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the argument
for watermarks
33
This is often a heated debate between those who think you should do everything in your power to make stealing your images or copying your products as hard as possible and those who think that watermarking your pictures will only decrease your chances of getting sales.
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handmadeseller.com — FREE SAMPLE
This is often a heated debate
between those who think you should do everything in your
power to make stealing your images or copying your products as hard as possible and those who think that watermarking your pictures will only decrease your chances of getting sales.
In this article, we’ll take a good look at both sides of the equation and, as always, I will give you my honest
opinion at the end.
The argument for watermarking:
The main argument for putting a watermark on your pictures is that it prevents people from stealing your images and makes it harder to copy your product designs and sell them in a shop that’s not yours.
This is a very solid point. As sad as it is, there are a lot of people with bad intentions out there, it’s just something we have to accept. It seems absolutely insane to me (and to you too, I am sure)
that some people will go and browse websites like Etsy with the sole purpose of finding a product that looks like it’s
selling well and then having it mass-produced for cheaper and selling it on sites like eBay, Amazon, and even Etsy.
Others will find a design they like and simply use your images to sell it on their own website. This is especially true for people selling photography, artwork, prints, and digital files. Without a watermark, it’s honestly quite easy to right-click and save an image for redistribution.
Another argument for watermarking your images is that it allows you to make your shop images more consistent, to unify your pictures, and to emphasize your brand.
Most watermarks are made using either a logo, a shop name, or a shop URL (as pictured below). Recently, I also came across watermarks made using Instagram handles. In theory, it should help you spread brand awareness and promote your shop, but is it really effective?