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  • Artists Beware

    The namesake database. Submissions are categorized by "Bewares" and "Cautions".
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    SoulRemmei
    Who: SoupDerg
    Where: https://www.furaffinity.net/user/soupderg/
    https://www.furaffinity.net/user/thatdumbfox/
    When: 11/10/2020
    What: Commission



    So this person recently commissioned me to design a fursona on a base they provided. I have never taken a commission before and accepted. I colored it in and asked them what they thought, made a few edits and showed it to them. They insisted paying me $30 which I was okay with. They then said they sent the payment and I never received anything. I later found that they posted it on FA claiming they colored it themselves. I left a comment on both accounts and am now blocked on both. 



    WillowMammoth
    Who: Furfancy Costume
    Where: https://twitter.com/victoria10717_
    When: 05/06/2020
    What: Fursuit/ Fursuit Parts



    Back on 12/07/2019, Victoria had originally made a post about selling a Wildpup head for $550.
    On a deleted quote-retweet around the first of May, she had reduced it down to about $450. It was about May 6th when I got a response to my question from May 3rd.

    This is where I began a direct message, asking questions about the head to be refurbished. The original tweet made it sound like the fixing up of the teeth and eyes would be included in the $450/$550 price, but those ended up being about $100 to add those in. It didn't bother me at that time, however.
    As a note, I had taken these screenshots as a precaution around the time she had temporarily changed her name to nessi_noodles, after a previous beware post.

    The invoices through Paypal.

    On June 24th, 2020, I had sent my first inquiry for an update, and how I was not listed on her update Trello.
    I thought I'd try poking her on her Telegram, as I had received no reply on Twitter, despite her at the time being active. Per the screenshot, I had asked for updates on September 05, 2020, showing read but not responded. During this time she was active on both Twitter and Telegram. I sent one more update on October 27th, 2020 before I decided to file a dispute with Paypal. The screenshot shows that this recent message has not been read since.
    I waited about a couple of days, and with no response despite being active on Telegram, I decided to file a dispute on Paypal before my 180 days went up to file. Since I didn't think I would get any response to a dispute like I hadn't on Telegram and Twitter, I decided to escalate it to a dispute. The screenshots in this beware were provided to the Resolution Center.

    Due to RL work, I hadn't gotten any screenshots on the Paypal escalation while waiting for the case to clear. While waiting, it showed "Adjudication reason: The seller has provided a full refund to you," while on the pending transaction, it said, "Credit has been processed and claim is now closed." Up until today, 11/10/2020, the refund was on pending, the resolution center showing it being refunded as an e-check.
    This morning 11/10/2020, I had received two emails at the same time, saying the refund was being delayed, then canceled. With some Googling, I found that this can sometimes happen if the seller doesn't have enough in their bank or Paypal account. Since I had to go to a morning shift at work, I couldn't contact Paypal directly to see about resolving this refund.

    I had planned to call Paypal the next day, 11/11/2020, to see about resolving. However, when I came home from work in the evening, 11/10/2020, I had found the case had been resolved in my favor, and a refund provided to me.

    It's incredibly disappointed it had to come to this, as Victoria is incredibly talented, but I wanted to at least warn others to expect delays or ghosting. I have not personally contacted Furfancy since filing the dispute, as I felt this whole deal had become a lost cause.




    BengtTheRaccoon
    Who: Shizuxur
    Where: https://www.furaffinity.net/user/shizuxur/
    When: 03/16/2018
    What: Commission



    On or around 16 March, 2018, I purchased a YCH for 20$ from the artist. I can't give an exact date as they seemed to have deleted everything relevant from their scraps and gallery (which I will get into later.)
    I sent them a not on the 16 March explaining that I don't have a ref sheet, just other commissions I've gotten and screenshots from Second Life and asked if that was okay, to which they replied with yes:

    I don't have a flat out notice of payment being sent either in note form or a paypal screenshot as I was using my partner at the time's paypal as I didn't have my own then, and we've since broken up, but I do have proof of them starting the art after I paid them, which they sent a WIP on 21 March (which now leads to an empty stash site) and asked about some colours:

     
    We talked a couple of times between them, mainly about when I was expecting my ref sheet to be done, which never did.
    A couple of weeks later on 29 March, I sent them a note asking about the art, as the WIP they had sent me appeared to be nearly done, they replied, and I conceded that maybe I was being a little impatient and decided I'd just let them work. I know, I can be a little impatient at times:

    A month later, on 29 April, I sent them another note asking for an update, to which I got no reply again:

     
    Then, between 13 June and 15 June we had a brief conversation about my ref sheet, which at that point I was still waiting on:

    On 20 July, I sent them a note asking for an update, as it had been a month and a half since the last update:

    To which I got a reply 10 days later on 30 July saying that it was nearly done:

    I didn't receive any art, and didn't note them again until 7 October, asking for an update:

    And got a reply 2 days later on 9 October, saying that were (presumably) out of town and would send it to me after 20 October, to which I agreed:
     
    I didn't hear from them for a while after that, so I messaged them on 29 October asking and gently reminding them that it's been seven months since I paid them:

    And got no reply. This is when they first went dark. I paid attention to their page for a bit and decided to note them again on 30 January, 2019, to which I got no reply:

     
    It was sometime around this time that I noticed his shout page had many shouts along the lines of "Where's my art?" and "Are you going to finish my art?" I didn't think to screenshot these, and they've since been deleted, which I'll address later.
    More than a year passed before I noticed in my submissions list that they started uploading art again, so I decided to note them on 25 June, 2020:

    And between the 26 June and 29 June we talked and they offered to either finish the old artwork, or to do a new one for me:

    They seemed partial to drawing new art, and to be honest with you I was really liking the sketch that they had sent me the first time, but at this point I just wanted to be done dealing with this artist. Full disclosure my replies at this time point were a couple days between, as that's when the pandemic in my area REALLY started to hit and everything was hectic, regardless, we agreed on a pose that I sent them (censored link)

    I sent them references, which they asked for (the artist I planned to do my ref sheet didn't pan out) and that was that:

    And at that point they went dark again. I noticed on their page that they had cleared out their shouts and seemed to be trying to start anew, so I was patient, until they started ignoring my notes. HOwever, I could see that they were actively favouriting art on FA and that they would occasionaly upload the occasional piece now and then, but didn't even open my notes, either of them that I sent:

    I left them a shout on 30 October, letting them know of my frustrations and asking them to at least read my notes:

    However that fell of deaf ears, as to this day, my notes are still unread, despite the fact that they even favourited something earlier this day before I typed this:

    (Obviously, BlueberryDragon is not affiliated with this artist, this screenshot is only provided as proof that the artist is still active, despite ignoring my notes)
    It seems like I'm simply out the money that I paid for the YCH, which some people may say that making a big deal out of a $20 YCH may be overkill, but that's not what's on trial here. I feel this artist has been very unprofessional and I have been more than patient waiting for them, and made every attempt I could to make things right and to contact them, but being flat out ignored is just rude and unprofessional. Oh well, you live and you learn.
    surfsupraichu

    Beware: kaeryi_

    By surfsupraichu, in Artist Bewares,

    Who: kaeryi_ (Jors)
    Where: https://twitter.com/jorss_
    When: 06/08/2020
    What: Commission

    Resolved
    June 8th, 2020: Jors Tweeted that he was offering bust sketches, and that the proceeds would go to Reclaim the Block. The same day, I reached out to Jors to have one of my characters drawn. Jors was asking for $40, but I sent him an extra $15 for a total of $55 through Paypal. Jors told me that he expected to complete commissions within a week. He stated that, once he had completed all the commissions, he would post the donation receipt.
    June 9th: Jors posted a completed bust commission for another user. 
    June 10th-August 19th: Jors is inactive on Twitter.
    August 20th: Jors posted two more busts on his timeline. He did not specify that these were donation commission sketches, but they appeared to be the same style. I assumed that it meant that he would soon finish the other busts, including my own. 
    August 21st-September 20th: Jors was actively posting on Twitter. I did not receive any messages concerning commission progress. After September 20th, Jors has not posted on Twitter.
    September 27th: I contacted him through Twitter again to see if he was making any progress on the donation commissions. I did not receive a response.
    October 17th: I message Jors again, letting him know that the end of the chargeback period is December 5th. I told him I hoped to resolve the situation within the next month.
    November 2nd: Jors did not acknowledge my last message despite having over two weeks to do so. Initially, I intended to wait until December 5th before opening a dispute. However, his lack of response suggests to me that it is unlikely that he will finish the commission even if I gave him the rest of the extra time. I sent him a message that I would proceed with contacting Paypal. A dispute has been open. As it is not yet a claim, Jors still has time to reach out to me and, hopefully, resolve the problem without Paypal's intervention.
    I am not really sure if something happened to Jors that was out of his control and made him unable to complete my commission. However, nothing was ever communicated with me so I can only speculate. Also, he never posted proof that he donated the commission money that he received.





    Halfwolf102
    Who: Cassandra Wise, Vixicrafts, Vixi Crafts/ Vixi_Crafts, Vixizilla, Vixizilla Plush/ Vixizilla_Plush, Vixizilla Plushh, Vixena, Vixena Maleficus, Foxybitts
    Where: https://www.instagram.com/vixicrafts
    https://linktr.ee/vixizilla_plush
    https://www.etsy.com/shop/Vixizilla
    http://ko-fi.com/vixizillaplush
    When: 08/18/2018
    What: Commission

    Resolved
    TLDR: I commissioned Cassandra in August of 2018 and have received nothing but delays and excuses until she stopped responding to messages in May of 2020.
     
    Back around August 2018, I had decided to commission Cassandra for a custom plush of a character I created. With it would be included 1 set of clothes and plush jewelry for him. The total for it was $170, which was paid on August 18th, 2018.

    In September, I get notified that she’ll be moving soon but that the plush would be finished once that was finished. She next messages me a bit in October with a question about the clothes and I don’t hear anything from her until I message her in December asking her to check with me about the address before sending the plush.

    From this point in time, I was distracted by some personal matters that were going on (the reason I would eventually be moving) and kind of forgot about the commission until March 2019 when I sent a new shipping address and asked how the plush was progressing.

    She was still recovering from a surgery she had in the month before. From here, I checked in every so often and ask how things were going with my plush and I was reassured she was still working on it while also getting a new excuse each time for further delays (family issues, dog had babies, moving again, etc.).

    Finally, we get to May 2020 and I check in again only to hear she had moved her focus to making masks and that she was having issues with shipping things due to COVID. This is the last time I heard anything from her even though I messaged her multiple times from August to November. And full disclosure, I wasn’t exactly nice in my last message to her, but I was very upset after having been lead on and lied to for so long.

    Around early to mid-August I start worrying because she hadn’t replied to me yet and I end up checking her Etsy page. She had posted a notice that she was temporarily taking a vacation due to the pandemic and so she can track down delayed or lost packages. It did state that current orders were still in fact being worked on though, which made me feel slightly better even though I was still worried.

    Not to long after, I had noticed that the message had been updated to include that her Instagram was hacked, which at the time I figured was why she hadn’t replied to any of my messages. However, I didn’t notice until mid-September that multiple negative reviews had popped up on her store, all of which site either missing orders, lack of communication, or both. So now it wasn’t just me she wasn’t communicating with, but a bunch of other customers as well. Of course, I still wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt though and tried reaching out through Etsy but all I got was the auto reply.
     

    Not getting any replies here, I also try to reach out via email to hopefully clear things up and quell my worries, but again, no answer. Eventually, her Etsy shop was either removed or taken down due to the negative reviews (not sure which). Not sure where to go from here, I post a missing contacts post on here on Artists Beware and also reach out via email. At this point, I has already suspected that I had been scammed but still hoped it was just some problem that had happened. After a few days, I was contacted by another person who told me that she had also done this with quite a few others, them included.
     
    [removed due to third party]
     
    Additionally, she deleted the emails I was using to try to contact her sometime after I had first emailed her about this whole thing.

    With all this going on, I felt I couldn’t give her the benefit of the doubt any more and decided that I would put up a beware on her. I’m also inclined to believe that I was given the runaround and a lot of what she told me may have been lies. I certainly do not believe her Instagram account was hacked, as the timing was just too convenient and happened just as all the negative review started coming in. I am also very doubtful that she lost as many shipments as there are people who did not receive their order even with the COVID related postal delays that did actually occur.
    I had also even reached out to some family members in my desperation to get any sort of communication with her. I got a couple replies back, one of which also stated that they had ordered masks from her but she told them the package had been lost in the mail and that they are still waiting for their money back as well. Most recently, I had also discovered that she has a Twitch channel where she has streamed many times since I last spoke with her, further evidence that she is not in a position where she wouldn’t be able to reach out to anyone and that she was indeed ignoring not just me, but everyone else as well.
    So regardless of whether I’m able to get a refund, I would like to say DO NOT COMMISSION CASSANDRA WISE. It’s been so long since I did and I have nothing to show for it. I’ll admit that I definitely wasn’t as persistent as I should’ve been with this commission, but ultimately she’s the one that run off without so much as a good bye and it seems she is refusing to communicate with anyone that she owes work to.
     
    Proof of names:

     


    winklwink

    Caution: PGue1993

    By winklwink, in Client Bewares,

    Who: PGue1993
    Where: https://www.furaffinity.net/user/pgue1993
    When: 10/15/2020
    What: Commission
    NSFW Content

    Booked a slot's(1/2) until October 15th.
    I wrote him 15 with a payment reminder.
    He appeared on the FA once a day at best. Ignores questions and requests for a different communication method.
    After I said that I was canceling the invoice after 4 days of ignoring, he said that he sent it through echeсk, and it takes time (3-5 days)
    Why was it impossible to tell immediately about it as soon as you sent the payment? I dont know.
    I have not received any proof that the money was actually sent.
    When I said that I did not want to work with him, he began to insult me.
    I am writing this entry so that you would beware of him. If you work with him you do it at your own peril and risk.
    In my life, I will never allow myself to offend a customer and will not tolerate this in my direction.
    Have a nice day and good customer and artist for you^^







    kravenlupei

    Beware - Psy101

    By kravenlupei, in Artist Bewares,

    Who: Psy101
    Where: https://www.furaffinity.net/user/psy101
    When: 07/20/2018
    What: Commission



    On July 20th, 2018 I requested a commission from Psy101 on Furaffinity. The artist asked for up-front payment($80 USD),  which normally I'd be cautious about, but the artist came at the recommendation of a friend so I had reason to "trust" a bit more. 
    Since that time, Psy101 has ignored all future attempts at communication on FA through notes asking for a status update or if/when it'll be worked on. Each time, FA's Read Receipt feature showed he had indeed read / opened the notes I've sent him. Furthermore, Psy101 would go on to continue to take on new commissions, do gift art, and commission other artists routinely.
    There are over 50 uploads on the artists gallery in the last 3 months alone, of a varying degree of personal projects, gift art, and commissions both done-for-others and received-themself. (I'd like to say I'm patient, especially with regards to if a refund is needed and if an artist doesn't have the money on hand to at least show some faith in *working* to get a refund at some point. In this case it seems money is not an issue with Psy101 as they're continuing to commission other artists while not responding to any note I've sent)
     
    Image descriptions (minorly edited some NSFW details out to keep post SFW; if that's alright?):
    AB1 - Initial note & idea, responded by Psy101 asking for a little more information, and myself replying (admittedly vaguely, blech) July 20th, 2018
    AB2 - Psy101 reply to AB1 stating an invoice was sent, and myself replying it was paid. July 20th, 2018
    AB3  - First attempt at contact on March 1st, 2020, more than a year later. My patience to wait was wearing a little thin and I just wanted to see if I'd been forgotten.
    AB4 - Oct. 23rd, 2020, yesterday. I asked him for another update or if I should just take it here to AB since I didn't know what else to do at being routinely ignored
    Psy101 Invoice - Edited -- Paypal invoice, edited to remove identifying details (I think I got 'em all?)
    Readreceipts - My FA note Outbox showing the two times I asked for an update (AB3 & 4) have been opened/read by Psy101. (Normally there is a yellow "Letter Icon" until a note is opened/read)
    (First post, sorry if I did something wrong.)






    Kaiju

    Caution: TeaEel

    By Kaiju, in Artist Cautions,

    Who: TeaEel
    Where: https://www.furaffinity.net/user/teaeel/
    When: 10/21/2020
    What: Other (Explain Below)



    Two days prior to the incident I made the starting bid on an adopt put up by TeaEel, the Hundred-Eyed Mermaid Adopt. I was the only bidder, and so I won the auction at $50. When I received the invoice, it was for $53, and not the agreed upon $50. I questioned them about this, and came to find out that they were attempting to pass the cost of the PayPal processing fees off on me by up charging me above and beyond the agreed upon amount. When I objected to this, they claimed it was in the rules of the auction. I went back and reread the rules, and could see nothing of the sort, nor could anyone I showed it to. I pointed out nowhere in the rules of the auction did it say that I would be charged for the PayPal fees or anything extra other than the agreed upon price, and they insisted it was there without actually directly referencing it, saying it was their right as an artist to set the rules as they saw fit and if I did not follow through and pay it then I would be banned for violating their rules. Shortly after, they blocked me, erased the original auction post, and resubmitted it with the added text urging people to read the rules. The only thing I can see in hindsight that might be what they are talking about is one line that says "Commission is on buyer", but I can't imagine anyone looking at that and thinking it meant they were agreeing to be up charged. I am unable to provide a screenshot of my original winning bid as by the time I had gotten home they deleted the original post and resubmitted it (I was on mobile for the conversation), but they confirmed my original price and the up charge through messages. The screenshot of the invoice shows the date as the 22nd instead of the 21st, to my knowledge this is because they are much further ahead of me in time zone and invoices I believe match the date of the sender.
     


    fairykay
    Who: phvtes / gobuwin
    Where: https://www.deviantart.com/phvtes
    https://twitter.com/Phvtes
    https://twitter.com/gobuwin
    When: 09/26/2019
    What: Commission

    Resolved
    Hey guys. This is my first time writing a beware, so I hope I did everything correctly.
    Screenshot: https://i.imgur.com/0KOcf6w.png
    I contacted phvtes (now gobuwin) on DeviantArt on 9/16/19 with my information to get a pixel tag slot from the emergency commissions they were having. They replied 2 days later to accept the commission and said they would have a WIP done the same day or next at the latest. I let them know after I sent the payment.
    Screenshot: https://i.imgur.com/IF4So9m.png
    Things started to take a turn for the worse at this time. After not hearing from them with the WIP, I messaged on 10/8/19. I didn't receive a response. I messaged again on 10/16/19. I didn't receive a response until 10/20/19 when they sent a group apology to all of the people that had commissioned them that were also waiting for a response. I replied, a bit frustrated at the lack of communication after their tablet broke, but we agreed on continuing the transaction under the condition that it would not happen again. They cited mental health problems and offered a free painted headshot for the trouble, which I also never received.
    Screenshot: https://i.imgur.com/JKI7u7f.png
    I received the first WIP on 11/1/19 and replied with a request for a small edit on her ears. I received another WIP on 11/7/19 that was further along. Everything looked great. Unfortunately, this is the last WIP I ever received.
    Screenshot: https://i.imgur.com/UkLFc0T.png
    From here on out, none of the notes I sent were read or replied to. I asked for the status of my commission again on 11/24/19 and finally on 12/2/19.
    Screenshot: https://i.imgur.com/KRrjDvF.png
    Unfortunately, as I made the mistake of sending as "friends and family" on Paypal, I was unable to file a chargeback. Instead, I was forced to go through my credit card company to receive a refund.
    Screenshot: https://i.imgur.com/Qd3pnpa.png
     
    schaulvre
    Who: Desmond_The_Demon
    Where: https://www.furaffinity.net/user/desmondthedemon/
    When: 09/08/2020
    What: Other (Explain Below)



    We got scammed by someone named Desmond_The_Demon.
    On September 8th, this person wanted to buy one of our adoptables, so we sent the form. When the form was completed, we told that person about the price for all of that additionals which were listed, so next, we processed with the invoice. On the Paypal it said that 'invoice isn't paid' but was viewed, when that person states that they paid. We tried to see what was happening with it - we got the answer that this person was paying with the bank account using the Paypal, so we thought it will need some time to transfer the money from bank to the Paypal - so we trusted that person (we're always helping our customers as much as it possible) and we were preparing the files for them.

    On September 9th - we said that the payment didn't come to our Paypal account and they stated that the money was taken out of their bank, so we thought that Paypal is doing something weird and we were still waiting for the payment. On this day we asked for the screenshot too, we needed the proof that the payment was sent and we wanted to know if the Paypal really need that much time to transfer the money - they answered, that they see if they can cancel the payment and they will show the screenshot after that. After writing that, this person disappeared until the next day.  

    So next day (September 10th), the person said that they tried to resend the payment but the Paypal said "not able to send" and dissapeared again until the next day.
    We asked if the money returned to their account hoping that everything's okay. That person said the money returned back to their account (I didn't knew that the money could get back into the account so quickly, in 12 hours or something like that - it was suspicious too and we still didn't get the screenshot of the transaction). We thought if they can pay directly (without invoice), so we gave this person our Paypal e-mail for that, waiting for the results. So, they said that they'll try to pay directly and disappeared again. (I could say that they disappeared forever because they never wrote back, also we saw when they removed watch from our account).

    On 12th and 13th was weekend so we thought that we'll wait for this person to come back til the Monday.

    On Monday (14th) - still, no answer, the message is still unopened and their account was still inactive (like they're hiding from us).
    Finally, we gave them last day to write back and on 15th we saw that there was recent activity from that person's account, so we sent a note about that the time for the payment is over and the adopt is available to buy for someone else. We wasted a week trying to help that one person with the payment (which was probably fake and unpaid from the beginning, because they didn't show the proof that they paid for it) and we prepared all the files. We gave them a chance, because we thought they were really planning to pay for what they wanted to buy from us.
    SCREENSHOTS FROM THE CONVERSATION: 


    [proxy has been censored out by staff.  please remember that bewares are only to focus on your transaction.]

    That person is targeting YCH and adoptables (probably from 70$ and above but idk), trying to blame on Paypal that the payment didn't come to the seller and waiting if the seller will give them the product, because "it's paid" when in fact - it's not paid. There's no proof that it's paid - when you ask for the payment confirmation (just a little screenshot!), that person starts backing away and avoiding the messages.
    So, please, watch out for that person - we hope that no one more get scammed confronting with this person. Take care!
    UPDATE: I found that they wanted to scam next two people. If you can, please, re-share that or just tell people about it and when that person wants to buy something from you - block them, because they will never pay for that thing.

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