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I'd like to begin this post by saying that I've finally received my money back, but I still felt it necessary to make a PSA about this artist because this spree of not fulfilling commissions has apparently gone on for much longer than I expected. I greatly respect their talent and think their posted art is absolutely beautiful, but their lack of communication and responsibility for someone who is supposed to be a professional leaves much to be desired. This was when I first commissioned him and he took the payment. Perhaps I should have done half and half, but he assured me it'd be done within a week, and I always like paying artists upfront, delays or not. Unfortunately, a long time went by when I received no word, despite my attempts at contacting him through email and other platforms. Eventually, I managed to find his discord server and tried contacting him there too. While the first time I got no answer, I sent a message right when he was about to stream and managed to get somewhat of an answer. Eventually, however, the result was the same as before. Complete radio silence after the fact. A refund was only received on June 27th because a dispute was filed. No other followup was made. He opened up 2 commissions at this point, and I managed to get in contact with the second person that commissioned him, only to hear that they went through a very similar issue. Here is the conversation they allowed me to share.

(My original advice post is located here.) NOTE: Her real name and email haven't been omitted, as they are readily available on her websites. Unfortunately, because the artist and I were on friendly terms, much of the communication for this commission was done verbally at Phoenix Comic Con (PHXCC). However, I'm providing screenshots of the correspondence we had online. I originally discussed a pencil drawn commission with Goldenwolf at PHXCC back in 2017. She told me that She'd have it done by May 2018 (the next PHXCC), but would get it to me sooner if requested. I told her I'd be selling some things after the con, and if I had enough after obligations, I'd confirm the commission and send payment. (Email Discussion) As agreed, I sent payment for the piece with extra for shipping via Paypal on July 7th 2017. I didn't receive confirmation she had gotten the payment, so I nudged her on August 4th. She replied on the 7th with confirmation, making mention that she thought she had already replied to me. When I saw her commission queue posted to FurAffinity (FA) on Feb 5th 2018, I asked why my name appeared to be missing from it (the screenshot was taken recently, after my name had been added). After I pointed this out, she assured me that mine would be finished "this month", which I took to mean February. During February, she also attended Texas Furry Fiesta, where she advertised accepting more commissions on FA and Twitter. On April 16th 2018, I sent an email over with my updated reference (no big design changes, just more examples of his different forms were added on it). On the 17th, she said I was on the "short list" and she'd be getting to mine after a couple of other things. May passed, and on June 10th 2018, I asked for a progress update. On June 26th she emailed over a rough sketch for my approval. She mentioned in the same email that she was suffering from severe depression. I responded requesting a few edits, but because she was my friend and I wanted to be supportive, I tried not make her feel pressured. After I didn't hear back from her on social media, I sent her another email on October 26th 2018. I offered her the option of just refunding me if she was unable to produce my commission in a timely manner, and her response to this is just better just read from her email directly. I waited to post on Artists Beware for advice until after December, because she mentioned in the email that she was hoping to have the piece done by then. Following advice from A_B, I sent an email on February 15th 2018 asking for a refund using the outline provided to me in my advice thread. As of the writing on this, I haven't heard anything back from her. While collecting screenshots for this post, I found her current Terms of Service. (She has never directed me to it, so I'm unsure how it may have changed over time.) I do know, that if I seen this TOS before commissioning her, I wouldn't have, friend or not. (It features an "A**hole Clause", which in and of itself would be a huge nope.) Notable Sections: 1 2 3 I also found that she has a Patreon, which despite her huge backlog, offers sketches to certain tiers. I'm unsure, however, if she's actually provided them. 1 2 I'm not sure what else to add, really. It doesn't currently look like I'll be receiving my commission or a refund. ? 04.14.20 update: UPDATE: 4.18.2020 On 4.14.2020, just hours after the update was added to the post, Goldenwolf sent the client this refund and statement: She had not done work beyond the sketch provided back in June of 2018 The client responded with this invoice and statement Goldenwolf then refunded the client on the 16th of April for the remainder of the commission payment. This issue has now been marked as Resolved.

TLDR: I Paid for a commission I never received Back in mid 2017 I came across a post on Furry Amino from CanineVomit offering animated icon commissions. Interested, I contact them and we work out the details, with the payment being made on July 16, 2017. Fast forward maybe a few months and the end up announcing that they were leaving Furry Amino and tell their commissioners to email them (I don't have any screenshots from Amino as when they deleted their account their portion of the chat dialog was deleted as well). I do so and never get a response. After some time passes, I ended up finding them on Instagram and re-establishing contact there. After a bit of panic due to lost contact everything seems fine. More time passes and I hear nothing further from them again, and the same thing happens. They respond, everything's fine, but THIS time this is the last I hear back from them. I attempt a few more times to message them on Instagram after a while of not hearing anything but they never respond. Eventually they also end leaving Instagram like they did Furry Amino but without leaving any contact info for commissioners (They did leave their account up with the name "doggydeadd" for a bit but completely deleted it shortly after). I find them on DeviantArt and, like with Instagram, I attempt to contact them again. After a few attempts, they deactivate their account without even responding.

lunahasawa996 (lunahasawa996) wrote in artists_beware, @ 2019-01-05 12:21 Beware - UnderTheDarkness WHO: UndertheDarkness WHERE: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/underthedarkness/ WHAT: $5o YCH action WHEN: May 15,2018 — present EXPLAIN: Given the user has deactivated their FA, I cannot provide images of the YCH I had bought. But sometime in May of 2018 I had placed bids on, and won a YCH from this artist. Over time, I believe I was given only one WIP. Shortly after they had their problems and such and I noticed they weren't speaking with me. I had asked for an update a month after with a reply of "I will have an update sometime this week". Later I was given an update. Later on they were doing in stream commissions, which was indeed finished and received, but my prior one was still on the back burner. Jump to December of last year I learned they were doing refunds, and I was added to their list of the many people for the money they owed me. Jump forward after 3 weeks from providing refund information to present time, their FA has since been deactivated and I have no other means of contacting this person. I should have opened a refund claim during the window when I noticed it was looking unlikely I'd be getting my art, but being the overly sympathetic understanding person I am it looks like this person has officially ran off with $50 of my hard earned cash. PROOF: Proof of payment: https://prnt.sc/m3b3uv Asking for a WIP: https://prnt.sc/m3b4al WiP provided: https://prnt.sc/m3b3z3 WIP Uploaded Jun 24th *NSFW*: https://prnt.sc/m3b5cn Providing them refund information: https://prnt.sc/m3b4in I'm honestly shocked she went and took this rout. At this point I don't even want the artwork, I just want my money back where it can go towards a more reputable artist that I've previously worked with. </lj-cut>

I have paid for a headshot YCH posted on March 12, 2019. I inquired about a change of character and my question was not answered. I then found another set of commission slots that they have opened up for, I requested for a slot and the artist agreed. I did have an issue with sending the payment and asked the artist to cancel the YCH and use the funds to pay for the other commission. The artist agreed, I had offered to use the over payment from $30 to $20 as a tip. I have asked for updates over the next few months and I have not received replies. The messages are not read, and the artist is active on Twitter. Initial YCH: https://twitter.com/Ohmnog/status/1105679509519392768 Hypno Drool Slots: https://twitter.com/Ohmnog/status/1151616449737216000 Inital YCH: Second YCH: Conversation History: Transaction Receipt via Email:

I commissioned Sabletide / Stark / Glaciekat after meeting them on a Discord, on the 1st of November. I want to add that I tipped them a $5 extra because I know that artist life can be hard and that I liked their art a lot. Moreover, I didn't ask for a specific delay from the beginning. I let them take their time and have free will about their decisions and what I wanted with the commission. Here's the timeline of what happened (see Discord and Gmail screenshots): Between the 1st and the 13th of November, I had no news from them. On the 13th of November, they told me that they'll send me Works In Progress (WIPs) when they will be home. On the 14th they said that they weren't home but they'd send me the WIPs "tonight". On the 16th I sent them my ref sheet. No answer. On the 17th I asked them the WIP, they said that they were doing edits. I told them just to change the face markings of my character. One month after, on the 7th of December, I sent them an email asking for news and saying that I lost their Discord nickname. No answers. December 12, I asked them to answer me within 48 hours, otherwise I would do a PayPal dispute. December 13th, still no news from them at all, I asked a refund to PayPal because I didn't want to get scammed. They finally answer my e-mail after I created the PayPal dispute. 16th of December, after we got back to each other on Discord the same day, I asked they if they were ok to draw my Fursona even if the character have completely changed. They said it was okay (they could have said no) and that they could get it "mostly done today" (on the 16th of December). I then closed the PayPal dispute. On the 17th of December they sent me a WIP. On the 19th of December I went back to them, they said they were slow because of the holidays, which I understood. I asked they not to tell me any more delays because I can't just come back every time they say "I'll finish it in one week/one day" etc because it's frustrating both for them and I. They told me it would be "within 2 weeks for sure". I understood. On the 11th of January, I asked they if I could get any answer from them. On the 14th of January, they sent me another WIP. They said it "shouldn't take too long". And today here we are, 4 months after and all I had were just WIPs. I didn't ask for any deadline or any precise date but they gave me a bunch of delays that they didn't keep. They could have said no for the whole new character - I would have understand it - but they didn't and accepted to re-draw the character entirely. They didn't keep me updated at all, which ended up with me disputing for the payment because our conversation was so lost in Discord I couldn't get it back. I ended up asking for a partial refund, because I ordered a bunch of other commissions in the meantime and all of them have been completed but theirs. I understand that they have priorities, studies aside their commissions, but keeping me waiting and keep saying that they'll do it in [insert a delay here] isn't going anywhere.

I paid for a custom Cinnadog from byronbae on 1/18/2019, which were $40 base price + extra for other trait add-ons. The total transaction was $45 after adding 1 $5 trait to the custom base price. They mentioned there would possibly be a long wait time due to taking multiple slots. deviantART journal, claim proof, and payment proof below. I waited with no update until I received notification on 5/3/2019, where byronbae let everyone still pending know that they were having IRL issues, but should still expect sketches soon. Hearing nothing for several more months, I messaged them again on 9/15/2019 asking for status updates. Byronbae replied that they would be able to potentially get their queue done in October. On 11/28/2019, with no other updates in October and November, I asked for a refund. I received a reply that byronbae was willing to refund me but had no income, so I would need to wait until January. I let them know what I paid and waited for an update. I do not follow byronbae directly on deviantART but checked their page to see if they were active, and noticed they posted a journal on 1/3/2020 mentioning the outstanding commission issue. They claimed that they would be working on refunds and pinging people involved. As of 1/27/2020, no communication has occurred and no refund has been issued. I commented to ask status updates, but it has now been over 1 year since the initial transaction.

Kelpiemoonknives asked me for help and I helped them. They were a friend and I can't help helping people I like. There's been no progress and they've been avoided contact since January despite being active on Twitter.

I commissioned Kelpiemoonknives aka Kazmik to draw a ponified version of the Crysis nano suit from the original games. They were taking a while but I considered them a good friend so I didn't worry. The commission was a taking a while so I changed it to something else involving Raven from mlp. Kazmik hasn't responded requests about my commission since Jan 22, 2019 I tried messaging Kazmik on the one of their Twitter accounts that allowed DM from non-mutuals and no-response even though they're active on that account. I feel betrayed and have spent too long worrying over this so I created this.

Hi there~ This is my first post on here, so sorry if I don't do everything right ;0; Just had a pretty intense interaction with a buyer, so I'd like to warn anyone who may come into contact with him. I contacted EylonFerrousa on Telegram after he had made several posts in a few chats we shared looking for an artist to draw his dragon character. His budget was $40 and I was willing to work with that. I generally do commissions differently than most (this experience has made me change my methods, however); I usually try to complete the sketch before requiring payment, so after receiving a text description of the dragon he wanted drawn, I got to work and made a few sketches with minimal tweaking. Once I had gotten it to a point that I thought would be good enough to go forward with, I sent it to him but didn't receive any response for well over a week. I sent a quick "hey just checking in" message, and he informed me that some things had come up and he needed to cancel the commission. No biggie, life happens, and I totally understand ? I said as much, but mentioned that because I had spent quite a long time on that sketch, I would probably recycle the pose to fit one of my dragon characters that I had been meaning to draw (I would not be stealing his character, just using the pose and anatomy that I had spent around an hour perfecting on his dragon to make drawing mine go quicker) He was irked by this, saying that he'd rather I not reuse it, since he would be using the sketch. After I insisted that he did not own that sketch since he had not paid for it, he responded, saying that in his ToS (apparently commissioners have ToS's? I haven't heard of this) he claims that all art drawn for him belongs exclusively to him, whether he's paid for it or not. This alone is something you can't enforce, as artists own the art that they draw, especially art that hasn't been paid for, but prior to this, the idea of him having a ToS was never brought up, mentioned, or linked to. If he really did have such a ridiculous condition in his ToS, this should have been the first thing brought up. He then proceeded to go on a bit of a tirade, claiming that if I did anything to that piece, he would have full grounds to sue me, and he ensured me that I "didn't want a lawsuit on my hands." I responded, practically refuting everything he said, and I promptly blocked him. I have the entire chat screenshotted (good thing too, because he nuked the chat as soon as I replied to his lawsuit threats), but the only truly important parts are the end where things got heated, and I'll put my response in there as well just for a little closure. I'll include them below, but if any more info is requested, I'd be more than happy to provide it. I'll also put in the original message he had sent when looking for artists to draw his dragon, as well as the sketch of the dragon I completed as proof that I had done the work in the first place. Unfortunately, I seem to have missed the text he sent me after his long tirade about suing me; he made sure to mention that he had business to attend to with the CEO of Hasbro (an obvious scare tactic, and a poor one at that).

I wanted to commission this guy for a custom 3d modell of a character. He did work on many interesting pieces before, just view his 3d gallary for proof. So i wrote to him on Discord that i was interested in getting a commission from him. It started out pretty casual. I told him what i was looking for. It went pretty much good until payment as we quickly came to the terms on what i wanted. I think the last picture says a lot about my patients at that point. Its been 1 year since i commissioned him and i still had not gotten anything besides wips, also most of them only because i keeped bugging. This was my first 3d thing i wanted to get and i usually commission 2d stuff and wanted to try something new. I feel betrayed and scammed by now. There is no way paypal could assist me as the transaction was already from last year and they only gurantee you for 6 months. if i had known that i would have presured him with pulling my money back, but i never was such a person so i gave him time and casually ask from time to time. By this day i have written him on Twitter, Deviantart and as you can tell countless times on discord. But maybe posting a beware here could help my soul to find some peace at least.

WHO: Kylestudios WHERE: Discord WHAT: 35$ Commission, 2 characters with background. Flat colors WHEN: June 11th the talk and pay. Lost contact until October 11th, then lost contact again, then re-contacted on January 11th and March 20th 2019 EXPLAIN: In June 11th The user was in need of money due to some problems mentioned in the screenshots below. Though we rarely chatted i wanted to help him out with the condition to have a commission with the quality avaliable for the price he asked. 2 Characters, Flat Colors and a Background. Details shown in the screenshots. I've sent him the money on the very same day and told him to "Take Your Time", that i wouldn't push him etc, but to please do a reference sketch for what i asked to see if it comes out more or less the way i asked for. Lost contact until i talked to him on October 11th asking if there was any issues but he said he haven't started yet (I am aware that he might be slow due to IRL situations or whatever mood he might be... But 4 months...?) I even told him that if there was any reason for him not being able to do it that he should tell me about it, and if he had even a small WIP , like i told him on June, that he could send it to me.. On January 11th 2019 i asked him for status.. Told me "Next week".. On Wednesday 20th of March i asked again for the commission status and all i got was the same kind of answer, "Soon"..If he's not going to do much about it i'm going to send him an ultimatum, wich's a Time Limit... And if that doesn't happens then i'll ask for a refund, but for now i wanted to show my status of the problem here.. ....And there was nothing else after that. Half year waiting and still nothing... However, in some other places where he posts his drawings (Not sure if i can link those), you can see him post art for himself many many times, but for himself!...NOT the commissions he owers to a total of 21 persons since a journal post on an art site for over 6 months! I mean, when you got a commission, you don't want to make the client wait THAT LONG.. People understands he might have IRL things to do (like a job, life, etc).. But you don't make a client wait nearly 1 year to get a drawing done, something he can make up quick and correctly (WIPs etc)..And even more making him look like "Hey look at my new drawing(s)!, but you'll have to wait for your pic even more because of this!" ...You don't do that to a client.. Whenever "I" get asked for a commission i put everything from my "To Do" list and focus on the commission at that moment (Unless i have to go to the doc etc) All the details below (Sorry if there's a bit of a chat but you guys want proof?, so have it.. PROOF: Refund Need https://prnt.sc/lw9upx Commission asking for the 35$ https://prnt.sc/lw9usm Paypal link https://prntscr.com/lw9xt4 (Censored) Commission Details: 1. https://prnt.sc/lw9uty 2. https://prnt.sc/lw9uus 3. https://prnt.sc/lw9uvj 4. https://prnt.sc/lw9uwg 5. https://prnt.sc/lw9uxe 6. https://prnt.sc/lw9uy4 Telling him to not rush things but please show a Sketch WIP in certain ways https://prnt.sc/lw9uz1 Asking if there's problems with the commission https://prnt.sc/lw9uzw Paypal Invoice thingy Commission status asking on January 11th 2019 https://prnt.sc/n25fdw Commission status asking, again, on March 20th https://prnt.sc/n25frp

Summary: Mixi accepted a commission, delayed it multiple times for over a year while providing countless excuses, and has since began to ignore messages, outright refusing to communicate. She is not inactive, still streaming and posting new works. March 9th, 2018 I emailed Mixi with the details of my commission. It was to have two characters, with a large amount of variant versions of the image. Mixi agreed to the request as stated, and placed a rather high price tag on it, which we the commissioners agreed to, specifically stating it was reasonable due to the amount of work requested. March 10th, 2018 After some difficulty on her part, in regards to the invoice being done correctly, it was finally sent. The invoice was split between the two commissioners - $200 each. This amount was paid in full, along with an additional $20 tip. April 12th, 2018 Mixi sends an email excusing her delays. April 28th, 2018 Mixi finally provides the first sketch of the piece. We have a short conversation back and forth regarding needed changes. May 31st, 2018 I message Mixi as I have not heard from her in a month. June 6th, 2018 Mixi messages back an excuse. Sept 10th, 2018 I message Mixi as there has been no further communication or updates. She replies with further excuses. Sept 19th, 2018 Mixi sends an image with more work put into it. This is the last update we have received, though the piece is still not completed as per the original specifications. The artist was requested to make some changes to their coloring as they did not reflect the character accurately, and to move forward with the variant versions. This final provided image is unsatisfactory even as a stand-alone, due to the inaccurate depiction of the character, and Mixi agrees to make adjustments. Dec 2nd, 2018 I message Mixi asking if there was an update. This message was never responded to. April 22nd, 2019 I message Mixi further stating my dissatisfaction. She replies, stating she is willing to offer a partial refund. I request that she offer specifics on what she is willing to do. She has not replied since. April 26th, 28th, May 2nd, 2019 I have sent emails on these dates that have gone unreplied to, requesting that she provide specific terms for what she was offering. Update from comments: No contact from Mixi in 8 days. Mixi has not clarified on what she is offering in a manner which I can take as a sincere offer. No contact from Mixi in 8 days. Mixi has not clarified on what she is offering. Her original "offer" is as follows: I clarified further what we are asking for, but have not received a response. It has been 8 days, we are still waiting.

I had commissioned Nexy way back in the summer of 2016, because I saw through a mutual friend that he was taking commissions to raise enough funds to attend Megaplex that year. I bought two badges in the style displayed in the attachments (character pictured is one he owned at the time; not sure if he still does!). Sadly, I no longer have access to the account I initially commissioned him from, but what I have left is a screenshot from that account proving that I tried contacting him for updates and, consequently, a refund, because of his lack of response and lack of WIPs. I later tried contacting him in 2018 via my personal account, providing that screenshot, as well as the original paypal transaction to prove it was me, and got ignored (and blocked from messaging him ever again). I never had him added or followed anywhere, so I am unaware of any situations he may have gotten into (and his twitter currently appears to be locked at the time of writing), however, he still has a responsibility to keep in touch and communicate about what's going on to his clients. Granted, it's partially my fault for sending the money via friends and family, so I have no way of filing a chargeback (and it's also my fault for waiting this long), but obviously, since then, I've long since learned from that mistake. As of now, I still have not heard back from him at all regarding where I stand as far as getting a refund. (His FB name has been blocked out as it contains his real name, however, you can see his profile pic to note that it's actually him.)

Apr. 24th, 2012 at 9:21 PM pumpkin314 WHO: Stellary/Absinthe aka Inky/Stellary on Chatlands WHERE: main base: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/absinthe, commission transactions took place on TheTotemLands (prior to closing) and on Serenity Isles WHAT: 2 "poses" from TTL ($8 each [edit, my email says $6 was sent for the one pose which was completed, but I believe the other two were considered $8 as the ref was $20, if I remember correctly]) and 3 poses on Serenity ($13) each; one owed TTL pose completed WHEN: Commission began around June 2009 PROOF: Original emails (TTL): Commission on Serenity: Note asking for a refund: Recent emails asking for an update/refund: Recent PM on wolfhome asking for information: Unfortunately I have no paypal screenshots of the transaction as the account I used to pay has since been closed, however I would assume that her replying she had received payment should be enough proof on my end. EXPLAIN: Back in 2009 I commissioned Inky for a refsheet of my character, however I changed it from a ref to 2 chat poses (and got a third pose later which was completed) and told her to keep the extra (as seen in first email) [also this proof is lost as TTL has been closed and I never thought to get screenshots of these PMs]. This art was never completed and I lost contact with her. In 2011 she posted a topic to sell poses again on the chat SerenityIsles and I contacted her then about the owed art and was interested in getting some new commissions. One of the owed poses was completed and that was all. Later in the year I attempted to contact her as she had posted another topic selling custom chat poses. At this point she said she would probably no longer do poses but could instead offer me another type of art in place of these poses. Unfortunately, life got the best of me and I was unable to reply for a few more months, this is my fault completely and not a lack of communication on her part. However, I emailed her again almost two weeks ago without response. A few days after sending the most recent email I forwarded it again to her. Tonight (4/24) I tried to send her a private message on another chatlands forum she was taking commissions on. She has read the message but has yet to respond. EDIT: Finally got a response from her. I sent her a second PM on the forum she is actively making poses on and got a response. Private Messages: For the record here is the previously mentioned email about being "banned": I will accept blame for the email not being sent immediately. I had written it up and attempted to send it from my school wifi on my phone but must have left the wifi zone and caused it to wait in my outbox until I was back home and using stable wifi. The choice to keep her from selling on Serenity was not only my choice, as stated in my replies, but the choice of several team members giving their input and opinions on the matter. She had taken not only my money but the money of other users on Serenity and they were, luckily, refunded. And I managed to dig out the transaction in my paypal history: And her topic on the Wolfhome forums actively selling poses: I was honestly shocked that she was treating me so unprofessionally because of a grudge about a supposed ban on her account on the chat I manage. Whether I had banned her or not I would hope that she would be able to treat me respectably and professionally as this is a business transaction between two people, when money is involved there should be no room for grudges. EDIT 2: Taking on more commissions: Recent journal about how little she cares (yet needs to make a spectacle of not caring): http://screencast.com/t/Qhjj8g7805 http://screencast.com/t/D1Pixolf (no time for art but still managing to complete her own personal art as well as premade characters) Art she has completed recently: Sketch of ref sheet: http://screencast.com/t/7KUk7Q6hG5v Completed ref sheet (finished within 24 hours): http://screencast.com/t/bYzwDyIvZP Premade "hell hound" sales: Topic posted: http://screencast.com/t/gC2ppMqURLM Final bid: http://screencast.com/t/AkIa3INBQQ She claims to have no time to draw due to her work schedule, but she is able to create sketches for herself and even had the time to finish a ref sheet. Since taking the pose commissions on WolfHome she has completed one and has created several poses for herself (here are two of these: http://screencast.com/t/t6t2hmk7No8). She has also been able to make and sell premade characters (I know not too much work goes into these but still she could use the time to work on commissions). She went and made a journal about how little she cares about being posted here, which shows she will most likely never change her ways as she does not care about her reputation or how others view her. I'm giving a short break between my last PM to her and my next one, so she can not say I have not been patient. EDIT 3: More comments from her "I don't care" journal: http://screencast.com/t/PhCTc802oN She's posted a journal asking people to leave a comment in order to receive a refund. Oddly enough, this is exactly what happened with me last time and she ended up not refunding me anyway. Here's the journal: http://screencast.com/t/sAppy7EcpAD I also don't feel like I should have to comment on her journal just to remind her of what she owes me when I told her less than a week ago. Will keep this updated as it all unfolds!

Hi. This is a story of two buyers who didn't pay us for our work. A little explanation before I start: I work together with FyreDraygg. I take care of public relations and make some types of commission; he doesn't talk to our buyers, but is always informed by me about everything he has to know. This is stated on our Terms of Service, automatically accepted when someone decides to commission us. That being said, let's start. Terri contacted us on 6 December 2018 asking for a Night in The Woods graphic (a type of commission FyreDraygg does) featuring four characters. (If you're unfamiliar with the platform it's Plus Messenger. It's Telegram with a different interface) (I know the correct total was 26€ (6,5 x 4 = 26€) when I wrote 24€, , I made a mistake, but I let that slide even after I noticed.) Then they proceeded sending us the character references. I gave them an indicative date as, per policy, we can't ensure any completion date. I also explained them FyreDraygg will work on their piece (even if they should have known reading our ToS or, simply, my FurAffinity page). We chatted a little bit, nothing relevant for this. They contacted me on 12 December 2018, 2 January 2019, 28-29 January 2019 and 7 April 2019 asking about the WIP. As I told them before, I have a proper channel where I send any update on any commission I'm working on, to let people know what I'm working on, but I still accept people asking me privately. Finally, on 22 May 2019 I send them the final picture; I know, we took so long, but again we give no guarantees about completion dates and this is clearly stated in our ToS. Then, problems arose. Again, as per our policy: "A situation where we finish our job and the client delays payment due to not having the required funds available is not at all acceptable and lands said client directly in the blacklist, along with us reporting such incidents to all market platforms." ...but I tried to be understanding: we took a lot of time and I've decided to be more patient in turn. I was still annoyed because it was just about 6€ per person, not a really large amount, but I kept this for myself. I just wanted to be payed, nothing else, I didn't care about judging other people's finances. Then I contacted them on 27 May 2019, 10 June 2019 and lastly 21 June 2019. It was becoming a large problem because I had to file my tax declaration and I needed this payment to be done asap. I also explained this problem to them. Then, they forwarded a message from another person (a friend who was taking part to this commission), apologizing and promising we will receive payment very soon (I'm censoring personal emails & Paypal addresses). Then, suddenly they asked to change the price because "2 of the characters weren't used at all". We had been graceful enough to decline charging them extra delay fees when offered, the commission was already dirt-cheap discounted to begin with and while we took a long time to deliver, this gave them plenty of time to notice they weren't using a character and telling us about it. Furthermore, after receiving the WIP, they had yet another chance to ask for changes, which they didn't and now, when pressed for payment, they magically discover issues with the work. They also complained about us not sending them any WIPs, which we clearly provided as a release candidate due to the nature of the work. Thus, since work on 4 characters had already been done, that work would have to be paid. We couldn't send any invoice via Paypal any earlier because we didn't have any email to send it to; the buyer seemed extremely reluctant to provide any such information and had to be solicited multiple times before complying. The invoice expiration date was set for 15 days after issuing (my email is a public business email, I don't feel the need to censor it) and Maxx promised to pay after Friday (it was June 21, then payment should have been sent after June 28). As you can see from the screenshot I took today it's still "on hold", while the second one (from another person) is paid. Just a comparison if you're not familiar with Italian. The invoice will technically expire tomorrow, but since we are way past any set deadlines, we figured we weren't going to receive any payment and decided to cancel this order, ban these buyers from our service and initiatives and report them to the proper platforms as stated in our ToS. I perfectly understand things can be hard in life, we took a lot of time to complete this piece, but on the other hand if a person commissions some work from someone else, they should keep the proper funds available by setting money aside from the start, not pay at their leisure and blaming it on the worker for completing their work at an inconvenient time. I also offered them to pay after a WIP because I know it could took more time than expected. And again, we're talking about 6€ per person; I don't think someone who struggles to set aside the price of a 12-pack of Pepsi should preoccupy themselves with ordering art, but that's just my personal opinion. These users contacted me on Telegram and, apart from personal emails, I don't have any other contact. I give you name, nickname and id because it's all I have directly; after some sleuthing I found Terri on FurAffinity. Terri J. Flippo, @ZoopLoopz, id: 642843923 http://www.furaffinity.net/user/turriboo Maxx "Wretch", @trashmutt, id: 353535756

Shetani Cheetah (Shetani Cheetah) wrote in artists_beware, @ 2018-12-07 00:19 Hitchedboy/Jaoqy/Oatiemeal/Seafowl WHO: hitchedboy / jaoqy / oatiemeal / seafowl WHERE: https://www.instagram.com/oatiemeal, https://www.deviantart.com/seafowl, https://www.deviantart.com/jaoqy, http://flightrising.com/main.php?p=lair&tab=userpage&id=146038 WHAT: 2 character digital painting with background WHEN: July 15, 2018 - current EXPLAIN: Note that there will be some jumping around between different websites/screenshots due to the artist attempting to evade contact. They also changed their usernames various times throughout the course of this interaction, so screenshots may not match up exactly with what I've written. ( Read more... ) July 15 - I commissioned the user hitchedboy on the petsite Flight Rising for a 2-character digital painting, which was paid for using site currency in the form of items. [1] Payment was sent using Flight Rising's 2-way trade system. Weeks passed without word, and their FR profile indicated that they hadn't logged in to FR at all since a few days after I last heard from them. With this avenue of communication closed, I started seeking an alternate way to contact them, and found their Instagram account (which was also under the username hitchedboy at the time. The link on their profile led to a DeviantArt name of jaoqy.) August 27th - I messaged hitchedboy on Instagram to inquire about a turnaround time for my commission. They said they had lost their FR login info but were still willing to do the art for me. They informed me that their preferred method of contact was Discord. [2] August 28th - Our correspondence moved to Discord. I provided them with the commission info again since they stated they lost access to their FR account. I was told that I could check in with them "as much as I wanted" and that my art would be finished in "most likely only a week." [3] September 5th - A week later, I asked to see a sketch. hitchedboy said they weren't at their computer and would send it to me in 2-3 hours. I gave them an extra 4 hours before poking them again. They told me to message them again to remind them in 5 hours; I did so and received no response at all. (Time discrepancy in their message is due to hitchedboy being in the GMT+10 timezone and myself in GMT-5.) Though I was irritated at being brushed off, I decided to give them some time. [4] September 22nd - Life got in the way and I wasn't able to touch base with hitchedboy before this date. I told them the reason for my delay; they responded with a situation curiously similar to mine, and informed me they had completed the base colors on the art. I had not seen so much as a sketch from hitchedboy at this point, despite being promised one several times over. I felt uneasy and asked them to show me the art at its current stage for approval before progressing - again, my message was ignored. [5] September 29th - I logged into Discord, saw that hitchedboy was online, and shot them a message. They immediately switched their status to "offline." (I don't have a screenshot of this, sadly.) In response to this action, I asked them to just let me know if they no longer wanted to do the commission, as I needed it by a certain date and this would give me enough time to find a replacement artist. They assured me that they still fully intended to finish the art, citing extreme forgetfulness as an excuse for blowing me off in the past. They once again set a bizarrely unrealistic time frame - this time just 10 minutes - in which I should expect to see the art. At this point, I was severely doubting that any work had been completed at all, and sent a bit of a lengthy message expressing my frustration about being given the runaround time and again. An hour later, hitchedboy sent me a progress photo. This honestly surprised me, given that I'd been convinced that they hadn't even started, and the completion level seemed to me to be more than could be done in an hour. I informed them of corrections that needed to be made, making sure to be thorough since I didn't know if I would even get a chance to see another WIP before the picture was finished. [6] October 3rd-5th - I ensured that hitchedboy was aware of, and agreed to, the deadline for the piece. [7] October 21st - For the first time, hitchedboy sent me a progress update without being prompted. They said they hoped to have it done by the next day (of course, this didn't happen.) [8] October 24th - hitchedboy apologized for the delay, citing issues with the background. [8] October 30th-31st - The day before the due date, hitchedboy contacted me to say that the art was done, but they were unable to upload it. They claimed to be out of the house again and they would have someone else try to upload the picture while they were gone. Not only had I not gotten to see and approve the final product, I wasn't even told what website I should expect to find it on. In addition, I was extremely confused as to why they didn't just try a different site if they were having trouble with one in particular. I heard neither hide nor hair from them on the actual due date. [9] November 2nd-10th - I would otherwise have just written this off if not for the fact that they had actually completed a good deal of progress on the commission as per the one WIP I received, so continued to message hitchedboy in an attempt to just wrap up the whole ordeal. They claimed to have been in the hospital. No progress was made towards resolving the situation. [10] November 15th - I made another contact attempt on Discord, directly @'ing hitchedboy when I saw them appear as active. [11] While gathering up info to make this beware, I noticed that their Instagram username had been changed to oatiemeal. The account showed activity as of 10 hours earlier (no screenshot of this), and the link in their profile now led to a newly made DeviantArt page under the name seafowl. [12] The recent submissions in this gallery were pieces that had been completed and uploaded on November 3rd and subsequently, when they claimed to not have internet access. Giving the benefit of the doubt, I sent them a polite Instagram message. They responded only to request that I contact them on Discord, which I had been doing for the past 2 weeks. I admittedly lost my cool at this point, which I should not have done. Despite the fact that I knew they no longer used the website where the commission originated, I gave them a deadline to produce either the supposedly completed art or a refund. [13] To this date I have seen neither. (I also messaged them on Discord again as per their request, in case that would produce results somehow - it did not.) [14] I'm very upset because I was really looking forward to getting art from this artist. Quite frankly, I'm not too broken up about losing the payment for the commission, as I would much rather have the art. I can only count myself lucky that I paid in non-monetary currency, and hopefully they aren't doing this to customers on DeviantArt or Instagram as well. PROOF: All screenshots in this folder and linked at the appropriate points within the explanation.

justcheezit (justcheezit) wrote in artists_beware, @ 2019-01-14 17:59 Commissioner beware: Loftyk9 WHO: Loftyk9 WHERE: Tumblr/Fur Affinity WHAT: 4 part sketch sequence/ mini comic WHEN: Nov. 16th 2018 - Jan. 6th 2019 EXPLAIN: I did a commission for Loftyk9 back in November 16th of 2018; of which hadn't been paid for until January 6th of 2019. Initially they had an error with the payment due to an unstable connection,I had given them time to rectify this error as I had other clients drafts to handle. More hindrances came about, ranging from being in the hospital,handling holiday related expenses and once again running into more transaction errors when reminded of the invoice a month and a half after the commission had been completed. I will openly admit to having handled it poorly on my behalf by not enforcing my pay up front policy; however, having given them more than enough time to have the transaction handled, being promised it would be handled at the moment of being reminded,and finally being told of a similar transaction error or simply getting no response until asked again, their credibility has been damaged and I'm unable to say that they're pleasant to do business with. PROOF: Gallery detailing the initial transaction,error and eventual resolving https://imgur.com/a/afyOXUR

[ This article contains uncensored NSFW imagery (nudity). ] ... I initially got into contact with Strype on the 3rd of November, 2018. One day later, on Nov 4th, we came to an agreement on a single character thigh-up commission for $220,- USD. I subsequently provided them with my PayPal address and paid their invoice in full that same day (Nov 4th, 2018). They confirmed my payment as completed, and informed me that I'd have linework to look at later that week. On the 16th of November, 2018 (~12 days following the 4th), I received the linework along with a brief apology for the wait. I approved of the linework some hours later, on the same day. After this point, a long period of silence and no updates would occur. This is where I want to bring one's attention to the fact that the artist does not have a ToS. Below is a collection of screengrabs from their primary sites (FA and Twitter), both having no ToS to speak of whatsoever. Furaffinity Account Page Furaffinity "Commissions Available" Post 1/2 + 2/2 Twitter Page (Additional screengrabs from other sites such as Furry Network (https://furrynetwork.com/strype/) and Weasyl have also been collected, but will not be included here as they are not in use by the artist at the time of writing this article.) In short; the artist has no rules, no commitments, and no incentive to adhere to any sense of professionalism with commissions that start off at over 200 USD. I should obviously have considered this a red flag prior, but I did not. That was a mistake. Reiterating; November the 16th, 2018 was when I received and approved of the linework for my commission. I waited until December the 17th, roughly one month later, before I sent them a note asking for an update. No progress had been made - but they had added me to their 'priority list'. I thanked them for the update and continued waiting. Following Christmas and New Years, on the 12th of January, 2019, I sent them a new note asking for an update if possible. (The mentioning of 'three weeks' below here on my part is referring to me inquiring about some lighting conditions in the commission, as they had not yet started, three weeks ago.) Understanding their reasonings, I wished them the best and continued waiting, hoping for an update. On the 1st of February, 2019, I ended up sending them a new note, asking for an update. Still no progress - but understanding their situation (they have been open about these issues on their public Twitter, no censoring necessary), I remained patient, hoping for an update soon. It was during this phase of waiting I came to realize that getting put on a 'priority list' since the middle of December last year actually doesn't mean anything at all. Strype had been taking on multiple commissions between late December in 2018 and up till early February in 2019 - all while my commission was supposedly a priority. December 30th, 2018 - Multiple Slots January 21st, 2019 - One Slot January 26th, 2019 - Multiple Slots > (This one is especially interesting and will be referred to shortly) February 10th, 2019 - Multiple Slots The most alarming about these openings is the fact that these commissions were not prioritized behind my commission. One of them was actually taken in late January, (Jan. 26th opening), but ended up being completed less than a month later, before my commisson had even been started. I know this due to getting in contact with the commissioner in question. [See mod note above] Following these discouraging news, I wrote up a note asking for a reply in direct response to what I had learned, confronting them with my concerns on the 19th of February, 2019: This is how my message looked: This is the reply I received: Reading this reply, the troublesome lack of any ToS the artist would've had to abide by, became clear to see. I thanked them for the update and expected results to show up soon. Three days later, on February the 22nd, 2019, the artist finally delivered my finished commission, thanking me for my patience. Credit where credit is due, I was satisfied with the finished results, but they had arrived 3-4 months after I had paid my commission in full. My commission had arrived roughly one week before my PayPal refund (March the 3rd) opportunity would've been rendered forfeit; not a reassuring fact. Wanting to give them a second chance however, I inquired with them if they would be interested in taking on a second commission, granted that another uncertain 3-4 month waiting period was not to repeat itself, put in a polite of a manner as possible. Their response was simple, and sounded as follows... There was nothing extraordinary about my experience with them, and 3-4 month waiting period. If I wanted another commission, I should expect another 3-4 months of the exact same treatment, over again. ... I urge you to stay away from this artist at all costs, at the very least until they possess a ToS to prevent what happened to me, from happening to you.

On August 13th, 2018 the user Earlybird opened up for one commission slot, for a 2 Character Full Body with Background for 125 USD. On August 14th, I grabbed the slot. Artist confirmed same day. I sent the note asking for a SFW image at first. Artist confirmed and accepted two days later on August 16th. Payment was sent on August 17th (censored artist's IRL name). Payment confirmation was given, was told that there were only two commissions in front of me and I would receive a sketch soon. On September 5th, since I hadn't received a preliminary sketch yet, I wanted to change my commission to something for myself and my fiance, so I sent a note asking for a NSFW commission instead. The artist responds on September 8th, telling me they did have a sketch but it would be okay to change and to let them know what I wanted to do. I went ahead with the NSFW since I hadn't seen the first sketch at the time. Strangely, this note is never read. I don't hear from the artist from that last note. On January 9th, I have received no sketch, no updates, or anything. Their queue journal is broken so I have no way of checking on it and their ToS states with a full queue there's only a month wait, with only a couple days if near empty. I send a note asking for an update. ToS Archive: http://archive.is/DijuA Artist responds on January 10th, stating that their notes are acting strange and that they had sent me a WIP, though they would send it again. I get the WIP sketch: (NSFW WARNING) https://imgur.com/a/pPtJlP2 I approve of the pose and I assume work begins from there. On February 4th, my grandmother had passed away and I wasn't interested in really pursuing the commission any longer due to it. My Paypal protection period was nearing expiration and I had already waited 6 months and only received a sketch. I wanted to cancel the project, fully aware I was not going to receive a full refund. The artist responds a couple days later informing me that the commission was already on the flat color stage (even though I had never seen the lineart), but they would be willing to change the subject if I so wished. Not wanting to do that to the artist, I bit the bullet, apologized, and asked them to continue on as usual. In hindsight I should have asked to see the progress but hindsight is 20/20. The artist does not respond to that note until February 25th and reaffirms with me that I want to continue the image and have it finished. The note once again goes unread. Once again, I do not hear from the artist from that point. I send another note asking for an update on May 2nd. The artist responds on May 8th asking for reaffirmation of the image I want drawn, and I confirm that I want the NSFW image finished. Today on May 22nd I receive the final commission: (NSFW WARNING) https://imgur.com/6ddTzVI The artist also includes a small doodle for an apology for the wait. Compared to the example shown, it's nowhere near the quality I paid for and almost feels rushed. I'm not sure if the artist legitimately forgot what I ordered, but I express unhappiness with the final product. Example here: (NSFW WARNING) http://www.furaffinity.net/view/23217731/ I've commissioned this artist successfully a couple times beforehand so I'm not sure what happened, but I hope to resolve this with the artist and will post updates if/when it becomes resolved. They are a very sweet individual and carry themselves professionally but with such a long wait time and (supposedly) such a small queue/incorrect product received I feel they dropped the ball on this one hard.

I commissioned this individual July 28, 2018. I had recieved one WIP image, and then nothing after that. No updates were given to me unless I asked, and I didn't message them often. It got to a point that they weren't responding, so I had to go and see if they had any other social media just to contact them. January 4th hit and I realized I was never going to recieve my artwork. So I asked for a refund, and they said it could take days to weeks. I said okay and left it be for literally months. I then messaged them recently. They read the message, and ignored it. So I called them out on it and they responded very rudely. They are extremely unprofessional, I do not recommend them. Please, do not commission this individual for artwork or even fursuits. You are not guaranteed to get what you payed them for, and I highly doubt they'll ever actually give me a refund.

I had commissioned the artist Climbdraws for a drawing of my puppy when I first got him, sent the payment and never heard from them again after asking several times about the status of the commission. It’s been nearly a year and a half which wouldn’t even be a problem if I had gotten some sort of update (even though all of their commissions seem to be completed within a few days or weeks generally.) Here’s some screenshots of the convo between me and the artist who goes by climbdraws on tumblr. On other social media they go by climbstudio or climbtothestars but I believe they’re most well known as being half of the YouTube animator team, noodlers. This isn’t the first time they’ve been kinda sketchy with me, first I ordered a leafpool sticker from their storenvy which never arrived so after several months I contacted storenvy (which was after trying to contact them directly for months) and they claimed I gave them a bad address and the sticker was sent back to them months ago. Which made me think ‘okay... kinda weird considering that’s my address and why didn’t they tell me?’ They then ‘resent’ the sticker without asking for a new address and it arrived this time leading me to believe they just never sent it the first time. After that the first time I tried to commission them we planned it all out but I stopped hearing from them completely before I even sent the payment. Which wasn’t too big of a deal just weird I never heard anything one way or the other. Then what you see in the photos happened and unfortunately I never received my refund or my commission/: since they’re a pretty popular face in the wc community I wasn’t sure what to do about it, and at this point it’s too late to dispute on PayPal/:

Explain; Prepaid for a YCH commission posted via her gallery. (YCH attached). She originally mentioned that she had a queue and it would be a wait, I had no problem with that. I paid for it right away as she needed the money for an electric bill she stated in the post. I sent in the info to her via note and she confirmed it as well ok. Stated it would be at LEAST a month before it was complete. Again, I was fine with that. I commented back on the same post for an update about a month and a half later, because I realized her trello never updated to show my commission on her to-do list. She replied promptly and gave me an update. December I noted again, right before Christmas, asking if there was any updates, as I had heard nothing from her but continued to see postings of art, YCH's for sale and journals. She stated she was almost done with a wip and apologized for the delay. That was the last I heard from her directly. I noted again in February, she read the note but never responded. Again I noted for an update at the end of March. This note has still sat unread. So currently I am still down $50 or the YCH paid for. Obviously it is too late for me to go through Paypal and dispute the charge for a refund, but I am hoping this helps others avoid what I am not dealing with, maybe it will end with me getting either the YCh I paid for or a refund.

I contacted Shiro and asked about commissioning a refsheet for one of my characters, we discussed and agreed to payment, he stated that the commish would take about 2 weeks, I'm usually pretty lax with this kind of stuff but i did ask him if there was something after 3 weeks or so. no replies at all for about 2 months. He then returned and explained something about the government and military service. understandable so i didn't look further into it and even commished him a few more time, sketches and the like. bad move. what soon followed was him completely ghosting me despite still being quite active, i gave the benefit of the doubt perhaps he didn't check the messages so i commented on a post telling him to check his messages, he saw it but didn't reply, he was replying to other people, and even saw others were dealing with this as well. While checking other twitter post he even stated that he was clear of coms, despite me having nothing from him. Then the kicker, another person form the Thai furry community talked to me and informed me he is in a way their problem child, he was banned from any events in Thailand for his behavior and its common for him to pull this kind of stuff and keep people waiting a year or more. so in other words a ghosting artist who doesnt fulfill their end of the bargain and is very rude and unprofessional, I've filed a dispute with paypal and am currently waiting on that. but this is more of a warning for others, if you see this artist Avoid him and save yourself the annoyance of trying to deal with him.