This has just occured to me.

[lemonfruitpie.livejournal.com]

For all those commissioners who don't like to pay full upfront and artists who don't wanna get ripped off:

Do you think that having a page where former customers can leave good comments about you is something that would help assure new customers of your reliability? Or do you think it's way too easy to fake to be of any use.

:O Thoughts on this please!

Comments

[the-snappy-wolf.livejournal.com]

Hmmm... I can't say for sure, feedback works well on places like furbid and e-bay because the person has to have actualy bought something from you and it shows they have logged on as themselves. With something on a personal home page ,like a guest book if you will, it would be too easy for anyone to sign the book under someone else's name or to get friends to come give you good feedback even if they've never bought from you before (Not calling you dishonest, just saying).

Also, just because someone hasn't made off with money/art in the past doesn't mean they can't/won't in the future, I prefer to pay/recieve ATLEAST 50% before I even start working on something, sence I mostly do fursuit stuff the 50% generaly covers the cost of materials.

[kaputotter.livejournal.com]

There's really no easy way to do it. FurBid and other sites that allow for feedback are some good indication, most of it is just general reputation.

This is why I always ask for 100% payment, after the sketch has been approved, but before I start on the finish. That way, I get my money -- all of it -- before I start on any of the more in-depth work, but I have also demonstrated to my client, with tangible proof, that I am serious about doing work for him or her.

[canis-ridens.livejournal.com]

For me, if the artist's reputation is good among people whose judgment I trust, then I'm generally willing to pay in full up front. I don't put nearly so much stock in "customer reviews," simply because both friends of the artist (or the artist him/herself) and malicious individuals can yank the feedback either way, particularly if the person is just starting out and has only a small number of reviews.

[neolucky.livejournal.com]

I think that'd be a great idea. It may be easy to fake but honestly, Online art trade is based on trust and it's the same with the business. You can fake entries, so can you fake being a good customer, or a good artist. I think for a system that is ENTIRELY based on trust (For the most part, without contracting) that some place for customers to leave feedback is both a great idea, and a risky one.

Some clients may leave rude feedback even if the bad deal was on their end, which can result in a bunch of internet drama BS.

I always ask for 100% payment myself, infact I do it before I even sketch anything for them. Time is money and if they are willing to waste my time, they need to be willing to pay for it. However there is never a solid guarentee that I will work, and they have every RIGHT to be afraid to invest.

I agree on Canis here as well however, really good clients often times ignore the publicity and will commission the artist purely out of admiration and 99% of the time the artist is worth it, but there is and will always be some bum artists out there.

So there's pros and cons of a feedback forum, but Im willing to try it too =).

[neongryphon.livejournal.com]

I think a list of feedback is an excellent idea, which is why I always link back to my Furbid page and encourage people to leave an appropriate rating for me. If someone has a website, it’s nice to see a link back to their Furbid feedback wherever they offer commissions -though general reputation on the web helps as well.

Another useful indicator is a website that gets updated regularly with art, especially on the commissions side of things. It gives you a clue about how productive and reliable an artist might be.

[kareizel.livejournal.com]

If the artist is not popular/well-known, it's very easy to just fake and get away with it. It's better to have a reliable/trustworthy 3rd/4th party to come into the show and witness the entire page thing.

[lilenth.livejournal.com]

Too easy to fake really. It's a nice idea but impractical unless people are completely honest.

[acexcat.livejournal.com]

An excellent idea. ^-^

.....create something like a web portal of furry artists and for every artist (List aliases to the same person when possible) have scores and comments about why a commission piece was or was not satisfactory and whether or not the artist is reliable and trust worthy.

...maybe even include a typical order-to-delivery time for simple projects, the type of work, their site and such.... sort of like what Amazon is for books, FurCommissions could be for commissioning artists.

Wow. That's a GREAT idea! ^-^

[xvsharrax.livejournal.com]

You could have a page that includes the original desc by the person commissioning, a picture of the sketch, followed by any comments of changes needing to be made, etc..and then post the finished product, with a copy paste of the commissioners opinion, plus their contact information. That would make it harder to fake, and having the picture they commissioned posted (if they grant permission for the sake of their characters) would show how the artist turns a text desc into a working piece, so you can get a feel for their visualizing technique.

It could also include what the artist was going for, and what he didn't like if he/she could have done better, to add in integrity, and their defense if the person didn't like the commish, and what the artist did to make sure they were satisfied

[lemonfruitpie.livejournal.com]

Oooh! That's a really good idea :O!

[signaldancer.livejournal.com]

Okay, let me be silly and not that i have the skills or server space for this, but here's a thought...

It's too easy to fake when the transaction occurs somewhere tottally unrelated on the internet...

What about a *non* acution commision/art sale site for artists and clients?

It'd be like furbid, but instead it'd be a system of every artist gets a page to link to examples and commision prices.
Every commisioner registers (or is also an artist).

Each user has a page that is kinda like ebay/furbid in that you get ratings and there's a system in place to do what someone else mentioned of posting up what the commision was etc etc etc, at *bare* minimum the system has a transaction record to say "yes, this person commisioned that one", and allow them to comment (instead of just free form comments)

The money/payment itself wouldnt be tied to the site, much like ebay, but everything else would. Admittedly, you could still fake it all, but it would make life a little harder neh?

[lemonfruitpie.livejournal.com]

That'd be such a good idea, though finding someone dedicate enough to maintain it would be hard D: