Advice on taking commissions

[Massis]

Guess I'm in luck for now. Most if not all of my commissions originate from the dutch/flemish smoker forums, so I know pretty much all of the people ordering from me are legit. I've even met many of them on one of our meetings.

Furthermore most of them are easygoing customers, with requests like "I want a devil anse, bark finished and a tiger acrylic stem, no filter. If you see it possible, make it a reverse calabash, if not that's fine."

Heck, I was making a pipe the other night and completely forgot the guy wanted a 9mm filter pipe until I fitted the stem. So I told him the wait will be a bit longer as I'm starting over, and he tells me not to bother, he'll take the non filter no questions asked! (I still told him I'd make a new one with filter and give him the option to chose then, as I'm confident I can sell the non-filter one to someone else)

It really is a blessing being the admin of your own customer pool

Then again, I'm charging less then 100$ a piece for most of them, which probably means they're not expecting a 500$+ pipe either

[mightysmurf8201]

Wow, I just read that purchase agreement you posted Emmanuel- honestly if I received something like that from a pipemaker I would run away screaming and never, ever buy a pipe from them
That's just terrible, you're putting a lawyer/insurance salesman tone to a direct pipe sale, which is actually neither professional (too complex for such a simple purchase), nor friendly.
Sorry, that's just my opinion as a theoretical pipe buyer, feel free to disagree.

I can't deny that it does sound intimidating, but to tell you the truth, It's not actually that often that I have to pull this out. When I mention that I require a $50 deposit and that they might have to wait a few months due to my being gone for work all the time, most people politely pass on a commission anyways. Doesn't hurt my feelings none either. I've just been burned too many times and this is a way of protecting myself. Being that this is a hobby for me that has to pay for itself, I can't afford to have pipes sitting for months waiting for payment.
I appreciate your input, and in the interest of learning from someone more experienced than I, do you have any suggestions on improving the wording in order to sound less offensive? I'm all ears if anyone has any suggestions.