Redbubble artists, what are you going to do...?

[DreamvalleyMLP]

So, Redbubble just introduced a truly horrible "account fee" for artists. On top of their massive margin, they are now going to take a percentage of the artist's commission as well. This can range from a staggering 30% to 50% approximately for the smaller commissions. There are three account tiers: standard, premium and pro. The conditions necessary to meet the premium and pro tier are kept vague; and pretty much the majority of accounts seems to be standard - the only tier affected by the account fee.

If you don't make sales, you're not out of pocket; they only charge you if you make a profit. Makes no sense to call it an "account fee" then, does it? Even if you don't have sales, you still have an account that takes up digital space on their servers.

It's just crazy.

People are closing their accounts, others are just leaving it and not uploading anymore.

Their stock has been plummeting for months now, currently at the equivalent of 0.26 USD. I'm guessing they are doing this artist fee thing to up their income? It seems like a terrible solution to their problem IMO.

What are you doing? Is it still worth investing time in this?

For anyone curious to see the fee brackets, they are all the way at the bottom of this page: https://blog.redbubble.com/2023/04/how-account-fees-may-apply-to-you/

Edit: Seems like they closed the comments section on the linked post, and actually deleted all comments. Hmmm...

[tailrustedtealeaf]

I deleted my never-profitable account in solidarity. I feel like I see more and more people opt for doing kickstarter-esque batches of pre-orders for shirts or just contracting manufacturers directly.

[stjarne]

i don't use redbubble for any sales- but i have bought off of it once in the past. don't think i'll be doing that anymore. i fully support anyone looking to make a move over to any other site- such as etsy as that's usually where i buy off of if i'm looking for something that was designed by somebody else. redbubble is already hard to navigate, the prices are weird... and now this.

artists are being under attack so much lately, and i sure hope it dies down... eventually.

[BlackCurtains]

I never liked Redbubble. It's a shame they are doing this though.

[Moonbreeze]

A shame really. I like Redbubble enough to use it. Guess I'll go find an alternative

[DreamvalleyMLP]

I'm still a bit torn. From a purely logical standpoint, you could say just leave the works up and don't invest anymore time and energy. Whatever it brings in, it brings in. On the other hand, I have a big problem with letting them pocket such a huge percentage of my commission simply for making sales. It's bonkers.

I make about 30 to 40 bucks a month, and while it's not a lot or making a difference in my finances, it is fun spending money. To have to give away 15 bucks of that because you are making them money through sales just rubs me the wrong way.

I think I'll be investing more time in my Society6 and especially Threadless stores and gradually remove all my content on redbubble. It's a matter of principle in the end.

I've been looking into this these last couple of days, and the support we small artists get is amazing. Some established artists with a premium account (exempt from fees) are even deleting their stuff in support of the community.

EDIT: Just found this statement from their new CEO about the new fees:
"Consumer demand has weakened since the beginning of the year and we expect market conditions to remain challenging in the short term. As a result, and to achieve our aim of returning to cash-flow positive by the end of the calendar year, we are looking for further opportunities for cost savings[...]."

[Ponybookworm]

What??? That was THE draw of Redbubble!!! Unique art on an item you could get from nowhere else... Now they will lose SO MUCH of that unique art!!! That's it. Not going back to Redbubble if they do this. They're effectively shooting themselves, & not just in the foot...

[Koudoawaia]

Just plain sounds like robbery since artists will make next to nothing with this in place and I'm really glad I never tried to sell anything on there.

[lovesbabysquirmy]

this reminds me of the Etsy chaos when Etsy forced sellers to have their wares advertised through Google Search on a global basis because Ebay owns Etsy and Ebay has this arrangement with Google Search and Advertising.  If you made a sale through this 3rd party advertising.... Etsy took 40% in fees rather than the usual 20-something.  If you weren 't prepared to ship globally or have that kind of fee taken out... your account was put in limbo while Etsy figured out what to do with you and you probably racked up NSF fees with banks and all that.