Sweet Shoppe TOU question

[alien21xx]

I thought about addressing this directly to Robin, but I'd also like to hear what the other designers would like to say.

So my work life really sucks, and my mom, sister and stepmom are pushing me to quit my job and try to work out a little scrap business on my hybrid work. The suggestion is maybe a little Etsy shoppe to sell at and finding a couple of good solid S4H friendly home decor templates for use, and digi scrap kits. Since I'm really in love with the kits at SSD, I checked around in the SSD TOU for S4H and found this info:

- YOU MAY create layouts or other craft items for individual clients to be delivered to the client in paper or flattened form without asking permission or purchasing an additional license.

- YOU MAY use MOST of our items for SCRAP FOR HIRE. (The only items excluded from S4H use are Sweet Keepsakes Projects, brag books, quick pages, and any other pre-made page.)

- YOU MAY NOT use our designs for an online scrap for hire business.

So, um just to clarify, what I want to do is final home decor paper crafts. I don't plan on doing design crafts for hire. Is this ok to have on Etsy?

Hope the SSD sweethearts to shed a bit of light on this

[lauren grier]

per the tou.. you're not allowed to sell "premade" things and use them in a storefront. You can only do individual custom designs. did that answer the question? lol.. I don't know.. ^_^

[Libby Pritchett]

Yeah technically, according to our TOU as a store, that isn't allowed as it's online. You could advertise your services and show some samples of your work, but you couldn't make a final product and put it up on etsy for someone to order that item.

BUT some designers have a more broad TOU than what is stated in the store TOU, so if there is a designer who's stuff you'd really like to use for this purpose, you might contact her individually to see what her terms are.

[SaraAmarie]

My tou is a little more broad then the store tou. You can check it out here. Specifically:

Under this Personal Use, Scrap-4-hire, or Limited Crafter's License, you MAY:

-produce tangible crafts and products that are sold at craft fairs, and other venues, including online websites, selling no more than 200 items per calendar year using these files.

[alien21xx]

Oooh! Thank you for clarifying that! So it can be a sample but not premade to be sold at a storefront. I'm gonna be contacting my fave designers soon and hope for the best then.

Sara, thanks so much for pointing to your TOU!

[ColleenSwerb]

Interesting. I'd been thinking of starting up an etsy store eventually. I didn't realize you couldn't sell premade things with SSD products like that.....

[Penny Springmann]

Originally Posted by BrodoNY0123

Interesting. I'd been thinking of starting up an etsy store eventually. I didn't realize you couldn't sell premade things with SSD products like that.....

No, you can't sell premade things. Everything needs to be an original design.

And some designers do not allow ANY use of their designs for website based business.

You need to ask first.

[ColleenSwerb]

Originally Posted by Penny Springmann

No, you can't sell premade things. Everything needs to be an original design.

And some designers do not allow ANY use of their designs for website based business.

You need to ask first.

Well I mean I'm not talking about selling the brag books or QP's or anything. If I create a design for a notebook cover, for example, using SSD stuff, I can't make like 5 of them and then sell them in an etsy store? It's an original design that I created, right?

[alien21xx]

Thanks for the input, Penny!

It also occured to me that it then can't be an online business as the last item I quoted includes that it can't be an online scrap for hire business.

In any case, I think it's best I ask each designer specifically. Thanks, this really helped a lot in my prep

[Libby Pritchett]

Originally Posted by BrodoNY0123

Well I mean I'm not talking about selling the brag books or QP's or anything. If I create a design for a notebook cover, for example, using SSD stuff, I can't make like 5 of them and then sell them in an etsy store? It's an original design that I created, right?

Each design would need to be custom meaning that it's one-of-a-kind designed with a specific customer in mind. So you couldn't advertise premade stuff. Everyone's views are so different on this, that you really need to just check with each designer if you want to use her stuff.

Also as a side note, I know some of my CT girls use my products in scrap for hire type things, and they pay me a separate CU fee since they got my product for free to start with. So as a babe, you'd want to check with the designer anyway to make sure it was cool.

[kscwgirl]

Originally Posted by BrodoNY0123

Well I mean I'm not talking about selling the brag books or QP's or anything. If I create a design for a notebook cover, for example, using SSD stuff, I can't make like 5 of them and then sell them in an etsy store? It's an original design that I created, right?

Yes but you can't mass produce. Individual notebooks for 5 different people is okay, the same notebook for 5 people is not okay, unless it falls under an individual TOU where it's allowed.

[ColleenSwerb]

Well it's a good thing I'm no where near attempting this. Now I'll have to give it more thought.
I def understand about it being different since I'm a babe now and don't pay in the first place, though.

[alien21xx]

Actually I wanted to clarify that I didn't have making a couple of pre-made items of the same type (mass produced) to sell in mind, as I don't think i have the capability of reproducing something I've already done. LOL

My plan was to have one-of-a-kind items but not necessarily specifically customized for the buyer. Of course, with the TOU clarified, this is something better clarified with each designer, as the SSD TOu says this isn't allowed.

Hmm I may need to change the business plan to custom made after all.

ETA: Also, I definitely agree on a separate CU fee, esp if the products used are obtained through a CT.

Originally Posted by Libby Weifenbach

Each design would need to be custom meaning that it's one-of-a-kind designed with a specific customer in mind. So you couldn't advertise premade stuff. Everyone's views are so different on this, that you really need to just check with each designer if you want to use her stuff.

Also as a side note, I know some of my CT girls use my products in scrap for hire type things, and they pay me a separate CU fee since they got my product for free to start with. So as a babe, you'd want to check with the designer anyway to make sure it was cool.

[OurPinkLife]

Oh, this is good to know. I am on another board and there are some people selling pre-designed birthday invitations made with some of your kits. I was looking at them because my daughter's birthday is soon but I will stay away if they are not within TOU.

[ColleenSwerb]

Originally Posted by OurPinkLife

Oh, this is good to know. I am on another board and there are some people selling pre-designed birthday invitations made with some of your kits. I was looking at them because my daughter's birthday is soon but I will stay away if they are not within TOU.

If you could link up the designers with the invitations, that would be great. As we just discusses here, that's not allowed by the TOU and the designers need to know, as well as those selling such things.

[OurPinkLife]

Originally Posted by BrodoNY0123

If you could link up the designers with the invitations, that would be great. As we just discusses here, that's not allowed by the TOU and the designers need to know, as well as those selling such things.

You work for this site right? Can I just message you the website in some way and you can pass it on? I am not sure whose kits they are. I just recognized some of them from browsing the site.

[ColleenSwerb]

Yes that would be fine, I would be glad to help.
Up top of this post on the right, click on "send pm" and just paste the website in there. I'll take care of it from there.

[Robin Carlton]

Originally Posted by OurPinkLife

Oh, this is good to know. I am on another board and there are some people selling pre-designed birthday invitations made with some of your kits. I was looking at them because my daughter's birthday is soon but I will stay away if they are not within TOU.

Yeah this would be against our TOU. If you could help with references to where products like this are being sold, that would be great.

In regards to selling on Etsy, if you want to make hybrid journals for example, it would be ok to show a sample journal and offer a custom service to a customer in which the customer would choose the kit she wants you to use for her project and you would buy the kit and make the journal FOR HER and her alone so that it is a one of a kind item. Rinse and repeat for each journal you create.

The concern with our TOU and premade items being sold in online stores is that we dont want mass produced items or stores full of premade products using our designs. Offering a S4H service where you create an album or product 100% from scratch for each and every customer and arent selling a specific product but rather your services as a scrapper or hybrid artist is ok!

That said, double checking with the designer whose products you'd like to use if you have questions is always a good idea!

R