I've got a bit of a challenge here. I've posted a few contests. I don't want to get into details but per an email I was told to make payment for the original files and they'll be sent right over. I made payment the following morning. I sent an email to the designer to confirm payment - the followed up for a total of FOUR times. I haven't received any reply. This designer, who seems reputable, is posting here regularly even after my messages. (a) My last message was the need to contact paypal to reverse payment if I couldn't confirm he received payment. I've heard nothing since. This dispute will obviously not be beneficial, and probably moreso for the designer. It's pretty clear what our deal was. (b) I hate using reputation as an attention getter. It sometimes hurts the innocent because, even if you're right, they give you an infraction and you're wrongfully stuck with it and bad for your own reputation. So what do you guys propose I do? I can't understand the inability to resolve this like professionals.
Contact paypal to dispute the payment. Apply negative iTrader and negative rep describing the situation. Hire another designer to clone the design. Problem solved.
I agreee wih XFactorLogo. Dont' forget to make an announcement in the General Chat.Tell that person is not good to do business.
Slinky, I do a few contests here and there. Would you please pM me the designers name so, if they ever win one of my contest, I can make sure not to pay them until I get everything. thallewell
maybe we could ask the mods to sticky two "lapsed transactions" threads... one for buyers, one for sellers like me. i happen to have a non-responder myself. a week without response and we post up their usernames and the contest URL on the thread. it would protect both sides and help this board monitor itself.
Giving the benefit of the doubt - if the designer is posting here but not answering your emails, perhaps he/she has email problems? Have you tried using the PM system?
I'm totally aggree with l3fty Make some kind of Hall of Shame threads. One for the Sellers and the other one for Buyers.
xaralee, we probably shouldn't call thm hall of shame threads in case the people in question have legit reasons to not reply (however unlikely that almost always is). like victoria anne says, benefit of the doubt. victoria anne, in my case i tried two pms and an email. the last pm was confirmed read... that was about a week ago. i'm just waiting to see if the website uses my logo, and then i'll threaten them with copyright infringement!!!! heheh
Yes, I've always wondered if people on the internet can sue for that. Seems like the internet is a wide, wide world and no matter what you do you can always hide. Even if you could find out who used your logo without permission it's unlikely you'd find the legal counsel that will assist you for a, say, 50 dollar logo. It's just not worth it, and the contest holders take advantage of it. Guess the only thing you could do is give them negative iTrader, and post a warning on every contest thread they make. Oh, that, and watermark your designs, and receive payment, THEN send the files.
According to the Web Applications Development course I studied with the Open University, copyright laws apply to the Internet in the same way they apply to printed material. So yes, using a logo without permission IS against copyright laws.
And that's exactly the point. Designers see no point in suing over a 30 dollar logo. If someone stole a studio's logo, that would be different, because there would be an actual person that you met with before that could be held responsible, as well as the greater value in the designs (studios charge quite a hefty amount).
that doesn't mean there's nothing we can do about it here on the DP forums. it'd be nice to have a forum (or at least a sticky thread) just for us designers to exchange information about non-paying buyers and non-awarding contest holders and whatever. the buyers deserve a simliar avenue, too. i'm not advocating a buyer's or seller's clique or anything, just easily accessible information.
don't deal with users who have itrader rating below 10 and you won't have similar experiences cheers, Tom
Excuse me, but if no one deals with "users who have itrader rating below 10", the how is anyone ever going to get up to ten? Hmmmmmmmm?
I have entered contests before held by people with high ratings, who look reputable, just to see the contest left open with no result. High trader ratings aren't always the be all and end all.
You guys all bring up good points. What's funny is that I was setting up an "online arbitration" area on my legal site to deal with disputes like this one and hopefully allow webmasters the ability to post "decisions" that sound reasonable. The challenge is that someone has to read through the crap, investigate when more evidence is needed, and then make a decision as to who is right and who is full of it. The only black mark I have here concerned a designer who clearly didn't listen to a word I told him regarding design (completely wrong colors, wrong style), didn't instruct the person he further outsourced the work to, then had the gall to demand more money from me to correct the problems from his negligence! Amazing. But I'm sure this has happened to other people too. But anyways, the designer just contacted me and I'm guessing it's as a result of this thread. He says he sent the files but I haven't received anything. He also told me to send him personal email instead of PM. I want to give him the benefit of the doubt - PM can get really cluttered - and perhaps there are other factors at play here and frustrations. We'll see what happens. Either way, I do try to be fair and understand where others are coming from. Contests can be challenging and I like to do just a few to get talent I can work with. I find that after time they get too busy so I have to redo the contest again! Thanks much for all your replies guys and I'll update you shortly as to what the response was.
damn...that must suck you have a point there, but you can get itrader rating by auctioning your designs/selling stuff