My Dream Fell Apart, Because I'm An Idiot!
I felt like one of the luckiest people alive. When I was accepted into the Merch by Amazon program.
It was seriously a dream come true. The ability to make beautiful T-shirts that would actually sell...
But I quickly made mistakes over and over again, that eventually stopped me from making more shirts. And now I await my fate on whether or not I'll be allowed to continue selling shirts on Amazon's amazing platform.
I decided to write a DUH blog post, About the mistakes I made, So you can learn from me and not make the same mistakes I did.
Amazon Takes Copyright seriously.
And they should! Not only does it hurt the companies that create amazing works of art, But it hurts your competitors. Amazon wants to make money, But also they don't want lawsuits. I knew this joining the program. I mean it was obviously. But Amazon only gives you a couple "strikes" before your out. They also don't always specify specifically what you are doing wrong, Which is stressful.
DO NOT COPY OTHER PEOPLES WORK.
No this is not a mistake that I made, But It needs to be addressed. Just because you see a design on the internet, Doesn't mean you can save it and upload it to Merch. DON'T DO IT! Make your own design. Its perfectly fine to look at other designs to give yourself ideas. But don't outright copy pixel by pixel. That's no good.
Do NOT hire someone right off the bat.
I love Fiverr; You can hire a lot of free lancers for nice work on the cheap.
But they don't always have your best intentions. If you hire someone use websites like
- Google Reverse Image search
- Tineye
You want to check that the Shirt design wasn't flat out stolen. Which happens. Also, check the clipart, Make sure it's royalty free. In the end, its YOU who will get in most the trouble. So be careful. That's why I recommend making your designs.
This is partially what caused me to get in trouble. I hired someone. I wanted him to make me a shirt with a mermaid on it... it was a simple outline of a mermaid, And it looked super nice. But when I first saw it, It kinda looked like Disney's Ariel. But because I haven't seen "The little mermaid" more than once or twice, I wasn't super familiar with her face. I assumed I was being paranoid and uploaded it anyways.
Yeah.. Bad move. It was immediately rejected.
I later showed my boyfriend, And he said it looked EXACTLY like her. So yeah.. basically the design I bought was a rip off of Disney.
When in doubt DO NOT UPLOAD IT. It may be a nice design, But its not worth the risk.
DO NOT USE COPYRIGHTED/Trademarked NAMES.
This is what got me in trouble. What's sad is I didn't even know that this was a no go.
I made a videogame shirt; I added keywords like "Pokemon" and other popular brands.
No, The shirt didn't have anything copyrighted on it, In fact, it was just a generic fun design. The freelancer used basic clipart And cool lettering.
REJECTION.
What sucks, I submitted a couple other shirts doing the EXACT same method. At the same time. Using keywords that I thought would sell. I had no idea that I was doing something incredibly stupid.
And shortly after I lost my account.
If you can find a place you can search keywords and phrases and make sure that there is no trademark behind it.
So if you want to use the keyword "popcorn". And there is some brand called "popcorn". I'd avoid using it completely.
To some of you this may seem obvious and stupid, But I never even thought of it. This is the first time I've ever gotten in trouble for something like this.
Conclusion
Maybe Amazon is being a little crazy, but who could blame them. I feel like other POD shirt companies are constantly getting in trouble for things like this, I feel like Amazon is doing what they can to avoid it all together.
What I'd do differently.
I'm so heart broken about this, I've never been so excited for something! I hope I can get a second chance. I would be 10x more careful then I was! I would also use a search engine to check each phrase and word for copyright/trademarks.
I also would make the shirts my self, That way I know the source. Or at least demand the source from the freelancer so I could easily verify it.
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Intellectual property is an unethical and immoral system which destroys creativity and accomplishes the opposite of its stated goals. It is yet another of government's fails so epic that one seriously questions whether Hanlon's razor applies.
Thanks for the post! :)
I agree :(
Like I get it, You shouldn't be allowed to just completely steal something, But i feel that if you tell people the source, That it should be allowed.
Like I would be unhappy if someone took one of my drawings and put it in their book. But if they took my drawing, did a ton of editing on it, Then put it in their book. Then said something like "The original was done by Kaylin Art". I would be okay with it.
I see awesome artwork all the time which is a violation of intellectual property. Like when people change the clothes of the Disney processes. They look really cool! Or Those T shirts that people make of popular characters that youcan't get anywhere else because the company never made them.
Can't there be some kind of royalty split?
I totally get where you are coming from with that! I mean If I were to make a shirt with an apple on it, I'd probably be too scared to use the keyword "apple" which is sad.
There are an infinite number of ways to monetize and incentivize creativity and get everyone's work recognized and compensated, but all of that comes through cooperation. The vast majority of people would be happy to work out an agreement that leaves everyone satisfied.
But IP is an adversarial framework, not a cooperative one. It says "Now that you have taken my idea into your mind, everything you ever do that can be traced back to that idea partially belongs to me (note that this is a kind of partial enslavement), and I have the right to proceeds from whatever comes from it. If you do not actively work to give me those proceeds, I have the right to take them from you by force. If you resist my taking them by force, I have the right to send thugs to violently dominate you and throw you in a cage. If my thugs are unable to violently dominate you, they have the right to kill you." Adversarial frameworks like this minimize the probability of mutually beneficial outcomes. Most people, when faced with such a framework, prefer to just censor themselves, and everyone loses.
A cooperative framework would set up something like a payment splitter built into Amazon where content creators can list out the people whose works they borrowed from and send them a portion of whatever they make. Amazon could also have a policy saying "If you use someone's work without listing them as a source, you'll be banned from our platform" and people will gladly list their sources because it's more profitable to list on Amazon (where all the buyers are) and split profits; than to create your own store, market it so people can find it, deal with the PR nightmare of being an ass who won't share revenues with creators, but keep all of the meager profits. Everyone's needs get met, and there's no need to do immoral things like hurt people who don't cooperate.
And if someone does go rogue and just refuses to cooperate, let him be. He's not actually hurting you, so why should you be able to hurt him? That guy will probably never exist, and even if he does, you'll waste a lot more money and, more importantly, time, trying to force him to do what you want rather than simply ignoring him. If he's super successful, spend a little money on an ad campaign telling the truth about him, and his loss of profits due to customers just not liking him (the profit loss from negative perception is enormous; people avoid buying from people they don't like) will be incentive enough for him to start cooperating. Or, list his designs on your Amazon store (turnabout's fair play, yeah?) where he doesn't have an account and thus can't report you. Even if he did, Amazon would side with you, whether because you're in the moral right, or simply because it's more profitable for them to take your side because you're paying them to run your store and he's not.
In virtually all areas of life, you will get a lot further by trying to cooperate with people than by threatening them. In the exceptional cases, you'll get a lot further by playing smart than by playing violent.
The opposite is true. When you understand that your creative work is protected from theft it gives producers the ability to make a living doing what they love. And it gives investors the opportunity to invest in creative projects without fear of people stealing the idea. Pirating is immoral and destroys creativity. Btw the steemit code is protected by a license.
Misleading headline, nowhere on this article does it show you being an idiot.
I'm sorry you felt that way, But I feel like an idiot for not understanding that using keywords that are copyright/trademarked is not okay. Which seems somewhat obvious.
I was trying to just say in a witty way that you're obviously not an idiot. Didn't come across as intended, sorry.
Oops thank you !!! Lol. Dang it, It's so hard to show emotion through computer haha.
Sure?
;) <3
ah damn, that sucks. can you talk to someone over there? After all, you know what you did wrong and you know what not to do in the future. Most importantly, you feel sorry about it, so you should indeed deserve another shot at it. best of wishes Lin!
Thank you !! I sent them an email. They said they'd respond in a month. Which seems like a long wait. But they kept my current T shirts live, So I think they may consider. If not I'll contact them again.
What a lovely post Kaylin and a great but sad story. Only hope that Amazon might listen and understand. Good luck
Thank you ! I hope so too! I wasn't deliberately trying to break the rules, it just sort of happened.. I'm hoping they'll be understanding about that.
@kaylinart it's not stupid it's maybe a hard lesson learned but don't call it stupid
its from making mistakes that we learn isn't it
I do hope you get another chance and if not in Amazon - maybe here?
besides, you've learned your lessons already
I wish you luck
Thank you!! I did!! I would never make that mistake again. I have ideas on how to check everything I do to ensure it complies.
Here would probably work well too. I would just need to find a good POD company to print the shirts ;) good idea!!
mas acredite tudo é possível quando desejamos algo novo
Everyone makes mistakes. If you learn from them, you aren't an idiot and you won't make them again.
Aww thank you! I'm definitely going to make sure I don't make that scary mistake again.
You obviously have talent with designs that stand out and appeal,so although Amazon are huge and can be independent, I'm sure if you approach them again in a short while, especially if you can find a person to specifically address,they have been known to relent. Ivor@90
I hope so!! My designs are selling really well. I Feel like I could help make both Amazon and I good money! LOl.
There are other ways to sell stuff :) good luck with it, Tamara
Definitely! But the Amazon audience is a big one So If I can stay tapped into it, I definitely want to. Lol.
I hear you - I made the mistake of letting a 'friend' use my ebay account once and he sold a heap of stuff then didn't send them out and kept the oney. As a result I was thrown off and banned for five years and up until then had run a very successful shop selling babies clothing. I was devastated but I was also addicted to it and then had to change my ways and get rid of the 'friend'. Sometimes things happen for a reason :)
OMG! I was banned from ebay too.
I can't believe your friend did that. I'm sure Ebay didn't let him keep the money, Right?
I don't get why people go on to scam, Because usually it bites them in the butt later.
Were you ever able to get back on Ebay? New account maybe?
hi ya - he kept the money, withdrew all of it from paypal, moved house and didnt give me his new address and locked me out of my own ebay account by changing the password. I managed to shut down paypal and had to email all of the buyers to mop his mess up, and to get his new address. I was locked out for over five years, until my name eventually fell off their alert system. They suspended my account, I sent all my ID papers off to Ebay in Ireland - twice to get them to give me access again, then one day I tried to log in with my name as a password and it let me in again. He also withdrew all of the cash in my australian bank account and overdrew it, and I had loads of charges to pay for which i put on my credit card. Then my credit card was overdrawn and I had to take out a Trust Deed to pay it all back. It was a total nightmare that I have only just recovered from now - 7 years later!
Holy cow!!
Ughh.. What a horrible person for doing that. I can't believe a "friend" could be so rotten.
IP, like it's ugly cousin taxation, is petty theft.
It is :(