“⚠ RT - Help Small Artists Fight Back Against Greedy Companies ⚠ #Cricut rolls out a shady update that screws over small artists requires a subscription to use the hardware already purchased. Here is a thread that explains things, how to help, and good Cricut alternatives. 1/11”
Heads up to anyone who uses Cricut machines (or if you were thinking about buying one)
Cricut announced yesterday, Mach 12th 2021, that they will soon be changing their terms of service for anyone who is a free (aka, non-subscribed) user of their machines:
Basically, if you make custom shaped stickers, paper cuttings, etchings, etc-- you’re allowed to upload 20 designs to the design space. After that, you will have to pay $10 a month to subscribe to Cricut Access, which gives you unlimited uploads.
I absolutely do not pay HP every time I want to print more than 20 patterns a month, and Bernina doesn’t turn off my machine if I’ve been working for more than an hour. To make people pay for using the machines/tools that they’ve already purchased is criminal. Remember my nightlights?
I went through about 8 iterations of this before I was happy with the design-- that was multiple uploads of one design, that would be counted as 8 of my 20 free slots. Their editing software is not powerful enough to handle large SVG files either-- I’ve had to break papercraft projects into multiple uploads and recompile to get things right.
This new policy is absolutely going to hurt a LOT of small business owners like me, and shut out a lot of potential customers, because with them pulling this stunt, NO ONE will recommend purchasing their products. There’s a reason their Better Business Bureau rating is ‘F’ -- they do not respond to customer complaints or help requests, which makes me think the company isn’t doing well anyway if they didn’t hire enough people to handle help tickets, which is another reason why I think they’re pulling this move.
Are they within their rights to change the TOS? Of course! Do I think that people complaining will change the policy? Honestly, probably not. Will this go uncontested? Absolutely not! The twitter thread has a lot of really helpful information including petition links, a link to the official Cricut article, and alternative machine suggestions.
Anyway, I need some time to re-evaluate what I’ll be doing with my shop items moving forward. I love making the nightlights, but do not make enough selling craft items to justify the subscription, and would not anyway, out of principle. Not sure what I’m going to do, but I’ll keep you guys posted.
