Is it just me because I've never heard this one before. I contacted a Embroidery company and this is what I wrote:
"Hello
I came across your website and was admiring
your designs. I was wondering if you have
any sample designs that I can try? I am
thanking you in advance."
This is the response they wrote:
"Hi Monica,
We stopped doing freebies as we believe the
‘free’ factor just cheapens our art, a
great deal of hard work goes into every
design.
Our quality is the best, I can say that
with complete confidence as I have a folder
full of emails from satisfied customers.
Thanks,"
Oh well; FIESTA ANYHOW!!!
25059 I find some of the comments here are truly
beyond reasoning.
Most of you say that you would not purchase
a design from a well respected and/or well
known digitiser, without first getting a
free sample.
Yet you probably all chase up and seek out
websites for freebies and happily stitch
them out regardless of testing for quality
first.
I would rather pay for 100 well digitised,
foolproof, designs from a reputable
digitiser, (even without a sample) than get
1,000 freebies that turn out to be garbage
and not worth the space they take up on my
hard drive.
It is my honest opinion that there are far
too many freebies available and it is their
very existence that has cheapened the worth
of all embroidery designs.
I didn't see anything nasty in the
reply Monica received, just plain old
truthfullness and honesty from a hard
working digitiser who is probably fed up
with people expecting freebies without ever
buying a design from them.
Good digitising takes many hours, sometimes
days, and then there are always revisions
after the 'Draft' design has been
stitched out, some people just don't
want to know about that, they just want
everything for nothing.
You wouldn't believe some of the
demanding emails I have received and even
our beautiful sweet Yoriko has received
such nasty, selfish emails too.
I don't sell my designs and even the
ones people ask me to create for them, I
ask for nothing, or just a token gift.
The reason I don't sell them is
because I came to the conclusion months ago
that, unless every embroiderer has had a go
at digitising they just cannot appreciate
the work involved and the extra love and
care that goes into a "well
digitised" design in comparison to
most of the rubbish given away as freebies.
So most people just don't want to pay
for the digitiser's time, care and
efforts.
So I'm better off giving my designs
away, at least if people use them and enjoy
them, I haven't put in all that effort
for nothing. And i'm making people
happy.
But not everyone can afford the luxury of
just giving away the fruits of their
labours, some people do this for a living,
it may even be their only income. I'm
retired so all I have is time and the
pleasure of doing something I really enjoy
doing. If I ever got desperate for money
then you can bet I will stop
'gifting' my designs too.
OK, now you can all shoot the messenger but
at least Monica knows I was making a valid
point, as a mediator does when they have to
see both sides.
This is all just my opinion and probably
not worth much to anyone but me.
Hugs n roses, Meganne
44627 I have 2 answers for this.
As a Cutie :), I love giving my designs to
this family. Makes me smile when I see my
designs being used, making people happy.
As a digitizer, I stopped giving away on
Designs by Cuties as I launched my own
website, and this is my only way for living
now, as I dont have ANY other income. (This
also makes me wonder, in Japan, husbands
give the wives some money montly for their
personal expenses. How about in Australia?
How about your country?)
Backing to the subject :)
The freebies to other than Cuties, is a way
to advertise my new designs, get more
exposure to the embroidery world, hoping I
get some sales from them. The free designs
have been downloaded about 500 times every
day, and I still dont get 1% of sales from
that, I hope I'll get there someday
:).
So, I think that embroidery company is
right not giving freebies, if they are a
well known company.
For sure, the embroidery designs everywhere
are so cheap, if you consider the time,
material, artwork, software, internet, pc
and website expenses, paypal fees, etc, to
create a single design.
For me, I would love to make this as my
profession, as I enjoy digitizing very
much, but it seems there is long long way
to walk to make it.
When I get a REAL job(dreaming again), I
will digitize just for hobby.
Love and blessings,
Yoriko
46460 you made me curious what site was it that treats you like this? *4u for posting!
51341 
33237 
3217 
18166 Hi Monica,
As a digitiser I have to agree (in part)
with their answer,,, for the reasons Marji
so adequately explained.
But I also agree with Melo8's
comments, which are truly valid.
Since you took the time to write to them
and ask, they could have at least given
consideration to your request, asked you
which set you were interested in buying,
and provided you with a sample from the
set, even if it was the smallest design
with the least amount of stitches and work
involved in creating it.
Perhaps you could reply to them and state
which set it was you were interested in
purchasing and explain that, because money
is so tight these days, you cannot possibly
buy any design sets without first trying a
sample on your own machine for
suitability.
Make sure you apologise, and say that, for
this reason you will not be able to
purchase any of their sets. And That you
are truly disappointed.
Hope this helps.
Hugs n roses, Meganne
44627 I have never seen that either. Were they expensive designs?
by mmgreyhounds 17 days ago
Then I do not know how she can expect you to just buy them without a sample first. That is a lot of money.
2678 As a rule, I, too, will not buy from a site that does not give an occasional freebie.
19728 I am like other Cuties and buy AFTER trying out a freebie. It is their loss entirely
7504 I agree with what all the cuties have said about trying something before you buy and that is why I bought from yoriko because her free ones were so good.We who embroider put a lot of time and money into what we do and we like to know that when we put a design in our machine that it will come out something we can be proud of. If I can't test then I don't buy.
618 She should have steered you to some sewn samples then, or her comments page.
7174 Monica, I have never ordered, and will not spend my money at a site that is so tight or ashamed of their designs that they will not give a sample to try. They can boast there designs and keep them, as far as I am concerned. There are to many good digitizers and sites that will share a sample. "Action speaks louder then words". H&*.
by mad14kt 18 days ago
I am GRATEFUL for the samples that Veronika offers, the other cuties share, and the sites that are posted. With that alone I can FIESTA!!! ;D *2U
9507 No, Monica, I've never seen exactly
that, but I do understand it. Usually a
site will give at least a couple of free
designs for you to try. Each digitized
design is the result of hours and hours of
work, planning and executing the design,
testing it, purchasing the good artwork,
etc. Perhaps these digitizers just got
tired of putting up free designs for
collectors to grab and run, without ever
even looking at the rest of their site,
with no intention to purchase anything,
ever. Or putting one design in a set for a
free trial, only to get a flood of e-mail
from greedy people demanding that the whole
set be free, and accusing them of putting
up one in order to 'suck people
in' to having to purchase the whole
set if they wanted the rest. There are
folks out there that don't seem to
realise that the website owners are
actually trying to make a living selling
their designs.
Monica, I think your question was a valid
one, and well stated in your e-mail. In
your case, had I been the designer, I think
I would have either sent you back a design,
or asked which you'd like to try,
because you were not just
'demanding' a freebie, you were
asking with the intention of purchasing. I
think although their answer was polite,
perhaps they might have done well to answer
differently. But that's their choice,
I guess.
I'm glad you can "fiesta"
anyhow. Hugs, Marji
by mad14kt 18 days ago
Thanks Marji. Yes in life I realize that we have to respect other people's decision, rather we like it or not. I may not understand it but I am STILL FIESTING!!! When one door close MANY MORE OPENS!!! ;D *2U
22364 ??? ok, why not ??? but i think i will not buy at her site !!!
58368 I have spent over 35 years bringing
organizations and business back to
profitability.
I have had the same response from some
sites also. The one thing that these folks
do not understand is that it takes
ADVERTISING to make your name and quality
known. If people really understood how MUCH
it took money wise to make a
"name" a household word and a
product a primary pick over another, they
would be giving away a design more
readily.
I can understand some little person with a
BIG website not understanding the whole
deal, but if you are real serious about
business and have budgeted moneys towards
advertising, giving away a freebie now and
then should not rock the boat or crash your
"bank". If it does, then you
might want to re-evaluate your position in
the embroidery business world. If you are
doing this as a way to bring in extra
"cash" make sure you business
plan allows for a free sample in your plan
outline... and for heaven's sake, keep
very, very good records!
Personally, if someone is NOT willing to
show me their quality, then I will, in all
likelihood, not deal with them. As a
result, they have lost not only my sale but
anyone else that I might have reason to
share information about embroidery, should
the situation arise.
I believe a site/digitizer should have
samples of their work. In the advertising
world it is called a "portfolio".
This allows people to make appropriate
choices...and pictures of the item do not
count (even though they are nice to see
what the person did on their machine...you
do not know how many times the design was
"tested" and you do not know
which machines the design sews best with
and which stabilizer combination works
best...etc...etc....
Having "a folder of comments from
satisfied customers" is good...but I
want to BE one of the satisfied customers.
by mad14kt 18 days ago
WOW! you said a mouth full. You took it to the business level which is so true. They are well advertised and I can't understand why there are no sample designs on there web page ;D *2U
1925 I would never buy designs from anyone who would not let me test their product first. I don't care how many emails they have, if they can not at least give you a simple design to test why would you pay money for something that would be a more involved design. in actuallity you were not asking for a freebie, you were asking for a sample of their work before purchasing. guess they lost a sale, I know they would with me.
5699 Well I do hope they read this posting...they have already lost 14 potential customers by their statement!!(that's how many *'s have been posted) And they could have had at least 20 to 50 more....
by mad14kt 18 days ago
That statement will come back to haunt them. They were not professional. I don't much about embroidery but I have learned here at "CUTE" that everyone is always eager to assist one another.
29374
I totally agree with you, Meg. When there are just a few sample designs, with which you can test the quality, people complain there aren't enough. Even here on Cute there's a comment at one of the pansies that read, quote: don't you think about time the pansy was changed its been on my computer for the month, unquote. We are so accustomed to getting freebies, but we wouldn't expect to be given a free steak at a new butcher's, even if that would be a nice way of advertising, would we.