You are creating designs and you want to sell them on POD products. You are considering Society6 or Redbubble. Which should you go with?
You could open a shop at each, but if you want to choose one or the other, hopefully my comparison will help you to decide.
Society6
- Many mockups are bland and uninteresting.
- One mockup for most products.
- No pet products (bowls, pet bandanas, mats) other than pet art.
- Somewhat laborious new design upload, 3 initial image dimensions required to enable most products.
- Products editing is time-consuming, separate editing window opens, must open another separate window within editing window to see real-time edits.
- No Set Background Color product editing feature.
- No choose pattern feature.
- Lower profit margins on most products than Redbubble.
- Giftwrap and wallpaper products available.
- Drapes and sheers available.
- No hardcover journals or postcards products.
- No kiss-cut stickers.
- No all-over print aprons.
- Nice 2nd greeting card mockup.
- Boring shower curtain mockup.
- Standard apparel products.
- Have to sign back in whenever I visit site.
- No lifestyle templates promotional feature.
- No download original image/design feature.
- No activity feed.
- To like designs you have to click into the design page.
- No copy current design to create new listing feature.
- Takes extended time for listing page (Manage Posts) to load all products.
- Has warning popups regarding possible copyright offenses.
Redbubble
- Pretty mockups, rooms and better perspectives.
- Several mockups for most products.
- Pet products (bowls, pet bandanas, mats), a big marketing niche.
- Easy and fast new design upload, only 1 initial image required to enable most products.
- Products editing is swift and easy, editing window opens up immediately within all products window, real-time edits can be seen (while editing) on product in all products window without closing editing window.
- Set background color editing feature, useful for designs that do not cover entire product surface, can set background color to blend in with design.
- Choose pattern tiling feature, regular or offset.
- Higher profit margins on most products than Society6.
- No giftwrap or wallpaper products.
- No drapes or sheers
- Hardcover journals and postcards products available.
- Kiss-cut stickers available.
- All-over print aprons available.
- Boring greeting card mockup.
- Pretty shower curtain mockups.
- More variety of apparel products.
- Never have to sign back in.
- Lifestyle templates smart layers promotional feature to mockup products and share to social media.
- Download original image/design feature.
- Has personal activity feed making it convenient to see who follows and likes.
- You can like designs from the thumbnails.
- Copy current design (which includes enabled products and settings) to create new listing. Great for variations.
- Listing page (Manage Designs) loads fairly quickly.
- Shop is closed if RB detects a copyright offense.
I like the variety of products at Society6, especially the drapes, sheers and outdoor products. I like Redbubble's pet products and how quickly I can list a new design. I recently returned to S6 because I missed their products so much.
I also returned because one of my two RB shops was immediately closed down because of a copyright offense of which I was unaware. It was not regarding licensed products but was because of a name I had given one of my crafted items that I had scanned and uploaded as a digital. Someone had copyrighted that name. You can search copyrights at this site United States Patent And Trademark Office.
Losing that shop taught me a lesson. I should be checking all of my special product names before offering the corresponding images for sale. I don't check my generic-named images. The image that caused me to lose my RB shop was named Treetown. It is a whimsical, watercolor painting that I had done years ago. After RB emailed that I had lost my shop, I went to the Trademark Office site and searched. I found several copyrights for the word Treetown, Tree Town, TreeTown. Some where by the same person. Others were not but I guess there was a difference in the registration that allowed the word to be registered by various people.
When I uploaded my watercolor painting image and used my old name for it, Treetown, RB detected it and my shop was immediately shut down. RB does not give the designer much recourse. One thing that they tell you in the email is that if you should write to protest, they don't even have to read or accept your email. I guess they just don't have time because of all of the copyright offenses, those that are intentional and unintentional. It is the designer's responsibility to ensure that no one has copyrighted the name of their design.
I think I had over 100 designs when my shop was shut down. I was so proud of all of the work that I had done. I was in shock after I lost my shop. I did not try to contact RB to apologize and try to have it reopened. I decided to reopen my S6 shop (I'd closed it in Jan 2023 not long after I'd opened it) and I'm in the process of uploading most of the designs that had been at the RB shop. I need to rename my Treetown painting and check the name at the Trademark office before I list it.
I currently have a shop at both. By the time you read this post, who knows? You can take a peek if you want to see how I've laid mine out.
Draw Nigh To Hope Redbubble
Draw Nigh To Hope Society6
