---
title: 'The Truth Behind VTuber Commissions and How to Commission'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=IjwEwSplBOQ'
video_id: 'IjwEwSplBOQ'
date: 2026-07-31
duration_sec: 3265
---

# The Truth Behind VTuber Commissions and How to Commission

> Source: [The Truth Behind VTuber Commissions and How to Commission](https://youtube.com/watch?v=IjwEwSplBOQ)

## Summary

This video offers a practical, safety-first guide to commissioning artists for VTuber models, emotes, backgrounds, and other assets. The host walks through nine essential steps—from vetting reviews and asking for lead times to moving agreements to email, never paying 100% upfront, and paying via PayPal invoice. It's aimed at streamers and creators who want to avoid scams, missed deadlines, and lost deposits.

### Key Points

- **Read Reviews Deeply** [00:47] — Look at as many reviews as possible and expect a few negative ones. Be suspicious of identical wording or broken English—it can signal fake or paid reviews. Descriptive, specific feedback is more trustworthy.
- **Never Hire the First Artist You See** [04:41] — Compare at least 5–10 other artists before deciding. Review their disclaimers, refund policies, and how they communicate with past commissioners. Don't tunnel-vision on one person.
- **Ask About Lead Time First** [08:32] — Always ask 'When can I expect the art to be done?' Never tell an artist to 'take your time'; a stated deadline is final. Allow only one excuse; if they can't deliver after that, cancel.
- **Confirm Commercial Use** [12:55] — If you make any money from streams, even $5–$10, you need commercial use rights. Be ready to pay an extra fee. If the artist says 'don't worry about it,' do not hire them.
- **Request References and Check for Theft** [16:33] — Ask for references or a portfolio if the artist's profile is thin. Use Chrome's 'Search image with Google Lens' on sample images to see if they were stolen from another artist.
- **Get Detailed Pricing and Revision Counts** [23:05] — Provide reference sheets so artists can quote accurately. Ask exactly how many revisions are included. Zero revisions is a red flag, and revisions should be minor adjustments, not full redraws.
- **Move Everything to Email** [29:38] — Courts in California and Canada treat emails as contracts, while DMs and SMS usually aren't. Summarize all terms—lead time, pricing, revisions, cancellation—and have the artist reply 'I agree.' If they refuse, stop.
- **Never Pay More Than 50% Upfront** [35:58] — Pay no more than a 50% deposit, especially on Twitter. If an artist demands 100% upfront, walk away. Fiverr is safer because funds are held until completion.
- **Insist on a Non-Delivery Clause** [43:52] — If the artist misses the deadline and makes endless excuses, you should have the right to cancel and receive a full refund. 'No refunds' policies shouldn't apply when nothing was delivered.
- **Pay via PayPal Invoice, Goods & Services** [46:41] — Always get an invoice and pay as 'goods and services'—never friends & family, Ko-fi, or StreamElements tipping pages. Invoices enable PayPal disputes and can be tax-deductible business expenses.

### Conclusion

Commissioning an artist safely comes down to doing your homework: vet reviews, shop around, ask the right questions, put every term in an email, and protect your money with deposits and invoices.

## Transcript

the um the real question for today
this one is very very tricky and we're gonna have to navigate this one
let's just start from the beginning whether we are looking for someone on fiverr or twitter no matter what in the beginning we always want to uh
in the beginning we always want to uh look at reviews reviews now
is never 100 100 positive reviews
or on twitter with 200 plus reviews i don't think i've ever seen anybody with 100 positive there's always one or two or even
you know 10 negatives of some kind right whether it be a one to four stars not whether it be a one to four stars not usually a five out of five
all the reviews or look at as many as possible
uh the people are saying right if a lot of the people are saying the exact same you know five words of wow
you know five words of wow this was great um excellent
because there are people out there that do fake reviews it's not that hard you can you can honestly go to websites buy fake you can honestly go to websites buy fake reviews you can make a new account and
and hire yourself and leave a fake review hire yourself and leave a fake review right you want to find people that have right you want to find people that have a whole bunch of different reviews
and usually on their reviews descriptive right uh if people talk about if it's on time
but nothing should be 100 amazing or perfect from if that artist is first starting out okay sure i can see that but if again if
okay sure i can see that but if again if they're over 200 plus commission being absolutely perfect somebody's going to get
somebody's going to get angry somewhere it's just inevitable right not not everybody connects with every artist unless they are super lucky look for reviews are the same word for
word usually have bad english to help help weed out paid reviews yeah right there's there's a huge problem on amazon right now where there's a lot of companies like giving people massive discounts if they
give positive reviews right so there could be something similar going on you have to be careful thing you guys should do if you're going to commission an artist
if you're going to commission an artist is um never higher the first one you see
others are offering and saying i'm gonna use starlight for an example if i saw starlight
another 10 other artists right i'm going to see what those other ten artists are like and i might come ten artists are like and i might come straight back to starlight
look at ten other artists nine other artists you know five right look around see what other people see what other people uh uh put in
uh uh put in their their uh disclaimers their their uh disclaimers do they offer refunds cancellations see how well they communicate with with the people that do commission them
the people that do commission them right and what i mean by that is like a lot of times you know artists on twitter will post the art that they were just commissioned be like i just did art
for blah blah blah blah blah look at and see what that person said commissioned or the per the commissioner and see if the commissioner replied to him be like oh my god that was amazing or that was amazing but it took you a
while to get it to me right but always always look around right you could hire the first person you see but look around first don't be like a lot of people i've noticed is is they find the one artist they feel like
off the bat and they start foaming in the mouth and they in their just tunnel the mouth and they in their just tunnel vision on that one person they're they're seriously tunneled vision they don't want to look anywhere
else they feel a connection like don't do that look look around totally agree i even uh told someone to take their ideas on twitter five or
first so they knew other options yeah so there we go those are some tips what you guys should do right these three are probably the big ones that you can apply to pretty much
whether it's emotes backgrounds backgrounds so on and so forth right now what you should do
twitter or fiverr okay a lot of people automatically and immediately higher [Music] and a lot of people think oh my god
that's such a good idea it's not don't hire immediately what you should be doing is ask what you should be doing is ask questions
certain things on their profile but don't worry about looking for those and get an actual answer from the artist so let's what some questions we can ask them
so the first question i always ask is lead time when can i expect the art expect the art to be done
twitter right
should be on the twitter right they should have something linked like that if they don't have that then yes that should be number one
but i i always start off with lead time and chat this is not any particular order you could do it whatever way you want okay this is just this is just 100 want okay this is just this is just 100 me so okay lead time when can i expect
okay one thing you should never do and it's bitten me in the butt once and once only
is um take your time right it happened to me once when i said take your time
for months and months and months and months and they said they were gonna do this stuff on stream
stream and they were going to you know live updates on their on their website and honestly just like how rose was talking you know about their website or that person's website
and that status not changing i went through that i went through that myself so never tell an artist to take their time if an artist says two weeks
that's the deadline that is the deadline period that is the deadline period okay if if they make an excuse right of i can't
if they make an excuse right of i can't get it done because of x y or z get it done because of x y or z or in canada like i say is z
you can either cancel right away one one one one one one one and only one
um and i mean only one time to to um to uh to have an excuse
no it wasn't on fiverr for me it was it was uh it was a twitter commission but honestly they only have one excuse
if they use that one time on an excuse and they can't still deliver right two weeks after you you cancel it done and done sorry my dude ain't [ __ ] happening
fiverr uh uh especially uh right on the commission page and when you buy the order it gives you a lead time and if those artists don't honor the lead time if they're late or whatever
fiverr steps in and refunds you that's why i like fiber a little bit extra they are the middleman but at least they're there to and the artist right
second question that you guys should always ask for um honestly is is what amy said honestly is is what amy said commercial use
online because i am someone that is making money off what i do i need to have commercial use for literally everything for this background that you guys see behind me
for my model for everything for everything [Music] i've had to head to manager and routine
got done well sometimes you got to be a karen that's totally fine um but commercial use but some of you are gonna be like well
senpai i only make five or ten dollars from my streams tough [ __ ] that's commercial use if you are making a penny commercial use
use a me i'll do my best to remember that i apologize if i've been saying it wrong but commercial use
is a must if they say these horrible words don't if they say these horrible words don't worry about it don't hire them
seriously don't hire them something around these lines of don't worry about it avoid at all costs
do not go pasco do not collect 200 run run run run run run run ford scum did it best you follow force gun gun okay
have generally is a price
ten dollars twenty dollars a hundred dollars depending the cost of the item but there will usually be an extra fee there usually is on fiverr for commercial use spend the extra five ten
spend the extra five ten dollars and get the commercial use dollars and get the commercial use very important commercial use do you need a contract or something so if you're hiring on fiverr
typically you will it's right on the invoice this is where it gets different but we'll touch up on that in a minute
because i'm gonna blow your guys minds away with certain information that you don't know or even consider
but the third thing you should ask for and i don't see anybody ask this at all is uh do you have any references
but you should ask people for references if they don't have a decent portfolio if their fiber profile is a little bear profile is a little bear ask them for references
there's nothing wrong with them being like oh yeah if you want to see my art live or if you want to see somebody using the 2d model or 3d model i made this is their stream link
screen they really will or they'll link you to the streamers that um that right if they don't have a portfolio
right if they don't have a portfolio ask for references it's not rude it's not rude at all it's good right it really is
theft ask the client if that person was actually done their art yeah you was actually done their art yeah you could showed in my fiverr video that you guys can do if you are even
remotely curious um
crap uh anime back round for example on fiverr what you guys can is find somebody that you might like click on their image
click on their image right click so on chrome it will allow you to right click on the image and then search image with google lens so it doesn't have it in firefox but if
search google for this image and then you can see if there's any search results that might be linking this image to and the actual artist themselves or or um the actual owner of of said image
right that's one way you could find our theft you guys could check out my fiverr video yeah if if you're curious on on seeing that particular function i do cover it in that particular video
um but there's there's you know other things we should ask right
more on the twitter side and this doesn't really apply to fiverr because fiverr covers you on this particular subject but uh cancels right
and uh is there you know kent's uh b right i know i spelt that wrong that's right i know i spelt that wrong that's gonna bug me
cancellation fee some some some artists do allow free cancellations but if you if you for example
are commissioning someone and you just don't vibe with them don't vibe with them right if they're sending you guys
finished art but it's the concept concept art is that what the word i'm looking for concept art before it's colored in and shaded and so on and so forth i think that's what it's called you guys
know the word i'm trying to sketches thank you sketches if you guys aren't aren't vibing with the sketches aren't vibing with the sketches stop
right then and there right and don't go further of a few dollars right i want to say
cancellation fee me personally no more than 10 of the commission than 10 of the commission that might be different starlight might know better well definitely will know better than me but
be but cancel it how much is it right if if
right if if if they get super defensive going to short form it i my brain's literally not working but if they get super defensive and super um
offended right don't even continue just stop just stop
don't care how much you like their art just stop it especially if they get offended just stop
okay [Music] cancellation fees will usually depend on how far the how far along the up higher
gauge fair enough fair enough fair enough want to ask graphic designer what they charge for layouts and emotes and they couldn't find then they couldn't answer it okay
so let's talk about that pricing pricing right
ask them how much do you charge give them reference sheets
sheets i'll give them the ability to to properly quote you
example on fiverr on on what you can look for
an example this is a fiber example hopefully i'm not in the way but as we see right here seven days delivery
this order we expect the model they only offer one revision some artists will offer more they do rigging one character and project file delivery
they also have in their about i will draw and rig your character packs include psd model which a lot of people don't even include with separate layers for zip file ready for v2 for programs basic animations so on
and so forth [Music] nice day right they they actually ask you or they actually me right
details exactly how much i want half those references and ask can you do this and how much would it cost exactly right ask you guys know i have something called
senpai's low file which is copyright free dmca free music links for it in the description down below not self plugging but there's myself plug right but there's myself plug right the the the brand new composer i hired
has a price on their page um you know when they use samples and such
and i dm them i'm like how much is it no samples 100 made by you give me that price this is the type of music i want i sent them examples of lo-fi that i wanted
from them they came back with a price i agree with the price we actually hassled or we we negotiated a little bit hassled or we we negotiated a little bit and then we went for it
get the pricing and the quotes down before you order
right ask about how many you get if they tell you you get zero revisions run away no thank you i'm good
depending on what the art is how complex the art is you should be able to not get full complete revisions again depending on how complex the art is but if it's something super and easy like a small
able to get a couple of revisions out of that if it's something like a 3d scenic a 3d scenic city you know you might get one
but but to know how much revisions is reasonable for that particular art you should have at this particular point looked around
right you should have at this particular point shopped around and seeing what the norm is from other artists right if other artists are offering six revisions
or emails and this is just an example i don't know if this is actually true or not but if for example they're offering six revision for emotes and the guy you are considering uh to hire only offers zero or one
it honestly might not be right because what if you don't like right because what if you don't like how the hair is done then you see okay because senpai's hair was covering one eye i don't like how
the eyes are done can we change up the eyes just a little can we change up the eyes just a little bit you got your one revision of hair being trimmed back a little bit nothing more
and revisions should only be done within reason right it should be tiny adjustments here and there
again i could be completely wrong uh starlight you can please correct me if i am wrong or anybody that is artists in in chat right now please correct me if i'm wrong but i don't believe regions revisions
should be a complete wipe and start over again i feel revisions should be tiny adjustments here and there that's what i consider a revision personally for me to be
but not a complete delete and restart again that's my opinion
let's talk about some legal stuff shall we when you commission an artist say say you went through all these
all of these and you're like i want to hire you and you did all this talking and negotiations in twitter
should you continue in twitter dms
once you guys figure out everything done get it in an email the court system in california
the court system in california and in canada consider emails contracts
are not contractual
so let's split it up yes
country state to state province to province you'll have to look up your local laws but typically the person that you're commissioning from that's where it's going to mostly exist
everything should be done in email not in dms snarky what should be that email
and i mean everything i don't care if it's a copy pasta
that uh that you talked about and the dms into the email
right or if you guys at the very end came with up what came up with a conclusion then that conclusion of everything you guys said should be in the email you send the email to them
and or they send the email to you you or them reply i agree with these
with these terms lead time commercial use references cancellation fees pricing
cancellation fees pricing revisions all this should be in the all of it every single one one through six should be in that email
if they say i don't want to do this in email twitter dms are fine discord email twitter dms are fine discord messages are fine you stop
and you do not order because if this has to go to court right and and i'm talking chat in terms of if you're spending hundreds
there's no reason why you can't have this in an email because if this goes to this is your evidence dms yup you could i would normally i would no matter what
write it all out have them agree and i would attach the original and i would attach the original screenshots sure why not
they have to agree to it in the email regardless and you should write this all out the final conclusion to all of it because chat this is a contract that you're forming right contracts matter
agreements do not contracts to not agreements so no matter what don't be lazy literally just write it all out
peaky pki signature to throw on there even better yeah area so on and so forth it might be just enough for them to just reply and most of the time it is i agree with these terms
done now you can start now you can send payment over actually that's what i forgot to mention that's what i forgot to mention number seven
and this one is not very commonly practiced in the v tubing community i've very much noticed but it is very much so uh when you hire contractors
for your home so on and so forth fiverr this is not an issue because fiverr is the middleman the artist does not get paid until the job is 100 done
if there is a problem fiverr will refund you directly
honestly chat fifty percent payment me personally my personal opinion i would not put more than 50 percent
out 100 and we've seen people on twitter talk and we've seen people on twitter talk about this they pay an artist 100
that's not very confrontational right and you don't want to reach out to your banking right to go
at least you only lose 50 if they completely um if if if uh you guys do not connect or or agree to things
connect or or agree to things only pay 50 this is my again [Music] this is what i feel especially if you're hiring people off twitter
so important for both sides it protects both sides i have lost payment on custom sculptures not doing 50 in the beginning yeah so if an artist says no no no no you have
if an artist says no no no no you have to pay me 100 again 100 my opinion
but if it was me senpai walk the hell away you don't need to talk to them any further just don't even let them negotiate with you
around in the beginning they're just going to do nothing but screw you around later on right they really could they probably will so 50
i think that's reasonable so we got that so we got one through we know that everything has to be contractually within an email okay and we know that uh dms and sms's
depending on the state and the country you live in in canada and from what i understand in most u.s states agreements are not contracts
personally know this artist and chat like this is this is when you like don't know people and this is for people that you kind of sort of know but like i'll fully admit starlight i paid 100 up front
i didn't want to do 50 i know starlight i know her work i know starlight i know her work and i trust her now then worry about it down the road
that's me personally because i know where know that you only met on twitter dms and talked to in twitter dms and you're
sending them thousands of dollars or hundreds or money that you can't afford to lose or be without some sort of something in return completely crazy
completely crazy completely crazy crap [Music]
um [Music] that i need you guys to really think about and consider when you hire
artists um um because this is important stuff
is this a 100 percent perfect probably not but
this list here uh one through seven is definitely is definitely definitely
be screwed a little bit less especially here with number seven with 50 payment for example rose was like in discord i'm sorry rose
talking about this on live stream but you're like too good of an example right this person for four weeks without uh
any kind from what i understand from the from the from the messages uh with without any kind of delivery uh with without any kind of delivery of any product
if you only did a 50 deposit you would have been only out 50 if you decided to have been only out 50 if you decided to move on [Music] another thing that you guys should
before i go too far with this another thing that you guys should do and be wary of is
when people say uh no refunds you should have already talked about this in the pricing and
quotes and the lead time um i guess we should do like number eight
eight weeks it's not four it's eight freaking weeks okay eight weeks without any kind of delivery of any product holy [ __ ] okay i i told him it's read that i thought it was only
wow i'd be on their case right now um oh my god okay okay okay back on track back on track senpai let's go back on track sorry sorry sorry okay
so another thing you guys should talk about um that you are commissioning right and it should be a big if you don't deliver
on time [Music] there should be some there's there should be some uh non-delivery claws
and if the person plans on delivering this to you they shouldn't have a problem with this whatsoever they really shouldn't but if you don't deliver on time i you have
have the right to cancel and full refund
but if they don't make the delivery on time they make endless excuses endless excuses endless excuses right oh this happened
or that happened or this happened and i and then i my aunt got hit by a meteor and then my baby brother got hit by a lightning bolt and then superman ran over my mom and then everything else like no sorry bro
like and this is this is entirely up to you and this is this is entirely up to you what you find is within reason have the right to uh to cancel in a full refund
that um it was mentioned that the artist doesn't provide refunds provide refunds that does not matter
in my personal opinion even if they write no refunds if things have not been delivered
i feel should happen if right uh actually not if no refunds after the product
right [Music] could honestly agree with no refunds i honestly do
don't let artists tell you to pay through friends and family okay that's that's for paypal yeah yeah so
after everything was delivered so let's add number nine here because uh starlight brought up a very good one so so paypal
through paypal paypal is the third party paypal is the middleman so there's two ways for you guys to pay for your invoices and this is what you have to do chat
paypal you have to get this is not a negotiation if i find out any of you do not do this i will find you and i will not do this i will find you and i will slap you so hard your ancestor will feel
it i promise you that you have to get an invoice okay okay do not
through their elfi uh tipping page on stream elements or anything like that
do not do that right you better get an invoice and some invoices can also include
also include i believe if it's a cost of invoice so everything that you sent tonight email and they replied to yes this is
good they could also include in the invoice they could also include in the invoice okay
okay chat very freaking important here okay do not do friends or
family transfers [Music] you will not be protected paypal sees this as the same thing as
um basically loaning money to your family member or a friend literally that's what it is and as such if there's a dispute or anything
paypal will give you the middle finger and they will tell you to go pound sand and they will not help you out they won't they won't okay
have to get it um um it's called it's called it's called it's not called friends and family it's called
paying for a service i think it is i believe that's what it is charlie correct me if i'm wrong please i believe it's called what just happened there um
where do we go up here goods and services that's what it is services that's what it is goods
right you do pay for goods and services because if the person you hired decided because if the person you hired decided to not honor your agreement you send
to paypal and because you listened to me all the terms and conditions that you guys laid out was in the invoice if it's guys laid out was in the invoice if it's possible
you can now dispute that with paypal and paypal will help you i promise they will help you one way or another
okay okay just do it don't think about it just do it goods and services friends are family bad
co-fi or tipping through stream lab stream elements bad don't do it get it in an invoice if you
can get everything included in the invoice
streamer or a 1 000 viewer streamer this is stuff you guys need to know now and this is stuff that you guys can use creator follower [Music]
somebody that has a hundred thousand followers or subs or a million or two million all this stuff can be applied all the way down
upload it clip it i'll turn it into a youtube video if you guys want me to so you guys could always refer to this later on down the road but please please please please please please please please please
nine things okay okay it's very important
[Music] just so you know just so you know because a lot of you just so you know because a lot of you don't yet
because if you guys in the states set up your llc or you guys in uh the best country in the world called canada you start your ltd right you can submit this invoice to the
for your business and this can be tax deductible again yeah a business expense yeah business
expense that's what i meant yeah sorry business expense so you could potentially get money back from this
so keep it in as an invoice get your emails questions ask them okay thank you for coming to my ted talk i'm glad you're all here i'm glad we had
this uh conversation and discussion i will open up to the floor for i will open up to the floor for questions and uh