TL;DR version - Breakdown of how Skeb works and sharing a bad experience story from someone and going on a quick tangent about it.
Before we begin, I would like to say a few things:
- Creators on Skeb (particularly with the ones I've requested from, have been incredible) are talented, I will give them that;
- The Concept itself is impressive, but it's execution leaves a lot to be desired;
- No names are included, neutral pronouns and generic names are used instead.
With that out the way, I want to talk about the site called Skeb.
Skeb is a commissioning platform for Japanese artists, VA's and creators. Allowing you to commission people that you find interest in.
The way it works is different to standard commissioning. Instead of outlining your idea to a creator, musician or artist, paying them to work with that idea and they give/ask for feedback along the way to/from you. It's instead a "Blind, Prompt-based, Pay What You Want" commission.
Prompt-based: You build a description and scenario you want with a character. If you input a keyword, you get access to link a reference URL to add references and sketch examples.
Blind: After submitting your prompt with payment, you cannot contact the creator at all. What you get is final and as is.
Pay What You Want: The Creator can set a minimum amount that they will generally accept (i.e. ¥5000), you can keep that minimum amount or up the amount, if you want higher quality or more complexity.
Most would assume you can just use English, not exactly. You will be dealing with your English text getting translated into Japanese via DeepL. And it will not be flawless. It's automatically translated without preview after you submit the prompt.
Make sure to line break after each sentence to avoid run-offs and run the prompt through Japanese and back to English yourself on DeepL's website and follow trial and error, then include your modified Japanese translation in with the references, in case the one on Skeb is worse.
Afterwards, when you submit everything, you can relax and not worry about it.
Now, I want share about a story from someone, who had a bad experience with using Skeb:
I comm'd an artist, and they delivered a sample through Skeb and made me subscribe to their fanbox (like patreon) to get the full version (asked for it to be private to begin with...)
[I] decided to suck it up (you can't report artists in any way!) and just get it then unsubscribe immediately.
Then said artist makes fun of me on twitter for doing so, I respond to the extent of "it's because you scammed me" and I get instantly banned.
You see, while clients cannot report artists, artists CAN report clients... but all it really does is just instantly permaban the client.
So what happens next? All your comms are destroyed, you lose the right to download anything, so any comms that are ongoing are simply in limbo forever. you get emails "comm complete!" but can't actually get it because skeb refuses to uphold its part of the service (mind you, Skeb takes an asinine large fee)
There is no ban reason, let alone an appeal method. you're simply permabanned forever, so your best shot is messaging the artists to ask if they can deliver the comm another way.
Most artists either were scared of being banned themselves (nonsense since artists can't be reported, but yk) or decides to follow suit and also force me to their fanboxes
Dogshit site, simple as.
Essentially, Skeb has negative consumer protection.
BTW, if you do try to chargeback, Skeb will publicly shame you for it and say you're a thief and untrustworthy.
As someone, who has moderated a Minecraft server, this is by far the WORST way to set moderation privileges.
Giving creators the ability to ban clients without any fear of themselves getting banned is a complete failure on the site staff/administration to appoint select individuals as moderators to handle complaints from creators and clients, but no... Creators get to be Judge, Jury and Executioner on the site with no oversight.
And when you get banned, it's permanent and without appeal. You lose the ability to download the completed works and any in-progress are not downloadable.
You still receive emails from Skeb to rub it in, that they evaporated your money.
Issuing a bank chargeback would cause a public mockery from Skeb for doing so.
Let me go on a tangent real quick...
Paywalling the full version from the client, that they ALREADY PAID FOR AND WANTED IT TO BE HIDDEN!
They had every reason to call [the creator] out for screwing them over, but to go out of your way and ban them from the site afterwards?
There are other options, such as an email! It would have cost NOTHING! You could have had a satisfied client, rather than a screwed over and angry client, because they are banned from the site and now cannot access their completed works they received, while they were in-progress!
Tangent over!
As much as I like to use Skeb to commission Japanese artists, you will be having to walk through a minefield on social media until you receive all works with no in-progress ones left.
I'll keep using that site and hopefully won't run into creators who give sampled/cropped versions and put fulls on fanbox.
Thank you for reading this in-depth critical analysis and mild rant about Skeb.
Have a good rest of your day and I'll see ya next time. Bye for now! \o
