I'd suggest putting a one to two day limit on claims. If there is no communication after your initial response to a claim, relist the adopt/commission slot so people can see it is open again. That way if someone did want it, they will more readily see it is open again and claim it.

I don't think you are necessarily doing anything wrong here, people are just people sometimes. And with no limit on the communication they are more like to push it off to do other things. Being firm is not being mean.

good point…I just don’t wanna spam FA with reposts/reminders/etc I think it might annoy people idk but I guess it can’t be helped…
I never know if I am being too blunt so I am glad you gave me feedback, I’m never too sure how I come off to people

Yeah. Also to be entirely fair here, the people buying art are usually motivated by personal interest with the bonus HAPPENING to be something like supporting a small "business" if you will. So to them, you needing the money is cool but not a priority (and tbf it's not their responsibility to worry about someone else's bills even if that seems heartless). Most folks buying from me don't know I have seizures (it's plastered everywhere that's reasonable) and often don't know art is my only income, meaning the situation to them is still casual. It's up to you/me/the artist to make sure the money situation is wrapped up on our end. Doing things like 24hour purchases and limiting how often people CAN make you wait is the only real answer. Because like 1% of your audience is even going to see this post let alone read it. Dead internet theory and all :"). So all we can do as artists is mitigate the shenanigans with rules/TOS/etc. If someone doesn't respond to you in a timely manner, it's first come first serve. You bump them away and move to the next person. I usually have a 48hr hold on adopts UNLESS it's someone who's told me AHEAD of time that they get payments/cheques on a certain day.

Again, I can't stress enough most of the customers will be clueless to your situation. I say this as someone who lived in a vehicle for 6 months. Your audience cannot take responsibility no matter how hard it is :<. I don't think you're doing anything "wrong" as an artist, but having really finite boundaries you adhere too for payment times is really the best way to handle it. That'll at least allow most people to prepare and be more prompt ahead of time. If you're working with a lot of Americans/EU and in opposite timezones that sucks too U_U. And to re-iterate, you HAVE to stick to whatever boundaries you set here. Being a "hardass" on time frames and defining that stuff feels bad/mean, but is entirely necessary.

I will say this: having small YCH clones like these have helped a lot. I don't sell them at all times, but there's easy enough to where I finish them in 2 hours roughly, which is short for me. I keep some of these up during the year to funnel small money (15-30 bucks every few days). Its' not much but it DOES mean that when stuff like adopts fall through and don't happen, I have a little mini cushion to keep things goin.

I hope this comes off as helpful and not mean XD, it's meant to be one art bro to another, but I realize text always comes off as colder or meaner than I ever intend it too! I wish you the best luck at all times.

no I will consider your words! I really appreciate the comment and wasn’t trying to blame the audience at all, I must have misworded or something, I was moreover looking for guidance. I think I will look to what you and cry said, it seems to be the best way of handling things - and I will try to do more ychs, it seems to be a good idea too! I haven’t done them in so long ;;

thank you again so much and I hope things are easier for you now it sounds like you had a rough time ;;

No no, you weren't a dick, but it's just a reminder to ANYONE readin this that an audience is nice and cool and supportive, but them worring about "you" getting paid isn't their responsibility. I'm not saying you did anything wrong here, but in these REALLY extremely tough times monetarily, it's been more of a talking point than ever! I just wanted to weigh in after 14 years of doing freelance art :"D! I don't think you did anything terrible or wrong.

ALso yeah, YCH are usually "easier" if you have strict boundaries. Because then the audience gets a sketch ahead of time, feels more confident in a choice, and you the artist have a bit more control as far as the art goes! SO it's like a little bit less arduous than 100% custom work, but you still have some wiggle room for adjustments :3. Hopefully having a little bit more side income between bigger things helps ease your burden a little more :_:/ !

I appreciate your time T_T again sorry if I sounded like I was misguided when it came to payments being made, I do understand there's a lot riding on both ends, I am going to try and be more firm with my rules now, I know I had a 24 hr rule or such before but I kind of abandoned it...
I should know better really after doing this for 7...? ish years myself but ah, I find it hard to be more firm if anything I guess because I don't wanna upset people.
Again thank you so much for the insight T_T I will take note!!

also I am gonna give you a follow because I like your style <3 your pokemon art is aaaaa <3333

To the point of the spam reminders and stuff, that happens all the time. I don't want to even get into how many reposts I see in my own inbox. It's just part of business that I understand and don't get bothered by. But people are gonna people and you can't make everyone happy, you can just do what helps you out.
I don't think a single repost of a fallen through adopt is going to upset anyone to much, so I wouldn't worry on that. Plus, as you mentioned, it would let the person who really wanted it see that it is open again and put money on it. Win/win for both parties!

Otherwise, I agree with what whitefeathersrain said. Being firm is not being mean. It is business, and every business has rules of operation. Don't follow the rules, you don't get to do business, simple as.
You got this though! It's tough but things can get better! I for one love your adopts and work so I'll be around a while yet at least.

Thank you for the follow <3. It's a huge boost of confidence to know someone I've followed for several years likes anything I do!

Also I want to firmly re-iterate or remind that you have don't nothing wrong and don't sound misguided about the payments <3. You're fine ! I came here for art bro conversation! :3 As for sticking to your own rules, that shit is hard :"D. It's really hard to establish boundaries and refuse to budge on them. Sometimes you will out of charity or kindness, but for your own sake I hope you DO stick to your boundaries! Saying no in any capacity is so hard to do for folks who people please. Cheering for you all the way! Cry above me had more good shiz to add as well :3. ESPECIALLY about reminders. I see an absolute metric fuck ton of them. I think daily or bi-daily reminders are good, helps if you delete old reminders and refresh it (so your gallery isn't full of 19 reminders over 2 weeks). People who get furious about reposts are usually terminally online and not worth considering. If you're online enough on FA to be mad about 6 reposts over a week you're online too much to begin with XD. DOn't take those people personally ;D!

Oh God waiting weeks for a payment is def a no go for me. I've had people do that shit to me before and I had to start putting my foot down about it. I even had a friend make me wait months for payment on a pretty pricey sona sale (I was lenient for awhile but when I found out they were still buying a bunch of art while not paying I started putting my foot down). Its why I now do a 24 to 48 hour hold til payment is sent. If a down payment is done I'm more lenient but like I can't wait more than that, esp when other people are asking about it.

I found that holding without asking for a non refundable down payment tended to get people to claim and never reply when the timeframe came. Since telling people I need a down payment I've gotten less people who stop replying (since at that point they've already put money into it and it showed to me that they did plan of paying in the future.

I'd always tell people to let me know if shit came up but like... More often than not they'd just ghost me.. which sucks, esp if you were banking on having that money.

But yeah, tl;dnr version is: No holds longer than 24 to 48 hours without payment, down payments for longer holds. People ghost way too often otherwise.

Also sorry about your situation, I hope things get better soon :(

thanks for the help ;; I appreciate you!
How do you determine the non refundable down payments? Is it based on a certain percentage of the total price and even then how long do you typically hold if they do a down payment? ;; asking bc this also sounds like a good idea!

sorry about your situations too…I find it hard to trust people due to stuff like that as well so I feel ya there ;-;

No problem, glad I could help in any way possible ^^

Normally it depends on the price of the adopt and how long I'm willing to wait between payments. Normally I try to go for half the price but I'm usually down to do a min of $20 on things up to $100-ish if the person plans on sending the next payment within a week. If they can pay the half I'm usually down to wait 2 weeks or so for a smaller payment but prefer most plans be down within a month. I usually talk it over with the individual and see what they can afford vs what I'm willing to wait for the payment plan. Like I def wouldn't do a month or more payment plan on something under $40.

In the end it's all about what you feel comfortable with on waiting vs price of the adopt and how often they pay.

Also I usually tell them that the payments are non refundable beforehand just because I'm in situations where I use it for bills / food / household supplies the moment it's in so I can't normally refund. So by telling them that it's non refundable once it's started and that they need to keep paying because I cannot return it helps a lot. Some people do get kinda sketched out by it, but I've found more often than not people are understanding and willing to do it because they don't plan on not paying once they've started paying.

Yeahhh that's the hard part.. once you get burned a few too many times it gets harder and harder to trust, even if the majority of people don't do it. It took me a few years to figure out the down payment thing but it's helped a lot with people who tended to ghost. Hopefully this helps you too 💙