Advice on pre-paid commissions that I never received

As the title states,
I made a couple of commissions back in August from an artist i’ll refrain from naming at this time.

The artist asked for payment before beginning, which I can understand these days. But I admit at the time of payment I made the mistake of paying them as a friend instead of paying for a service. (as it sounded like paypal would make them pay a fee.) I trusted them to keep their word.

I requested wip sketches & have tried to talk to them many times over the months. They just state:

“I’m just too tired to…”

I’ve tried to be understanding, but there should be ways to prevent others from advertising for something they cannot (or choose not) to follow through with.

I’m not out to deface this artist, but I feel like others should at least be cautioned before making transactions with them.

I’m out $100 & this is the second time I’ve been burned on a commission from two different artists and frankly I doubt I’ll commission again after this.

Thoughts anyone?

well, first of all, i`m very sorry to hear about your experience( it always sucks when you pay for the thing and never receive it, especially because of such stupid reasons like somebody’s laziness and inability to fulfil duties they put on themselves. i couldn’t even imagine my frustration if such a thing would happen to me, gladly, all commissions i took and drew to anybody were fulfilled.
i have only two pieces of advice regarding how one can possibly (bc there is no guarantee that it will work lol) avoid such assholes:

also, please, i’m strongly encouraging you and anybody who was scammed by dishonest artists to write about it, for example, on https://artistsbeware.info/ . there is nothing shameful to doing it, you shouldn’t feel guilty about it (don’t pay attention to screams “oh why did u do this to me that’s my only source of income you are a bad person”, its just manipulation and all aftermath they would have is fully deserved), exposure is THE ONLY way to warn other customers and regular artists about such scammers and prevent at least some people from wasting their time, money and nerves on lazy and scammy individuals. so please, don’t stay silent, because that is the reason why such people continue to scam and mistreat those who want to support them - because there are no repercussions for them for theirs shitty behaviour.

sorry for the wall of text and if i wrote anything wrong - my seat is just on fire bc of “artist” doings and excuses.

@Leastways
I thank you for your words & advice friend, I’ll be checking that website out & at least giving a word of caution so others will hopefully take a few more moments to think before they pay then I did. ^^

I had reservations at the time of payment method selection, based on past experiences. Such is merely a learning experience. I still trust others, but I’m making sure my assets are better protected from now on as well. There are still things I’d like to commission from others, but the time for simple common trust is in the past now.

Sounds like you’ve got the right knowledge on these matters with little to none of the misfortune. That’s good to hear as these things trouble a trusting heart & mind such as mine.

@Autumn_Shy
x) probably i could avoid such things bc i am an artist who takes commissions myself and can observe situations from both perspectives. besides, i probably heard too many horror stories about scammers of all sorts and kinds.
glad to hear that you are still gonna support the art community <3 despite there are some bad people here, there are surely much more good and honest individuals :3
glad to hear that my advice was helpful for you and anybody who would see this thread, and thank you too for the conversation)