Sadly Society6 are introducing some big changes that will make it impossible for me to keep more than ten of my designs available for their print-on-demand products so buy while you can.
If there’s one thing I’m so tired of this year it’s companies that make a huge deal of supporting artists and small businesses and then start making big! exciting! changes! that always end up with us paying more money, getting less promotion and/or being forced to make unnecessary and time-consuming changes in how we run our businesses. A big thumbs down to Etsy, Not on the High Street, Faire, Spoonflower and now Society6.
Society6 already recently started making artists pay a percentage of the shipping fee on every order (read that again and see if makes sense for a print-on-demand company) and now we’ll have to pay a monthly to have more than 10 designs in our stores (and a much higher fee to have more than 100). As all Society6’s products are printed and shipped from the US, it’s rare for me to make more than a few dollars a month in commission but I’ve been selling there for ten years and always considered it worth the effort for the occasional big sale – and to buy things for myself!
The fact that they’re introducing this change on November 30th during the main holiday shopping period shows how much they care about artists. It’s possible I’ll pay for 1 month to keep 100 designs until the end of the year but I’ll definitely be down to the most popular 10 designs after that. It was at least slightly interesting to figure out what those were.
If you like Society6’s products, have had your eye on something, or love a character other than those 9, please buy before the following dates:
- Until November 30th – 165 designs available in my store
- Until December 30th (possibly) – 100 designs available in my store
- 2024 onwards – 10 designs available in my store (the 9 above + Solar System)
However, I would recommend you shop at my Redbubble store instead. They sell many of the same products as Society6 plus loads more, ship a lot of them from regional printers worldwide and allow me to have as many designs as I want (currently almost 200!) without paying anything upfront. There’s also up to 60% off at the moment – ends Monday.
And thank you to everyone who has bought stuff from my Society6 store in the past! I may not make much money but it does add up over time and seeing what people have ordered makes me so happy.
