I am SO fricking glad I'm self-employed...

[spark]

...because it means I can say "enough already" and tell twits like these to take a hike.

A refresher for those who don't know me: I make a living making costumes. I specialize in mascot costumes/fursuits, so I deal with furries a lot. 95% of them are actually terrific people, but man that 5% REALLY deserves the reputation they have. They drive me nuts.

So this one "customer" has been contacting me for years now. I put "customer" in quotes because he's never actually given me a penny. He's asked for quotes on any number of projects, but apparently they were all theoretical, or something.

He's also attempted several times to be my "furiend" (not a typo) and was hurt when I said my IM was for business only.

Then he tried to get me to send him a costume to resell, ie. he'd give me the money after he sold it in his amazingly successful costume shop that he was about to start as soon as he got enough costumes. (I don't think there's a word that's "no" enough for how much "no" I wanted to say to that one.)

And then he started lowballing me. REALLY lowballing me. I'd quote him $250 for something, he'd offer me $100, that kind of thing. Completely ridiculous offers, which I always turned down.

Today... today was the final straw. I'll give you the actual text of the conversation.

Idiot: how much for a full body suit
Me: Depends a bit on the details, if it has any markings like spots or stripes, etc. And you mean with the head and hands and all yes? Not just the body alone? The basic price for a full suit is $1,300.
Idiot: looking to spend 1000
Me: Well, I could make a partial.
Idiot: nah ill keep looking thanks
Idiot: people sell parital for like 600
Idiot: and full suits for 1000
Me: Some people do, yes.
Idiot: i think anything above 1000 is way to much
Me: Well, that's your opinion. Goodbye,.
Idiot: yeah sure who can afford that money took me ages to get 1000

I could have pointed at the dozens of completed costumes I've made at that price, and all the happy customers I have. I could have linked him to any one of the many professional and even semi-pro mascot makers who charge easily two or three times what I do. (One of the best in the business is rumored to charge TEN times his piddly little 1k.) I could have advised him that insulting my prices is not the way to get me to cut a deal. Or heck, I could even have offered to take payments from him, if he can't afford the extra $300 at the same time, I'm always happy to do that. But you know? I was kind of sick of this. He's obviously never going to actually give me any money, and he was really starting to annoy me. So I blocked him.

Although I did manage to repress the urge to tell him "fuck off" before I did. I do try to maintain a bare minimum of professional behavior, even with twits.

[zombiequeen]

Wow, what a noob.

At least YOU know that the quality of your suits is worth more than he offered.
I'd be willing to say the rest of your paying customers also know that the quality of your suits is worth the price they have to pay.

[Andara Bledin]

Every fandom has at least one of this assholes.

Wanna bet he's only a furry 'cause the furry community is the only one that hasn't kicked him to the curb?

* It takes a lot to get ostracized by furs.

^-.-^

[taxguykarl]

At least YOU know that the quality of your suits is worth more than he offered.
I'd be willing to say the rest of your paying customers also know that the quality of your suits is worth the price they have to pay.

Agreed. Sounds like a bit of an EW or a cheapie.

[Hyena Dandy]

Every fandom has at least one of this assholes.

Wanna bet he's only a furry 'cause the furry community is the only one that hasn't kicked him to the curb?

* It takes a lot to get ostracized by furs.

^-.-^

Especially the ones who make every word into a portmanteau of 'fur'.

[SuperRTL]

Good work is worth a "higher" price. Doubly so with fur. Fur makes me sneeze, even the faux stuff. Fortunately, I have a friend who works almost exclusively in fur and I do the extremely structured. Hell, I'd pay her to take some of the furries I've met off my hands. I commend you for doing this and doing it well.

[EvilEmpryss]

Idiot: people sell parital for like 600 and full suits for 1000
Me: Some people do, yes. So go buy from them and leave me the hell alone, cheapskate.

Fixed that for you.

[EricKei]

Dollars to doughnuts says he will create a new IM name just to try and contact you again the next time he wants a costume he can't afford...>_>

[spark]

Dollars to doughnuts says he will create a new IM name just to try and contact you again the next time he wants a costume he can't afford...>_>

I was honestly quite surprised he didn't make a new account immediately to whine at me about being blocked, that's nearly always the response I get after blocking these idiots.

[XCashier]

These people have no idea what goes into sewing a costume. Time, lots of time, planning, measuring, material (which is not cheap, even when it's on sale), getting everything cut and matched up, fighting with the machine when it snags/bunches/rips the fabric or breaks the needle, etc.

I've done costume sewing, but it's been with cloth (muslin, linen-look, etc). I'm guessing you use faux fur, pleather and similar materials, all of which are much more difficult to work with than fabric. And much, much more expensive.

The reason it's so expensive is because the customer is paying someone else to do the long hours of hard work and buy the pricy materials. Your time and expertise are worth money. If this guy is too cheap to buy your work, he's more than welcome to make it himself. Then we can laugh ourselves silly when he whines about "how it's sooooo much wooooorrrkkk!"

[spark]

People are too used to the made in China, mass-produced junk you get at the costume store at Halloween. Custom hand work is an entirely different world.

If he's still looking for the tiger he wanted the last three or four times he asked me for some kind of quote, he'll be lucky to find anybody at all that will make him a full tiger suit for his price. Stripes are expensive! Odds are he'll end up with one of the "this costume thing should make me tons of money" n00bs that are constantly springing up in the fursuit world, and they'll take his money, then give up on making the suit when they get bored/realize that making costumes is just like a "real job" only it pays less for your time, and will never refund him because they blew the money on video games and tattoos months ago, and he'll end up out a thousand bucks, with nothing whatsoever to show for it.

(That scenario happens a LOT. Always research your costumer's reputation and experience before paying them anything!)

[Duelist925]

Buh....a grand? For a hand made full body costume? O.o what in the nine hells is he smoking.

I mean, hell, I've been assembling a costume for the local renfaire over the past few years, and I've spent about four hundred bucks on just the basics, and I thought I was pretty lucky for that! And thats barely anything compared to what he wanted....

[Barefootgirl]

Do these furry costumes have heads and claws and stuff, or are they more like a bodysuit with ears? i'm curious, I don't think I;ve ever seen one.

[spark]

They come in all sorts, but the most common has a head and hands and feet and all.

is one I made recently, and is pretty typical.

[Mytical]

Wow, that is really good work!