ELM Custom Scams?

[MilaRose]

Hi AmberCuties!

So, I am knew to ELM and have been doing my first few jobs since signing up and getting approved... all has gone well until I had to deal with one particular buyer.

To put it simply, this buyer had me do a job for him of 15 photos for 15 credits. He said he would have me do a photo and after I sent it he would tell me the next photo he wanted. After accepting the job and carefully following his instructions to the "T" and uploaded his first photo request, the buyer did nothing but complain that the photo quality wasn't good enough. Even though the buyer word for word stated that he wanted the photo to be taken with the best quality and biggest size of the camera. As I have a 1080p HD Logitech camera, I maxed out my settings on it and took the photo. Nope, not good enough, the buyer said.

I tried to explain to the buyer that the photos were taken at max quality with a high quality camera and asked multiple times for the buyer to tell me what he would like for the next photo. As he refused to co operate with me, I contacted support. Admins didn't help, but made things worse by cancelling the job and told me to work things out with the buyer on my own.

So, I have essentially wasted my time, completed custom work for FREE, and ELM support is neglecting to help me while the buyer is refusing to co operate with me. Needless to say, I will not be accepting any further jobs where buyers don't tell me everything that they want of me before accepting a job request...

Keep in mind that I have upheld only the best customer service towards this buyer and have done 100% of everything that was asked of me.

Sorry, this sounds mostly like ranting, but this is so upsetting and I feel not only scammed, but like I have been thrown under the bus by ELM support. Does any one else have experiences like this on ELM? This truly disgusts me and makes me want to leave ELM all together...

xoxo Mila Rose

 

[yummybrownfox]

I know people say the ELM escrow system is supposed to be the better way of doing things and all, but I always hated the possibility of doing all that work, just to end up not getting paid...due to the guy not approving it. And I believe I read that ManyVids is now using the escrow system for customs as well?

Damn. I have Boleyn Models daily pay with MV, and I really liked the fact that before, I could get that money the next day for a custom. Can't do that anymore with this escrow shit. Lol.

Speaking of Support...that really cool guy Benic doesn't work with ELM anymore, right? Last I heard, he was with that site Offbeatr. I really liked him.

 

[MilaRose]

I don't mind how the customs are set up on MV since the system is very fair. I am knew to ELM, so I was shocked to see that a job can be accepted, worked on, then cancelled with little to no notice. How is Boleyn Models? I had come across that one and thought of signing up.

Since I am knew to ELM I am not familiar with the name Benic, sorry!

xoxo Mila Rosee

 

[Fatquack]

I am a bit confused, are you using a webcam to make pictures? Because that is not going to look very good, whatever you try settings wise.

 

[IsabellaSnow]

Just out of curiosity, something about this guy reminds me of someone who contacted me on ELM, was he asking for you to take photos of yourself over say a day, and he would ask you to take each custom after the last? I won't name names, but going into my e-mails this was the message he sent me, and looking at his stats he has a lot of cancellations as well as admin cancellations, more so than completed.

"My plan is the following: I pay you upfront with Escrow. 12 credits for 15 pictures. After that you will receive your first pose/task. You take a picture and send it to me. Then you receive your next task, and so on. All poses/tasks will be nudes. You don't have to do all pictures in one session. We could take several days for it. But a few in a row would be fun."

I refused him because that is a ridiculously low price for custom pictures, especially with so much attention and interaction, I was surprised and asked him if he had accidentally left out a 0. I don't want to sound like I am dissing people for their prices, but that guy giving you 15 credits in escrow for 15 custom photos is ridiculously low. ELM takes a cut of everything we make, then you've got to think about how much your equipment cost you, the risks of having those photos out there, and what you are actually doing for that person. For me custom photo sets take a lot time, and if the buyer is paying so low they have no right to ask for you to have a top quality camera. If it was the same guy, well, he was rude about my prices and moved on. He may well be a scammer. Actually that whole "fun idea" of getting you to take a few photos first and then waiting for instructions is a great way for him to ensure there is a half provided photoset, therefore he can cancel the escrow and get his money back, while also getting a whole load of pictures from you.
ELM is full of cheap arse guys as far as I can tell, and I don't really use it as a site because of this. There are guys there though who will pay a more reasonable amount. There is so much money in the cam industry, it's fine to sell pre-made stuff for cheap, but anything that takes your time and you cannot resell; you should be charging considerably more.

 

[yummybrownfox]

I am a bit confused, are you using a webcam to make pictures? Because that is not going to look very good, whatever you try settings wise.

Huh? A lot of us have good quality high definition webcams, and use that for photos. Sure, some models (with the money to spend, and who don't mind spending it on a photographer) could hire a photographer to take "professional" photos, if they wanted to, but it isn't necessary.

 

[Mintx]

Oh my gosh, I actually know what buyer you are talking about. He is a scammer. My rule of thumb for ELM was to never, ever, ever work with people had negative reviews about how they did not pay or were a pain in the ass. (Also, to get away from ELM due to them being stuck in like 2002 of the cam model world. But that is a personal choice.)

 

[yummybrownfox]

I don't mind how the customs are set up on MV since the system is very fair. I am knew to ELM, so I was shocked to see that a job can be accepted, worked on, then cancelled with little to no notice. How is Boleyn Models? I had come across that one and thought of signing up.

Since I am knew to ELM I am not familiar with the name Benic, sorry!

xoxo Mila Rosee

Back in the day, Benic was the founder (or co-founder?) of ExtraLunchMoney, and he was a very nice, cool guy. He was also helpful with any questions that you had about ELM. I'm glad you posted this thread, because I keep forgetting that I still have a profile on ELM. I wonder if that guy who used to pay me for bicep-bouncing custom videos is still around.

I love Boleyn Models/Katy Boleyn, and have had good experiences with it. Times are hard right now (especially for a single mom), so that daily pay money can be very convenient when you don't wanna have to wait two weeks to see your money.

 

[MilaRose]

Just out of curiosity, something about this guy reminds me of someone who contacted me on ELM, was he asking for you to take photos of yourself over say a day, and he would ask you to take each custom after the last? I won't name names, but going into my e-mails this was the message he sent me, and looking at his stats he has a lot of cancellations as well as admin cancellations, more so than completed.

"My plan is the following: I pay you upfront with Escrow. 12 credits for 15 pictures. After that you will receive your first pose/task. You take a picture and send it to me. Then you receive your next task, and so on. All poses/tasks will be nudes. You don't have to do all pictures in one session. We could take several days for it. But a few in a row would be fun."

I refused him because that is a ridiculously low price for custom pictures, especially with so much attention and interaction, I was surprised and asked him if he had accidentally left out a 0. I don't want to sound like I am dissing people for their prices, but that guy giving you 15 credits in escrow for 15 custom photos is ridiculously low. ELM takes a cut of everything we make, then you've got to think about how much your equipment cost you, the risks of having those photos out there, and what you are actually doing for that person. For me custom photo sets take a lot time, and if the buyer is paying so low they have no right to ask for you to have a top quality camera. If it was the same guy, well, he was rude about my prices and moved on. He may well be a scammer. Actually that whole "fun idea" of getting you to take a few photos first and then waiting for instructions is a great way for him to ensure there is a half provided photoset, therefore he can cancel the escrow and get his money back, while also getting a whole load of pictures from you.
ELM is full of cheap arse guys as far as I can tell, and I don't really use it as a site because of this. There are guys there though who will pay a more reasonable amount. There is so much money in the cam industry, it's fine to sell pre-made stuff for cheap, but anything that takes your time and you cannot resell; you should be charging considerably more.

Yes, that's the one. When I saw the number of cancellations and admin cancellations a lot of red flags went off in my head... Should have listened to them. It's sad that the way ELM is set up and how poor the support is that buyer's can easily get away with it. :/

 

[MilaRose]

Huh? A lot of us have good quality high definition webcams, and use that for photos. Sure, some models (with the money to spend, and who don't mind spending it on a photographer) could hire a photographer to take "professional" photos, if they wanted to, but it isn't necessary.

Yes, my webcam was expensive and the best on available at the store. Regardless, the buyer never stated what "good quality" he wanted, only that he wanted the best settings on whatever cam I was using...