artists_beware | Entries tagged with paypal

amethystpie.livejournal.com

I've seen a lot of posts flying around Tumblr lately warning artists to only use invoices when accepting commission payment. However, there seems to be no way of marking the invoice for services without an address, which makes my account look bad when there's several " unposted" items that are infact digital peices. I've tried googling for it but I've only found tips for much older versions of Paypal.

I had started using the Paypal/Me system and asking people to leave their address out of it, which worked but I saw in those same posts that Paypal where clamping down on the use of it for digital goods. When I take comms, I usually ask people to only leave a simple " code word" so I know it's their payment.

Is it all fear-mongering and bad advice?

How are other artists taking payments through paypal for digital media?

metallik-hasse.livejournal.com

Here's their email to me reguarding adult materials: [click]

Here's the Twitter conversation about chargebacks and reversals.
PART 1
PART 2
PART 3

laughsatthunder.livejournal.com

Hello all. You may remember me from past PayPal claims such as this one, where I had to call PayPal constantly from May to September for theft. I'm back again with another thrilling PayPal saga to boggle over because I do not believe 2016 wants to leave me feeling fine.

About three weeks ago I finished a fursuit, posted it for auction and within an hour someone autobought it. I've had this happen a handful of times so I was very excited, except my heart dropped when I saw that the person who was buying it was also bidding on a few other auctions. I sent them an e-mail and they quickly responded, they were in fact a real person, and promptly paid for their item. I mailed the partial out the next day and they received it, very happy with the result.

Fast forward to today, the day before Christmas Eve. At 3PM my PayPal balance was $0.00. At 11PM it was -$902.84.

A claim was placed on my account and, unlike any other claim I have ever seen before, the reason for it was "Inquiry by PayPal". I thought this was something my client had placed and sent them a serious e-mail. After a brief exchange (me more confused and them relaxed) it turns out that they didn't issue it and that PayPal did it.
Except... Did PayPal issue it? I asked my client and they paid with their card through PayPal. The payment was processed instantly when I received it earlier in December. It went without being questioned for nine days.

I gave PayPal a call, a very rude representative told me to call back tomorrow because "I don't know anything about that and you're asking the wrong person." So apparently their own representatives in the resolution center do not understand what's going on.

At this point I'm completely lost. This is a very large sum of money and I cannot afford to just lose it and have my client keep the fursuit while PayPal shrugs it off. I replied to the claim with a tracking number, supposedly my client is unable to do anything from their end. I asked them nicely to call their bank and see if they're reading the transactions as fraud activity.

Has anyone else ever gotten this or know what I should do? I'm not around this weekend due to the holidays. Google search showed some people had it resolved in 24 hours, some had it open for weeks. The buyer is not a minor and did in fact purchase it with their own card. The account I'm using has been active since 2001 so it's not anything on my end.

sperkl.livejournal.com

So I'm new to the world of sellng art, as in just this week did I decide to sell adopts. I made a Paypal account, set it up from what I thought, read up about creating invoices, everything was going smooth until I made my first sell. At first it wouldn't let me accept money, so I upgraded to a business account. Things when fine after that, but I want to make sure I'm doing things right.

My first question is, should I have upgraded to a business account? I plan to sell more adopts in the future mind you.

Also What is the right way to set up an Invoice? One that doesn't expect me to ship something.

Sorry if I posted this wrong, I'm also new to this community.

celestinaketzia.livejournal.com

Howdy folks!

There appears to be a Paypal rumor moving about the artist sphere that states that there's a new "digital adult content" that will "immediately get your account shut down" if you select it.

Fortunately, this is not true. Here is where you select your business account details.

From that screen click on "Update". It will take you to a new screen that looks like this.

Click on "edit".

Here is a listing of the categories you can choose for your business account. I've left my caps uncropped so that members can see the timestamp. Category 1, Category 2

The most users can specify is "digital art". There is no "digital adult content".

As for Paypal's policy on the sales of adult content, that can be found here.

Edit: Some more digging has brought up that an "adult digital content" section does exist under "Entertainment and Media", but not under the Arts and Crafts sections.

See here for the comment from our member.

With that said, we don't suggest leaving the "arts" category if you choose to fill out this type of business information. Why Paypal has this under entertainment and media when adult subscriptions are banned under their ToS is anyone's guess.

zzyzx.livejournal.com

Current Mood: confused
Current Location: United States, Arizona, Phoenix
Current Music: Tee-Set - Ma Belle Amie

Greetings,

I had a commission which I originally paid for on 2012-06-30. The artist has decided to refund my money rather than finish the commission at this point. This was her decision and not mine. However, the way the refund is being sent, since it's too late to issue it as a refund through PayPal, I'm being charged £1.57 in PayPal fees if I accept it because she's sending it as a regular transfer. I feel like the artist should be responsible for the fees, since she decided on the refund. If I gave her £35, I feel I should be receiving £35 in return, either with her sending it as a gift (I'm not sure how this transaction should be handled, because it's definitely not for goods or services, but it's not exactly a gift, either...) or with her using a calculator to figure out what the fees are in order to cover them.

I'm actually losing even more because of PayPal converting from USD to GBP and then back again. I originally paid $56.29, but if I accept this, I'm only getting $51.92 from PayPal. I've told her I don't expect her to cover the currency conversion, but that I do think she should cover the PayPal transaction fees.

At this point, I'm expecting her to cover the fees, but not the currency conversion. Since I paid her £35, I think I should get £35 back. Her prices are in GBP, so I understand taking the loss on currency conversion.

What would you expect? Would you cover the fees or expect the artist to cover the fees? Should I ask for the funds in USD rather than GBP?

Thanks for your input!

Edit:
First of all, I want to make it clear that the artist wasn't difficult to deal with, and that I wasn't intending to post a beware at any point on this. Second, since I've never dealt with a refund from an artist before, initiated from either end, it was something new for me, and sometimes with anxiety things seem like a bigger deal than they are, but I was also genuinely curious how this should be handled, especially since with larger amounts it could definitely add up. Then again, I've seen bewares posted for art that's cost less than $3, so I suppose I'm not sure at what point it matters and what point it doesn't. I certainly don't mean to seem petty or anything, but it mostly that it was a new situation and I wasn't sure how to handle it. I didn't mean to give the impression that it was a long fight with the artist over it, just more me asking what I should ask for in this situation.

Anyway, in the end, the artist resent it as a gift, so there weren't any fees, so all is well. I appreciate the input!

Edit 2:
I just want to make it abundently clear that I am in no way upset with the artist or trying to say she was difficult to deal with. I had never handled a refund before, so I was seeking advice on what I should expect. Thanks again for all the insightful answers.

timelapsedecay.livejournal.com

I'm trying to find some advice about receiving payment for adult work. I *feel* like this has been brought up, but I checked the 'paypal' and 'advice for artists' tags to no avail, so please direct me if this has been covered elsewhere.

It's a pretty known fact that PayPal doesn't allow the exchange of goods it can consider "obscene". Despite this, an overwhelming number of artists use it for these purposes anyway. For the most part(from my perspective), it appears a lot of artists don't get in trouble with paypal over this.

After a recent discussion with my partner about PayPal's terms, I've been feeling a bit dodgy about this rule in regards to taking NSFW commissions. Since this is my primary form of income, I have concerns about the possibility of my account being locked if it were somehow made clear to them I was implicitly creating "obscene" products

So, what I'm here to ask is: what's the best way to go about protecting my account? If it's just not feasible to adequately protect it, should I find another payment service- and if so, which is preferred/recommended?

neive.livejournal.com

I just got an email today that Paypal is going to be updating its policies, and I noticed two things will significantly help people who use Paypal for commissions stay protected! I figured this would be a good place to share just in case not everybody gets those emails. :)

https://www.paypal.com/us/webapps/mpp/ua/upcoming-policies-full

And from their highlist post in my email for those who want a shorter version:

"And last but not least, you'll see some updates to our User Agreement that go into effect November 18, 2014. If you're interested in all the details, take a look at our Policy Updates Page. Here are the highlights:

• We're increasing the time for buyers to file merchandise disputes (Item Not Received and Significantly Not as Described) from 45 days to 180 days.

• We're extending buyer protection to include item not received claims for custom made products.

• Because PayPal Seller Protection and Buyer Protection policies may vary from country to country, we're adding language to clarify which country's policy applies when a seller makes a sale to a buyer outside of the U.S.

If you use PayPal after the date these changes become effective, we will take that usage as your consent to the changed terms.

Feel free to contact us with questions through the Contact link at the bottom of any page.

Sincerely,

The PayPal Privacy and Compliance Team"

pristineapple.livejournal.com

Hey, guys! Got a question and hopefully this one will be super short 'n stuff.

So, in light of all the chargeback drama having recently finished on Deviantart, I've decided I want to include a small disclaimer of sorts when I send out an invoice. There's a little box of Terms and Conditions in the Paypal invoice template maker. Problem I'm running into is, how do I make it so that I can protect my backside when someone orders digital goods from me? Like how online games offer special currency that you pay RL money for. I've asked a couple of friends and some seem to think that saying, "By accepting this invoice you agree to acknowledge that the goods you are receiving are digital in nature. Unless an extra fee is paid, you will not receive physical goods," is enough to do so.

But I don't know if it's either a fruitless endeavor or something that I should try to implement. If so, how should I word such a phrase so people understand that they're getting digital goods from me and that they can't issue a chargeback/ask for a refund as per my TOS/disclaimer when they have received the digital goods?

crocdragon89.livejournal.com

So, I recently had a client asking me to send a money request in his currency, I think so he wouldn't get charged the fees? Is this proper? Or is it more proper for me to accept his request and do it? I only accept USD, and that is in my TOS. Technically, I would still be getting payment in my currency, but only AFTER I change it back to USD, which would in turn take out a chunk of what the client paid me. So am I in the wrong for not wanting to convert the money to his country's? I'm not certain, and that's why I would like some advice on what I should do.

EDIT 4/9/14: I want to clarify that yes, all of my transactions are done through Paypal. And thank you all very much for the advice! This has helped me out a ton, and I will let the client know that from now on when he goes to commission me, if he does, the currency must be USD only!

crocdragon89.livejournal.com

Edit 4/8/13: Unfortunately, it seems I lost the settlement, and $15 was taken out of my account on the 6th of April. Annoying, but what can you do. I will simply take this as a learning experience and not to do business with Chapu ever again. I suggest you all do the same, for he might file charge backs against you too, like he has to me and other artists.

Edit: I have called Paypal and discussed with them my situation. Like requested I sent them all of the evidence I have. They apologized and said they will try and fix this. Now I just have to wait and see what happens. I will gladly let everyone know the end results once this is all done with.

Okay, so apparently a client of mine just issued a charge-back. Now, this is the thing; the work has already been done and sent to them, they even posted it in their gallery. Said payment was sent on December 13, 2012. Commission was completed on December 20, 2012.

How do I go about fixing this? I feel if I discussed my case with Paypal, they would automatically take the client's side because I don't have any evidence to use. I honestly don't think I can just say, "Hello. [name of client] had paid me to do an art piece for them. They sent me the money and the work was completed in a timely fashion, and they were pleased with what I have given them." and they'd automatically take my side, so I don't know what to do.

And the thing is, this person apparently has been issuing charge-backs to all of the artists they've ever commissioned. However, at the time I did this commission, I was not aware of this. So what do I do?

ranlur.livejournal.com

I've heard it plenty of times before that artists are often afraid Paypal will shut them down if they find out they are selling smut with their service. However, in my search for an alternative, I happened across this article posted a year ago.

There’s been some chatter about PayPal’s decision to not allow the sale of certain “erotica” content using our service. Specifically, PayPal doesn’t allow our service to be used to sell content relating to rape, incest and bestiality. We’d like to set the record straight.

Here are the facts. Unlike many other online payment providers, PayPal does allow its service to be used for the sale of erotic books. PayPal is a strong and consistent supporter of openness on the Internet, freedom of expression, independent publishing and eBook marketplaces. We believe that the Internet empowers authors in a way that is positive and points to an even brighter future for writers, artists and creators the world over, but we draw the line at certain adult content that is extreme or potentially illegal.

An important factor in our decision not to allow our payments service to be used to purchase material focused on rape, incest or bestiality is that this category of eBooks often includes images.

This type of content also sometimes intentionally blurs the line between fiction and non-fiction. Both these factors are problematic from a legal and risk perspective.

So...do they consider furry porn as beastiality? Or do they only allow written smut to be sold? Just looking for clarification here.

I ask because bills are piling up and I've been thinking about doing some adult commissions, but was nervous to use paypal due to their less than reliable record and the fact that I need my paypal for other things. I don't want to risk account suspension.

On that note, if anyone has any experience with a paypal alternative that allows adult materials to be exchanged, I'd be interested in hearing about it.

vaekke.livejournal.com

Current Music: Happoradio - Pelastaja | Powered by Last.fm

Hey everyone!

On recommendation of others, I'm trying to get in the practice of sending invoices for my commissions, so that there are fewer chances of people mentioning FA, and another reason was so that I could select "services" instead of "goods" to avoid any trouble with paypal!

but oops, I just realized there's no option to select "services" instead of "goods", and goods is the default!

Do I have to resort to the "request money" option? I liked how organized the invoicing system was, but my whole goal was "avoid getting my account shut down" haha. I feel like others here have made invoicing work for them, unless they're just using it as shorthand for the "request money" option?

fenris-lorsrai.livejournal.com

I've seen some artists using Paypal's Donate button when they do a donation drive for a specific need or for variable rate commissions as donations. This may not be a good idea...

This is blowing up on internet right now, but PayPal came down on website Regretsy for using the "wrong" button to collect donations to provide holidays presents to the children of crafters in need. Been picked up by Consumerist

Basic issue: payPal lets you use the "donate" button to collect money without vetting you are a charity... but then gets to decide if it really is a "worthy cause" or not and may shut down, freeze, or lock account... including funds NOT from the donation button.

post on Regretsy at initial limiting
Update after Paypal locked ALL funds (including ones not collected through the donate button) for six months

something awful had a similar experience with donations for Katrina

You probably won't have this issue with small donations... but large ones may catch their attention and put you in a similar situation.

EDIT TO ADD: bunch of open source projects that had donations frozen

EDIT #2 Screenshots and breakdown of PayPal's TOS and AUP, plus PayPal rep encouraging use of the donate button by non-charities

EDIT #3 (geez I am the edit machine)
Paypal issues press release saying they HAD unlocked the money... but issued statement before actually doing so or actually talking to Regretsy Paypal's not very apologetic apology (there were also repeated reports that they were deleting comments left on the blog. those are obviously hard to prove one way or the other)
and then another update!
Paypal does...something. maybe. we think
I honestly can't figure out, if they ONLY want the button used by vetted charities, why they offer it to non-vetted individuals at all! There is a difference between personal and business account features, this should be stupidly easy programming to only allow use of the donate button to vetted charities.