Redbubble announced a change in fees structures

In yet another example of Print on Demand changing all the time : Redbubble announced a a change in fees structure in an email today. It's brand new, and it's bound to create a few waves in the artist world, though I am not as surprised as some might be about this change. But first things first...

What is going on with Redbubble?

If you've been in the PoD world for a while, or are a regular reader of this blog, you know that Redbubble did introduce account tiers and fees on some accounts back in 2023. The whole thing was affecting Standard tiers accounts and the fees depended on what earning bracket you were in. Basically the lower your earning threshold was the more fees you were paying if you were an entry level account aka "Standard". If you need to refresh your memory, I wrote a blog post about it back then.

So what changed or rather is about to change? Redbubble is going to extend platform fees to Premium accounts starting September 1st (the account tier I am in) and they announced a simplified fee structure :

• 50% of your earnings will go in platform fees if you are a Standard tier account regardless of how much you earn.

• 20% of your earnings will go in platform fees if you are Premium tier account

• No fees if you are a Pro account

But wait! There is more! Any items sold with an artist markup above the recommended 20% will incur an additional 50% fee, so if you have any product category margin sitting above 20% you might want to go an lower that right away. They also announced that they will review accounts before September 1st and move some from the Standard to Premium tier and from Premium to Pro and that those who will get promoted will know by email. Along with that platform fees bomb of a news, the also mentioned they are working on improved marketing, tag matching and discovery, hopefully leading to being able to grab more eyeballs if your artwork is quality enough.

My opinion on all this might still be unpopular

As you all know if you read this blog or watched my YouTube video on Society6 and their big change, I'm never against those changes. Why? Because let's face it, all these companies are businesses making decisions that work for them, and I am in the business of selling commercial art. It's not my place to grab my pitchfork and protest paid fees, curated platforms and whatnot. When you join a PoD platform you agree to their terms and conditions and the fact they might change said terms and conditions. If it no longer align with your values, you are always free to leave and it seems there are already a few artists on Threads who announced their intentions to do so.

I personally don't think accusing them of corporate greed is the solution. They are a for profit company, they have seen a decline in sales in 2024 according to the Articore financial report and they have had issues with their board of directors recently. The PoD industry has been saturated for years and with the arrival of Gen AI images, the amount of people thinking they can make a quick buck with the least effort required has increased as well, costing these PoD company dearly in term of quality and in terms of hosting fees. To me it was never really a surprise to see the big players in the industry try to ramp it up to prevent an overflow of bad art, stolen design, and AI slop from hitting their platforms. Unfortunately for the genuine artists putting in the work, it has lead to fees on earnings, subscription models and curated platforms like Society6 did earlier this year.

Am I happy to potentially be charged 20% on my earnings if they decide to keep me in the Premium tier? Of course not! But I am also making my peace with it. Redbubble has never been a consistent money maker for me, it's one of my least profitable PoD platform but I don't see a reason to call it quit either because those fees are only going to be levied on sales made, they aren't going to be out of pocket like the old Society6 subscription plans were. I personally think Redbubble could have avoided having to levy fees by simply capping the margins of artists the way Society6 has done after their curation model because the end result is the same : less margin paid to the artist. The only thing that I think Redbubble needs to be working on is making sure that artists producing quality work and upload it regularly should show up in searches before all the stock vector art graphics, AI slops and those who flood the platform with "Live, Laugh, Love" t-shirts written in Arial or Helvetica. It's something Teepublic managed to tackle elegantly with their Apprentice and Artisan accounts where apprentices only get to earn half of what artisans do on each sales without any hidden fees. It remains to be seen if the improvement in searchability Redbubble is proposing will bear fruits.

A reminder to not put all your eggs in the same basket

I said it before, it's never a good idea to bank on just one income stream, and I've always been a strong advocate for joining several PoD platforms at once, especially in the beginning. You never know when a PoD company will go bankrupt and shut down (happened to me 5 times) or change their business model on you like NeonEarth did or like Society6 did with their curated platform model. You can't expect things to always stay the same, these companies are going to adapt to the ever changing market to survive, and so should you as an artist. It's ok to call it quit when something no longer works for you. I did it with Etsy a few years back. What you want to avoid as an artist is finding you in a sticky situation where your income could be gone overnight with no backup plan. If you haven't already, I urge you to read my blog post "Don't put all your eggs in the same basket"

And remember, the only way to stay afloat in a sea of changes is to make sure you keep yourself current on what is going on, and be flexible enough to learn new skills and future proof you career.