Vograce Manufacturing Defects

Updates:
July 6. After lots of emails back and forth about the cat acrylic, it was ultimately determined that the transparency effect I wanted wasn’t possible or it wouldn’t look the way I wanted it to. So I submitted a new artwork and vograce received it.
July 7: Proof was sent and I approved.
July 14: Sample image of new acrylic was sent and I approved.
July 15: Sample image of all remade products were sent and I approved from what I could see.
July 29: Order arrived
Review of the remade products will come soon. I haven’t looked through all of them but there’s quite a bit to say… good and bad, but not too terrible as before.
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Sponsored by Vograce. I guess. I don't even know
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FAQ:
🍅 If I make something from your tutorial/video, can I sell it?
- Of course! As long as no one is harmed.
🍅Why do you curse?
-Why not?
🍅 Can you make a tutorial on how to do so and so?
- Maybe…. Although I can’t take everyone’s requests, I will do a few if it seems necessary. There’s already a lot of tutorials out there by other talented crafters, so if someone has already done an amazing job covering the subject, I don’t see a need for me to make one myself. Unless, I really really really wanted to for some reason xD
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🐹 Instagram: @TomaToda_Make
/ tomatoda_make
🐹 My Online Shop:
www.tomatoda.com
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🎵 MUSIC:
🎈💎 콜드워터 유튜브 채널 Cold Water KZbin Channel
Cold Water (콜드의 매인 피아노 채널)
: / coldwatermusic
DJ Cold Water (DJ, 일렉트로닉 사운드 채널)
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Cold Water Worship (기독교 피아노 채널)
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#artist #smallbusiness #mousepad #phonegrip #acryliccharms #notebooks #review #artistalley #products #production #fail

[@Tomatoda]

All updates about this order will be in the description box as it happens. I think Vograce is handling the situation well so far. However I do not want to go through this headache again. Keep in mind that this is a common problem with many overseas manufacturers unfortunately. And I understand as a manu company grows bigger and popular (like vograce), the demand is higher. But they shouldn’t let quality suffer. In the future, if I ever find a reliable manufacturer by myself, I’ll be more than happy to share it with you guys. However, if it’s a company introduced to me through a friend, it probably wouldn’t be nice of me to share "the recipe for their secret sauce” so I won't be able to give that info so freely. Anyways to Vograce: If you are reading this, thank you for being a gateway into the manufacturing world and thank you for the opportunity to try out so many of your products. It was definitely a needed stepping stone and I’ve learned a lot from this experience.

[@Tomatoda]

PS: Another artist had told me that from her experience, even the more pricier manus on Alibaba have inconsistent results. So more expensive doesn’t guarantee anything :(

[@vograce]

Thanks for pointing out our defects. We apologize for the inconsistent product quality. We will strive to improve product quality, strengthen quality inspection and training of relevant personnel. We take your opinion very seriously. For example, it's a good idea to recruite new staff during peak season . Thank you for your continued support.On July 19th, we improved the packaging of the product, strengthened its hardness, and strengthened the protection; for the problem of crooked printing of the mouse pad, we will update the printing template.

[@Tomatoda]

Sorry, I didn’t see this comment until now but thank you so much for at least listening.

[@vograce]

@@Tomatoda no worries, and thanks for your feedback!

[@cheesepuffs8086]

I think one of the reasons why the acrylics are better quality is cause vograce makes them in house and they’ve done so for years. I remember when I ordered something like washi tape they said they used a third party for that item

[@cheesepuffs8086]

So maybe they switched which company they used for mousepads? Which resulted in the quality diff

[@Tomatoda]

OMG I had suspicions that some of their products were a third party but didnt know it was actually true! Thanks so much for sharing!

[@lemoncitruszest]

I'm glad at least the acrylics turned out well!! I really hope they fix their consistency with other products soon though

[@Tomatoda]

Same. They make everything so convenient. Too good to be true I guess? 😭

[@KawaiiGemu]

Iv had nothing but issue with vograce. My recent order was the only good quality order Iv gotten from them. No one would respond to my emails about the issues till I put it online and then they remade the order, well 1 of them just for them to look worse, I couldn’t sell them at all. Misprint, over print, dirt, odd rips, scratches, off cut, wonky print, blurry print (even tho it was the same file I used before) Iv ordered from them 5 times thinking it has to get better surely but no, well until my recent order. They all came out almost perfect. Some issues but nothing compared to my other experiences. Maybe it depends on who is dealing with your order. Iv noticed when I get certain people my products come out different. The recent one the woman was lovely. Helpful. Understood all my concerns. Made the order quick and they came in two weeks without issues.

[@Tomatoda]

I have noticed that they do respond a lot quicker when you put them on blast on social media. But damn, I'm so sorry to hear your remakes were even worse! that's what I'm scared of :( I also at one point wondered if the outcome depends on the representative, but with all the info I've been getting from other people, I feel like it doesn't really?. Apparently some of their stuff is made by a 3rd party so I feel like the representatives wouldn't really have an opportunity to check the quality for everything in person before it ships. I dont doubt they try their best to take care of their customers because a lot of them seem very hard working... but it ultimately depends on the production workers and quality control. Just my thought! So sorry you had to go through so much trouble with them tho :(

[@SakuraPomeranian]

Paypal never takes customer side with custom items. Never. They only take customer side with custom items if they just never showed up and you can prove it with lack of tracking or something. Their rationale is that custom items are highly variable and subjective but it's complete BS given how truly objectively horrible defects can be for things.

[@Tomatoda]

Oh gosh. I had no idea. Thank you so much for sharing! That's such a bummer tho 😭

[@mikkymaulenreyes6877]

It's mostly because vograce doesn't produce certain products themselves for what i've noticed. Their specialty are acrylics.

[@viviann973]

I also had amazing experiences with vograce but my most recent order (which was also my largest one) was stuffed and crammed into a too small box resulting in half of the product having creases/crinkles. I thought they were trying to use smaller shipping boxes to somehow save fees cause of inflation but def didn't know about peak season impact :( I hope your reship is much better!!!

[@Tomatoda]

It's so annoying when they stuff it in like that!

[@peachfetti]

Aw man :( My heart breaks for you everytime hearing about and seeing the poor products they sent you! AHH! I hope that there's a good resolution later on and that you finally get the quality you want!

[@Tomatoda]

thank you so much lil sis :( means a lot!

[@Blackstardragon393]

Lately I've been working in manufacturing and it's not a surprise at all. It's super easy to think of a company as a monolith, but everything is made by different people. Monday mornings you could have an employee whos experienced and quality minded, Tuesday night its a new guy who hardly knows the machine. The guy whos worked there for years and doesn't care anymore, the manager has to make a call that its not worth remaking 20 things for a small fleck, or the guy who will remake it even if he gets yelled at cause the alignment was bad and it's gonna bug him all day. I've also found it very interesting to learn that there's other stuff that's pretty much out of anyone's control. For example things that UV cure are affected by the weather, so it can behave differently every day. Color shifts tiny amounts day by day, so if part of something is bad we have to pitch it and remake the whole thing to avoid the risk of noticeable color differences when things sit side by side. That said if the product doesn't meet your needs it doesn't meet your needs. My advice to other artists out there is to be as clear and concise as possible, follow template rules they're there for a reason (No bleed hurts my soul every time), and do your best not to shoot the messenger. It's pretty much guaranteed that the person that messed your stuff up is not the one you're talking to. I imagine I look something like my friends who worked as waiters, and now they can't help but stack their dishes at restaurants lol. I definitely didn't think about any of this when I was just coming at it as an artist and wanted to share.

[@confettichica]

since vograce is mostly an acrylic charm manufacturer, they tend to outsource production on most of their other products :( which is probably why the quality is so inconsistent, they most likely have quite a few different third party manus

[@Tomatoda]

Sounds like even they’re going through trial and errors with manus 😂

[@animetoonshd3889]

Tysm for this video! I’ll take my time on drawing my keychains and I’ll order them in autumn. I definitely don’t want an order with defects

[@HimeTakamura]

I just placed my first order with them about a week ago and now I'm super nervous. The 3D mousepads are kind of the main thing I was planning on selling and I was really excited when I saw Vograce was making them (and for a lot cheaper than a lot of other wholesale places I saw). I hope they turn out alright now.

[@Tomatoda]

Best of luck to you! I really do hope they dont mess it up but let me know how they turn out when u get them!

[@HimeTakamura]

@@Tomatoda Will do, hopefully it won't take to long.

[@HimeTakamura]

@@Tomatoda My merch just arrived today, and I must have gotten lucky because everything turned out great. My only complaint is the positioning of the mousepads was a bit inconsistent and many of them don't line up as perfectly as I would have liked, but thankfully none of them are so bad that they can't be sold. My timeline was as follows: Ordered July 4th Proof sent July 7th Manufacturing began July 11th Shipped July 18th Arrived July 28th (it got held up in China and again in US customs) I still don't know if I'm going to be using them again in the future (if I even end up doing more merch runs) but I can say they didn't let me down. I may have just gotten incredibly lucky though.

[@Tomatoda]

@@HimeTakamura Thank you so much for sharing! And im really glad to hear everything turned out well

[@Enakei]

I'm still new to vograce so i still have questions and let me just say, your videos are amazing!! I was very confused at first but after watching your vids i quickly caught on :D the only question i have left is does vograce deliver directly at your door?(like amazon/other online shopping companies) or do you have to pick it up somewhere? :00

[@Tomatoda]

Yes! They ship to whatever address you give them :)

[@pannycakesart]

Yeah I emailed them asking if the ICC profile I used for my artwork would work, they asked me to send the file so they could check. That was over a month ago. I did ask if they were still looking into it a couple weeks ago, still nothing. I just want to get my pieces made ;u;

[@Tomatoda]

I guess they dont want your business xD j/k j/k. Try emailing them again or wait until after September when they have more time 😭

[@arek3581]

This kinda scares me because I need sticker by the end of this month and I ordered July 1st. Shipping says 8-16 days…..soooo

[@lunarecat]

I'm so sorry the books and mouse pads came in so badly, that sucks so much... I've been trying to wait for peak season to end but that's such a long window for the quality to just dip that hard;; I specifically really wanted to try the notebooks too so I hope they get their shiz together on that especially..

[@Tomatoda]

Yeah, I never imagined peak season to be like 5 months long! I also hope they get their shiz together cuz they make everything so convenient but I feel like.... its not gonna happen soon T_T

[@lunarecat]

@@Tomatoda yeah;; I dunno what their work conditions are like, but i think usually when stuff gets backed up and sloppy in a workplace, it's cuz there's not enough people working but they're expected to meet high demands like there are.. that's just a theory but I mean, it explains how rushed everything is despite the good business they're clearly getting idk

[@Tomatoda]

@@lunarecat I totally agree with you. I was talking to another artist and she was saying how Vograce's popularity really went up so I'm sure they have crazy high volume of orders but not enough workers :( Hopefully they can hire more, even if they're just contingent workers for the summer.

[@ryuubee_2096]

i was so excited to try Vograce to start my tiny business. But seeing the performance, I am quite scared now. I haven't made any merch to sale and these kind of things acre me as I don't have a lot of money to keep buying if I've spend a lot on the defected ones

[@Tomatoda]

It really sucks that quality is a hit or miss :( Vograce is definitely a great place to experiment for beginners tho. Especially if you want low quantity samples. But once you know what you want in bigger bulk, I would recommend finding a more consistent manufacturer elsewhere.

[@ryuubee_2096]

@@Tomatoda Thank you for the very informative video. Also good luck with your merch. They are very cute and hope to see more from you in the near future as well🌻

[@Wooperoh]

are u gonna make a review on the new new items c:

[@Tomatoda]

no, I'll only be using vograce for acrylic charms and stickers. Everything else is too risky

[@Wooperoh]

@@Tomatoda oh okay, good to know, I just ordered my first batch of charms, and honestly i was getting a little nervous asdf

[@Tomatoda]

@@Wooperoh what is asdf? I received a new batch of vograce acrylic charms a month ago and they were perfect. hope yours turn out perfect too!

[@cartoonhyperfixated]

@@Tomatodait’s just a key smash (like jsjsjsjsj)

[@Jynxxx5]

This is probably your most recent Vograce video so I thought I’d just ask here- Have you ever made a mistake of ordering the wrong size? Because I did and I’m not sure if I can fix it, during the proofs I asked if it was possible to change but I haven’t had a response yet 😭 it’s at least not on one of my charms that would be the most popular, but it doesn’t match the other charm that it’s supposed to go with (original characters)

[@Tomatoda]

Yes. But I didn’t realize the size mistake until I received the product. However, since you caught it during the proof review, I don’t think it went into production yet cuz that would be stupid to start on something that was not approved. Most likely I think they’ll say yes and charge or refund you the difference. It is also peak ordering season so they might be late with the reply

[@Engelchen19]

Sad to say but that seems Chinese standard :( Mass production and bad quality inspection.