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https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/797275.html WHO: Kazecat WHERE: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/kazecat WHAT: A digital image of my character as a lady, showing off her curves. Unfortunately I did not think to screencap the request form at the time as I did not know there would be a problem, but that is what I requested. Additional details were to be worked out in stream, which is where Kazecat does all of his work. WHEN: Sept 26: original request submitted Sept 30: stream occured Oct 1: disagreement PROOF: Screencap of the disagreement: http://i.imgur.com/YaJd56J.png (Please note, I was too upset to remember to screencap the end of the argument before blocking Kazecat on Skype, so the end of the cap is me posting what he said to my friend instead. There are some missing bits of what I said back to him, but all my responses were civil and calm.) Image I received (NSFW, fatfur): http://i.imgur.com/t6VqZWc.jpg His journal showing me on his list of slots, with 'DIDN'T PAY' in red lettering beside my name: http://i.imgur.com/uhWMu7b.png **EDIT**: He has since updated the image on his FA with the red lettering of an Artist Warning due to refusal to pay as seen here: http://i.imgur.com/zbBg6at.png ***EDIT 10/2/2014*** The image has been taken down and the red lettering on his journal has been removed** EXPLAIN: On September 26 I submitted a commission request form. I gave minimal details on the understanding that further details would be worked out in-stream. The agreed-upon price for the commission was $45 USD. I heard nothing from Kazecat except that I was 'coming up soon'. On September 30 I noticed he was streaming (he did not notify me anywhere that he was doing so) and popped in to see what he was working on. It turned out to be my picture, which he had begun without any details from me, and seemed to have just decided on his own what to draw. He had included his character in a sexual situation with mine. I had requested a solo picture and am not comfortable having my character in sexual situations with others except under special circumstances (very close friends, etc). Dismayed, I told him I would message him about the picture later and left the stream, as the picture was nearly completed. The next day I contacted him, as shown in the screencaps above. Kazecat accepts payment after completion; however, I do not feel it is fair to demand payment for a picture I did not ask for. He was willing to edit out his character for free, but I was too unhappy with the image. I was willing to give a small tip ($5 USD or so, though I did not tell him the exact amount) in exchange for a redraw. He demanded $15 extra for the redraw, which I was not willing to pay when the first image was, in my opinion, not something I had ever asked for and amounted more to gift or fan art of my character than a commission. When I refused, he began to become angrier and more aggressive. He threatened to 'blacklist' me and warn other artists not to do business with me. At this point I had already been planning to put him on A_B so this is not a retaliation in any way. When I did not change my mind upon being threatened, he began to tell me that I was obligated to pay him. I disagreed, asked him not to contact me again, and when he kept talking to me, I blocked him on Skype. I am not sure where to go from here, I have an image I am extremely unhappy with and would not like to have displayed online. I have an artist that refuses to redraw the offending image and shows no signs of wanting to take down the image. Overall it feels extremely unprofessional to me and I am deeply uncomfortable with the interaction.

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/971939.html WHO: Gideon furaffinity.net/user/gideon twitter.com/gideonscorral gideonscorral.com (gated) WHERE: Initially email, later Telegram. WHAT: Digital artpiece (single character, full color) for $100 WHEN: Early May 2017 up to current. EXPLAIN: Mid April 2017: I contacted Gideon by email after he advertised digital versions of his art CDs on his twitter account. He was quick to reply and send the links after I paid through Paypal. May 1 2017: I was rather fond of one design in particular and I asked him if he took commissions. He agreed for a $100 single character piece. Seeing as he was quite responsive in his previous emails, that he's been active in the fandom since the early 2000s and the fact that I've seen his commissioned work occasionally on FA, I figured he would have plenty of experience in that regard and that getting a commission from him would be a safe bet. Though, at the time, I wasn't aware of this very site. So I pitched my idea to him and he expressed a similar fondness towards it, even noting that he could "easily do that". (I'm not sure why the font of this message is so small, but it's still legible.) I paid through Paypal and notified him, assuming he would send me a sketch within the next few weeks. (Email conversation, read from bottom to top. Partially redacted for NSFW content.) https://i.imgur.com/2FXOWQo.png Proof of payment: https://i.imgur.com/faywzgk.png "You have transferred 100 USD to" May 25 2017: Gideon didn't get back to me nor replied to another email I sent him, so I tried to contact him through a comment on his paysite, which I was already subscribed to anyway. He contacted me again through another email account, so I suppose he had forgotten about our initial email exchange. I inquired about the commission status after which he told me had to slow down (he had some health issues at the time) and that he would write me another email the next day (though that didn't happen). https://i.imgur.com/7xRb5RR.png June 9 2017: I inquired about another update as he hadn't contacted me at this point. He apologized, said he would get to the commission that week and suggested to use Telegram to keep contact. (Portion of reply redacted for privacy reasons.) https://i.imgur.com/tWRBVn0.png June 18 2017: After trying to contact him several times through Telegram he said that "life got a bit hectic" and that he had "a few guests over". I didn't want to come off as pushy so I let it be for a few weeks. https://i.imgur.com/ysSRgvi.png July 25 2017: Once again, I hadn't heard anything from him and as he didn't reply to the Telegram messages I contacted him be email again and I stated my displeasure at the delays and the lack of communication. He apologized again and said that he would normally only take payment after a sketch is shown. Also that he would give a sketch the following weekend. https://i.imgur.com/8TgYPZd.png https://i.imgur.com/7sWkBhF.png August 14 2017: Multiple weekends had passed since that message and I had received nothing at that point. I contacted him again, he apologized and said he'd send me a sketch that same night (I think you'll start to see the pattern here), while also asking if I could send the reference/specifics again as well as other details. That struck me as rather odd, because if one takes commissions isn't noting down the references the first thing you'd do ? https://i.imgur.com/JhFO7Rz.png https://i.imgur.com/FpYE5GS.png September 12 2017: At this point I was rather annoyed with the endeavour this whole situation had become as I had tried to contact him through email and Telegram, multiple times even, with no replies whatsoever. https://i.imgur.com/I7iX8Vw.png He was still quite active on Twitter throughout all of this however. It was only when I threatened to make this public and take legal action that he got back to me. He said I would see the sketch next weekend - it was tuesday then - while, for some reason, also going on about something unrelated to the commission. https://i.imgur.com/jFI8p85.png September 24 2017: The weekend had passed and I'd still seen nothing. My latest message to him is still marked as unread even though his status is "Last seen recently", which according to Telegrams FAQ means having logged in within the last 3 days. All in all, from a customer point of view I find this entire situation to be unacceptable. As I stated to him as well, I'd have no qualms with some delays on their own as long as you stay in contact and keep me updated. But when there is a consistent pattern with excuses and empty promises, as well as an overall lack of communication I'm rather skeptical on whether I'll ever see that sketch, let alone a finished piece.

https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/862572.html WHO: Pastel_Paws *old account*, Ribbons.and.Fangs *active account*, MuttStar_Studios (commission account), Creepyinpink, and Sushi.dog WHERE: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/pastelpaws http://www.furaffinity.net/user/ribbons.and.fangs/ http://www.furaffinity.net/user/muttstarstudios http://www.furaffinity.net/user/sushi.dog/ http://www.furaffinity.net/user/creepyinpink WHAT: 2 Colored Headshots WHEN May 12 2014 PROOF: I don't have the original journal but I do have the proof of payment and the follow up journal screenshot and replied emails and notes where she is aware of the artwork. Payment: http://sta.sh/01pov5hop4fn Follow up journal: http://sta.sh/01zwahv18u46 Original replied notes *she deletes my side of the conversation*: http://sta.sh/02djyrpuk0hp http://sta.sh/02bebdaqjqjj Explain: Okay so Ribbons/Pastel/Sushi/Munstar last year posted a journal stating that she was doing I think 5 colored headshots. And since my friend's birthday was coming up I decided to order two of them and plus they were cheap and I was crunched for money. I had a good previous experience with her when I bought an adoptable from her and she was very nice and quick and responsive to my notes and questions. Plus I like her artwork and didn't see why not to buy something. So I send her the money and we discussed in notes what I wanted. This was also around the time of FA's longer downtime so I got her email address just in case and she was okay with this. I'm a patient person so I don't mind waiting plus she said she was busy in the follow up journal and I didn't want to bother her. In August of the same year I sent her a note asking for an update about the commission. And she said that she thought that she finished them and just forgot to post them and apologized. Which I said fine because she said she was done with them at least. Proof of conversation: http://sta.sh/01kv3ah4knsx She never posted the pictures. By then my friend's came and past and in October I sent her an email (I think FA was down that's why it was an email and not a note) and I ask her the same thing. She said the same thing and thought she posted it and asked if I could describe what I ordered. I tell her I checked both her pages and neither had the headshots and she apologizes and even says she'll upgrade my headshots to chibis or if I would like a refund. I choose the chibis and that I'll have a WIP soon. She never did that. I ask again in November the same thing and she apologizes again and says things have been hectic and that I'll see the pictures by Monday. Harley isn't her real name its the name of her character. Proof of conversation: http://sta.sh/01wfpymeo0n7 http://sta.sh/0t0k53zcrkf http://sta.sh/0pr8mdhhikd All of that never happened. And that was the last time she ever replied back to any of my notes and emails. She'll open them almost within minutes after I send them but she never responded back to them. And I wait awhile to send her notes and emails (except for maybe two of them) so I don't bombard her or make it seem as though I'm harassing her. All my questions about updates are months apart but she just doesn't respond back. On May 25th 2015 she finally responds back to a shout I posted on her page saying that she hasn't gotten an notes and hasn't checked her email despite the fact that FA has shown that she has opened the notes. But she states that I will get a refund. Proof of shout: http://sta.sh/02b4jao3qi9m Proof of all the notes I sent her: http://sta.sh/01kv3ah4knsx It is now July of 2015 and she still hasn't refunded me, responded back to my notes/shouts/emails, or even made the pictures. I've tried contacting her one last time asking if she's getting my notes and that I was thinking of doing an artist beware. Once again she opened it and never responded back. Proof: http://sta.sh/0bh3bxgttef I even forwarded the email of the actual paypal statement saying that I paid her: http://sta.sh/07aronw8dud I see her post commissions that she gets from other people so she's active and she responds back to other people's shouts on her page ones that are newer than mine. So I do believe she's ignoring me. And I know this isn't a lot of money. But I hate being cheated you know? I gave this person no real reason to ignore me when they responded back to me in a kind and quick manner earlier. Plus I paid her and she kept saying she'll do this or its done. If it's done than why can't she just deliver what she said is done so we can both put this behind us? She's a good artist and whatnot but I don't want people to go through this with her.

Had commissioned this artist back in July of 2018; the piece was a 3 character Studio Ghibli themed pic of my character as well as two of my friends. Here are screen caps of payment: At first I was super ecstatic about getting this piece because I really adored this artist and at the time, they were seeking funds to help them out via a journal (which they conveniently deleted before I could take screenshots of it). After payment was sent, I noted them asking if they had gotten the funds in which they replied yes and a WIP would be sent shortly (1 to 2 weeks). I figured at the time all was good: Some time goes by so I send them a reminder note and they state that, yet again, they will have a WIP for me soon: More time goes by and still no WIP and no reply from the artist. I get a little worried but don't think too much on it because, as an artist myself, I know how commissions can sometimes take a bit more time and personal life can throw some unexpected loops. I send another reminder note, this time letting them know that this is a shared piece and others did pay for it as well and if things are going to be too much for them to handle, they can just cancel the piece and we'd be fine with a refund: They quickly reply that they will get it done by Dec. or so: ... and yet I wait more: Still did not get a reply. My note is ignored and I figure, they are busy yet again. I myself get a bit distracted with my own commissions and personal life. When I catch back up on things, I still haven't received a reply from the artist but I do seem them uploading art. At this point, it's already well past 6 months and so I tell my friend that we may never get the piece and should each note them letting the artist know that we would like to get a refund. Soon after my friend notes them, I get this note from Yajuuu: I was shocked at this reply, especially since my friend told me that the artist told them how they were going through medical issues and such at the time and etc. (which they not once mentioned to me this whole time mind you). My reply to they're outlash: I was actually hoping that things would be different and give them another chance, but after being informed and seeing another artist post a beware on them, a few weeks before I had put in a commission with them, I changed my mind. I told them I would like a full refund on the $110 but as you can see, they tried to talk me out of it: I replied again: After this, they then agree to refund me but I have to wait another 3 months before they can send the payment. They also pretty much black list me then and there from commissioning them ever again: I acknowledge this and also take note of the date. Soon after this note was sent. They leave FA and later block me on their twitter account; I wasn't talking to them there. I managed to screen cap this before the block: So irritating that they make it sound as if they left because people were being "mean to them" and not the fact that they failed to keep their commissioners up to date, failed to give updates on works and pretty much played around with others money. Yajuuu even went as far as to also block anyone who was in association with me after informing them of a negative outcome with them (wanting to push for a refund). If they were watching me or I watching them on the site, they were automatically blocked. Now I'm afraid that I may never get my money back for there is no way for me to contact them when the date comes and there may be a possibility of them not keep their prommis of them refunding me at this specific date. Edit: Additional screencaps added on behalf of the OP by moderation staff.

https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/816159.html WHO: LunaticSupernova / Hajime Aikawa / LunaticLuscious WHERE: http://lunaticsupernova.deviantart.com/ (Deactivated) http://lsupernova.deviantart.com/ http://drawcrowd.com/lunaticluscious http://zeruzeru.tumblr.com (Very active) Some conversations take place on Facebook. WHAT: $50 Digital Character Commission WHEN: February 28th, 2012 - Present PROOF: (Censored information deals with RL names, and personal conversations not related to the beware.) Original Notes from February 28th, 2012: http://oi61.tinypic.com/e6vm9d.jpg http://oi57.tinypic.com/2cn6tfa.jpg http://oi61.tinypic.com/2ue1tsx.jpg http://oi62.tinypic.com/3506r1g.jpg Paypal Proof: http://oi60.tinypic.com/rjmc0n.jpg Email from artist, confirming they still owe the commission and wanted to redo it (October 17th, 2014): http://oi61.tinypic.com/znt013.jpg Facebook Conversations: October 17th, 2014 - http://oi62.tinypic.com/6ekq47.jpg (Artist gives me an email to contact her by, and requests that I delete the comments posted on someone else's page that mentions her owing me a commission.) November 14th, 2014 - http://oi59.tinypic.com/308a1za.jpg (I send another message on Facebook asking where she is, as I've sent her emails that have gone ignored. I get a response on November 21st, saying they were without internet and had gone out of town.) http://oi61.tinypic.com/27y2y34.jpg http://oi59.tinypic.com/2u6yzj7.jpg http://oi59.tinypic.com/6hny8l.jpg http://oi58.tinypic.com/2cp3tbp.jpg (Says she made a couple of sketches but weren't satisfied with them. I ask why she didn't warn me before leaving that she was going to be out of town for a while.) http://oi62.tinypic.com/2d27oy1.jpg http://oi60.tinypic.com/10nascp.jpg http://oi61.tinypic.com/vip4w2.jpg (Artist promises to finish the art before the end of the year.) http://oi60.tinypic.com/r0thfk.jpg http://oi58.tinypic.com/1494e41.jpg http://oi62.tinypic.com/awt7co.jpg http://oi61.tinypic.com/6pry94.jpg http://oi61.tinypic.com/zxp4wm.jpg http://oi59.tinypic.com/10hity8.jpg (We discuss about some other commission issues she has been having. The last link is the last time she responds to me.) December 17th 2014 - http://oi60.tinypic.com/1433prq.jpg ( I send a message asking if anything has been done or if she was even planning on working on my commission anymore. She never replied. I send another message today, January 11th, 2015, informing her that I found all the proof of her never completing the commission) Email from a friend who noticed the artist still being active in other places and ignoring me, as well as sending more excuses as to why my commission isn't complete yet. (January 8th, 2015): http://oi61.tinypic.com/a5klma.jpg EXPLAIN: February 28th, 2012 - I order a $50 colored commission from LunaticSupernova. I had commissioned her once before, and she had completed a commission for me back then, so I didn't think we'd have an issue. I was proven wrong though while waiting for her to complete my commission, she suddenly deactivate her DeviantArt account and vanishes. I lost track of her for over 2 years. In October, an artist that I watch on Facebook happened to post an art trade they had just completed for LunaticSupernova (who was now going by Hajime Aikawa) . I was shocked to see that she was still around, and I mentioned in the comments that LunaticSupernova had disappeared on me over 2 years ago while still owing me for a commission that she never completed. Lunatic responded back to me saying that she remembered me, and claimed that she had finished the commission, but had never sent it out to me, and now no longer has it. She also says that because it had been so long since then, she wanted to redo it so that it would be up to her current standards. We move the conversation over to Facebook PMs out of respect for the other artist who had gotten tangled up with this, and ended up removing the comments from their page. Lunatic tells me that she plans on starting the commission after October 21st. In November, I try to get in contact with her through email to check on the status of my commission, and she becomes inactive again on her pages. I grow concerned and send her another message on Facebook on November 14th, asking for updates and why she hasn't responded to me. I also was contacting a friend of hers to try to get a hold of her and see what was going on. I don't get a response until November 21st, Lunatic telling me that she had been gone for a week and claiming that she had intended to contact me that she was going to be away for a while, but said she had no internet. We talk about her lack of motivation for completing commissions, and her lack of communication, and she tells me that she will finish the commission before the end of the year. The new year rolls around and I still haven't heard back from Lunatic. A friend of mine got in contact with her on January 7th, since he noticed that she was still active with other things, while I was being ignored. He sends a message to her to try to see what's going on with my commission, and is met with more excuses, mentioning going to conventions as being a reason she isn't done with my commission. She's willing to contact my friend, but not me about any of this. At this point, I've given up with expecting my commission to ever be completed. EDIT May 3rd, 2015: After having many broken promises on when the refund would be sent, and thanks to the help of a friend of mine chasing this artist down, the artist has finally refunded me in full.

https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/1021468.html WHO: https://www.furaffinity.net/user/just-a-little-mixed-up/ WHERE: Discord and Telegram WHAT: Eight flat pinups. WHEN: February 2018 to October 2018 EXPLAIN: Asked to buy 8 pieces in a discord we both shared. Was given an invoice, and gave her payments to the invoice(1) for the images she completed as she did them. First went pretty quick, the next one took a month, and the latest was not received until August. Between the second and third, she claimed she needed to get money together to move, and my response to that was to finish paying off the invoice completely. I also attempted to try to make the investment easier to handle by suggesting we switched out things, which is why I talked about getting a ref sheet instead of the last four pinups in the log. At the time I wanted to at least get something for the money I put down, and asking for a refund was the last resort. After that I waited a month assuming it would take that long, without response, until the artist asked for email communications in reply to an inquiry on telegram that I had sent her(2), which threw me off since we had been working through telegram for the majority of the work. I inquired about it, but complied and resent her the material she needed for the work to be done. Another month later (and three days ago) I tried getting in contact with her again, with no response.(3) After asking a mutual friend I learned that she's been refusing contact under claim that she will only respond to email. I was frankly, tired of my investment going nowhere so I sent an email asking for a refund for the 5 pieces that were never started. As of this post I have yet to receive any compensation, not even a reply.(4) Under the artist's ToS, linked here, the artist is responsible for keeping open communications to the best of her ability. This has unfortunately been broken seeing as she's still working on commissions while ignoring my inquiries, and with no faith that I will ever get a refund, I am washing my hands of this. PROOF: (1) https://www.dropbox.com/s/draztmtjxc9bslc/invoice.PNG (2) https://www.dropbox.com/s/p8xl0judwcz4fbj/log1.PNG and https://www.dropbox.com/s/ayvni8aecpsw6tg/log3.PNG (3) https://www.dropbox.com/s/qc05x9n8ox74kq2/log2.PNG (4) https://www.dropbox.com/s/ccupob7bh138nhw/photo_2018-10-24_05-22-09.jpg UPDATE: I've sent another email, essentially saying if she can't pay in lump sum to reply back so we can make arrangements. Like I said before, I don't have any faith that I'm gonna have a response, or my money back, so after a week I'm gonna be attempting chargebacks. UPDATE 2: Breaking a bit of a professional tone with this but I've been getting wind of people telling me about the artist DMing everyone around them about this entry. I believe this is probably gonna turn out pretty horrid in terms of drama outside you guys' journal community thing so I'm just gonna point out that anything I hear I'm going to log for future reference, especially if it ends up bleeding into this entry. I'm here for a business transaction, not furry drama. I respect the staff and people here and I would like to keep things purely business, as it should be.

https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/899868.html Who: Eroishi Where: http://eroishi.deviantart.com/ What: 2 digital art pieces (1 nsfw and sfw) When: December 6, 2015 - February 12, 2016 Proof: http://imgur.com/a/wRZi4 Expalin: I requested 2 pictures, 1 nsfw and 1 sfw pic. Things went smooth until two weeks later, I messaged him about the payment I sent him. He told me that he never received the amount. I got worried and asked how he resolved the situation before since he told me that something similar happened for his patreon account. However, he simply said that the money was never received, leaving me to figured that he didn’t bother to resolve the solution. During the process, I called PayPal and they told me that the he received my payment. I told him to contact PayPal or find a way so that we can chat together, but he refused to comply, only to agree to talk to PayPal. I messaged him again after 3 days and he didn’t reply. So I waited. Since he never replied within a month, I could only assume the worst, which was that he’s lying to me and I was scammed. So I called him out for being a scammer, and he said that it was because he “had no internet” and had to wait until early February to get it back. So I gave him the benefit of the doubt. After two weeks, I asked him to give me a refund, but he refused. I questioned him again about showing me proof, and he had to wait for the internet to return. So I waited two days. During the process, I showed him my screenshot that I have proof of sending him the money. He said that everything is correct, yet he kept telling me that nothing was received. I asked him politely to the best I can to update me on the information he was trying to tell me. He finally showed me his end of the transaction to see that he “didn’t receive the payment”. So I proceeded to calling PayPal again (for the third time) and informed them of the situation. They refused to check and only said that he indeed received the amount I paid him. I sent him (and it was panic) a few emails to connect on PayPal together to resolve the situation together. Instead, he refused to reply to any of emails. 1 week later had passed, and it came to the drastic solution that he’s not willing to work with me at all. I had to resort to threatening him to contact PayPal immediately on what’s going on. He instead replied, declaring me a liar for the exact same proofs we showed to each other. This confirmed to me that he had scammed me for a simple $36 two picture commission. Since I had paid with friends by mistake, I’m not able to get my money back. This was a mistake on my end. Also, I feel that I learned not to freak out when a situation like this should ever happen again. And I also believe I shouldn’t be sending multiple messages at once out of panic (which may led to this). I also wondered if it was really on PayPal error if he really didn’t receive the payment I made to him. However, he refused to comply with my suggestion of calling PayPal again.

Since watching Dirt-chomp on FA I've purchased 6 busts for $10 each prior to this debacle and everything has been great. The quality of the work and timely manner had me coming back to purchase a YCH and a discount couples bust in July 2013. http://www.furaffinity.net/view/10891605/ http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/4868235/#cid:34960083 Month by month passed and I didn't bother reminding her until march 14th the next year. No reply. Tried her DA account at the same time. No reply. Tumblr account. No reply. At this point I simply gave up until I found her twitter and twitch handle. Joined a stream and at the mention of my name she shut the stream down. Someone sent me a link to her tumblr account and once again, no reply. At this point I gave up until I found their twitter and twitch handle. Found her streaming in twitch and tried talking to her there but the moment I mentioned my name she shut the stream down. I also messaged her on twitch. I found her on Instagram and posted on her latest submission that I've been trying to get in contact with her and at this point, I was pretty darn frustrated being 5 years and $105 usd out of pocket so I threatened to take it to artist beware. Needless to say she deleted my comments. While waiting for my art she has been actively taking in commissions from other people and doing works for them as you can see on twitter and Instagram as well as tumblr for some older stuff. As a last ditch effort I also contacted the studio where she works at. PROOF: Commission Information - https://sta.sh/010z0b33vpqp Commission Paid - https://sta.sh/0yeocs0c87w Inquiries - https://sta.sh/0a8iwa1kj4c Found Her! - https://sta.sh/0141luzy1qdw (The video has since been taken down) More Inquiries - https://sta.sh/0bigzy2kcm3 https://sta.sh/016efysynm8w (Tumblr stuff has been wiped)

https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/938162.html WHO: Speed74 (furaffinity) aka Drakon, @DrakonSpeed (twitter), Speed12 (sofurry) WHERE: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/speed74 WHAT: A digital art "hate" commission involving my personal character in a vulgar, violent, sexual manner without my permission. WHEN: Mid-October PROOF: Following links are from the first incident: No credits for concept/idea on original upload Speed admitting ref sheet was inspired from our drawing Asking Speed74 to credit for concept/idea. Then Speed74 getting upset No credits for concept/idea on reupload Follow links are from the second incident: Artist confessing to drawing the picture in question Confrontation Part One: Questioning Confrontation Part Two: Denial Confrontation Part Three: Final Confrontation First incident that started it all: I was notified by a friend about a commissioned ref sheet posted by Speed74 of an anthropomorphize version of Dreamwork's Toothless in military drab, named "Commander Toothless". Speed calls it his "new character." Months earlier, my girlfriend has drawn me something similar in concept, an Anthro-Toothless in military drab also named "Commander Toothless." Thinking this is too much of a coincidence, we commented on the artwork and Speed admits he had taken the idea from our drawing. I noted him asking to please at least credit us for the concept idea, or at least change the name to something other than "Commander Toothless". For a while, Speed agreed source credit to our picture but then deleted the submission and re-uploaded with a name change from "Commander Toothless" to "Commander Tyrone", this time without the crediting as asked. I notified the artist who drew the ref sheet about it and has source-credited our picture on their gallery side. Although this doesn't actually warrant a beware since Toothless is Dreamworks' property, I feel this is the catalyst for what happens next. Fast forward some time (second incident): The artist and I have become good friends. But recently the artist confessed that Speed had privately commissioned him one more picture right after the earlier incident. The picture involved "his" Commander Tyrone with one of my personal characters depicted in vulgar and violent, sexual scene being raped by his character without my knowledge. I confronted Speed asking if he commissioned someone of my character(s) in secret without my permission. He denied it. I then shown him proof of the artist's confession, gave him my email and blocked him on Furaffinity. I have not gotten an e-mail response yet. The picture in question has been provided to the Mods of AB in private to confirm this. What he did was highly inappropriate and uncalled for, it clearly was a hate image directed towards me because of the first incident. If you see Speed74 trying to commission you, beware he may try to commission hate art against someone else without their knowledge. UPDATE: MAY 22ND, 2017, Drakon has came to me with an apology admiting his mistakes. He has agreed to relinquish the rights to his Commander Tyron character to me as part of the apology and has given proper crediting where is due. He's also agreed to not commission my characters without permission again. I now consider this beware resolved. But I still advise artists to practice asking if your commissioners were given permission to draw other's characters before accepting the commissions to prevent this situation from happening again.

https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/836140.html WHO: http://powerman2000.deviantart.com/ WHERE: Online/Interenet. WHAT: Digital Art. 10 Page full color comic with added back ground. WHEN: The initial conversation began through notes starting on March 2nd, 2013 details enclosed below (read from bottom to top). http://i.imgur.com/CGyQAsn.jpg http://i.imgur.com/tfPnVdb.jpg?1 http://i.imgur.com/L4QxaDk.jpg (the details of the commission have been mostly omitted, but can be given if necessary.) The agreed upon amount was provided in a 250$ amount and then an additional background was requested at the cost of 50$ and payment for that was also provided. After a year with no posting of progress, I inquired about the commission. http://i.imgur.com/pk6ACNT.jpg Then after another year I inquired again (within the past few days). http://i.imgur.com/xrJ9zsp.jpg PROOF: Proof: http://i.imgur.com/5wUe4tl.jpg?1 http://i.imgur.com/tITW7mb.jpg?1 (personal information has been omitted) EXPLAIN: I commissioned the above artist for a service, paid in full and never received the agreed upon comic. I did receive the subscription detailed in the deal to the artist's webiste, but that portion is small by comparison (and I cared little for it). I fully recognize that in the last bit where I requested a refund that I could certainly be perceived as flippant or arrogant, however bear in mind that this was after 2 years of zero progress from the artist when the artist advised it would come in small deliveries. 2 Years is beyond a reasonable duration for the agreed upon terms and I feel as though I had been less than rude about the initial inquiries. In addition, the artist certainly had time to complete the commission as they were free to fulfill sketch commissions from myself. As I waited patiently for the completion of my primary commission I report that I did commission the same artist several times for 5 dollar sketches . I submit that the artist was perfectly capable of completing my initial commission and that I was not being unreasonable with my request for a refund or fulfillment of the commission. There were no extenuating circumstances that prevented the artist from doing my commission. Please be advised of my experience and beware.

https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/771519.html WHO: - Kosian (Furaffinity) : http://www.furaffinity.net/user/kosian/ (NSFW gallery) - Keith (Kiys Rayna) (SecondLife) WHERE: - Furaffinity : http://www.furaffinity.net/view/12497090/ (NSFWish) - SecondLife shop : Keith (Kiys Rayna) WHAT: - Digital art : full colors commission (as mentioned on his commission informations) of two characters (Dedran which is mine, and another one I prefer not to mention here) - Paid with Linden Dollars through SecondLife as it is the only way of payment he accepts (in the description of this picture : http://www.furaffinity.net/view/12497090/ (NSFW)) - 12000 L$ worth about 50 USD http://i.imgur.com/kdsn22g.jpg WHEN: - First contact on December, the 2nd, 2013 - Commission accepted on December, the 14th, 2013 : http://i.imgur.com/QMuVTKs.jpg - Payment done the same day on SecondLife (no proof as the website only keep the past 32 days : http://i.imgur.com/xW5zgic.jpg) - First sketch done the same day : http://i.imgur.com/1FTHWzJ.jpg - Lines done on December, the 26th, 2013 : http://i.imgur.com/Ch55dMv.jpg - No news untill March, the 13th, 2014 : http://i.imgur.com/FRaSLsq.jpg - No news untill today besides the fact the read the note I sent to him : http://i.imgur.com/kaAangg.jpg - All I got today are these lines : http://i.imgur.com/Q7ns7lK.jpg (NSFW) - The artist is still active as I saw him online today May, the 31st, 2014 : http://i.imgur.com/2Fgenpm.jpg EXPLAIN: I can understand artists having personal or work issues preventing them from completing commissions but I haven’t got any update for about 5 or 6 months now besides the fact the artist is still active (he reads notes and appear to be online on SecondLife). Even though English is not is primary langage, all I am asking for is the product I paid for or at least a refund or an update… UPDATE - On may, the 31st, a few hours after I posted this message on AB, Kosian sent me the finished commission (NSFW). -Thing is a lot of things are incorrect (some details I may not write down here because of NSFW) or missing (you might notice the missing leg of the bunny and the missing tail of the wolf)

https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/928784.html WHO: Sugar and Spice Costumes / SugarNSpiceCostumes / Kittencheshire WHERE: http://www.sugarnspicecostumes.com/ , http://sugarnspicecostumes.tumblr.com , http://www.furaffinity.net/user/sugarnspicecostumes/ WHAT: Artistic Liberty Fursuit, won in auction on FurBuy in late 2013. Proof of Purchase: [Payment Pic 1, 2] WHEN/EXPLAIN: The original due date was around April 2014. I had been a bit late in getting a DTD to them, so I was not pushy at first. They also had some convention orders to address, so it wasn’t until a full year after the initial purchase that I reached out via email. [Email 1] After this came the drought of absolutely no contact. I started looking at their various webpages for other emails and began CC’ing those in with the hopes that that one of them would restart some contact. [Email 2] As one can see, my efforts were not successful. I received advice from a few people to post here or to try reaching out to the makers through Twitter. I attempted the latter and managed to get in contact. [Twitter Post 1] My hopes at this point were rather high, so I went and asked for communication details and an update as to where things were. [Twitter Post 2] However, I found more of the same: no contact for nearly another two months with no end in sight on a commission I paid in full nearly three years ago. I feel as though I have been kind and cordial in my attempted interactions. I feel as though I’ve been a decent customer, but I don’t feel as though I’ve been treated as one. And I have no idea what to do at this point. UPDATE: 2017/09/07 Back in February, I went through my usual endeavor to gain contact. This time, I decided to be far more direct in my statements and chose FA as my route. Well, it's now September, and the message was never even opened! [The Message] Over the summer, I noticed more people getting vocal about this issue, leaving little shouts on their page along the lines of, "Hey, I've been waiting since XXXX" <-- Insert year here. Woo, I'm not alone! Again, I took the opportunity, having waited without an answer to my message from February. Their response is what you see linked below. They closed their FA, claiming abuse. Now, I looked at their Trello and saw that the suit was still in the queue, and it was slated for an August completion. I decided to wait. August is over, so here's what I have to say. [The Response] SnS, I'm not the abuser. I'm the victim. At this point, you've essentially stolen from me. I have literally no power here. FurBuy can't do anything. We're well past PayPal's period of influence, so all I have left is to complain--and complain loud enough until maybe you listen, or until somebody listens who might be able to help me. I paid you promptly in 2013. I sent you everything you asked for, and after four damn years, it is my right as a customer to pursue this problem! I am the one who has been abused here. You have abused my trust, my patience, and my health. UPDATE 2: 2018/11/1 In January of 2018, I did manage to get in contact with SugarNSpice through an email that actually works. I've put my email chain in here again to prove a few points. First, my message had an emotional element. This has been a stressful thing for me other the years, could we please bring it home. I've had so many questions that have just gone unanswered. Second, the response just seems flat. No sincerity at all here. It's been five freakin' years. And there is another promise to have the queue cleared out by June. [2018 Email] The next image shows that once again this time frame has slid. It also shows that I am still being dragged through the queue. I just don't understand how many iterations of action-->excuse-->timeshift can be taken before there are real consequences. [2018 Queue] See you all in another year when I update again.

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/879578.html WHO: Chuuchichu http://chuuchichu.deviantart.com/ https://www.pinterest.com/chuuchichu/ http://chuuland.tumblr.com/ http://chuuland.weebly.com/ http://www.gaiaonline.com/profiles/shadomu/28269981/ http://www.gaiaonline.com/profiles/bunnybutler/30781909/ Where: http://chuuchichu.deviantart.com/ What: May 2014 - Custom character design When: May 2014 Proof: http://imgur.com/a/PbFzw (Contains all the ones listed in this post along with a few extras) Explain: In May 2014, Chuuchichu held an auction where she would design for the winner a custom character from her Nemu species. I won this auction at $220 ($227 overall with fees) on my side account, Celebibonbon (http://chuuchichu.deviantart.com/art/NEMU-Custom-Auction-CLOSED-451902408). My main is Vespisia. Details were exchanged via notes (http://imgur.com/oSNfXGm) (http://imgur.com/e8lgNzr) and payment was made (http://imgur.com/s7QG3ky). We gave each other our Skypes for easier access (http://imgur.com/VvBAogE), and work was begun (http://imgur.com/diHadyl) (http://imgur.com/zpj7ZFN) (http://imgur.com/6QA0QfA). Progress was pretty good; I attended a livestream (I believe it was a Join.Me in the first week of June 2014 or so) and watched get work done on my character and it was nearing completion in just that one session, just needed a few more touches and shading done and some cleaning up to become fully completed. Chuuchichu sent me another note a bit later, inquiring about possibly scheduling a new livestream time to finish up the custom. Unfortunately, I dropped the ball during this part of the exchange, as I took several months to reply, during which time Chuuchichu sent me two notes that were follow-ups inquiring where I was (http://imgur.com/gtze9js) (http://imgur.com/UxXfd76). This part was certainly my fault. I would eventually reply to her in November 2014 (http://imgur.com/35EZWM6), and as can be seen in the screenshot (http://imgur.com/cQ9r61J), the note was read, but never replied to. Months would pass with no response, she had been fairly active before the advent of the custom auction, and afterwards, would be decently active, but I would realize in 2015 she stopped becoming active on DA and her many other sites around spring 2015 it seems. In any case, on Deviantart, I sent her a note in June 2015, asking for an update (http://imgur.com/sQmBgwN). It was not read. I sent her another note on August 2015, that note was also unread (http://imgur.com/BDn6G1N). I recently sent her a note in October (http://imgur.com/4AWfNmr), and that was also unread(http://imgur.com/qSixMt3). I also left a comment on her profile in July 2015 (http://imgur.com/hTogVwO), asking for an update, which was also not replied to. At one point, an old friend of hers contacted me, asking if I might know where Chuuchichu was, because as mentioned previously, she had gone inactive. I replied I did not know, and she expressed sympathies concerning the pending custom, agreeing that it was not a fair deal to me. I also sent Chuuchichu a message on Skype in June 2015 (http://imgur.com/qTdjtfV), which was never replied to. Other attempts included sending an email directly in July 2015 (http://imgur.com/PxRBqwR), and even asking one of her old friends (http://imgur.com/1kvBMOE) and a group she belonged to if they knew where she might have went, but no one had any idea. I began to think perhaps she had a medical emergency or something highly serious and time-consuming at the very least. But last night (11/5/15), I found her Pinterest (https://www.pinterest.com/chuuchichu/), and it turned out she was active. It seems to be her indeed, and she pinned things just a day or two ago. At this point in time, I am looking into filing a chargeback as multiple attempts to contact her on various platforms have all consistently failed, and she is clearly active. To summarize, 1. $227 commission for a custom character paid and started in May 2014. 2. Last discussion and update was June 2014 2.A. Part of this was definitely my fault as between June and November, she sent a few more notes, but I did not reply due to stressors from 'real life.' 3. Note sent from me to her in November 2014, was read and not replied to. 4. More notes sent in 2015 (three total), they are unread as of the moment, along with an email, a skype message, a profile comment on DA, and inquiring friends and groups if they knew where she is. 5. Found her on 11/5/15 clearly being active on Pinterest. 6. Looking into filing a chargeback now since multiple attempts at contact have failed. [Edit 10/11/15: I did not send the payment via gifts, I sent it through services, but yes, I did pay the fee for her. v_v Sorry for the confusion of my wording! Also, I've contacted Paypal and my bank on the 6th of this month or so, and both said it was too late now to file chargebacks. Instead, they advised me to take this to the police and the BBB, so here's hoping. I will be calling Paypal back though to let them know about how she had originally asked to send the payment + fees via the gift option.] Thank you for your time, everyone. EDIT/Adding more: On March 3 of 2016, Chuuchichu logged onto Skype and I was able to reach out and talk to her. She apologized and quickly issued me a full refund and was very respectful and mature in her handling of the situation and knowledge of receiving a beware. I consider the situation resolved now and believe Chuuchichu acted admirably and sincerely in her resolution.

https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/865907.html I'm going to go ahead and post this beware because Echoen has given every indication that he refuses to resolve the issue. Post contains suggestive nudity, but nothing too explicit. WHO: Echoen http://www.furaffinity.net/user/echoen https://echoen.sofurry.com/ https://inkbunny.net/Echoen https://www.weasyl.com/~echoen https://www.patreon.com/Echoen WHERE: My specific issue is with his Patreon. WHAT: Digital commission which he used for commercial purposes without my knowing, much less my approval, despite the fact he agreed to my TOS when he commissioned me. My TOS has always stated that I reserve all rights to my work, conform the law for freelance creatives as opposed to, for example, work for hire. It should be mentioned that this was a €5,- commission and it cannot be reasonably assumed that the cost also covers any rights in addition to the custom artwork, much less commercial rights, nor was there any indication that the work would be used commercially when he commissioned it. WHEN: August 2014 until Juli 2015, which is when I confronted him. EXPLAIN: September 2012 I had a sale on "Itty Bitty Commissions" which is what I call a small, digital, flat-colour, 1 character commission (example). They were so-called "wing-it" commissions, where I would receive payment and a character description and draw it and the customer would receive the finished drawing. Echoen contacted me and told me he needed a badge for a convention. It was rather last minute, but turn around was fast (a few hours to a day usually) and I moved him to the head of the queue to make sure he had it in time, just to be nice. I also gave him several options (1, 2, 3, 4), all at no extra cost. Again, I was just trying to be nice and a good artist and give good customer service. And Echoen seemed really happy with the work, which he uploaded a week later.) I thought that was going to be that; customer was happy, I was happy, end of story. Right? Juli 2015 I find out he's using it as a header for his Patreon, which is receiving almost $300 a month. Now I have a Patreon, and I know I thought carefully about which image to put up as a header to hopefully draw folks in and support me financially. This is definitely commercial use, as it's effectively advertisement, and Pixsy (a site that helps you local potential abuse of your work, they work with legal partners) agrees with me, filing it under commercial matches. I contacted Echoen, telling him I'd license him the image if he wanted to continue the image for his Patreon. He responded by taking it down and.. Nothing. No "oops, sorry!" or anything. That said, he'd still used the image commercially for 11 months, even though he had agreed not to. I told him I still needed to be compensated for that use, and sent him an invoice for a $110, which is entirely fair considering how much he's getting every month. After this is pretty much devolves into him stomping his feet, making up nonsense reasons as to why he shouldn't have to pay and suggesting he received "legal counsel" which agreed with this point of view. The screenshots. Him. Me. Him. Me. I asked him to have his lawyer (typically, legal advisors are lawyers.) contact me instead and then he went silent. Artists beware, Echoen has no respect for you or your rights at all. He'd comment on my work the entire time he had my art up on his Patreon (with my name effectively cropped out of the art!) and we chatted on FA; he had every opportunity to ask me about the work or mention the fact he was using it on his Patreon and never did. He's pleasant to your face, but when confronted with the consequences of his own voluntarily actions he becomes patronizing and will attempt to intimidate you into relenting. To this day he still hasn't even apologized a single time for abusing my work. He takes no responsibility for his own actions at all but instead goes to extreme lengths to avoid it. I ignored some warnings about him and this exact kind of behavior in 2012 after I finished the Itty Bitty Commission, and now I wish I'd heeded them, refunded his 5 bucks and had the work removed. Please don't make the same mistake I made, avoid him. Useful link: List of common but invalid excuses to copyright infringement as written by an attorney.

https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/863094.html WHO: FA; Frindle WHERE: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/frindle/ WHAT: Hypnosis Icon WHEN: Commissioned March 19, 2015 PROOF: http://i.imgur.com/B8n55eT.png EXPLAIN: Commissioned Frindle on March 19th of 2015 for one Hyno Icon when they posted a journal saying they were taking some. Eagerly I placed an order which was through Google Docs. After 2 months of waiting I sent them a message after they made a journal that if anyone had any questions to send them a message. I sent them a message because I was not sure where my commission was and that it did not show up on their Trello. I received a message back not too long after asking if I had ordered through Google Docs and that they were on a separate spreadsheet. Seeing as I had, I left it at that and figured that it would get done sometime soon. http://i.imgur.com/nCdQsQT.png - Inquiring about Icon Two months later, I noticed their queue was getting larger and figured mine wouldn’t be done so I messaged them asking for a refund as it was getting towards the end of the dispute period. http://i.imgur.com/ThqLkCS.png - Original Message Frindle apologized for the wait and I noted them my paypal for the refund. I did not receive the refund due to the artists typo of my paypal the first time and when they fixed the issue 2 days later, they only sent me a partial refund. I immediately messaged Frindle on FA, explaining that I had ordered during the time when they were $21 and not $15. Once again Frindle apologized and said they sent the remainder of the refund to my paypal. It has now been 4 days since then and I have not received the remainder of my money. I did send them another message prior asking if they had sent it (they did look at the message but did not respond to me) and I sent another and I am waiting a reply once again. http://i.imgur.com/shnMko8.png - Telling about the mix up with the Refund http://i.imgur.com/ZIiQeop.png - Current Outbox Message asking about the remainder I’m losing my patience with this commission and it’s putting me a little on edge that it’s getting close to the end of the dispute period. Although it is only $6, it’s still $6 I would be out of with only 4 months of waiting, no icon, and a partial refund only to show it. http://i.imgur.com/0bBwglu.png?1 - Proof of Partial Refund UPDATE: July 27th Received a reply back from Frindle saying they will refund me the remainder of my money (however it is $6 and not $5) when they get the funds to do so. I have no idea when this will be and the paypal dispute period is nearing the end (or it could be over, not sure but I know it’s 180 days is the limit). http://i.imgur.com/5ggWW0a.png - Reply from Frindle

https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/959286.html Who: Ailuranthropy (appears to do business as “FoxFeatherStudios” according to PayPal) Where: https://www.furaffinity.net/user/ailuranthropy What: Digital Art – 2 Figure, shaded, Valentine’s Day-specific multi-user YCH When: Discussed and paid January 30th, 2017. Problems and delays began almost immediately and continued in frequency well beyond the holiday. Explain: The original commission was purchased on January 30th after a brief exchange via comments and notes. Shortly after began a long series of purported medical and housing “emergencies” that stacked in number. Meanwhile, Ailuranthropy continued taking in numerous new commissions while failing promise after promise to complete existing ones, several times specifically mentioning the Valentine’s Day pieces. I had sent three separate notes over FA looking for feedback. The first note was replied to, but did not answer my question. The second and third have not been opened or read as of June 22nd, 2017, suggesting the artist is either that far behind, falsely indicating progress where it doesn’t exist, or is outright ignoring me. Since they claim to have made progress in answering notes and publically stated they will address all of them within a time period that they’ve failed to meet, it suggests either of the latter case and deliberate negligence. Ailuranthropy runs frequent streams on Picarto where she often takes in new commissions. She mandates that no viewer is allowed to ask about owed artwork, or request status updates about them in the chat channel of the stream. Requests to actually get that information result in other users browbeating the customer with “channel rules” until they leave. A journal was posted on June 1st, 2017 that I found of particular concern. They wrote about their plans regarding owed work and made an “offer” to everyone who commissioned them before April 2017 that they have an option of a “full refund,” but that they won’t honor it “until probably August.” They say they will continue to take on new commissions while in-stream, and that the income for that is meant to pay for their living arrangement they are trying to set up, as well as paying for refunds of old ones. They specifically state “ME TAKING ON COMMISSIONS DOES NOT MEAN I AM IGNORING YOURS.” They also indicate that they will be expanding on the Valentine’s Day pieces and no longer using the base or template. Rather, they claim they will be creating new, unique poses for each customer. However, they also specifically made a point to tell people that PayPal is their sole and primary “bank” and are concerned about their account being flagged. This suggests to me that they are likely well aware of the limitations on how PayPal disputes work. I found it particularly troublesome to be asked to wait beyond my dispute window, where I would lose the bulk of my ability to try to resolve this issue. Given PayPal’s limitation of 6 months to file a dispute, and that the invoice was paid in January, we were quickly coming up to the deadline to escalate this issue. With my last two notes remaining unread, filing a dispute on PayPal was my only remaining bargaining tool. They replied within one hour to the PayPal dispute and asked for my FA username so they could remove me from their project list and blacklist me from any future business. I provided the username as requested, and asked that she update me when I’ve been removed and that she process the dispute accordingly, as she was effectively stating she would not deliver the product that was paid for. After 48 hours without a reply, I escalated the issue directly to PayPal to handle. PayPal contacted Ailuranthropy and a refund was provided within an hour. Proof: Screenshots of payment confirmation: http://imgur.com/zp3132g http://imgur.com/uzi2tzb Screenshots of Unread Notes: http://imgur.com/koqCu24 Contents of unread notes: http://imgur.com/9pSQD5K http://imgur.com/Gi3pXPs Screenshots of PayPal dispute interaction: http://imgur.com/tc1kjl6 http://imgur.com/nXUFUZa Screenshot of PayPal Escalation result: http://imgur.com/dnpMRs3 Screenshot of only reply via Notes received since piece went past due: http://imgur.com/SeM3l5i