Sovereign Studios...? If you haven't placed an order save yourself the trouble!

[mosaicsquare]

what eats at me the most is all these posts popping up stating that unfinished product are being shipped off to people... kind of far from amazing work.

so I guess the new Shawn delivers half ass products and still suck donkey at customer service. thats two evils... means he's gotta off himself from selling things.

Is Soverieng Studios/Shawn from Iowa??

wouldn't know til I get my tech noir jacket since his "represenative" just manage to get out of the chair and ship out my package today.

 

[MaulFan]

The number 1 trend I notice where these transactions go wrong is communication. I know people don't like waiting longer than expected when people get in over their heads, but the number one reason I see these things go awry is over communication.

As long as there is communication, and it's honest, I think things can be smooth, even if backed up, but when you say you'll do something and then don't or say something's at such and such point and then it goes long periods without being addressed, it leaves people in the dark.

Communication is exactly the cause of the post that started this thread, there was miscommunications and loss of communications. Had that all been maintained this thread wouldn't have been started.

People might be impatient waiting, but they're angry when they thing they've lost their money, the key is to make sure they realize you haven't run off with it and be truthful in what you tell them. Don't try to be a hero and project unrealistic dates or whatever, just be honest and upfront and things can go fine.

 

[mosaicsquare]

this is true maul,

i even tried talking to foeverannoyed over the emails explaining to him that if his communication was a steady flow with me his sudden excuse would be a bit more forgiving.

he wouldn't have any of it though.... just a multiple responses of gay bashing....

 

[TheObsoleteMan]

The number 1 trend I notice where these transactions go wrong is communication. I know people don't like waiting longer than expected when people get in over their heads, but the number one reason I see these things go awry is over communication.

That's it exactly. It's not the wait that makes people think they're getting ripped off, it's the silence.

 

[PapitoMX]

what eats at me the most is all these posts popping up stating that unfinished product are being shipped off to people... kind of far from amazing work.

so I guess the new Shawn delivers half ass products and still suck donkey at customer service. thats two evils... means he's gotta off himself from selling things.


wouldn't know til I get my tech noir jacket since his "represenative" just manage to get out of the chair and ship out my package today.

I just checked his Status and it shows he is from Iowa, according to foreverannoyed info's on ebay, it shows that this product location based/coming from Trevose, PA which is about 45 mins away from me, but the address on the actual package I got today shows it came from Iowa, Shawn's address. Maybe you theory of foreverannoyed being an alias of Shawn might not be out of the question. Very Interesting.

 

[MaulFan]

In this case, it's not even silence, but miscommunicating.

Shawn started a whole new thread to say how he'd been backed up and was getting this assistant and all, he said email me and I'll let you know where you fall in the workload. I don't think anyone got a response, I know I didn't, I know others didn't, not sure if anyone did and didn't share.

Point being, he set himself up with that to look bad in people's eyes, he created more expectation and failed to deliver. He looks good for the initial post and then immediately looks bad for not delivering on what was promised in it. Had he just said, I'm behind, blah blah blah, it might have been ok, but offering to do stuff for people and not just compounded the problem.

That's what I'm getting at, stay in touch, be honest in what you say, and don't commit to anything you can't come through on, a break down in any or all of those things creates these messes.

 

[MaulFan]

I just checked his Status and it shows he is from Iowa, according to foreverannoyed info's on ebay, it shows that this product location based/coming from Trevose, PA which is about 45 mins away from me, but the address on the actual package I got today shows it came from Iowa, Shawn's address. Maybe you theory of foreverannoyed being an alias of Shawn might not be out of the question. Very Interesting.

Shawn addressed this here, I can't remember where exactly, because people were asking who forever was and how they were selling his stuff but in a different state. His assistant is elsewhere handling the eBay stuff and scheduling for him while he makes and ships stuff. I believe Shawn said all the goods come from him, he's just got this other guy handing the more office work type things.

 

[mosaicsquare]

I honestly think they are the same person he started off with that alias so that no one wuld suspect its actually him selling things on ebay rather than filling out orders but when he began to list product up in multiples he had have come up with something so now he's selling stuff off ebay raise money for shipping.

it's all a cycle of bull???? to me.

 

[MaulFan]

With regard to eBay user "foreverannoyed" yes, that's me. My agent, to be specific. He's not some guy using my photos to rip people off. He's handling all of my current sales and orders, the stuff ships either from him or directly from me.

From the opening post of this thread.

https://www.sideshowcollectors.com/forums/showthread.php?t=64286

 

[Station]

In my short time on these forums I have to say, i've seen things that work and things that don't. I've tried to wrap my brain around the Howes thing, just to get a little back story, but its a bit complicated and all i know is don't pre-order custom stuff from Howes. That being said, I'm sure you are all pretty stand up people, but I would never in a million years give any of you money for something that you haven't already made. I see a lot of threads popping up where its like a mass comission and people commit to buying something that hasn't even begun to be produced yet. I have gotten stuff from rainman though and i like his system better. Seems he watches the board for what there is an interest in, gets it ready and takes orders once its done. I think maybe that should be the standard stystem for customs, people suggest characters they want, the sculptor decides what he wants to do, makes it, then sells it. Just my two cents.

 

[mosaicsquare]

rainman makes a prototype and then he takes preorders for a limited run. the keyword is limited because having to do the same thing over and over will burn out an artist

 

[MaulFan]

The reason that some people do the whole orders before production process is because they're not financially set up to make it before anyone's ordered, they need the money from the orders to support the production. Those with the means to do elaborate prototypes before taking any orders do so, but many are just doing what they can. Some of them start just trying to help out people here and don't walk into the situation trying to run it like a business and it works on a small scale, but then things escalate and a business approach and saavy is needed to handle things and where it's not their forte, that's why things go awry.

 

[siquisiri]

rainman makes a prototype and then he takes preorders for a limited run. the keyword is limited because having to do the same thing over and over will burn out an artist

I think thats the best tact. A limited run, and thats it. Its REALLY a shame because Sovereign's work is one of the best I have seen.

 

[MaulFan]

There's no need to be limited, just don't bite off more than you can chew at a time, make 50, make a hundred, but only take money and commit to making a few at a time and take no new work until those are completed, and if you need a break to do something different for your creativity, then say I'm not taking new orders for project X currently, I need to take some time away to do project Y, I will be returning to X eventually and when I do I'll let you know when I'm taking orders again.

The flaw isn't how many are done, it's how many are committed to, when, and how the production process is structured.

 

[Ryu]

I asked about tracking for my item on eBay (some sleeves) and I got a message saying it says on the auction page it takes 10 days to ship with a tracking number (which I still don't have despite being around a month ago) and that he usually doesn't respond to questions stated in the auction page despite the fact it wasn't even stated on there at all.

 

[Wanderer]

It's certainly ironic that Shawn Sovereign Studios set a thread up a while back admitting he sucked at the business side of things and therefore had employed a 'business partner' to handle all of that for him. Shoot forward a few months and he's in an even worse spot but now with an added bonus of this'business partner' who sends stupid homophobic emails if you ask where your overdue purchase is...NICE.
The customisers rightly or wrongly saw how lucrative this business could be and it seems the $$$$'s clouded their judgement making them overstretch beyond their means. Now here we are with a few of them well over their head. Greed is a dangerous game. Xeno, Rainman and a select band of others however have shown how it can and should be done. I hope lessons have been learnt

 

[MaulFan]

Your comment had absolutely nothing to do with the situation and was unnecessary.

The topic at hand is Shawn's owed work, jabs at other members is unnecessary and only going to explode this situation worse than it is, and I will continue my powers to keep this situation as calm as possible because as long as the commentary is focused and productive, it can be.

 

[Wanderer]

This is true but with great (mod) power comes great responsibility! At the end of the day like I say I respect you because you are a voice of reason on these boards. That's sometimes hard to come by with longstanding mbrs on here vs 'newbs'.

 

[MaulFan]

And it is the greater responsibility I'm looking out for. Right now this thread is a knocked over can of gasoline pouring out onto the floor, I'm using my position to keep any sparks from setting it off. At the moment, this thread is unhappy, but civil, and I want it to stay that way, certain commentary, which is unnecassary, will open this thread up to chaos it doesn't need.

In other threads, I wouldn't necessarily come down on it, it's status quo and usually passing comments, but where I've seen threads like this more times than I wish, and I've seen where they end up and how they get there, since I've seen this one from the start, I'm in a position to keep it from ever getting to that point and I'm trying hard to keep it that way, and I ask that everyone in here help me and keep the conversation focused and on the topic at hand and leave the ball breaking and things like that out of here.

 

[morethanatimelord]

To be honest my opinion of Shawn went down when he sent me my Mola ram that simply wasnt the quality i was hoping for