Arbitration Ethos - VRCommissions

Philosophy

We are neutral, not buyer-first or seller-first.

The arbiter's only question is: what was promised, and was a good-faith attempt made to deliver it? We don't reward the louder party, the longer-standing party, or the one with more followers. We reward the listing and the on-platform conversation - in writing, before payment.

Two rules sit at the top of everything below:

Vagueness counts against the party that wrote it. If a listing promises "a high quality image" and the buyer disputes the quality, vagueness lands on the seller. If a buyer asks for "an 8K photorealistic render" and the seller delivers exactly that, the buyer cannot later argue it was "not what they meant." Write the specifics you care about.
Only on-platform evidence counts. Discord DMs, Twitter replies, emails, side agreements - none of it. If the promise isn't in the listing or in the order conversation, the arbiter cannot consider it.

Where the published rules don't yet cover a situation, the arbiter may issue a partial outcome and publish a rule update so the next person in the same situation has clarity.

Workspace illustrating contract-based fairness

Deadlines & lateness

How a "7 day" listing is measured

Deadlines are 24 hours per listed day, counted from the moment the seller accepts the order. It's calendar days instead of business days. A 7-day order paid Monday at 2:00 PM UTC is due the following Monday at 2:00 PM UTC. As a seller, give yourself the wiggle-room you need. More time is better and helps avoid disputes.

Buyer provides the brief up-front

The buyer must give the seller everything required to start - reference sheets, a specific description of the deliverable, the target platform, the format, and anything else the listing requests - at the moment the order is placed. A buyer who drip-feeds requirements after the seller has accepted has no claim if the deadline slips because of it. The seller may request a deadline extension or cancel and refund.

The "one minute late" question

If the deadline passes and the buyer requests a refund before accepting the delivery, the refund is granted and the seller is not required to deliver. If the buyer asks for the work past the deadline, receives it, and then requests a refund citing lateness, the refund is denied. Acceptance closes the door.

Mild lateness with delivery accepted

Lateness alone is not, on its own, a violation of the rules. A buyer who accepts a late delivery cannot come back later for a refund. Once the payment is released, there is no follow up that can be done.

Lateness with silence

If a seller is past deadline and has stopped responding, the buyer opens a dispute. The arbiter confirms the silence on-platform and refunds.

When the buyer is the bottleneck

If the seller is waiting on references, approvals, or input from the buyer mid-order, the deadline does not pause automatically. The seller may request a deadline extension on-platform; the extension only takes effect once the buyer approves it. If the buyer refuses or stops responding, the seller may cancel and refund rather than be held to the original deadline.

Lateness as a pattern

We don't ban sellers for being late. Repeated lateness lives on your profile as a delivery-accuracy rate and in your reviews, and it not delivering by the deadline means that your orders can be refunded.

Quality & off-brief disputes

"It doesn't look how I imagined"

The deliverable must match the specifics of what was agreed upon. If the buyer wants a 'photorealistic render', and a cartoon was delivered instead, it's materially incorrect and the buyer will be refunded. If it's a photorealistic render of garbage, despite the low quality deliverable, the funds will be released. Pick users with good reviews.

Missing deliverable

"Extras" are part of the product. An incomplete product leaves the buyer materially deprived. If you paid for chocolate chip cookies and got plain cookies, you didn't get chocolate chip cookies no matter how much the seller says the chocolate chips were only a partial component.

Revision count

If the listing discloses a revision limit ("2 revisions included"), that limit is enforced. A buyer asking for revision #3 has no claim; the seller may offer it at an additional price but is not obligated.

Scope creep dressed as a revision

Adding a second character, changing the medium, or introducing elements not in the original brief is a new commission, not a revision. The seller is within their rights to refuse, deliver the originally agreed upon product, and have funds released to them.

Burden of proof

In a quality dispute, the buyer must show the work is materially off-brief. The seller does not have to prove the work was good. They must only that it matches what the brief asked for.

Cancellations & ghosting

Seller goes silent after accepting

Sellers need not communicate, but once the deadline is reached without a product fully delivered, the dispute will immediately resolve in favor of the buyer.

Buyer goes silent after the seller accepts

The seller may cancel or proceed as-is at their discretion. Any question asked and not answered allows the vagueness to settle at the seller's discretion.

Mutual cancellation mid-project

Default is a full refund to the buyer. The buyer may voluntarily release some or all of the funds to compensate the seller for partial work, but the platform won't compel them to.

Seller emergencies

Everyone understands that emergencies happen. It is expected that buyers will be lenient, but the platform does not demand leniency. A deadline is a deadline. Nonetheless, both buyer and sellers are free to leave the review they feel is honest regarding the other party.

Communication & evidence

On-platform only

The arbiter reads the listing and the on-platform conversation. Side agreements in Discord, Twitter, email, or anywhere else do not bind either party for the purposes of arbitration. If a promise matters, get it into the order chat.

Response time SLA

There isn't one. Silence is not itself a violation. What matters is whether the deadline is met. A seller who never replies but delivers on time has done nothing wrong; a seller who chats every day but delivers a week late is still late.

Delivery format & rights

File format mismatches

If the listing promised PNG/4K and JPG/1080p was delivered, the seller has until the deadline to deliver the correct format. After the deadline, a refund request by the buyer will be approved.

Source files

Source files (PSD, .blend, .unity, etc.) are not included unless the listing explicitly says so. Default deliverable is the final exported output.

Commercial vs personal use

The listing's usage terms govern. If the listing says "personal use only," a buyer who wants commercial rights needs to get that confirmed in writing, on-platform, before paying. A post-delivery claim of "I told them it was commercial" carries no weight without that written confirmation.

Buyer redistributes the work

Reselling or republishing in violation of a seller's listed terms is grounds for suspension. The platform can suspend an account; it does not act as a court for damages claims, which are a matter between the parties and their jurisdiction.

VR-specific situations

"VRChat ready" but upload fails

If a listing claimed "VRChat ready" and the avatar fails VRChat's upload validation, the seller must fix the issue or refund. Compliance is part of the deliverable.

Performance rating off-spec

Listing says "PC Good rank," avatar comes in at Medium: refund on request. Performance rank is a specification, not a suggestion.

SFW / NSFW and other ambiguities

Judged in context. For example, Michelangelo's David sometimes considered SFW, and sometimes considered NSFW, based on the context. Whether something is materially off-specification is up to the arbiter's sole discretion.

Platform TOS violations

Buyers who request content that violates a target platform's TOS (e.g. violent content on VRChat) bear the risk of that content being rejected by the target platform. "VRChat compliant" describes the technical packaging, not whether the content itself is allowed on that platform - that's the buyer's responsibility.

Tips & extras

Tips are not refundable

Once a tip is sent, it is the seller's. A subsequent dispute that refunds the order does not claw back the tip. Only tip when you are sure.

Account history & patterns

Serial disputers

Every dispute is judged on its own merits. We do not apply a "this user disputes a lot" thumb on the scale - but in a genuine 50/50 case (see below) we will lean toward the account with the better history.

Multiple accounts

Operating more than one account is not itself against the rules. However, the platform reserves the right to suspend any account at any time, for any reason, including coordinated patterns of abuse.

When something outside the order goes wrong

USDC didn't arrive

If a buyer believes they sent USDC but the deposit never confirmed on-chain, the order does not exist for arbitration purposes. The buyer must resolve the issue with their wallet or exchange. The platform cannot compensate for funds that did not reach the escrow.

BTC swap failures

SideShift conversions are between the buyer and SideShift. Where the failure is clearly visible on-chain, the platform will make best reasonable efforts to compensate, which may be partial. Without on-chain evidence, the platform cannot help.

Platform downtime

Any platform outage longer than 30 minutes pauses deadlines for the duration of the outage plus a reasonable recovery window. Sellers do not lose on-time status to our outages.

Late-filed disputes

There is no hard deadline on filing a dispute. The arbiter will still judge on the merits. But once funds have been released on-chain to a seller's wallet, the platform has no way to retrieve them.

How an arbitration runs

Target turnaround

Most cases close within three to five business days of filing. If a case needs longer, both parties are notified by day five with a revised ETA. In cases where the arbiter takes more than 14 days between decision-making comments, partial or full compensation is usually given to both parties.

The decision is in writing

Every arbitration ends with a written decision visible to both parties, including the full rationale. You will know which rule applied and why.

Conflicts of interest

Any arbiter with a prior commercial relationship with either party recuses and the case is reassigned.

Appeals

Decisions are final once signed on-chain. There is no appeal process.

When the rules don't cover it

New edge cases get an explicit ruling. The arbiter may award a partial outcome in unusual situations, document the reasoning, and publish a rule update so the next person in the same situation gets clarity up front.

How we resolve disputes.