Hi! Sorry to bother you but I had a question maybe you would know since you work with paypal and stuff. I'm trying to set up my paypal for commissions but it's being...difficult. Is there a certain way I have to set up my account? Like do I have to change it to a business account or should people just be able to use my email?
Oh boy PayPal, the dark horse of any commissioner’s life... I will try and be as helpful as possible!
You do not need to have a PayPal business account. I cannot speak for how a business account works, because I do not have one. I use the base account, and that’s it.
My biggest advice is to USE INVOICES. USE INVOICES. USE INVOICES. Don’t just have people send you their payments - instead send them a PayPal invoice for their order! That’s the best way to protect yourself from PayPal screwing you over. Invoices protect you from losing money or being scammed.
Here’s how to set up and use PayPal invoices for art commission work:
1) Log in to PayPal, then from your account summary page find the button that says ‘Create an invoice’. You can find it in the ‘More’ drop-down menu next to the ‘Send’ and ‘Request’ buttons.
You can also find ‘Manage Invoices’ under ‘Seller Tools’, which should be on the right and below the ‘Send’ ‘Request’ ‘More’ and ‘Send again’ menus. It looks like this:
2) Welcome to the Manage Invoices page, where you can keep track of all your invoices. Don’t be intimidated by how it looks, it’s very simple to use!
Click the ‘+Create Invoice’ button!
We’re going to make a template for sending commission invoices, so you won’t need to do this over and over again.
Your ‘Create Invoice’ page probably looks something like this:
We’re going to make a template so you don’t have to fill all this information out every time you need to send a new invoice. This is what I do for the type of commissions I do.
A) Set the type of invoice to ‘Amount only’. This will send the client a bill for a set amount agreed upon via correspondence, like through email or DMs. You can also set the type to ‘Hours’, which allows you to charge your client an hourly rate for the amount of work you do. I do not use this, so I cannot speak on how well it works or on how useful it is. I’d say just calculate your prices to be fair for the amount of work you put into them, and use Amount Only invoices.
B) You can set a little logo here if you want to personalize the invoices you send out. This is cute, I recommend it if you have a brand or logo you use for your work. This is optional and not required, though!
C) Set the Type of goods to “Goods: Digital goods”. You are not physically sending the client a commission - you are drawing them a picture and sending them the finished product through the internet.
D) Ask your client what their PayPal email address is, and put that email here! You can also add returning or regular clients to your address book, and PayPal will remember their preferred email address for you!
*NOTE*: You don’t need a PayPal account to pay a PayPal invoice. You can simply put the client’s email address here (regardless of whether you know it’s their PayPal email or not), and it will send the invoice to that email. They can choose how to pay the invoice when they receive it. Some clients who do commissions often might have a dedicated account for PayPal, and it would be easier for them to pay with a PayPal balance, etc etc. I always ask “What email would you prefer I send the invoice to?”. It usually streamlines the process a lot. You can also just note in your commission post to have clients include their PayPal email with their inquires.
E) Here you can choose what currency you’ll be charging your clients in. Mine is set to US Dollars, but you can choose whatever currency you use.
*NOTE*: If a client sends you payment without an invoice and they use a different currency than you, you have to pay the exchange rate. If your client pays an invoice, however, PayPal will convert the currency before you get payment, which means you don’t eat the conversion fee and get closer to your full amount. Just another reason why they’re a life-saver!
While we’re here, hit the drop-down menu that says 'Add/remove detail’ and check the box that says ‘detailed description’
Description Box - describe the commission! (Warning: be a little vague with how you title your commissions. NSFW language will probably get you flagged or banned.) Here is an example of how I fill this out:
You can choose to add another line item if your client is getting more than one commission from you at a time! You can cut down on the amount of invoices you send this way, which will help with preventing invoices from falling through the cracks! PayPal will calculate the total amount for all items being commissioned automatically.
F) Allow partial payment: Check this box if you want your client to be able to pay in installments. I’ve had plenty of clients who were unable to pay all at once because their bank only allows them to spend a certain amount at a time. I check this box for those clients, but usually it is safer to have the clients pay all at once up-front.
Allow customer to add a tip: CHECK THIS BOX. Give your customers an option to toss you something extra for your hard work! It hurts no one and is an easy way to let your clients show their appreciation for what you do! You deserve it!
G) Note to recipient: You can put any additional notes or thoughts in this spot! I just put a nice little platitude here, like ‘Thank you for your business!’
H) Terms and conditions: Clarify your policies on commissions here. This is just another way of covering your back if your client decides to back out or something goes awry with the order. Here’s what I put in mine:
"Commission will not be started until payment is received in full. Please give two weeks for completion of your commission. If you need to cancel your commission, please contact me as soon as possible via email so I don't get too far in the process! Finished product is sent digitally to specified email. No shipping required.“
And that’s everything! Hover over the ‘Safe as draft’ button and choose ‘Save as template’. Enter a name for it (i.e. ‘Commissions'), and check ‘Make this my default template’ so you don’t have to remember to choose the template every time you make a new invoice.
One more note: PayPal takes a percentage from your total Invoice payment as a service fee. The higher the amount you’re being paid, the bigger chunk they end up taking (that’s math for you!). Do not be surprised if you lose between $5-$10 on a large commission. This is why it’s nice to include the tip option! Tips from clients will usually cover this fee. (You can write these service fees off on your Taxes, also!)
I don’t know if this helps with the problems you’ve been having, but this is how I use PayPal, and I have had zero problems with them in my 4-5 years of using PayPal for commission work. (I highly recommend connecting your PayPal to whatever Bank you use, for easy access and transferring of your money!)
If this doesn’t help, feel free to send me a follow-up about the problem you’re having and I’ll see if I can figure out why PayPal’s giving you the run-around.
baratheonpilled
gummygunk
