*WARNING*/*potential SCAMMER*
hey y'all, i just want to take a moment to talk about this because it's pretty absurd.
while i have promoted and praised this person in the past, i feel it's important/responsible to amend that with a proper *disclaimer* because i *think* they might be a scammer/trying to scam people.
i'm gonna start by saying i *have* bought from them successfully before. 3 times in fact (i think all together something like 70ish dollars spent? it was from some things they have/had available on boosty) and i still think they're a good artist, so if you do like them and want to support them *safely*, their boosty *should* be fine for that.
however, the problem came from when i *tried* to actually commission them full on. i just can't in good conscience recommend anyone commission them with the way they behaved about it as they either don't understand what commissions are/what appropriate professional behavior/etiquette is for them or are trying to scam people. i'd like to think it's the former rather than the latter, but the experience was unpleasant to say the least--keep in mind, i've also had artists just not respond to me when they don't want my business and i'd honestly prefer that to whatever the hell this was.
i reached out to check in on how they were doing, update them on the progress i had regarding the fic inspired by their work (nothing big since they've left the fandom, just a mention that it was progressing well) and because i finally had some commission ideas (i had mentioned in passing before that i wanted to commission them but didn't have any solid ideas for it/i can be very indecisive).
i also specified my situation--which included exactly when i would have the money ready for the commission (i'm disabled, so this is a bit strict for me but very regular and i specified this *at least* 3 times. maybe a mistake to reach out sooner to begin with, but i figured we were so close to the date and wanted to get the details of the commission out/understood/agreed upon/solid first so that i would know the exact price i'd be paying and what i'd be getting. i do know this is supposed to take time and effort on both parties.)
they responded nicely at first, but a little strangely/venting. some commission things discussed which gave me more to think about/ideas. the venting part didn't seem like a big deal at the time to me (we had a bit of an informal sorta friendship thing from the time i reached out to them with the gift fic) so i responded like i normally do. trying to be nice and understanding/supportive.
since they did give me a lot to think about with the original commission idea (first plan was a really big one--would need to be split up, done in parts/saved up for over several months--i would update when i was ready--they even told me i had time to think about it but we did manage to discuss that one a bit, if it being a little weird) i decided to set that idea aside as i got a newer/much simpler idea.
nothing big. just courage the cowardly dog.
i wanted him smiling while holding up a portrait frame, like he was getting a portrait painted. so very simple, fits in their TOS and everything (at least at the time). i relayed that idea in full and asked them what they thought. i even did the math myself for the price and also reiterated when i'd have the money ready to send.
however, the response i got was... weird.
they did more light venting, which okay. rough days, everyone has those and they had the habit, i was there, y'know? it's a bit of pressure/triggering on me but no big deal. i bore with that. this one was especially hard for me because they put in a 'joke' about taking their own life. (i was pretty triggered by this but responded with as much compassion and care as i could give because that is extreme/took priority to me, we'll def come back to their response to me about this)
but they also... completely ignored the courage idea.
me being a dumbass thought, 'oh okay, no big deal, i'm sure they just missed it/forgot' so i ask again.
this is just *part* of their response (verbatim/copy pasted):
"Sorry ofc I can't tell you what to do as a customer but damn I don't want to draw that small nervous dog it gives me unpleasant feelings… I have to get people on my side with certain tastes and such drawings like this most often attract some pretty weirdos lmao. I really have seen such examples and I don't want that. I need comms more "sexy" if you get what I mean. On the spooky season you can choose a lot of other things for example xeno stuff or cool dudes/girls from horror movies."
so... they basically admitted to completely ignoring me and attempting to veer the convo so they could *manipulate* me to pay for something *they* wanted to draw--to build a 'brand' so to speak. instead of just being honest and saying 'no thanks'? this was also the same response they claimed they were 'just joking' about literally hurting themself.
i don't take issue with artists being upfront about not liking or being uncomfortable with drawing something, even if it's not in the TOS because sometimes things get missed. that much is fair. if you don't want to draw what i want to buy, oh well. we can't reach an agreement and that's that, we move on.
however, i do take issue with artists not being transparent with their TOS/trying to use customers to springboard a specific 'brand' by manipulating/coercing them into buying shit they don't actually want. that is incredibly abusive and gross, customers don't *owe* you their business (this is coming from someone who generally takes the artists side/wants to believe in art but artists are people too and there are def a lot of scummy/unprofessional ones out there)
i especially take issue with being called a 'weirdo' for liking things like 'courage the cowardly dog' and getting my ideas disrespected to the point where they aren't even worth you *telling* me you don't want to do them--until i bring it up again. (and to give more context, we had actually discussed courage long before and they told me they *liked* him! i didn't even ask for him 'nervous' or scared which just proves they weren't reading shit of what i wrote about the commissions)
let's be clear here, we're all 'weirdos' on this hellsite.
but another thing to note.
'commissions' are not a 'self gratification' job where you take a donation, pump out whatever and expect the customer to be 'honored' with it. they are a discussed and agreed upon *fair exchange* that is *supposed* to benefit and satisfy both parties.
for commissions and anything made to order--an artist's 'power' over their customers starts and *ends* with the TOS. after that, your customer becomes your 'boss' because you are providing them with a *service*. commissions and custom orders *are customer service jobs*. disregarding your customer means you run the risk of getting into *legal trouble*, coercing someone into paying for something they don't actually want is extortion. if you think business isn't going to run smoothly or you don't want to do the job or even just don't think you'll do it very well, *don't take the commission*--but don't ever try to *manipulate* your customer or act *entitled* to their money/business.
now granted, you (the artist) can back out at any time if you aren't happy with the way a customer treats you or any other reason, *but so can the customer*. and this is only *before* payments are made--post payment can be more complicated. (*luckily* i did not get this far cause jesus christ...)
if you aren't good with customer service/communication, the recommendation then is to hire a liaison/middle man who *is* (if it can be afforded, otherwise expect to have to adapt/lose a lot of customers)
i'm not including everything here (i do have copies of our full conversation for anyone who wants to verify in case you were thinking about commissioning them, i'm not saying it can't be done, but just be warned given my experience. maybe i'm a one off because they just secretly hated me or something but it's worth noting i think.)
they also specified they didn't want to talk about life stuff anymore, just the commissions--which okay, no problem, right? there was an element to this that was weird and i'll get to that in a moment.
i went a *single* day without responding.
i was dealing with medical issues (again, disabled), having a very bad day, and didn't want to take it out on them or put it into the response, so i gave myself a day or two to cool off and prevent that (trying to be more conscious of emotional responses/have better self control).
common sense alone should tell you *a lot* can happen in a single day.
but they responded again (before i could)
this time with an *accusation* that i had 'never planned to commission them' and that i just wanted to waste their time with 'chit chat', and that if i wanted to the commission, i would have *already* sent them the money.
bear in mind they literally have zero proof to even suggest this (i was supposed to be their first client *allegedly* so no prior experience with anything like that, just pure impatience and assumption--unless they have scared away customers before?), and i'm going to take a moment to debunk the claim but let's get it straight first.
rejected my (courage) idea without telling me (at first)
tried to ignore it and manipulate me into choosing something else (twice)
refused to discuss or finalize any finer details of the commission, such as what the piece is (subject, coloring, props, background, etc. as per their own TOS) price, etc. so we could have a clear understanding of *what* i was even paying for and *how much*--so keep in mind, this was *not* clarified (but the money needed to be in their account for them to start already, what?)
refused to answer any questions or concerns i had about the commission (honestly, i'm just convinced they didn't read any of it)
are now accusing me of not actually wanting the commission and just 'wasting their time'.
and demanding a nondisclosed amount of my money for a nondisclosed commission (*literally* as in they would not confirm a price or what they were planning on drawing--they even *changed* prices mid-talk and didn't want to give me time to recalculate/decide what i want. and again, i specified the exact date i would have the money available--if you think this much was my mistake, fair enough, but it 100% proves they didn't bother actually reading much of what i wrote because i mentioned this *multiple* times.)
after a *single* day of no response.
so let me start by addressing the 'i just wanted someone to talk to claim' because it's unfathomably *narcissistic*. (excuse me for getting triggered again, survivor of narcissistic abuse here--shit is too recognizable for me now)
it not only completely disregards that i *literally* have bought from them before (multiple times, i was a repeat customer at this point), it also seems to *center* them in my life and assume i literally have *no one else* to talk to?? like WHAT?? i'm sorry? i spent *MONTHS* not talking to them (and talking to *other* people (that i adore<3) in my life that can fulfill my social needs plenty fine, thank you very much), why *out of the blue* would i *suddenly* 'want to waste their time'???
i'm going to share something i haven't with them. i *debated* reaching out to them at all because our last conversations left a very nasty taste in my mouth.
the fic (original post of this rb) inspired by the pic they made was one we had discussed at length, and i gave a lot of leniency with what they wanted since it was inspired by them/i wanted to push/challenge myself to tackle some themes i knew i might not otherwise.
they *begged* me not to abandon this fic. as of yet, i have no plans to. i'm having fun and i'm being reminded of how much i loved writing.
but then they abandoned the fandom, like the whole thing--and i don't and *still* don't blame them for that. i understand how bad fandoms and fandom fatigue can get, but boy was the feeling of being given direction for an *entire ass fic* and then being told essentially 'i'm bored of this' incredibly *offputting*.
but i thought, 'fuck it', these things happen, bit the bullet. wanted to commission them and reached out. they also kept reiterating 'only commission' 'only commission' after, idk, the heat got too hot/personable on life stuff?? (this is also why i'm not sharing all this stuff here out in the open) *but then they literally ignored me multiple times about commission stuff and wouldn't finalize anything*
after the accusation, it became pretty clear they were just using me or *trying* to, as a means to get a quick buck for whatever the fuck they wanted to draw on a whim, and as a *trauma/drama dump*.
this was the response *i* had to their accusation btw (again, copy paste verbatim):
"wow. that's a random accusation that makes no sense.
no actually, i was dealing with medical issues. but you don't want to hear about that. so.
what commission are you talking about? what price or details did we actually discuss or finalize? you kept brushing off *any* actual discussion about the commission and ignoring anything i tried to bring up, including what i wanted in favor of your own ideas.
what do you plan to draw cause i sure as hell don't know, and i have no plans to pay for a random mystery commission of your choosing.
you told me 'no, i don't want to do courage'. and also straight up insulted me and called me a 'weirdo' for wanting him. now you're accusing me. you also kept trying to debate and manipulate me to just pay for something *you* want to draw.
which i'm sorry? but no thank you. i don't want anything 'sexy' right now. that's also not how commissions work and feels incredibly scammy. it's a customer *service* job in which you listen to what i want and acknowledge me as another human--not 'convince me to fund your brand building and random drawing whims and demand my money' job
you've made it perfectly clear you aren't interested in my business which just means i have to look somewhere else--oh well. but i don't think you're actually interested in doing commissions at all. this is not professional or 'serious business' behavior, you literally threw a tantrum because i didn't respond for a day/do what you wanted. :/
i've supported you in the past but i can't support you trying to scam people. you aren't entitled to my or anyone's money and i will absolutely warn people about you if i have to."
to which of course, they did the classic *double down* instead of take any accountability for their own actions, blame/accuse me again, and blocked me (i guess they thought i was bluffing when i said i'd warn people?? but no, def not. i take shit like this pretty seriously and always think it's important for people to be as informed as possible.)
sure, maybe i could have been a little nicer but i thought i was clear, concise, and to the point (unlike that disaster of an attempt at discussing commissions with them.)
y'all, don't go out of your way to vilify or harass anyone. never do that. i think it's pretty obvious here that they were wildly unprofessional (the trauma dumping and then blaming me for it/trying to disregard it especially, i'll come back to that 'joke' in a moment cause that was... :() about this but i still do want to give them the benefit of the doubt while letting people know my experience with this attempt i guess.
i reached out to them out of kindness, and things didn't work out, but they're still a person. at best, maybe one who's still a little too immature for this/maybe with some toxic habits--but they can (ideally/hopefully) grow out of it.
at worst, they're a scammer who would have *tried* to take my money and run--i'd like to think the stuff i've bought before is evidence to the contrary, but the truth is that i don't know them that well and there *are* artists out there who also turn out to be scammers--the two are unfortunately, not mutually exclusive. i thought we hit it off and became fast friends when i first made the gift fic but i guess the feeling wasn't mutual.
i thought i was being compassionate and nice but i'm realizing i was probably just enabling them trauma dumping on me, so my bad on that front.
and regarding the trauma dumping and 'joke'. it's one thing because we were a little bit more familiar with one another due to the whole gift fic/chats we had prior. i myself am a fan of morbid and self deprecating humor.
but it is *not* appropriate or fair to the other person (much less a potential client) to drop not so subtle hints or bombshell 'jokes' regarding mental health (much less about *unaliving* yourself), and then try to brush them off when they show you concern/empathy or just try to treat you as a human being. that is *literally* just trauma dumping, and it's not funny--much less for someone who could get *triggered* by it (and you never know with clientele/strangers on the internet, this is literally what trigger warnings/tags are for)
artists? don't ever try to pull this shit. any of it. just don't. make sure everything is clear and concise, give your customer a voice and make them feel welcome. have things written out, fully decided and *agreed* on *before* payment is sent (this includes estimates for how long it will take, subject matter of work, references if needed, details, price, etc. literally everything.) and keep your clients *updated* on both the pic(send wips)/situations if they come up (like if files get lost).
potential customers of artists? don't tolerate bullshit like this. no trauma dumping, no manipulation, no entitlement. don't ever let an artist bully you into buying from them, i don't care what the circumstance, that's not and never will be okay. if you can't come to an agreement or feel pressured--walk away. it's your money, *you* decide how you spend it.
for commissions, the artist's job is to *earn* it.
TL;DR: artist didn't want to do my commission idea--but still wanted my money/kept trying to coerce/manipulate me for it.
i will be going ahead and adding links to this where i think it's appropriate to warn people (like on my fic). it was still a gift and i'll stand by that, but idk. i guess i don't want to regret my own kindness, even if it was to a shitty person/possible scammer because i can't control other people, y'know?
*but i can def warn people.*
stay safe out there, please<3
