Art Shop/Trading Rules

[Simon]

This board is for buying or selling custom-made art - using CS pets, items or C$ as payment.

Make sure to read our rules about art before you make a thread: Forum/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=4410814#p131726703

1. Do not make multiple threads unless you offer distinctly different content in each one (e.g. one for original art and one for coloring in linearts).
   
   
2. Make it obvious in the title if your art shop is closed so other users can quickly see when you are not open for new commissions.
   
   
3. Be clear about what you are offering. List the type(s) of art you are offering or what you are comfortable drawing and be clear about the prices. Show examples if possible so customers have an idea what to expect.
   
   
4. Do not offer or order art that is against our rules. This may be quite obvious but do not use CS as a platform to advertise or acquire art that is not suitable to be viewed or drawn by a young audience. This does include directing any discussion about it to PMs or off-site.
   
   
5. Your art shop must accept CS payment. You may list other options aswell but if you do not accept CS pets, items or C$ for your art then your shop does not belong here. Commissions for real money may not be discussed on CS (this includes PMs). These need to be directed off-site but keep in mind that sharing emails or linking to sites where personal information is easily found is not allowed. Things from Animal Jam may never be a payment option on CS.
   
   
6. Avoid contracts for unlimited art within a certain time frame. They simply don't work out a lot of times. Customers as well as artists themselves may overestimate how much the artist can whip out in a specific time frame, or have different expectations for such a setting. Even if you agree on a set or minimum/maximum amount things can happen in life that would prevent the artist from finishing the drawings in the usual quality, within the agreed time frame or at all.
   
   
7. Check for suspicious posts by other users if they have an art thread. Especially posts saying "I haven't recieved an update in a while" or similar. If the player has a history of going silent or breaking their promises with other traders, avoid them.
   
   
8. Be cautious of new accounts. If the account is brand new, they might have been banned recently on a previous account and rejoined just to scam more people.
   
   
9. Document your commission in the trade messages! Link to the order and list other important information if it isn't apparent from the order alone or if you agreed to custom terms. If there is a mistake in the documentation don't accept the trade; resend it with the corrected information. Changes cannot be done in the accept message, you must resend the trade and give your partner the chance to read and either agree (accept) or disagree (cancel/edit) to those changes. Add the finished art into the accept message if possible. If the payment is accepted upfront, post the finished art in the art shop (additionally to pming the customer if that is what you would usually do). PMs are more easily deleted than posts and posts can be accessed freely so it's safer to document the finished art piece in your shop.
   
   
10. If you accept payment upfront make sure to keep it until you have actually handed over the drawing. Although you may be in possession of it the payment is not yours until you have fullfilled your part of the trade. If you come into a situation where you must refund your customer, you will have made this unnecessarily harder for yourself when you already spent or traded away the payment.
    
    
11. If you accept event tokens as payment make sure to keep the pets or items that you traded in for until you have handed over the drawing. There is only a short time frame in which tokens can be traded in so it is reasonable to spend them before you have finished the commission, so instead you should keep the pets and items you got in return to make sure you have an adequate substitute when you need to give a refund.

Please make sure to follow these steps as they contribute to safer trading.

If your trading partner is opposed to proper documentation or makes excuses why they can't do it, this could be a sign of scamming. If you send your part of the trade first, there is a risk that the other person will accept your trade and then disappear without ever giving you what they promised.

If the trader has very few pets on their account, or if you notice that the pets you sent them immediately got moved to a different account, then you may be dealing with a scammer who has multiple accounts.

If you think you have been scammed by someone who promised something they never delivered, please contact us using the help system: help/gethelp