Use fucking invoices. I don't care what your excuse is for not doing this. You need to use invoices. It protects you from scams like these and it makes your taxes easier too. - ThreadSky | a Reddit-style client for Bluesky

bemusedbehemoth.bsky.social • 126 days ago

Use fucking invoices.

I don't care what your excuse is for not doing this. You need to use invoices. It protects you from scams like these and it makes your taxes easier too.

Reposted from 刻矛 MAO 🔆🐉🔆 3D Modeler

PSA ARTISTS:

SCAMMERS ARE ALREADY APPEARING ON BSKY! If you get a comm asking "can you draw a portrait of my child/pet" and offer a large sum of money upfront

IT'S 99% A SCAM

They will pretend to pay you more than what was owed and try to make you pay the difference, or send a phishing link!!

Comments

bemusedbehemoth.bsky.social•126 days ago

It doesn't protect you from false charge backs but it sure as heck makes it easier when fighting false claims too if your ToS are literally on the invoice.

bemusedbehemoth.bsky.social•126 days ago

And full stop: if someone ever sends you a large amount of funds and asks you to send it back you need to call the platform it's on instantly, don't even manually reverse the charge. Chances are they're using you as part of layering money.

nekonova12.bsky.social•125 days ago

Do you mean laundering money?

bemusedbehemoth.bsky.social•125 days ago

Yep! Layering is one of the steps for white washing money and this is a perfect way of doing it.

bemusedbehemoth.bsky.social•125 days ago

It's also why one should never agree to receive/send money for some rando 💀 so many scams like that are going around too and people seem oblivious that they're involved in money laundering.

misturgy.bsky.social•125 days ago

I like invoices. That way when I pay artists I don't need to fight with paypal's janky currency selection screen.
... and less risk of sending money to the wrong person.

standardcolly.bsky.social•125 days ago

Was gonna say the same thing. As a person who commissions art, not an artist, I prefer invoices too. Makes the who transaction feel safer for me.

alenonimo.com•125 days ago

I use invoices and it's pretty neat.

I don't recommend describing the artwork too much in the invoice though. With the MasterCard/Visa/PayPal interference on Patreon regarding the types of content they don't allow being too broad, just say that you did an artwork as requested by the client.

yevvie.varyel.com•125 days ago

i just put "art services: _type of service_" (i do design, and branding and illustration so i like to distinguish these) and it covers it tbh

aflightybroad.bsky.social•125 days ago

yeah, i write, eg, “uncolored sketch - digital art, two characters” or “colored character portrait - digital art” - no further description of the character or subject matter. i like to double down mentioning digital art so paypal doesn’t get mad im not shipping anything also

sonicluxhedgeman.bsky.social•125 days ago

What do you guys do about the PayPal fees?

bemusedbehemoth.bsky.social•125 days ago

You have to pay them when receiving money for goods and services via PayPal. It's literally illegal not to do so.

So either you eat the fees or your increase your prices to make up for it.

sonicluxhedgeman.bsky.social•125 days ago

Is making the customer pay for the fees a bad thing?

clowncatastrophe.fun•125 days ago

specifically requiring the buyer to pay the Paypal fee is against their TOS/illegal, however i think most artists/sellers will account the fee when making their commission prices. so they may charge $25 instead of $20 for a comm (as a math free example)

bemusedbehemoth.bsky.social•125 days ago

Also popping in to say that, if you ever get into manufacturing with companies in China, it's not unusual for them to put PayPal + handling charges on their invoice - it's not something we should be copying for the exact reason Apple explained (we would not get away with it hahah).

sonicluxhedgeman.bsky.social•125 days ago

Ah, lmao yeah

sonicluxhedgeman.bsky.social•125 days ago

Right, that makes sense. Thanks for explaining!

clowncatastrophe.fun•125 days ago

yeah of course :]!!!

mtomauw.bsky.social•125 days ago

Coming in here to add that if you're functioning as a business when you take commissions paypal fees are necessary fees you make for your business to operate and are often tax deductible.

Check a tax person near you if it applies!

bemusedbehemoth.bsky.social•125 days ago

Yesssss. Never declare your fees as part of your taxable income (admittedly I speak as someone who lives in the UK, but I digress).

sonicluxhedgeman.bsky.social•125 days ago

I see :o i'll try and get informed

fleira.bsky.social•126 days ago

If that can help, I have always used PayPal invoices and a customer tried to ask me for a refund some time, after the completion of his commission.
Thanks to the tos underlined in the invoice, I won the dispute and I had my money back.
That to say, if you are right PayPal will favour you

bemusedbehemoth.bsky.social•126 days ago

That's exactly also why it'd so important! It's like drafting a little contract!

fleira.bsky.social•126 days ago

Yeah! I know it can be expensive due to its taxes, but PayPal is really useful and trustworthy for this kind of stuff!

I have been using it for years, and since I never tried to avoid paying its taxes they consider me a sort of trusted seller. I literally got an email saying that c:

fleira.bsky.social•126 days ago

Some time ago*, sorry for the typo ;v;

drunsy.bsky.social•125 days ago

I'm not even doing anything and I got hit with a random "what would you do if someone gave you X on your PayPal?" scam

evliin.bsky.social•125 days ago

ia there any resources on how to properly do them?

arcua.bsky.social•125 days ago

I am also in this boat.

I do not know how to use invoices and probably want some guidance.

bemusedbehemoth.bsky.social•125 days ago

Sorry for this serious cop-out answer but googling has various sources that can help you.

It will vary depending on what you sell and which payment platform you use (PayPal and Stripe are my go-to ones).

Here are also some good tips in the replies: https://bsky.app/profile/alenonimo.com/post/3l76l5etmlq2i

bemusedbehemoth.bsky.social•125 days ago

These payment providers have templates you can use for invoices, so try opening up one of those - it should give you a good starting point.

arcua.bsky.social•125 days ago

Tried to Google but it's infested with answers I probably shouldn't trust at face value.

Still, thanks for suggesting invoices. This will help me long term.

alenonimo.com•125 days ago

To use invoice in PayPal, you pick "Send invoice", at the invoice page pick the client from the contact list (add them if not there yet), pick the item you're billing for (make something like "Digital Art, One Character, Full Color" for example), double check and send. It'll go to their email.

alenonimo.com•125 days ago

You can set up an invoice model beforehand, set up the details and stuff. Also the items. Then you just make one quick invoice everytime you need to bill someone. Make sure there's "no shipping" in the model. You can customize things like due date (or not have it at all).

alenonimo.com•125 days ago

You can allow for people to tip if they want, you can put an observation for the client in how to proceed if they want a refund (like, "if you desist from the service and I didn't started it yet, just contact me so I can cancel the invoice" or something). You can add discounts too.

alenonimo.com•125 days ago

It's easier than it looks. Just go mess with it for a bit and you'll see.

drachenmagier.bsky.social•126 days ago

Always use invoices. <3 The first and only question for you to ask, if the commission is interesting for you, should be "where do I send the invoice to?".

bemusedbehemoth.bsky.social•125 days ago

Eyup! It's also so nice for organisation and makes things like EU compliance so much easier, there is no losing!

drachenmagier.bsky.social•125 days ago

The only people I encountered who disliked invoices and were against using them, were those who intended to scam me.

cyanhyprpsychic.bsky.social•114 days ago

📌

alpha-mo-mega.bsky.social•125 days ago

If you spell the word 'socks' with a Spanish accent and questioning inflection, it kinda sounds like you're saying words in Spanish, if you don't know the language

Al is kinda like that. Eso sí qué es?

technicallyowen.bsky.social•125 days ago

Keep books too far too many people just wing it. But you should be logging every work purchase and every sale just checking your website/bank records isn't enough