Building your RedBubble account may take a hundred steps to finish- from product research to sales management and beyond, only to be suspended by their team in a matter of seconds.
Ever since Redbubble has undergone system updates, the platform has become more stringent on the user’s compliance to their User Agreement or published policies.
To ensure the quality of the accounts in the platform, the platform limits its users to artists who comply with their rules.
On Red Bubble’s official website, they published the top reasons that qualify for account suspension.
In this article, we’ll talk about those reasons and how you can save yourself from this disaster.
Fraudulent Activity
The first thing on the list to qualify as grounds for suspension is any fraudulent activity that is connected to your account.
Although the term is a bit vague, it implies that Redbubble has the discretion to assess whether your account has fraudulent activities or not based on their processes and tools.
In the following sections, they mentioned that listing intentionally deceptive products or materials that claim to be offered in the Redbubble marketplace would qualify as fraudulent.
Other fraudulent activities, including but not limited to deceitful transactions with buyers would get you qualified for suspension.
Sometimes, Redbubble also confuses automated upload tools as suspicious activity, knowing that two users have access to your account.
The best step to stay safe from these instances is to manually upload your listings.
It might be a tough step, but it would definitely spare you from losing your account in the long run.
Trademark Issues
One of the most common reasons why independent artists have their accounts suspended by Redbubble is Trademark.
Even if, without a doubt, you have published an original artwork inspired by ideas that are yours and yours alone, you might still find yourself liable for trademark infringement.
Redbubble says that products listed in their platform that would not count as original, whether they are phrases, stock images, vector packs, or art reproductions that belong to another owner will cause your account to be taken down.
To avoid this issue, it’s always the best practice to check your designs and phrases at Trademark Checker, the official trademark-checking site of the United States before uploading your products.
Multiple Accounts
Redbubble has now been stricter than ever when it comes to its one-account policy.
Users who have more than one account on the same IP address will automatically have all their accounts suspended.
Even if, say, you use different Redbubble accounts on different devices, e.g laptop, mobile, etc, the platform can still find a way to track your activities.
If you are using the same bank account details for those different accounts, then they may find you as a potential subject.
You may also be charged with having multiple accounts if another account was created that is associated with a disabled account.
To avoid this, make sure to diversify your details and credentials to make you a qualified member of the platform again.
Keyword Spamming
If you’re spamming words everywhere to make sure you stay on top of search results, you might have been marked safe from suspension until January 29, 2021.
Since Redbubble’s new system update, the platform has been religiously checking accounts that spam keywords.
While you may think putting all sorts of similar words or phrases in the description and the tags section might give you a competitive advantage, they actually look messy and ridiculous.
When adding descriptions and tags, try to be specific and stick to relevant keywords.
For instance, if you are selling a comical shirt about Bernie Sanders, you don’t have to put the names of other famous politicians on the list to increase your reach.
Moreover, repeating the same words and listing all sorts of synonyms you can think of your keyword will make you a candidate for suspension.
Unqualified Member
Lastly, Redbubble can suspend your account once they find out that you’re not a qualified member.
For instance, if you’re below 18 years old and have been making huge sums of money on the platform, Congratulations! You might, however, lose everything before your mom even finds out about it.
What Happens when your Account is Suspended?
So what happens if Redbubble suspends your account? Users whose accounts will be suspended will no longer be able to log in to their account nor will they be able to access any of the products that they have listed.
Moreover, all products will no longer appear in search results and will also no longer be available for sale.
However, artists who have their accounts suspended will still be able to claim outstanding balances for their sales.
Can you get your account back?
If you happen to think that your account suspension is a mistake, Red Bubble says you can submit an appeal to their team.
The team however says that they are not obliged to disclose the nature of the account suspension.
This means that you may or may not know why your account has been suspended at the end of the day.
They also added that due to a large number of appeals, they may not be able to accommodate requests, and when they do, may take up to two weeks to process.
A response from the team means they have likely found an error in the action and will get your account reinstated.
Let’s Wrap it Up
Red Bubble has various processes and mechanisms to easily identify artists who violate their rules.
On their website, they also published a disclaimer that they will not be suspending any accounts for reasons that are not stated in their publicized policy.
Rules are mostly made to be broken and are too often for the lazy to hide behind.
Douglas McArthur
Different companies and platforms have their own set of rules to abide by.
So before you jump ahead into making money through Red Bubble, make sure to read the fine print and be aware of what you can and you cannot do.
Thank you for reading, and we hope you found this useful. If you have any questions or you want to follow us for more related discussions, follow us on Twitter.
