01/02/2024
Let’s talk about custom products.
While I understand that the intent behind posts like these is not malicious, I’d like to explain a little bit as to why this is so frustrating- especially as a one person small business.
This is one of my photos with my logo/watermark cropped out and posted publicly looking for my work to be replicated for cheaper.
This particular tack set took 30+ hours to produce and hand place roughly 5,000 rhinestones. That’s nearly an entire week at a full time job. I do understand that $1000+ is a large amount to spend on a tack set, but the reason things are priced this way is because of the amount of time it takes to make intricate custom products and the price of materials.
When you steal photos from small businesses and ask for work to be replicated for cheaper, not only is picture theft illegal, it’s also rude to ask for someone’s hard work to be copied (you are also asking another business to do the same amount of work for less money.)
When you crop out logos and watermarks, you are taking credit away from the maker.
If you are not happy with my prices for custom pieces, there are plenty of options for customization on pre-existing tack sets, our Etsy page allows for payment options like Klarna where you can pay in installments, and custom orders can be modified to be less intricate which in turn adjusts the price. I’m happy to work with you to create something while keeping a budget in mind, but I am not happy to have my work stolen.
Please, stop stealing photos from small businesses and especially stop cropping out their logos and watermarks. All of us who create custom products work hard on our craft and it’s frustrating to have our work stolen and replicated, and truthfully it hurts my feelings.
Please remember that small businesses are run by human beings doing their best.
Thank you for coming to my TackTalk (like TedTalk.. but it’s tack 😉😂)
FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO FEEL THE NEED TO BE NASTY ABOUT THIS- please reread and understand the post. It’s not even CLOSE to being just about this one piece. This is about small businesses in general. SEVERAL of my photos have been stolen… even by other small businesses in the same niche. If you’re going to be nasty, go somewhere else. This isn’t the place.
*edited to add: this set is not and was not for sale. It was a personal project and will not be available*
