Custom requests in chat: price, limits, payment up front
4 min read · Updated on 2026-09-18
Short answer
Custom requests are always paid up front, always at a price named beforehand, and always within the limits written in the briefing. Break any of those and you lose either the money or control over what exists of you. A clear no costs you no customers — a hesitant yes does.
Why custom requests need their own rules
A video made for one person sells for a multiple of what ready-made content brings. That is why it is worth doing. It is also the part where most can go wrong: there is no preview, the customer has a picture in their head, and production only starts afterwards.
Three rules head off nearly all of the trouble.
Rule 1: Always up front
Nothing gets filmed before it is paid for. No exceptions, not for long-standing subscribers, not for "I'll pay the second I see it."
The reason is not distrust, it is arithmetic: a custom is work made for exactly one person and sellable to nobody else. If it is not taken, the time is gone.
The wording is short and friendly:
"Sure, I'll make that for you. It's $80, and I'll start as soon as it's in — you'll have it tonight."
No "unfortunately", no apology. Payment up front is normal in this business, and explaining it is what makes it look like it needs explaining.
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Go to the applicationRule 2: The price exists before the work does
A price named after filming is a negotiation — and you lose that one, because the video already exists.
What works is a small, fixed ladder everyone on the team knows:
| Type of request | What to expect |
|---|---|
| Photo to order | small amount, quick |
| Short video (under 3 minutes) | mid range |
| Longer video, saying the name | clearly above that |
| Multi-part series | per part, not as a bundle |
Actual figures belong in the briefing, not in a public guide — they depend on niche, reach and country. What matters is the structure: laddered, known in advance, not haggled over.
Surcharges are normal and should be named: faster than usual, saying the name, a specific outfit, longer running time. Naming them in advance is not negotiating, it is describing.
Rule 3: The limits are set beforehand
This is the part that is about more than money. What has been filmed exists.
Every model's briefing therefore carries a list with three columns: yes, yes if asked, no. The last column is not negotiable and does not get moved "next time". A chatter who receives a request from that column does not check with the model — they decline.
What a refusal sounds like without the customer leaving:
"I don't do that — but I know what you're after. What I can make for you is …"
A no with an alternative behind it almost never loses a customer. A no without one sometimes does. A hesitant yes loses control.
What else helps in the conversation
Name a deadline. "By tomorrow evening" beats "soon". A deadline means fewer follow-up messages and more trust.
Ask before filming. Outfit, length, how they want to be addressed — three questions in advance save a re-shoot afterwards.
Never resell something that was custom. A custom that later shows up in the general feed turns a good customer into a former one.
Write everything down. What was ordered, what was paid, what was delivered. Across twenty running conversations that is not memory any more, it is a list.
Who runs these conversations
In most cases the conversations are not run by the models themselves but by trained chatters. That is exactly what the briefing is for: it sits between what a customer wants and what a model does. In our training this is a module of its own — price conversations, payment up front, and the no that costs no customers.
More in Working as a chatter and Setting your prices.
In short
- Payment up front, no exceptions, friendly and without apology.
- Price before the work, laddered, known across the team.
- Limits live in the briefing; the "no" column does not move.
- A no with an alternative almost never loses anyone.
Sources
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