Graphic design is a very subjective topic and can cause some complications, especially for an e-commerce business. These are the terms & conditions of working with http://merchcomplete.com:
Refunds
There has to be a valid reason for refunds. A refund will not happen just because you don’t like a certain color, font or perhaps the niche is against your religious beliefs.
Expectations
This video will show you our process, by making an order with us, you have understood and accepted the way we do things
Trademarks
The trademark topic is a minefield. This is the most dangerous part of making a t-shirt empire. We will do our best to check for trademarks, but by making an order with us, you are responsible for doubling or even triple checking our work before you submit it to Amazon. Sometimes with our experience, we do make mistakes in some rare circumstances. Also, it is possible for a new trademark to be brought in after you have a shirt live. We will not accept the responsibility of what happens after work is complete, the fate of the design is in your hands. Same goes for the keywords we provide.
Deletion
In order to protect you, we delete your designs after work completion. We do this to ensure the design will also stay unique to you and to you only. We do not rehash your designs and resell them. But please understand, we cannot re-send your files if you so happen to lose your designs in the future. Once you have accepted the work, then that it is it until we make a new batch for you.
My disclaimers
I would like for you to read my disclaimers that involve current and future of your designs.. Download this document as a PDF if you prefer to keep a record.
Once you receive my work:
Sometimes even with my experience, I can occasionally make a mistake. Trademarks are a minefield and it happens to the best of us. I will not be responsible for any rejects upon work delivery. Please do your OWN trademark checks before uploading to merch by Amazon to be 100% sure, but I will do it to the best of my ability, mistakes rarely happen with me but they could happen. You will be responsible for what goes through to Amazon. I will compensate you with new designs if I make a mistake and you have a good valid reason.
Trademarks have to have a serial number, so something that looks trademarked is often not trademarked. This video will show you to exactly to check for REAL trademarks: https://goo.gl/e1Dzo1 So if you find a link that says your shirt is trademarked, please look at the serial number and ‘LIVE’ and that it is in the ‘Shirt’ category before declining my work. Sometimes there are fake trademarks but I can assure you, I have looked into it.
In this crazy business model of print on demand, sometimes new trademarks get brought in AFTER we have made shirts. I cannot predict the future as much as I would like to be able to. For example, Trump said ‘Covfefe’ and everybody went crazy uploading Covfefe t-shirts and making money. But also people went crazy applying for the trademarks for it, too. Now these days, the designs will be infringing. “Funcle” was a great niche and now till recently, the trademark has been granted for it. If I made you FUNCLE in the past then you’re to blame me for a rejection, then it is unfair I get into trouble for it because, at the time, it was lucrative.
As you can see, it is not fair to me that if your shirt gets reported for trademark infringement-3 months into the future when the Covfefe or FUNCLE finally gets trademark approved. This is just how the business model is. If you are uncomfortable with that then please consider another business model. This is just how the business is!
But by accepting my work, it is your responsibility to protect your business and that these designs now solely belong and responsible to you. If anything changes into the future, I cannot be held responsible.
Keywords and descriptions – I will do my best to use the current list building strategies. Sometimes Amazon changes their rule system down the line into the future, I will make things as safe to the best of my ability AT THE TIME. If Amazon decides to decide a word is against TOS then it is your job to edit the shirt before it gets rejected. I will not be held responsible for future changes but I will play it safe to the best of my ability (At that moment in time)
Files – If you receive a google drive/dropbox link from me. Please download your files to your own computer. Files will be deleted after 1 week (which is enough time for you to download). I have to do this to make room for cloud space. I will not be able to recover your shirts after they have been removed.
Subjectivity – Something now, might not be as offensive in the future. I cannot predict the future with the world’s current events and politics that might change. Or perhaps Amazon decides to reject it all of a sudden 2 months down the line due to some conflicting tragedy. But again, you are responsible for accepting this work, if you have a problem with it now then please mention it. If you mention it way after delivery then you cannot hold me responsible.
So by accepting this delivery and acceptance of my work, you understand my disclaimers, terms and conditions and no mention will mean you are fine with it. Thank you.
What you need to know about sales and how this business model works
The best way to receive an income is NOT to create shirts in high volume BSR designs. Because that is what all of your competition is doing. A shirt of a 1000 BSR will have too many designs to compete with and you will probably not get sales since you are on page 60 of the Amazon ranking results.
The best way is… to find shirts that are only selling a few month. I know what you are thinking “ONLY A FEW A MONTH??!’ But what you don’t realize is that if you have 1000 designs making you 1 sale a month (Let’s say the royalty is $6) then that is $6000 per month.
Do you get how it works? It’s best to research shirts where there are sporadic sales! Less competition and more sales. Do not just do research on the top-selling 100. You are wasting time and money. Go for the long hanging fruit. (Sometimes you can get lucky and have 1 design that becomes a jackpot and is responsible for making you $1000 per month)
I have a friend that has 16,000 shirts making 1 or 2 sales a month each, he is making a LOT of money this way and that is the same method that I am doing for my account and now yours.
It is important to grasp this. Often clients complain because they want to research from shirts that are selling 100 per month. They insist I make designs for them but they never become a repeat customer since they blame the designer and not their own research. I want to make you good designs with good research and I want your repeat business! Win/Win.
“Sales are slow! I’m not satisfied…”
Look, Merch by Amazon is not free money, it takes time, the best things in life do not come free. If you complain 2 weeks after a delivered order, that I haven’t made you a millionaire overnight then perhaps you’re not destined to be a business owner. It’s even slower in the low tiers which you are probably are. I do not mean any disrespect by this.
Let’s say you’re overweight and you buy healthy food from a supermarket, would you complain 2 weeks later that you do not have a healthy 6 pack abs? I should think not, same goes for this business. It takes time. Please be patient and I am not responsible for what happens after you already accepted work. Just like supermarkets aren’t responsible what foods you consume. I should think I should get the same respect. I do not welcome these kinds of complaints after order completion that you happily accepted upon delivery,
Sometimes Amazon has bad months and can throttle its sellers and limit sales. You and I do not have control on that. That’s just the way it is. Please respect this and you cannot blame the designer.
As business owners, I expect a mutual understanding on this. Just by accepting my work, that you understand this. I do not deserve any future passive aggression.
By making this order, you have accepted the terms and conditions in the above paragraphs. Thank you for reading,.
Merch Complete Team