TERMS OF SERVICE

TOS:

Tahoe Banshees is a performance, and a costume and prop fabrication company that also operates under the business name CFStudios, with CFStudios acting as the parent company.

All content produced or published by CFStudios or Tahoe Banshees was produced by the same company, and as such may be posted or distributed by either or both business names at their discretion.

Commission slots are not guaranteed until CFStudios has received minimum required payment and in most cases, minimum required payment plus valid photo ID, and a signed copy of the commission contract from a potential client. Performing these tasks as part of Commission Setup, participating in a CFStudios auction, or purchasing an item made by CFStudios means that the client in question has read and agreed to CFStudios' Terms of Service and familiarized themselves with CFStudios' FAQ and commission process.

All prices are in USD and are non-negotiable. Our preferred payment method is through Square invoices. We are currently unable to accept Paypal until further notice; it is not necessary to make a Square account to send us payments, however, and we can send invoices directly to your correspondence email for payments.

We have the right to make changes to our prices at any time and without warning, but sales and commissions will always adhere to the prices listed when the commission or sale was contractually agreed to; prices will not raise or lower in the middle of a commission or sale.

Most of our sales require a contract. All commissions totaling over $300USD will require both parties to fill out a contract with their legal names and applicable monikers, detailing the specific agreements of the commission. The contract's sole purpose is to protect both the artists and purchaser, and outline terms such as project details, design rights, estimated turnaround times, etc. In the event that the terms of the contract are broken, the commission will be considered void and dealt with at CFStudios' discretion. We require a valid photo ID at the beginning of the contract process to verify the commissioner's age and identity. These contracts are legally binding once signed.

After a contract has been filled out, we do not normally accept edits to the reference art due to the possibility of having to order more materials or changing the complexity of the costume. If a customer wants to request an edit and that request is approved, it may involve an additional fee or an altered estimated completion date. Exceptions include instances where we have appropriate materials in stock, but these are few and far between.

Keep in mind that we have the right to refuse any commission. We will not sell to those with negative approval ratings. We will not do business with those under the age of eighteen, no exceptions. CFStudios does not take "refurbish" commissions or work on costume pieces made by others.

CFStudios likewise retains the right to cancel a commission if the client is extremely rude or unreasonable, harasses us or others, is unresponsive to the point of us being unable to work or collect payments, or shows wildly inappropriate / extreme / illegal behavior that we would not want to be associated with.

CFStudios has the right to cease contact with, refuse service to, or bar from future business anyone they feel may be harmful to ourselves, our business, or others, who has violated our Terms of Service, or generally displays rude, aggressive, harrassing, and / or inappropriate or explicit behavior. (This is not meant to frighten people, but rather, to protect ourselves; there is a huge difference between posting adult art on your own account vs trying to send us X-rated images during a business transaction.)

Please only place bids or apply for a slot if you fully intend, and are prepared, to work with CFStudios and pay the amount requested. Repeated offenses of applying for a slot and backing out will result in being banned indefinitely from all CFStudios slot applications. Applying for a slot and not answering if accepted will result in being permanently banned from all future CFStudios slot applications.

Placing a bid and asking for it to be removed, stating you are unable to pay after winning, or not responding when you have won an auction will result in you being permanently banned from all future CFStudios auctions.

Contacting us and explaining your situation (or at least explaining that you are unable to pursue what you have ordered, as we aren't necessarily entitled to know) will almost always result in at least some leniency. We appreciate communication and understand that life happens, but if we don't hear anything we have no choice but to assume that the client in question is too unreliable to pursue future orders with.

The customer always pays shipping, no exceptions. Please be prepared for shipping costs when approaching us for a commission. Shipping varies by distance and the final weight of the package and as such is hard to estimate; we usually are only able to give a hard quote once the item is completed and boxed up.

International orders usually have an additional customs fee, so please be aware of that if you are ordering from outside the US. We will not lie on customs forms and items will always be marked as merchandise with their actual value, with the buyer being the party responsible for the fee. Orders will not be shipped out until they have been paid for in full. We are not responsible for anything that happens to an item during the shipping process, so if you're worried about damages, be sure to ask for an insured package. Please be aware that shipping insurance usually raises the cost. We ship from 95661, USA.

Likewise, estimated completion dates are not applicable to shipping dates! Please see our completion dates section for more information.

We do not accept trades and will not provide free products for art, promotions, "exposure," or other costume pieces. We would be happy to work for you but are unable to do so in return for payment other than US currency; we value the art of others very highly, but need the income. Messages regarding trades will be ignored.

CFStudios will not provide materials to customers; if you want to purchase extra materials that were used on your costume, we will be able to provide you with information regarding where or how to purchase it in most cases. CFStudios is not required to give up this information and will do so at their discretion.

Likewise, if a commission is dropped or canceled, CFStudios retains ownership over any materials purchased and is not required to send any to the commissioner.

CFStudios reserves the rights to images of our completed projects, and the rights to post images of any work we do for you on our website or social media accounts, since it provides exposure for ourselves as artists and helps to showcase and document our work. CFStudios retains the right to live stream during work hours, and projects may show up in video streams as well. We also reserve the right to model commissioned pieces on ourselves or models for photo and promotional reasons before the pieces are sent out; they will not be heavily worn or used, just briefly modeled. This is non-negotiable and will be done at our discretion; we may not always choose to post, stream, or model something, but we will reserve the right to.

In the event that the item we worked on comes with a Non-Disclosure Agreement, we will only agree to the commission if we are granted access to photos of the completed project and are allowed to post those.
If the item is a present or intended to be a surprise we will sometimes agree to wait to post it, but this is not a guarantee and depends on the time requested and nature of the commission. Please discuss scenarios like this with us first.

Likewise, when we share work in progress photos with a client to approve, they are intended for the client's or associated parties' and Patreon subscribers' eyes only. WIP photos are not to be posted or shared publicly and CFStudios retains rights to all WIP photos.

Estimated Completion Dates:

CFStudios no longer gives or accepts due dates for non-corporate orders, and instead gives estimated completion dates as to when your costume will be worked on (and subsequently should be finished by.) CFStudios will not compensate a customer or perform a rush order if a desired due date is announced and missed after the terms of an order have been set.

While we cannot guarantee due dates, we still want to give customers some peace of mind that their orders will be finished in a timely manner. Any order that is still being worked on 6 or more months past your estimated completion date will be eligible for a small partial refund or future order discount coupon at CFStudios' discretion. This does not apply to orders whose delays were caused by something out of CFStudios' hands, including but not limited to slow customer response times, backordered materials, items lost in the mail, multiple requested edits / alterations, personal, local, or family emergencies, natural disasters, etc.

Please check your email regularly! We are a fast-paced, deadline-oriented working environment, and having to wait multiple days to a week for approval on a piece can seriously disrupt our workflow, in addition to putting deadlines in danger. If we contact you asking for approval about a piece and do not get a response for three full days, we will send a reminder email, which also acts to ensure the first email wasn't lost or eaten.

Late response / payment policy:

If your slot has been accepted but not yet secured:

If a slot is still in Commission Setup phase, meaning CFStudios has notified a potential client of their slot acceptance, the client has 24 hours from receiving that email to claim their slot with a response email, provide valid photo ID, and submit slot payment. CFStudios will then create and send a contract for the client to sign, and will consider a slot to be in Commission Setup phase until all of these steps are complete.

CFStudios asks that a potential client respond to Commission Setup emails within 24 hours; response delays may result in slot termination if the commissioner fails to respond within 24 hours and will result in slot termination if the commissioner fails to respond within 3 days or longer. This ensures only serious clients apply for slots and allows CFStudios to offer slots to other interested parties should the initial accepted client not respond.

If a slot has been secured but not yet started, CFStudios asks that a client be able to respond to emails at least a few times a week, and requires they be able to respond to emails at least once a week.

You will be informed when you sign your contract of when we need measurements and payment by. We will remind you again when these are due in one month. If we are attempting to contact you on or after the due date about something that is required in order for your commission to move forward (if we need measurements, your final payment, etc) and you do not respond in any way within two weeks of that time, your slot will be dropped and 70% of your commission cost will be refunded via Square. The retained 30% will be considered a cancellation fee and our business at that point will be concluded.

If you need more time and inform us of this, we will do our best to work around it, although it may not be possible and your slot could still be dropped. Please note that we can only make this exception if your circumstance has been communicated to us; we are not entitled to know why, but we do need to be informed if you need more time or we will have no choice but to assume your slot has been abandoned and offer it to someone else.

If your batch has already been started:

CFStudios may require fast response times during certain phases of a commission batch, most notably the bodysuit sculpting phase. Once a client has been informed that CFStudios is about to begin a phase requiring fast response times, CFStudios will arrange for the start and end time of this phase with the client to ensure the client will be available and forewarned; once the time sensitive phase has begun, the client will be required to answer emails at least twice a day to approve sculpting and markings, and encouraged to answer as frequently as they are able. If a client fails to respond within their agreed upon timeframe requirements during a time sensitive phase, any pieces in question may be automatically marked as approved by CFStudios. This will be done at CFStudios' discretion, and automatically approved pieces may not be possible to alter later without an additional fee. The client will not be held to these response time requirements at any other phase outside of The Stampede.

If the commission in question is not in a time sensitive phase, CFStudios asks that clients check their email at least three times a week as a courtesy, although we recommend checking at least once a day. We regularly reach out to current customers to ensure our work meets their standards, and require approval from clients to move forward. Multiple instances of response delays or delays totaling two weeks or more may result in your estimated completion date being void.

After 30 days of no response despite multiple attempts at contact, your piece will be considered abandoned and surrendered to CFStudios. No refund will be issued after work has begun, and pieces may be altered and resold.

Please let us know if you encounter an issue that you suspect will impact your response availability. We are very lenient and forgiving if you keep us in the loop, and are willing to make exceptions for good clients who just ran into some trouble. All we ask for is good communication! We will do our best to work around anything we've been informed of.

Design rights:

If a project's design has been supplied by CFStudios (whether created by CFStudios or drawn for CFStudios by another artist), design rights will return to CFStudios if the commission is cancelled or if the contract is voided in any way. For pre-designed or artistic liberty slots, that means if you want to cancel your commission, you will also have to give up the design that came with that slot. CFStudios will then finish the costume without it being attached to the commissioner, and will auction or sell it as they see fit.

If a project's design is supplied by the commissioner, CFStudios will not have design rights at any point before, during, or after the commission process, even if a project is cancelled, excepting CFStudios' right to post images of the completed project if applicable. By approaching CFStudios for a quote or commission of a character whose design is supplied by the commissioner, the commissioner is stating that they hold the IP rights to the character design depicted and assume responsibility should said design violate an existing copyright or IP rights. CFStudios will not be held responsible for any potential copyright or IP violations resulting from a commissioner's design.

CFStudios is unable to accept commissions of licensed IP without the explicit permission of the license holder or unless being commissioned by the license holder or person(s) acting as an extension of the license holder. If a private client wishes to commission CFStudios to recreate licensed IP that said client does not own the rights to, CFStudios will ask said client to sign an idemnity clause stating that the client will pursue and acquire the necessary permissions to commission said IP and accept full legal responsibility should these permissions be contested, and that CFStudios will not be held responsible in the event that said permissions were not adequately pursued.

We require a payment in full at the time of commission.

Said payment may be collected via Square Invoice, check, or bank transfer; we do not accept payment through Paypal.

Payment plans: We do not accept payment plans or installments; all projects must be paid up front and in full. If a prospective client needs to pay in installments, we would recommend using a credit card, but are unable to manage payment plans ourselves.

Piece approval and edits:

We will send progress pictures every step of the way to ensure you're happy with the progression of your order. We want you to be happy with your item and if something is done inaccurately or not up to your standards we are more than happy to fix it! We just ask that you please understand the difference between mistakes and edits, and to keep reasonable costume expectations while pieces are being made and / or after they have been received.

Mistakes: CFStudios creates a piece that is beneath their normal quality standards, does not perform the way it is intended to, somehow goes against what was negotiated in the contract, or is what CFStudios deems to be too inaccurate to the reference art; this does NOT include stylistic differences, exact reference art matches, exact color matches, or inclusion of elements CFStudios does not offer, but obvious inaccuracies / oversight of elements or standards CFStudios expects themselves to be able to provide. CFStudios will be held responsible for correcting any mistakes made (or repairing mistakes found within the warranty period) and will compensate the client if a project is late due to mistakes or if said mistakes cannot be fixed; this compensation is up to CFStudios' discretion based on what they feel is fairest to both parties.

Edits: The customer wants CFStudios to alter something to fit their specific taste, changes their mind or reference art and wants something to look differently, or changes their mind or reference art and wants a piece rebuilt. CFStudios will do their best to perform any edits the customer requests, but the customer must understand that not all edits may be free, feasible, or even possible. Likewise, if a piece has already been approved or completed and an edit is later requested, CFStudios may not be able to perform said edit. Some edits may not be performed without an additional fee, and CFStudios will NOT be held responsible if a project is late due to requested edits, and may refuse some edits as explained below.

We are more than happy to perform edits under most circumstances and encourage clients to be honest with their satisfaction, but please understand that edits which are possible will sometimes include an editing fee that the customer will be responsible for paying; we are artists who expect to be allowed to work in our own style with a reliable piece of reference art and will not alter our mascot style for a specific order or work in another artist's mascot style. Repeated or more involved / extreme edit requests may result in a refusal on CFStudios' behalf to perform said edits or a pushed back or even voided estimated completion date that CFStudios will not be responsible for compensating for.

Costume expectations:

Throughout the commissioning or buying process we ask that clients maintain reasonable expectations for their costumes; meaning that the CFStudios team will always do their best to make excellent costumes that their clients are happy with, but cannot be expected to match references, colors, imagination, or held expectations with flawless precision. CFStudios' costumes are hand-made art pieces that are translated from a 2D reference into our own style and further limited by a 3D medium, available materials, and personal work experience; some degree of small imperfections or compromises on the client's part should be expected.

CFStudios will not alter a costume or compensate a client if requested edits fall within the range of what CFStudios does not incorporate into our costumes; namely changing CFStudios' personal style which is defined at CFStudios' discretion and includes but is not limited to eye shapes, body shapes, head shapes, painting techniques, material choices, and finishing touches; use of "NSFW" / sexual themes, details, alterations, or depictions on mascot costumes or fursuits; use or installation of electronics in mascots or fursuits; use or installation of resin underskulls, moving jaws, or other moving parts in mascots or fursuits; use, installation of, or depiction of wigs or complex hairstyles in mascots or fursuits; ability to perfectly match reference art and / or colors and certain other materials, textures, gradients, accessories, etc depicted therein; or other details CFStudios is unable to or does not normally replicate in a finished costume, as defined by CFStudios. If CFStudios notices a design element they do not offer in a prospective commission it will usually be mentioned to the client; however it is not CFStudios' obligation to point out, discuss, or include the addition of these elements.

CFStudios is not responsible for accepting all edit requests and will only accept them at their discretion; CFStudios does not normally accept these requests after a piece is finished, or from second-hand buyers. Likewise, CFStudios is not required to explain or teach others how to perform said edits if CFStudios refuses them.

Refund and Cancellation policy:

If you need to cancel your order and your batch date has not yet started, you may reach out to us with a cancellation request. If a cancellation request is received before your batch start date, you will receive a refund of 70% of the total commission cost, and the remaining 30% will be kept as a cancellation fee. The cancellation fee covers materials ordered, time spent negotiating contracts, taxes paid, and money transfer fees paid by CFStudios, and is non-negotiable.

Due to the nature of our work, all projects are made to order, so no client-requested cancellations will be accepted nor refunds issued once work has begun. This is non-negotiable. If your order has already been started, we definitely recommend sticking with an order until it is completed! We will not begin work until we have been paid in full, so at that point you will have paid everything you owe. The least you can do is get your costume out of the deal! Once an order is started or completed it cannot be refunded, but we will do our best to work with the client in the event that there's an aspect of the costume that the client is dissatisfied with.

Our finished products are not eligible for refunds, returns, or exchanges, and commission slots may not be sold or transferred.

If an order is cancelled by CFStudios according to our TOS or due to a client's breach of conduct of our TOS, said client will be permanently barred from all future CFStudios auctions and slot applications.

If the order is cancelled on CFStudios' behalf for reasons that have nothing to do with the client, the client will not be barred from future business in any way and will be compensated accordingly with a 100% refund unless otherwise negotiated between the client and CFStudios.

Partial refunds will be issued if: experimental aspects of a costume don't work out as expected, if an aspect of a costume fails to meet our quality standards and is for some reason not fixable, or if something is blatantly incorrect (not matching reference art, etc) and is clearly our oversight and not a stylistic difference, etc. If something needs repaired and falls under warranty it will be repaired according to our warranty policy and is not necessarily subject to a partial refund. We will also initiate a partial refund if we are still working on your project for 6+ months past your estimated completion date, as a measure of reassurance for the client.

Partial refunds will not be issued for reasons that conflict with our TOS (for example, asking for a due date that was not previously agreed to and demanding a refund because it was not met, or demanding a refund because an item was late due to a natural disaster or emergency.) They will likewise not be issued for conflicting reasons (for example, if a piece is approved, and then later demanded a refund over.)

Refunds may not be immediate; while we may be able to give an estimate on when to expect one, we will not be held to a due date for a refund, due to the nature of our business being commission based and largely unpredictable. Most refund instances would depend on how quickly or successfully a costume piece was auctioned off.

Forced refunds or chargebacks from a customer that do not fit any terms discussed between a client and CFStudios will result in a thorough investigation and potential legal action; chargebacks of a substantial amount can and will be contested in small claims court.

Our items have a 60-day limited warranty from the day you receive them. The warranty covers loose / ripped stitches, popped seams, things falling off / coming unglued, pieces that do not fit or work as they should, and generally anything wrong with the item upon immediately receiving it that was not caused by mishandling during shipping (that would be covered by shipping insurance,) Our costumes and props are meant to be handled with care as special occasion items that are used and worn gently, and as such, the warranty does not cover damages sustained due to roughhousing, mishandling, or inappropriate use of or conduct in one of our items. Because of this, warranty claims may be rejected if we believe the damage is due to misconduct in or misuse of items. Warranties are automatically void if a costume piece has been smoked in, kept in a smoking home, or used in an explicit adult scenario. Warranties may also be rejected if an item cannot be repaired, in which case CFStudios will work with the client to find a different method of compensation.

If CFStudios accepts your warranty claim, we will pay for shipping up to $100 in total. Repairs will be made as soon as possible but will not factor into any applicable estimated completion dates. Repair completion estimates will be assessed depending on our workload at the time; repairs involving parts or materials that are out of stock will always take longer since we need to wait for items to come in.

CFStudios is not responsible for damages that are caused after receiving a costume or piece and / or after significant time has passed; this is including but not limited to scuffs and scratches, fading or balding fabric or paint, wrinkling or creasing, dirt or stains, heat or sun damage, etc. If you are unsure of how something will affect your piece or whether we are able to or responsible for fixing it, please ask us.

This warranty cannot be used to request changes to be made to the item; CFStudios is under no obligation to edit or alter items after they have been approved by the customer, with the exception of items that fit too poorly for CFStudios' standards.

Likewise this warranty cannot be used as a cleaning service; all items being sent back for repairs under warranty must be cleaned. Soiled items will be sent back at the customer's expense and not worked on until they have been cleaned.

We will almost always do repairs on your item if you ordered it directly from us, with exceptions being instances where dyelots or parts are no longer available, if an item has been modified, worked on, or altered by someone other than CFStudios, or items / damages that cannot be repaired and would be better served with purchasing a new item. Repairs are different from alterations or edits; repairs indicate that something has broken or failed in some way, whereas edits or alterations are requests that something aesthetic be changed.

To be send in for repairs, items must be clean; soiled items will be sent back at the customer’s expense and not worked on until they have been cleaned. Repairs will be made as soon as possible but wait times vary based on workload and inventory. Customer pays shipping. Repair fees start at $25 + $20/hour. We will not perform repairs on costumes or items that were made or altered by someone other than CFStudios, items that have been smoked in or kept in a smoking home, or items that have been modified for, worn for, and / or used in explicit adult scenarios.

Alterations are accepted less frequently and may not be accepted or even possible; they are handled on a case-by-case scenario. CFStudios is not responsible for accepting all repair or alteration requests and will only accept them at their discretion; CFStudios does not normally accept these requests from second-hand buyers. Likewise, CFStudios is not required to explain or teach others how to perform said repairs or alterations. CFStudios will not accept "refurbish" or alteration requests for items made by someone other than CFStudios, or on items made by CFStudios that have been modified or altered by someone else.

CFStudios is not responsible for any injuries, health risks, or the behavior of anyone wearing or using our costume pieces or items. None of our products are harmful to wear or use, but please exercise caution. Fullbody costumes, and costume pieces that cover the head and face are hot and taxing to perform in, and a prop weapon will likely still hurt if you're hit with it. Someone wearing or using one of our products does not necessarily represent us or our beliefs. Please use common sense!

Our costumes are not designed or intended for explicit adult scenarios. We have a background in and still do work in children's entertainment, so while this is not a judgement on other artists or people in general and while we understand the separation between art and physical costumes, our costumes specifically are intended to be family friendly and appropriate for all ages! We are unable to perform alterations, repairs, or otherwise work on items that may have been used in these scenarios, or design them with these features or intentions in the first place; if you intend for your costume to be used in explicit / adult ("NSFW") scenarios we are not a good artist fit for you. CFStudios may cease contact with those using CFStudios items for adult purposes at CFStudios' discretion.

We ask that you please contact us for written approval if you wish to alter one of our costume pieces due to instances of false claims and theft in the past. This does not apply to repairs, which we have no problems with; only things that alter the appearance or function of a piece in some way. Much in the way 2D artists may ask that their finished pieces not be edited or altered by clients, CFStudios prefers their pieces to be left alone, but understands that the combination of time passing or pieces changing hands, plus the nature of costume pieces being tangible, may lead others to want to edit these pieces, and CFStudios will not hold it against them if done respectfully.

All instances of theft will be pursued to the fullest extent of the law. You may not take credit for or steal any work done by CFStudios, even if it was made for you. This includes but is not limited to: claiming our work is yours (even if you altered it,) entering a contest as if you made our costume pieces, disassembling our work and using pieces of it to help build something else, and copying our costume pieces in patterning, construction, engineering, or design. We do not allow patterns to be made of our pieces or padding, and to do so would count as an instance of theft, even if you assembled a new piece yourself from a pattern of our work. We understand people being inspired by our work or even our writing / terms of service / descriptions, but do not permit copies of any of the above (meaning you cannot copy + paste our text or alter it for your own needs or profit.) If we believe you are engaging in theft of our work after purchasing, acquiring, or commissioning a piece from us, we will take the issue very seriously and have the right to investigate accordingly. Legal action may be taken.