Redbubble vs Society6 – Which Is Better?

Redbubble and Society6 are print-on-demand services. They have an existing marketplace that content creators can tap into and these services allow artists to sell their work on items like t-shirts, tote bags, calendars, metal prints, and more.

Although the two services are similar, they also have some substantial differences.

These differences will ultimately determine which of the two platforms is the best choice for you and your art portfolio.

What Is Redbubble?

Founded in 2006, Redbubble is an Australian print-on-demand company that operates around the world.

They have an existing marketplace and enable artists to set up a store, customize products with their own designs, and tap into that marketplace.

The company ships worldwide, offers free returns, and provides local support to its, and your, customers.

The product range is reasonable, although smaller than other platforms.

Posters and wall art are popular, showing their buyers’ preference for art-based designs and images.

Artists set their own commission rates on Redbubble, and this is not governed by the type or cost of the product.

The upload process, which is an important part of maintaining your portfolio of designs, is intuitive.

Artists can upload all products at once, saving time compared to individual and limited group uploads.

It is one of the better uploading and management tools on the market.

Redbubble is considered easy to work with, but this might be due to the limited product selection and variation.

They do still have a good variety of products, though, and the ability to determine your commission rate and product cost is beneficial.

According to the company’s annual report, Redbubble had 511,000 selling artists, an increase of 51% compared to the year before.

They also had 6.8 million customers, which was an increase of 30%. Sixteen new products were launched during the period, extending their portfolio to more than 70 products.

Today, Redbubble has a strong foothold in the print-on-demand market that boasts of biggies like Printful and Printify.

What Is Society6?

Society6 was established in 2009 when a friend of the company’s co-founders had the opportunity to display her art at the Art Basel in Miami.

Because she couldn’t afford the entry costs, she wasn’t able to attend.

The company founders recognized a need for artists to be able to showcase and sell their work on an existing platform with minimal effort and no initial costs.

Society6 has hundreds of products that range from clothing and phone cases to wall art and home décor.

It tends to attract an older demographic of buyers, which is represented in the look and design of the products on sale.

According to the Society6 website, they have over 300,000 artists on their site and saw 1.5 million transactions in the first nine months of 2020.

The Society6 team has made improvements to its uploading tool, but it is still clunky and difficult to work with.

Although you can upload to multiple products at a time, the system can lag and glitch, leaving you to have to re-upload images and artwork again.

Although not as busy as Redbubble, Society6 still has plenty of monthly traffic and makes a lot of sales that you can tap into.

Its platform isn’t as intuitive, however, and although your branding efforts will always be limited on these platforms, Society6’s website offers very little opportunity to put your name forward.

Check Out: Best Canadian Print On Demand Companies

Membership And Pricing

Redbubble

Pricing is one area where the two services differ. Redbubble offers artists the opportunity to set their prices and markup.

You’re told the base price of a t-shirt, for example, and can then add your profit margin.

Redbubble recommends a 20% markup on products, but it really is up to you. You can sell products with no profit, or you can hike prices by 50%.

If you have simple designs that are small and easy to create, you may benefit from including less of a markup.

This increases the likelihood of making a sale, increasing the total number of sales made.

If you have a recognized brand that already has a decent following, you can charge more because you have your own existing customer base, as well as visitors to the site.

When setting prices, you also need to consider the competition.

Most of the people that purchase from your Redbubble storefront will have come from the Redbubble marketplace.

Your competitors are other artists on the site selling similar products.

Price yourself too far above these sellers and a lot of your potential buyers will opt for them instead.

Because Redbubble suggests a markup of 20%, you will find that a lot of sellers opt for this price so if you can match it, or even undercut this figure a little, you could increase your sales.

Also Read: Redbubble vs Etsy

Society6

Society6 offers simpler pricing, but this means less flexibility and, typically, lower profit margins.

With Society6, the majority of sales net you 10% of the value. You cannot alter this value.

The inability to set your prices or markup is limiting and it means that you could lose out on some profit, but it does make the process simpler.

You won’t have the headache of trying to determine a fair price that will optimize your profit levels.

The exception to this strict pricing rule is art prints like canvas prints. In these cases, and because the product is your design or artwork, you can set the amount you charge and the profit it returns.

Verdict

Society6’s strict pricing may be easier to manage, but Redbubble’s flexibility enables you to set your profit margins and optimize your overall earnings.