RedBubble Tag Spammers are Ruining The Site for Designers & Customers (Print on Demand)

[@youssefkaafarani2408]

I suggest everyone watching this video to send an email to Redbubble support and telling them about this problem maybe they will do something. . Edit: Also you guys can go to Phil latest video ( Channel name: The Money Game) and click the link in the description that will take you to Twitter with a ready to post tweet about this topic.

[@LisaIrby]

Gonna pin this comment. I agree.

[@digima3972]

As a spammer on redbubble i want to say fk u Let us make money

[@sebastiancarter9322]

I’m so glad to see KZbin people like you and Shimmy Morris making videos about this. It’s such a problem, and the best way to make Redbubble actually take notice and do something about this is with respected voices in the POD community shining a light on this problem. Thank you! 🙏🙏

[@LisaIrby]

That’s what I was hoping. Thank you. It’s sad talented designers aren’t getting designs seen because of spammers.

[@RoguePixel]

Thanks for addressing this Lisa. The spamming makes things so much harder for everyone. I really hope something is done by RB

[@shimmymorris1]

Thanks for the shoutout! Couldn’t agree more. Done a whole bunch of research and going to bring out another video on spamming. It’s so much worse than I thought

[@jackingramonline5333]

We definitely gotta get Redbubble's attention on this!!! You have inspired me to also make a video on this topic first thing tomorrow Lisa. Keep up all the great work 😊

[@LisaIrby]

Go for it Jack!! 👍🏽 The more the better.

[@huntrrams]

I'm so happy both you and Shimmy are addressing this issue!

[@esseff]

Thank you for talking about this! Every single trending topic is buried by spam, it’s brutal.

[@RyanHoguePassiveIncome]

Thanks for keeping it real about setting up multiple income streams and not thinking any one print on demand business will set you free from working a 9 to 5 👍

[@LisaIrby]

Hey Ryan! You bet. Can’t get complacent out here. Keep doing your thing! Thanks for stopping by!

[@oooBoEoNooo]

Hey Ryan! No offense, but also you show in your videos how much you can earn with Pod. This leads many to believe that with a pod business you can be free from a normal 9-5 job. That may not have been your intention. But when someone is looking for hope, they grasp at any straw, read between the lines and misinterpret information. You guys with the big pod channels should point out much more that it all doesn't work that way.

[@RyanHoguePassiveIncome]

@@oooBoEoNooo Im fully transparent about how I reached those numbers and fully transparent that I would never quit my job without multiple income streams 👍 it's up to people to watch my actually videos and look beyond just the numbers. I also want to inspire people to make their own money which is > being reliant on a pay check 10/10 times 👍

[@oooBoEoNooo]

@@RyanHoguePassiveIncome Hello Ryan. I don't doubt your transparency. You want people to look beyond the numbers. That's a great intention. But: many people are seduced by numbers and do not act far-sightedly. Because often people are looking for an additional income opportunity, like the pod business, because of a financial need. And in such a situation, people tend to act unwisely or they like to be seduced. Therefore, many more KZbinrs should clearly point out in their videos that this business is not as easy as some would hope.

[@kaorumugen991]

Depending on where you live and your store, it's absolutely possible for a single POD store to replace a 9-5 job. I get and agree with the core point of what you're saying, you shouldn't ever _rely_ on a single source of income (POD or otherwise) long term because if that goes up in flames for any reason you're totally screwed, but in terms of income potential you absolutely can replace a 9-5 with a single POD store. And doing so can free up a ton of time to start working on that 2nd, 3rd or 4th stream of income. If you're working a 9-5 and managing a POD store on top of that, you don't really have the time to work on much else.

[@Jivolt]

I was just thinking this same thing for the past 6 months. Spammers can suck it. They flood not only the trending tags but every other tag that has nothing to do with their designs.

[@LisaIrby]

Yes, and that hurts everyone....the designers and RedBubble. And it's always been bad but it's REALLY gotten bad in the last couple of months now that people are learning about trends.

[@HishamDesigns]

I reached out to redbubble months ago about this and their response was like " the artists are welcome to use any tags, once it relates to their design and they can actually use the tags as many times as they like" I couldn't bring myself to accept it. It's sad to see this happen. People like Juna (Detour Shirts), Phil (The Money Game), and a few others are doing content related to these RB trends, they're doing a good job, but once they show a trend BOOM!!! RB explodes with spammers.

[@LisaIrby]

Yes, yes, yes. And I hope this video didn't come across as coming down on the "trend video" makers. I understand their hustle and I have respect for them as they just want to diversify their income just like I do. Plus, their videos seem to help a lot of people. It's just sad that the lazy spammers take advantage of this info and ruin it for the rest.

[@LisaIrby]

@@troyyarbrough Interesting. Google is probably seeing spammy tactics and low quality links so they are getting punished. I can definitely see that.

[@HishamDesigns]

@@troyyarbrough Indeed, google is all about good healthy keywords and when they spot something odd, they get rid of it prioritizing those who do it by the rules. If not imagine what would happen to the search results

[@HishamDesigns]

@@LisaIrby True that! I totally respect them for being transparent and providing value. The problem is with the ones who're exploiting this. Hope RedBubble will look take this seriously

[@LVNavyaSree]

hey Lisa , I saw most of your videos related to RB today it was really helpful for me as I always wanted to start small business like this. I have learned many things from your videos and it really encouraged me to start POD on Redbubble. But I really don't have idea of how to deal with spam on the website and what spammers do to our shop. I haven't started my shop yet on any platform because I saw same kind of problems with Tee spring which scared me .But I'm very excited to start with RB after watching your videos. Thanks for making this video, will be waiting for more updates on this topic .

[@LisaIrby]

You'll be fine as long as you approach this as a true business and not rely on the temporary traffic these platforms provide. Most people who get into this plan to only rely on the free traffic. That's fine for starters, but that will run out no matter the platform. So set a plan to target an underserved niche/audience and build a site/social media platform around the shop and you'll have longer term success. No one really talks about this because it takes more time. The ironic thing about earning online is the methods that seem popular, flashy and easy rarely work for people long term. The methods that are slower and don't draw in as much attention are the ones most people should be using. That's always bothered me about the "make money online" space. Nothing wrong with trends or shorter-term techniques, but plan to build something larger with staying power....a true brand that serves a niche.

[@TheMoneyGame]

This spamming issue is starting to plague the site, I really hope this type of videos bring neccessary attention needed to finally fix the issue. Thank you for sharing your take on the matter Lisa 🙂

[@LisaIrby]

Thanks so much. Someone told me here in the comments that you addressed this as well. That’s great! All POD creators should bring attention to this. Good for you! 👍🏽👍🏽 Maybe that will make a difference and we’ll get RB’s attention.

[@renniepalmer5564]

Really appreciate you addressing this, Lisa! Thank you. I hope RB gives this some much needed attention.

[@LisaIrby]

Thanks Rennie!

[@lubavazel]

This tag spamming situation is horrible especially for those who are starting out. I am super happy you've covered this issue!❤Thanks a lot👐

[@rajpramanik8435]

Thank you for addressing this... I have talked about it in various social media groups and we are really disappointed on it... I hope every influencers come together and do something about it

[@LisaIrby]

Hopefully RB will listen.

[@scottrogers6436]

This video came up on my feed this morning at the right time. I have really been angry with Redbubble recently. Not only for tag spamming but for people who infringe on copyrighted images. Over the weekend Redbubble pulled one of my designs, a painting I did in watercolor of a cactus in a pot! They since have reversed the flag and it's back up but to call out a hand painted cactus that I did for copyright while if you search "super hero" the amount of Marvel and DC copyright infringement is mindblowing! And don't event start with Star Wars! Why does Redbubble allow this? I would think they could get sued by Disney and other companies for this.

[@DeeCee84]

I'm glad big shops like you are discussing this because my shop got shut down because they thought I was a spam account. Never got that account back and had to start all over 🤦🏽‍♀️. I'm seriously considering leaving RB alone.

[@LisaIrby]

Sorry to hear that Dee. Someone just mentioned they have a new CEO so maybe that will help. Fingers crossed!!

[@pythonjava6228]

Totally. I will often initially be on the first page of most relevant until the tag spammers show up and push me off

[@OldHag73]

I'm just venting a bit. I am so frustrated with RedBubble. I do products with photos I take here at home. Nature photos. And I keep getting my own photos taken down for review. I keep getting them back but it is so frustrating to see people posting photos of celebrities that they googled and just put on t-shirts or take images from games like Among Us or from movies and they make good money from it. Here I am trying to take a good frost picture out in the cold and constantly get taken down for review. I don't follow trends either, I just create so that's my bad for not getting seen I guess. Sure, I make other things too and not only photos and still learning, but at least trying my best to follow copyright and trademark laws and not copy others. So seeing photos taken from google and websites put on products frustrates me like hekk.

[@LisaIrby]

I hear ya! THAT is the part that really sucks. People like you who are working hard to put out original art, gets hidden. Yet people stealing end up making more. I do believe in Karma and I believe things will work out in the end. Let's hope now that creators are speaking out, it will get some attention. Spamming may work for a minute, but it never lasts so let's hope the days of tag spamming are numbered. The bigger issue with the celebs is RB is also making money and unfortunately it seems that's why they've been slow to react. I hope I'm wrong but I think that's a part of it.

[@OldHag73]

@@LisaIrby well, if they make money it seem to be slow to fix things that is making it hard on creators and easy for cheaters, and redbubble isn't the only platform with that type of issues. Still frustrating.

[@LisaIrby]

@@OldHag73 Very true. There's a bigger problem at play here. They are still making good money off infringement and these spammy practices..and lots of it. But this spammy issue hurts them too. Irrelevant listings confuse customers and lowers conversions. Let's hope they fix it soon.

[@hardikarora8320]

If my design is about dog then using tags like Dog, dog lover, dog dad, dog mom, dog owner, dog puns, dog mother Is it tag spamming?

[@LisaIrby]

I would use dog once in the tags and then in my description I might say something about a dog mom, dog dad, etc. but even in the description I’d be conservative about repeating it too much. Just write naturally.

[@Jivolt]

A while back, RedBubble stopped allowing users from certain countries and the spamming and copycats slowed down drastically. Then Redbubble eased those restrictions and spamming and copycats is running rampant again.

[@LisaIrby]

Interesting! Didn't know this, John.

[@relaxingsoundsandmusic9905]

I just did a random search for one of my designs and found that someone not only stole it exactly, but they are higher than I am in the search because they spammed the keywords. I haven't even sold that one yet!😡

[@LisaIrby]

The sad thing is the non spammers are realizing they also have to spam just to get their designs seen. Sad!!! Sorry that happened to you. Please RB! Do something.

[@relaxingsoundsandmusic9905]

@@LisaIrby Thank you Lisa!

[@michelesantos4247]

Hello Lisa, Today I made my first sale on redbuble, after three long months and a bunch of research it finally happened just like you sad on your videos I sold a sticker, thanks Lisa you truly provide a great content.

[@LisaIrby]

Congrats!!!🎉🎈

[@flickingerstudios2426]

Thank you for your excellent videos! I have a question about Canva and CMKY colors...I don't have photoshop. I design in Canva. How do I make sure the colors I'm using in Canva are CMYK and not RGB? Is there a way to make a CMKY color palette? Is there already a CMKY color palette in Canva? How do we make sure that the Canva elements we want to use in a t-shirt design is CMKY friendly? Thank you!!

[@LisaIrby]

Unfortunately I'm not really sure if you can adjust the Canva settings.

[@junquette3000]

Happy New Year -- I hit the like button before you started talking! Glad you did a video on this as well. The spammy tags annoy me both as a developing creator and and buyer on the site.

[@elvis723]

I agree. As a new redbubbler I've noticed that people are just repeating the same word or phrase 20 plus times using them as their key words. They are ranking on the first page making really difficult for us newbies to get our art work seen. This has to stop! It's horrible that the people that actually follow the rules are the ones that get punished by not getting seen. Luckily , with all this going on, I was able to sell 3 products in my first month. However, I don't see this being a lasting side hustle unless redbubble fixes this. Also the amount of "artists" that are simply using trademarked designs, logos, and phrases are also getting ranked on the first page and have top selling items. Obviously redbubble isn't monitoring any of this. That's why I also started to sell on Merch by Amazon. They are strict with trademark infringement and at least gives us a much better chance to get our art seen.

[@LisaIrby]

And Amazon has done a much better job of adjusting their algorithm to combat spam. It’s gotten soooooo much better from when I started four years ago.

[@janeporter1283]

Lisa, you are on it. Thank you for letting this be known.

[@hadjer168]

Please can you tell me whats spamming to avoid it ? Im new to RB Thanks

[@emma8370]

Spam is a big problem. But also I’m amazed at the dreadful designs, like something tiny slapped in the middle of an all over print shirt or a fuzzy low pixel image of one word, 1000s of them for a customer to trawl through, just because someone thought they could make a quick buck by doing 5 mins work. Don’t these so called designers ever look at their finished products, don’t they ask themselves “would I buy that?”. By the way, I’ve had many more sales since I’ve started using 15 relevant tags - thanks for that video :-)

[@LisaIrby]

Exactly. But they don’t care. They have the mentality that quantity is better than quality. The quick buck mentality ruins so many things. So glad my tag tip helped. 😀😀

[@ecomglobal]

Redbubble artist support team has responded to me and they said that they don’t consider it spam if the tag is relevant then people can use it as much as they like. It’s really frustrating

[@LisaIrby]

Terrible. It’s clear they don’t care.

[@kaycordingly2437]

I gave up on Redbubble. My most popular niche got so flooded that I would add a new design and by the end of the day it would be 30 designs down. After a week, it would be lost in a sea of designs, never to be seen again.

[@limitless_greatness]

You have so much knowledge.. thank you for sharing 🤙🏽❤️💯👏🏽

[@dportis47]

That color looks so good on you. Happy new year 🥳

[@LisaIrby]

Thanks! ☺️ HNY!

[@Meloyadina]

Happy New Year. I agree 1000%. I've done many businesses in my life, from experience I see the signs with RB. I spent last week really trying to decide how to move forward with POD, cause I really like it. But RB will lose customers (not just sellers) in the long run if they don't nip dis mess in d bud.

[@LisaIrby]

Exactly!

[@o.cfrancis1475]

I think this pandemic has taught people the importance of multiple streams of income unfortunately having a job doesn't mean security. So I really appreciate your transparency

[@joshwinter7172]

I totally agree with you, it's been an eye opening experience for alot of people

[@tommarcos7010]

Bitcoin trading is really a life changer, I couldn't believe it could be so profiting urge.

[@LisaIrby]

Yep! Soooooo true! I remember getting the side-eye from coworkers when I left my job in 2006. I knew what I was getting into but I just had to learn to adjust my lifestyle so I can be comfortable and I have no regrets.

[@nelsoneverest1660]

Investing in crypto is the only lucrative way of making money

[@LisaIrby]

@@nelsoneverest1660 Well I've had some very lucrative months with POD in the last 4 years, but it's harder to replicate that now.

[@dinagalall]

I joined a few days ago and when i was seeing other people's tags i was shocked and honestly a little discouraged. How can i promote my shop? can i do it on facebook groups or is it against the rules?

[@LisaIrby]

I honestly don't see this problem in most of the niches I am in. I only noticed it when people pointed it out to me and showed me screenshots. It is definitely a problem, but seems to affect some niches more than others. RedBubble encourages you to promote your shop. I get a lot of traffic through Pinterest. I also have a website that is related to my shop that is slowly starting to rank in Google. That's the beauty of a having a long-term strategy and choosing to serve an audience/niche over time. My goal was never to only focus on RedBubble traffic. I decided to build a brand with social media, etc. That's the best way for the long run.

[@saeefa]

I've been on Redbubble and Teepublic for 5-6 years and sites like Redbubble started for artists, and its no longer about us, I spend so much time making original content and sits in the shop for years with no sale, i stay away from fan art and copyright work because as an artist it I draw from my imagination and its hard to get your work out their in front of customers because it isn't a trending topic or design, i've always wanted to join Etsy but have been to scared and nervous but im ready to join as its more artist friendly

[@LisaIrby]

Yeah I always think about the artists who started before the POD arena got crowded. I bet it's changed a lot since back then. I've been on since late 2016, but I wasn't as active then.

[@saeefa]

@@LisaIrby The market has gotten more saturated, however If I'd known all the things I know now, I would have had more success with Redbubble today,

[@LisaIrby]

@@saeefa The best thing I did was not rely fully on RedBubble traffic. Not many people talk about this, but this is the key to earning long-term with your art.

[@saeefa]

@@LisaIrby It’s a tricky one, because people either make their money through organic sales or promoting, in my particular case, I made majority of my sales because Redbubble featured me a couple of time a few years ago, now there’s this misconception that if you are featured, you are making hundreds of sales which is not true, from my experience you are guaranteed to make at least 8-15 sales through the time you are featured. However after that your designs are somewhat easier to search for. Now if my design was featured in the day of Black Friday, I’m sure I would see more sales than the average feature. When it comes to promotion, it’s never worked for me, years of promoting on Instagram and never worked for me, I heard Pinterest is better but it’s a very confusing site

[@LisaIrby]

@@saeefa Yep Pinterest is what I use. Love it!! I have some videos on my channel.

[@ReviewAlcove]

Have they fixed that clustercluck yet? I stopped uploading when the tagspamming started.

[@LisaIrby]

Nope. But I do evergreen niches and don’t run into that problem as much as people who do trends.

[@ReviewAlcove]

@@LisaIrby I'm still working on getting more evergreen.

[@GB-tr5uj]

What r Ur thought about automation tools some shop owners to upload their designs in a sec....is it not something we need to address..they are taking undue advantage of the platform also.

[@LisaIrby]

I'm not a big fan of automation tools because it encourages low-quality volume uploads. However, I understand the benefits as well. But this could all be remedied with an algorithm tweak. Lessen the impact of tags and increase the impact of the click to sale ratio. When you do that, the low quality, irrelevant designs won't rank because they won't sell or get clicked often enough.

[@RJMartinez]

Yo! Lisa

[@LisaIrby]

RJ!! What’s uuuup! Thank you. Happy New Year to you as well. 😃😃

[@amirloucif]

happy new year Lisa...we missed you and defiantly we sow that problem .. hope that redbubble fix it ..and definitely they should go with Amazon's approach ...like refreshing their index and all so that new Artist will have the chance ..at least to make some kind of profit .. maybe that will help with preventing spamming and all that ..

[@LisaIrby]

Happy New Year Amir! I'd love to see them implement the Trust Score that Teespring uses. You basically earn your rank over time by sales, lack of takedowns, etc, etc. They also need to tweak their algorithm and put less weight on tags. It shouldn't be that easy to manipulate a rank. Make it about title and conversions and that will eliminate a lot of spam. That's why so many search engines like Google put minimal weight on keyword tags and MBA doesn't even have one.. They are easily manipulated.

[@amirloucif]

@@LisaIrby yes ..I definitely agree with that lisa and the guy from TheMoneyGame channel lunched a tweet urging everyone to make it visible to the redbubble team check it out lisa and he should a really interesting email that someone sent to them..basically it's all fine with them and they don't seem like they are going to do anything about it :kzbin.info/www/bejne/rYu8Z4uIi9JreZo

[@rogerlunn1969]

Redbubble Spamming Issue. I noticed in the dashboard there is a group of face icons. If you click on the angry face it pops up with a box asking why. If we can get everyone to hit the angry icon and complain about spamming that might wake them up. Just an idea to add to the attempts to fix the issue.

[@campusmadhouse7214]

Thanks Lisa! The KZbin channel "TheMoneyGame" also just made a video (titled: "Redbubble Need To Fix This!" with actual examples) on the same point. We all need to THANK YOU for all your TY videos... and need to let Redbubble AT LEAST ACKNOWLEDGE they are working to resolve their problem.

[@LisaIrby]

Yep! I commented on his video and shared his link. Thank you for stopping by. I hope RB notices our videos and acknowledges at the very least...as you said.

[@k1kennedy349]

You are absolutely correct. It's really shocking plus lots of same designs now.

[@ShroneJohnson]

Hey Lisa, I started to comment on Morris's vid but I changed my mind. I totally agree with what was said however I think he opened himself up to be sued for slander by not #1 covering the shop's name and #2 not saying allegedly because we really don't know what type of agreement those shops have in place to be able to sell that type of art. As far as the spammers, you hit the nail on the head when you said your traffic shouldn't be reliant upon Redbubble, I've had my shop for almost two months and was surprised to start making sales as quickly as I did. I always hear people say you need to have a lot of art in your shop before you start seeing sales, and that is simply not true. Your marketing is where your money is. Keep up the good work my dear, I love watching your videos.

[@LisaIrby]

Good for you. Continued success! I still believe those who focus on quality for the long term will be OK. That way is not popular because it takes a long time. And it's why the lazies go with spam because they don't want to do the work that it takes to have lasting success.

[@RichyRichMusic]

I wondered what was happening the first time I saw those repeated tags. People will do anything when it comes to making money, but Redbubble should act fast. Just to let you know Boss, I made my first sales on Teespring last week till Now, over 20 sales Now, all digital products, thank you for all I've learnt from you.

[@LisaIrby]

I'm so happy to hear that Richy Rich! Keep u the good work!

[@RichyRichMusic]

@@LisaIrby Thank you Boss, I didn't realise it's been 6 clean months since I started that account in July, people like you made it fun, your shape-based tutorials opened my mind to keep learning and improving, you said "If you stick to what's working, you will build, you will grow", this is only the start, I have a lot to learn from you.

[@LisaIrby]

I just noticed I responded to you twice with the same message. Lawd! Speaking of spam, I guess I’m spamming my own comments now. 😂😂😂

[@RichyRichMusic]

@@LisaIrby 😁😆😆😆 It is an honor to be spammed by a POD goddess.

[@LisaIrby]

@@RichyRichMusic 😂😂😂😂

[@1.5Koreans0.5American]

Happy new year!

[@walterray1405]

Thanks for sharing this and the point about long run income streams. Red bubble is a great website. I hope they do crackdown on the spammers.

[@preetisolanki4650]

Hey Lisa please help me with redbubble payment thing after completing all the procedure of PayPal I haven't receive any payment yet, what should I do now?

[@yeye99950]

RB pays you if your account has at least 20 dollars.

[@BenofArts]

Is it possible to have multiple redbubble accounts? I plan on focusing on niches.

[@LisaIrby]

Yes. As long as you use a different email.

[@BenofArts]

@@LisaIrby Thanks

[@bvg4kgaming178]

Yep. Exactly what she said. 👍🏿

[@MitchMitchellStories]

Spammers ruin everything; I just don't get it.

[@LisaIrby]

Don't they though! UGGGGHHHH!!

[@drayone6381]

Good info..thanks beautiful

[@beachy-south-africa]

It's almost 10 months since you posted this video. And the tag spammers continue to do their thing. It's highly annoying and frustrating for honest artists/designers/photographers. And must be annoying for potential customers too when they search for something particular on Redbubble, and unrelated images come up high in the search results - they probably give up and go shopping elsewhere - or decide they actually like something they see even though it's unrelated, and buy that item instead - the tag spammers celebrate, and the honest folks lose out. What really confuses me, or makes me curious, is why it's still happening so many months later - tag spammers use 30 or more words PER 50 allowed tags - makes for a ton of words. Surely Redbubble could get their site engineers/coders to put a limit on the amount of characters PER tag like at least one other Print on Demand site I know does. I am curious as to why Redbubble has not yet had a limit put on the amount of characters allowed per tag.

[@LisaIrby]

I believe it's because it hasn't hurt their income much as we think. Of course, designers notice the rankings as they search for their own designs. However, so much of RedBubble sales come from their email promotions and customized homepage displays that I really don't think the tag spamming is affecting their bottom line as much as the designers assume they do. It's unfortunate that they aren't taking it seriously though.

[@sketchwithjess]

@Lisa Irby, Do you have a go to traffic technique or source you can share? Traffic is my biggest obstacle, any positive info will be so much appreciated it. God bless and happy new year.

[@LisaIrby]

For my biggest brand I use Pinterest. It has been a major source of traffic for one of my shops. It's my favorite social site. I've never been good with Instagram or others. Gonna do a video on this soon because I had another breakthrough. One of my boards is ranking #4 on Google for an ecommerce keyword. Woot!

[@sketchwithjess]

@@LisaIrby Awesome! you responded so quickly. Looking forward to your traffic video. I'm on Pinterest but maybe I'm not using it effectively.

[@LisaIrby]

@@sketchwithjess I had to edit my comment. It’s ranking #4. Just noticed I typed #1. I wish!! 😀 Yes it literally took 3 years to build all this up but worth it for long term success.

[@jennlenay570]

Wow I've just noticed numerous prople are doing a video on this topic. Yes this is absolutely ridiculous on the spamming!

[@Jane-ru2xd]

That's why I stopped uploading last year but this year thought to give one last try and started making designs again working super hard and what I see literally in seconds n minutes I saw my tags n my designs being copied I only seriously got 1 sale last year n that's it but people who are copying my work are earning this really hurts. I guess I will not waste my precious time anymore in creating designs n uploading thinking about tags n description and everything else redbubble is not worth it anymore bcoz of copycats I'm giving up. As much as I'm in need of financial security I'm literally crying n giving up.... why is it so difficult to earn an honest living when u dont shy away from hard work and dedication I still cant understand.

[@domarchie9558]

How many designs did you upload for 1 sale.

[@Jane-ru2xd]

@@domarchie9558 That time around 70... Got 1 sale in August that's it...

[@LisaIrby]

I will say this, Jane. I still think the hard work method works, but you have to mix in strategies that spammers would never do. For example, with one of my biggest brands, I built a website, Pinterest account and I am now ranking pages on Google. One of my Pinterest boards is even ranking on Google for an ecommerce product! This is something I've been working on since 2017 and it's not something that can be done quickly. And that's exactly why it STILL works. Lazy, spammers don't want to invest any time into making money. They want the fastest way possible. That actually benefits people who want to do the work and have patience. So I set out to create the biggest shop with the most unique designs for a particular audience. I wanted people to see my shop and go "Wow! Look at all these designs for my niche! Let me follow this shop on Instagram, etc." By doing this it drew in a ton of custom design requests (more money for me) and now I have traffic outside of Google. When you apply these longer term tactics to a business like this, your hard work will pay off for a longer period. A lazy spammer would NEVER go through these lengths to build a business. That's great! Let's take advantage of it.

[@Jane-ru2xd]

@@LisaIrby what an amazing reply thankyou so much Lisa for taking the time out and guiding me through I will definitely try to do these things you are such an inspiration...

[@domarchie9558]

@@LisaIrby great response I need to spend more time setting up niche shops and advertising them.

[@SamanthaFl]

Finally POD KZbinrs are using their voice to address this issue. Crazy thing is that these spammers will tag their infringement designs on trending tags. That's ballsy. I sent a email to RB months ago about spamming and infringements and got a generic reply. Idk, maybe because RB is base in Australia they are more relaxed on this issue.

[@LisaIrby]

At least you got a reply. I heard nothing and others have said they got a generic reply like you did. These videos are calling more attention to the problem so let's hope something happens!

[@elsapakopoulou6759]

That's another good topic. Now what happens when you get a follower who is into "nudity", you all get the idea and you try to contact the RB platform and you get stuck with the automated bot for help? Any ideas?

[@LisaIrby]

Why would Redbubble penalize you for a follower’s content? You have no control over that.

[@elsapakopoulou6759]

@@LisaIrby I don't have I have been penalized yet, i just don't understand why I got this follower in the first place and how to get rid of it, if it's even possible

[@LisaIrby]

@@elsapakopoulou6759 I don’t think you can control that aspect.

[@elsapakopoulou6759]

@@LisaIrby thank you for your time Lisa. I really appreciate your support

[@ivye32]

I think that youtubers making videos about Redbubble trends of the week are contributing to the problem indirectly.

[@anyway3sss571]

Thank you for talking about this!

[@jackalwill]

Why was the video end abruptly?

[@Isis-MyBelovedAtelier]

I made my first sale las december, so far I have around 80 designs. My designs take a little time because I work intraditional media, so yeah, its hard when there is this kind of things going on. Either way thank your for your videos Im still happy I finally sold something, lol. 🥰👍🏼

[@Bingealot]

Hey Lisa, could you make a video specifically on how to research and choose a evergreen niche?

[@HistoricHistoryHaven]

True, How can we rank with that garbage? seen sales drop off a cliff.

[@LisaIrby]

Are you doing trends? So far my sales are still increasing year over year since 2016. I do evergreen and have a website connected to my niche. That’s the best way to go long term.

[@HistoricHistoryHaven]

@@LisaIrby I trend not so much. seems short lived to me. I do add some that i think are funny but i don't build around that phase of the week thing. Atm I'm trying to bust into a heavy heavy niche. But you never know, Just need one foot in the door to make it happen. Nice vids :)

[@LisaIrby]

@@HistoricHistoryHaven Don't give up. I don't know if it has to do with them recent suspensions but my sales have been through the roof in the past week. I don't know if it will last, but I'll take it. LOL

[@HistoricHistoryHaven]

@@LisaIrby haha nice. I did get some Valentine sale so I can't complain.

[@EineVonDreien]

Hopefully they clean up the market. Thank you for this Video. 👍

[@jetlife1112]

Do you offer any courses for learning redbubble, looking to want to start it

[@LisaIrby]

I have a course that outlines how to find a niche to focus on for your niche shop. It does focus mostly on RedBubble but could be for any POD site. My approach takes longer, but it works and is more stable if you find a niche to focus on for the long run. learn.passiveshirtprofits.com/courses/pod-niche-shop-success

[@jareddowe3863]

I just sent them a message about this I thought I was the only one

[@LisaIrby]

I did too. Everyone should. The more noise we make the better. 👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽

[@LisaIrby]

@Seismic Dawn That's exactly it. All about the quick buck instead of building something that will last. I tried to read your other comment but it wouldn't load.

[@jareddowe3863]

Well it’s been more than a week and they have not replied, idk if this is typical because I’m decently new myself. We should organize and send messages on a mass scale as protest. The amount of blatant trade mark infringement and tag spamming is insane.

[@LisaIrby]

@@jareddowe3863 Same. No answer. I think all the videos created in the last week definitely got their attention since people have been tweeting and messaging them like crazy. Now ... we’ll see if they actually do something.

[@domarchie9558]

Lisa did you contact Redbubble direct with this issue?

[@LisaIrby]

Yep!! No response.

[@domarchie9558]

@@LisaIrby I just sent your KZbin clip to @Martin_Hosking via Twitter. That's the co-founder and ceo of Redbubble. Hopefully something happens because I've noticed the same thing.

[@LisaIrby]

@@domarchie9558 Awesome!! Thank you. I tweeted the generic Redbubble Help Twitter account too.

[@Melissa-YupMelissa]

Phil from The Money Game has an admin who contacted RB and got a response. But the response was so vague and ineffective that it really didn't offer any hope. I think to get noticed, we will have to FLOOD Redbubble with complaints and emails repeatedly. If we're enough of a nuisance about this issue, maybe they will take notice.

[@LisaIrby]

@@Melissa-YupMelissa Thanks for the update Melissa. No surprise about the stock reply. You are right. We have to be consistent. I will keep sending.

[@shaneweistrac]

It would be easy for Redbubble to create a backend code to auto delete accounts where people spam the same word/phrase X-number of times (targeting spammers). I wish they'd do this.

[@LisaIrby]

That's exactly what I keep telling people. This issue could be taken care of with a few tweaks in the code. The other POD sites address this much better than RB does. The real question is, "Does RedBubble care?" That remains to be seen.

[@oooBoEoNooo]

Thanks for the video, Lisa. I lost my job a few years ago. Since then I've been keeping my head above water by organically selling print on demand items. What has helped me is your course, this KZbin channel and your Facebook group. I've never enjoyed a job so much and it's actually exactly what I want. But when I think about the future, worries come up, because in the end, as you say, organic sales are not for forever. And measured against the creativity of others or the number of pieces they upload to various platforms, I simply can't compete. I've often repressed these thoughts because it hurts, but it's time to face the truth. For me, that means retiring from this business and getting back to a normal 9-5 job.

[@LisaIrby]

I think it will always work if you take a longer approach with brands/website like I’m doing. But you can never rely on anything with traffic you cannot control.

[@fortymbrass]

Funny fact: I haven't seen ANY person who spams on RB besides Arabic and Indian people.

[@picawho]

Lisa is back yee hee. I haven't heard from you in a long time.

[@LisaIrby]

Hey there!

[@picawho]

@@LisaIrbyI post and post on KZbin but no one subscribe to my channel what should i do?

[@andreanoniemus6282]

Let's hope rb is going to listen!!

[@R_A120]

I think redbubble has gone more and more mainstream and people conflate it with the 'make money online' type of systems that some content creators pitch as an easy 'make $100 a month by doing next to nothing?!?!' type deal to get traction, I know of one youtuber who pretty much encourages his viewers to just upload basically anything you can think of because more designs = more sales I don't know if this is elitist, but I'm in a facebook group where everyone follows this mantra, and daily their are multiple posts where people complain that 'i have uploaded 1000 designs with no sales, what am I doing wrong' and you go on their profile and its all a mix of poor text designs, or clip art they have collected from the public domain and just slapped onto the website, its quite frustrating to see I suppose those who don't find success with eventually give up but their designs will still be taking up space on redbubble, I don't really think redbubble can do much to crack down on it because it could lead them to be accused of favouritism and the like

[@LisaIrby]

This is how I feel to the TEE (pun intended lol.) A lot of people hadn't even heard of RedBubble (including myself) until Merch By Amazon got popular. Then it got crazy!

[@NilOrally]

So a search on the Best Selling category for 'Everything I Own Is Covered In Dog Hair' shows of the top 10 different stores (at least different named stores) that 8 of them have repeated spam tags. The average seems to be about 30 instances of 'everything I own is covered in dog hair' each, and nothing else. Which leads me to the question of when the tag is so specific, why is it so highly rated? Surely not everyone seeing these is not typing in EXACTLY the same phrase. If that is the case, then RB is complicit in this practice. I won't comment on the designs, as it has been proven to me many times that no-one ever went broke underestimating the bad taste of the buying public. After all, even I occasionally sell stuff. The copyright issue is particularly galling. I have had stuff pulled because it listed the colours of the rainbow, and seen my own work on stuff in low resolution complete with RB watermarks. These issues are all fixable. It just takes some will and determination by RB.

[@LisaIrby]

I was just telling someone else that this could be fixed by an algorithm tweak. There is now way their algorithm should put so much emphasis on user-controlled data like tags. Tags can be manipulated easily. Put more emphasis on the CTR and sales conversion ratio. Drop the rank of designs that don't get clicks. That's what Amazon does and it's such a basic function of a search algorithm.

[@austincanfield6695]

Eventually I have to imagine the gates will come down on redbubble and new accounts will need to be verified and design uploads will be a lot more closely monitored. But a lot does need to change though like it is very inappropriate for youtubers to be telling people to go to popular redbubble tag websites knowing that most trending tags are going to be copyright related or super oversaturated like cats or dogs.

[@LisaIrby]

This is one lesson I've learned about the "make money online space." Any strategy or trend that everyone else seems to be doing, I run the opposite way. 😂 The problem is many of the RedBubble trends are usually trademarked (as you said) and I personally couldn't get many sales with the "safe phrases." But I also didn't try for very long. No patience. LOL However, finding trends can help you sell quickly and give you some confidence under your belt. I'm not against them altogether, I just think they are overrated. I've done much better with trendy keywords and Holidays on Merch By Amazon, and that's because Amazon constantly works on tweaking their algorithm for spammers, and they don't accept everyone into the program. Their spam issue has gotten a LOT better! RedBubble could remedy this with some algorithm tweaks. Limit tags and also limit the weight of them. Meaning you cannot rank for a phrase long term unless your design converts sales for that tag/keyword. There's no way those irrelevant designs are selling for those keywords. RedBubble could easily adjust this by tweaking code. In other words, if your design doesn't convert sales for that keyword, it doesn't show up when you search. That's how most search engines work...Google, Amazon, etc. Amazon does this. They allow designs to rank initially but if they don't get clicks or sales, the design falls off. RedBubble probably never dreamed people would exploit their algorithm like this, but you never want to give users that much control over rankings. Let the SALES dictate it. Problem solved.

[@imtinyem]

Sorry, I'm not 100% clear on what you mean. When you say people are spamming the tags, do you mean that people are uploading a design and tagging it with loads of irrelevant tags? Or is it something else?

[@LisaIrby]

Yep!

[@imtinyem]

@@LisaIrby Thank you for clarifying! :)

[@PearlPassiveIncome]

It's so mind bugging to know that Redbubble owns Teepublic, yet they're so different. Teepublic is very strict with Copyrights and spammers, yet the reverse is true for Teepublic. Why is that?

[@PaulissVegan]

because when one company buys/acquires another one doesn't mean they are now one company.

[@PearlPassiveIncome]

@@PaulissVegan But at least, shouldn't some aspects of their Terms of service be similar?

[@domarchie9558]

I'm on both and Teepublic dont highlight my store bc of copyright. I'd rather them delete what they think are the works that break copyright because it's a waste of time.

[@tinam.9810]

@@domarchie9558 Are you sure that's the reason? I put my designs beside Redbubble on Teepublic too. But they dont show them in Teepublic search. The designs are MINE. What kind of copyright problems are we talking about? being on both platforms works out for many people really well.

[@PearlPassiveIncome]

@@domarchie9558 I think your case is even better. With Teepublic, I hear many people complaining that their stores have been closed for no reason. I'm concentrating my efforts on other platforms such as Amazon, Ebay, Etsy, and that's what I teach on my channel.

[@geezmos9403]

I think RB should start kicking out who does that tag spamming thing!They should be ban so they can't recreate another shop on RB

[@SHAMONDAEREACTS2]

That’s a Fact! It is ridiculous

[@deadhouse3889]

The copyright infringements is ureal. It pisses me off.

[@naturalmystique1237]

i hope it's not doomed

[@gedangklopo]

They have to limited tag, 15 tag is enough, that will fix the problems

[@yeye99950]

Let's see what happens now. There's a new CEO.

[@LisaIrby]

Oh really????? Didn't know that!

[@yeye99950]

@@LisaIrby powerretail.com.au/news/redbubble-hires-ex-seek-exec-as-ceo/

[@salheddinebelmrabet5817]

I think they must limit the characters in Redbubble tags.

[@LisaIrby]

And also put less weight on tags and more on conversions for sales. That would force irrelevant tags to be useless. Amazon does this.

[@WendyMarieMedia]

I think it's because RB is making money off these shops. It's too bad there isn't another way for the legit artists to self-police the spammers.

[@LisaIrby]

Agree.

[@okunsprosper1450]

That's the funny thing... 99% of these spammers designs are lame asf...like really lame asf... I cannot imagine people actually buy those...and if people aren't buying then they are losing money instead because those of us with awesome designs are at the last page of search results

[@WendyMarieMedia]

@@okunsprosper1450 good point. Most of those first page results (on trending keywords) are horrific.

[@WendyMarieMedia]

I just remembered, I said they were making money off of shops that were keyword spamming, but I actually meant copyrighted designs. Both situations are infuriating.

[@LisaIrby]

@@WendyMarieMedia Yep...both need to be addressed.

[@ShoshanaBrand]

RB is horrible; they make money from spam, hence they let it continue. A complete dishonest place!

[@TeaCash]

Well i think that redbubble algorithm is a little stupid or redbubble love that kind of spam, i was doing tags as they suggest but i wasn't selling anything which made spam like others to sell my designs, I think that redbubble must change two things their tags system and adding a tier level system like amazon to prevent spaming designs two

[@LisaIrby]

Yep! They need to stop allowing designs to rank that don't get clicks. This is a simple algorithm change and it's how most POD sites work. Their tags should not have that much weight on the algorithm. Simple fix.

[@gurklord]

LOL! The whole organic print on demand "business" is full of useless spammers, Amazon's the worst!

[@LisaIrby]

Yeah lots of spam... but you know what? I've noticed....things have actually improved on Amazon for me. Maybe it's luck by niche. But I have a handful of 2020 shirts that have sold a lot and there are hardly any similar shirts or even copycats. Surprised me. Usually there would be tons of copycats by now.

[@gurklord]

@@LisaIrby Noticed that too, US market did way better than my home market Germany and I also wondered why my 2020 shirts didn't get copycated :D But german market is a pain in the ass, lots of spamming and lots of copycats :(

[@LisaIrby]

@@gurklord Glad to know you noticed it too! I think the hype has died down so that helps those that stick with it with quality designs.

[@gurklord]

@@LisaIrby Hopefully :)

[@evinaranda327]

Yes other youtube creators ar speaking this guy themoneygame just posted a video on this has twitter for us to tweet to redbubble about the problem check him out...and I love your videos also

[@karinyaboriskova441]

By "spammy", do you mean the copycats?

[@LisaIrby]

No I meant people tagging their designs with keywords that are not related to their designs. So they see what's trending and tag any design with that phrase, even if it has nothing to do with it. So when someone goes to search for that keyword, the results aren't relevant.

[@karinyaboriskova441]

@@LisaIrby ohh, gotcha. Wasn't aware of that problem.

[@MovieVigilante]

@@LisaIrby That's not only hurting honest sellers, it's also hurting Redbubble, so one would think that RB would be proactive in putting a stop to this.

[@LisaIrby]

@@MovieVigilante That's exactly it. And honestly a tweak to the algorithm with tags influence results would help a TON! Any search engine that can be manipulated that easily with tags is asking for trouble.

[@rusticpix1137]

How about all the just-plain-UGLY designs that people are making to chase the trends - it's bringing down the integrity of the site

[@LisaIrby]

Yes, and honestly this could be fixed with some algorithm tweaks. For example, low click through rate designs don't rank. This should be a BASIC algorithm feature for any search engine. The reason it's so easy for people to game their system is they put waaaaaaaay too much weight on tags and not enough of click through and conversion rate. Designs that get clicks and sales should outrank those. That's how Google and Amazon works at the core level. They need to tweak how their algorithm works.

[@rusticpix1137]

@@LisaIrby Yes! Should be an easy fix for them

[@thisarajayasinghe9252]

This is what happens when you reveal good business model to a asians and africans.LOL.KZbinrs tell their audiences to that everyone can become a designer and make money.Now see what have done to that website.It's not redbubble's fault.It's fault of youtubers who told you to upload designs as much as you can to make money

[@LisaIrby]

I am really surprised this is the first time someone said this (teaching). I was waiting for this comment. 😀 No doubt teaching people how to make money draws out people who abuse the system. It's happened with pretty much every single thing I've taught over the years. It's such a slippery slope because we teach it in order to diversify our income, but there is also a downside to it as well. I've learned to deal with it by diversifying. I really love teaching, and I'll deal with the consequences. I also think that this could be remedied by an algorithm tweak by RedBubble. There's no way tags should have such a large influence on the rankings. It should be based on conversion rate. Every time spammers figure out something (Google search is a great example), they adjust the algorithm. Amazon did the same thing with Merch and it's gotten better. Oh well....comes with the territory of this business. I hope RedBubble corrects this, but I'll still upload there regardless. I love it and there's ways around the spammers if you build a long-term strategy. Thanks for stopping by.

[@mayacordalia]

I already created designs and was skeptical about uploading because of the direction I see the platform headed in. I see terms trending that are clear copyrights. Just don't want to waste time.

[@LisaIrby]

I totally understand Maya.

[@brayandarren6267]

I need boyfriend 💋💋💋💋💋💞💞💞💞