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https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/924736.html WHO: CavitySam, aka IsabellaPrice WHERE: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/isabellaprice/ ( old account), http://www.furaffinity.net/user/cavitysam, http://www.instagram.com/cavitysam WHAT: Two head sketches of my original characters; uncolored. WHEN: May 8th was when the commission order was placed; about August 3rd was when things hit the fan. PROOF Initial Commission Post: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/19914747/ FA Note #1: http://imgur.com/VZJG6XB PayPal Payment Proof: http://imgur.com/kn7zIv8 Instagram Post opening for "emergency commissions" on August 3rd: http://imgur.com/7K8kQK4 My reminder of mine + Artist saying they deleted all past notes: http://imgur.com/ICiBnUX Resend of the FA Note on August 3rd: http://imgur.com/uaPDUu7 Instagram DM from September 3rd: http://imgur.com/cjujD9c + http://imgur.com/fbYJvLX EXPLAIN: Back in May of this year, I decided to commission CavitySam/IsabellaPrice. I liked their art for a while, and I had a few extra coins when she opened up commissions at that time. I told her that I didn't mind waiting past the window she had promised they would be done. Several weeks had passed, and about in mid-July, I began to wonder where my sketches were, so I decided to follow Sam on Instagram to see if maybe she posted them there first, before posting on FA. In early August, she posted on IG about how she was taking on more commissions (before the ones she had taken in May were even done and posted), and I took that opportunity to remind her about mine. She apologized, and said she had cleared all her messages and asked me to resend them. I resent the note on FA (since I have trouble with mobile and you can't do IG DMs on the desktop website) and waited for a response. A month later and no reply or acknowledgement, I sent her a DM on September 3rd, asking if she was still capable of finishing the commission, and if not, then maybe a refund could be worked out. She told me they were finished and some needed color (I did not ask for color on mine) and that she would send me mine "in a little bit". It's been over 24 hours since that DM, and there is still no pictures in my e-mail box, on IG or FA. Please bear in mind I don't consider myself a confrontational person. I hate having to do this, especially since Sam does seem like a very nice person (frankly, I think she takes on way more than she can handle, which isn't uncommon to see) and I know she's been having financial trouble, so me asking for a refund at this time makes me feel uneasy. Still, I do feel like she should be held accountable for not delivering within a reasonable timeframe, hence why I am coming forward with this here. If you do decide to commission CavitySam for art... please be aware that you probably will not see it within any time frame that might be promised. UPDATE #1: I spoke with Sam today on Instagram, and she said she'd be sending the sketches along today (they apparently hadn't been scanned in yet. Okay then). I'm willing to give her the benefit of the doubt and consider the matter closed, but if I don't see/hear anything in the next 72 hours, I'll update this accordingly. None the less, my warning about things not being done within the promised time (or even in a grace period) still stands. UPDATE #2: I've received the commissions from Sam. Now I can safely say it's fully resolved!

https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/923623.html All information is below. DO NOT HARASS THIS USER! This violates community rules and I don't condone ill will directed at them. You will be reported to a moderator if you're caught doing this. WHO: brideake/orangekissess/greycakechii WHERE: http://www.brideake.tumblr.com (Main Tumblr), http://www.orangekissess.tumblr.com (NSFW Tumblr), http://www.furaffinity.net/user/greycakechii (NSFW FA), https://www.patreon.com/orangekissess (NSFW Patreon) WHAT: Sketch Commission ($21 USD) [PayPal Receipt] PROOF & EXPLAIN: I've been a follower and admirer of brideake/orangekissess for awhile now, so I pounced on the chance to commission them when they opened in February 2016. I'll confess that my idolization of them has made this entire situation much, much more difficult because I didn't want to upset them, but I feel that this situation more than warrants a beware by now. Posts about commission openings were posted on both of their Tumblrs with a contact email address, where I contacted them and received a same-day response. Once I received their prices and options, I responded with what I wanted. There was a slight issue here because my Gmail account was currently failing to send and receive messages properly, so I had to resend the email. After I resent, I received a response quickly, the commission details were confirmed, and I paid. This was the last time I ever heard from them about the commission. [Email Transcripts: 1, 2, 3] brideake has no public queue, so there was no way for me to know how many commissions they accepted or where I stood on their to-do list. So, I waited patiently for awhile, under the assumption that they were busy and mine would be done in due time. However, the first red flags came when I noticed that brideake was taking requests nearly weekly, often in streams. Still, I said nothing, until I attended one of their streams and saw them accepting new commissions. (All I have from this is this screenshot of a link to the stream. I have no screenshots from the stream itself. [link]) When I saw this, I thought it was time to request an update, believing my commission might have been forgotten or overlooked. Mistakes happen, after all. On April 29th, I sent them an email, requesting an update, but never received a response. [link] No responses or updates come. Sometime later, an anonymous user sends brideake this ask, wanting to know if it's alright for commissioners to request updates on their commissions. Please note that this wasn't me, which means at least one other customer wanted updates, but I took it as a chance to request an update again. [link] (Sometime before this, I also sent them an ask, but I don't have record of it because Tumblr doesn't save outbox messages at all. I believe it was sent around the same time as, or even the same day of, the first email, because I was afraid the email would be eaten. This screenshot shows Tumblr's new instant messaging system, which is much, much more reliable than both emails and asks.) On July 26th, I requested an update via email once more, after the above instant message was also ignored. [link] Again, there has been no response to this email. I can believe that the first email and the ask were eaten, but it's extremely unlikely that both of them and the two latest messages have all magically vanished, so I know I'm being actively ignored, unfortunately. This appeared on their NSFW Tumblr sometime after I sent the email, which I believe might be a passive response to my message. Supposedly, brideake has two commissions remaining, but, without a public to-do list, it's hard to tell if I'm even included in that number anymore. I was offline for several days and missed the deadline to dispute this through PayPal, so I have no choice but to wait patiently, it seems. I love brideake's art and I would much rather have the completed commission than a refund, even now, but I find their work ethic and customer service inexcusable. While this post was in the moderation queue, brideake also had time to create a Patreon account, as linked above, rather than complete preexisting commissions. This was very upsetting for me because it shows how little of a priority I am as a customer. I feel it is relevant to mention because additional commissions are being rewarded to patrons, as seen here. This is not to mention the many, many pieces of personal artwork, fanart, and free requests that brideake has had time to complete since I commissioned them. Overall, a very poor experience. EDIT [09/02/16]: brideake is opening for more commissions and accepting more free requests on Tumblr. I don't know how relevant this is, but it's discouraging to again have a commission I paid for half a year ago put on the back burner for new commissions or free art. EDIT [09/10/16]: On September 7th, brideake emailed me and I responded within the hour. The emails are heavily censored because brideake included details that were explicitly personal and I feel are highly inappropriate to advertise here, so I have blocked them out accordingly with only the comments that I feel are relevant to this beware uncensored. Personal comments I made in my response are also censored. The most important thing here is, brideake offered me a refund. I agreed to either accept the refund (and provided my PayPal address) or continue with the commission if the money wasn't available. I haven't received a response since and, seeing as it's been three days, I thought it was worth adding here. [Emails] EDIT [09/17/16]: This situation has hit the ceiling because it has, as I feared, come to Tumblr, where I actively tried to remain silent on the matter because I didn't want to be at odds with someone with over six thousand protective followers. As I'm writing this, I'm very upset. brideake sent me an email, reassuring me that I would be refunded as soon as they had the money, to which I replied that there was no rush. [link] This email came rather out of the blue, so I checked out their blog to see if something was amiss and, as suspected, an anon violated the rules of this community and sent brideake this lovely message. Whoever sent this was completely out of line, and I don't condone the sending of hate mail or negativity to anyone, no matter how wrongly you feel they've behaved. [link] brideake responds publicly with details that were previously shared with me in an email (seen above). This is where I feel the most wronged of all, because it's as if I was supposed to know what was happening in the artist's personal life. I had no idea. brideake was a complete stranger to me before this situation unfolded. Although brideake opted to share the details publicly, where anyone can freely see them, I have censored them in this screenshot because I still believe it's inappropriate to share details like this here when it's none of my business. What bothers me the most about this is the comment of, "Sorry I have to post this information publicly..." because there was no need to out oneself like this, or even answer this ask. Until this, I hadn't even seen mention of this beware on Tumblr, so I doubt brideake's followers even knew about it and, if they did, didn't care. brideake's followers don't even read the beware, but proceed to defend them in reblogs, calling me all manner of names. Here are two in particular that have really gotten to me. [link] [link] So, now, I'm an "entitled jerk" who doesn't understand that artists are real people and went on a "witch hunt" for someone when I tried repeatedly to contact them with zero response. Writing bewares is a last resort for me, and this situation is ending exactly how I feared it would. Edited one more time on the same date as above to add that I sent brideake an email, apologizing for the anon sending them hate mail. I found this to be absurdly unacceptable on the anon's behalf and felt like I should apologize for causing it. [link] EDIT [09/17/16]: This should be the last edit to this beware. I have received an ungodly amount of hate mail over this beware, so allow me to reiterate that harassing people who are posted here violates the community's rules and will cause needless problems for both parties. It isn't pretty, it's caused an enormous mess, and it could have been so easily avoided if my emails were simply answered over the past few months, but this situation is now resolved. I have received a refund in full and, while it's disappointing to not receive the commission after all this time, I'll take it. [Proof of Refund] EDIT [09/25/16]: It's been a week. I'm editing this a final time to correct a few grammar errors and add closing thoughts. Sorry again to the mods for the number of edits here! Because of the anon ask brideake received and their public response to it, people who I assume to be their fans and followers came here, saw the beware, and connected it to my dA account (linked on my profile) and my Tumblr blog (via my icon). The resulting anon hate would last for four days, when it finally ceased. I was away from my computer for much of the first day, but, when I returned, I had 68 inbox messages on Tumblr, only six of which were things I would normally have. I don't know how many others came in total, because I didn't read them, simply deleted them as soon as I saw them. I estimate it to be between seventy and eighty messages total. (I have no screenshots of this, but I believe it wouldn't prove anything, because it's as easy to send yourself anon hate on Tumblr as it is for others to do so.) I don't know why brideake responded to the ask publicly; it drew attention to this beware, caused trouble for us both, and ultimately solved nothing. I'm relieved the messages have stopped now. It was hard to consider this truly "resolved" while this was still happening. The other things I wanted to add, as closing thoughts, were that, on September 17th, brideake tried to convince me to delete this beware in our final email conversation. I found it noteworthy because their concerns were with their reputation than with me as a customer. [link] Finally, brideake tweeted this on September 18th, after I was refunded, and has had it as their pinned tweet all week. I don't hate them. I don't think customers ever hate an artist over commission issues. [link] In conclusion, I can't recommend this artist at all. The fact remains that their customer service was exceptionally poor. All the unnecessary drama that ensued on Tumblr could have been prevented altogether if brideake had simply answered my emails months ago.

https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/923369.html WHO: TheAquaticRebel (dA) -- Deactivated August 2016 -- New account http://kreayashion.deviantart.com/ Deactivated as well (August 28, 2016) -- (edited) http://loyderwo.deviantart.com/ New new account (Appears to have been abandoned) WHERE: http://www.theaquaticrebel.deviantart.com // http://kreayashion.deviantart.com/ // http://loyderwo.deviantart.com/ WHAT: $150.00 YCH fully detailed commission WHEN: May 27th, 2016 - August 4th, 2016 PROOF: http://ninjakato.deviantart.com/art/The-Aurora-Singers-YCH-CLOSED-611035951 (Original piece) http://comments.deviantart.com/1/611035951/4137225015 (Comment inquiring to purchase) http://ninjakato.deviantart.com/art/The-Aurora-Bringers-YCH-Comm-612444595 (Completed piece) EXPLAIN: In May of 2016 I opened a YCH with multiple characters which were $150.00 each 'The Aurora Singers' (YCH CLOSED). One was bought by someone and a short time later the other was bought by TheAquaticRebel. At the time I was doing commissions under post-pay -- Meaning I would be paid after completion. I had done this originally to save myself anxiety by feeling the need to rush to get a piece of artwork done because it had been prepaid. While TheAquaticRebel had offered originally to pay beforehand -- http://sta.sh/0e24dsjhdb6 I declined because I was pretty busy at the time and didn't want to run the risk of taking too long to get work done (I was in the process of packing to go overseas for a few months). Between May 28th and June 1st 2016 I had completed the commission and sent a note to let TheAquaticRebel know it had been completed and I was ready for payment to be made -- http://sta.sh/026ikm0uink5 I figured it had only been a couple days and I hadn't heard anything back from them to warrant a possibility that they wouldn't be able to pay. The other person who had bought the other half had paid promptly within a few hours after I'd sent the finished product. Unfortunately, that's when the situation went downhill and I received this as a reply -- http://sta.sh/085pjoiu0ra I had never heard of this happening but I asked around a bit and prodded Google.com for information of similar situations and ways to fix/repair it, not only to be paid but for TheAquaticRebel's sake as well because I imagined that situation is a pretty scary one to be in. A few people told me that PayPal doesn't shut down your account or delete it unless you ask them to under the pretenses that your account has been hacked/used by someone else without permission. Also, someone else pointed out the "PayPal bill" section which TheAquaticRebel spoke of -- PayPal doesn't send bills... They send business activity and payment histories monthly to show how much you have made/earned and how much you have bought in that month. Still, I gave TheAquaticRebel the benefit of the doubt and figured if anything they had a bank account and would likely offer to pay with that instead should their card take too long to arrive. The day after (June 4th, 2016) I sent a reply to their note inquiring as to when I could expect payment as banks usually only take 4-7 business days to send you a new card (even in the UK) and I was going to be unavailable for a week and a half or so as I would be traveling and thus unable to view my dA notes http://sta.sh/0rqa1qoxwye A week and a half's time seemed ample time enough to get everything sorted, more so when money and possibly identity theft was involved; I'd be chomping at the bit to try and get everything sorted! A day later I got this http://sta.sh/0bl5yxjjcnb as the only reply which seemed to be the tipping point for me to understand this person was yanking my chains. Their reply was so lackluster and 'meh' -- as if to say "I owe you $150/115£ but I can't be bothered" -- which really kind of annoyed me as I kept thinking of how I'd be in that situation. I'd be in slight hysterics because this is finances that were being messed with AND I'd owe someone 115 quid for work they'd already done. However, I digress -- I replied with as at this point I was beginning to realise the outcome was likely going to be dismal and it was looking less and less likely like I was going to be paid. Time warp to a few weeks later in which I hadn't heard any updates or gotten any notes from TheAquaticRebel about what was going on despite asking them to keep me posted. I don't know of any banks that take 2-3 weeks to send a new card and it's pretty easy to set up a new PayPal with a bank card (I use it myself and have had to change cards before). There had been no word from them so I sent them a note to inquire -- http://sta.sh/024dabpy0amk and funnily enough they replied the same day with -- http://sta.sh/07l9sx60i0e I had NEVER heard of PayPal doing this unless the person didn't have the amount in their accounts (PayPal or Bank) and even then, looking up this situation all I could get close to was a glitch that was a one time thing and usually sorted itself out after re-sending an invoice. However, after talking to other people about this -- I was curious for multiple opinions at this point -- they openly admitted that this just seemed like another excuse; a convenient one at that -- Fake a PayPal glitch. Regardless of my unease -- More so at the fact this all seemed phishy to me and I was not sure I wanted that kind of connection to something of that oddness -- I sent them my PayPal.Me link instead for them to send the payment. I got nothing, including no notification from them letting me know they'd even bothered to send a payment. So at this point I wanted some kind of visual proof of this situation happening, a screenshot if anything -- http://sta.sh/0s60gw7erao because I was ridiculously confused by that time. I couldn't find any direct information about this glitch being consistently replicated like TheAquaticRebel was claiming. Again, I got nothing -- no proof nor reply. August 4th, 2016 -- a couple weeks later I once again wanted to try and touch base with TheAquaticRebel on what was going on with the payment as I felt surely by this time they would have figured something out but at this point with the lack of proof that there was something wrong I was being told by several people to flip them onto Artists_Beware because to them they seemed to be nothing but a scammer -- http://sta.sh/01izcvl8v9et I got this reply -- http://sta.sh/018l60fboufu This is where there was the massive red flags -- mostly over the "PayPal won't do anything about it" because I knew damn well PayPal's support team are not that useless. I've had issues with my account before and any time I'd called them, no matter what the issue, they were always willing to help. They would pretty much always have an answer and if they didn't they would advise on ways and things I could manage things. The fact TheAquaticRebel spoke as if PayPal's people were like "Oh, you can't pay merchants for things? HAHA, OH WELL, nothing we can do :lol: Sorry~" The only thing; the ONLY thing I can see happening is them saying "The issue wouldn't on our end but your bank's as there's likely something going on with your account there. We'd advise you to call your bank and discuss it with them. For now what we can do is suspend any payments leaving your account within the last month since the time of the invasion until now to prevent any further unauthorized usage of your account and funds. If you are continuing to have issues using your account even after calling your bank and getting the OK from them that everything is fine, please contact PayPal again and we will investigate further." Which is pretty much what I got in an email reply when I inquired about the situation with PayPal's help team. TheAquaticRebel also made it out as if they were upset which their lack of cooperation really betrayed that -- More so when all they had to do was provide visual proof of what was happening as I even offered to give insight to help them. However, again... I gave them the benefit of the doubt and offered once more to help alleviate the situation -- This time by offering to bill their bank directly so it would be easier as there'd be no faffing about with PayPal as it was obvious there was issues with it -- http://sta.sh/029jxiy70vor I was concise but stern on the matter and I heard nothing back. A few weeks later I sent them http://sta.sh/019bmkyv12n3 and from then on I had heard nothing back AND they have since deactivated their account... So, here I sit -- Literally having to just deal with $150/115£ worth of work done never to be paid. However, if I can do anything I can warn people about this person. I gave them more than enough time and patience when dealing with the situation. I know it seems harsh but again, with the lack of proof and cooperation I feel genuinely put off and therefore I was told to place this publicly as a warning. I wouldn't be nearly as upset about $20 or even $40 worth of work as I could simply redo the piece but $150 is too much to just throw off without a warning. I'm well aware I should have taken prepay when it was offered, but I had my reasons for not doing so at the time -- Not to mention there might have been bigger issues if I had. EDIT-- (Apologies but they made a new account AFTER I had submitted this so there's some things to be added) TheAquaticRebel deleted their new account which was kreayashion after someone who'd seen my warning asked about the YCH. They then moved to the new new account loyderwo in which they noted me asking me to read a journal they'd written addressing the issue. The claimed to have been harassed before and after on Instagram -- which I should mention I never even knew their Instagram nor did I mention any other site they were on as I didn't even know of any others. So, if they were indeed harassed on there it wasn't because of anything I'd said. I had also not made this situation public until a few days ago when I was advised to make a warning in case others had had the same thing happen with her. It was only then that I had someone note me with other accounts she had made elsewhere but I did not mention a single one of them other than her dA. I was unable to see any comments posted on her page, or even if there were any as she'd deleted her account very soon after. I read the journal she'd written and it basically states they cannot pay me due to being hacked and their PayPal again being messed with so at this point I'm just severely at odds on the situation. I'm out $150.00 of work and I feel like I've been played. I know I should have asked for prepay; lesson learned. However, this just feels like she didn't have the payment even when she said she did otherwise she would have been okay to pay through her bank instead.

https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/923124.html WHO: Robaato robaato.deviantart.com www.patreon.com/Robaato about.me/robaato twitter.com/robaatox robscorner.tumblr.com WHERE: Nearly all correspondence was sent through email, with a few messages sent on tumblr and twitter WHAT: Digital Colour Sketch WHEN: Originally made contact on November 8th 2012. Payment was sent November 23rd 2012 PROOF: Screencap of the paypal transaction https://www.dropbox.com/s/6i50r52q1lxtpkz/2016-06-27.png?dl=0 EXPLAIN: On November 8th 2012 I commissioned this artist for a quick digital full body colour sketch. The artist was prompt in getting back to me and I sent payment on 23/11/2013. Between then and March in 2014 I had no issues with the artist. They were prompt with their responses and polite. However, on 14th March 2013 everyone who had commissioned him (including myself) had been sent an email stating that commission progress would be slow due to work commitments the arts had. As such they were offering full refunds to anyone who wasn’t willing to wait. At this point I thought it best to get a refund as I didn’t really want to wait a very long period of time for the commission to be finished so I sent him this response. https://www.dropbox.com/s/kbpqtrhxw4zbrld/14-03-2013.png?dl=0 On 1st April 2013 the artist sent me this response. https://www.dropbox.com/s/g9ws322uedwsuly/01-04-2013 reply.png?dl=0 Perhaps I was wrong in assuming this but it seemed like the artist had made significant progress on the commission and was relatively close to finishing it. I thought that would be great and decided to wait for the commission to the finished. Between then and May 2015 I had not received any updates regarding the commission. I had sent the artist a few emails on 1st July 2013, 16th July 2013, 9th September 2013, 17th February 2014 and 3rd May 2014, asking for an update. On 09th September 2013 in particular I actually had requested a cancellation of the commission as at the time I was desperately in need of the money. https://www.dropbox.com/s/wnvqiajfxeepjo2/01-07-2013.png?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/do0bvmxad21eojd/16-07-2013.png?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/ji7wv2kfbpkly4f/09-09-2013.png?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/jwq81wkk19hjgqf/17-02-2014.png?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/6acpuoof18tu0fh/03-05-2014.png?dl=0 I didn’t receive a reply to any of them. I will say that in that period I had sent a question to the artist’s tumblr, asking for an update, which they did reply to. However, I can’t remember when exactly I sent it and have since deleted the reply. The question was essentially asking whether they were still working on the commission, which they said they were. At this point I was getting concerned so on 8th May 2014 I sent this email to the artist (I used a different email account I was unsure if they were receiving the previous ones). https://www.dropbox.com/s/e52ilgg90irznnl/8-05-2014 Replied.png?dl=0 I was essentially trying to convey my annoyance at what had been happening without angering the artist. The artist did reply to this email the same day. Said email and the response I sent can be seen below. https://www.dropbox.com/s/geoqk5eexfs9y52/14-05-2014.png?dl=0 I was happy with the response and decided to wait patiently again. I was also expecting a full response to the previous email I sent, which the artist said they would send. However I never received this. At this point a long period of receiving no updates or such happened again. I asked for an update on 13th October 2014 and, after receiving no response to this email, I sent the following email on 14th November 2014. https://www.dropbox.com/s/3vboeaeulmzajon/14-11-2014 Replied.png?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/l68ddwcsum3020g/14-11-2014 Replied Part 2.png?dl=0 The artist sent a prompt reply to this email and sent the following response. https://www.dropbox.com/s/ces8u6o3n0rjtwz/Untitled.png?dl=0 I was satisfied with this reply and decided to wait again. I didn’t receive the progress update and the end of the year came and went so I sent an email asking for an update on 8th January 2015 and 1st February 2015. https://www.dropbox.com/s/81ip6v5p0ez98nh/08-01-2015.png?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/1grmzbrxkuwdlr6/01-02-2015.png?dl=0 At this point I was getting very frustrated and ended up sending the following email on 12th February 2015. https://www.dropbox.com/s/1hc27tjieb65gbn/12-02-2015 (Replied).png?dl=0 I’ll admit this email was very rude and I could have worded it a lot better. I sent a similar worded message to the artist’s tumblr. Neither received a response (most likely due to the tone of the email). I eventually sent an ask to the artist’s tumblr and got A response saying that he would refund me the money as I can't comprehend that if I’m not able to get back to your emails on your timetable, it must mean I’m busy" (I don't have a screen shot of the original message unfortunately as it has since been deleted). At this point I sent a hastily written response to the tumblr message on my phone where I compalined about the long periods of time between responses (again, don't have a screenshot of the orginal message unforutnately). At this point I genuinely still wanted the commission and thought both messages were very rude so I wrote an apology email which is below. https://www.dropbox.com/s/v6ymh6zmog38inc/28-02-2015 Apology email.png?dl=0 A Little while after that I sent this email to him. https://www.dropbox.com/s/8ti76r3odcbx4zs/Robaato March 9th 2015.png?dl=0 The general gist of it was essentially me explaining why I was annoyed with him. The links are to pictures of the correspondence I have recieved from him. He sent me this response the next day. https://www.dropbox.com/s/ow1jj6jwu4d7ddq/Robaato March 10th 2015.png?dl=0 I then sent a response, giving him my paypal email. After not hearing anything for a while I sent him this email on January 4th 2016. https://www.dropbox.com/s/dfmqpe6fyxcsevl/Robaato January 4th 2016.png?dl=0 I sent this from two different emails. I never got a reply. Since then I have tried to contact him on twitter. He claimed he had never received the emails on one occassion and that he was waiting to be paid, but after that any messages I sent where eithier missed or ignored. At this point I don't think I will ever receive a refund from this artist. Most attempts to conact him have been unsuccessful. He has claimed that he isn't receving my emails, but I find this claim dubious as I have successfully contacted him in the past. But to get some feedback, do you think I have been overzealous or have done anything wrong here. I'd like to know if I have because I wouldn't like something like this to happen again in the future If I have caused it. EDIT: Chnaged some of the incorrect dates in the entry

https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/922014.html WHERE: http://chirart.tumblr.com WHAT: digital sketch commission WHEN: Paid August 31, 2015 (in one of the emails I mention September, but I was mistaken; it was August). Was first told that commission would be finished January 2016. Most recent contact August 10, 2016; still have not received commission. PROOF: EXPLAIN: I commissioned a digital sketch on August 31, 2015. As one can see in the Terms of Service, the waiting period can be up to 4 months. I want to say it was around November that the artist also suffered an injury that kept her from being able to create art, and I didn't want to give the impression that I was in a hurry to get the piece while she was recovering. In December 2015 I contacted her to check on how the commission progress was coming along. I was told it would be done either by the end of that month or early in January 2016. By April I still saw no sign of the commission, so I asked if there was an ETA in sight, as one can see in one of the screenshots. The artist told me that she should be working on my commission "soon", since she would be working solely on commissions that month. I sent an email in June that never got a response, and again in July. After not getting a response I sent her an ask on Tumblr on August 10, 2016. It turns out that my emails ended up in her spam box, and she apologized profusely for this. She then told me she would get the commission done that day and send it to me that night, which is the only instance I've ever seen a definite time to expect a finished product. It is now the 14th of August, very close to a year after I first paid, and I have yet to see any sign of the commission. I feel it is also worth pointing out that the artist never initiated any conversations with me. I initiated every conversation, and I feel I have been largely left in the dark throughout this process. I sent a stern (still polite) email saying that I would like to have seen an explanation as to why the commission couldn't be finished in the given time. I don't mind waiting for a commission, but I expect better communication on the artist's part. I've also told the artist that I don't want to ask for a refund just yet, because I still have a small amount of faith that I will see the commission that I've been so eager to receive. I plan on updating this post once I receive a response. UPDATE: As of August 14, 2016 I *HAVE* received my commission, to my great relief. That being said, if you are patient you will get your commission eventually, but the communication quality leaves something to be desired. To reiterate, I don't mind having to wait for a commission and I understand that life happens, but I as a client I expect to be given a heads-up if my commission is going to take longer than expected.

https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/922190.html WHO: Jaykuma / DatPisces WHERE: NSFW http://www.jaykuma.deviantart.com/ NSFW https://www.furaffinity.net/user/datpisces/ WHAT: An art trade WHEN: 4 months ago we started talking, 3 months ago scheduled it to be 2 months ago, told today it was cancelled after doing part of mine and being ignored for two months PROOF: Agreement on the trade: http://i.imgur.com/y1FuipO.png and NSFW http://i.imgur.com/P8Eso5Q.png My completed work of the trade (about half of my part asked for) NSFW http://i.imgur.com/tgBSaNM.png Their cancellation http://i.imgur.com/OhY7X6U.png EXPLAIN: Jaykuma on deviantart/DatPisces on Furaffinity had agreed to an art trade with me 4 months ago. http://i.imgur.com/y1FuipO.png They said we'd need to schedule it to be a month later. http://i.imgur.com/WZiQB2i.png Fast forward a month and they say they're starting their half tomorrow at 2am Est. http://i.imgur.com/0iD45y2.png So we work out the specifics and I start working on my half of the trade. NSFW http://i.imgur.com/P8Eso5Q.png After a few days I contact them again with what I had finished (NSFW http://i.imgur.com/tgBSaNM.png) at which point they let me know that they haven't started but they'll be done with the first part by the end of the week (because they started playing Overwatch http://i.imgur.com/K85BRA9.png). I figure alright, I'll be patient. I wait 3-4 weeks and hear nothing back from them so I send a note saying it's been a while and asking if they're still active. They read it but don't reply. A couple of weeks later I send another note asking if they forgot to reply or is something up. They don't bother opening the message. After another month of them ignoring me I decide to message their DA account asking if they could get back to me on FA. They reply saying sorry but they need to cancel the trade because "I've been busy with patreon stuff". http://i.imgur.com/OhY7X6U.png Normally I don't care if a trade gets cancelled, stuff happens. However the "starting soon!" followed by being ignored for two months then cancelled after I already did the first half of my part so that they could play videogames is incredibly rude, especially since this was scheduled a month in advance followed by two additional months. EDIT 1: As comments here suggested I let Jaykuma/DatPisces know that they can pay me for the part I've done and asked if they'd do so. They decided to not answer the question and called my persistence in being compensated "annoying" and fed me a BS sob story. http://i.imgur.com/bGg3w3t.png In the 1-2 months before our scheduled start of the trade right up to the day they said they'd start there was zero mention of time problems. The only time this was mentioned as a problem is the moment he owed me art and it's an outright lie as right as we started the trade he spent over 100 hours playing Overwatch during that month alone. I sent another message asking again if they'd compensate me and it is currently being ignored. I know he's seen the message too which is immensely frustrating. At this point I'm done dealing with them and all I can really do is hope others read this before being treated like I have.

https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/921066.html WHO: Meora_Hedva WHERE: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/meorahedva WHAT: $223 Traditional Painting to be mailed out WHEN: Originally contacted and paid for in July 2014 PROOF: First response at contact for info, price, and where to send money: http://imgur.com/DeCHHZ7 http://imgur.com/NkVa72e http://imgur.com/tGQc7Z4 EXPLAIN: Sorry that I don’t have all the screenshots of the conversations listed. It was a mixture of notes, shouts, and emails, and some I absentmindedly deleted as I didn’t know this would go on for so long. I tried to put together the important bits though! The original contact with the artist went great! I had waited for a while so I could save money before contacting her, and saw she remained active while doing so, and figured why not splurge a little on some fantastic art. As the links show up above, we came to an agreement on a large coffee painting, framed, to be mailed out to me for $223. I gave her the character I wanted in the painting, but left majority of the idea and details up to her. She told me to expect a 4-6 month wait, so I left her be. I sent an update request in April 2015, was told pretty quickly it was still being worked on as the paints need time to dry - great! I’m happy for the update and knowing she was working on it. Attempted Contact again in May 2015(unfortunately I lost the email where she did respond) but she said she had been busy and hasn’t been able to work on it, but would soon! I attempted contact with her through a couple notes and then shouts in November/December 2015, and she finally responded to me in January 2016 to let me know she had finished my commission: http://imgur.com/fIPfcU6 I emailed her with the new email and she sent me the painting files in March 2016, and a promise to mail it out once she found a frame: http://imgur.com/6ct0z7Z Waited and poked late in March 2016 through email and shout (I know shouts seem excessive, but it was how I got her attention last time), and received an email back that she still did not mail out the painting, then said she had to wait until April for a frame to arrive, which she didn’t say at all beforehand. http://imgur.com/DW5TXXz I had waited a little longer, emailed her three times between April-July 2016 for an update and, due to silence on her part, I had to resort to giving her a deadline to respond back to me before bringing it to A_B's attention. http://imgur.com/ZVb2Vkb Additional Pokes: http://imgur.com/wDi2jTp http://imgur.com/cQh1x05 All she has to do is mail me the painting, which has been paid for. I have even offered twice to pay her more for the shipping fees since they have risen since 2014. I should also point out that every time I try to initial contact for her update, she seemed to have disappeared online everywhere for months. I usually try to not commission people who have a habit of disappearing for long periods of time, but before I commissioned her she updated constantly, and we even had a mutual interest in each other’s work, so I wasn’t prepared for the lack of communication. It’s a shame overall. I still love her art, but a painting that was supposed to be done and mailed within 6 months has turned to 2 years of botchy communication, and right now about 4-5 months of silence on her end. I do not know what else to do to get her attention, so unfortunately I’m trying Artists Beware.

https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/914048.html WHO: HornedFreak WHERE: https://www.furaffinity.net/user/hornedfreak/ WHAT: Digital Art, $30 commission WHEN: Initial transaction was on March 22, 2016. I haven't seen any progress on my commission, or my name added onto HornedFreak's trello for two months. Only after I poked her about it did she add my name to the que. PROOF: http://imgur.com/oKmnQ9D - Original Journal Advertisement https://www.furaffinity.net/view/13012988/ - Ref Link 1 https://www.furaffinity.net/view/16875996/ - Ref Link 2 (NSFW) https://www.furaffinity.net/view/17174232/ - Ref Link 3 (NSFW) Aforementioned ref links were directly linked in the journal. https://www.furaffinity.net/view/12777499/ - Ref Link 4 (NSFW) Said link above was linked in the transaction note. http://imgur.com/biFXnh1 - Note conversation involving money transaction. http://imgur.com/3i73reI - Me asking for an update on my commission in May. http://imgur.com/z1hN9Wg - My second attempt in trying to contact the artist https://www.dropbox.com/s/vyqjdqpz91rxm82/User_control_panel_--_Fur_Affinity_[dot]_net_-_2016-06-26_14.49.05.png?dl=0 http://imgur.com/0vRsX2h - Journal of her new commission advertising a few days after I spoke to her asking for an update. http://imgur.com/QAsbwJR - Trello que updated a few days after I spoke to her asking for an update. http://imgur.com/oD4YmSu - My note on June 24th asking for a refund. https://www.dropbox.com/s/hlyfujzgbwfwmvo/User_control_panel_--_Fur_Affinity_[dot]_net_-_2016-06-26_15.24.33.png?dl=0 - Proof that she had read my note in my note outbox. http://imgur.com/EJ7e46e - Finished commission posted two days after I asked for a refund. (NSFW) https://www.furaffinity.net/view/20389722/ - NSFW EXPLAIN: She opened commissions on March 22nd, 2016, and she took mine. I asked her what I wanted, and let her do her thing. I haven't received an update on my commission in a while, and my name wasn't in her trello que, so on May 12, I sent her a note. My note was read, and I didn't receive a response. So I tried again a week later. I received a response on May 19 that my commission is in progress, and my name got added on her trello que. I was content for the time being, so I gave her space. A few days later on May 23rd, she opens up a new batch of commissions, which left me a little confused because at the very least, my commission in the batch I was in wasn't finished. I waited another month to receive my art, and I was getting a bit flustered by the lack of communication, and I don't know when she'd get to my commission since the progress seemed a bit slow with no update at all. I didn't see any art. So on June 24, I send her another note asking for a refund, since I saw no artwork of any kind sent to me. The note was read, and I received no response. However, two days later (today), I saw that she posted my commission; didn't notify me about it either. x_x. At this point I'm really miffed because I wanted my money back from the lack of communication, I didn't want the art anymore. So from my standpoint, it felt like she hurried to do my commission, and posted it to prevent me from getting a refund that I had already asked for two days prior, and she was aware that I had asked for it as the note was marked read in my outbox. Edit: http://imgur.com/Ku2tgKu - Conversation about the refund. As of 6/27/2016, she has refunded my money. So I consider this matter resolved.

https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/910500.html Included are links to screenshots of the journals etc in case of deletion. WHO: soaru@dA (old account) / hatchimi@dA (new account/formerly Dollrot) WHERE: http://soaru.deviantart.com/ http://hatchimi.deviantart.com/ WHAT: Digital art - Pixel icons x4 - $40 total (+paypal fees) (92 total icons owed to others on her to do list) WHEN: Soaru had claimed to have been diagnosed with Carpal Tunnel Syndrome in early May 2014. We were all very understanding of her situation and that there would be delays with her commissions. ( https://i.gyazo.com/2d18a1584409cebc7fd6d15f3f87241e.png journal link: http://soaru.deviantart.com/journal/Carpal-Tunnel-Diagnosis-453965909 ) and then another notice to commissioners: ( https://i.gyazo.com/cda7fca79f835063a19bd737fd96fc10.png journal link: http://soaru.deviantart.com/journal/Attention-commissioners-454227201 ) I first noted soaru about the icon commissions on July 17th, 2014, then the agreement was made and I sent the payment the same day. (see screenshots in ‘proof’) Soaru had then made a journal on July 26th 2014 to state that she had unlimited pixel slots open for the summer ( https://i.gyazo.com/ff5ccf459452bb685191edc39e486352.png Journal link: http://soaru.deviantart.com/journal/work-work-work-470968786 ) Unlimited slots never being a promising sign, but I am a patient person, and didn’t think much of it at the time. A few more updates regarding soaru’s recovery and commission progress were posted between August 2014 until August 2015 (I will get into these in my explanation below). The final update on August 25th 2015 was about her recovery and any updates for commissioners, and since then the account has been dead. PROOF: commission note paypal transaction EXPLAIN: As stated above, soaru had been diagnosed with Carpal tunnel syndrome. She posted a journal about it on May 14th, 2014 and continued updates on her situation. When soaru had opened commissions, I sent her a note expressing my interest, and the agreement was made on July 17th. I sent the payment the same day. On July 26th 2014, soaru posted a new journal stating that she had unlimited pixel slots open for the summer, ( https://i.gyazo.com/ff5ccf459452bb685191edc39e486352.png Journal link: http://soaru.deviantart.com/journal/work-work-work-470968786 ). I didn’t think much of this at the time. On August 20th 2014, Soaru posted a commission update ( https://i.gyazo.com/1b08df12e524cd8658c41b2a8160a8c6.png journal link: http://soaru.deviantart.com/journal/Commission-update-476955835 ), stating that she was working very hard on completing her commissions right now. She asks for our patience due to work and having to take breaks because of her carpal tunnel. I was in no rush for my commissions and only wished for her recovery, as I really couldn’t imagine how awful it must be to suffer from carpal tunnel as an artist.. She adds “I did not forget about your commission, don’t worry.” The next update was on October 6th 2014. Soaru states that commissions are now closed for a good year or so. She tells us that she is very busy with work, so commission progress is moving very slowly, and apologises for the wait. I can appreciate that she is going through hard times, so a few months isn’t much to wait given her situation. “I will not update you on how your commission if coming along because there are too many of you to note. I assure you I WILL complete the commission as soon as possible. So please be patient with me. You will receive your commission when you get it.” And no, I have no idea as to when you will receive it, and for that I'd like to apologize. I also won't be providing any refunds. You will get what you paid for.” I’m a patient person and I could appreciate that taking unlimited slots as there would be a lot of people on her to do list, but looking back now, not receiving any kind of progress report on how your commission is coming along is a pretty bad sign as well as stating that you have “no idea when a commissioner will receive their commission.” But again I was willing to wait and a few months wasn’t anything to complain about given her life situation. (https://i.gyazo.com/83b4d48b277187c21701d02963b5f5f7.png journal link: http://soaru.deviantart.com/journal/Commissioners-PLEASE-READ-486724217 ) Between October 2014 and February 2015, there was no real update on soaru’s commission progress or her condition. Apart from posting a journal in December asking if her commissioners would mind if she used her new base for their commissions or not. (I requested to stick to the original base I had ordered as it fit my characters better). ( https://i.gyazo.com/934a152cd6297a6082aef184dc9e00f3.png journal link: http://soaru.deviantart.com/journal/Question-for-people-who-have-commissioned-me-498366584 ), though you could hardly call this an update. Finally on February 10th, 2015, soaru posts her public to-do list and an apology for the delay with her commissions. (https://i.gyazo.com/67931c13a0edf8575e38623994e9681c.png journal link: http://soaru.deviantart.com/journal/TO-DO-LIST-UPDATED-PLEASE-READ-THIS-OMG-512941211 ) On this list there are a total of 96 commissions yet to be completed. At the time, I simply thought she’s stated many times she is working hard to get these done so over the course of months hopefully her list will get shorter and shorter, and she will get through these and can look past this tough time in her life. The next and major life update was posted on July 13th 2015: ( https://i.gyazo.com/8e096687c3b8c8bc92baef371ba68a41.png https://i.gyazo.com/7e8bc4738ff1ea001597797b8e525eec.png journal link: http://soaru.deviantart.com/journal/Life-Update-ADDED-546016180 [screenshot & link to updates journal linked at the bottom: https://i.gyazo.com/12e87e334c506d2f8477ef92f83e50d7.png journal link: http://soaru.deviantart.com/journal/updates-447349674]). Soaru talks about how she realizes how unhappy a lot of her commissioners are with her services, her surgery and the date being under negotiation, and that she has been going through recovery. “I'd like to assure ALL MY COMMISSIONERS that I am not running away with your money. I WOULD LOVE to provide refunds to all of you, I cannot stress that enough. But I simply do not have the funds to do so. I know I've already asked you all to be very patient with me, and some of you have and I'm very grateful for that. I do not expect everyone to be understanding of my situation financially/mentally/physically, but you WILL receive your commission.” Her last update and sign of any activity on her account was on August 25th 2015. ( https://i.gyazo.com/0153602488fb599d70ff0bb7bad6a9fa.png journal link: http://soaru.deviantart.com/journal/Recovery-Update-556158826 ) A promising recovery update stating that soaru’s wounds are healing well, she still experiences some pain but it should disappear soon. She says she should be able to start commissions mid-September. She says she’ll be sure to post a journal update, as well as join.me streams of commission work, and finally that “You will also be provided with WIP's of your pixel so you know I'm actually doing your commission.” I cannot speak for everyone on her list but I have not received any kind of work in progress shots from soaru. Since then, soaru had provided no updates about surgery dates, delays, or any kind of work in progress to assure people that she was indeed trying to work on these commissions as she had been stating for the last year. Many of the comments on her page and in her journals talk about the lack of any kind of update given the situation and the wait for all of her commissioners. Soaru is even ignoring notes and comments from her clients. Many of the comments urged her to think about trying to refund even just a few commissioners to lessen her workload and to just resolve the situation as quickly as possible. Soaru also states that once her recovery is over she will be working her hardest to finish all of her commissions in response to another comment. I tried to note her back in January: ( https://i.gyazo.com/cf393ed24d2d8fe08285099283e79359.png ) to ask about changing characters since it has been so long that I had forgotten who I had even requested, but there has been no response. However, in my sent notes it is marked as read. Around late February, a friend and I (who is also on soaru’s to do list) came across a deviantart account named dollrot, but recently changed to hatchimi. At the time there was no evidence that hatchimi and soaru are the same individual, however we did find her art style to bear very close similarities to soaru’s. For some time we just kept an eye out since there wasn’t much posted to hatchimi’s gallery at the time and it could just be a similar style. Here is a comparison we compiled of all the similarities we found (style wise) : http://orig03.deviantart.net/d537/f/2016/154/f/1/comparisons_by_theangelofmemories-da4ubbh.png Over the course of the last few months we’ve tried to gather as much evidence as we can that links hatchimi and soaru as the same person. A few things we noticed: Her icon style is in the same style as her old one (they’re not made from the same base, but the way the eyes are pixeled have the same technique done on them, plus they almost overlap in terms of head placement over body) She still uses bases extremely frequently and they all have their toes pointing inwards with their hands by their sides with closed fingers. A similar technique with the way she shades her noses, and the highlights in the character’s eyes Handwriting comparison http://orig02.deviantart.net/06b4/f/2016/166/2/f/handwritting_by_royal_jelliefish-da6ck3m.png The first semi-concrete proof comes in the form of a work in progress shot from soaru, and something I noticed when I popped in to one of hatchimi’s picarto streams a few weeks ago. This is Soaru's wip screenshot with her file location atop the SAI window. notice the "C:/users/mew/desktop/file/cootiewootie.psd" Now, look at the location on this screenshot taken from Hatchimi's picarto stream. Same user name and location as to where the file is saved. "C:/users/mew/desktop/file/BASEA.psd" Along with the similarities of their style, noticing that they share the same user name and have the habit to save on the desktop is too much of a coincidence. Now, the evidence we have found that positively links soaru and hatchimi as the same person was something I noticed when hatchimi posted her artvsartist meme. She has since taken it down but you can still view it via google cache here: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://hatchimi.deviantart.com/art/artvsartiste-611370644 screenshot: https://i.gyazo.com/ad467bb0d3af2f1e4794c2464916a57f.jpg A while back soaru had posted a self portrait to her deviantart, and looking at the two images it’s hard to think they’re two different people. Please note the same piercings and gauge in her ear as well as the facial similarity. http://fav.me/d8hcuq8 screenshot: https://i.gyazo.com/090fdf9f9535898df2d0febda19d16d6.png A friend had found soaru’s old paypal/email address through the icon commission transaction. Hatchimi’s current paypal does not contain personal information linking her to soaru, but with some digging with the ‘soaru’ email address, we have discovered it is used for her instagram account that has been up since 2012 and is still active: https://i.gyazo.com/b536e315ee2473202d9842807a0a1561.png When lined up side by side from the image from the artvsartist meme: https://i.gyazo.com/09f0a7f2270ec47712465a1e29420878.png The name that appears in the transaction for the payment to soaru from 2 years ago also matches the name on the instagram account if there is still any doubt that they are the same person. The evidence collected in this case was through a group effort from her dissatisfied customers I have reached out to. **Edit : 17/06/2016 We have posted jorunals on deviantart revealing our findings and to spread the word. my friends (who has been in contact with hatchimi to send her the beware post and to see if the situation could still be privately resolved) : http://royal-jelliefish.deviantart.com/journal/ARTIST-BEWARE-Soaru-Hatchimi-615658826 Hatchimi has also posted a journal with her defenses and some evidence of a conversation between herself and soaru through email, as well as a note she sent inquiring about commissions to soaru. http://hatchimi.deviantart.com/journal/Harassment-soaru-drama-615813488 Someone picked up that there is a tab open in this screenshot for 'msn canada' it isn't by any means concrete but it could confirm her location, and this could be another piece of evidence that links another similarity between them. http://orig06.deviantart.net/ce3f/f/2016/165/e/a/ccb568bad3054274b7fe6f00b4a87a34_by_hatchimi-da6aqen.png anoher edit: a user found a page in the waybackmachine that has her country listed as canada: http://web.archive.org/web/20151024030234/http://dollrot.deviantart.com/ So we can prove that she and soaru share the same location. A big question for me in all of this is that why now of all times would she choose to reveal this screenshot of her noting soaru about asking about commissions? Surely its a strong piece of evidence to support that the two are different people, so why wouldn't she send it to us sooner rather than this much later? http://img10.deviantart.net/289a/i/2016/168/6/a/proof1_by_hatchimi-da6mxv6.png (screenshot in case of deletion: https://i.gyazo.com/f95a0191f17fd6a7aa8e13112f34e47b.png ) At first it looks fairly normal, but someone commenting on the beware journal checked their old notes from before they changed their username, ane the previous username shows up in older notes, not the new on since hatchimi was formerly Dollrot until earlier this year, why does it say "Hatchimi said the following" and not "Dollrot said the following"..? Another commenter then claimed that it is possible to run a test on images which will tell you if the image has been edited, and the screenshot came up as edited in photoshop, so this tells us that the note screenshot is fake. Here are the websites one can use to detect a doctored image: http://fotoforensics.com/ http://imageedited.com/ Hatchimi is still denying that she and soaru are the same person, despite all of these new revelations, I will continue to update as more light is shed.

https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/910025.html WHO: Lingling-arts WHERE: Lingling-Arts WHAT: A digital YCH for two characters for 500 points (roughly the equivalent of $5.00) WHEN: The YCH was submitted on February 1st 2016, and I contacted her the same day. Our last interaction was on May 23rd, 2016. PROOF: http://imgur.com/a/WaVBa Some links are provided within explanation. EXPLAIN: On February 1st, I saw a really cute Valentines Day YCH was posted. Since I had points to spare, and it was within my limited price range, I scooped it up. I transferred 500 points to her. The first was completed on February 5th, and the next was submitted the next day. It was kind of strange, since it appeared she had skipped over me (I was the first) and went onto the next people. I didn't think much about it. She submitted the next, and so far last one, on February 12th. http://lingling-arts.deviantart.com/art/TakeALook-MyGF-gl0wstars-588957466 http://lingling-arts.deviantart.com/art/TakeALook-MyBF-ClockworkWillow-589170834 http://lingling-arts.deviantart.com/art/TakeALook-MyBF-Thoughtful-Stargazer-590435859 The day before Valentines Day came, and she posted a journal. It was about her entering an artistic slump, so there wasn't going to be much art coming. I was a bit disappointed due to not getting it in time, but I didn't fret. It was going to be a cute pic any of my favorite anthros. About two weeks pass, and she posts another journal on February 27th. She claims she has no inspiration, she's leaving, that she knew taking on 5 slots for her YCH was a bad idea, and she'll repay the remaining people. http://lingling-arts.deviantart.com/journal/No-Inspiration-Leaving-again-593432926 Alright, stuff happens. I'm very sad that I wouldn't be getting the pic I really wanted, but at least I'll get my points back. March comes along, and I'm getting kind of impatient. I ask her if I'll be getting them back soon, and she says she doesn't have any at the moment. March 8th, March 14th, and March 17th she steadily posts art again. http://lingling-arts.deviantart.com/art/PrincessDay-WIP2-595419685 http://lingling-arts.deviantart.com/art/WALK-596722555 http://lingling-arts.deviantart.com/art/Family-Matters-597132702 On March 18th, she posts another YCH. http://lingling-arts.deviantart.com/art/YCH-5-597466305 She completes the slot on that and does two more pieces on the 20th and May 20th. On the last piece, she mentions her inspiration came back for a moment, but left her as soon as she completed it. http://lingling-arts.deviantart.com/art/YCH-5-PrincelyPixels-597613247 http://lingling-arts.deviantart.com/art/Theres-A-First-For-Everything-597869166 http://lingling-arts.deviantart.com/art/Spideypool-pone-610256124 Fed up, I warn her on May 23rd that if I don't have my points back by June 1st, I'll be making an artists beware. She tells me to go ahead, and that she's lost all her inspiration and has no points to give me. May 30th comes, and she posts a journal. She states she's not coming back because her inspiration has left her. She also says she doesn't care if we report her for not returning our points. It may have been just 5.00, but 5.00 wasted. I don't care about inspiration, I paid you to do something and you've scammed me. I haven't reached out to the other person who hadn't received any art from her, so I do not know if she paid him back or not. Current Mood: Mad Update 12/17/16 - Today I have recevied my points from Lingling back in full. I'd mark this as a resovled.

https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/908926.html WHERE: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/bakasnowbunny/ and https://mobile.twitter.com/BakaSnowBunny WHAT: Partial fursuit commission, later refunded. WHEN: February 22nd; payment was held until March 14th. http://www.ezimba.com/work/160525C/ezimba13736210837000.jpg Refund issued on May 20th. http://www.ezimba.com/work/160525C/ezimba13736230758000.jpg PROOF: PayPal transactions are above. Unfortunately my Gmail isn't letting me retrieve the emails sent from February to March. I updated them weekly as I was working on other commissions for clients whose payments were received before hers. I'll explain what went down in those emails below. Initial reference sheet given: http://www.ezimba.com/work/160531C/ezimba12682757348300.jpg Colors change from pink to purple (were pink on the reference sheet, later change to purple when the design changes) http://www.ezimba.com/work/160531C/ezimba12682780450500.png http://www.ezimba.com/work/160531C/ezimba12682799660500.png She asks about the color again 2 days after ordering the fur, which she had approved then. The new reference comes up a few days after this but I can't seem to find that e-mail. http://www.ezimba.com/work/160531C/ezimba12682770468700.png Having the nose moved: http://www.ezimba.com/work/160531C/ezimba12682757572500.png http://www.ezimba.com/work/160531C/ezimba12682773362000.png http://www.ezimba.com/work/160531C/ezimba12682799789500.png http://www.ezimba.com/work/160531C/ezimba12682743573300.png (in reference to where the nose was first) Her asking about the dots above the eyes when I mention the ones UNDER the eyes (so maybe there's another dot not on the reference sheet?): http://www.ezimba.com/work/160531C/ezimba12682743277600.png http://www.ezimba.com/work/160531C/ezimba12682713249500.png http://www.ezimba.com/work/160531C/ezimba12682759983300.png Me refunding her, starting with the tail issues: http://www.ezimba.com/work/160525C/ezimba13736274181200.jpg http://www.ezimba.com/work/160525C/ezimba13736210648100.jpg http://www.ezimba.com/work/160525C/ezimba13736214488700.jpg http://www.ezimba.com/work/160525C/ezimba13736215937600.jpg http://www.ezimba.com/work/160525C/ezimba13736241789200.jpg http://www.ezimba.com/work/160525C/ezimba13736254110500.jpg http://www.ezimba.com/work/160525C/ezimba13736269066900.jpg http://www.ezimba.com/work/160525C/ezimba13736260942300.jpg http://www.ezimba.com/work/160525C/ezimba13736269846400.jpg http://www.ezimba.com/work/160525C/ezimba13736220547700.jpg http://www.ezimba.com/work/160525C/ezimba13736285150000.jpg http://www.ezimba.com/work/160525C/ezimba13736288180900.jpg http://www.ezimba.com/work/160525C/ezimba13736249328300.jpg http://www.ezimba.com/work/160525C/ezimba13736264931200.jpg http://www.ezimba.com/work/160525C/ezimba13736286129200.jpg Twitter posts: http://www.ezimba.com/work/160525C/ezimba13736274107100.jpg http://www.ezimba.com/work/160525C/ezimba13736299628000.jpg http://www.ezimba.com/work/160525C/ezimba13736297296300.jpg Her boyfriend sent me notes on FA, again blaming me for her depression: http://www.ezimba.com/work/160525C/ezimba13736275769200.jpg FurAffinity journal about me: http://www.ezimba.com/work/160525C/ezimba13736275402700.jpg EXPLAIN: In late March I started working on my clients fursuit. I should have refunded them then, because despite saying that she was patient she would ask for changes (the nose, for instance, was moved 4 times), questioned how I did things compared to others (not as a compliment, as if I was doing it wrong) and she gave me odd measurements (I have it recorded that her hip to heel measurement is 44" and the head size changed three times). I was sent two different reference sheets, which changed in late March again. I was incredibly patient until we got to the tail, in which the furs she picked out herself were apparently not long enough, and she questioned how I made it. At this point I put my foot down and decided to refund her. She threw a fit at work, blamed me for her depression, sent her boyfriend after me, posted about me on Twitter and then later made a journal after the supplies arrived. She would not give me her PayPal address or shipping address so I had to find them through PayPal myself; she switched off receiving payments while I looked too (as there was a period of time where she wouldn't answer my emails). She was taking PWYW commissions during this time so that's how I know she switched it off on me. I sent her everything I had involving the commission: fabric, the base, feet, tail, claws, patterns, etc. I was more than halfway done with the commission when it was refunded which is why this situation is difficult. A week after canceling her father decided to contact me on behalf of the commission. He sends me very threatening e-mails and demands a larger refund than what I had given her. He even gives me his phone number and asks me to call him (which I don't do; the phone number was sent in a side e-mail that I did not include because it solely contained the number alone). http://www.ezimba.com/work/160531C/ezimba12682752279400.png http://www.ezimba.com/work/160531C/ezimba12682791641300.png http://www.ezimba.com/work/160531C/ezimba12682783556000.png http://www.ezimba.com/work/160531C/ezimba12682771676200.png http://www.ezimba.com/work/160531C/ezimba12682776155700.png He also forwards me the first set of measurements I was sent which I have left some notes on. http://www.ezimba.com/work/160531C/ezimba12682757783500.png There is an error somewhere where I mention her shoe size is US women's 8 instead of 10 1/2. I have it marked that I got her 10 1/2 shoes. http://www.ezimba.com/work/160531C/ezimba12682740583600.jpg http://www.ezimba.com/work/160531C/ezimba12682788472100.png (The purchase through eBay) Do not work with this individual. It's unfortunately one of those situations where you just can't please someone, no matter how hard you try. EDIT June 1st 4:30PM: More tweets about me. http://www.ezimba.com/work/160602C/ezimba12682785868100.png http://www.ezimba.com/work/160602C/ezimba12682749512500.png http://www.ezimba.com/work/160602C/ezimba12682723872100.png EDIT June 4th 6:45PM: Found this in my spam as I was looking for an e-mail from another artist that accidentally went there. My parents are fully aware of the matter and will not be contacting him as they helped me with the number crunching with the refund and relaying of e-mails with him. http://www.ezimba.com/work/160605C/ezimba12682792641600.png EDIT June 9th 7:00PM: Came home to see that the client (or her father) issued a chargeback on my account. http://www.ezimba.com/work/160610C/ezimba12682772759100.png EDIT July 27: A second chargeback has been issued by the father. http://www.ezimba.com/work/160728C/ezimba19677183466200.png

https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/908567.html WHO: Bioblaze WHERE: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/bioblaze/ WHAT: The user had won the primary sought after spot in a large multi character auction that has STILL not been paid for. (All screencaps will go in the explain section for timeline consistency) WHEN: Feb 5th, 2014 to March 29th 2016 PROOF: All screencaps will be in the explain section for timeline consistency. EXPLAIN: Back in early 2014, I decided to expand my capabilities and do a mind numbingly heavy project auction consisting of 10 characters in a butcher shop scene to please my vore community. http://www.furaffinity.net/view/12671477/ (mature rated due to FA's rediculous maturity laws though there is no actual mature content in the picture) A great deal of haggling occurred over the coveted position of the butcher himself, with the price VERY swiftly rising from 15$ to a whopping 75$ over very little time. There was a minor scuffle between Bioblaze and another bidder, as he accused them of just trying to drive up the price with no intention to pay. I smoothed the fight over, explaining that the other bidder was a long time commissioner of mine and that they always paid up. Argument now over, the two had some friendly competition for the spot which Bioblaze eventually took. He insisted on paying for it partway through my actually drawing it, which I normally frown upon because I dont want to leave someone screwed over if my laptop dies or something, but I gave up my contact information anyways and even offered him a preview of how it was coming along. Afterall, he had the most unique character in the set and I wanted to make sure I got it right. It took him a while to reply to anything but I assumed he was busy with work so I let it slide. Right after I gave him my contact information for payment, he went missing. Totally. Nobody could get hold of him, none of his notes were being answered, he just dropped off the face of the planet. He resurfaced a year later claiming to have been hit by a bus, saying he was in the hospital this whole time but now he was loose and wanted to pay up any debts. Little fishy but ok, shit happens, right? (the journals he had talked about the accident in have all been deleted and i did not get screenshots at the time because I wasnt overly suspicious yet.) I answered the journal, thinking I could finally get the 75$, which at this point was starting to become a needed thing as I was slowly falling into financial issues with my credit card. Lo and behold, he goes missing again. Resurfaces several months and a good many notes later with this gem: By now I am suspicious AND annoyed, but still. Relapses happen and I am nothing if not forgiving. So I give him another chance to..... apparently go missing. Another almost full year passes before he shows activity on his account again. All his journals had been deleted and replaced with a call out for people willing to work on some sort of programming project with him and paid commissions he bought started popping up in his submissions. So I mail him one more time thinking ok THIS TIME he should be good, right? Play it cool, keep it casual and lighthearted, and maybe he won't know that I have been stewing in frustration and debt for two years? Ok! looking good! he seems willing to play along and he CLEARLY has recovered and is looking to throw money around. Should be a piece of cake for him to get me off his back. Apparently its easier to brush me off as being impatient and petty over a measly 75$ that's been owed to me for 2 years. At this point I am too pissed to answer him back. It has been two months now and I haven't heard anything from him. No payments, no "hey i got paid but something came up so i will be another month", no anything. I don't want to contact him again since I have a feeling he will throw off some excuse and brush me aside AGAIN, or worse he will go missing for some reason or another again. I am so done with this guy. That commission would have pulled me out of debt enough to be able to pay off the rest myself with my part time job but instead I had to get my parents assistance years later when I realized he wasn't coming back. Apparently I am the only person on FA who he is refusing to pay. I have contacted other commissioners and they all say he paid up immediately. I don't know what I did to offend him so much but anyone else who is doing art for him may want to get paid up front before he walks in front of a bus again.

https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/907161.html WHO: Kanel WHERE: https://www.furaffinity.net/user/kanel WHAT: Digital image. 2 character, Fullbody, Painted and simple background. Later 'upgraded' for the wait. $40 initially + $20 simple background added later = $60 WHEN: February 7th, 2012 initial payment and commissioning. Restarted commission around May 2013. Restarted again in December 2015. PROOF: Agreement of commission Payment for initial commission Journal showing all commissions initially Second payment for background added on later First WIP image in July 2012 Restarted WIP in 2013 Asking to restart again in March 2015 Second restart WIP image (December 2015) February request for update March request for update April request for update and notice of intent to go to AB EXPLAIN: Just for my own sanity of how long it’s been, I organized the events of what happened in each year since this whole commission got started. It might be unusual but it also seems unusual for a commission to take this long. Because it’s been so long, some of the pictures, skype logs, and other things have been lost but I’ve done my best to try and get everything relevant. ------------- An explanation before I begin, I’ve had three different computers. One is where all the screenshots I have on here is the oldest and I don’t actually use anymore because of various issues with it after 2012. Second one, where all of my logs were died last summer. Hard drive gave out around June 2015 and no way to recover anything on it. Third is this computer I’m using now which I received in in September 2015 has virtually nothing on here. So I have a dead spot in skype chats between late 2012 till late 2015. Kanel and I used to be good friends at one point. I found him on FA early one before he really got noticed and achieved popufur status. We played video games together several times and talked together quite a bit over the years. I commissioned him 2 separate times before all this with no problems. Over time though we started talking less and less until we drifted apart as we have now. 2012 Kanel opened commissions and I managed to nab a spot. http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/3163112/ We shortly afterwards we discussed and agreed upon an idea which cost 35 dollars. I’m not sure why at the time but I paid 40 dollars instead and sent it to him. https://www.dropbox.com/s/gct6e4aw31t4ytb/DS 1a.png?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/qvtcergu1fc0oja/Pay 1.png?dl=0 He then posted a journal with a commission list, later in the day, with my commission and two previous completed ones I had with him along with several others in the batch I’m in. http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/3163656/ Later Kanel expressed concerns about the subject matter as something he wasn’t very interested in doing (which now that I look back even I now I was wondering what I was thinking) so we changed the commission to a fight scene between our characters that could both enjoy. Suggested I cover the cost for a background to make it look better but Kanel didn’t want me to pay because he felt a bit sorry for such a long wait. I thought it was only right that I pay the cost, at the time being 20 dollars, and sent it out. First half of combined screenshots Second half of combined screenshots For those who can't read those two for any reason, here are the individual screenshots. Quite a lot of them though. Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12 Part 13 Part 14 Part 15 Part 16 Part 17 Part 18 Payment of background: https://www.dropbox.com/s/in1mzrt5y5qz163/Pay 2.png?dl=0 About a month later Kanel would stream work on the picture. He would get his character colored and shaded while my character was mostly done except for some shading. There were some ‘sketchy’ background ideas drawn in but none of them he liked though and were cut out from the progress he stopped at. https://www.dropbox.com/s/kxch66sk24f3t4s/SK 29.png?dl=0 Shortly afterwards he asked for my opinion about opening up some commissions again. My commission and the majority of the others that he had accepted back in February were not done yet. He needed some income at the time to support himself and his family. My opinion then, and still now, is to be open and keep everyone updated one what’s going on with you and why you need to take more commissions. Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Later opened commissions journal 2013 I’m not quite sure when exactly Kanel worked on the picture again but he had started over actually and gave me a screenshot of the new picture. I was very surprised at the time but glad that he had worked on it and was farther along than the last picture. Unfortunately the skype logs during this time are lost but I still have the screenshot from then and is dated to have been created on May 17th, 2013. https://www.dropbox.com/s/q76ajxu0is3amks/b59215f815916d704c309f3a465827f7.png?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/zidj2xmwewblrew/b3942fd923921.png?dl=0 Because of the update and the image looked farther along, I was satisfied with him making progress and left him alone for the rest of the year. Like I said at the beginning, I have a lot of patience and didn’t want to stress him out. 2014 No notes were found for this year and any skype logs I had died with my last computer. No data available for this year. 2015 Every year after this point I would ask for an update on the commission in late February as sort of the anniversary of when I commissioned him. Once again he asked if I would agree to change the subject of the commission again, something league related. I thought this might be just the last motivation he needed to finish the commission so I approved the subject change. If he wasn’t liking the old subject then hopefully this new one would motivate him to finish it. At the time, were we both starting to get into league of legends so it seemed like a good idea. Originally it was something along the lines of us working together to fight Baron Nashor, my character as Rugged Garen (DEMACIA). All screenshots mashed together: https://www.dropbox.com/s/1qjjqu535do32v2/FA screenshot 1.jpg?dl=0 Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 It was getting a bit annoying at this point that Kanel didn’t have any significant update for me and wanted to start it over again. He was accepting more commissions and opening his patreon pages with his personal projects and commission rewards (Reward tier where you get the equivalent of a commission). I knew the adopts that he did every few month were to cover his rent and a bit more for food but still hurt that he was doing new stuff rather than old commissions. Eventually in October and November, I finally started pressuring him a bit more about the commission. https://www.dropbox.com/s/vli216e7tsbqy39/DF 1.png?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/jjcmejo0quww2pl/DF 2.png?dl=0 December, shortly after I asked if he made any progress, he started streaming my commission with the league related subject. He did two separate days of it but I missed most of the second day sadly since I passed out mid-stream. Last I saw was of our characters and him working on a very detailed background with us both having killed Teemo. http://www.furaffinity.net/view/18520987/ 2016 I was still pretty satisfied with him having worked on it back in December but was surprised he handed worked on it again to finish the image. When I asked for an update in late February, he let me know that he still planned to finish it and wanted to give me a refund as well. I replied letting him know it was 60 dollars and that he would send me the cash the following weekend but nothing came. https://www.dropbox.com/s/oyi0z4ol8bl83dr/DF 3a.png?dl=0 End of March, I asked for an update again but he had none. Also he wanted me to refrain from asking for updates on the image part of the commission as well after he had sent me my money back. The image would be considered a giftart apology for waiting or interest for such a long wait. Still didn’t receive a refund. https://www.dropbox.com/s/h7n8t3nf54c08ke/DF 5.png?dl=0 End of April, I asked for an update again but he still had none. At that time I mentioned my intention to eventually go to Artist Beware with the issue which he was understandably irritated about. I would be too if someone was going to make a post on here about me. Still with no progress on my commission and no refund, it does not appear to be coming to an end anytime soon. https://www.dropbox.com/s/fm3m0iiw4n3w9xy/DF 4.png?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/e9p230lwlr7e7rl/DF 6.png?dl=0 I don’t think there is any true malicious intent on his part at all but more leaning towards negligence. Probably he wanted to get the commissions done that were newer and of people where were bugging him more to get them done. This month so far he has made work on his patreon rewards but seems behind on those as well. I don’t really know what his situation is as far as his commissions and patreon rewards but I do wish he would talk about it and be a bit more open. It really sucks that it’s come to this but I don’t quite feel like my commission is going to get finished without this and it would probably be a few more months before I get my refund too. Posting this here probably burns what bit of friendship we still had but seems like this is my only option. It has been over 4 years since I commissioned him. Each time he gets past half way done before scrapping it and starting over because his style changed, to do more for the picture as an apology for taking so long, or because he lost his motivation to finish the image before this one. His art has improved but his work ethics hasn’t quite kept up with the demand he has gotten for his art. I know I’m not the only person he owes art to. There are others that have commissions from him in the year 2013 (Some done others not). Plus he has been having a bundle of (NSFW) patreon commission rewards pile up every month. Occasionally he will take a simple sketch commission or do in (NSFW)stream commission he announces on twitter. He also has his own patreon for his personal comic art that he used to do but hasn't touched for a while. (I could probably fill out a long list of different times he has taken commissions over the years but that would be very long a bit more work that needed. If requested though, I can add them later.) I’m probably not his first priority to do at the moment and that’s fine. Unfortunately my patience has essentially ran out now and a more aggressive approach is needed. This will be held here as unresolved until his promise is fulfilled back in February. Refund of $60 and the commission image. I think that's fair since that's what was offered. Update: Kanel finally sent the refund. That was fast.

https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/906397.html WHO: Gideon Hoss WHERE: Anthrocon Pittsburgh, PA, July 9th-12th, 2015 http://www.furaffinity.net/user/gideon / http://www.gideonscorral.com/ WHAT: traditional "con sketch" for $40 WHEN: Friday, July 10th, 12:45PM Pittsburgh time EXPLAIN: As soon as the dealer's room opened, I rushed in to get several commissions for a friend of mine in Sweden, knowing that sketch slots fill up fast. One of my friend’s requests was NSFW sketch of his zebra/dog character (Gideon is well known for his hyper-genetila pictures.) After securing commissions from several other artists first, I arrived at his both around 12:30pm. I purchased a sketch commission slot for $40, along with one of his CD compilations for $10. I gave him my friend’s character references, along with a description of what he wanted, and paid the $50 at that time using my PayPal debit card (see receipts above). I was told he would complete the sketch that night and it would be available for pick up the next morning. The next day (Saturday), I went to his booth to pick up the sketch, but was told he didn’t have enough time to complete it, and that he would try to get it done that night for me. Ok, fine. Things happen, sketches take longer then they expect, etc. Again, when I went to his booth the next day, I was again told that he did not complete it, but he would try to get it done before the end of the con. We exchanged phone numbers so that he could text me when it was ready. Instead, later that evening he texted me to say he did not complete it, but would do so when he got home and mail it to me. I waited several weeks with no messages from him, so I sent him a text message inquiring about the status of the sketch, but he never responded. I tried several more text messages after that over the following weeks, and again received no response. I was able to locate his email address on his website and attempted to contact him that way, but again received no response. As it turns out, my friend was going to be attending Eurofurence in August 2015, and Gideon was to have a booth there. They exchanges several emails and made arrangements to meet to pick it up, but Gideon never showed up at the arranged time. After that con, he again failed to contact us. Both my friend and I attempted to email him every couple weeks or so after that, and he yet again didn’t respond. In September, I again tried contact him as I saw that he was going to be at the Rainfurrest convention in Seattle later that month and could make arrangements to pick up the sketch, as I was going to be in the area visiting friends. Again, I received no response from him. In November, I tried to contact him via his Furaffinity.com account. Needless to say, I was very surprised when he actually *DID* respond. He claimed he was not receiving our emails (which I find very hard to believe since they seemed to work just fine when we could “pin him down” at a con, but whatever.) After a few exchanges on the fur affinity message system, he stopped responding yet again. My friend and I both attempted to contact him several times in December and January, to which we again received no response. At some point I also left him negative feedback on his credit card merchant account, citing the long overdue delivery and lack of response, and yet again he never replied. At this point, it’s now been over 7 months since the con it was originally supposed to be done at, and we’ve been given him more than enough chances to correct the situation. My friend is heart set on getting this sketch from Gideon, so I would very much like to receive it, and soon. At this point, if he has any intention of completing it, I feel he should mail the sketch to my friend in Sweden at his cost: Has he actually completed it at Anthrocon as originally promised, I would have been able to send it in a package of other “con goodies” I got for my friend – an additional sheet of paper probably would not have raised the postage any more. If he has no intention of completing it in a reasonable time, I want a $40 refund. I’m sorry, but there is no excuse for this lack of customer service on his part. A paying customer should NOT have to try to hunt down an artist like this, only to be given empty promises or be completely ignored. It makes me wonder how many other people he’s done this to that maybe gave up after a few tries. My friend was actually considering getting a full colored commission from him at some point, but after this experience, I don’t think that’s going to happen anymore. PROOF:

https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/904784.html In July 2015, I posted a lost contact on this artist, but was never able to contact her. As she seems to have vanished from all her known accounts, posting a beware on her seems pointless, but this is still something everyone should be aware of in the extremely unlikely event that she returns and continues to accept commissions. All information is below. WHO: EyeKissa (deviantART) or iKissa (FurAffinity) WHERE: http://www.eyekissa.deviantart.com or http://www.furaffinity.net/user/ikissa WHAT: Traditional Design Commission ($10 USD) WHEN: The commission correspondence began on April 3rd, 2014. The commission was paid for on May 26th, 2014, after I approved a sketch. As of May 2016, the commission still hasn't been received and the artist has vanished, with the final conversation I had with her taking place in November 2014. PROOF/EXPLAIN: Since our correspondence was over two years ago, some messages have been deleted, but here is what I managed to find in my dA inbox. Read from bottom to top, please! April 2014: EyeKissa opened for design commissions and I sent her a note about one, including a form she specified for prospective customers to use. She replied that nine other users had ordered commissions before me and that my custom might take "up to two weeks at the most," which I agreed to. She also told me to wait until an approval sketch was sent to pay. May 2014: I didn't hear from EyeKissa in awhile, but she was progressing on her other commissions rather quickly, so I didn't mind the wait. On May 26th, she sent me a note and asked if I was still interested in the custom, to which I replied that I was and requested a species change, since it hadn't been started. She told me this was fine and to expect a sketch later that day. A few hours later, she sent me this note with a sketch included for my approval. I approve and pay. (The red box censors an email address.) November 2014: After this, I don't hear from her until November, when she unexpectedly offers me a refund. Here, I will confess that I was rude in my response, which I know now was unnecessarily guilt-tripping and could have been said much better. Essentially, I told her that I would accept the refund, but I was disappointed in her service because she had finished almost all of her other commissions, most of which had been paid for after mine. Someone who had been added to her to-do list weeks after me had their commission finished before me, which is why I was so displeased. Still, this was rude of me and I regret it. She responds with the offer to both refund me and finish the commission, to which I tell her that I don't expect her to complete the commission after she's refunded me. I receive this response, in which she tells me that she wants to do it, which is the last message I have on record from her. She claims she will send the refund the next day, but it was never received. I've sent follow-up messages, but none of them have been opened, as well as posted on her pages to see if anyone has been in contact with her lately. This comment on her page suggests that she might be overseas at the moment, but there's no solid evidence of this otherwise. If this to-do list is to be believed, there's at least one other customer out there who never received their commission. Before she vanished, EyeKissa was always pleasant to work with, so I'm sad that I had to post a beware on her, but the fact remains that she didn't refund me or complete a commission I paid for two years ago. It's a lost cause by now, but I hope she's okay. EDIT (06/05/16): Here is evidence that the artist has internet connection and has been on her dA account very recently. Someone drew her character and she added the image to her favorites just today. The notes I have sent her still haven't been opened, however, and she hasn't reached out to me. EDIT (06/23/16): After I received the note that is pasted in the comments below, I responded to EyeKissa on dA. She promised me a refund the next day, when I instead received notice that she was unable to make it to the bank, but would be able to the next day. One week passed with no response or refund, so I noted her. Five days later, the note still hasn't been read, so it seems like she has vanished on me once more. (I'll add screenshots of this as soon as I'm able.) EDIT (06/23/16): Here are the screenshots of the above transaction! Notes 1 (Read Bottom to Top) Notes 2 (Read Bottom to Top) The latter includes both the request for an update that I sent five days ago and the response I received to it literally thirty minutes or so after I posted today's update. The most recent correspondence promises a refund later tonight, but I've received nothing thus far. (I didn't intend to update this so frequently, or include literally every update as it comes, but a response happened to pop up today.) EDIT (06/30/16): EyeKissa has refunded me. This matter is resolved. (I also want to mention here that she has been extremely apologetic for her absence and has went through a great deal of trouble to right her wrongs. While it doesn't erase that this happened, I know she had no ill intent in the situation and I believe she's safe for others to commission!)

https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/903826.html WHO: PossiblySatan (DA), ActuallyCrowley (IG), HabaneroPup (AC website). WHERE: http://possiblysatan.deviantart.com/ , https://www.instagram.com/actuallycrowley/ , https://www.anthrocon.org/user/70644/habaneropup ; Transaction took place on Facebook. WHAT: Trade; pre-designed fursuit partial for some DVC supplies. WHEN: January 13th, 2016 to now. PROOF: Agreement cap, rest will be below: http://www.ezimba.com/work/160430C/ezimba12682725615300.png EXPLAIN: Transaction began January 13th, see cap above. The post where we made our initial agreement is unfortunately not available any longer, but I think the screenshot explains it. We then discuss them purchasing me extra items from DVC, in which I make a basket and ask if it's okay to which they agree. http://www.ezimba.com/work/160430C/ezimba12682735037900.png At this point we exchange shipping addresses. http://www.ezimba.com/work/160430C/ezimba12682737813000.png I send out my half and give them a tracking number, they don't look at my messages for a few days so I give them a poke. http://www.ezimba.com/work/160430C/ezimba12682780400500.png They apologize for the lack of replies and tell me why they haven't shipped their half yet. http://www.ezimba.com/work/160430C/ezimba12682780328800.png They end up shipping out their first half of the trade that same day, giving me proof of the transaction. http://www.ezimba.com/work/160430C/ezimba12682720564800.png Their half arrives in the mail. http://www.ezimba.com/work/160430C/ezimba12682742967600.png Like they had predicted, it got damaged and one of the horns fell off. I don't know much about apoxy so I end up selling it to someone else through FA (post was removed after sale went through, sorry). Couple days go by, I ask them about the supplies. They reply that they're in a tight spot financially. They didn't reply to my messages (or look at them, Messenger will let you know if someone does) so I make a pre-mature threat about writing them up on here. http://www.ezimba.com/work/160430C/ezimba12682712344900.png They get upset and tell me that they're having a hard time with their job and such, then get mad at me for selling the skull head after offering to send me back the partial I traded to them. http://www.ezimba.com/work/160430C/ezimba12682799866700.png http://www.ezimba.com/work/160430C/ezimba12682710160900.png http://www.ezimba.com/work/160430C/ezimba12682764952200.png At this point I'm tired and I just want my second trade half so I say this. http://www.ezimba.com/work/160430C/ezimba12682719969000.png They send me some videos of the suit (unrelated) and we agree that they will end up buying me the rest of the supplies. http://www.ezimba.com/work/160430C/ezimba12682778083300.png http://www.ezimba.com/work/160430C/ezimba12682712646600.png Over a month goes by with no word from them. I ask about the parts again, they're still not ordered. I suggest selling the suit to get more funds and they agree. http://www.ezimba.com/work/160430C/ezimba12682745650400.png The suit is re-sold at this point (again, post was probably taken down since it was sold). A week or so later I poke them, they let me know that they've worked out a payment plan with the new owner. We're now into April. http://www.ezimba.com/work/160430C/ezimba12682775133200.png April 23rd I ask again. Still not ordered, car problems. http://www.ezimba.com/work/160430C/ezimba12682711462400.png Today (April 29th) they order a tongue and the jawset. http://www.ezimba.com/work/160501C/ezimba12682743587100.png They let me know they're ordering it all in parts and not in one order like we originally agreed to. Note that they said "everything will be ordered" in the April 24th message, then say that they corrected themself without telling me. http://www.ezimba.com/work/160430C/ezimba12682714629000.png They tell me how long they think it will take to order the parts, then let me know it's "whatever". http://www.ezimba.com/work/160430C/ezimba12682763995900.png http://www.ezimba.com/work/160430C/ezimba12682780857900.png At this point I just hope I'll get my stuff at some point. It's being dragged out for too long, multiple financial excuses, "whatever".

https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/902185.html WHO: Commissioner https://twitter.com/ShadowTheFox2 / http://www.twitter.com/ADshadowfox “Shadow” WHERE: Google Docs form & Messages exchanged via email & twitter DMs WHAT: Digital ¾ soft shaded badge, single sided printed, laminated & shipped 1st class usps, plus a rush fee to be bumped to the front of my queue WHEN: November 2015 PROOF: Story and Screen caps provided in chronological order after the break. It is a unique case of eCheck failure via paypal even though the invoice was clearly marked in paypal as Paid... Yet it wasn't when I cross referenced it with my active balance. 11/4/2015 - Shadow submitted a commission via my google docs form here http://fox.ci/z8HybCy https://www.dropbox.com/s/onevhf1lbbeqqpf/1.png?dl=0 - I Emailed him back his forms details https://www.dropbox.com/s/9m3nbli32xrhe9f/2.png?dl=0 - I sent an initial invoice https://www.dropbox.com/s/owut0bpvhbsy1x1/3.png?dl=0 - He asks on twitter DMs to put his as priority https://www.dropbox.com/s/01o5z0zccdr9a8g/4.png?dl=0 So I up the cost in the invoice to include my rush fee https://www.dropbox.com/s/utlz4h30csfr6f0/5.png?dl=0 - And he says he paid it, and I inform him I got an echeck https://www.dropbox.com/s/oj7nxc0cs53d1jr/6.png?dl=0 *This is the First Red flag I should have listened to when he says “Most payments go through but they get canceled later on” - E check email from paypal https://www.dropbox.com/s/3oq1ui70ps9jjbz/7.png?dl=0 11/6/2015 - I received a notice in payment delay via paypal via the echeck https://www.dropbox.com/s/n7yrrghzy0lw7ga/8.png?dl=0 - I inform him of this notice in DMs https://www.dropbox.com/s/0bhh3emigw4a53s/9.png?dl=0 About here is where in the middle of screen capping the conversations in twitter DMs today (3/25/2016) and writing up this beware he suddenly removed his name and profile image once I inform him today on 3/25 that I will be writing this beware. He is now a black circle as a profile image with only “.” As a name. Removing the Shadow @RMFC name he once had. 11/16/2015 – 11/18/2015 - I ask him to tell me what the payment reflects as on his end as I never received a payment canceled or confirmed from paypal. He tells me via twitter it showed as paid on his side so I began the work. https://www.dropbox.com/s/u3u5a0b5016ml5k/10.png?dl=0 - I checked the invoice link and trusted the paypal invoice stating it was paid when it was in fact not. ** https://www.dropbox.com/s/su3mzv1mif2xnhk/Invoice shown as paid.png?dl=0 **This is an issue and I explain later why* - I show him many wips via DMs and I completed the work and shipped it to him https://www.dropbox.com/s/ni90k2hze8g0osg/11.png?dl=0 - He confirms that the invoice shows as Paid on paypal but when he speaks to his bank they had actually canceled the payment due to no funds. We both agree we are both at fault on this issue https://www.dropbox.com/s/g7que2i1p1pq2h6/12.png?dl=0 However he does promise me he is no con man and will sort funds out soon. - This is next confirmed later by me physically checking my "Activity with Balance" in paypals detailed transaction log: I had actually never received funds. And Paypal never emailed me a second time stating it was ultimately never sent by his bank after the 1st email of “Delay in eCheck payment” on 11/6 https://www.dropbox.com/s/751a981pkbcjl43/Transaction not actually paid for.png?dl=0 I Should have verified this from the start when he said it was paid for but I trusted the invoice even though it was incorrect. From now on I have always confirmed payment was received by checking the detailed log with the active balance for reassurance. 11/25/2015 The customer received the badge. He also tells me he is trying to sell things on ebay https://www.dropbox.com/s/gddbc9ku58o0mv1/13.png?dl=0 11/30/2015 Now his “sister” DMs me randomly telling me a sob story about how Shadow feels so bad but is trying to get funds together. I acknowledge her and tell the customer not to be stressed. He tells me he is having a rough time and I do empathize https://www.dropbox.com/s/8e4avq8p4df9b8k/14.png?dl=0 12/6/2015 He used my art that he didn’t pay for and filled out a Fursuit form to a maker: https://www.dropbox.com/s/orxjlq29ge0asmm/12 6 Suit quote.png?dl=0 12/7/2015 He is still using the unpaid image as a profile image. I remind him not to until he has paid for it. Also commenting on peoples posts how he would pay $100 for things but when confronted says “It was a joke” https://www.dropbox.com/s/pice1tnq7yhrck9/15.png?dl=0 And https://www.dropbox.com/s/lg0dl9uo4i2lfmi/6MWZGRu_.jpg?dl=0 12/12-12/18/2015 On the 12th I ask for an update and he says he wants to mail the badge back. I explain that will not work. I do not hear back from him until the 14th when I confront him for using the art again as an icon after I told him a week ago not to. Says he will have the funds by that coming Tuesday. That day comes and goes and I don’t hear anything. This is when I warn him I will file an Artists Beware https://www.dropbox.com/s/d3u72vfp7g48s8q/16.png?dl=0 1/31/2016 I ask for updates in DMs and I am emailed back, more false promises and stories. He has a signature that he is actually in Job Corps https://www.dropbox.com/s/fbtdq2ha7glsx7y/17.png?dl=0 Further proving he has some kind of job er go income. 2/6 He says he will file his W-2 and pay me. I do not reply to him. See previous screen shot. 3/25 I catch him using the art, again (this time I took a screen shot before confronting him via DMs) He tells me his foster mom demanded all his return. I give him one last ultimatum May 1st to pay me or have an Artists Beware written up. I then see all the things I then list below ranging from 3/1-3/21 from him using the art over and over again and change my mind to submit the beware on Monday. The very last thing he says is to “Just put it up.” https://www.dropbox.com/s/n7jtwfzupuoztje/18.png?dl=0 Browsing through his timeline and notice he is using the art again and again that is still unpaid for: 3/1 Role playing again using the art I told him months ago to cease using it: https://www.dropbox.com/s/8jxbawfbav95l6q/23.png?dl=0 3/21 Using the art again https://www.dropbox.com/s/9ewreoinsshpfg4/21.png?dl=0 3/21 Also using the art attempting to get more art https://www.dropbox.com/s/age5ozi129cx6la/19.png?dl=0 Still continues to use the art in other places online besides twitter as well https://www.dropbox.com/s/pmgdoes5lv3hx7k/Steam screenshot.png?dl=0 Im done with the excuses. I will see to it that this was a unique case due to the fact that the paypal invoice was marked as paid even when it clearly, once I checked my account with balance history, was not. I have NEVER had an issue with Paypal invoices being marked as paid before and this case was very unusual. I even contacted Paypal them seves over the phone to express my concern over this issue being very unclear as a seller. From the start I felt very rushed by the customer, played and now used. I do not recommend anyone ever working with him again. He has had 5 months and still continues to use the unpaid for art that I completed. EXPLAIN: Tl;Dr: I’ve been strung along since November 2015 for a rushed badge that when we both thought it was paid, I come to find out it was not. Customer confirms it was paid and then says, after speaking with his bank, that it was not. I confirm this only after viewing the details transaction log in my paypal, and contacting paypal over the phone myself, to reveal and confirm that the invoice stating it was paid, come to find out it was actually not. Was given excuse after excuse and the client still continued to use the unpaid art, even going as far as using it as a reference to try and get free art from other artists. I’ve let this slide long enough. He hasn’t paid me and I don’t foresee him ever paying me. I held off on writing an AB for this long as the $41.25 for the badge was clearly not worth this headache plus the time dealing with him over and over again trying to be paid for work I already did and now having to write out this beware. It is a unique case in the fact that the Invoice clearly states it was PAID, but proper precautions were not taken by checking my detailed log to verify this. Since then, I have never accecpted echecks due to paypals faulty system in marking invoices as paid even after banks decline a transaction. Do not waste your time with this individuals business proposals. I will update this AB entry should he ever decide to pay me for my time.

https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/898774.html WHO: Riikai WHERE: Deviantart WHAT: Full body YCH + a bonus chibi. WHEN: March 2nd 2015 -> present PROOF: When I AB'd her YCH I sent her a message with references + told her I paid Proof that I actually paid it I am listed on her YCH that I paid for her AB I asked her to put me on her To-do-list I asked her for some updates I finally asked for a refund EXPLAIN: I first saw Riikai’s YCH via watch list, and I ran over in my head if I wanted to buy it or not, and then I bought the AB. She was very kind and allowed me to send the references and I sent the points immediately. I was highly understanding of her current To-do list, as it was large... so I told her not to rush it. A few months later, I noticed I wasn’t on her to-do list at all so I asked her to put me on her todo-list, which she promptly put me on. A few months later, I noticed she didn’t have her to-do list on her DA anymore, so I asked her for any updates. After no response, I asked for a refund, which has gone read but unresponsive. I must admit that I am also at fault for not asking for updates either. And me asking for a refund didn't exactly sound pleasant either. However, at this point I really do not care for the YCH anymore and would prefer a refund, but at this point I don't expect it. I honestly wouldn't have minded if she had stated she was busy with school or had a reason for it, but because she hasn't given me any excuse... or actually responded to me after telling her I paid... I can't really give her the benefit of doubt anymore.

https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/886127.html Text: WHO: rakkphotography on deviantart, audience0fdeath on weebly, #101897 on furry-paws. WHERE: Occurred mainly on furry-paws.com, but also on deviantart. WHAT: Digital art WHEN: Dates are listed above, but generally we first started talking on 3/29/15. First set of unpaid art completed 4/26/15, second set 5/5/15. Repeated attempts at contact between then and now. Payment still not received as of 1/1/16. PROOF: (Click for massive image) I then emailed them here. And then some deviantart replies here. I sent them another message later and they opened it but never replied. Proof of activity below in 'explain'. EXPLAIN: Rakk approached me after I made a thread advertising commissions. They seemed extremely kind at first and paid for their first commission batch promptly, so I didn't feel like it was dangerous to continue accepting payment after I delivered the art. Stupid move, and now I only accept part or full payment before. Live and learn. After offering to combine two commission batch payments into one, they didn't pay and stopped replying. They claimed they were sick and in the hospital. Up until today, I believed they were still in the hospital. However, that doesn't seem entirely true. I snooped on their weebly page and found their blog and instagram, both of which they've been incredibly active on. Proof of their activity on instagram. 2+ posts every single day. Posting to their first blog here(post too long to screencap it all, was just talking about training dogs) Seen here, they were also active this September, when they were ignoring me and claiming to be in the hospital. Here is their activity on their other blog. So obviously this person has had ample free time. They're posting selfies, writing blog posts, playing games, etc. And yet they refuse to get back to me or pay me for over half a year now. Yet, they're using my art on their blogs and weebly. I hate to have to write this about someone who was previously so kind to me, but it is what it is and I don't want any other artist having to deal with this. Bonus points! Since submitting and waiting for a mod to get back to me, this is now their instagram. Yep. All of those photos(besides the very last one) in 2 days. Clearly, too sick and busy to pay me. (thank you to CelestinaKetzia for helping me with this post! hopefully I got everything right this time!) edit: Since posting this, they've now sent me the full amount.

https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/897763.html WHO: Huskynugget WHERE: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/huskynugget/ WHAT: Physical Art Badge WHEN: Commissioned/Paid December 22nd, 2015 / Paypal Claim filed March 6th, 2015 PROOF: Screenshot of commission entry saying it would be shipped Dec 26th-30th/Start of Commission & proof of payment This message is from January 26th, over a month after when they said they would ship. They did send me this image, proving that the commission was finished. Still not shipped by Feb 6th. I sent them on email on Feb 5th after they failed to reply on FA despite adding favorites on their account. Still nothing and hadn't heard from them by Feb 16th. Didn't hear from that that Thursday, but finally on Feb 23rd, they said they shipped it out. After not recieving anything... EXPLAIN: I commissioned this user for a physical badge on December 22nd, which they said in their original post would be shipped out between December 26th-30th. They finally sent me a completed picture of the badge On January 26th - nearly a month after the projected ship date. Though waiting so long was annoying, I wasn't too concerned yet, especially considering they sent me a picture. However, after that, it took them another whole month to get it supposedly shipped out. I would normally be understanding even considering this, but the artist never once contacted me first regarding this commission - it was always me sending them messages, asking for updates after not being contacted, and I even sent them an email once after not being replied to on FA. Their reasoning for being slow on shipping was because of snow and not being able to make it to the post office, and I get it - the weather gets fierce over on the east coast. However, after not receiving anything for nearly two weeks, they said they couldn't provide proof of shipping because they had just "dropped it in the mailbox." ...Despite their previous excuses. On March 4th, I very nicely explained why I was unhappy with this entire transaction, and asked for a partial refund. I felt this was fair, considering a) how long it took them to complete and ship out, b) poor communication on their part, and c) no good reasoning for why it took so long. They became defensive and said they were not trying to scam me (which I never claimed they were), and just gave me more excuses. They did offer to make me a full body badge free of charge, but I must admit that I'm no longer interested in working with them after this whole thing - for how long the first one took, I don't really trust them to complete and ship another one in a timely manner. I replied to them and told them all this, and they didn't respond. It hasn't been too long since sending my last message, but despite this, I decided to file a paypal claim after getting some advice on the matter from others in the community. They also said it was just a letter, so it's safe to assume that this was sent first class mail. While I acknowledge that mail could just be delayed, I've never had a first class letter take this long and actually make it to me. I also don't even have a high quality digital version, since they sent me a photo and not a scan (though I have no interest in owning digital art anyway, and the physicality of the art was important to me). Even if the badge does show up - which I think is unlikely considering my experience with buying/selling with the mail system - I still feel it's necessary to make this post based on their poor service. UPDATE 3/14/16: So literally a day after I submitted this post, the artist said the badge was returned to them in the mail. Thankfully they were quick to send it out again, this time with a tracking number, and showed me proof of shipping on top of that. I'm glad that it worked out in the end. ;-; Cause in the past, this type of situation has not for me, aha.

https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/892163.html WHO: Jace Wallace / Wakkawa WHERE: http://jace-wallace.deviantart.com/ & http://wakkawa.tumblr.com/ WHAT: $150 digital painting commission WHEN: November 26th, 2014; sketch received and payment sent December 12th, 2014 PROOF: Initial order: http://i.imgur.com/8VBVvr0.png http://i.imgur.com/szyi0dE.png Proof of payment: http://i.imgur.com/QV4EzFw.png EXPLAIN: Well, it's finally time for the official A_B post. I asked for advice back in June, and since the situation is more or less "resolved", it's time for me to put it all together and post this as a warning to others. I commissioned Jace at the end of November in 2014, the same day he put his commission post up. He's an art idol of mine and I'd wanted art from him for ages, so I jumped on the opportunity. He always seemed very professional to me, so a $150 commission seemed like a good idea at the time. The original commission post said they would be finished by Christmas (2014), and he sent me the sketch WIP on December 12th. http://i.imgur.com/Jy4btWg.png The WIP at this time: http://i.imgur.com/Vs5UUDe.jpg At that time, he said his plan was to send out more WIPs that weekend and have them finished the next week. http://i.imgur.com/TpYsWTe.png After that message claiming that WIPS would be sent out that weekend, I didn't hear from him again. In fact, he seemingly disappeared from the Internet altogether. Not too strange, possibly, considering it was the holidays. However, he had made a firm promise of a deadline, and with the commission being $150, I was a bit more wary than I normally might have been. I let the Christmas deadline come and go, but on January 10th I noted him asking for updates: http://i.imgur.com/keQ7LmU.png As it is still, it went unread and unopened. I continued not to see any activity on DA, Tumblr, or anywhere else. I was getting worried, mostly due to the $150 amount and the fact that I have been burned before. Since I hadn't seen him open my note, I decided to email him in hopes of getting an answer that way, on January 24th 2015: http://i.imgur.com/rvEROmB.png And I never got a response to that either. On January 30th, I sent Jace an email and a note on deviantArt telling him that I would be opening a Paypal claim. http://i.imgur.com/dDiUr7J.png As I say in the message, it was mostly to get the money back in case he was unable to access the computer as I didn't want to let Paypal's claim window come and go. Even with Paypal's claim window having been increased to 180 days, I felt uncomfortable enough to do it at this time given his complete lack of responsiveness. Jace must have seen the claim, for he mysteriously reappeared just a few days after I opened the claim. I received the next WIP on February 2nd, 2015. I cancelled the Paypal claim at this time, despite the fact that he made absolutely no note of it or that he had even seen it. http://i.imgur.com/S3umDjv.png The WIP he sent at this time: http://i.imgur.com/ZTqd2N0.jpg It was quite off putting to me that he made no mention of the claim or the wait much at all. But, then again, I felt a bit bad for filing the claim in the first place -- especially with his reasoning of mental illness. I figured, since he had given me an updated WIP, he would have the piece done pretty quickly. My response to him is here: http://i.imgur.com/kiuiFpu.png which he never responded to either. More radio silence. I sent him a note on May 15th, 2015: http://i.imgur.com/8gJHWmT.png to which I got no response. (I do believe he opened/read this note.) The next time I heard from him was in June of 2015, strangely and conveniently after I sent him a note telling him that I would be contacting my bank about the money (given that Paypal's claim window had then passed for me, by a few days) and posting an Artists Beware post about the situation. http://i.imgur.com/RXa81Ov.png (He was still active on tumblr during this time.) His response, with a slightly updated WIP: http://i.imgur.com/fwz0yd0.png The WIP at this stage: http://i.imgur.com/UHguQJN.jpg This was when I posted asking for advice on A_B. I was mostly just pleased to actually have him RESPONDING to me again, and at this point I assumed that if I went ahead and posted the A_B on him right then, I would NEVER get the piece. So I tried to get him to agree to a deadline. He then agreed to have the piece finished by the end of July, 2015. http://i.imgur.com/aIMFmDP.png http://i.imgur.com/YVLH7OX.png So, another month and it would be done. Obviously, that came and went. Surprisingly, he took the initiative to note me on his own on August 1st, telling me that his tablet had broken. (I had already seen him post about it on his Tumblr, which he was continuing to update regularly with paintings and posts.) Again, pleased that he was CONTACTING me and not ignoring me, I accepted his claim that he would have it done the next week. http://i.imgur.com/1Nk8ri2.png http://i.imgur.com/A3sUxI3.png Aaaand that didn't happen, either. He did not contact me again past that point, AT ALL. (I send him another note on September 3rd, 2015: http://i.imgur.com/BbhcdiY.png ) In fact, the only way I got him to contact me again was rather direct and annoying. On top of updating his Tumblr regularly while ignoring my messages, he had gotten into the habit of streaming quite regularly on his Twitch account. Sometimes games, sometimes painting personal works. I subscribed to the channel, and was receiving emails whenever he started streaming. At first I was just happy to see him working on something, and didn't interact with him. However, when he continued to ignore/"not see" my messages, I decided to bite the bullet and reach out to him during a Twitch stream. On October 25th, 2015, I entered his Twitch stream and inquired after my commission. He had his mic on, so I don't have a record of his responses, but here's the chat: http://i.imgur.com/jOrPowU.jpg Basically, he reassured me and told me a very long story about how he had gotten locked out of his DeviantART account AND the email account associated with it, so he hadn't been able to log in at all. He promised to email me after the stream. He sent me an email that night and he attached another WIP and claimed it was pretty much done, just needed to be cleaned up and tweaked. (Note: this was quite a small screenshot that didn't allow me to see closer details.) http://i.imgur.com/d7KZdbe.png My response: http://i.imgur.com/vW59uJl.png The WIP he sent at this stage: http://i.imgur.com/3kNQwSj.jpg And, again, that was the last I heard from him. I actually let him be for a while after that email, mostly due to how incredibly fed up I was at this point. Plus, he said it was close to being done, so I figured it wouldn't be long. Again, wrong. I emailed him on January 12th (3-4 months later) asking if he had any updates on the piece or on his situation. http://i.imgur.com/Lr2bYa6.png I got no response. He continued to be active on Tumblr, quite regularly posting text posts and art. So, on January 27th, I emailed him. http://i.imgur.com/1uUNoke.png Of course, I do realize asking for a refund at this point may seem out of line to some, but like I say in the email I figured it would be the easiest way to resolve it. I didn't want to wait around forever to get the finished piece and would have been satisfied with the file as-is and a partial refund, even 10% of 25%, ANYTHING so that I could FINALLY take it off my list and forget about the heartache. On January 28th, 2016, he emailed me and claimed the piece he had sent in October was the finished piece, minus the rendering of one hand. He then claimed he would send me the finished file as soon as he smoothed out the hand. As well as a quite P.A. comment about the fact that if this had been for a freelancing company, it would have cost me $2000. http://i.imgur.com/V2OP8si.png Half an hour later, he sent me the .psd of the 'finished piece'. It is almost entirely unchanged from the screenshot from October. And, to my dismay, it's quite rough and not as refined as the sample piece he used for his commission post. There's a part in one of the character's irises that bleeds into the eyelashes, really badly. The ear is a block of unrendered, unfinished painting. The male figure is very rough and untouched compared to the female figure. Overall, the entire thing is quite sketchy, quite unrefined, and quite unfinished -- when compared to his sample. At the very least, it is not what I would hope for after over a year of waiting for a $150 commission that had a much more refined example. Here is the final file he sent me: http://i.imgur.com/91E4qbU.png Note that it's barely changed (if at all) from the WIP from October. Over 3 months for that lack of work done on the piece. Here are some closeups of a few of the problem areas I identified: http://i.imgur.com/ePJmE2v.png http://i.imgur.com/FRBDd1n.png Again, here is the image he used in his commission post: http://i.imgur.com/t0PaIRP.jpg As it is, this situation is "resolved". I'm NOT happy with the piece, but I sincerely doubt he will ever give me any partial refund (the piece is, after all, 'finished' according to him) and I don't care to see how long it would take him to refine the piece more (I'd prefer not to wait another full year, really). And while I feel the end result is not in line with what he was offering, my complaint is about his unprofessionalism rather than the art itself. Art is subjective, and though I may not be happy with the piece, it is "finished" in his eyes. My gripe is his refusal to keep in touch, the constant ignoring of my messages, and the continuously broken deadlines. In the end, this is a beware to all other artists and commissioners out there. Do not commission Jace Wallace. I have no clue if he plans to ever open commissions again, but if he does, it's not worth it. This is hands down the most frustrating experience I have ever had with an artist. It's not even the year+ wait that bothers me -- I've waited that long before, I'll wait that long again. But EVERY time I attempted to contact him, I was ignored, unless I had made a direct claim that I would be pursuing action against him, or I approached him directly IN PUBLIC. (There were a few times when I commented on his submissions on DA or profile on DA, but he has hidden the comments at this point.) He set deadlines, and then he broke them with nary a word. He made excuses, avoided contact, and continued to be active on Tumblr regardless of the owed work. At least with other artists I've had this problem with, they disappeared entirely. With Jace, he was still active on Tumblr almost this entire time, just deliberately ignoring my messages on DA, Tumblr (where he was active, WHILE HE WAS ACTIVE) and via email. In the end, I feel disrespected, insulted, and disappointed - and I don't want anyone else to go through the same situation. EDIT: The final email he sent to me, after I submitted this A_B post and informed him I would be doing so.

https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/887741.html WHO: SilverDeni WHERE: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/SilverDeni http://silverdeni.deviantart.com , trade was agreed on in a stream WHAT: A very long overdue two-character art trade WHEN: The stream where we talked about a trade was sometime in December 2012, I don't have an exact date saved anywhere though. Sent notes to ask about the trade during the years, it's 2016 now and I have yet to receive even a sketch. PROOF: Notes/replies about the trade (I'm both Johis & Lhuin in these): Some notes/replies on FA after I sent her the finished painting. Hope these make sense, I'm honestly a bit confused with my inbox/outbox especially as it's been so long but basically I sent her the link to the finished painting, we talked about if the characters in her half of me and my partner's characters would be in anthro or feral form and she said she wants to make a speedpainting video of it. http://orig02.deviantart.net/b445/f/2016/005/c/3/deni9_by_lhuin-d9mty4z.png http://orig05.deviantart.net/bc6e/f/2016/005/c/9/deni7_by_lhuin-d9mtxeb.png http://orig15.deviantart.net/d253/f/2016/005/1/7/deni3_by_lhuin-d9mtxew.png http://orig05.deviantart.net/4d0a/f/2016/005/c/2/deni6_by_lhuin-d9mtxec.png http://orig10.deviantart.net/31a7/f/2016/005/9/0/deni4_by_lhuin-d9mtxer.png The last one was in May and I was feeling pretty hopeful after that (as you might be able to tell, I honestly thought I might finally see some work), but again, 7 months have passed and that was the last I heard of the whole thing. I never saw any of the attempts she mentions here. Now these are actually screenshots I found someone else had taken of the comments I've left on her page and her reply to me (so the red circles are not by me). It was mentioned in an issue unrelated to our trade itself that I stumbled upon but just thought it was interesting someone else had noticed it. The last one was a reply to a comment I made on her FA page just asking about the trade but I didn't save it: http://orig08.deviantart.net/0dbd/f/2016/005/d/1/deni1_by_lhuin-d9mtxf9.png I saw someone else had a similar issue so I jumped in to ask about mine http://orig12.deviantart.net/751e/f/2016/005/3/b/deni2_by_lhuin-d9mtxey.png She mentions a sketch here but I never saw it Sadly I've already removed the image from my FA gallery but here's proof of the date I made it: http://orig02.deviantart.net/b7d8/f/2016/005/0/0/deni5_by_lhuin-d9mtxem.png And an email where I sent the full res to her (2nd of January 2013): http://orig08.deviantart.net/32fe/f/2016/005/f/3/deni8_by_lhuin-d9mu05u.png EXPLAIN: I went to watch a stream SilverDeni was holding in late 2012 (like I said I don't have any proof of this date anymore and didn't think of saving any screenshots of this). She asked me for a trade and I was happy to accept as I liked her work. I made my own trade part shortly, but since then I've just been waiting and waiting for her half and every time I ask I just get a new estimate of when it'll be done and/or reasons she hasn't been working on it, but then that new estimated time of completion passes and I hear nothing until I ask again. I've been asking about the trade quite a few times during the years and have yet to seen anything at all, not even a sketch. I didn't spend any money on this, but I did spend quite a lot of time on the drawing and the experience has left a bad taste in my mouth as I was really excited about the trade - and the fact that most if not all the contact about this has been initiated by myself. I'm not expecting to see any work anymore, all my attempts to ask about it just end up in another empty promise. I know she's been busy with school etc. but has been doing plenty of personal art and other work. So just posting this as a heads up I guess. I'm kind of past the point of caring now when it comes to getting the art itself, but I just found the whole experience really unprofessional. I might have been a bit too forgiving in some notes as I really did want the trade and didn't want things to go sour. I was thinking of giving her a final nudge about it but I don't think it would have done any good based on the 3 years of communication (or lack thereof) and I'm a bit tired of hearing more empty promises.

https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/884272.html WHO: RenX (http://renxart.tumblr.com/ (NSFW)) aka Rnzzz (http://rnzzz.tumblr.com/ (NSFW) , http://rnzzz.deviantart.com/ (NSFW)) WHERE: http://www.hentai-foundry.com/user/RenX/profile (NSFW) WHAT: 2 Commissions. Traditional art. WHEN: Initial conversation and payment for both commissions during the beginning of April 2015. PROOF: The artist's mother tongue was Spanish so I contacted them in that for all our e-mail conversations. Here's (1) Me telling them when I can send the payment. And (2) Me the next day telling him I sent it. EXPLAIN: I started commissioning RenX in February last year. For the first couple of commissions he (and it is a he despite the profile) got things done on time and we had no problems. Starting from November 2014 I paid them for one drawing and it took them two months to get it done. In February this year I paid them for another commission again and, like last time, it took them nearly two months to finish the drawing. Still, I didn't think much of it in either case since I've dealt with multiple artists and I know sometimes they run into personal issues where they don't have time. The actual problems began in April this year. I asked RenX if he had time to do two commissions for me and he said yes, so I sent him the details for both and said I'd be paying him in a week. Within a few days he answered with a very rough sketch of one of the commissions and remained quick to answer until I sent the payment of $240 a week later. After the payment his answers completely stopped and he started ignoring my e-mails. I never got the sketch for the second commission either, which according to him he had already done. After over three weeks without an answer (I had sent him three e-mails in the meantime) RenX answers back in mid-May saying that he was busy and he'd have them done soon. Two more weeks pass with no answer and I finally send them one asking if I can get a refund. He answers back a few days later saying it's not possible because they no longer have money in their Paypal account, but that they'll do my commissions in June. [Proof] [Proof] June comes and goes with RenX not contacting me and only answering to the second e-mail I send at the end of the month, says he's too busy and hasn't had time to do anything. I answer them and for the rest of June and July I receive absolutely nothing. I didn't even waste any time sending them another e-mail until August since I knew it would be pointless. [Proof] In August I decide to check this site and see RenX still doing commissions like normal and advertising his services despite the fact that he has done nothing I paid him to. I finally decide to send him another e-mail mentioning this and they answer the same day saying, for the millionth time, that they have been too busy to do anything. I answer and once again they completely vanish until I send another e-mail at the end of August, which he answered at the beginning of September, telling the same old tale and saying that if he didn't do the commissions within a month he'd give me my money back. [Proof] I ask him when he can do the first commission and naturally, they do nothing and start ignoring my e-mails again. Around September I also checked his profile and noticed some people also wondering where their commissions were. I contacted one of them who told me they managed to get a refund through Paypal's Dispute system, unfortunately that wouldn't work for me since I had let too much time pass already. I was also in touch with another person who never got their commission completed either. In October, rather than e-mailing RenX I decide to post in his Hentai Foundry profile and he answers by e-mail the same day saying he had problems with his e-mails and that I should send him the commission details again. I ask for a refund again and he refuses. I send him the details for the drawings again to see if he'll get them done this time. On the same day I also notice he erased the comment I left on his profile alongside the others of two or three different people asking where their commissions were. Surprisingly, I actually get a sketch three days later and for a moment I think I'll get them done already. However, that's short lived and RenX vanishes completely again for the rest of the month. He sure spends a lot of time in his profile advertising discounts (and even in the Hentai Foundry forums (NSFW)) and mentioning he's open for more commissions, though! [Proof] Finally, in mid-November, after a month with no answer, I decide to post in RenX's profile again. My message is quickly erased and he blocks me from commenting [Proof] (NSFW). He e-mails me moments after repeating the same speech where they have been too busy. At this point I tell them again to give me a refund despite knowing nothing will happen and to no one's surprise he hasn't answered ever since. I don't know what's going on with them, but after 8 months there's no excuse for their behaviour. I posted this on the Hentai Foundry forums (NSFW) and I hope more people see it here and don't waste their time and money commissioning this person. He's all about reputation and stopping people from exposing him, the moment the latter happens he's quick to appear, delete any messages, block people and vanish again. Update, January 10th, 2016: I mentioned this some days ago in the comments but I reckon I should post it here instead - I contacted Paypal last week and they told me an investigation wouldn't be possible since it had been too long since the transaction. However, they did say they might begin one if they receive more complaints related to RenX. As of today, RenX still hasn't contacted me ever since the e-mail he sent in mid-November (11th of November, to be precise) that I mention in my entry. They're still taking and posting commissions, however.

https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/886993.html I agreed to do a trade with FA user Lyshastra back in July. We met on Facebook, and she agreed to trade me for a plush that I had premade. We agreed on a trade for the plush of $10 + 4 bookmarks, and agreed to make the trade at Anthrocon as we were both attending (and I had a table, making it easy to swap). She never showed, and after the con asked me if I would ship the plush. I behaved unprofessionally in that I agreed to ship despite the discomfort I had with shipping her the plush despite not seeing any evidence that she had even worked on my half of the trade. Because of my anxiety issues, I did not express this to her and instead delayed shipping for months, hoping that she would eventually post evidence of the half of the trade I was supposed to receive. I definitely acknowledge that I didn't handle this the way I should have and I feel like I've learned more about speaking up about my discomfort in trade situations like this because of it. Regardless, no evidence showed up, she eventually became frustrated with me and my agreeing to ship but never doing so. She contacted me again in October about it. I felt really bad at this point, and finally shipped the plush to her. At this point, I still had not seen any evidence that she had even picked up a pencil to work on my trade. I asked her about their status, and she claimed to have mailed them to me already but that they were sent back to her... Some time passed after my shipping her half of the trade. She didn't respond to me for a long time (me asking her if she received the plush) until I threatened to post her on here... then she responded within seconds lol. Shortly after she posted pictures of two of the four completed bookmarks on her FA account. Weeks passed again. I told her I wanted evidence that she had shipped the bookmarks. Weeks passed again with nothing. I posted publicly on her Facebook page asking about the bookmarks and she said to message her about it privately to remind her. She never responded. This was on November 30th. I would offer screenshots of the Facebook posts made to her account but she has unfriended me. Her FA page: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/lyshastra/ Link to screenshots of our Facebook convo ( some things were cut out that were just conversational, but I can grab those if anyone needs anything else inbetween these for clarification, I just wanted to keep the post succinct): http://imgur.com/a/Gqf5u ^ I'm Sam Williamson. I've blurred out her name, though she has been posted to here using her IRL name as well. I don't expect anything at this point. She obviously doesn't plan to actually compensate me for the shipping I paid to send the plush to her that we had never agreed on me paying OR my bookmarks, but I really really highly discourage anyone from commissioning or trading her. It was a really bad experience.

https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/881252.html WHO: Lyshastra (Furaffinity), Ann Allen (Facebook) WHERE: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/lyshastra https://www.facebook.com/people/Ann-Allen/100009386021687 WHAT: Art trade--A bust of her character for a badge (or two) of mine. WHEN: April 26 -- She asked to do an art trade and we worked out the details May 29 -- I finished and posted my part of the trade June 25--September 12 -- A lot of back and forth trying to reach her and find out progress of badge(s) October 8 -- I finally see pictures of the actual finished badges November 15 (Now) -- Still waiting on scanned versions to be posted PROOF: https://gyazo.com/5ba0e7c507a07c2929f561f3dfccd63d (first asked if I wanted to do a trade) https://gyazo.com/8282531b428e9c5d63c3f3614fa19e32 (working out the details--read from bottom to top) https://gyazo.com/f3b582256793b7b986dbfe8015bd1f11 (working out details part 2) https://gyazo.com/8831e2970df610a0944823025bf277e4 (working out details part 3) https://gyazo.com/1c61398cda4e631861b1d5a4b961eae1 (my finished posting) EXPLAIN: On April 26th she asked if I wanted to do an art trade, to which I replied yes and messaged her for the details. I finished my half on May 29th and sent her a note with the finished picture. Some time later she opened the note, but never responded to it. A month later when she did respond, it was not to the note but on the submission. https://gyazo.com/f1573a3ca5928b8748df3fd50dd16e78 She said she was sorry, she hadn't seen it until she searched for her character, and then told me to PM her on facebook for my final approval on the trade before uploading it. The link to her facebook page was broken so I had to search for her, and when I thought I had found her I messaged her, asking if this was her. A month later she replied that yes it was her. No mention of the art trade. A week later I asked if there was any progress, to which she told me to PM her on her art facebook page since she's never on this one anymore. https://gyazo.com/399f44f5b81f2844ff9cab5515678ba8 I find that one and sent a message saying it was me again, to no response. I notice that she's been posting other artwork she's been doing. A little over a week later I told her that if the trade was too much to do, to just let me know. Almost a month later she replies saying sorry that she didn't see it, it was in her other folder. I told her it didn't matter if it was done or not, some communication was all I was asking for. https://gyazo.com/71e6df3c7d38db184a2589109d4b6975 After that things finally started moving. I gave her a ref of my character again. Things were looking up. https://gyazo.com/5a973dd55b67204b54c1649619540699 About a month later, I finally got pictures of the badges. https://gyazo.com/fd192c898b62f698ca3a38ad13f3a0c3 https://gyazo.com/dbb373c4a4ed6d491a985f251bd3f545 She said if I was pleased then she would scan and post them. I told her I was very happy with them, and have been waiting ever since... https://gyazo.com/6a7a0d29eb5f660910044a972b3d3c0a Now I understand that technically she did finally do the badges, and I can probably still try to contact her for the scanned versions, but honestly I don't want to go through all the time and effort again it took just to get to here. If I had written this artists beware earlier as I had planned to, things would be looking a lot worse. At this point I think it's just best to let people know what they could be getting into if they decide to commission her to do a trade.