I’ve learned a lesson with a cross stitch designer who sells charts online. I’ve purchased pdf charts from Etsy and have never worried about downloading them right away. And, I’ve downloaded them and can’t find them since I use a Chromebook and am never quite sure where things end up. Usually I will download the pdf and then save it on Dropbox.
But, this particular chart (there were four of them), I purchased in February and I think I never downloaded them because they aren’t in my Dropbox files but I could have downloaded them, can’t find them and never saved them to Dropbox. Apparently, this designer has a time limit as to when you can download them and they can be downloaded once.
Don’t get me wrong – she has every right to set the rules as to how/when I can download the files . . that I purchased! She says she’s doing it to cut down on sharing.
As a quilt book author, I understand fully that every chart someone shares basically takes money out of the designer’s pocket. That happens. If she thinks her very tight rules are going to stop that, she’s wrong. If I had downloaded it and if I could find it and if I chose to do so (I would not!), I could copy what I’ve printed and send it out to friends.
I wrote her, apologized for having not read her rules prior to purchasing, and for having not downloaded the charts until two months after purchasing when I tried to download and got a notification that the link had expired. Didn’t get a response.
I had intended to order more charts from her. I will not! There are other cross stitch related things she sells and I have purchased some of those. Will not purchase more from her.
So . . before ordering electronic copies of charts, make sure you know the designer’s rules. Again . . it’s her right to make any rules she wants to make. It was my fault for ordering without knowing those rules. Had I seen the rules, I would have still ordered and made sure I downloaded them immediately. I take full responsibility but I don’t think it’s a great way of doing business.
Dottie says
I don’t blame you – so many things that we order these days have time limits and/or number of times you can download purchases. I can see it from the designer’s point, but can also see it from the purchaser’s point. Unfortunately, we (as a whole) get punished for the misdeeds of others. HOPEFULLY, she’ll get back to you and send you a link(s) to get your purchases (would definitely be a great good will gesture and insure that she has satisfied customers).
Marie says
It not really different than a quilter doing a block of the month and not letting you get the block after the month is up.
judy.blog@gmail.com says
I can kinda understand that since everyone who signs up should understand the rules. Often with BOMs, that’s done for free to bring traffic to their website so when participants don’t go and download the pattern, that’s revenue lost to the designer. With the Patreon groups I’m in, if we don’t download the files within the month, we have to buy them but that’s very clear from the beginning.
Cheryl R says
I worry that my iPad will stop working and losing my downloaded files if I haven’t printed them. So lately I have been also emailing the file to myself and saving it in a folder so I can retrieve later if needed. This should be good unless I get locked out of my email for some reason.
judy.blog@gmail.com says
I save everything (except when I forget) to Dropbox. Hoping it will always be there.
I do the email thing too because most everything I buy comes into my main email account but I use a different email for knitting and cross stitching patterns to get onto the iPad or Samsung tablet. Since I had never emailed the missing files, I’m assuming I never downloaded them.
Nancy H. says
I have run into that problem also. I like when etsy sends me a reminder to download my pattern. I have have learned my lesson to always also save in Dropbox as I had my PC die and I lost everything I had saved on my box. Oh first world problems!
Susan says
I download from some who have limits, and from some who don’t. I’ve never had a designer give me a hard time if I lost a file. In fact, when I lost several years, one designer made sure I got all her patterns back, for free. I appreciated that. Others didn’t and that was okay, too, but it was expected. I can’t believe someone wouldn’t at least respond and say she was sorry she couldn’t extend the deadline!
I probably wouldn’t order again, either, because of the lack of response – if there’s not a good reason for it, like vacation or sickness. You are right, it’s her choice. It’s also your choice to make a different choice next time.
Nelle Coursey says
You have every right to be upset! Funnel cloud in downtown brownwood right now! It is near City Hall!
judy.blog@gmail.com says
I’m watching the weather. Hope it didn’t touch down.
Rebecca L says
-I recently purchased a download. I don’t know if there was a time limit on it, but on the shop page, she warned us to save before printing, as we can download only twice (a limit I seem to have reached, but I did save it.)