NEW!! Redbubble Artist Fees
ATTENTION artists who use RedBubble:
Redbubble just announced through email that they will start charging artists fees beginning May 1, 2023. A link to the fee table and the different account levels is below:
They are going to take a SIGNIFICANT CUT of your earning as fees AS MUCH AS 50%
Please Reblog to spread the word!!
Copy and paste from the email:
Redbubble is introducing a new tier structure for artist accounts, and an account fee for some accounts. We understand that this is a big change for the artist community, so we want to be transparent and clear about what's happening.
The new account tiers are intended to encourage actions that are positive for the marketplace and recognise and reward artists who invest time creating and promoting unique products. From today, your account will be classified as either Redbubble Standard, Redbubble Premium, or Redbubble Pro. You can find your account classification on a new Account tiers and fees page on the Artist Dashboard.
Redbubble Standard accounts will be subject to an account fee. The fee is a flat fee based on your monthly earnings and only applies if you make a sale. If you make no sales during the payment period you will not be charged a fee, so artists are never out of pocket. The monthly earnings period will begin with orders shipped from the 1st of May, 2023 and end on the last day of each month. As recognition for positive engagement and investment in the Redbubble marketplace, Premium and Pro accounts are exempt from the fee.
This is a truly horrible fee structure, and it's especially horrible for new shops, small shops, and shops for people like me - comic creators and writers who use Redbubble to offer merch to their readers - which, by nature, is a niche audience.
Essentially, shops that sell a smaller volume will be charged a fee, while high-selling shops aren't charged the fee. (This is a print-on-demand service, so there likely aren't volume discounts influencing the price.)
Part of the Fee table: (full table here)
Keep in mind "earnings" are already only a small percent of the retail price, since Redbubble's other fees and manufacturing fees are taken out first. I set my prices higher than default, and on a $15 USD sale for stickers, I keep around $3.50. For a single small sticker sale ($1.30-$1.50 depending on conversion rates), I keep 20-30 cents. So if Redbubble takes an *additional* 30-50%, that's a big deal.
As for who has to pay the fee, it's Redbubble Standard - the tier that gets access to the fewest services:
(Full page with all the details here)
More reasonable businesses charge higher fees for access to higher resources and levels of service. Redbubble is charging the most to the people who get the least, and essentially penalizing them for making a few sales.
As for how to change tiers, the answer is pretty vague:
If I understand Redbubble's explanations correctly, these changes are being implemented for the next pay cycle, which starts on May 1 and pays out in June. Since emails only went out yesterday and there's a turnaround time in manufacturing, that means the change is practically immediate.
Personally, I'll be closing my shop if this goes forward. It was a nice 5 years!
At the bottom of the account tiers page, Redbubble has a link to leave "thoughts and feedback." I HIGHLY encourage you to let them know this is a bad idea!