Hello all,
I have been browsing this forum for weeks, reading peoples' rants and solutions, and finally I have a something to post here in The Ranting Pot.
So, I was contacted by a customer to see if I could make artwork of their video games characters (Animal Crossing New Horizons, for those familiar). We discuss the specifics of the order, and they wanted portraits of some of their characters that they can showcase in their in-game world. Sounds pretty good so far, right?
After all of the specifics are discussed. We finally get to the quoting part of the process. I give her my quote, based on my pricing displayed on my gig (no funny business, or up-selling). The next message I receive from them word-for-word:
“I know this sounds odd but is there any chance I could give you Nook tickets [in-game item] for in the game if you need them?”
What? That specific item is not even hard to get in-game if I really needed them! I respectful declined “Nook Tickets” as a form of payment, of course. It is just that they waited until all of the specifics were planned, deadline set, etc. to finally ask if they could not pay me in real money… It would’ve been fine if their opening message was something along the lines of, “Are you willing to do X for Y”? The answer probably would have been no, but at least neither of our time would have been wasted.
Anyway, writing this felt cathartic. I was wondering if any other sellers had something like this happen to them? I know some people ask for commissions for “exposure”, but this isn’t even exposure!
Oh, by the way, I have not heard back from them yet. Not even a “I will take my business elsewhere/I do not want you to make this order anymore message”.