Feedback on changes to the Spoonflower marketplace

Comments

#7

I am a long-time Spoonflower designer and these changes affect me. The search feature is particularly bad!

Jen Robinson (Ploeuc l’Hermitage, 2023-11-23)

#8

I am a designer who sees room for a more functional platform for both designers and customers.

Nickleen Mosher (Nantucket, 2023-11-23)

#10

The numbers don’t work with the 25 designs a week limitation for existing shops. I have great concerns about poor quality prints from new designers. There should be a minimum paid swatch order to teach them what works, what doesn’t and how to repeat a design correctly. Allowing AI designs is also a huge quality control issue and works directly against real human designers. All these changes along with our commission getting reduced with every sale has left me searching elsewhere for a new marketplace for my designs. Very discouraged especially since I just paid for proofs for over a hundred new designs. I see some of the changes as being productive and other changes as a big F you to the designers that are the heart of SF.

Carol Jeffrey (Missoula, 2023-11-23)

#12

I have a shop, Ronya Lake, on Spoonflower with 9000+ designs listed. It took me 3 years of full-time work. I have organized my collections by color swatch and de-listing with a 25 limit re-list will take me 6 years to rebuild my collections. I have a website where I write about sewing and interior design, and link to designs in my shop. If designs are de-listed it will create hundreds of broken links on my website, and be confusing for potential customers.

Marta Herfst (Victoria, 2023-11-23)

#15

We all want Spoonflower to succeed. The announced changes as stated will be harmful to designers, customers, and small businesses, as well as to Spoonflower as a whole. Please take these suggestions into consideration.

Brittany Allen (Kennewick, 2023-11-23)

#16

While I agree with most of the points made in the letter, I don't think the physical prints are necessary. I've already spent enough on fabric samples piling up in my office.
Also, if there could be a separate relisting quota, say 30-50 per week, in addition to the 25 new per week listing, that would be much appreciated. Most of my designs have multiple colorways and companion prints I would like to be able to have available to the customer.
I hope Spoonflower works on the functionality of its search engine. While I realize this is a big task, it is a real issue in searching for anything- designer or design. Also having more control over collections, page positioning, categories and finally be able to add images of projects sent to us from makers would be great!
Thank you for your consideration.

Cheryl Graham (Mooresville, 2023-11-23)

#17

Please consider the voices of your artist community on these very important changes!

Melissa Polomsky (The woodlands, 2023-11-23)

#21

I agree wholeheartedly with this letter. I’ve spent hundreds of hours (due to your incredibly SLOW website) and a TON of money getting my designs uploaded, tagged, titled and into collections. I’m sick of having to upload every design 3 times to offer different sizes of the scale. This is something your company could EASILY fix with programming. De-listing our designs is a big screw-you to we designers who literally MAKE YOUR COMPANY. WITHOUT US THERE IS NO SPOONFLOWER. How about you fix your problems first and then worry about our designs.

Marcy Brennan (Fort Pierce, 2023-11-23)

#22

I am signing as a relatively new Spoonflower artist (almost 3 yrs). While some of my first designs do need a refresh or recolor, many of my designs do not have hearts or sales because I am just now figuring out SEO and marketing of my fabrics. I was excited to have some of my designs included in the color variation test and look forward to the possibility of maybe a scale option as well. I hope you do take the time to read our suggestions in this post and on Facebook and help us help you so the customers can find the pieces they want.

Kellie Berger (CYPRESS, 2023-11-23)

#23

As a designer, I am in agreement with everything stated above and I would appreciate the improvements in this new system as stated above.

Joan Samons (Uniontown, 2023-11-23)

#30

I am signing because I am a SF designer, and the proposed changes SF wants to make will negatively impact 98% of my still new shop (3 years)

Terri Conrad (Santa Clarita, 2023-11-23)

#31

As a newer Spoonflower designer I know it takes time to be found and start to make sales. I waited until I had a solid number of designs ready to start my shop so when the delisting starts I will lose the will of my listings. I believe it is nearly impossible as a new designer to get 50 customer likes on each design so this stipulation is just creating a flurry of designers doing like for likes rather than it being customer based feedback.
I hope that you can reconsider the relisting being counted in the 25 designs per week.

Spoonflower’s customs experience would be greatly improved if one design listing showed the multiple colourways and scales available it linked these together.
Thank you

Cheryl Bruce Bruce (Wamberal, 2023-11-23)

#32

I am in agreement with the statements made in this letter.

Hali MacLaren (Portsmouth, 2023-11-23)

#34

Please do not penalize shops who have worked very hard to make coordinates and collections that will take forever to build back under the new 25/week rule. Let us thoughtfully control our delists/stagnants outside of the 25 rule.

Kristen Drozdowski (Virginia, 2023-11-23)

#35

Spoonflower is in business to make money, I get that. Are these changes you are proposing going to improve your bottom line? I think not. They punish designers and I feel will do very little to improve the shopping experience for customers. FIX YOUR SEARCH ENGINE, it is a disgrace.

Zoe Feast (Chicago, 2023-11-23)

#36

As a designer who has been working hard to get my library of patterns available, these changes will discriminate against me. Will SF reimburse the money I have spent to have my designs available?

Leanne Payne (Coal Point, 2023-11-23)

#38

I feel there should be a requirement for new designers to complete a set number of paid proofs before being moved into the free digital proof only category. My thought is to limit a flood of new ai shops being set up. Better search engine would be of great benefit. My shop name has never come up when searched for, this shouldn't happen.

Karen Armstrong Bottorff (Madera, 2023-11-24)

#39

I agree that there ought to be many factors and approaches to culling or streamlining the overall inventory by thinning out poorly selling or low quality designs and/or abandoned shops, but consideration for all of us active artists needs to be prioritized.

Jeanette Parks (Olympia, 2023-11-24)

#43

I am signing because I fully agree wit the text of petition.
Ludmila from DJV studio

Ludmila Linhartová (Prague, 2023-11-24)

#47

I'm concerned about Spoonflower's changes

Ester Bernaldo de Quirós (Zizur Mayor, 2023-11-24)

#49

I agree with all of the above statements

Melina Lubcke (Two Wells, 2023-11-24)

#50

This petition is very well written and perfectly reflects and sums up all of my own thoughts, concerns, opinions, and ideas about the upcoming changes to Spoonflower.

Tammy Eckert (Hanover, 2023-11-24)

#57

I'm signing because I agree with the petition that the proposed changes will only hurt artists. Please reconsider them. Instead, get rid of AI "art" and provide all artists the rescale/colorways options. The changes are not only going to hurt the artists, but Spoonflower as well, as you will have many talented artists leave and all you will have will be a bunch of AI "artists" and people who just enter random things in the challenge that have nothing to do with the prompt.

I have no problem with limiting the number of new uploads per week (with the new digital (proofing), however, I have a HUGE problem with delisting our designs that we paid for as an investment in our business. If you insist on the delisting, do NOT including relisting already paid for proof slots in the 25 per week limit.

Shari Armstrong (Bedford, 2023-11-24)

#58

I think Spoonflower could implement many of the changes in a more logical order. Better analytics and an improved search engine before delisting designs. Physical proofing required for new designers for the first 12 months of their new shop.

Jacky Hood (Toronto, 2023-11-24)

#60

Even though I'm a new seller I agree with everything that has been said about the delisting and relisting issues.

Jo Richardson (Dumfries, 2023-11-24)

#63

Six years and 300+ designs. Proofing costs and massive time spent marketing, I am only now beginning to see a few sales. If most or all of my investment is going to be deleted based on an algorithm, then WHY invest my creative time in Spoonflower?

Nancy Worrell (Tallahassee, 2023-11-24)

#65

I am interested in using Spoonflower for my business in the future, and would find it hard to build my business if my designs were continuously taken down without notification, so I can plan accordingly. Especially if it is a design that hasn't had enough exposure time to sell.

Andrea Packard (Corvallis, 2023-11-24)

#66

I agree with the contents of this petition and have concerns many of my designs will be delisted. I feel Spoonflower needs to update their search function first. It has been a problem the entire time I have been on the platform, since 2009. Shop villaparkhearts.

Angela Yoder (Tacoma, 2023-11-25)

#67

I am one of those with several hundred designs, who has been on Spoonflower for several years, and love these ideas.

Misty Nosset (Blacklick, 2023-11-25)

#71

I think this de-listing designs needs a rethink for artists whose business is 5 years old or younger as it takes time to get a business going and being discovered. Also offering a better website for clients to search should be the first step - NOT penalizing the artists who have put in all the hard work and money (for swatches/proofs).

Also get rid of AI designs and accounts first!!!

Lisette Niemand (Beaufort, 2023-11-25)

#73

I agree with all of your suggestions to Spoonflower. I would also ask for greater opportunities to link mock-ups used for social media to exact fabrics and collections from that artist.

Katie Stern (Custer, 2023-11-25)

#75

I agree with the petition and would like Spoonflower to consider the opinions of their artists.

Rebecca Leavitt (The Villages, 2023-11-25)

#77

I am not very active with marketing of my designs and have spent more than 2 years building up my shop but have not sold many of my designs to date.
I also believe new designers should have a minimum number of designs they need to proof as self taught I got it wrong even when I thought I got it right.

Alison Wilkinson (Turramurra, 2023-11-26)

#93

I agree with all statements above.

Sina OK (Australia, 2023-11-30)

#97

I'm signing because I have nearly 200 designs proofed and listed as a new designer within the last couple of years as I began to try to establish a design practice. Probably 50% of those will be delisted without my consent and I will have to relist them all on rotation at 25 per week, meaning that there will. inevitably always be some of some collections missing at all times. No doubt you folks have some pruning that needs to be done, but I feel unhappy about how it is being done, especially when things like search function are still quite basic.

Claire Brennan (Lisburn, 2023-12-01)

#98

I feel this letter outlines many of the questions and concerns of Spoonflower's large and diverse designing community

Eleanor Ramsay (Somerville, 2023-12-01)

#105

My Spoonflower shop is named nancy_lee_moran_designs.

Nancy Lee Moran (Auburn, 2023-12-04)

#107

I can see the sense in these arguments. It is very disruptive. I am a new designer (April 2023) but I already feel the panic. Can Spoonflower start a sister company where new designers could get their feet under them, which would pretty effectively weed out quite a lot of incoming designs? Anyway, I think the whole issue could use a second look and input from long term designers who have been with Spoonflower many years and will be the most heavily impacted by these changes.

Dana Ecelberger (White Rock, 2023-12-05)

#122

I am signing this petition because I have a shop on Spoonflower.

Jill Kofton (Deer Isle, 2024-07-19)



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