Noted..

They had the skin you were planning to buy up and on a demo forum?

I got a partial refund, so i'm short some $300

wtf why are you paying $1000 for a skin in the first place?

What would you consider a good price for a custom skin?

I bet a commercial services directory would have helped to prevent that!

/me runs and hides after jab at large hornet nest

@ tyler, what a stupid reply!

jesus the fella may of lost $1000 all he wanted was someone to be trustworthy and make him a skin i do agree that he might of beena little silly in giving this guy money in the first place, but he has made the mistake and will learn from this and if he wants to rant then fine i would want to kill this guy!

the propper ansswer is scammers are scum of the earth and we must protect ourselfs and be careful in whatever online business we do!

hopefully deimos you get your money back m8y and next time becareful pal

Regards
Mickie D

Cheers Mickie

I know I was stupid to trust someone with $1000, that's my own fault and I admit it
I wasn't looking for sympathy when creating these two threads on VB.org and VB.com, I just wanted to post a warning for others and to confirm that other warnings posted here and elsewhere, are warranted.

I appreciate the support though, thanks.

I usually charge somewhere in the $100 to $400 range for a custom skin (The $400 range would be a skin heavy on graphics, flash, and/or template modifications.) $1000 for a custom skin is pretty ridiculous regardless of how good the designer is.

Also, in the future you might want to consider using some form of escrow for larger transactions like that. Paypal is horrible when it comes to paying for "virtual" work. Especially when there is a large amount of money being exchanged. With escrow you might lose a little bit of money in fees, but it will save you a lot of the hassles and headaches that you've already experienced.

i have to agree with you there.

the only reason i see vbulletin NOT wanting to do it is because it would make them seem liable if something went wrong. but it's nothing a disclaimer can't handle.

and $1000 is way to high unless it has alot of custom flash elements to it.

an average price to shoot for is between $100 for something simple up to $600 for something more graphically intense. some people might say that is way to high also, but if you want a quality original design, your gonna pay for it. skinning an original theme can be tedious at times.

sorry to hear you were ripped off Deimos, i know the feeling

It's an awkward situation to be in really, because a skinner will not start a skin for you without at least a deposit to cover his work if you change your mind. But then you could argue. Whats stopping him from even ripping that off and doing a runner.

What you need is a 3rd party to act as a holder who both sides can trust. So the skinner knows the 3rd party or middle man has his money to go ahead and create the skin, without him getting it until the work is actually finished. To cover both party's involved. once finshed the transfare of money and skin can be dealt with by the 3rd party who take a small handling charge from the buyer. Thats one method that could be put in place.

I also feel sorry for you, $1000 dollars is a lot of money by anybodies means. Wow, I can't believe you paid that for a skin. Thats a lot of money when you look at some of the great skins already being sold out there for like $40-$60