Yikes! That really is she shoddy business standards. Their obvious lack of really understanding copywrite laws and how terms of service are supposed to be used is really quite astounding.
whoo boy I don't particularly like doing this but here's a PSA for all the lovelies here on Toyhou.se.
I'm going to suggest that others not purchase designs from @aquapyrofan (here, dA, probably some other places I don't know) or to do so with care, as they merely "rent" their designs to users without explicutyly telling them.
aquapyrofan has recently added to their TOS that they can revoke ownership, without paying you back.
and they then proceeded to do so with me. They revoked my ownership of this design, with no refund and no explanation until after I pressed for one.
and they then proceeded to claim that they are revoking my ownership because I didn't credit them and that I'm trading them.
1 - up until earlier this week, I credited both the art and the creatorship of the design to their Toyhou.se. Upon them requesting ownership rights a few days ago, I switched it over.
As they made no comment about the image, I left it as is because I was at work where finangling with image edits is hard.
And instead of just asking that I change the image to point to their TH instead of the original deviation.
2 - so according to them I had tagged the design as "uft" and "purge" before. which would maybe 've an issue except all my designs get purge/trading tags and then i proceed to remove them from eaxh design individually because im a M like that. while I'm entertaining offers on all my characters, I do not actively seek trades of my CS unless they're in my actual purge folder, which the design wasn't.
The other issue is their TOS (I'll get to the new stuff in a moment!). I had no idea they had one - my interaction on them on dA was through a journal in a group where they were giving NYP designs for their species concept and the actual design itself. neither of those places state link to a TOS, or even mention it's there. They never said "before you pay, make sure you agree to my terms". But not informing the consumer of the terms, they forefit the right to get upset about someone not abiding by it.
They also have issues with me having uploaded the design to TH without linking to their Toyhou.se account which I didn't know they have as they failed to inform me. The fact that they're upset about this is rather alarming because they could have simply informed me at any point in the past year, especially since I link to my TH in my signature on dA.
Their updated TOS adds a few choice tidbits such as "Any characters found to be violating copyright laws will be revoked. You will not be refunded, and you may be banned from the group in question."
which, you know me, I did the exact opposite as I sourced the art to their dA. legit the only changes I did make was put my watermark on, which actually helps protect their IP (one of the reasons they said they were taking the design away, even though they don't watermark their stuff so actually my page was more secure???)
They also failed to inform any design owners who don't follow them (like I do) of the change in TOS which would have been nice??
So instead of just, you know being a reasonable person and talking to me on either here or dA or the many other places I'm available at, they take the adopt and then proceed to be salty in my bulletin.
just shoddy business practices all around and I hope aquapyrofan learns how to deal with customers in a better manner before they actually start making the mobile games because this is right up there with United as shitty customer service.
Update 09/4/17! Aquapyrofan has posted a public apology and now understands exactly what the issue was with his actions. He also resolves to work on both his TOS and business practices to make it more plain and to work with customers in the future. So I guess this is nominally resolved.
"rent them" lmao what the shit-
I'm reading the hellscape of the bulletins and woooow- I can't believe people like this actually exist.
See this is like the only time I think a chargeback on paypal is legit as fuck. One of many reasons I don't do point adopts asdfg
Prismakry, yeah inorite? Part of the problem I think is that they just don't have a good grasp. Hell, I took three copyright and intellectual property classes in uni and half the time if someone asks me to explain it I always preface it by saying "it's hard and confusing af"
I don't care about getting my points back butt I definitely want other users to be aware so they can made informed decisions before purchase
Rumiiya, whoops probs should have reloaded.
Yeah like... I can't really see me "renting" a design like... I can borrow a friends character with permission, but if it changes hands, it's kinda mine?
Oh good god, they even mention using DMCA takedowns. If someone paid you for an adoptable--you own the rights. It's yours. They get credited for the design, and the singular (sometimes multiple) arts they created--but you now own that character. If they're going to be 'revoking' characters like this (which is 100% ridiculous, what are they going to gain from this??) then they should be giving refunds.
As someone just getting into adoptables--this is ridiculous. Absolutely vile practices, here.
Wow, so sorry that had happened to you??? I just can't get my head around the whole 'renting' thing, like tf??? Hopefully a lot of people will see this because it would suck if even more go through that as well. Plus as someone who has a parent who works at United, I 100% agree with that comparison after reading some of their responses on your bulletin :|
yasen, well I can guarantee that the vast majority of adopt creator aren't this... uh... unsavvy? Seriously though they want to quote law at me re: copyright and IP... I had to write no less than 75 pages on this bs and translate at least half that when I was in school. I gave them explicit examples of ashen the law was on the consumer's side and they couldn't even make a comeback
I just looked at the ToS too and like.... NOWHERE does it say renting. The entire thing is set up to look like a scam in honesty. You can't just take back a product you sold someone because you don't like how they use it. A waiter can't take back the soup because "you eat it with a small spoon and I don't like it" the person paid for it.
literally who would want to 'rent' a design like.... Fam I can go actually buy the rights to one from someone else who won't try to take back what they sold fam.....
chiliechii oh god yeah. Hope your parent didn't get strife over that. Everyone I've flown united, I've been fine. It was literally that one ticketer and whoever had the Twitter account. It certainly wouldn't have blown up if the Twitter person was half way competent
This is pretty insane. I read most of what happened, including their journals on dA and....I think they've gone overboard with this whole thing. Even I could never be that strict, and I'm a rookie with adopts. @_@ I'm so sorry this happened to you, it's pretty crazy. :v
Also....renting. I jsut. What?
I'm just so fucking baffled lmao
Like I always skim TOS when I buy but??? They're basically running it as though they're just letting other people draw their design this is fuckin madness. The design is def yours fam keep it l m a o.
They had multiple journals on dA PrinceSawyer? I really only saw the TOS one and like the latest one from a few days ago
But yeah
I can rent a digital book but I'm told explicitly that I'm renting and not purchasing. That didn't happen here.
Rumiiya i still have the orig art and they fail to watermark it but still
WTF do I do with it??? It doesn't fit with any of my stories and I can hardly use it with my Pokemon gijinka because I have an actually cute shedinja already