Design Bundles deleted my store because I liked a post about them on LinkedIn.
Crazy, right?!
On July 6th, 2023 I received an email for a payout from Design Bundles that I didn’t request. Immediately I went to my store admin and saw my shop was disabled. I know that when they close a store they send the store payout and affiliate payout at one time. I texted a friend and she couldn’t find my shop by searching anymore. Right away, I send an email to their support team asking why they closed my shop.
During this time my shop was live and customers could still purchase and download my freebies I had available, but I had no access to the store admin to make payouts.
On July 14th, 8 days later, I get an email for another payout. 10 minutes later I get another email saying my store was deleted. They never once replied to my emails, which I’m honestly okay with.
August 9th Update: my freebies are still available to download on their site.
Why do I think my shop was shut down over a like?
There was a post on LinkedIn where another store owner was documenting the struggles of closing their shop on Design Bundles and it taking months. This is not a rare case, I know of a few other designers this happened to as well. The owner of Design Bundles ended up commenting with threats to sue for defamation on that post and I’m thinking he may have seen that I liked the post, because hours after his comments was when my store admin access was disabled.
I also have a Facebook Group for digital artists, and sometimes conversations come up about Design Bundles that aren’t the best (for them). But this group was created with the intent that you could talk about any website without it being run by that website. I don’t kick anyone out if I disagree with them. Freedom of speech, right?
Though I didn’t start most of those conversations, I have been honest about my thoughts. Yeah, my shop has dwindled there. Yeah, it’s not what it once was. But I’ve never made any threatening comments about Design Bundles. Ever.
Either way, both of these options are insane reasons to close someone’s shop down. “Why can’t you sell on Design Bundles?” “Oh I liked a LinkedIn post one time”… I mean, where is the logic??! The answer is there is none. The CEO replied to comments on that LinkedIn post saying that it’s HIS website and he can do what he wants, basically. And yeah, that is true. He can remove any store owner for whatever reason he wants, I guess. I mean none of this violated the Terms and Conditions, but that’s besides the point, right?
Design Bundles has lost the heart of their business.
At one point they were every designers favorite place because of the welcoming community, the input from the CEO, etc. But now it’s honestly a lot of peoples least favorite place to sell on. So many (and I mean SO many) designers have complained about not being able to freely speak without being reprimanded.
I’m shocked, but not shocked, that Design Bundles would close down a shop for someone’s opinion. You’ll never catch Creative Market getting their feelings hurt because a designer said their sales are down or for liking a post. You won’t find Creative Fabrica shutting down shops because a designer complained about the payout system.
But that is why those companies are going to continue thriving. Designers are the reason any marketplace exists – without designers you don’t have customers.
So where do we go from here?
Well, I’m on to bigger and better things and my future no longer includes Design Bundles.
From here on out, I no longer encourage selling on Design Bundles. Where should you sell instead? Cricut, Creative Fabrica, Creative Market, Etsy, or your own website.
Cricut is doing AMAZING. And I mean amazing. I’m blown away by the support and success I’m seeing in such a short amount of time. The community there is amazing – those employees truly listen to what designers and customers are saying and you can truly see that they are trying to listen to both. I’m so so happy to be a CAP artist.
Related: One Month Cricut CAP Review
I’m going to also be taking time to revamp my Etsy shop. Learning the best practices and updating existing listings. On top of that I have been brewing some ideas for my own website and how I can make it even better.
I look forward to what’s to come!