Drakonmanthefox

One more update on my situation. Thank you all for the advice, I really appreciate it!

Just posting an update. This entire situation was so predictable that they did in fact try to charge back on the 27th of July after they said I could keep the money and cancelled twice on me. If anyone would like information on how a charge-back is handled I have spoken to a representative from paypal who guided me through the whole thing. Typically paypal dislikes buyers remorse. They don't favour digital good so describe your business as a service rather than a digital art.

Iv also exported the telegram Chatlogs. They have actually deleted a telegram account and made a new one at the start of all this. (though they informed of the new telegram)

I don't know this personal at all beyond a few short interactions and the agreement. I guess ill have to cut my losses here then eh?

Out of our agreement, it was said that a 50% deposit would be placed and if work was started then it was non-refundable, and they could cancel the project at any time but I would keep the deposit. We both agreed. There was no designated time to complete the project but I have sent periodic updates on a weekly basis. They also told me I could take my time on the project. It has been about two weeks now. (This is a Custom Character model for CGI and Video games). Periodically through this project they have now asked me to cancel it and then later change their mind after I had accepted another commission. They had asked me to cancel the project but it seemed they were in mental distress. I did a bit of digging and found some of their close friends to see if they could help them (It seemed rather serious) I'll make it a point here to say I don’t know this person very well and we met in vrchat maybe a month ago. I’m not obligated to continue given our agreement but I told them I'll continue to work on it but it would be at a slower pace because I had accepted another person after their cancellation. I spent 9 hours yesterday working on this project. It’s nearing the final phases and they had approved what I have been working on. It’s in a final polish stage before I begin importing it into the Unity game engine. Today they had told me to pause again since they did not have the funds to pay the final yet. I told them It was okay and I understood the remaining amount to ask is a decent chunk of change and that I can continue. They can pay me when they are ready. They asked me if I was busy today. I have personal things to take care of today but it's nothing major. They wanted me to drop everything I was doing to jump into a game with them. I told them the truth I need groceries today and take care of some minor personal issues. They blocked me. The question: So this particular client I did not send an invoice to them through PayPal. They asked me for my email then sent the first payment. What can I do in case of a charge back? Or am I out of luck? How do I handle this if pay pal does a charge back? Was I wrong to try and reach out to the clients friends? Should i have just accepted that they cancelled it to begin with?