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Paypal Reversed Transactions are a HUGE Problem.
12 years ago
The whole "my Paypal got hacked" excuse is getting a little old, particularly when you don't resolve your reversal with me as soon as possible or don't even update me on your current status. Without at least a note letting me know what's going on, it seriously feels like my artwork and time have been stolen. Not just that, but these reversals are causing a negative balance on my account which I can't afford to pay. Today, I got my first of presumably many Paypal collection calls I expect to receive about this.
I make my living off of what I do between this website, other commissions and live drawing events. When things like this occur, I'm put in a terrible pinch. Overall, it makes me very discouraged to take commissions because a week, two months or even a year from now, I could get a random reversal and never see that money again. I really can't afford this.
Even worse, I've been trying to find time to work between settling in with roommates and various life circumstances. I can't take on more commissions right now to cover the negative balance because I already have a few commissioners who have been absolutely amazing in their patience with me. It would be terribly unfair of me to take on more commissions when I'm not sure right now when I could finish them.
So I guess the bottom line here is this: Your Paypal transaction with me gets reversed? You better get a hold of me real quick before I report you to AB. Paypal reversed transactions not resolved within 24 hours will result in permanent commission blacklisting. It's not that I don't want to work with you, but I cannot afford to take the risk of the money being lost again in the future, even by mistake.
EDIT
Invoicing DOES NOT PROTECT YOU. There are a multitude of problems with Paypal on the vendor side. Payment requests are supposed to protect the seller, but hasn't been successful in protecting me yet. Invoices only cover products, not services. Paypal requires you to provide proof that you've sent a physical good to the person. What I do is a service, so I've struggled with those in the past. I am looking into sending out cheap prints to have proof of shipping, which would help somewhat.
Other solutions seem to be too alienating at this time and I can't afford to lose a multitude of commissioners if I want to keep doing this full time.
I make my living off of what I do between this website, other commissions and live drawing events. When things like this occur, I'm put in a terrible pinch. Overall, it makes me very discouraged to take commissions because a week, two months or even a year from now, I could get a random reversal and never see that money again. I really can't afford this.
Even worse, I've been trying to find time to work between settling in with roommates and various life circumstances. I can't take on more commissions right now to cover the negative balance because I already have a few commissioners who have been absolutely amazing in their patience with me. It would be terribly unfair of me to take on more commissions when I'm not sure right now when I could finish them.
So I guess the bottom line here is this: Your Paypal transaction with me gets reversed? You better get a hold of me real quick before I report you to AB. Paypal reversed transactions not resolved within 24 hours will result in permanent commission blacklisting. It's not that I don't want to work with you, but I cannot afford to take the risk of the money being lost again in the future, even by mistake.
EDIT
Invoicing DOES NOT PROTECT YOU. There are a multitude of problems with Paypal on the vendor side. Payment requests are supposed to protect the seller, but hasn't been successful in protecting me yet. Invoices only cover products, not services. Paypal requires you to provide proof that you've sent a physical good to the person. What I do is a service, so I've struggled with those in the past. I am looking into sending out cheap prints to have proof of shipping, which would help somewhat.
Other solutions seem to be too alienating at this time and I can't afford to lose a multitude of commissioners if I want to keep doing this full time.
Some people
You have my sincerest sympathies.
That being said however, start mailing out business cards as proof of a job finished or even a "Thank you for your Business" to protect yourself. Take a picture of it, scan it... whatever and mail them out. Even if it's just a print of the artwork folded up and sent with "THANK YOU!" Written across it, protect yourself.
I may have to swap to that. It might alienate potential clients who don't want to hand out their home address though. That concerns me since I can't afford to lose commissioners.
Ask them to go to wal-mart or 7-Eleven and pick up a green dot card. They give you the number of the card, can't be retracted and go from there.
Personally, I'd invest in a tracking watermark to see where your images show up online and how they are being used. If they do show up on another site, go the distance and file DMCAs against every instance you find them. This is your living, start taking it seriously as this is a business, plain and simple and you must protect yourself, your work and your investments.
When I was working with images back in the day, we used this service.
They can't reverse those payments.
I would keep communicating with them, though. Surely you can work something out with them if you're persistent and respectful.