A. To buy designs you need to have a user account on the site (you will be able, in fact, to download designs you purchased). The fastest way is to click on the Free Membership box at the top of the home page. That will take you to another page to register your information. Fill out all the information, including a password of your choice. Then read the short "Terms & Conditions" page, check the agreement box and press Register. You can also register by pressing the MyAccount link in the top navigation bar and choosing "Register as a User"........
Q. How do I sell designs on the site?
A. To sell designs you need to have an artist account on the site. The fastest way is to click on the "Register as an Artist" banner on the top of the home page. Fill out all the information, including a password of your choice. Then read the short "Terms & Conditions" page, check the agreement box and press Register. You can also register by pressing the MyAccount link in the top navigation bar and choosing "Register as an Artist".
Q. I just registered as a user, but can't login.
A. An email will be sent to the email address you provide (to prevent users from using fake or stolen email addresses). Open the email and click on the link to confirm registration. After you have registered the first time, from then on you can go to My Account in the bar at the top of the home page and register by typing in your user name and password. Once you have done this, it will allow you to order whatever you want from the site.
Q. I just registered as an artist, but can't login.
A. Artist's account are first approved by the site. Upon approval you will receive a confirmation mail, then your artist account is active. From your account you will Upload Designs or check out your Artist's Balance Sheet.
Q. I didn't get a free design as promised.
A. We are not sending the free design unless you confirm the account/email address. No point in sending designs to bogus email addresses, right after confirmation you will receive another email from us with the free design.
Q. I want to become an affiliate.
A. Both account types: user and artist, have the option to become an affiliate. If you are not planning on selling designs on the site, register as a user, then go to the Affiliate link in your user account. That is where you will find directions of how to use and promote the site.
Q. I forgot my password. What do I do?
A. In MyAccount, in the login page, you have a link to retrieve a lost password. Enter the username used and the email address used in the registration process, and we'll send you a new password.
Q. The new password is some computer mumbo-jumbo.
A. To prevent password hacking we encrypt them with a MD5 algorithm. Not even us can retrieve the password, that's why the computer generates a new one. It is nonsensical so it will be hard to remember. So copy or print out your computer-generated password. When you go back to register, use this password, then go to Account Details. You can change your password to the one you originally decided upon that is easier for you to remember.
Q. I bought some designs, now what?
A.You bought in fact the right to download the designs. The designs bought are available for download in the My Downloads sections from your account. You will be downloading an archived file (.zip) that contains the design's full-size color or full-size black, line tracing and thumbnail. To prevent server abuse/overload you are allowed to download a design 5 times and for another 7 days after the date when it was purchased. This should be sufficient, even if your connection drops in the middle of download.
Q. What processing company do you use to process your transactions and is it a secure server?
A. Excellent question. We use Paypal, the industry leader - and yes, it is a secure server. You can tell by the "s" after the https which means secure server. When leaving the PayPal server you might get a warning, but it's because you are returning to our site (the payment has already been done on a secure server).
Q. I don't have a PayPal account, can I pay with my credit card ?
A. PayPal is also a credit card processor. You DO NOT have to have a PayPal account, just a valid credit card. If you do have a PayPal account, you can login and make the payment. If you have a valid credit card and want to pay, you will enter the credit card details after you make a new PayPal account. Why make one? It's safer and better for you. This way you will be able to track and solve any issues that might appear regarding the payment.
Q: How much can I earn as an affiliate?
A. We are currently paying a 20% commission to affiliates. At this time affiliates get paid each time one of their referrals buys a product on the site. You will receive an affiliate code that will brand your referrals.
Q: How much do I have to earn before receiving my commission?
A. In order to simplify payments for us, we will hold money in your account, until your balance reaches . Any time the balance we owe you, adds up to or more, you will be paid that balance each pay period.
Q. When do I get paid?
A. For Artists: We will issue funds on or before the 15th of the month. Your pay will always be 30 days in arrears to make sure none of your artwork has been contested. Example: All money due to you for the month of October will be paid to you on or before the 15th of December, as long as the total comes to at least .
Q. How do I get paid?
A. You can be paid by company check, by a transfer of funds from our bank to yours, or by Paypal. The choice is yours. We will try and send you the money using the details you provided in the "Payment Details" box when you sign up as an affiliate or as an artist.
Q. How can I make sure that you are honest and paying me my fair share?
A. Great question! You can check your account in real time, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, right from a computer connected to the Internet.
If you are one of our artists, you could check the balance in your account at any given time, then buy one of your own designs, and see the commission for that purchase be immediately added to your account. For example: If your account balance was at 7 and you bought one of your own tattoo designs through our website, for , your account would automatically and immediately update, adding that .00 and showing your new balance as0.00.
If you are one of our affiliatesyou could check the balance in your account at any given time, then buy any design using your affiliate code, You could then go to your account and see that 20% of that particular sale was automatically added to your account balance. It's all on automatic pilot. The system automatically computes your share and adds it to your account balance each time a sale is made through your link. We decided to pay our affiliates every time their referrals buy, giving them more incentive to promote the site and an opportunity to make even more money in the long run.
Artists & Affiliates: If you want to do this occasionally to make sure we are honest, be sure to "refresh" your computer after making the purchase, so the new balance will show up. Remember, it will NOT show up unless you refresh your computer to show the update.
Q. How can I make the most money if I decide to participate?
A. Quality and quantity will add up to more money in your pocket. Provide us with the best quality designs that you can and keep sending us designs, as you draw them. Draw designs that are in demand! Who cares if you can draw a great tree, if nobody is buying tree designs? Draw what the people want - what people are buying now - if you want to make more money.
Q. What designs sell the best?
A. Tribal designs are very popular. So are low back designs of all kinds and armbands. In order of popularity we would say choose the following in the order they are given. Tribal, butterflies, crosses, dragons, low back designs, Celtic designs, stars, fairies, angels, religious, suns, flowers, zodiac signs, hearts, skulls, dolphins, tigers, and eagles. That will give you a good idea of what is the most popular right now. Tribal designs are the most popular of all right now. We suggest drawing what you enjoy - that you are good at, as long as it fits in one of our many categories.
Q. I don't have access to a computer. Do you have another way I can submit my designs?
A. Yes, of course. You can send us your designs via snail mail and we will be happy to upload them to our server for you.
We charge per design for this service, but will take that money out of your earnings if you prefer. It takes time to scan and upload the designs, and we have to pay someone to do that for us. However it is a good option for those of you who do not have a computer, do not know how, or don't have the time to do it right now.
As mentioned earlier, the for each design can be deducted from your account, so you do not have to come up with any money up-front.
For example: If you send us 20 designs, (along with a line drawing for each design), our charge to upload the original design, along with the corresponding line drawing, and make a thumbnail for our gallery would total 0.00 for the 20 designs at .00 for each set. (Sets consist of the finished design, the tracing and making the thumbnail for you.
After your designs have sold - and your commissions have met any money you would owe us - all money after that time, due you from future sales, would then be paid to you once a month. This is a great way to get involved on a shoestring. Theoretically - once you begin making good money from your designs, you could purchase a computer and scanner and save that per design by uploading them automatically to our site from your new computer.
Q. Do you have a program for artists who are incarcerated?
A. Funny you should mention that. Absolutely! We have instituted a new program called "Con-tact 4 Con-victs. . . . . Income - 4 Inmates." Many people with a LOT of talent are in the hoosegow for one reason or another, with nothing but "time" on their hands. We are interested in helping them make more money with our company than they can on the inside. Instead of 25 cents an hour behind bars, they might make a lot more working with us.
Here is how it works. Inmates provide us with quality designs, with the accompanying line drawings. If they do not have access to a scanner and computer they can send them to us via snail mail. Designs must not be folded, as folding ruins the design. We suggest they be sent in a 9X12 manila folder. All artwork must be in pen and ink. Pencil artwork does not show up well on the internet. The thumbnails have to have dark lines or they get mushy. Without a thumbnail to see in our gallery, they wont sell.
We can do all the work for them, including copyrighting. We will copyright the designs for them in both our company's name and their name as joint owners of the artwork. The company receives 51% and the artist receives 49% of the ownership. We will pay for the designs to be copyrighted in groups of no less than 50 designs, one design per page. Small designs can have the line drawing on the same page but only one finished drawing with its line drawing is allowed per page. the copyright fee, which is , covers up to 100 designs as long as they are in the same batch. They might even take more, but our policy is to send in batches of no more than 100. The will be deducted from the money due the artist if he chooses to have us copyright them for him. Since we have to go to the time and trouble to copyright them, we charge for this service. Since we had to cough up the in advance, we are just breaking even on this deal and are only doing it as a service to help people who aren't in a position to help themselves. Once our fee has been met, ( to upload each design, and the copyright fee of ), the artist will begin receiving money. This money can either be sent to them and put on their "books" or sent to a relative or friend. The choice is theirs. Since we are also interested in helping society this is how the funds from this program will be split. 20% to the artist, 10% to restitution if there was a victim involved, until the restitution is paid in full, after which that 10% will go to help support an organization dealing with the crime committed. If there is no restitution involved, this 10% will go toward a reputable organization dealing with the crime committed. For example: If the artist is in prison for drugs, that 10% might go to a drug awareness program to educate people about the dangers of drugs and the end result from taking drugs.
Q. How can I upload designs quickly and easily to your site?
A. We have a report you can download immediately that will show you how to do this. If you are already familiar with Adobe Photoshop or Elements you probably won't need this report. You can find it in the Design Category section of the site. The cost of this information is only . It will save you a great deal of time and aggravation if you aren't familiar with the process of uploading designs to a server, as well as make thumbnails and add text to the designs.
Knowing what I know now and what I didn't know when I began figuring the process out - I would personally have paid 0 for this information. MORE! I spent many hours trying to figure it out and getting it wrong time after time. I was pulling my hair out before I figured it all out. (Look at my photo and you will see I now have no hair!)
This report is very short and sweet and to the point. It will tell you EXACTLY what to do, step by step, and how to do it, using Elements as your software. Elements is not expensive, and you can even get a trial version for 30 days to see how you like it and to see how easy it really is. With this info it's a piece of cake! You could be up and running in no time flat!
We have also found a super company to provide this software for you at a very reasonable price. The name of my little report isLoading Your Designs Fast & Easyand again is available for in the Design Category of the site. It is money well spent and will make you an expert very quickly. If you value your time, this is a "must have:". After our site has sold 0 worth of your designs, if you will contact us, we will refund this by adding it to the balance due you.
Q. I am a pretty good artist but I am not sure how to draw designs for the Internet or for tattoos.
A. We also have another booklet that you will be able to download soon, that is located in the Design Category section of the home page called"How to Draw Tattoo Designs for the Internet". This little book is also worth it's weight in gold if you value your time. You could literally spend hours drawing the designs and in the end they may not be able to be transferred into the digital format, even though they are great designs. Designs in pencil for example.
It will also walk you through the copyright procedure. We know most of this can be intimidating in the beginning. We have been through it while designing this site and copywriting our own designs, and have found many things that work great and many things that don't work worth a crap. So, once again, if you want to do it right the first time, rather than have to redo all your artwork, this is also a "must have". This valuable little book is also worth many times the we are asking for it and like our report above - after our site has sold 0 worth of your designs, if you will contact us, we will also refund this by adding it to the balance due you.
Q. What is the fastest way to get involved? I want to begin immediately.
A. Go to the Artist Box at the top right on the home page and click on it. It will take your information. We will review your application and approve you. When you are approved you can begin uploading designs within one day if you already have them ready to go. All this is done from My Account.
Q. What if I want to quit and remove my designs?
A. Your wish is our command. If you decide this isn't what you want, or if it isn't working for you, just let us know. Give us a good reason why and give us an opportunity to respond. If we can't come to an agreement where both of us are happy, we can suspend your designs from our site with the click of a button. Why you would ever want to do that is beyond me, however, because we are like a field rep selling your designs, 24/7 and giving you 30% of the haul. Once your designs are uploaded, you never have to lift another finger, except to grab your money and run!
Q. What happens if I send you some designs that I have copied from someone else's artwork?
A. Shame on you! Copying is called plagiarism and is punishable by a vacation in the crowbar hotel. Make sure all designs you send us are "originals". Original means: you made the design without tracing someone else's design. You can't just trace someone else's design and make a couple of changes, and call it your own. If you are caught copying someone else's work you will be permanently barred from the site.
You can look at another design and make one of your own that is similar, as long as you draw it yourself. We suggest that you look at other designs for ideas and make as many changes as you can think of, which naturally evolves into your own design - automatically. This is one trick we teach in our little booklet.
Q. Where and how can I copyright my designs?
A: You can do it your way or ours.
You can contact the copyright office, get put on hold for awhile, then hopefully find out you had the right number and get a real person who can then tell you what to order and then transfer you to another line, which again puts you on hold, until it is no longer busy, after which, if it is the right number, will then gather your information and eventually send you the information you requested.
OR you can order our booklet"How to Draw Designs for the Internet"and find out everything you need to know in minutes.
If time is valuable to you, get the book. If you have time to waste, go the other route - if you don't mind sitting with a phone glued to your ear for an indefinite amount of time. I can assure you, they ARE busy. Either that or they only have one line for the entire copyright office.
Q. What designs are you looking for the most?
A. Look at our Categories of Designs on the left side of the home page. Choose any of those categories and you will be safe in assuming that we want those kinds of designs.
Q. Are there any designs that you do not want or that you will not allow on the site?
A. Glad you asked. We are not interested in politically oriented in a derogatory way, hate-related, gang-related, racially motivated, devil worshiping or drug-related designs. Don't even bother to send them to us because we will delete them as fast as we come across them. We are interested in providing great tattoo artwork that encourages the growth and advancement of tattooing in general, not the demise of the human condition. Send us good stuff and we will make it worth your while. We are not judging you, nor are we interested in your affiliations. Your business is your own and we respect that. You have every right to think whatever you want. So do we, and since this is my site - I get to choose what designs I want on it and what designs I don't. Fair enough?
