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a potential change to how I buy commissions
14 years ago
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Hey everyone, typing this as I take a bus to class and well. I've been thinking of applying what I've learned from working in the construction industry to my methods of commissioning and most likely how I operate, myself.
Its what we call a project schedule- a series of set deadlines for specific points of progress on a project, agreed upon by both parties.
Naturally, like in the professional building industry, deadlines would be set accordingly to the artist's current workload and real life obligations. However, I think a maximum 45 day waiting period for a sketch on payment up-front commissions would apply regardless of life situations considering that Paypal has a 45 day limit on opening payment disputes.
But that also makes me throw this question out to artists; how would you feel if a client asked to set up some form of schedule for their commission?
Its what we call a project schedule- a series of set deadlines for specific points of progress on a project, agreed upon by both parties.
Naturally, like in the professional building industry, deadlines would be set accordingly to the artist's current workload and real life obligations. However, I think a maximum 45 day waiting period for a sketch on payment up-front commissions would apply regardless of life situations considering that Paypal has a 45 day limit on opening payment disputes.
But that also makes me throw this question out to artists; how would you feel if a client asked to set up some form of schedule for their commission?
Then again, don't think I've ever worked a project that involved the furry fandom either
You do not have any buyer protection when buying commissions with Paypal. All they have to say is that it is a custom work or service and they keep your money.
I am on my phone but I can expand on this when I get on my laptop.
The facts about the furry fandom economy with regards to artists are:
1. It is a massive cottage industry. Anybody involved with the economy is usually self-employed.
2. Incredibly low barrier of entry. I honestly can't think of any lower barrier of entry outside of collecting bottles for their return deposit. All you need is a computer and maybe a Wacom tablet.
3. Pseudonymity is the norm. A lot of the time you will get that person's real life name but there is no address that goes a long with it which makes it much more difficult to track down.
4. A lot of trade is done across the border. There is no difference between sending money from a Canadian to an American as opposed to another Canadian through Paypal but the difficulty in prosecuting goes up astronomically as soon as one tries to serve papers south of the 49th.
5. Low barrier of entry begets competitiveness that forces prices down. It is not worthwhile for individuals to go after an errant artist for their money back if all they owe you is $50 of artwork. On the other hand an artist can owe multiple people art so they can walk away with hundreds of dollars.
6. Reputation is not a huge concern for the furry fandom. Infact it is a label that many artists go through pains to avoid. Unless your reputation is such that you are making a couple hundred dollars per commission you can usually find better work in the real world.
7. Dispute resolution favour the sellers more on Paypal as opposed to buyers with credit cards in the rest of the world.
You end up with things like the Paiseley horror scenario. Short and quick of it can be found here but you had an artist with a good reputation who eventually just said "Fuck it." and walked away from the people she owes art to. Then walked back in, took more commissions, walked away. Then did that cycle again for a third time. Then a fourth.
More benign cases have artists taking months before completing a commission because there really is nothing there to tell them to hurry up or there is a deadline or "You got paid to do a real job so treat it like one!"
A commissioner is possibly more invested into their own reputation than an artist would be in their own. It really shouldn't happen but that is what it is here. If an artist has a big enough stockpile of unshowcased artwork they can make a new account in ten minutes, upload a couple pieces of art over the span of a week, make a journal to accept commissions, take the money and run. Practically consequence free. If I managed to sucker a bunch of artists to do artwork for me for my alter ego, 'fursona', avatar guy thing then, uh, run, that is pretty much it for that character of mine. All of that money I put into that character is gonna go 'down the drain'. I can't trick someone to make that character again otherwise the jig is up. You know what you end up with? Another LupineAssassin social pariah.
There are risks that a commissioner can run off with free artwork but these risks apply to any businesses in the real world. Dishonest people reversing charges on their credit card after getting their product, for example. People walking out of restaurants and with gasoline without paying. And there are definitely those artists that give the benefit of a doubt and take payment after delivering a product and end up getting burned. But in the furry economy the risks are slanted much more in an artist's favour at the expense of the commissioner as opposed to the rest of the world and that is the point I have been trying to expand on.
I'll probably repost this as a journal on FA. There will probably be tears and drama. Also holy going off topic and ranting batman.
Ironically I am off to set up another couple of commissions before I go to bed tonight. #addiction
But really... The artists you find who are willing to work with a deadline are probably ones you don't even need to give the deadline to. Meanwhile, the artists who normally take forever on all their commissions, to the point where they SHOULD have deadlines, probably wouldn't work with it. I'm sure there's exceptions, but if my experience of buying commissions has taught me anything, that's how I think it would go.
I find it far more effective just to keep an eye on an artist for a while and see how they work with other people's commissions. If you check their to-do list once and then check again a month or two later and they still have the same list of people there... That will tell you something.
I also don't like to do business with people who don't use or update a to-do list at all. But that's just me. :P
Also not sure where folks are getting the idea you'd be out of luck with PayPal. AFAIK, several folks on A_B alone have received refunds for unfinished commissions.
I did think about posting this idea there, but I had only just submitted a post there and figured that I might as well wait a bit before posting again. xD
and yeah, I don't really understand that either? well, I understand the reasoning behind it, as was explained in Sovy's comment, but I also know that people, especially on A_B have received refunds on missing commissions- and that they've also spoken out against people who choose to have a refund policy that comes into effect AFTER the Paypal expiry period, because it eliminates their chance of filing a dispute.
so idk.