#i only make like 40¢ per sticker sold but with a t shirt i make like 4 whole dollars lmao

[imperaptorfuriosa]

HUGE SHOUT-OUT TO WHOEVER JUST BOUGHT 4 SHIRTS OFF MY REDBUBBLE

[porcupine-girl]

TeePublic: Making changes but WAY more reasonable than RedBubble

RedBubble and TeePublic are owned by the same company, but TP has always operated very differently. When RB originally bought them, I'd actually been hoping that the better parts of both sites would find their way to the other, but that never happened.

The main difference for artists is that TP pays flat fees for items. For example, for classic T-shirts, you get $4 per shirt or $2 if it's bought on sale. For stickers, it's .75/.50. No percentages, nothing you set yourself.

After RB's recent ridiculousness, when I saw an email from TP about changes, I was worried. But it's actually pretty reasonable, if they have to increase fees.

Tiers (but not as bad)

Yes, they are doing tiers like RB. And like RB, they won't give the exact formula or let you pick your tier, BUT the criteria are far better.

The lower "Apprentice" tier, it sounds like, is mostly for accounts that spam them with hundreds of automated designs or that have a normal number of designs but almost no sales. NOT for regular small-to-medium accounts like RB's lower tier.

I have 56 designs that I've slowly added over the past five years or so, and I make maybe $10/month on TeePublic. And I am in the higher "Artisan" tier. I don't know what might get me bumped down, like if I don't sell anything for a few months in a row or something, but for now I'm good.

So if you're a small-to-medium artist with a couple dozen designs who sells a few items a month, there's a good chance you'll be Artisan tier.

Fee changes (but also not as bad)

As for the fee changes, they're more reasonable, too. For Artisan accounts (which, remember, little ol' me qualified as) they're just standardizing the artist cut to $4 ($2 on sale) for all apparel and home items. Which means for the most popular items, like the classic tee, there's no change! The biggest cut here is on hoodies, which will drop from $8 to $4. Which sucks, but I've only sold a handful of hoodies in several years so it's not a huge hit. Most other cuts are just going from $5 to $4.

For Apprentice tier accounts, apparel and home items will be $3 ($1 on sale). Which is more of a cut, since nearly all of them were at least $4 before, but it's definitely better than RB's 40% fee, and seems unlikely to hit most regular artist accounts.

There's also the fact that while RB closed my account with no warning or explanation and ignored my appeal, TP has done no such thing. As a fanartist I've also had far fewer DMCAs on TP, probably because it's less popular than RB so companies aren't monitoring as closely.

So anyhow, if you're a RedBubble refugee you might want to check out TeePublic! I'm in the process of uploading whatever designs I had on RB that I hadn't put there already. It definitely has downsides (the search is absolutely awful), and again it's owned by the same company, but for the moment it's staying more artist-friendly than RedBubble apparently.

(If you already have a TP account, it might be helpful to mention in the notes which tier you're in [it should say in the email you got] and how big you are, so others can gauge what's likely to happen to them. I'm curious to see if anyone around the same size as me got bumped down to Apprentice.)

[sally-mun]

So I’ve been slapped with a $1,900 car repair bill, and while I don’t expect this to come anywhere near -covering- that cost, I’d still like to offset it a little. I’d really appreciate if you guys would at least take a look or spread the word, the prices are pretty low and some of this still I’ve either never used or only used a couple times. If you see something you’re interested in, shoot me a message for more details or better pictures (since I took these in kind of a hurry). Also stay tuned because I might list more stuff.

Images below the cut so I don’t bog down people’s dashboards!

Socks: All unused, aside from me trying to put on the Fluttershy ones and realizing they wouldn’t go over my big calves.

Ankle-high: $2 each Knee-high: $3 each On hold!

Accessories: Mostly unused, I think I wore the necklace and the raccoon tail wallet chain a few times but that’s it.

Furry tail chains - $5 each Batman belts - $4 each Bracelets - $2 each Necklace - $3

Hats - $5 each Armsocks - $4 Sold, thank you!

Shirts: A couple I outgrew, a couple never fit because women’s clothing sizes are fucking stupid, and one I inherited while working at GameStop.

T-Shirts - $5 each

Pacman pajama pants - $4 Dinosaur ugly sweater - $25

Knickknacks: Yeah kind of a mixed bag here. Not gonna lie, some of this stuff I don’t even know what it is.

Coin block box - $1 Coin block tin - $1 Sonic tin - $1 Sonic fast food toy - $1 Battlefield 4 dog tags (the thing in the shiny bag) - $3 Morty figure - $2 Tenchi Muyo figures - $2 each or $5 for all hideous little Sonic figures - $10 each (these are actually quite rare) Sonic Battle (JP) - $2, because so far as I know THIS DOES NOT WORK! Please only buy this if you think you can fix it or just want it for your collection! Sticker (don’t even know who it is) - $1 Zelda gashapon figure - $5 Sonic lanyard (JP) - $8 Sega Saturn series keychain figures - $10 each (I used to know these characters’ names but I can’t place them off the top of my head. I think one is from Virtua Cop.) Cyborg Batman keychain - $1 keychain of chick in purple outfit - $1 (sorry it’s another character I can’t remember. Maybe Sonya Blade? I honestly don’t remember.) Buttons - $1 each or $3 for all Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3 keychain - $3 Goku figure keychain - $2 Sonic Triple Trouble pog promo pack - $10 Mario & Sonic at the Olympics styluses - $15 Sold, thank you!

Sonic pogs - $2 each Sonic gift card (no value, obviously) - $5 Sonic phone card (JP) - $10 Sonic Game Gear tips cards - $3 each Pokemon cards - $1 each Sonic playing cards - $5 Borderlands 3 points card - So I have a ton of these cards that I brought home from work because I didn’t want them thrown away, and each one has a Diamond code for 1,500 points to buy gold keys or items with. I’m honestly not comfortable ‘selling’ these per se, so if you want one (or more) just make me an offer or send a donation on Ko-fi with a comment that you’d like one.

WiiU drawstring bag - $4

I forgot to put these socks in the previous socks section. They’re not knee-high so they’re also $2 each.

Books: The notebooks are completely unused (and one is still shrinkwrapped), and the guides were probably used by someone else but not by me. They were in an eBay lot along with something else that I specifically wanted, so these were just kind of foisted on me.

Notebooks - $5 each Guides - $8 each

Comics: $2 each or $20 for all (per series)

Since most of these are from Free Comic Book Day events, I feel weird asking for a price for them, so make me an offer or donate on Ko-fi if you want one.

Dolls: Kind of a range here. The Bulma doll is probably the most valuable since it’s one of the original DBZ UFO catchers from the 90′s. Also with the Papyrus plush I’d just like to point out that getting the same doll on the Fangamer website will cost $32 before shipping.

Goku POP - $10 (please note the box is a little borked) Bulma UFO catcher - $40 Papyrus plush - $25 Sold, thank you! Neopets keychain plushies - $5 each On hold!

OKAY that’s it for now. Like I said I might add more (or do another post) later, because I know I have more things, I just didn’t gather them all at the same time.

Payments will most likely all be through Paypal, and buyers are responsible for shipping costs (which will probably be at least $5, more if it’s a larger package).

Thanks to anyone that can help!

[chariot313]

Western social media has no respect for Japanese online artists - and it’s killing online art

The visual arts have evolved to suit the most popular medium of each era. In nowadays’ case, the internet is the go-to method of sharing the fruits of one’s labour). However, as stated in that tweet thread of mine you can see if you scroll down a bit (assuming you’re viewing this post on chariot313.tumblr.com) different cultures have different attitudes towards how their customers react to their products. This include you know what fuck the formalities, I’ll just say it: The exclusively western concept of someone seeing something they like online and hitting the share button to stimulate the “Haha, upvotes go ‘brrr’!” dopamine in their smooth-ass lizard brain will be the death of online Japanese artists. Or rather, it has been already, and you would know that if you’ve ever seen an artist’s Twitter bio be in mostly Japanese save for one sentence in English; “Reprint is prohibited.”.

If you want to hear me rationalize the absurd claim I just made, feel free to click the “Keep reading” button. Otherwise, turn back now and save yourself from me possibly wasting your time.

Alright, you’ve chosen to stick with me. Just remember, you asked for this.

Introduction

Social media as a whole is based around sharing (posting, uploading, submitting, tweeting, blogging, streaming etc.) and other’s reactions to what one has shared (views, likes, subscribers, favorites, followers, upvotes, retweets, reblogs, crossposts, etc.).

However, miscommunication and culture shock due to language barriers and cultural differences is one of the many factors that can negatively affect one’s experience on social media. For example, the Japanese artist community, active on sites such as Twitter, Pixiv, NicoNico Seiga, FC2 blogs, etc.. Twitter is mostly inhabited by English-speaking users. Here in the west, our main motive for sharing something on social media (such as art) is for fame and recognition. However, over in the East, most online artists only upload their works to the internet for personal use. I’m not saying one cultural attitude towards sharing art is better than one another, but when these two worldviews collide, the culture shock can negatively affect the careers of artists who are unaware of the other culture’s differing views on sharing art.

So, I’ve listed numerous social media platforms below and I’m going to elaborate on how each of them contributes to the alienation and discouragement of Japanese artists.

DO NOT WITCH-HUNT OR HARASS THE CULPRITS I’VE LISTED AS EXAMPLES; THEY ONLY SERVE TO BACK UP MY ARGUMENT

Twitter

Go into the twitter search bar and type in the name of an anime character (usually female). What do you find? Most likely an account named after said character that does nothing but post unsourced fan art of said character with cheesy “in-character” captions on them.

Exhibit A [NSFW]

Exhibit B [NSFW]

Exhibit C [very NSFW]

Aside from that, Twitter isn’t that bad in this regard, as a lot of the art that gets stolen is originally uploaded to Twitter anyway. But I’m just getting started. 

Wattpad

Ah yes, Wattpad. One of the “trinity” of fan fiction communities (the others being fanfiction.net and AO³), featuring many different stories with varying degrees of readability. The problem is the option to add a picture to adorn your fanfiction, at which point most of the authors google “<fanfic subject> fan art” and use something from there without considering the repercussions. This causes Wattpad to be one of the top results when reverse image searching to find the source of some fan art, aside from another site I’ll mention later on...

Reddit

There’s a subreddit I often browse called r/ChurchOfJirou, a community for sharing anything relating to the character Kyouka from My Hero Academia (I mean come on, she’s like the cutest thing ever). A lot of the posts on that sub are sharing fan art of the aforementioned character. One of the rules in the sidebar is “always include the source in the title or the comments”. And most of the submissions make good on that rule. However, a lot of the posts are from Japanese artists on Twitter or Pixiv, and following the source link leads you to find the artist’s bio, which usually has something along the lines of “don’t repost my work”. And what’s more, the biggest offenders (of submitting art to the sub without OP’s permission) were the moderators of the subreddit. You know, the ones who are supposed to be enforcing the rules? I even got so fed up that I called it out, to which one of the mods replied,

“It doesn’t really make a difference, does it?”

Luckily, not all subreddits are like this. For example, other MHA-related subs like r/BokuNoShipAcademia or r/ChurchOfMinaAshido have moderators that are more considerate of artists’ wishes. Overall, Reddit is usually a hit-or-miss when it comes to this kind of thing. At best, you’ve got subs like the two I just mentioned which make sure to respect artists, and at worst you’ve got people trying (and failing) to edit out watermarks. Also, not to self-promote, but this tweet of mine represents this situation pretty well:

Imgur

Imgur isn’t that bad compared to the rest of these, but it’s a common one that people link to when asked for the source of whatever they’ve shared on Twitter or Reddit or whatever.

Amino Apps

Amino Apps is a strange case. I don’t know much about it since I’ve never used it, but from what I do know it seems similar to Reddit in that there are numerous communities for different niches. That said, judging from the way it clogs up Google image search results, I doubt OC art is posted there often.

YouTube

Now, you may be thinking, “How does a video site rip off others’ art?”. The answer is uploads of soundtracks. Look for any OST from a video game or anime on YouTube and the picture used for the video will likely be some fan art by a Japanese Pixiv artist, usually one that forbids reposts of their work. Not only that, but if the uploader did bother to add the source in the description, it’s usually not even a link to the actual source, more likely a link to Zerochan or Pinterest or something. Now take into account that some of these videos get millions of views. Imagine working hard on something, and some numbnuts takes it, slaps some music onto it, uploads it to YouTube, and gets millions of views while you get next to nothing in comparison.

Exhibit A

Exhibit B (re-upload; original had nearly 40 million views before it was copyright claimed)

Exhibit C

and many many others

Pinterest

Alright, this is the big one. When Pinterest isn’t giving recipes or wardrobe ideas to suburban white moms, it’s clogging up Google reverse image search, punishing anyone who just wanted to find the source of some cute fan art. I feel like this meme by ZebitasMartinexSi on Facebook sums it up:

For example, this piece of Legend of Zelda art by Twitter artist @_nomeri_ (I’ll just link to it, since it would be hypocritical of me to embed the image even though @_nomeri_’s bio warns people not to repost their art). Good art, right? Well, if you right-click and hit “Search Google for image”...

...yeah. Pinterest is a plague. It thrives on theft. Even worse is when someone will post fan art on Twitter/Tumblr/Reddit/etc. and have the nerve to say “IDK the source I found it on Pinterest ^_^”. Or worse yet, they link to Pinterest saying it’s the source.

Instagram

While many other sites rag on Instagram for its reposting of memes, it’s no better when it comes to reposting fan art, especially from Pixiv. I’ve seen lots of stolen pieces with fan fictions written in the description. Personally, if I were an artist, I’d rethink my career choice if I saw my art reposted on Instagram with a half-assed fanfic under it, so I don’t blame Japanese artists who close their Pixiv accounts after seeing that. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try to prevent it from happening in the first place.

DeviantArt

DeviantArt is more “renowned” across the web for its niche circles of bizarre fetish art, but in its defence, there are some legitimately good pieces on there. If you do find a good one though, try checking to see if all of the uploader’s pieces have a similar overall art style, because if not, that’s a sure sign of someone passing off some Pixiv user’s art as their own, which is unfortunately fairly common on DeviantArt.

9Gag

Not a whole lot to say about 9Gag. I mean, it does contribute to reposting of art, but nothing really separates it from the others on this list, aside from its watermarks. At least the watermark gives away the fact that something was reposted.

Know Your Meme

You know that Zelda pic by @_nomeri_ I was talking about earlier? Well, to add insult to injury, it became an object-labelling meme.

Imagine putting hours into something and politely asking others not to repost it, only to find that some nincompoops on r/DankMemes made it into an object-labelling meme.

But this isn’t KYM’s fault, per se. Know Your Meme only documents memes; they do not create them. However, as someone who regularly browses the Know Your Meme image galleries, I can say that the image gallery has essentially become Know Your Fan Art (unlawfully reposted fan art, that is).

Redbubble

There’s an NSFW artist I follow on Twitter by the name of Nico-Mo. A while ago, his Pixiv account was suspended, and there were numerous pictures on there that he had not uploaded to his Twitter or DeviantArt, so I found a mirror of one of those pieces on Gelbooru and reverse-image searched in hopes of finding it on his Twitter. No such luck. What came up instead was a .png of the piece made into a sticker being sold on Redbubble. In fact, that’s one of the major reasons why artists disapprove of their art being reposted, as it may find its way onto a sticker or a T-shirt being sold as merch without the original artist giving consent nor the artist receiving so much as a single nickel.

Facebook

Surprisingly, I think Facebook is one of the least offending sites on this list. Still worth mentioning, though.

Funnyjunk

Like Imgur, Funnyjunk isn’t that bad compared to some of the rest of these, but this exchange in the comments of a repost of an MHA artist that deleted their account (not hard to see why considering people straight-up ignored the big-ass watermark at the bottom) is proof enough of western social media’s flippant attitude towards ruining online artists’ careers.

Aggregator imageboards such as Yande.re, Konachan, Danbooru, Gelbooru, Rule34, SankakuComplex, Zerochan, etc.

I don’t think I need to explain these. But like Imgur, these are what most people link to when asked for source instead of bothering to find the original post.

We Heart It

I don’t know much about “We Heart It”, but it seems to be a “Pinterest Lite” considering it clogs up image search almost as much as Pinterest does.

iFunny

Basically the same as 9Gag, in the sense that its watermarks are a dead giveaway.

4chan

I’m not sure if 4chan really “counts” among these, as it’s a chat board where nearly everything is impermanent anyway. However, I was once on an NSFW subreddit where one submitter used a 4chan thread to get Patreon-exclusive material from an artist to upload to the sub (even though one of the rules of the sub was “no paywall content”), so that alone earns 4chan its spot on this list.

Tumblr

Yes, not even Tumblr is innocent. Although I’m sure you knew that. Similar to what I said about Twitter, look up any blog named after a fictional character and it’ll likely be chock-full of unsourced fan art.

“Why is this even important?”

Because if an artist sees that their work is being reposted, depending on the artist, they may delete the original post when they wouldn’t have to if people had just respected their wishes. Now, if an artist wants their works gone from the internet for other personal reasons, that’s up to them and we should respect them for it. But artists taking down their works due to mass reposting is 100% preventable, which is why it’s sad. If you don’t respect an artist, they won’t create art. Simple as that.

“Why do you care so much?”

Eh, I’m just weird like that. It just ticks me off when anything online, whether it be art, or a video, or whatever, is lost. In my opinion, nothing hurts more than clicking a Pixiv link on an imageboard and being greeted with “The work was deleted or the ID does not exist.”.

“But lots of western artists forbid reposting of their art too!”

Indeed, that is correct. But while many artists of every nationality and culture frown upon reproduction of their work, it seems only western social media is responsible for reposting art in the first place. I mean, why else do you think Japanese artists are saying “Reprint is prohibited” in English when the rest of their bio is in Japanese? Because English-speakers are the ones reposting.

“But exposure can help an artist!”

Yeah, that’s true...

...but “exposure” doesn’t mean much if those “exposed” to one’s work don’t know or care who it came from.

And if you need even more reasons, look no further than these posts about the same topic by other blogs:

https://cranberrywitch.tumblr.com/post/143456002228/stop-reposting-art-from-japanese-artists

https://thegospelofnagisa.tumblr.com/post/143308182398

https://edendaphne.tumblr.com/post/163117317030/ive-been-wanting-to-make-this-educational-cheat

https://marklightgreatsword.tumblr.com/post/190056977650/discourage-art-theft-in-fandom-in-2020-dont

https://letusrespectpixivartistconsent.tumblr.com/post/92189994896/why-is-this-important

also, not to self-promote but I made a thread on Twitter on this topic about a month ago that you can check out here.

That’s all.

posted Jun 14; last edit Jun 21

[newssplashy]

Strategy: These people make hundreds of dollars a month flipping products from a skater brand that teens are obsessed with. Here's how they do it.

Supreme is more than just an obsession for some teens — it's how they make money. Supreme products that retail for around $40 often end up on eBay for $300 within minutes of selling out. Here's how people that flip Supreme do it.

Teens are obsessed with Supreme, a skater brand that has seen mainstream success in recent years.

Supreme has garnered a lot of attention in the last week after copies of the New York Post with Supreme ads on the cover flew off the shelves. Almost all Supreme products sell out instantly.

There is a huge market for reselling Supreme products because of the extremely high demand. Some fans who shared their stories with Business Insider said they are able to make hundreds of dollars a week by flipping products they're able to buy before they sell out.

Supreme, Gen Z's favorite skater brand, has become a source of income for some savvy shoppers.

Supreme was founded in 1994 by James Jebbia and has since grown from a skater-centric brand to a mainstream apparel brand with its own cult following. The brand ranked seventh among upper-income teens' favorite brands in a spring 2018 survey by Piper Jaffray, and in 2017, Supreme received a roughly $500 million cash infusion from The Carlyle Group, which valued the brand at $1 billion.

Last week, loyal fans snatched up copies of the New York Post that featured a wraparound Supreme ad on the cover. The papers, which typically costs $1.50, flew off the shelves. Copies of it are now listed on eBay for many times its normal listing price.

There's a huge market for reselling Supreme products because of the extremely high demand. Some fans are able to make hundreds of dollars a week by flipping products they're able to buy when they're released in product launches called "drops."

But because of how quickly products sell out, people who flip them have to prepare.

"During Supreme season, I'm constantly researching, buying, and selling — it usually doesn’t stop until the season is over," 21-year-old Supreme fan Jake Morell told Business Insider.

Morell says he typically makes as much as $600 per month throughout a season, which includes one drop a week from August to December.

We spoke to two Supreme fans who flip products and make hundreds of dollars each week. Here's how they do it:

Supreme has two seasons: Fall/Winter and Spring/Summer. New products are released in events called "drops" every Thursday throughout the season, and they usually sell out within seconds online.

Source: Business Insider

Before drops, people who flip Supreme typically do hours of online research to see what products will be coming out, what products people like or dislike, and what is predicted to have the highest resale value. One website fans use is Supreme Community, which leaks the details of product releases before they happen and allows users to vote on their favorite products.

"On the Supreme Community website, when you look at each drop, they have a voting system — underneath each picture of an item, you can see if it has thumbs-up or thumbs-down ratings, like on Rotten Tomatoes," Christopher Young, a 21-year-old who says he makes as much as $300 per week flipping Supreme products, told Business Insider.

"That gives you a general idea of, 'Oh, this is something that people really like, or this is something people don't really like.'"

Because of how quickly products sell out, people who flip Supreme products practice using the website to make sure they can buy the most-wanted items before they're gone.

"You have to go on in advance and figure out what section your item is going to be in — is it going to be in 'tops' or in 't-shirts?' Is it going to be in 'accessories' or in 'bags?'" Young said.

Morell said that he is usually on the computer, waiting, at least 30 minutes before everything goes on sale.

Checking out can be a scramble — products can sell out even when they're already in your cart, so many people only buy one product a week to make sure they get something to sell. Even if you're buying just one product, you can turn a profit of as much as $300 a week throughout a season.

"It's an interesting game," Young said.

"Sometimes you'll be really happy with it, and sometimes you'll be super disappointed."

Part of why it's so hard to actually buy anything before it sells out is the use of automated bots. Some people who plan on reselling reportedly spend as much as $150 on automated bots that can be programmed to automatically buy products in certain colors or sizes in seconds.

Several shoppers and bot sellers have said that if Supreme catches you using a bot, it can block your IP address and shipping address.

Supreme did not immediately return Business Insider's request for comment on that reported practice.

"I remember there was one jacket that I really wanted, so I clicked on it on the website at 11:00 a.m., and it was already sold out by the time the page loaded. Stuff like that happens all the time, and it's very obvious that it's bots," Young told Business Insider.

Typically, small items like pins and stickers are under $30, while shirts, bags, and hats will cost between $30 and $100. Jackets, hoodies, and pants usually cost between $100 and $300, with a few outliers.

Within minutes of going on sale, the most popular products can end up on eBay for many times the original price. One of the most popular items from week one of the season — a Madonna t-shirt — cost $48 at Supreme, and within hours of the in-store drop, it was listed on eBay at a starting price of $250.

Another popular reselling website is Grailed. Within 45 minutes of Supreme's online launch, products like backpacks, t-shirts, and bags were listed on Grailed for more than twice the retail price.

Most sellers wouldn't even have the product in hand at this point — as long as an order confirmation is posted, people will buy it. It can take as little as 15 minutes to turn a profit.

Morell told Business Insider: "I set a budget for myself every week, which usually ranges from $300-$500. As soon as I get a shipping confirmation email, I immediately post the items I want to sell on Grailed. I usually receive a ton of offers within the day, and bargain with them as much as I can."

Results from flipping can be pretty hit or miss. "I got a lot for the Supreme Zippo last season. It retailed for $60, and I ended up selling it for $150. I remember being super shocked by that," Young said.

"The lowest amount I ever got was retail value on a sweater. I once sold a bag very quickly, and made twice the original value of it — the bag was $70, and I made $135," he said.

And profits aren't always guaranteed. "My biggest Supreme mistake was buying a Kayak for $480. Predicted resell was over $1,000. I went ahead and copped one, only for it to lose value immediately when it went on sale. I ended up selling it for $470 after fees and shipping," Morell said.

Though the sellers we spoke to typically make under $1,000 a month, some sellers are able to make much more than that from just one item. For example, a big-ticket item like the Supreme/Louis Vuitton Box Logo Tee — originally $495 — goes for well over $1,000 on eBay.

source http://www.newssplashy.com/2018/08/strategy-these-people-make-hundreds-of.html