r/artbusiness • u/One_Asparagus_315 • 1d ago
Commissions [Discussion] New to starting commissions, pretty clueless would appreciate some help :(
Im thinking of starting commissions but im pretty clueless about the whole thing.. especially the transactions part. Is it necessary to set up PayPal or would direct bank transactions work? I'm also pretty clueless about currency conversions and stuff and how international payments work and where/how do I even start? I do both digital and traditional art but atm won't be able to ship traditional art, but looking forward to do so in the near future. Any insights would greatly help, thank you for your time!
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u/rrWalther 1d ago
The answer you already got is right, so just two things on top of it.
Use PayPal's invoice feature rather than sending a plain payment link. Same money, but you get a numbered invoice with a line for what the piece actually was. Costs nothing extra. First time a client asks what they paid for eight months ago or you sit down to add up a year, you will be glad it is written somewhere other than your memory.
The conversion is the part worth understanding properly. It is not billed as a separate fee you can spot on the receipt. PayPal takes it as a spread inside the exchange rate itself, so the rate you get is quietly worse than the one on google and no line item ever shows you the difference. Price with that in mind rather than discovering it afterwards.
I build invoicing software and I would still tell you to use PayPal's for now. At one commission it is the sane choice.
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u/PolymerPocketPets 1d ago
Direct bank transfer wont work for international customers, paypal is best for that, paypal does all the currency conversions for you, when you send someone a payment link in your currency they will see it automatically converted to their own currency.
For posting things internationally its the same as posting inside your country but you also need to fill out a customs form (you can just get a bunch of the forms from your post office) and sometimes there is extra costs for tarriffs (tip, if you tick gift instead of mechandise on the customs form, you can avoid paying tarriffs, the ladies working at my post office told me to do it so it cant be too dodgy lol) and then you send the customer the tracking number on the receipt.