Beware: Edalie

https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/1017283.html

WHO: Edalie https://www.deviantart.com/edalie-chan (she used to have a twitter, but it's been deleted)

WHERE: Discord PMs

WHAT: Digital art commission

WHEN: Commission was paid for on April 11th. 

EXPLAIN: In April, I came into contact with Edalie. She had been posting her art in a discord server I frequent at a steady pace. After noting her quality and ability to draw different styles, I asked her for a commission. A character design sheet, with three total drawings, all shaded, and 6 total facial expressions. She charged me $290 USD for the transaction. It was pricey, but I could afford it at the time. 

On May 21st, I received lineart for the first pose. Simple enough. It was colored the next day. We would go about a week's worth of silence, before more contact on June 6th. She promised that she would get me a sketch of the second pose by the next day. It did not come by the next day. In fact, it wouldn't arrive for two whole months, during which contact was very scarce and was almost always initiated by me engaging in small talk every now and then. 

In early August, I finally received the sketches promised. And then more silence. On August 23rd, I was told that she would be streaming this commission on her Twitch channel, and she asked me if she was okay to begin working on lineart. To the best of my knowledge, this stream did not happen. I tuned in briefly and she was not working on my commission at all. However, she has past broadcasts turned off, so I have no real way of verifying this. I have reason to believe she did not work on my commission at all, however, because the next update I received from her would just be a revised sketch and not the lineart I was promised.

A full month passed, and on September 24th, I messaged her again, this time with a pretty passive aggressive message. She responded and apologized, stating that she had accepted other commissions, and had given them priority. Her reasoning for this was because I didn't ask for a deadline. 

She asked for a chance to make it up by working on the commission all day. At the time, I accepted it. However, I sought counsel from friends, some of whom are also artists, and they understood my concerns. Mainly that I felt like it was unfair for my commission to just not be worked on even though I paid for a spot in the queue.

Following our exchange, she finally got the lineart to me (mind you, this was supposed to be completed in August). I began to ask her for revisions, but instead I decided that it was best we called it off. I felt like it would be enabling that kind of behavior if I let her continue to work on the commission with no accountability, as she had already shown me that she was likely not going to give my commission priority if other commissions came in, despite the fact that it had been five months since I paid for it.

After asking for a refund, she became very combative, initially saying that 2 months is the average turnaround for a commission based on what other artists have told her. She also tried to insinuate that because I was patient, that I was okay with being pushed back constantly due to her prioritizing other commissions paid for after mine.

I told her I felt that the art I was going to be given in only hours would not match the quality I would expect for a $290 payment, and also due to how long it took for us to get to that point. She seemed to think that my issue was with the quality of the art and the price, not with how long it took for me to get lineart for the sketch.

After a little bit more of back and forth (screenshots of the full discord conversation from the time of payment to the end will be provided) she agreed to calculate the refund price.

I reasoned that the refund would be around $170 to $190 due to the fact that only one out of 3 poses had been colored, lineart for the other two poses had been finished that day, and nothing had been shaded.

Her refund amount was $80. She tried to justify it saying that her prices at the time were $70 for lineart ($100 now, apparently). I agreed without thinking about it at the time, but upon further review of our logs, there was no such price specified at all. She also mentions a discount on cell shaded fullbodies. That was also not in our agreement.

We go back and forth a little more, and our logs end with her telling me that after our conversation, she will be instating a no refunds policy and that it's based on her own kindness not to enforce that on me. I have since attempted to go through PayPal for a chargeback, and am currently trying to get half of the agreed amount back, as I do not feel like she should keep $210 for less than half of the work.

Following this situation, she has since blocked me on Discord, and banned me from her server. The mod message states the following (a friend joined the server and sent the screenshot, which will be provided below):

"Hi @everyone! This post is a warning of a recent commissioner. When doing business with someone, it's never wise to be fickle and change things unless the other party agrees. It can cause confusion, and a hassle for both sides. When you give money to someone for a service, you are forming a business relationship. A successful business is all about the satisfaction of both ends, and the responsibility of the commissioner matters just as much as the Artist's. Feelings must be mutual so the Artist can happily receive their payment, while the commissioner can happily receive their product. The safety of the Artist is just as important as well, so the commissioners that disrespect, and mistreat the Artist will result in being Blacklisted. 

The commissioner that will be Blacklisted is @yung nero, and will now be banned from the server. 

With research and from recent events, he's had a history of disrespecting creators for his own satisfaction and unrealistic views upon forming a business. So please, be cautious if he makes contact with you."

This post makes me feel like 1) she told her mods false information about me to slander me ("With research and from recent events, he's had a history of disrespecting creators for his own satisfaction and unrealistic views upon forming a business" despite the fact that said research and history doesn't exist) and 2) it feels like an attempt to sweep everything under the rug. 

This could prove problematic in the future, as if there are any artists that accept commissions in her server, that could potentially prevent me from trying to commission other artists in the future.

PROOF: Imgur gallery containing the full Discord conversation top to bottom: https://imgur.com/gallery/VRydPgT

direct link to the screenshot of the mod message: https://i.imgur.com/lRCYhjN.png

direct link to what was finished of the commission: https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/433424408808259585/494201477372444702/unknown.png

EDIT: PayPal denied the chargeback request. She got away with murder, ggs.