Community Watch PSA

Think of this like a neighborhood watch type of situation. This is a public service announcement on behalf of our digital planning community. Both shop owners and customers alike. It seems like we need to have a little chat about the do’s and don’ts. I see some shady stuff happen from time to time in the community. And unfortunately, it’s hitting a little closer to home right now.

The sad fact is that most of us shop owners will find ourselves to be the victims of a scam, theft, slander, or general customer wrongdoing at some point throughout the life of our shops. It’s sad but true. And there’s only so much we can do to protect ourselves. That’s why having the support and backing of others in this amazing digital planning community is so important.

A lot of us shop owners talk to each other. We shoot each other the occasional message. We give a shout out when we buy from another shop and show off how great their products work when mixed with some of our own. We have designated Facebook groups and group chats on Instagram where we can connect with each other for support, advice, random fun chatting, and more. And a lot of us really look out for other shop owners and let them know when we see something suspicious or something not quite right going on.

Not just that though. Because we can grow so close to each other in our different little digital planning families here and there, other customers help the shops they love by looking out for them.

I was once the victim of someone stealing images right from my website and posting them on their “shop” Instagram page as if they were their own. They were even trying to run a buy one get one free sale showcasing my planner. I found out about it because someone recognized items from my shop and others there and shared the scam in a planning Facebook group. Then several customers and a couple shop owners reached out to me about it. And I reached out to the shops I recognized for a heads-up of the scam. So we all started trying to fight it. FYI when I called them out on IG after messaging them, they blocked me.

The other day I saw in another shop’s Facebook group that I’m a part of, that someone bought from them, stole their listing graphics, and then made their own listings in their own Etsy shop. Time and time again we see people setting up shops with stolen graphics and products pretending it’s their own. I could list several shops that I’ve seen these type of crimes committed against at this point.

And even this weekend it’s been brought to my attention that certain people are purchasing and sharing some of my files and the files of other creators. This is not ok. This is stealing from us shop owners.

If you purchase something from a shop with the plan to gift it to someone else that means you’re not supposed to keep it for yourself to use. If you gift a file and continue to use it for yourself without purchasing another copy, that’s stealing.

Keep in mind that we can see the products you buy in our systems. And we can see you sharing in our different Facebook groups or in other social media platforms. We can check in with each other. We can connect the dots.

This is why you’ll notice that digital planning shops have a no refund policy. Unlike physical products, there’s no real way a digital file can be returned. We can’t just take you on your word that you’ll delete the files you’ve purchased if we give you a refund.

Unfortunately a lot of this selling of digital products comes down to the honor system. We are trusting that our customers are not purchasing our products and redistributing them to others while also keep files for themselves. We are trusting that our customers are not planning to buy our products and then turn around and create their own shops using our products.

We spend so much of our time, our effort, and our own money into making our shops happen. We create our own art. We purchase commercial use products from other creators working hard to make their shops work. We pay listing fees, card processing fees, website hosting fees, license fees, and more. We spend hours, days, weeks, months working on our designs building up our businesses.

So when people try to take advantage of us by handing out our products to others, or by sharing freebies designed from private groups or even paid subscribers, or by trying to find ways to cheat or work around the system it’s hurting us as shop owners and as real people behind the screens.

If this is you, please stop and make amends to the parties you have wronged or stolen from.

If this is something you’ve seen happening, say something so we can work to protect ourselves and others.

Look out for one another in this digital planning family.