So, nothing else I can do, I guess.
Sorry, all the names and proof pictures were removed because of the rule about callouts. Please see the full post at my DA: link

Let me start with this: I really didn't want to write this post. To the point that I actually contemplated letting it slide. Things like this are no good for business and reputation, and it's probably going to hurt me more than the person in question, especially if it really IS a misunderstanding. People remember the fact that there was a hassle, clients don't want to work with the artist participating, etc., etc.
But this position is one of the reasons things like this happen and honestly - I am just way too angry and frustrated at the moment to just swallow it up.

Also normally I would have probably waited a week a two more and tried to contact them several more times, just to be completely sure, but with PayPal dispute on the line, I need to get attention to it now, so I can get some advices, even if it's probably a lost case.
With that out of the way, let's proceed.

At January 7, 2019 user from DA contacted me via comments under my commission info:

I contacted them via DeviantArt notes and said that they wanted a colored portrait of their character.

I asked them for their PayPal address, which they provided.

And here comes my biggest mistake - when I sent invoice to them, I didn't change it to "amount only" and didn't remove the shipping address. We'll get back to it later. They paid the invoice, I proceeded with the commission. When I sent them final result, they said that everything is great and didn't have any complaints.
here is the picture itself:
picture



Then I noticed that they deleted their DeviantArt account and thought it was kind of suspicious, but didn't think much about it.

Fast-forward to few weeks later.
I received an e-mail notification from PayPal saying that I have a refund case going on for the reason of "unauthorised transaction".
(UPD Several people were confused, so I guess I should make it clear: Client issued a refund because of unauthorised transaction, not I.)

I am logging in and yes - there it is. Aside from everything, it put my PayPal balance to negative, and you know why it's not good.

I couldn't send them a note on DA, since they deleted their account, so I tried to contact them via their PayPal e-mail. They said that it's a mistake, they don't need a refund, and promised to remove the dispute.

Two days later refund was still there. I tried to contact them again and got an automatic response that their e-mail was deleted.

Then I tried to contact them on their Instagram account.
At this point, I received no response.


At the same time I googled their e-mail and found them in comments of several other artists, asking about commissions.

I tried to contact those artists, at least two have the same issue:
vsasha
ktrew

(I have their permission to mention their names)

One of the others said that they received no refund request, the rest didn't proceed with the commission.



Also I found them saying in someone’s comments that they want this done in a week and ready to pay extra. Not suspicious by itself, but adds to the rest - they probably new they were going to delete everything at this point.


This is the first time it ever happened to me. They said they were happy with the result, but even if they weren't and they wanted a refund, it's something you should discuss with the seller, not just silently ask for refund and disappear from everywhere.



Now, back to my problems.
As I said, I was stupid. Atrociously, disgustingly stupid, and I am so angry at myself.
I cannot open a dispute because it wants me to add the track number, which I, obviously, don't have.

And all because I didn't change it to "amount only" and didn't remove the shipping address they wrote there.
So I am supposed to sent something to a person named "meat maker".

I have no idea if the address they provided is really theirs, but it's located in the same country.
Also I tried to google them by their real name (the one PayPal account registered on) and found a lot of Facebook profiles, so it's not really helpful.

So, now I have time until February 15th, after that PayPal will take the money and give it to this person.
I wrote to tech support, but the only thing I have is that it's written in the description that the purchase is digital and they have other cases going at the same time. PayPal is known to be very buyer-friendly, so it probably really is a lost case.


If you have any advices (aside from be smarter next time) or any information regarding the matter - please contact me.


Also please, keep the discussion civil, I don't want to encourage any kind of bullying or threats.

If it really does turn out to be I huge misunderstanding and that I jumped the gun, then I am fully ready to apologize, but at this moment it looks the way it looks.


Please reblog if you can and stay safe.