Rendrassa

I'm probably not doing it 100% properly myself, but the IRS hasn't come down on me, so I'll give my experience. I mostly use PayPal, which allows me to easily track my business income as invoices and send it as an exported report straight onto my taxes as an attachment. I get a few dollars straight to my bank account through commiss.io that I add to my total income (which my bank records already make note of.)

If you paid through PayPal, you should be able to find the transaction and (assuming you didn't pay through Friends and Family) can open a dispute for not receiving your order.

It's possible your original interaction came off in some way that either upset the artist or made them feel uncomfortable. Impossible to know without a (heavily censored) screenshot of your conversation. But as Xaila said, assume this was how it would have been if you had sent them money and move on to a new artist.

If they aren't responding, then that is a bad sign. Unfortunately, the refund window with PayPal only extends 180 days, so it sounds like you've passed it. The only thing you can do is keep asking, and if they continue ignoring, to post a beware on them so others are aware.

I, personally, see nothing wrong with refusing a commission with someone who isn't fluent in English. It can be stressful and when things go sour, they go really sour due to this difficult communication. You're a freelancer, you are free to refuse any work you don't want to do. If this commission is causing you stress, you are at full right to say "I no longer want to do this commission, here is your money back. Good day."

Nothing to add, just backing up what RTKobold and Bornes have said.

Gather all your information via screenshots. It's your best chance to convince PayPal. Since you've finished most of the work, you could take the loss and email the file of the character to their PayPal email, so that you can prove to PayPal that you upheld your end of the bargain. Ideally with words like, "Due to the communication difficulties after blocking me, I am sending over the agreed on file despite it clear that you will not be honoring the rest of my payment. This ends our transaction and I will be declining further business from you. Have a good day."

I would start the chargeback, personally. They can't communicate at all when you ask questions. Best to was your hands of it and then if they do ship you something, you can pay them for what was done.

I would look into whether or not they've been going to cons or getting purchases that aren't related to finishing their queue. That's a sign that they're just stalling. Technically, it really isn't your fault they spent your money before providing the product you paid for. I can understand not wanting to sink them further into problems, but give them a specific deadline of say, two or three months, to finish and ship your suit or you will be filing a chargeback on the refundable amount. Then, if they finish the suit after another month, you can pay them back.

Remember that if the maker does rush the suit, that's beware worthy on its own.

I say right now that, yes, they did spend your money without delivering a product. And they've violated their own contract with you when a deadline was agreed on. Deciding afterward that they wouldn't do it doesn't make previous agreements null and void. That's like buying a computer with a one year warranty and the company deciding two months later they aren't honoring it anymore and you find out at the 6 month mark when you computer suddenly dies.

10 hours ago, wickchlorite said:

I have found out another customer of the artist has also been waiting for an update of their commission 2 months ago and still waiting for the refund they asked for last week. They haven't received the refund yet and my ultimatum went unanswered too along with the dispute I opened yesterday. I decided to escalate the claim without waiting for the 1 week deadline since I also found out that they have been opening new commissions off site recently. I sent the artist a message again, letting them know I turned the dispute into a claim immediately.  I am wondering if that is alright to do?

It's understandable after finding out new evidence like this, though don't be surprised if the artist is upset with the broken wait time.

5 minutes ago, wickchlorite said:

Perhaps I should do just that, I've been considering a refund or a chargeback since I've grown uninterested after missed deadlines... I would wait one day more and if they haven't replied, I will ask for a refund or a proof that they have been working on my order. I will update once something happen, thanks for the responses!

If you want the refund, do NOT ask them to prove they have been working on the commission. The artist may likely slap some lines down and send it to you, and then claim you can't get the refund and must either take a partial or wait for the completed art. Since it's hard to know exactly how to say it, an example for asking follows:

"Hello, I would like to point out that I have waited for my commission since April. In that time, you have given me two deadlines and no proof of work. I am now requesting a refund for $X. I will give you one week before I go through PayPal."

(If any others would like to chip in, please do.)

A lot of artists charge extra for shipping, just be upfront about the added cost and it should be fine.

The reason I suggest a legal category for discussion is because a topic came up recently in a chat for me and it didn't really fit in their "advice of artists" or "advice for commissioners". It was a debate on copyrighting characters, not just the art, which I'd remembered several LJ members clearly explaining why it wasn't possible, but I was unable to easily find that info on LJ and figured I'd bring up the legal category not separated by artist and commissioner so that it can help fill a gap I currently saw in the new site.

I don't mean in-depth things that should be consulted with a lawyer, but basic questions that have been asked in advice posts in the past on LJ: copyright, trademark, artist rights vs client rights that can be asked without explicit ToS discussion and more.

$1000 worth of art is a lot, so getting that paid back with art will take time. Yes, it is the artist's the responsibility, but if you want to see that art, it might be best to be proactive in this and set up a Google document listing each art piece that was agreed on with it's price and share that with them. Make sure only you can edit it, and state that with every completed image, you'll mark it as complete and the artist can work off the list in whatever order they desire. That should boost their art drive if they can choose the order from the list.

Good luck getting the art. At least the artist has reached out to you at all, right?

Ah, that's good to know.

Would it be considered a caution or full beware?

There are times when people impersonate or steal other's characters to get attention and artwork against the rightful owner's wishes. Would the site have a separate category for this sort of behavior, with the same proof usually expected for the site, of course? As an artist, I'd like to be able to search client names on here and be alerted if someone has a history of character theft before doing the art and having to deal with the repercussions.

Discussion for or against is greatly appreciated.