Taking commissions on making outfits - Any advice?

Hello all, I wasn't sure which forum this should go in but I figured general pretty much covered it ^_~

I've made two outfits on commission now, but with the second one the guy I made it for never got back to me about it, so now I'm kind of wary about doing them. I was wondering if there's any sort of standard practice for taking commissions?

The thing is, with both of them I didn't agree on a price before hand or get any sort of downpayment, so when the second person didn't reply to me I was out a week's work with no money - I've put the item up in my shop, so it could be worse, but it's left me with a bit of a bad taste. I just feel uncomfortable talking about money or setting a price upfront, it seems so cold and business-like, but I think if I do any more I really have to.

So... does anyone have any advice? What sort of prices are reasonable to ask for a comissioned outfit? Is it reasonable to ask for some money upfront? Giving a guaranteed deadline when it would be delivered is tricky, but is that expected when you've already paid something? What if the finished outfit isn't everything they'd expected?

I'd really appreciate any help you can give, at this point I'm pretty much thinking of not doing commissions at all : \

Whenever I have something comissioned for me, or do comissions for others, the price gets mentioned as early as possible. As a customer, I want to know what I'm in for, and not have an ugly surprise later - as a creator, I want my customer to be able to take an informed decision (and back out before we strike an agreement, if it's too expensive). Just like you, I do feel uncomfortable talking about money, but since with comissions we're talking about prices higher than a few US cents, I feel it's my responsibilty to be upfront about the price. Of course it can be difficult to gauge a price, especially if you don't know how long something is going to take, or whether the customer will come back a dozen times for changes, but in this case you might state an hourly price and estimated time to completition. Asking for a deposit is surely a reasonable thing to do, especially if you don't know your customer at all.

Give them a price up front and ask for at least half as a deposit, unless its very simple.

I've had the same experiences, and I've stopped doing all but the simplest custom requests because of it.

The last straw was a custom tattoo that went from ankle to shoulder, which the customer changed her mind on several times during its creation, and then after 2 weeks and a couple thousand in uploads, decided to scrap because she wanted a new skin instead. I ended up out money and more time than I care to admit, and I haven't accepted custom work since. I accept suggestions, but I'll only work on them if I think I can set them in my shop. It's just not worth the money or the time.

Thanks all so much for the advice... it really does make me feel a lot better about talking about the money side of it first to know that it's common practice ^_^

What you said about only making things you'll be able to sell in your shop is a really good idea jonquille, at least that way if someone backs out you've not completely wasted your time - I was lucky that the one I did meshed fairly well with my other things, but I think that if I do commissions in the future it'll only be ones like that.

Yeah, definitely take half as a deposit, unless it is a previously trusted customer or business whose RL information you have.

Another thing to consider is whether you have the rights to resell the piece, or if it is a one-off.

That's a great issue to discuss at sldevelopers.com

Ooh, thank you for that link hiro, looks like that's going to be a really good site when it gets going!