Society6 is removing artist profiles — Here are 8 POD alternatives

Society6 has been losing its popularity due to a few moves in the recent past, such as introducing paid artist plans with a quite limited free option, or starting to deduct shipping fees from creators’ earnings.

Here’s the next strike: Many creators received an email this week from Society6 stating that their artist accounts would be deleted. The platform is now aiming to become “a more focused brand with a smaller group of artists.”

Worst of all, some artists received both rejection and acceptance emails in a few minutes, adding to the chaos:

Not even long-time users have been spared, as it seems, raising questions about how exactly the platform is picking out who stays and who goes:

Moving on, even if your Society account stays intact, you may face limitations such as restrictions on uploading new artwork and losing some of your existing designs.

Effective March 18, 2025, Society6 will:

• Limit and approve which artists and designs can be sold on the site
• Remove artist plans and fees, including artist markup percentage options, and eliminate shipping fees from artist earnings
• Implement a new artwork submission and approval process

If you’re staying with Society6:

• You can’t upload new artwork until the new submission and approval process has a green light
• Some of your designs may be removed based on factors such as past sales, originality, or relevance to current trends
• You won’t be charged for your Artist Plan beginning February 3rd, and any fees previously collected beyond February 2nd will be “prorated and refunded back to you”
• Starting from March 18, 2025, artist shipping fees will no longer be deducted from your artist earnings
• You will earn 5%-10% of the net sale amount on every product purchased featuring your design, 10% of the net sale amount on pillows, wall tapestries, framed art, and posters, 5% for all other products; and you’ll be paid 5% of net sale commission rate for trade, wholesale and marketplace orders

If you are removed from Society6:

• Your designs will remain on Society6.com until March 18, 2025, after which they will start to be taken down alongside the Artist’s account and shop
• If your designs make a sale until March 18, 2025, it will be processed in March 2025 and you’ll be paid accordingly in May 2025
• You won’t be charged for your Artist Plan beginning February 3rd, and any fees previously collected beyond February 2nd will be “prorated and refunded back to you”

Find more details here:

👉 ​Updates to Society6 Artists Account – Effective March 18, 2025​

👉 ​Updates to Pricing and Artist Earnings – Effective March 18, 2025​

What platforms to try instead of Society6?

Here’s a quick list of POD (print on demand) platforms you can try, but as always, you need to test things yourself. What works for one, might not work for the other.

1. ​Redbubble​ – free set-up + paid plans
2. ​Printful​ – extensive free plan + paid extra features
3. ​Gelato​ – free plan (only pay for what you sell) + paid plans
4. ​Printify​ – free + paid plans
5. ​Prodigi​ – free set-up & no subscriptions but other costs apply, e.g. shipping and manufacturing
6. ​INPRNT​ (only for prints) – you can start selling based on the votes of the INPRNT community or you may receive a rare invitation from the site, then earn percentage of the product price; in exchange they cover all costs, including production and shipping
7. ​Gooten – no membership fees but you pay for the products and shipping
8. Shopify store with POD integration (e.g. Printful, Printify, Gooten, Gelato) – Shopify monthly fee + POD cossts

Above, I only highlighted the basic fee options, as in free and paid options, but make sure to look into the details.

For instance, out of the sites mentioned, it’s only INPRNT that won’t make creators pay for shipping and manufacturing.

Also, taxes can apply and vary based on the county you’re shipping to. The exact costs are usually communicated up ahead, along with the production or manufacturing costs of the different objects where your design would be used, so it’s best to compare those too before deciding on a platform.

In addition, this article can be useful:

👉 ​How to make prints of your art to sell online

The lesson: Own your platforms

If you’ve been with The Creators’ Diary for a longer time and have read other articles from us, you know that we keep talking about platform risk.

This Society6 fiasco, once again, highlights how important it is for creators to own one or more platforms.

Have a domain and website, and operate a newsletter. Create what you create knowing that the platform, like your webshop, where people can buy from you won’t be taken away —at least, the odds of that are very low—, and that you’ll have your email list saved ready for you to contact them, even if your POD store gets removed or you lose access to your social media profile.

As you can see, these are real-life examples and can happen to anyone. A few weeks ago it was TikTok, now it’s Society6 — different kinds of shutdown, but in essence, all the same.

When it comes to understanding platform risk, nobody says you cannot operate a POD store or have social media presence. You absolutely can, but don’t put everything you got into just one channel.

In fact, if you opt for a Shopify store, as listed above, you can add a POD integration too which would be the best of both worlds in a way.

What’s next, Society6?

Once the new submission and approval system of the platform will be in full force, we’ll get to see how fitting it is for the creators who made the cut this time and for new artists, as well.

Based on Society6’s current communication, they might re-open their doors to the latter group (which will be shared on their Sell Your Art page), and if you haven’t tried the platform before and want to give it a try in the future, who knows? Perhaps, they’re waiting for up and coming artists to join their circles.

If you’re on of those whose profile was removed from the site and you are much effected by it, too, because you relied on it for your income quite heavily, for instance, I’m really sorry and only hope that you’ll find your footing again.

Talk to your peers and community, look around where others are moving to, and make sure to gather as much information as possible when it comes to running your creative business as smartly as you can. (P.S. Avoid platform risk!)

This is what we’re trying to help you with here, at The Creators’ Diary. Look at our Creator Business articles, read our Creator Interviews, and join us in our Creator Therapy. We’re here if you need us.

_{Featured image by Toa Heftiba}