3-4 month late payment. Advice needed

[zekulapdragon.livejournal.com]

WHO: I'd rather keep her name a secret for now.

WHERE: The main website I use for my dealing is furaffinity ( http://www.furaffinity.net/user/zekulapdragon ) but I also take commissions over instant messengers as well. 

WHAT: I was commissioned by an individual to make a glass figurine for her friend of his fursona since he was going through a hard time. The price we both agreed on was $50 (which includes shipping) and so far, she's paid only $15. I am a very patient person since I can hold onto the commission until it is paid off, but I am running out of room to store the glass figurines I make. So I've been asking her when she will pay, and she keeps saying "I'll have it next week."     A week goes by.... "I'm so sorry! I'll have it next week for sure!" a week or 2 go by and it just keeps repeating. I am beginning to lost my patience, but I do not want to cause a conflict with the customer. 

I really want her to pay the money so that I can ship the figurine and make her friend happy, but I am at a loss now because she keeps delaying the payment. I don't want to make an Artists Beware journal about her because she is a nice person and I do not want to cause her that kind of stress but if this continues, I may have no choice. I need some advice. 

-Zeku the Lap Dragon

Comments

[kalika-tybera.livejournal.com]

It won't really help with the current situation, but I do recommend putting stipulations regarding this in your Terms of Service. Personally when I post commission slots I require payment within a specific timeframe and I do not start the commission until it's paid in full. That way if someone doesn't pay within the timeframe I can cancel the commission and take the order of the next in line, and I don't have to worry about storing work until/if/when they decide to pay me.

In your situation you could try letting her know that you are running out of storage space and can't hold the item for her too much longer. You can try giving some sort of a pay-by deadline date (maybe a week or two, or up to a month if you don't mind waiting), or if this transaction was taken through Paypal then you can try sending her an invoice for what she owes you.
If she can't pay by then (or at all) or doesn't want the item anymore, you could potentially try changing/repainting the figurine so it looks different and selling it to recoup costs.
Either way, 4 months is a long time to delay payment, I'd be frustrated too.

[starcharmer.livejournal.com]

Unless I'm mistaken, he does blown glass figurines. They're not painted and I'm not sure those can be changed? But I could be wrong.

At any rate, sound advice! I'm not sure what he can do at this point either aside from wait or sell the figurine to someone else, but that would be a bummer for the commissioner's friend.

[zekulapdragon.livejournal.com]

@ starcharmer, you are correct, I do not paint figurines. Any colored figurines I make use colored glass. Paint would flake right off, and no they cannot be changed in most cases.

[zekulapdragon.livejournal.com]

I did let her know that I am running out of storage space, but apparently she had to go to the hospital for something related to constant migraines she's been getting, and now she is recovering.

Anyway, I can't repaint the figurine (it's clear glass), so the only options I have are to wait until she does pay it off, sell it to somebody else or *cringes*...recycle the glass....which would be painful. ;-;.

I will have to update my ToS to include payment deadlines. This is sound advice.

[millislim.livejournal.com]

sounds a little "buyer's remorsey" to me especially with the hospital recovery part since a simple "I pay on (insert date here)" would have sufficed. Was the piece you made super custom or do you think you can sell it?

[tealmoonxiv.livejournal.com]

Is there anyway you could change it to resell it?

[syrusb.livejournal.com]

I would give her a deadline to pay in full and say if she doesn't try to resell it, and if that doesn't work, recycle it.

[kaekokino.livejournal.com]

someone else might be interested in it if she doesnt pay up. id give her a final deadline and let her know no refunds since you did the work

wish you luck with future customers