Hello all!

So to update on the scammer situation... sadly, the scammer's bank decided he gets to keep his money. I'm curious if others who also tried to fight the chargebacks had a similar fate.
This also obviously brought to my attention that I need a more secure way of getting paid for commissions so that this doesn't happen again. I realize that some of this situation could've been avoided from the beginning if I had caught some of the red flags/thought better about taking the scammer's commission- so I have a lot that I'm hoping to get people's advice on. Mainly:
- What's the most secure payment method?
- How do you ensure that the person you're talking to is legit/won't pull funny business? (I mainly ask this bc some of the "tells" for phishing scams I've been trained on at work rely on things like "poor grammar or spelling", which seems a little mean being online where anybody around the globe can commission you, including people who aren't fluent in your native language) I'd also seen some folks mention that the scammer filed chargebacks for MULTIPLE comms he'd gotten from them, which brings one of the "green flags" into question for me (long history of being a frequent commissioner)
- How do you protect yourself against chargeback fraud/other false claims? Do you have a comm sheet with a box that says they fork over those rights or smth??? (joke........ unless)

Ah, the troubles of being new to all this... Anyway-

On a positive note, I recently got a promotion at my day job and will be back to working full-time (with more pay)! With some of that stress off my shoulders, I'm hoping I'll be in better spirits to devote time to artwork instead of worrying about my future/job hunting/etc. This will still remain a hobby for me that I want to improve at, despite how cool it'd be to make it a business, but it feels good to be making art again and having smth good happen for a change! It'd just be nice to earn a lil money from my hobby every once in a while too lolol

Ok, that's the end of my long journal rant, please have a wonderful night~