AVOID Canva For Print on Demand

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[debravega]

I mainly use Canva as a tool now. I like their photo editing tools. The only time I use Canva elements is for marketing and creating mockups for my Etsy listings. I shut down all my POD shops because of the Redbubble and Canva stuff that hit the fan a few months ago and haven't looked back. Doing pretty well selling digital products on Etsy now. Turned out to be a positive for me personally.

[JWCinPDX]

Use Canva but import all fonts and graphics. Problem solved. I've raised similar questions with Canva, and the answer has always been that you have to do something to make a design your own, to create something unique. Nonetheless, virtually everything I've done with Canva has been done with imported stuff.

[christinacheng]

Thank you so much for the update, Shimmy. I have an important question about Creative Fabrica (which I really appreciate you mentioning as a replacement to canva designs) I noticed on their page it says that while you can choose to refund the yearly subscription at any time, you would have to stop selling any products with their elements on them since you never fully purchased them individually...so in other words if I (or you) want to protect or keep making sales off of previous designs we would have to keep paying for creative fabrica till the day we die or give up on pod. With that in mind, do you think it's worth it to pay for the $59.16 a year (which in theory the products would pay that easily themselves right?) or is it better to purchase the elements individually (which would definitely add up after a while) that way you won't have to worry about losing access to your designs if you weren't interested in using Creative Fabrica anymore. (For instance if their licensing agreements or access change that could be problematic) Thanks for your consideration and willingness to help!

[jonathanwilliams]

i have a canva account. i asked canva help on 2 separate occasions if it was ok to use their stock photos as POD "placeholder" photos that customers replace with their own photos on custom paper invitations and announcements, etc. both times the canva response was so noncommital, confusing, circular and vague that, as i told them, it would take a copyright attorney to explain it. on the other hand when i asked the same question of creative fabrica and placeit their reponses were crystal clear: No problem please feel free to use our stock photos as placeholder images that your customers replace with the own in POD.

[juliadawn]

I personally love how user friendly Canva is. I haven't found a site that compares to be honest. One that comes close would be BookBolt for KDP. I haven't read their terms but they are marketed for creating books for places like KDP. Canva originally wasn't and I think a lot of Youtubers have marketed them for that so they get a lot of business from people that use it for that now. I use Canva for creating all sorts of things like reels for FB and Instagram, making books and templates and other things. I get most of my graphics and fonts from Creative Fabrica. Canva I think will have to significantly change their terms to make room for the many customers that use it for that or be honest and tell people they can't and risk losing business I guess. Because Canva recently created a video with an employee showing exactly what you can do so that you can use their site for print on demand.

[stemcareers]

I look for public domain elements and import them into Canva. The reason I like Canva is because it's handy for getting inspiration via templates, has free Google fonts, and has handy tools to make the background transparent. But ever since I started by POD/KDP journey, I've always erred on the side of caution and stuck to things I knew were public domain. It's somewhat limiting, but my designs tend to be simple anyway, so it's no big deal.

[bettyeverett]

This is not entirely true. You can use Canva if you use it the right way. You can't use elements or designs straight away without making substantial changes. The same goes for KIttl. I have used many from Canva and never had an issue. Now if you just download one of their designs and elements as a standalone, you will be in violation. You can't claim it is your design if you didn't personalize it and make changes. If is just common sense.

[JonesysMomma]

When I got interested in the POD space years ago, the gurus all said not to use the Canva provided elements for this reason. I was under the impression that's why individual stock graphics were so popular for other POD creators.

[marns]

If a company like Canva can't answer a question that would affect my business, I just don't deal with them. There are too many other companies out there that are just as good or better than Canva. I cancelled my account 3 months ago. Thanks for your efforts

[emmafletcher]

I'm going to gravitate to Kittl, and continue to use creative fabrica. I haven't heard of Figma, and am curious about that. Also curious to know why your experience on Kittl was not good. They are still growing, so they don't yet have the extensive library of graphics etc. that canvas does.

[annadreamsart]

I'm going to keep using Canva mainly as a tool, and for things like mockups and the youtube I want to start. Maybe for IG stories. But I design using Kittl, CF, Procreate and some ai.

[georgemcflyhonored]

For now I’ll still use it. Been using it for 4 years now with Amazon, RB, Teepublic, KdP and others. Plus everything with my YouTube channels. Maybe something will happen but I mean it’s been a minute. I think it should be fine in the end. Canva would lose all its business if it said nobody can use it for any sort of monetization at all. I pay for it too so. I mean. For now I will. Maybe in a few months.

[denicase]

Thank you for your amazing persistence! I have paid for Canva but won't be using it for POD after this. I was going to get Kittl so I'm curious to know why you wouldn't recommend them at this time- noone else seems to have a problem, that I can see anyway.

[jonathanwilliams]

maybe you need to confer with some of the top youtube POD channels like Cassiy Johnson, Stephen Chin [Hello Custom], Juna of Detour Shirts and Ryan Hogue. These people have earned hundreds of 1000s of dollars from POD [Chin has sold over $2 million] and they certainly know the answers. Stephen Chin's latest video is an interview with Jesse Anselm who discusses how he has sold over $10 million mostly from POD on etsy since 2016. Along with Shimmy and a few others in other recent Chin videos, these are your top POD experts in 2023. Perhaps Shimmy could invite these POD leaders to join him in a video in which they each explain their understanding and interpretation of canva POD rules. ...or bring onto your channel a respected, experienced copyright lawyer who specializes in visual imagery / visual art / graphic design / POD law to give his professional legal interpretation of canva's POD terms and explanations of them--such a video could potentially draw a huge POD entrepreneur audience Shimmy.

[thevibrationroom]

A lot of people who loved Canva have stopped promoting it. I know that Canva has stopped offering affiliate commissions too. Maybe they don’t care if we use them or not because they have a big enough client base. 🤷‍♀️

[ynmonroe]

I kind of have to give credit to Canva Support here. Basically, there is no way for them to know all of the intricacies in the terms of service for every POD service. I could be wrong here, but this seems to be more of an argument regarding whether or not Canva allows it's users to use their elements for POD vs whether or not POD services accept the use of Canva elements. I don't think it's fair to put the onus of figuring this out on Canva. Especially when it comes to a giant company like Amazon. Just my opinion. Other than being an occasional Canva user, I am not affiliated with them.

[cjgroove]

It does seem more like an Amazon issue than a Canva issue. They can't really do anything about Amazon user agreements, etc.

[SpiritualElder]

Just cancelled my subscription...No amount of nice graphics are worth hefty law suits
Thanks for the word up Shimmy...You're awesome..

[Jojorocks]

A good review and thank you. I remember the big Issue was if you sent it to print on demand that they would have access to Etsy elements and graphics It’s not fair to Canva’s designers. But they didn’t seem to mention that in their messages back to you. Another thing is fonts… will they be an issue for the text? I stopped using Canva a few months ago when this all came about because we are still not getting clear answers and imho you have to ask yourself why not?

[tx]

Always best to use your own software, own designs, purchase the correct licences where appropriate, and have an independent shop.