Thoughts on art reselling?

[Kikitchi]

I just want to hear some opinions on this and how other artists go about it…

 

There’s been a few times now where someone has commissioned a custom or purchased a premade from me, and has later asked if they can resell the artwork because they’re in need of money. I always say no, but I feel so guilty about it. My reason is that I’ve allowed it before, and that person ended up reselling the piece to so many different people that they made more money on it than I originally made with all the time and effort I put into the commission. Still, I feel bad if someone is in a tough spot financially and I can’t help them in this way. 
 

How do you guys feel about art reselling? Do you have special policies around it?

[Aiko]

Hi Mouse!

 

This is a great question! We actually have guidelines regarding the reselling of artwork! The guideline is as follows:

Quote

As of July 2019,
It has become an exceedingly popular trend for users to “resell” artwork on our platform (Non-Adopts.) While we do not officially endorse this practice, we tolerated it for the sake of an open platform with only one requirement in place: You must have direct permission from the artist(s) who created the work(s).

 

Due to the incredible abuse in using our platform to resell art without proper permissions in recent weeks, we have been forced to discuss adding official regulations to our Community Guidelines regarding the reselling of any artwork that is not classified as an adoptable by its original creator. We encourage anyone to contact any staff member with suggestions on what we could do to allow this practice to continue without enforcing harsh restrictions. Until that course of action is decided upon, no reselling of artwork is allowed until further notice. This restriction is for artwork that is not classified as an adoptable by its original creator.

 

To clarify further, we do not allow members to resell artwork they have bought on our site unless it is an adoptable. This means that if they buy, for example, a premade from you and decide to put it up for sale, they are violating our guidelines. This also applies to any artwork they've commissioned from you. For example, if someone has commissioned a piece from you of a character they have, they should not be reselling the individual piece. While this is the site's official ruling, customers should also refer to the rules that artist has explicitly stated. You do not have to allow resells by any means and that decision is entirely up to you.

 

I hope this helps answer some of your questions! Please let me know if you need anything else clarified or have additional questions regarding the reselling of artwork ♥

[Kikitchi]

3 hours ago, Alismora said:

@Mouse

 

I actually started a discussion about this last year because i was curious as well. (This came about shortly after AH put a stop to it because of all the scamming and buyers committing copyright infringement by not getting permission from artists to sell their commissioned pieces.)

 

Lots of good thoughts and opinions in here to read through, including my own!

 

 

 

Thank you! I'm glad you sent this to me, because it definitely makes me feel a little better about declining art resells.  I can understand the people who see it the same way as thrift shopping, but knowing how much time and effort I put into a piece, it hurts to see someone reselling and profiting off of it.  I also didn't consider that if artwork isn't resold then the buyer will just delete it, but as much as that sucks, at least it's unlikely that I'll ever know they're doing that.  Unless they really feel like being a damper on my day and tell me anyways, lol.  I guess I could ask the reseller for like half of the profits, but that feels dirty to me too.

[Kikitchi]

18 hours ago, Caedis said:

Hi Mouse!

 

This is a great question! We actually have guidelines regarding the reselling of artwork! The guideline is as follows:

 

To clarify further, we do not allow members to resell artwork they have bought on our site unless it is an adoptable. This means that if they buy, for example, a premade from you and decide to put it up for sale, they are violating our guidelines. This also applies to any artwork they've commissioned from you. For example, if someone has commissioned a piece from you of a character they have, they should not be reselling the individual piece. While this is the site's official ruling, customers should also refer to the rules that artist has explicitly stated. You do not have to allow resells by any means and that decision is entirely up to you.

 

I hope this helps answer some of your questions! Please let me know if you need anything else clarified or have additional questions regarding the reselling of artwork ♥

 

So would this apply outside of AH?  For instance, someone buys from my shop on AH, but they decide to resell somewhere like discord or IMVU. 

[Aiko]

1 hour ago, Mouse said:

So would this apply outside of AH?  For instance, someone buys from my shop on AH, but they decide to resell somewhere like discord or IMVU. 

 

Outside of AH it is the buyers responsibility to follow your rules. You are the one who holds the copyright to the piece since it is your intellectual property. Anyone who wishes to sell your work or use it must have your explicit written permission. So, while a buyer has received permission to use the artwork for their own personal use, they do not have the permission to sell it for their own monetary gain UNLESS you allow them to. You can state whether or not they have this type of permission in your topic's rules, on your profile, or even within the invoice on PayPal (if you use PayPal as your payment method). Does that answer your question a little better? ♥

[Kikitchi]

16 minutes ago, Caedis said:

 

Outside of AH it is the buyers responsibility to follow your rules. You are the one who holds the copyright to the piece since it is your intellectual property. Anyone who wishes to sell your work or use it must have your explicit written permission. So, while a buyer has received permission to use the artwork for their own personal use, they do not have the permission to sell it for their own monetary gain UNLESS you allow them to. You can state whether or not they have this type of permission in your topic's rules, on your profile, or even within the invoice on PayPal (if you use PayPal as your payment method). Does that answer your question a little better? ♥

It does, thank you!