How To Guide: Make Money on Redbubble

How do you make money on Redbubble?

Maybe you are a budding designer struggling to make an income. Perhaps you’ve already established your practice but just can’t seem to crack the numbers as far as sales are concerned. Well, you’d be interested to know that print-on-demand agencies like Redbubble offer a convenient platform where you can share your work with the entire world, and earn an easy buck while at it.

The thing about these print-on-demand companies is that through them, you are able to reach a whole community of potential art buyers that you may otherwise not have been able to access. And the easiest part is that all you need to do is post your art, sit back and wait for the orders to start coming in.

If you are a good designer who has no idea of how to translate your creations into money, perhaps you should consider joining Redbubble. So the question begs, how can you make money on Redbubble?

If you’re a designer looking improve your skills, check out our recent article on the best digital art classes.

What is Redbubble?

Redbubble is an online print on demand site that designers can upload their artistic creations and sell to interested members of the public. The merchandise can include anything from tote bags, t-shirts, phone cases, stickers, notebooks, etc. The designers earn royalties from the sale of their creations.

They receive a percentage of the profit and the rest of the funds account for the fee paid to Redbubble and the manufacture of the merchandise. The site then handles the inventory and shipping transactions on your behalf. What remains for you to do is create and post your designs. The good thing is that artists retain the rights to their images, so there are no restrictions to posting your work elsewhere.

How does one become an Artist on Redbubble?

To be part of Redbubble, you simply have to go to the main page and click the “Sign Up” button on the right-hand corner. Make sure you choose a creative username that will be attractive to your prospective clients.

Make it memorable and ensure that it says something about the kind of art you offer.

Alternatively, you can decide to use your official name if you don’t want anything fancy, which won’t also be a bad idea.

How do I make my Redbubble Profile Stand Out?

Once you have finished signing up, there are several things you can do to make your profile more noticeable. You can start by customizing your profile. For instance, you can add an avatar, as well as a cover image for users to see a charming banner when they visit your store. A nice picture or icon may also work when it appears alongside your comments in groups.

I would also suggest that your cover image and avatar match in color so that your profile has a consistent look, the same way a brand would. Remember that your store is your brand and you want it to reflect the same to visitors. A brief bio that informs clients about yourself and what you do will also come in handy here.

Remember to have fun and express your creativity when personalizing your profile.

You want the profile to display a bright personality that will make customers want to get to know more about you and the kind of work you do.

Uploading Photos on Redbubble

If you have images that you want to post on your store, just click your avatar and scroll down to the “Add new network” section. This is where you upload your pictures. Redbubble provides different sizing options that you will have to select for the mage you’re posting.

Do your best to make sure that your posts appear professional if you want them to attract customers.

Make the clean and crisp without stray pixels. Be sure to upload them in png format and use a transparent background, unless you are posting a rectangular photo for cards and posters.

If you are posting any mature content, remember to flag your images before posting them, lest you want your work to be pulled down.

Unfortunately, there is a prevalence of copyrighted content on Redbubble, so to be safe, make sure that you are only posting original work.

You don’t want to be banned from the site and possibly end up facing a lawsuit.

Once you have finished setting up the upload, submit your work and it will immediately appear on your profile.

Selling on Redbubble

When filling up your profile information, there is a section where you are required to provide your payment details. When uploading your designs, you have the freedom to set the price you want to sell your work for and determine the profit you want to earn.

Your profile page is basically your storefront. It has everything from your bio, portfolio, and any other links that you want visitors to follow. There is also a small journal section that you can publish briefs that relate to the work you do.

This is all pretty basic stuff, although if you use it properly it can put you in a position to be featured on Redbubble’s homepage or weekly page.

You can also access a large knowledge base or online community on the forum section to benefit from the guide on setting up a performing storefront and merchandise listing.

At the end of the day, your storefront has to be interesting to bring in business.

Payment on Redbubble

Redbubble pays users of its platform through PayPal or direct bank account deposits to people living in the U.K, U.S, or Australia. Payments are made on the 15th of the month for the earnings you made the previous month. Be careful when selecting the currency you want to be paid in because you may not be able to change it later on.

If you want to edit your payment details, just go to your profile and find the “Edit Payment Details” section. Here, you can also change the product pricing and this will subsequently affect the royalties you receive. The price of individual designs can be altered by editing them.

Are there any Challenges on Redbubble?

Redbubble is a great platform to earn money from your original designs, but this doesn’t mean that everything will come on a silver platter. You must do your best to make your store visible to users and engage as many potential customers as possible to attract sales.

However, this is not always a walk in the park, especially when you consider that:

1. There are more than half a million users on Redbubble and the number keeps on growing by the day. This means that the competition here is at fever pitch! Everyone is trying to attract the viewer’s attention. The fact that it is free to post designs does not help matters; it only leads to oversaturation of the site.

2. Unless you are lucky to earn a spot in the front pages or the featured section, there is little chance that potential buyers will discover your designs. No matter how creative you decide to get, there’s just no way of controlling featured campaigns and paying for such a service is also too expensive.

3. The product quality that customers receive is usually out of your control. If it occurs that a client is underwhelmed by the state of items they purchased, such as printing or usability, it may cause them not to buy from the site moving forward. This is another downside to designers who wait for the sale of merchandise to market their artwork.

How do I Market my Redbubble Store?

There are numerous ways to market your store! Social media sites provide a prime platform that you can get the word about your store out there. You can share your Redbubble shop on social sites like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, etc and drum up the attention for the merchandise you are creating. Use the appropriate hashtags when advertising products and take advantage of holidays, anniversaries, and other special days.

If you have a website, you can also include your Redbubble store on the home page. Alternatively, you can provide a link where your site subscribers will land on your store when they click it.

Another thing to do is to write about your Redbubble store and the merchandise you create if you own a blog. This way, people will have a clear understanding of what you are trying to sell and develop the curiosity to want to check out your designs on Redbubble. If you want to make money on redbubble, good social media is a must.

Why is Redbubble so Attractive to Designers?

Print-on-demand sites are quite popular among consumers because they enable customization of products so that it’s as if you are purchasing something unique from the market. From the seller’s point of view, this implies that just one design can be repurposed and used for a variety of merchandise without needing to carry any stock.

Redbubble doesn’t cost you anything when you want to post your creations. Also, you have control of the amount of revenue you stand to earn from the sale of a particular product. Overall, this selling approach proves to be convenient and does not interfere with your ambitions to create great artworks.

Even if you are not a designer, you can still make money by simply referring potential buyers to the marketplace. This will earn you a 10% commission that you can get within 45 days.

So, can you Make Money on Redbubble?

Definitely! You can make money on redbubble if you have creative designs and works of art that you are looking to sell. However, this is not something that will happen overnight. It takes effort that goes beyond merely uploading and publishing the designs. You have to market your store and find ways of attracting potential buyers to translate this into sales.

There is so much to gain from this great online platform. It might just be the ideal place to jump-start your career as an artist. So if you feel you are creative enough to come up with designs that will interest the public, why not join Redbubble and see what comes out of it.