#andromeda1028

[speremint]

Hello! First, I adore your art style and am looking forward to BnR when it resumes! I have a question for your concerning commission etiquette. I commissioned a piece in May, paid full price upfront, and gave the artist space. After several months I reached out but never heard back. It's been 11 months at this point and I'm pretty sure I've been ghosted, and can't recover the funds. Any tips for future interactions that would help both an artist and myself feel secure with a commission?

I’m so late to responding to this I’m so so sorry

That’s honestly horrible; 11 months is definitely out of the chargeback period (I think it’s 6 months from the time of paying the invoice for chargebacks).

Moving forward, I always check in after a month if I’ve heard nothing. I unfortunately also just had to deal with a massive artist screwing me over on commissions; after being ghosted for three months I finally ended up threatening to do a chargeback. That, of course, got me a response, but I had to continuously tell this artist (bc they had the balls to keep the tip and the conversion amount from the currency exchange) that I would be issuing a chargeback at the end of the month if I wasn’t refunded the total cost.  Establishing hard deadlines if an artist is being flighty/uncommunicative is also vital.

It’s hard to put your foot down sometimes, but honestly... You’re paying for a service from a professional, and if that professional isn’t going to fuckin act like one then you deserve to be refunded in full.

I’d also say that, for future transactions, check to see if the artist has posted any commissions they’ve done or has a specific tag (this is kinda only applicable for tumblr tbh) for finished commissions. I also avoid commissioning big artists UNLESS they’re recommended to me by friends, or they specifically do only commissions and are good at posting them.

I can’t offer too much help other than just making sure there’s been other examples posted, and then not being afraid to put your foot down after a month or two. Like... definitely be understanding if the artist has had some personal issues spring up because that just kinda happens, but also understand that you might be getting fucked over and it’s better to cut your losses rather than wait for the chargeback period to be up.

Edit: and before some idiot comes at me in the replies or reblogs, I’m a professional artist and have been working in the comic industry for two years now; prior to that, I did online freelance commissions since I was 15, so I do know what I’m talking about and just cause you like an artist doesn’t exempt them from being a shitty business person.