Advice, commissioner requesting art removal due to personal issues

[lavenderpandy.livejournal.com]

So, this came about months ago where an old commissioner requested removal of their commission due to their significant other having major issues with the artwork. The image was of their personal character with someone else's character which was not allowed in their relationship or something. I'm not entirely sure. As the commissioner described, it got to the point of constant arguments and threats of self-harm. I said no as the image was pretty much 2 years old and had obviously been spread to multiple places by now. I'll admit I asked that if they wished for me to remove the image, I would need a privacy fee paid.

That didn't go well and the commissioner went on an emotional tirade, blaming me for the discourse and "profiting" off their issues. I didn't respond.

Months later, the significant other asked for the art to be removed, explaining that the personal drama was still going on (ironically, the image was in their favorites on their page...okay???) They said they would pay the removal fee but instead I just broke down and removed the image and blocked both the users, telling the SD never to contact me  about any of these matters  again.


Did I handle this properly? What rule in my TOS would be a good way of handling this? I've had an usual number of people ask for their art to be removed at the beginning of the year due to miscommunication between the participants, but not with like this. I'm empathetic but I don't want my artwork weeded out due to emotional situations like this all the time.

Comments

[metallik-hasse.livejournal.com]

I've been wondering what to charge for the right to a piece of my work. May I ask how you decided on 5x the original price?

I apologise if this strays too far from the topic.

[jamesalesto.livejournal.com]

The general consensus has been for a while that a complete buyout of rights is 3x the cost on commission. I want to say it came from the illustrator's handbook, but I can't recall at the moment. Given that I really don't like selling my rights I bumped it to 5x. Mostly to scare people away unless they absolutely want it. I mostly do sketch commissions with a max price of $110, so if they want me to never post it the sketch has to be worth $550 to them.

[metallik-hasse.livejournal.com]

That's really helpful info! I think I'll follow suit, honestly. I [i]really[/i] don't like keeping my work private, [b]but[/b] if they want to pay that much, I'd be willing to accept those terms.