[Resolved] Commissioner beware: VentressTheBat

[tomatocoup.livejournal.com]

WHO: Ventress at Derpibooru and ych.commishes.com, VentressTheBat at Discord, ffighterbrent at DeviantArt, ventressthebat at FurAffinity.

WHERE: the commission was received via ych.commishes.com, with further communications in Discord.

WHAT: a digital art piece ($475). Here is the auction page: https://ych.commishes.com/auction/show/1BTR/come-get-some/ (NSFW), here is the finished piece: https://ych.commishes.com/followUp/show/1BTR/come-get-some/ (NSFW). It was a collaborative YCH by me and another artist (Yakovlev-Vad), but I've handled all communications and payments, so there will be no proxy writing — this detail will just make the logs easier to understand.

WHEN: 

December 8, 2017: commission accepted, payment schedule agreed upon (first payment on December 14, Thursday, and then every Thursday after that, 4 parts, 125+125+125+100 USD).

December 15, 2017: the final picture delivered to the commissioner, I receive the first part of the payment ($125).

December 29, 2017: I receive the second installment ($125).

January 13, 2018: I remind the commissioner about the payment due and eventually get banned from their Discord and DA. Also, I send them a Paypal invoice for $225 that isn't paid to this day.

EXPLAIN:

On December 5, 2017, I've launched a Christmas-themed YCH auction (https://ych.commishes.com/auction/show/1BTR/come-get-some/, NSFW). On December 8 it was won by Ventress. I've done several commissions for Ventress before and knew them as a reliable and responsible customer, so when they asked for paying in several installments, I was happy to oblige.

I've delivered the finished piece (https://ych.commishes.com/followUp/show/1BTR/come-get-some/, NSFW) on December 15th with no further requests or complaints from the customer. Also, this day I've received the first part of the payment and we've agreed to shift the payment schedule one day forward (so it would have been Dec 15 - Dec 22 - Dec 29 - Jan 5).

I've reminded the commissioner about the payment due on December 23th. They said that they needed more time (https://i.imgur.com/hiwoXpU.png). I've received this second part on December 29th.

I didn't want to spoil the holidays for Ventress with monetary issues, so I've sent my second reminder on January 13th (according to our agreement, the commission should have been paid in full by this time). After a short dialogue (https://i.imgur.com/ybbMowr.png, mild language) I got banned from their Discord. I've also sent the commissioner a Paypal invoice for the remaining amount ($225) on January 13th and a Paypal reminder about it on February 2nd, but this invoice isn't paid to this day.

PROOF: 

Here are the Discord logs and a relevant part of my Paypal record:

https://imgur.com/a/ihFau (NSFW)

UPDATE (Mar 04): I've received the rest of the payment (proof: https://orig00.deviantart.net/d553/f/2018/062/f/0/upd_by_tomatocoup-dc4uxws.jpg).

Comments

[fralea comms (from livejournal.com)]

Wow, you were so polite, the customer seemed to get upset so suddenly and then kept getting moreso. I wonder if they might be refusing payment now because you said you didn't want to work with them anymore (understandably since they still owed you a lot of money).

[jamesalesto.livejournal.com]

Yea they can't keep you from posting your own art. They can be mad all they want, but you still retain the rights to post your art wherever you want regardless of what character is on it. Especially if it's just a fan character.

[adzuki.livejournal.com]

They can be as mad as they want, but I'm glad that you are cutting off your professional relationship with them.
They still owe you the money whether or not they want to have it up and posted.

[naughtysav.livejournal.com]

Wow, you were so polite and reasonable and they just went from 0 to 100 for no reason :c

Beware well warranted, I hope they come around and finish paying you

[teekchan.livejournal.com]

I know there's no helping it now, but never do the work without full payment. They clearly think they can keep the money because you cut off your business with them, and thats awful on their part.
But, even for friends and trusted customers I never work without the full payment up front.

[teekchan.livejournal.com]

Legally they cant, but I know some art sites will remove the art from the artists galleries if they character owner requests it. Ive had it happen to me before, when I fell out with a friend, but I cant remember which site. I dont think it was FA.

[ravensmoon666.livejournal.com]

Not defending the person who has the beware on them whatsoever but some user wrote a shout on their page linking to this beware and calling names which isn't allowed. http://www.furaffinity.net/user/ventressthebat

[whoop-zi.livejournal.com]

Thank you for bringing this to our attention.

As a reminder to everyone here, offsite harassment is a violation of rule #2 (https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/profile). Do not contact those posted here if you are not involved in the transaction; doing so may result in an immediate ban.

[tomatocoup.livejournal.com]

Thanks for all the comments! (Truth be told, I wasn't entirely sure whether I said something wrong or not, so the feedback was indeed valuable.)
Let it be known that I've received the remaining amount from VentressTheBat and updated the post. (Maybe the "resolved" tag is due?)

[jamesalesto.livejournal.com]

I will go ahead and get this marked for you.

[whoop-zi.livejournal.com]

OR WILL YOU (already done)

(frozen)

[the general (from livejournal.com)]

Over $400 for a few pictures? Wish I made months worth of rent money after a few days of doing a hobby. I swear artists think WAY too highly of themselves sometimes and charge up te ass for pictures they would otherwise do for themselves out of boredom. Try being a jack of all trades and getting maybe $20 per job of HARD PHYSICAL labor instead of sitting in your room all day drawing porn for people. Now I know being an artist can be hard, my fiancee is one, and she'll spend up to a week working on just 1 piece for about $3. And she does a hellava lot better art than most of these "famous" artists I see charging $40+ for a sketch. Point being, I don't blame the girl for A) Not wanting to pay a full $400+ for a few pictures or B) Not having enough money on hand. Not everyone can afford or is willing to afford over $100 per picture.

(frozen)

[whoop-zi.livejournal.com]

Please see rule #4. "No criticism of artistic quality or monetary value." This a warning.

(frozen)

[blot.livejournal.com]

Then she shouldn't have commissioned someone with prices set like that. No one if forcing her or others to commission people.

(frozen)

[★ eyenoom ★ (from livejournal.com)]

This was an YCH auction starting at $10. If people weren't willing to pay $400+ for it they simply wouldn't.
Not everyone can afford a Ferrari either. That doesn't justify bidding on one at an auction if you don't intend on paying.

(frozen)

[whoop-zi.livejournal.com]

Alright y'all, this is starting to veer offtopic, so I'll be freezing this thread.

[ciel “the playboy stallion” de nuit (from livejournal.com)]

i wish all artists would block her, she doesn't deserve anything, she blocked the very artist she was supposed to pay, you should upload this to derpi and tumblr.

[fralea comms (from livejournal.com)]

Isn't that a bit extreme? Yeah I wouldn't blame anyone for blocking this client but they did end up paying the full amount. I personally don't tend to block people who were given full res files before full payment, since I always take payment before doing work so if that's the only issue with them it will take care of itself.

[wuvvumsoc.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you were able to get this resolved! Sad though that it seemed a few bridges were burned in the process. >:

[rayesesshyfan.livejournal.com]

Her claim of you being rude is so out there, it's like she wanted to pick a bone with you. Either way, beware very well warranted :/

[kstormcrow.livejournal.com]

What a mess, your payment reminder seemed nothing but polite (even with tone removed-- i guess I can see how they might have taken issue with the phrasing, but the rest of the message is so neutral it seems like a real stretch) and I can't imagine how they justify continuing that reaction beyond your clarification that you meant nothing by it.

Not gonna lie, I'm curious what your experience has been on there with other customers-- were the other pieces in your onsite portfolio section also done on ych.commishes? I'd never heard of the site and looked around, and the human/furry sections are chock full of some of the most blatant tracing I've seen in one place (at least for the initial YCH bases), so I was wondering if this is maybe a case where the commissioner base on there is pushy because they're used to dealing with a shady transaction to begin with? You don't fall under this category at all, obviously, just wondering if maybe it's a risk of the site in general.

[tomatocoup.livejournal.com]

Not sure about human and furry sections, but any cases of plagiatism noticed in the pony section are usually promptly reported to the mods and taken down.
As for the general experience, I've had just a single problem (described in the post) within a year I've been using this site, it has been absolutely positive otherwise.

[teekchan.livejournal.com]

Ive had nothing but problems on the site from a buyer POV, and refuse to use it because of it, either as a buyer or seller.