Question for those who have been waiting on overdue commissions

[BillC]

So for those of you that have waited horrifically long times for commissions, how long do you suggest waiting between sending polite reminders?

I have one that was supposed to be done in July (I know, it's not that bad- not quite half a year late) and I send polite reminders maybe every 5 weeks. Not sure if that's too much. I try to keep in mind that I don't want a disgruntled artist giving a half baked effort on my piece when it gets done

[carlito1978]

Once a month checkin seems fair.

[Titan1977]

Originally Posted by BillC

So for those of you that have waited horrifically long times for commissions, how long do you suggest waiting between sending polite reminders?

I have one that was supposed to be done in July (I know, it's not that bad- not quite half a year late) and I send polite reminders maybe every 5 weeks. Not sure if that's too much. I try to keep in mind that I don't want a disgruntled artist giving a half baked effort on my piece when it gets done

I think it depends on their communication. If they say they should be able to work on it within a couple weeks, and I don't hear anything for 3-4 weeks, I'll check in with them. If they say a few weeks, I'll give it 5. If they don't respond at all with my inquiries, I'll email maybe every 2-3 weeks until I get a response, asking they at least acknowledge my existence. If no response, and it goes 2-3 months past their promise date, then I look at contacting them via other ways, i.e. facebook, or something.
I know that may sound excessive to some, but I have been burned several times by being too nonchalant about the commissions.

[Meeley Man]

Originally Posted by carlito1978

Once a month checkin seems fair.

Yeah, this is fair and not too much of being a pest. If an artist thinks so, then they are the problem and you need to look into getting your money back.

[Richyrichoh]

Depends on an artist and your relationship to them. I waited for over 2 years on an Ebas but he's a buddy and he was just waiting for the right time. We'd joke about it. I have another commission from a big time artist that's been almost 3 years. I try to contact them before a show I might see him at, but no luck as of yet.

[Sam]

I send emails once a month to every artist I have outstanding commissions with regardless of how late or on-time they are. I also tell them that I am simply checking in if they're not late and that I am touching base with every commission I have made so they don't think I'm singling them out.

If they're late, I don't metion that I'm checking in with everyone else too, but I'm not rude either. I save the rudeness (and even then I'm not THAT rude) for when they're so late or have stopped communicating and I feel like the commission is lost already.

I haven't had a commission that ever got to the point that I asked for a refund, but I think that I would express my disappointment then and wouldn't get rude unless even the refund was denied or ignored.

[MortalMonday]

This one artist agreed to sketch on the cover of a videogame for me. He made some promo art for the game, so I thought it'd be neat to have a sketch by him on the cover to the game. I reached out to him and asked if he'd do it, and he said yes. He was doing it for free, so I paid to have the game shipped to him, and I also included a prepaid shipping label so he wouldn't have to pay to ship it back to me. I also included a bottle of wine as a gesture of thanks. Well I sent it to him, and I'm still waiting on the sketch. I know he has the package because he told me he received it and he keeps telling me that he's gonna work on it soon. Well it's been almost 2 years now, and still nothing. I must have sent him at least 6 or 7 reminders now, and he keeps telling me that he's on top of it and tha he'll get to it, but yeah...it's been almost 2 years and I'm just about ready to give up. I might just ask him to send the game back to me as-is.

[Frank]

I've found that sending a paypal request has been working pretty well lately. Either they pay you back or ship the art. No on likes a paypal dispute.

[Underdog07]

Monthly to quarterly seems fine to me. I don't whenever I think of it . Also I also try to make the new email a part of the string of other emails. That way you have all the emails together

[predaking007]

I don't usually hold artists to deadlines. I think on average, I wait about a year. I don't really care as long as I know they deliver. But I only get 2 or 3 commissions a year now.