers placed upon our plates.

The question is, how does one say 'no' in such a way that it is purely professional and has that weight of finality to it that doesn't allow for weasel room. Lets figure out the best way to create a standard of etiquette for declining inquiries we don't want to handle!

I'm opening the floor to the community on this. Please feel free to advise or suggest ways to professionally bow out of offers for commissions or trades.

If you recall someone making a post or a comment regarding this in the past, and felt it was a big help to you; please link to it for everyone's reference!

Comments

[taasla.livejournal.com]

I agree with Kayla. The shorter the sweeter, and there's no need to add explanations or anything. "I must decline, but thank you for your interest!" I don't really thing it's avoidable to keep from upsetting someone. The thing is to try and not let yourself get dragged into it. I made the mistake of explaining to someone why I was declining their commission, and what about their comments to me offended me and how I felt they had always been rude to me and it didn't... go well. I regret doing that and wish I had left it at a simple decline.