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

[jakejynx.livejournal.com]

I can't say I agree with some of what you're saying. Telling a person "your art is so inferior to mine there's no way it would be worth my while to do a trade," does not seem very professional to me. Neither does telling them they are a sick fuck. Quoting a very high price is also not a good strategy because a) they may be willing to pay it or b) they could tell others that your prices are ludicrous, and drive away business.

[taasla.livejournal.com]

Agreed on both counts. We all started out from the very bottom, and it's just plain rude to tell that to someone who is below your skill level.

Then there's commissioners like SinisterTaz who DID pay and offered to pay incredibly insane prices for commissions that would upset a number of people, so the Mercenary tactic may backfire. Especially if word goes out that an artist is willing to do something not so kosher for a high price.

[martes.livejournal.com]

I was being a little facetious-- I don't think _anyone_ would really say that unless they were a total jerk. I was just listing the range of answers that were theoreticly possible. I immagine 99% of people would go for option 1 or 2, even if their _real_ reason for refusing the trade is option #3.

[jakejynx.livejournal.com]

"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?"

That was the original question posed. Those answers are not professional.

[martes.livejournal.com]

I've been doing commissions and artwork within the furry community for over 15 years, and most of the answers I gave are what you really DO have to say. You have to be polite and soft-pedal a lot of stuff. If someone who draws at the level of a 5-year old wants to do a trade, and you say simply 'no,' they _will_ want to know why. So you do the white lie, or refuse to answer, or tell the brutal truth. While I might not have sounded dead serious with those answers, with the exception of the "Brutal truth" ones, the rest are real answers that I've given or other artists have given.

[neolucky.livejournal.com]

I get this a lot and all I say is "I don't have the time, thanks!"

Frankly if they ask why, theres the answer, true or not. It's just kinda cruel to tell them they aren't "good enough". If they MUST KNOW I'll say it feels kinda one sided and that I can take a commission instead.

I don't think the brutal truth is necessary, very few people have ever asked me why in the furry fandom.

[grandioze.livejournal.com]

What about if you're open for trades, but you'll only trade with people who are near your skill level? I mean, yeah, you could tell them that you don't have time, but they'll know that you're lying when they see you take a trade with someone who is near your skill level. I don't know, I could see someone leaving a passive-aggressive comment like "Oh, I thought you didn't have time for trades" whenever you post a trade picture for someone else. :/

[neolucky.livejournal.com]

I've had this happen, and I don't acknowledge passive aggressive comments like that. If someone were to civilly come to me and ask for an explanation, then I might tell them I'm more into fair trades, and to go see my FAQ. (Which talks about trades being fair so there's no wiggle room) I do get asked a lot for trades when they really just want a commission...so it helps to have the FAQ handy.

Thing is I rarely, if ever, do trades or upload them when I do so I don't run into this often. But for someone who does, Id say simply tell them "This trade feels a bit one sided, thanks for asking though!"

Sometimes its best to be honest but not in a hurtful way. But there are those who will get upset no matter how you tell them no. This has also happened to me, and it's stressful to have to deal with, especially when they hound you for a year or so @_@.

[martes.livejournal.com]

The mercenary in me is curious what qualifies as an 'insanely' high price. If someone offered me 5 or 10K, I'd be open to drawing pretty much anything. I can think of few furry artists, where the average commission price is under $100, who would turn down 10 grand no matter WHAT they wanted.

[taasla.livejournal.com]

I remember one instance where the fellow I spoke about offered $1,000 for a single commission, but I will leave it at that as it is stepping a little off track.