ive been working up the skills to model a complete figure with highly efficient topology, and while i am confident i can do it at this time, i dont have the time to -- and thats just half the work, then you need to find someone to rig it and do the tedious things like expression morphs, etc. if i did undertake such a massive effort it would be to put a complete character in my store -- i couldnt do it for a commission.

if this is just for personal use anyway, i could make a pcf-encoded modification of the V3 mesh for you with head tails and a full body morph and textures. either that or create some seamlessly blended conforming head tails which would allow you full use of all of v3's existing expression and face morphs.

Quote - if they sell 50 copies at $20 each for popular items, then a custom job for
you would be $1,000, assuming nobody else shows any interest.

they sell many more copies than that. but perhaps in this case, what i call a 'semi exclusive' would be best... in which the person you find to do your commission creates a character or figure for you and gives you nonexclusive rights to it, and is then allowed to sell it in their store as well with the stipulation that they make some small modifications.
that way you get your character to your exact specifications and save some money, and the merchant can also recoup more of their development time by putting an item in their store.

of course the last such work i did turned out to be a big waste of time since i never saw a dime for it, but ah well. make sure you both get a contract in advance.

cheers,
-gabriel