Artist Beware - ZiggyHusky

[sintocat.livejournal.com]

WHO: ZiggyHusky

WHERE: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/ziggyhusky/

WHAT: Refuse to pay full or sketched amount.

WHEN: First started around February 6th-7th.

PROOF:

Our notes where he agrees to the commission and asks for minor changes. - http://i.imgur.com/ZuHuV.png

Feb 25th - http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj154/Fandkun/shout.jpg

March 2nd - He finally responds - http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj154/Fandkun/ziggy.jpg

March 2nd - He had paid $40 to the person under me with the pink Icon that week. (he was supposed to pay me February 14th) http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj154/Fandkun/zigcopy.jpg

March 6th - Tried to get his attention again in hopes he would respond. http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj154/Fandkun/zig-.jpg

March 6th - Responded informing me he was not going to pay. http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj154/Fandkun/willnotzig.jpg

(EDIT 3/10/2012) - Here is the sketch I sent him, btw. If anyone happens to see him post it please let me know. http://i.imgur.com/RCiI4.png

(EDIT 3/11/2012) - I sent an FA admin a note about my situation -

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hello Skiefire, I was hoping you could help/advise me about my current problem on FA

I'm not exactly sure what the admins can do about this if anything at all, but I just wanted to bring it to your attention that this individual (http://www.furaffinity.net/user/ziggyhusky/) had entered into an agreement with me for a commission and once he received a sketch, decided to bail out on paying me. I asked him that if he couldn't pay for the full commission of $55 that he send me $10 for the sketch I had made for him. He told me he couldn't because of bills - yet pays someone $40 that week. (when he had owed me weeks before.) Below I have all the notes and shouts that go back and forth. If you find the time I would greatly appreciate you taking a look. If nothing can be done about it I understand, but it thought it better to at least let you guys know about him if any future incidents come up.

Our notes where he agrees to the commission and asks for minor changes. - http://i.imgur.com/ZuHuV.png

Feb 25th - http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj154/Fandkun/shout.jpg

March 2nd - He finally responds - http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj154/Fandkun/ziggy.jpg

March 2nd - He had paid $40 to the person under me with the pink Icon that week. (he was supposed to pay me February 14th) http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj154/Fandkun/zigcopy.jpg

March 6th - Tried to get his attention again in hopes he would respond. http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj154/Fandkun/zig-.jpg

March 6th - Responded informing me he was not going to pay. http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj154/Fandkun/willnotzig.jpg

Thanks for your time,
Aly

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Hopefully something can be done - If not, at least they are aware of the situation. Sadly, I don't see me getting the $10 that he owes me, but thank you all for the advice and support! I suppose I'll be taking this as a live and learn situation :)


(EDIT - 3/12/12) - My TT was responded to very quickly!

__________________________________________________________


Thanks for the ticket. We can't do anything to the user now unfortunately as commissions are a buyer (or seller) beware issue. We are going to keep an eye on the account to monitor for anymore scam situations.

I recommend posting to Artists_Beware to warn other artists of this user. They have a great set up and moderators that really benefits the community and helps artists avoid this sort of thing that falls through the cracks of the website.

________________________________________________________

Even though nothing can be done I'm happy that they are keeping and eye on him - It's about as best as a solution as I could have realistically asked for I guess. I hope Ziggy will come around and pay me the $10 he owes me but I don't see it happening unfortunately lol. Hope this has helped other artists who may be commissioned by him in the future! Best of luck guys!



EXPLAIN: I'm really not sure what happened to be honest. Everything was going fine and he seemed to like the picture. He asked for changes and I told him I would make those changes after I got payment. He then started to make excuses why he couldn't pay - first it was Tuesday of next week. I waited till that Thursday to contact him. Then he said he'd send me it the next day, which didn't happen. I think the thing that frustrates me the most is when he said "I have bills to pay so I can't pay you." When not a few days early he spent $40 on a commission slot...He only needed to pay me $10 to get the sketch and finish with our business :/. The reason I am posting this after the 8th (the due date I told him he had till) was because of his last shout on my page telling me he's not going to pay me - so why bother waiting. I now plan to watermark all my sketches before sending them out for approval.

Comments

[starcharmer.livejournal.com]

I see it's a ref sheet, but you could always try reselling the sketch to someone else? I did a ref sheet auction recently that went pretty well.

[sintocat.livejournal.com]

I might do that - erase the head and offer it as a discount ref. sheet. :)

[slushienyappy.livejournal.com]

I hate this is happening to you! >.<

if your going to start watermarking your sketches before sending them off..Do you think it would also help to make the file size smaller?

Like small enough where they can see the image but--Its not at a size most people would want haha! Thats just an extra idea~

I hope this doesnt happen to you again >:.
Good luck! MAYBE he will pull through...Maybe.

[sintocat.livejournal.com]

Thank you! Yes, I would really like him to at least pay the $10 he owes me for the sketch he received. It would be one thing if he did have bills to pay and then paid me after...But to out right say "Oh, I have bills to pay so I can't pay you." and then go and pay someone else $40 for a commission when he only owed me $10. :/

[slushienyappy.livejournal.com]

Yeah thats EXTREMELY low...Ill be sure to watch out for this guy :/

[negawolfie.livejournal.com]

Beware well approved. I seriously don't get why people use the "I have bills to pay" excuse and yet they buy art from others. My suggestion is get payment first before working on the art if you feel that you can't do a certain commission or something just refund them. I hope you get your money >:

[sintocat.livejournal.com]

Thank you! It might come to doing that if my new water mark method doesn't work.

[starcharmer.livejournal.com]

This. I haven't had anyone say "sorry, I have bills" but I have gone through some pretty disappointing encounters where I was told someone WOULD commission me, they just don't have the money...and then I see them asking another artist for a commission slot later on the same day or the day after. Usually a more expensive commission slot!
It's just kind of a slap in the face. I'd rather someone didn't say anything to me because I end up feeling like they don't feel my art is 'worth it' but are trying to be polite.

[timelapsedecay.livejournal.com]

To be honest he still owes you $10 at the least and if it were me, this wouldn't be over until I got that $10.
Good luck with him/future commissions!

[sintocat.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I just noted him telling him that the A_B article passed and I would be willing to ask for a resolved mark on it if he paid me the minimum of $10...we'll see what happens I guess :/

[mialattia.livejournal.com]

Yup, he's a thief all right. I'm sorry for your lost time, but go ahead and resell the commission; ie, specifically open for a commission slot from that body base, or perhaps a full ref sheet like another poster suggested. The unfortunate thing is that the more often people like this rip off artists, the less we artists will negotiate terms with anybody. In a perfect world, payment might not have to come up front, but as long as freelancers online are this unprotected, we have to be complete hardasses.

[copper-curls.livejournal.com]

I would also consider reporting him to the FA admins as well, given that you have proof of him entering into a contract with you and then bailing.

Thanks for a very-well warranted beware, and another name to pre-emptively block.

[iinkwell.livejournal.com]

This exactly. Bottom line is he made a written agreement with you.
He had you do work he never intended to pay for. I'd say the same as everyone else, resell the base and report him to FA mods for failure to pay/theft.

[timelapsedecay.livejournal.com]

THIS. Reporting him ensures that he will think twice before doing this to someone else.

[sintocat.livejournal.com]

I didn't know FA took matters like this seriously. I mean, what would they do? Just ban him if they thought the evidence held up?

[copper-curls.livejournal.com]

I don't know that they do, but it's worth a try. I'd suggest having a look through the TOS and AUP to see if something like bailing on a deal, particularly when you've got the evidence, is a violation, and if it is, report them accordingly.

[timelapsedecay.livejournal.com]

From my experience, they note the incident for their own records at the very least. I've heard of them contacting the user and threatening bans if they don't pay the artist. That's just heresay though.
I know if this guy makes a habit of not paying up and artists report them enough, he will get banned.

[sintocat.livejournal.com]

Should I link them to this page or just copy and past the evidence I have into a note? :< I'm a bit naive about how to handle these kinds of situations lol.

[rtydmartel.livejournal.com]

I don't frequent furaffinity, so I don't know much about its etiquette for reporting; but if it was me, I would go the "copy and paste the evidence into a personal note" route instead of leaving a link.

I think it would show that you are serious and willing to go through the effort of gathering the evidence in a way that makes it easy and quick to peruse for the moderator you'll contact, whereas a link could come across as being lazy, depending on the moderator's patience for this kind of thing.

[timelapsedecay.livejournal.com]

Yes, this. Even if they might not do anything I'd bring this to their attention anyway.

[keaalu.livejournal.com]

Last time a situation like this got posted on A_B (http://artists-beware.livejournal.com/561684.html) and the person was told to go to the FA staff, the admins refused to do anything, though, because it was "an agreement between seller and buyer" - even though it was all hosted on FA, and the buyer that won the auction had no intention of paying from the outset.

[sintocat.livejournal.com]

Bummer :/

[taasla.livejournal.com]

Generally, FA will not step in between transactions despite them originating on FA. It takes a lot, and I mean a lot, before FA admins will step in. Those who have been banned previously for skipping out on commissions or payments may return so long as they don't mess up again.

A good example of FA being hesitant to do something is Starfinder/ Astray/ Kannos. It took a lot of outside pressure for her to finally be banned.

[rtydmartel.livejournal.com]

Do not despair!

Even in the case that they don't intervene, like timelapsedecay said, the fa mods probably keep records of complaints raised.

If the mods receive more complaints or reports about ZiggyHusky in the future, they'll probably see that it wasn't an isolated incident and that the user has some history of misbehaving, which at least will ensure that they pay more attention to the case.

Even if bringing your case to their attention doesn't guarantee a solution, it's better to leave a precedent than to leave them in the dark about how their userbase behaves and how it might affect their community.

I sincerely hope that everything works out for the best and that you get your money soon.

[sintocat.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I guess I'll go give them this information now and see what can be done.

[rtydmartel.livejournal.com]

Good luck!

[sigilgoat.livejournal.com]

The way something is resolved on FA can vary based on the admin who answers the ticket. I recommend going to the FA staff anyway, so at least there is a paper trail of past problems.

[cyiakanami.livejournal.com]

Beware noted and user blocked from my page. I accept payment upfront no matter what. The watermarked thing is a good idea along with the smaller file sizes, so basically they really can't use it even if they didn't pay.
But I'd also just recommend taking payment even if it's the worth of the sketch payment up front and then if they want it finished, have them pay the rest. This way you avoid all this entirely.

[sintocat.livejournal.com]

That's a very good idea! Thank you for the advice :)

[rtydmartel.livejournal.com]

Your note to the mod looks all right; it's polite and to the point.

[taasla.livejournal.com]

Wow, his response to you is so rude. He's acting like you're being unreasonable for asking for what's rightfully yours. =\ I've noticed he's watching me, so yeup, banning him from my page.

[sintocat.livejournal.com]

Well, Isn't much I can do about it now :/ I'd keep posting on his page but I'm pretty sure he can file for harassment?

[taasla.livejournal.com]

Like someone said above, I'd try to resell the sketch by erasing the head. You probably won't make full price for it, but it's better than taking it at a complete loss.