Hate to say this but.. sometimes, I belive having to pay $60 just for a basic image (nothing fancy, anything that ain't the [tornado fang]ing mona lisa, etc) just makes me re-think about DA's commission system. Especially when half of it's userbase is not really that rich and how once how the commissioner receives his pay-off, he dissapears from the site completely. It's also the same for the requester, he makes a request for the commissioner, receives the commissioner's end of the bargain, and takes off with said image and it's a steal for that guy because he knows he has the funds, he's just being a lazy-ass and it's gonna come back to haunt him.
I think that's why I'm not really that confident about requesting from big-name members or a member from a circle of friends that will "only do requests for buddies, sorry lol". I also think it's why DA Points aren't really that favored on DA either..