What do I do if I suspect my buyer is using personal work commercially?

[crescentwing]

I offer two types of work Personal and commercial.

The reason I charge differently for commercial use is because, frankly if the buyer is going to sell my art on merchandise and get continual profit from it then I should paid more for the art in the first place since I won’t get any of that later profit.

I recently finished an already difficult job and after the job was completed was asked to do a version of the work with no background so it could be printed on bags and merchandise to sell in the shop I did the Art for. When they ordered the gig it was just a shop logo for a window, that was all. so I charged them at a personal use rate.

However now she’s voiced intentions to print the work on merchandise to sell. I made it clear to her that No she didn’t ask for that kind of use, and no I would not send her a backless design unless she was willing to accept a gig to cover the excess for commercial use. She said she’d speak to her partner but then never spoke to me again.

Now I’m concerned that’ll she’ll just print what she has with the background and sell it against my express permission.

I’m not sure what to do or how to address the issue.

if anyone does both commercial and private work and has any suggestions please let me know I could really use the advice.

[pacquo]

I offer two types of work Personal and commercial.

The reason I charge differently for commercial use is because, frankly if the buyer is going to sell my art on merchandise and get continual profit from it then I should paid more for the art in the first place since I won’t get any of that later profit.

I recently finished an already difficult job and after the job was completed was asked to do a version of the work with no background so it could be printed on bags and merchandise to sell in the shop I did the Art for. When they ordered the gig it was just a shop logo for a window, that was all. so I charged them at a personal use rate.

However now she’s voiced intentions to print the work on merchandise to sell. I made it clear to her that No she didn’t ask for that kind of use, and no I would not send her a backless design unless she was willing to accept a gig to cover the excess for commercial use. She said she’d speak to her partner but then never spoke to me again.

Now I’m concerned that’ll she’ll just print what she has with the background and sell it against my express permission.

I’m not sure what to do or how to address the issue.

if anyone does both commercial and private work and has any suggestions please let me know I could really use the advice.

I would not send her a backless design unless she was willing to accept a gig to cover the excess for commercial use.

Correct.

For the future you may consider to raise the prices and include the commercial license as a standard, if you register that the number of “smart” buyers exceeds a certain treshold.

Currently you have low prices, in my opinion.

By the way: very nice style!

[misscrystal]

There is no way to tell what your buyers will be using your art for. This one was honest enough to tell you but most probably wouldn’t even if they were going to use it for commercial purposes.

So the suggestion to raise prices to cover that possibility is a good one. In fact you should assume they will be doing this whether they tell you that or not.

[crescentwing]

I would not send her a backless design unless she was willing to accept a gig to cover the excess for commercial use.

Correct.

For the future you may consider to raise the prices and include the commercial license as a standard, if you register that the number of “smart” buyers exceeds a certain treshold.

Currently you have low prices, in my opinion.

By the way: very nice style!

I have been going through and editing Gigs In part because I wondered if maybe my wording about commercial use was to vague and in part to raise my prices. Essentially everyone even a couple buyers have told me I could charge more for the work I do. I’ve never been very good with pricing my work.

and thank you very much for the compliment. I appreciate the advice as well, I’ll stick to my guns if she tries to contact me and ask for the backless set again with out paying for commercial use.

[crescentwing]

There is no way to tell what your buyers will be using your art for. This one was honest enough to tell you but most probably wouldn’t even if they were going to use it for commercial purposes.

So the suggestion to raise prices to cover that possibility is a good one. In fact you should assume they will be doing this whether they tell you that or not.

I guess I kind of assume a person would say so, I must admit I can be a bit naive and believe the best in people so I just automatically assume they would tell me if they intended to use the work for commercial use.

I’m nervous to push my prices to high because I don’t want to scare away potential buyers by asking for to much though I have altered my prices and what I offer a bit.

My understanding was that when ordering something from Fiver was tantamount to making a business contract. If a client violates the terms of that contract (IE selling work ordered for personal use commercially) That would be very bad.

As I said though I am quiet naive about this sort of thing and it is just an assumption.