Milesy
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It's starting to make it really difficult for traditional/craft artists, who have to photograph their progress and materials. I ran into a moment recently where I had to spend way more time than I'd have liked convincing a client to trust me that the change they were asking for wasn't needed, because the effect they wanted on their piece straight up does not show up in photograph. I have to be so careful with situations like this, because buyers are getting trained to assume they're being bullied into getting something they don't want.
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What? No, seriously. What? Finance managers would want a paper trail made of concrete. Starting with itemised invoices. Also, that 'our.' Is that the Royal Our, or is there actually a team. And if there's a team, is this person representing the entire group? If not, why don't they have someone up front repping the team from a dedicated page/account? Using the same personal account where memes are posted to represent an entire team is kind of a nope from me too, just because it doesn't seem like they're taking anything seriously. I don't understand the post blocking thing either, but I also have no idea how Facebook actually works. Hate to say it, but I don't think there was ever an intention to deliver on anything in the first place. I'm glad you got your money back though. Yeesh.
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question: is it normal for a commissioner to not respond right away?
Milesy replied to fruity's topic in Advice for Artists
I always give 48 hours before attempting contact again. You don't know their work schedule, their home life, their internet situation, etc. They may only use the internet at work, and prioritise family while at home, or have weird Tuesday/Thursday weekends, which are the only days they're available. Also, the fact that it took you three days to respond to the first question you were asked on this thread should answer your own question. Sometimes people just straight up don't notice or think to check. -
Yes. Get a separate bank account. It can actually be a crime to co-mingle LLC funds with your private accounts. Take the amount of money you intended to use to start your business, open the account with that money, and leave it there. Use that money for business expenses. Pay yourself from that account on a schedule (monthly, bi-monthly, etc). As far as which bank you go with, there are so many regional chains and credit unions that I couldn't begin to offer suggestions. For PayPal, setting up a business account is pretty easy. They're near identical to private accounts, except it shows business information on invoices, and you get some extra little perks and features. Using a business account even as a freelance artist is pretty recommended because it helps prevent doxxing. For storefronts, Dealer's Den is pretty solid. It doesn't have much of a reach, but it also doesn't nickel and dime you to death the way Etsy does. If you're solid with marketing, it's a pretty good place to be.
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Wow, if PayPal catches them adding that "tax," they won't have an account for much longer. Operating fees should already be part of your overhead, full stop. PayPal fees are operating fees.
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Milesy changed their profile photo
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This is an older post, but it may also be worth putting a customs warning in your TOS/Expectations sheet. When I ship physical items out of the country, I always experience huge delays. Canada and Germany are the worst for me. I had something disappear in customs for three months. I'd filed inquiries and insurance claims and heard nothing back, and suddenly one day everything got closed without comment, and two days later the person emailed to say they finally got their package. I have a clause for exactly these scenarios in my TOS. If a package arrives and the item is damaged, I'll refund an order before the insurance goes through. If a package is lost, refunds happen after insurance goes through, since half the time the claim seems to be what kicks someone into actually trying to find it.
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Contact paypal asap. Give them everything you have, because this is fraud. Chargebacks only happen if the buyer initiates it, or if the buyer uses a payment method they weren't authorised to use. They don't just happen by accident.
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It’s pretty basic business practise to include fees in your overhead. Adding 5% to your base price to account for PayPal fees is no different to adding $5 to your base price to “include shipping” prices. I feel like people see this as shady, and want to “disclose” that there’s a PayPal fee included, but don’t realise that as soon as you disclose that, you’re breaking TOS. Sometimes, you just gotta have a vague operating fee that just winds up being part of your base costs.
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This is a big old “depends” I think. I do jump around on mine, because if I worked on the same thing for months, I think I’d die of boredom. I do make it clear to clients that they will see other WIPs being posted alongside theirs, and there may be occasional weeks where they may not see theirs posted. That said, if you’re doing something small that can be reasonably completed in a weekend, no. Do your queue in order. Also, don’t let your queue get to 59 items. Good grief.
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I design a lot of craft patterns and sell them digitally. I also take commissions for these craft items. Commission pieces are never sold as patterns later, for the same reason that my fanart patterns are always free. The artwork itself may be my work, but the IP is not. I keep patterns for my own records, but nobody ever sees them. I’ve only released one commission pattern, because while I was working on it during a livestream, the entire chat was asking about it. The person the commission was for is one of my chat moderators, and immediately approved the release of the pattern, which I offer for free. It’s one of my more popular downloads, and I could have made a good deal of money on it, but it doesn’t feel right. It can be a loss leader instead.
