Even for those of us with experience, there's always a possibility of being scammed. Despite having done hundreds of online transactions in this year alone, I was nearly scammed out of a Wii that I purchased. Fortunately, after taking some of the steps outlined below, I managed to get the money back with little hassle.

Purchasing a commission is a very different process from purchasing a product straight up. The two most common forms of paying for a commission are either fully up front, or half up front and half upon completion. Here's some things to keep in mind when getting ready to make the purchase.

- Make sure to get a final quote from them in writing and keep the email. Certain people will quote you a price, then raise the price afterward, quoting additional fabric costs or some other problem. I wouldn't recommend dealing with someone unwilling to give a final quote at the start of the process.

- Make sure to receive an estimated time of completion. It's reasonable to know when to expect your costume.

- Do not pay with cash or western union, these are both very unsafe. Money orders are slightly more safe, though most likely, you'll be paying with Paypal. If paying by Paypal, it is in your best interest to pay via credit card, not bank balance, debit card, or anything along those lines. The reasons why will be explained a bit later.

There are a surprising amount of puppy scam images when I google image search.

- If you feel at all unsure about the purchase - whether they're acting shady or not - it's probably best to back out. A great way to check up on someone is to search the seller's username(s) on google, as well as their email address and AIM name. My earlier mention of the Wii relates to this. The seller wasn't responding and hadn't mailed the system. A quick google search found his home address, his cell phone number, his workplace, as well as said seller attempting to proposition a large and in charge camwhore named "Chyna" for sexual relations.

Since most people pay with Paypal, it's worth looking into that a little further. When using Paypal, you can pay in one of three ways. Paying straight from Paypal balance, paying via bank transfer, or paying via credit card/debit card. Paypal is an AWFUL company and has screwed over thousands upon thousands of people; their protection policies are near worthless for both buyers and sellers. For someone is looking to scam you, Paypal is a very effective tool. All a seller has to do is remove money from their Paypal account and tell their bank to ignore further Paypal transactions and you're immediately out of luck.

However, there's a way around this if you pay Paypal via credit card. NOTE: this does NOT apply to debit cards. Debit cards offer you a little convenience, but often do not have the safety features of a credit card.

If you've used a credit card, however, any reliable company will allow you to charge back a transaction up to 6 months after the fact, sometimes even later than that. You call the credit card company and say you wish to file a chargeback. They'll walk you through the entire process. Paypal does not encourage this because it costs them money, in fact, they'll often close your account. It's worth the slight hassle of opening another account if it gets you your money back. Recently, this tip allowed one of our forum members to receive half of her money back from a transaction with the well known scammer, Kalajessta/MegumiHime.

One of the best ways to prevent people from being scammed is to make sure that known scammers are called out. Ignorance of a scammer's identity and past dealings only helps them scam people in the future. For example, Kalajessta keeps changing her online username, which makes it more difficult to check her real identity. If you can't find more info on a scammer, try posting it over on our forums. Here at Cosfu, we're usually glad to help out with some e-detective work. Many forums have commissioner review threads, including our own. Posting in these is also very useful.

When you're dealing with hundreds, potentially thousands of dollars, it's a serious business transaction. It should be treated seriously by both the commissioner and the customer, not like it's some amateur funville where people dick around with your dollars. If you ever do get scammed out of money, don't take it lying down. File charges or start up the small claims court process. Make people aware that if they screw you over, they're going to get screwed. With that in mind, keep your common sense about you, take the above safety tips, you'll do just fine.