Something Strange Happened After a Year of Selling AI Images on Redbubble

🌈 Abstract

The article discusses the author's experience with using AI-generated designs on the Redbubble platform, and their observations on the performance and profitability of their Redbubble shop.

🙋 Q&A

[01] Experimenting with AI-generated designs on Redbubble

1. What was the author's experiment with AI-generated designs on Redbubble?

• The author used one of their Redbubble shops with 200 designs and $20 monthly revenue as a testing ground.
• In two months, the author added 600 AI-generated designs made with the Leonardo AI image generator to see if AI images can be successfully sold on Redbubble.
• The experiment was successful, as the traffic to the shop grew from 200 monthly visits to 300 daily visits, and the revenue increased from $15-20 per month to $40-50 per month on average.

2. Why did the author stop caring about the Redbubble shop after the experiment?

• Redbubble introduced fees that the author had to pay for being in the low tier, and the instructions on how to get out of the lower tier were not clear.
• The author would rather share their Etsy designs on social media than their Redbubble designs, as they have more control over the quality of products featuring their designs on Etsy.
• The author does not work on the Redbubble shop enough to advance beyond the lower tier and reduce the fees.

[02] Pricing and product performance on Redbubble

1. How does the author approach pricing on Redbubble?

• The author sets the prices around 25% for all products, except for stickers, where they aim for 100% or more.
• This is because the best-selling products on these marketplaces are always stickers, which have outstanding quality on Redbubble.

2. What unusual products has the author noticed selling well on Redbubble?

• In the last few months, the author has noticed selling more products other than stickers or t-shirts, such as throw pillows, hats, bath mats, and laptop sleeves.
• These unusual products are generating substantial revenue relative to the number of visitors, leading to higher profit margins for the author as a shop owner.

3. What is the author's speculation about the changes in Redbubble's product offerings?

• The author wonders if the products on Redbubble have increased in quality, or if Redbubble is promoting more products outside the usual suspects of stickers and t-shirts.

4. Does the author plan to work more on their Redbubble shop?

• No, the author finds the fees on Redbubble discouraging and does not plan to invest more effort into the shop.
• However, the author is satisfied with the passive income generated from the shop after the initial two months of almost daily uploads of AI-generated designs.