there was no label attached I had to select “painting help”.
the problem Is this:
I recently opened my Instagram channel.
And the few commissions I have done, have been done in person.
Now I have received two commission requests in instagram.
A profile doesn’t convince me and even the chat I’ve had so far doesn’t give me security.
The other profile has a private profile but there are elements that would lead one to think of a real profile.
There is a photo of a girl with her husband and in the description, it says: “mother of two children”. has many posts and follows many people and is followed.
Unfortunately having the private profile I can not see the published posts.
Who has had work experience with commissions, could you help me on how to understand if it is a real commission or a scam??
Thanks for your help.
This is likely a scam Instagram has many scammers that target artists that sound similar to the person you are dealing with.
Other ways you can tell that they are likely a scammer is:
If they only are willing to pay for the commission with a check or e-transfer.
If they ask for your banking information.
If they are unwilling to pay for the commission through a invoice. I am unsure what payment processors you have to use in Italy. In the USA where I live, I can send an invoice through Paypal or Stripe, which protects me from charge backs.
If they also seem very to want to rush you or pressure you or offer to pay you a great some of money for your commission, that could also be a scammer.
To avoid this, I usually have a Google Form I have clients use. This form requires the client to answer questions including their name, what they want drawn, a contact email, payment method, and other information I might need to create art for the client. I also communicate with clients through a business email only, not Instagram or Facebook messages. Most Instagram and Facebook scammers are too lazy to want to fill out a form
It might also be wise to ask for some amount of payment before working on the piece. You could also send a watermarked and low resolution version of the final drawing to the client and only give the client the un-watermarked and high resolution version of the drawing after they have paid for the commission. This would make it harder for scammers to get a complete drawing from you without paying you first.
I would never accept checks or wire transfers, they are insecure.
Bank details or sensitive data even that never give them.
I also have paypal, I know there are two payment methods:
personal and commercial, from what I understand it is the commercial one that protects in the event of disputes.
how do paypal pay by invoice?
Yes I figured that!!
The first was thrilled to pay me even with a sum far greater than the one agreed.
furthermore he insisted on payment even if he had only seen the draft and not the final one.
he wanted my paypal email address to pay me.
that’s why it didn’t convince me.
I don’t know what kind of scam they can do by sending you more money than agreed, but there must be a reason
where is this module?
I was also thinking of starting a deal with corporate email.
Yes!! maybe I could get a small part of the final sum.
Even if the commissions must be paid for each transaction but it is an extra security.
Thanks for the help, fingers crossed and hope I don’t run into scammers.
Anyway they don’t give sensitive data and having paypal with regular commercial exchange methods I should be more protected I think.
To protect myself for the commission, I prepared a form in which the applicant had to give me various data.
Such as name and surname, email, and tax code or VAT number for any invoice.
Also to start the work I asked for a percentage of the total, which will not be returned even if he changes his mind.
On the contrary, if the work is completed, the difference will be paid.
I specified that since the work was accepted, the communication and the sending of any material would take place exclusively via e-mail.
here once the protocol is listed, the mysterious applicant vanishes.
bye bye scammer
I do a lot of pet portrait commissions. You can save yourself a lot of time and aggravation by requiring payment in full before starting the artwork. I send them a low-rez watermarked proof for approval then print and ship. I use PayPal, Zelle and also accept money orders or cashier’s check by mail. I’ve had virtually no complaints. Where else can you order something online without paying for it up front?
thanks elixiah for your help.
the problem is that whoever I met on the internet wanted to pay me, but above all to give me a much higher sum than the one agreed.
this seemed very strange to me, nobody gives anything away.
in fact then I read of scams done in this way. anyway by implementing the tombnofull method, as soon as they heard the tax code or VAT number for the invoices, they disappeared immediately.
A serious person would have no problem providing their details.
(sorry for my english, i use google translate )
Instagram has many scammers that target artists that sound similar to the person you are dealing with.
)