I don't even know what to think about this one.

[spark]

Heh. Putting my many, many good customers through that ringamarole in order to deal with the miniscule minority that give me trouble is not going to be worth it. I really don't care to hurt my business and make things rough on my customers like that. Honestly, would YOU want a complicated payment scheme like that, or would you go to somebody who lets you pay when its convenient for you? If I drive away just one person with that system, that's a whole $1300 I'm not getting, in order to save me the few hundred I'd lose should I end up having to resell this thing for non-payment. Not worth it.

I'm protected from being completely ripped off by not sending the costume until it's finished. That's good enough. Any and all businesses will lose a little money here and there because customers are idiots. You just can't 100% protect yourself from that. The only way to do so is to treat all your customers like criminals, and that's a great way to go out of business entirely.

[Kogarashi]

I would say then to keep a personal blacklist of sorts of people who've flaked out in the past. If they want to order again from you in the future, they've been bumped to "must pay in full up front" status.

I had a customer of my own pull that on me. I sell painted fans online, and had someone ask to commission two from me. We worked out the details, I did the fans, and then the customer begged off payment for a little over a month (claiming death in the family, but their feedback after this incident indicates they use that excuse a lot) before stopping communication completely. Luckily the fans were non-unique enough that I was able to resell both without a loss, but I changed my commission policy afterward to require full payment up front, and that customer in particular is going to be watched like a hawk if they ever contact me again.

[spark]

Oh yeah, that I'm willing to do. Anybody who's proven to be a bad egg once is somebody I'm not trusting again, that's certain.

Honestly I'm not looking for business advice here, I manage just fine. (This has been my full time job for five years now, so I've got most of the bugs worked out.) I'm just kind of venting my frustration at this guy.

[Kristev]

The artist I paid to do a couple of my novels' cover arts expected to be paid before I as much as saw any of her artwork. It's quite reasonable.

[Mikkel]

When I had to special order a bicycle or other expensive things I would demand a nonrefundable deposit, at least ten percent. If the customer changed his/her mind, I could sell the bike ten percent cheaper and still get full price.
Since you get paid half in advance, couldn't you keep some of it to cover your losses if the customer drop the deal?

[Comechatcha]

I hope the deposit at least covered the materials if not the labor. I'm still an amatuer level costume maker (cosplay, not fursuits), so I work for coffee and materials, but if I ever did one for someone who I can't hound and glare at across the breakfast table/staff meeting, I would definitely make sure that I wouldn't lose money should a buyer flake.

[crinklestein]

I don't care where the money comes from. I just want my damn money for my damn work. They can deal with their own reality after they pay me.

[Kristev]

That's the spirit!