I didnt receive my art for almost 5 month. What should I do?

[NapLovingImmortal]

Around 5 months ago, I commissioned an artist on X. The art was supposed to take 2 weeks. I paid €80 via PayPal.

Now it’s 5 months later, and the only thing I’ve received is the linework, with occasional small updates.

It seems like I’m not the only one. Others have had theirs delayed as well. There is always something. Apparently, a family member is really sick and she needs to take care of them. Then her PayPal got hacked. There is always something. At the start, I was understanding, since something can always happen. But by now, I’m just so annoyed by this unprofessionalism.

I know for a fact that she is not a scammer, but she just, I don’t know, doesn’t seem to care anymore.

I doubt I would get my money back if I asked. Should I try to get a refund over my bank?

Edit: At this point, I also want to shout out to our local artists; @pangmida @Hans.Trondheim @Thorkell_40k

Buy local, stay safe.

 

[Assurbanipal_II]

Around 5 months ago, I commissioned an artist on X. The art was supposed to take 2 weeks. I paid €80 via PayPal.

Now it’s 5 months later, and the only thing I’ve received is the linework, with occasional small updates.

It seems like I’m not the only one. Others have had theirs delayed as well. There is always something. Apparently, a family member is really sick and she needs to take care of them. Then her PayPal got hacked. There is always something. At the start, I was understanding, since something can always happen. But by now, I’m just so annoyed by this unprofessionalism.

I know for a fact that she is not a scammer, but she just, I don’t know, doesn’t seem to care anymore.

I doubt I would get my money back if I asked. Should I try to get a refund over my bank?

Poor you~.

Curious question, why do you think the bank would refund you? Maybe reverse it, but once the money has left your account that is unlikely to be possible. Especially, as you paid via PayPal. Try to appeal to PayPal instead.
PayPal payments generally cannot be canceled if completed, as funds transfer immediately. To reverse a payment, request a refund from the recipient, or file a dispute in the
Resolution Center within 180 days for items not received or significantly not as described. Unauthorized transactions can be reported to PayPal for reversal.
Key Ways to Reverse a Payment

• Request a Refund: Contact the seller/recipient directly and ask them to use the "Issue a refund" option in their Activity page.
• File a Dispute: If the seller refuses or is unresponsive, navigate to the Resolution Center to report a problem within 180 days.
• Bank Reversal (ACH Return): If the payment was made via bank account unauthorizedly, the bank can request a reversal.
• Unauthorized Transaction: If someone accessed your account, report it immediately to PayPal Support.

 

[NapLovingImmortal]

Poor you~.

Curious question, why do you think the bank would refund you? Maybe reverse it, but once the money has left your account that is unlikely to be possible. Especially, as you paid via PayPal. Try to appeal to PayPal instead.
PayPal payments generally cannot be canceled if completed, as funds transfer immediately. To reverse a payment, request a refund from the recipient, or file a dispute in the
Resolution Center within 180 days for items not received or significantly not as described. Unauthorized transactions can be reported to PayPal for reversal.
Key Ways to Reverse a Payment

• Request a Refund: Contact the seller/recipient directly and ask them to use the "Issue a refund" option in their Activity page.
• File a Dispute: If the seller refuses or is unresponsive, navigate to the Resolution Center to report a problem within 180 days.
• Bank Reversal (ACH Return): If the payment was made via bank account unauthorizedly, the bank can request a reversal.
• Unauthorized Transaction: If someone accessed your account, report it immediately to PayPal Support.

I just looked into my bank. Its not possible anymore. I do know for a fact that you can reverse the money transfer, since that happened to me once when I sold something per friends and family. But its too late, by now.

 

[Assurbanipal_II]

I just looked into my bank. Its not possible anymore. I do know for a fact that you can reverse the money transfer, since that happened to me once when I sold something per friends and family. But its too late, by now.

Usually, you cannot reverse transfers. You can still cancel orders before transfers happen, and before the credit is moved. That works at times because many banks on this world are still lame sucks. But once the money is moved, it is gone. That is why scammers insist on instant payment via banks.

 

[NapLovingImmortal]

Usually, you cannot reverse transfers. You can still cancel orders before transfers happen, and before the credit is moved. That works at times because many banks on this world are still lame sucks. But once the money is moved, it is gone. That is why scammers insist on instant payment via banks.

Im not a pro when it comes to bank acc. I only know that a friend and family purchase was reversed once, and my paypal was in minus. This was a few days in when that guy received the order. Idk how he did it, I cannot do it here now.

But thanks. Guess I will have too wait and hope it will finish. I changed my artist anyway.

 

[Assurbanipal_II]

Im not a pro when it comes to bank acc. I only know that a friend and family purchase was reversed once, and my paypal was in minus. This was a few days in when that guy received the order. Idk how he did it, I cannot do it here now.

But thanks. Guess I will have too wait and hope it will finish. I changed my artist anyway.

That is a PayPal policy to gather more customers. Just as Amazon often refunds when they actually do not need to.

Banks meanwhile will just tell you to fuck yourself.

 

[TinaMigarlo]

@NapLovingImmortal :
Dude. I been ripped off, really bad, several times.
I ain't saying it don't suck goat balls, because it does.
but... lets talk abut what we CAN do.
You don't think of me as your "friend", I know.
and why would you, we just met.
but... you have F-R-I-E-N-D-S here...
if every friend, went and did "AI image X"...
say 32 times every night or whatever their free plan allowed...
we would quickly have hundreds of images to play with.
we "crop" the good part(s)... we got something.
we FEED the best cropped part to... "The killing Alice"...
and? I have a gut hunch... this motherfuck*r will come through for you.

nap? What I ask you , is just this.
Take heart. we? are family. We? Are going to make it.... okay.

I mean, we can make it like a well lubed pinkie... instead of the FIST.

 

[Hans.Trondheim]

Around 5 months ago, I commissioned an artist on X. The art was supposed to take 2 weeks. I paid €80 via PayPal.

Now it’s 5 months later, and the only thing I’ve received is the linework, with occasional small updates.

It seems like I’m not the only one. Others have had theirs delayed as well. There is always something. Apparently, a family member is really sick and she needs to take care of them. Then her PayPal got hacked. There is always something. At the start, I was understanding, since something can always happen. But by now, I’m just so annoyed by this unprofessionalism.

I know for a fact that she is not a scammer, but she just, I don’t know, doesn’t seem to care anymore.

I doubt I would get my money back if I asked. Should I try to get a refund over my bank?

I'm curious about your commish. Can you tell the specifications? I'd like to try doing it if you don't mind. Of course it's free.

 

[Arkus86]

I know for a fact that she is not a scammer

I hate to break it to you, but she is taking commissions she knows she won't finish, and instead of working on them, she is working on excuses. Intentional or not, this is a classic scam.

If you did not have any formal contract and you let five months pass, there's very little you can do. You can share your experience on the scammer's public profiles to warn others, and maybe that would push her to refund you or give you a half-assed product to shut you up, or maybe PayPal can reverse the charge, but that's about it.
In other words, you are probably going to see neither your art, nor your money.

Take this as a learning experience and make your peace with it.

Usually, you cannot reverse transfers. You can still cancel orders before transfers happen, and before the credit is moved. That works at times because many banks on this world are still lame sucks. But once the money is moved, it is gone. That is why scammers insist on instant payment via banks.

Depending on the bank and circumstances, sometimes you can "reverse" charges through your bank even after the payment went through, at least if you paid through your card. But not five months later.

 

[Assurbanipal_II]

I hate to break it to you, but she is taking commissions she knows she won't finish, and instead of working on them, she is working on excuses. Intentional or not, this is a classic scam.

If you did not have any formal contract and you let five months pass, there's very little you can do. You can share your experience on the scammer's public profiles to warn others, and maybe that would push her to refund you or give you a half-assed product to shut you up, or maybe PayPal can reverse the charge, but that's about it.
In other words, you are probably going to see neither your art, nor your money.

Take this as a learning experience and make your peace with it.


Depending on the bank and circumstances, sometimes you can "reverse" charges through your bank even after the payment went through, at least if you paid through your card. But not five months later.

Credit cards are a different matter as they are not bank transfers per se.

 

[JordanIda]

You'll use AI art next time, I hope. Or you will have learned nothing.

Seriously.

I mean, better would be to make the cover yourself. With Adobe CS. Or even with paint and brushes. But if you could have done either of those things, I'm thinking that you would have.

This is all rather tragic, in a way. That writers in this benighted self-pub scene are susceptible to scams such as this. It would never happen in the mainstream book trades. Mainstream authors never waste time or money on the promotional aspects of the business. Publishers have graphic design departments for covers, junior editors for blurbs, ghost writers for press sheets. This would never happen, for a book under a publishing agreement.

The susceptibility comes from the perception that a commissioned cover somehow confers legitimacy and will lift readership to the point of achieving a positive return. Authors in places such as this are vulnerable to the idea that if one's self-published work adequately mimics a mainstream production, it will somehow transform and become a mainstream production. One might call it the Pinocchio Effect: that sufficiently artful mimicry of a "real boy" will somehow produce a "real boy, just like other boys."

So much waste. So much fruitless expenditure of effort. For an unrealizable pipedream.

The money you've pissed away? Write it off to a learning experience.

Use AI next time.

 

[Zinless]

Around 5 months ago, I commissioned an artist on X. The art was supposed to take 2 weeks. I paid €80 via PayPal.

Now it’s 5 months later, and the only thing I’ve received is the linework, with occasional small updates.

It seems like I’m not the only one. Others have had theirs delayed as well. There is always something. Apparently, a family member is really sick and she needs to take care of them. Then her PayPal got hacked. There is always something. At the start, I was understanding, since something can always happen. But by now, I’m just so annoyed by this unprofessionalism.

I know for a fact that she is not a scammer, but she just, I don’t know, doesn’t seem to care anymore.

I doubt I would get my money back if I asked. Should I try to get a refund over my bank?

I was once involved in this kind of thing, as the artist no less. I had taken in commissions from several people, some even from ScribbleHub. However, I couldn't live up to their expectations. I kept delaying things indefinitely with no clear reason, and it was stressing me out. Sure, my prices were low af back then (10-20 bucks), but money is money, and it put pressure on me that I obviously couldn't handle.

In the end, after several months of barely any progress, I threw in the towel and refunded everyone. I got ahead of myself and overestimated my drawing skills. That incident was entirely on me.

I don't know if the artist you paid for is in a similar situation to mine or not, but the best way to get your money back is to contact the artist directly and demand a refund. If the artist is legit/not a scammer, they should agree to a refund, even if it might take a while.

You'll use AI art next time, I hope. Or you will have learned nothing.

Don't judge all artists by a few bad apples. Hans and Thorkell are two artists in Scribble Hub that I know (with open commissions/requests) who are always transparent about their work. It's all a matter of choosing the right artist to trust your money and time with.

 

[Hans.Trondheim]

@NapLovingImmortal this is my commission page; check out my style if it fits your needs.

 

[EdwinLovato]

80 euros are lots of money for an art. She's a pro artist?

 

[NapLovingImmortal]

@NapLovingImmortal this is my commission page; check out my style if it fits your needs.

That would be kinda greedy from me. Im not a freeloader. Thanks for your offer though. Really appreciate it.

80 euros are lots of money for an art. She's a pro artist?

Not really a "pro". I liked the artstyle and it were 2 chars with full color, so solid.

 

[Envylope]

You got scammed. This is why I recommend commissioning on something like Vgen. A third party site that will hold the artist accountable to clients.

 

[Vitriol]

I’ve seen people waiting a long time for their art (1 year and more), but honestly 5 months? When the deadline was 2 weeks? You should definitely ask for a refund, preferable a full one, but honestly it seems impossible, so at least a partial one that accounts for the line art :/

One cannot simply get 80€ euros (which is not a small sum) and do nothing. If one promises, then they must be deliver. In such cases a person with a conscience would refund the money. And it’s not only money she wasted, but also your time.