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Arkki

Ghosted by commissioner before payment

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This has just now happened, and I'm sort of baffled as to why.

I was contacted by someone with the username Lemon Lich on Telegram, asking if I could work on a story for him. I agreed, and we talked about the specifics of it, I didn't notice any sort of tension or anything, I at least didn't think I said anything out of the ordinary, just the usual questions about the content of the story. We agreed on 6k words, I made sure to mention my pricing, and he agreed on all of that. I began work, updated him about the process on it, and eventually finished the text.

I sent him a message telling him that the story was done, again reiterating the length and the price that he had already previously agreed on, and he seemed happy at that time. He said that he was at work, and would pay once his shift had ended. That was more than fine by me, so I went to sleep. Next morning, no money had arrived, but I didn't want to hound him so I left him be. This evening, it's nearing 24 hours since he said that he'd pay, so I sent him a message asking if he had gotten the chance to get around to that yet. This was not intended to pressure him or anything, I was truly just asking if he was going to pay today, or if he needed some more time, or if he had just forgotten, or something else. Not too long after that, I notice that my chat with him had mysteriously disappeared. I go to my contacts, and it shows our conversation as completely blank, with his current status being "Last seen a long time ago", which I believe is the sign of someone having blocked you.

I really do not know what happened, I'm very confused about the whole situation. If the commissioner sees this journal, or if someone is able to contact him, I'd really appreciate an explanation of some sort, because I've currently got a 6k long story entirely completed but waiting for payment. I guess I could somehow sell it off to someone else if anyone is interested, but I'm not really sure how that'd work, since the characters and everything is already written.
Viewed: 366 times
Added: 2 years, 7 months ago
 
Balmung
2 years, 7 months ago
Sucks. That's why a lot of people charge upfront.

Selling a story to somebody else is probably harder than doing it with artwork. But who knows, if it's not too specific maybe it could work. What is it about?
Arkki
2 years, 7 months ago
I usually don't like to charge upfront, partly because of the word count not always being 100% set in stone, and also because I feel a bit bad charging even before writing a single word.

Mainly focused on rape and bestiality, a medieval fantasy setting with a female anthro dire wolf and a talking female snow lynx taken captive by some male soldiers, has bondadge, some light whipping/spanking, light watersports
Balmung
2 years, 7 months ago
You could also consider a part payment for especially big commissions. That might be an acceptable compromise.

Unfortunately bestiality isn't at all my thing, but other than that it sounds normal enough, so maybe something could be done editing the character details.

Did the commissioner get the final version? But if they blocked you it's sadly probably intentional and they intended not to pay you.
Arkki
2 years, 7 months ago
Although I don't require payments before I start working, I never send the text before I've gotten the payment, so he didn't get anything out of it. That's the part that I find the most odd, there really doesn't seem to be anything he would've gotten out of the whole ordeal
Balmung
2 years, 7 months ago
How strange. Perhaps it could be some sort of software glitch or mistake in that case. Or it might be some sort of regret.
Arkki
2 years, 7 months ago
I noticed that he came online a minute or two before seemingly blocking me, and he hasn't at least gotten back to me yet, so my first guess wouldn't necessarily be a glitch at least. I however don't have any way of contacting him other than Telegram, so I can't really say for certain unfortunately
tfloffduty
2 years, 7 months ago
This is a pretty common practice among artists I know. They will give the quote and charge half up front, then once they get done, make any necessary adjustments to the quoted price and charge the remainder before they deliver the finished product. It may be something to look into.
Arkki
2 years, 7 months ago
I know, I just can't really seem to bring myself to do that, it always just seems wrong to do it to my commissioners no matter how common or accepted I know it is. I just like to have something done before accepting money
Gendasi
2 years, 7 months ago
Sounds like the sort of thing I'd enjoy reading, but I have no idea how you'd repackage that with someone else's characters, especially without that person being able to read it in advance somehow.

A shame this happened to you. I hope it gets sorted out so you can collect your payment.
Arkki
2 years, 7 months ago
I appreciate the support
bagginsbandb
2 years, 7 months ago
That is unfortunate. I hope they contact you so your time does not go to waisted, if not, I wish you luck on finding a buyer for it.
Arkki
2 years, 7 months ago
Thank you
AmberWing
2 years, 7 months ago
Last seen a long time ago on telegram does mean you're blocked, yeah. Thats pretty weird honestly. I guess they were trying to steal from you and were hoping you'd send it and then ask for payment?
Arkki
2 years, 7 months ago
I thought I made it pretty clear that I'd only send the story after receiving payment, but maybe so, yeah
AmberWing
2 years, 7 months ago
I'm sure someone would be willing to buy the story if its changed to their character(s). Hell, I might be down to do it, even if they don't unblock you and pay for it in the next while.
Arkki
2 years, 7 months ago
I'd definitely be willing to make some changes to the characters and such
XanC
2 years, 7 months ago
Fucking people like this makes me wonder why they think like this..
I'm sorry for such a problem that's occurred like this.
Tbh could edit the story slightly by changing names and the lot but may take more time looking for all of that so could sell the story given you was juked like so..they lost the right to claim it given what they did..

I do need to com you personally and I'm one that's trusted XD can ask around for that
Arkki
2 years, 7 months ago
Thank you for the support
Masterofall
2 years, 7 months ago
I'd be willing to pick it up
Arkki
2 years, 7 months ago
If you're interested, do feel free to message me here or on Telegram so we can hopefully set something up
etnaguzman
2 years, 7 months ago
I’m sorry this happen to you. I hope someone helps you out and I hope you recover from this. I especially hope karma gets back to that person.
Arkki
2 years, 7 months ago
Thank you very much for the support!
Arkki
2 years, 7 months ago
Just as an update, Masterofall (https://inkbunny.net/Masterofall) has very generously bought the commission with some changes and additions, a huge thank you to him!
Tubal
12 months ago
You might want to charge like a 10-30€ start-up fee or something. Just sayin. Third to a half of what you think it'll cost is reasonable. It'll filter out people who are intentionally scamming, and if you feel you can't fulfill your end you can refund it.

It's not unusual for artists to charge FULL price before starting. Although that sometimes gets awkward when they take too much work, and refunding the fee gets expensive, etc... and now it's 14 months later... 😅
It's happened.

At the other end of the spectrum I've had to remind one artist that I'm supposed to pay after it was done. 😆
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