What Can I Sell On Direct Creatives?
Direct Creatives is a digital marketplace designed by and for direct sellers and creators. Currently, Direct Creatives supports the sale of digital products such as printables (self/team assessments, business tracking forms, etc), digital graphics (for personal and/or commercial use), and other downloadable, digital assets designed for personal or professional development and use. Direct Creatives also supports our Pro stores offering membership products to better serve their customers.
What Is The Difference Between Downloadable And Virtual Products?
When uploading products and services to Direct Creatives, you will be given the opportunity to choose between a virtual product and a downloadable product.
A downloadable product is one that is sold “as is.” It does not require any customization and is delivered to the customer as soon as the sales transaction is complete.
Virtual products are any other non-shippable products that require customization. In situations where virtual products are for sale, the consumer will complete their purchase and provide the vendor with details of what they are requesting. The vendor will then complete the request and send the final downloadable project to the consumer with the requested customization.
Can I Sell Products With A Brand Name Or Logo On Them?
To protect trademark and copyright laws and align with brand-specific policies and procedures, Direct Creatives can not approve products to the platform with brand-specific names or logos on them.
Can I Sell A Monthly Subscription Service On Direct Creatives?
Yes! Direct Creatives offers our Pro stores the opportunity to sell subscription/membership products to their customers. Offering these products allows you to easily link new products to existing subscriptions. This allows subscription customers to receive the new product immediately available in their “Downloads” tab in their “My Account” upon logging in.
How Do I Deliver My Digital Products?
When you upload a new digital product to sell on Direct Creatives, you will also upload the full, digital file to be delivered to the purchaser upon payment. Delivery is instant and automatic once payment has been received. No need to worry about shipping fees, packaging, or multiple trips to the Post Office!
What Is Product Approval And How Does It Work?
At Direct Creatives, we use product approval to maintain integrity across all of our product channels. This means that all products must be reviewed by an administrator before being approved to the Direct Creatives site. Doing this ensures all products are of the highest quality and that they do not violate any of our terms or conditions. We strive to approve products as quickly as possible. Product approval can take up to, but will not exceed 72 hours.
Should any issues arise during product approval (downloadable file not attached, price not listed, etc) reasonable attempts will be made to contact the store owner via the primary e-mail address associated with their store.
Does It Cost Any Money Up Front To Open A Store?
Direct Creatives offers three vendor membership levels to best meet your needs. The introductory membership, Basic, includes the opportunity to list up to ten ready-to-download products for $89 per year or $9 per month.
Our second-tier membership, Plus, allows you to list up to 25 ready-to-download AND customizable products for $149 per year or $15 per month.
The Pro membership, our top tier, gives you the option to list unlimited products- both ready to download and customizable. With this level, you will also be able to offer subscription products to provide even more online services to your customer base, available for $299 per year or $30 per month.
What Costs Are Involved With Running A Store?
As a store owner, you are responsible for any applicable fees assessed by Stripe, per their Connect payment platform. See their full list of terms and fees HERE .
Do I Need To Be In The US To Open A Store?
At this time, all Direct Creative Stores must be US-based.
Continue to check back with us frequently as we look forward to expanding into other territories.
Do I Need A Business License To Open A Store?
Direct Creatives doesn’t collect any license information from you. However, you are expected to understand and comply with all local laws which apply to your business type and obtain all relevant business licenses and sellers’ permits where and when applicable.
What Protection Do I Have As A Store Owner?
Misunderstandings can arise, and it’s good to know about your protection options. Payments on Direct Creatives are processed by the Stripe payment platform. Each payment platform has specific processes in place to settle any disputes that may arise. As Direct Creatives is the facilitator of the sale, connecting seller and buyer, any disputes regarding payment must be handled directly via Stripe, the payment processor. You can see the policies HERE .
Do I Need To Pay Taxes On My Earnings?
Any earnings that you receive from Direct Creatives are your responsibility to manage appropriately within your local state/municipality. We cannot provide advice on how you should proceed to pay taxes on your earnings as tax laws vary greatly from country to country. We encourage you to seek out professional advice on tax law and filing taxes. While the specifics of your state’s tax laws might be different, there is a probable chance that your government still wants you to declare your income.
How Do I Manage My Sales Taxes?
As a store owner on Direct Creatives, it is your responsibility to manage any local sales taxes that may apply to your sales. For example, for US authors, US Sales Taxes may apply to some US buyers. We recommend that you talk to a tax advisor or accountant to find out if you have a sales tax responsibility in your area. As all products sold on Direct Creatives are digital goods, you will need to find out if your area applies sales taxes to digital goods. In many states in the US, digital goods are not taxed. You should speak to your tax advisor to ensure you are taking appropriate steps. In the US, for example, you need to determine what states you have nexus in, and those states you should account for sales tax in (if sales tax applies to the products you sell in that location). Make sure to check the relevant rates to charge. Most countries require some form of registration in order to send your sales taxes in. Talk to your tax advisor to ensure you are taking appropriate steps. Please note that we cannot provide advice on how you should proceed to pay taxes on your earnings as tax laws vary greatly from country to country. We encourage you to seek out professional advice on tax law and filing taxes.
What Are Direct Creatives’ Commission Payouts?
Direct Creatives offers competitive commission payouts for all three of our tiered membership plans.
Basic – 60% Commission Payout
Plus- 70% Commission Payout
Pro- 80% Commission Payout
How Will I Be Billed For Commission Fees?
Commission fees due to Direct Creatives will be automatically deducted from the completed sale. The store owner’s payout will be net of all commission fees due to Direct Creatives.
Who is Responsible For Payment Processing Fees?
Store owners are responsible for any applicable payment processing. Please view Stripe for the most up-to-date payment processing structure.
How Will I Receive Payment For Sales?
Commission payouts are immediately deposited into a store owner’s account upon successful completion of each sale. Direct Creatives utilizes Stripe online payment processing for both customer payments and store owner payouts. By participating in the Direct Creatives store owner program, you agree to the Stripe Connected Account Agreement. A copy of the agreement can be found HERE.
You MUST be connected to Stripe in order to list products and receive payment on sales.
How Do I Set Up My Stripe Account?
Signing up for your Stripe account is easy! Follow the button prompting your account connection. If you do not already have a Stripe account you will be prompted to create an account. Activate your account from the Stripe dashboard and you’ll be ready to start receiving commissions within minutes!
How Do I Add a Banner to My Store?
You will be able to add a banner to your Direct Creatives shop in the Settings > Branding area of your Dashboard. Recommended banner size is 1300 x 375 pixels. If you do not upload a custom banner for your shop, a site-wide default image will be used. We highly recommend uploading a custom shop banner to reinforce your branding and shop’s unique identity.
How Do I Delete My Store?
We hate to see you go, but understand that sometimes, life happens! If you need to delete your shop for any reason, you may cancel your membership under the Settings > Membership area of your Dashboard and send us a message including the email address associated with your shop. Our team of admins will work to verify your shop has no outstanding orders and take the next steps to delete your shop.
How Do I Renew My Store Membership?
Store membership is renewed each year automatically at the current membership price. You will receive email communication prior to your membership renewal anniversary to remind you of your upcoming renewal.
How Do I List A Product?
From your My Account page, navigate to your Dashboard via the big, teal button. Select Products > Add Product to enter in your product details. Here, you will also be able to select your product category, tags, write a product description, and upload photos of your product.
What Happens When I Reach My Product Limit For My Direct Creatives Store?
When uploading a product that is over your store capacity, you will be presented with two separate options to choose from. You will have the option to delete a current product to upload your new product. Or, you will also be able to upgrade* your store at this time to make room for additional products in your storefront.
*To upgrade your store, you will need to cancel your current membership and email support@directcreatives.com to let us know you have a pending cancelation. Once the cancelation has been completed you will be prompted to purchase a new membership to continue store operations.
How Do I Add Downloads To My Product Listing?
From the Add Product page, choose “Downloadable” from the menu under the product description. This will allow you to add your downloadable .ZIP file.
Direct Creatives requires that all products are listed as a single downloadable .ZIP file, both for size compression/easier upload and download, as well as making all files into a single download for easy customer delivery. It is highly encouraged to include a licensing agreement in your product files so customers know how they are and are not allowed to use the products they have purchased.
What Is The Download Limit?
The download limit will be the number of times your customer is able to download the file they purchase from you on Direct Creatives. As a store owner on Direct Creatives, you are able to set your own download limit for your digital products. Leave this field blank if you want your customer to be able to download the product as many times as they would like.
What Is The Download Expiry?
The download expiry is how many days a customer has to download their link before it expires. For example, if you have the download expiry set at one day, it would expire one day after the customer purchases the item. Leave this field blank if you want your customer to be able to access their link with no expiration.
How Do I Link An Additional Product To My Listing?
You are able to link an additional published product while uploading a new product by using the “Linked Products” menu under the “Product Type” selection near the bottom of your product editing screen. Here, you will be able to choose from your published products.
Can I Sell Custom Products?
Plus and Pro membership tiers do offer the flexibility to be able to sell custom items such as printables, logos, and more, which are called “Virtual” products in the product editing area.
How Do I Add Variations To My Listing, Such As Color Or Size?
From the “Add Products” page, choose the “Attributes” menu. Here, you will be able to choose the attribute that will vary, and then add the different variations to your listing.
How Do I Offer A Subscription Service?
Subscription services are offered by selecting “Simple Subscription” or “Variable Subscription” under the “Product Type” drop-down near the bottom of the product editing screen. If you would like to include a download with the purchase of this subscription, you can select the “Downloadable” box to include a .ZIP file for your customers.
Some stores use this download to include a file with instructions and expectations for the subscription.
Can More Than One Person Use The Same Direct Creatives Account?
Direct Creatives Store memberships are currently intended to be used by one individual or LLC – more than one person can access the store, but there can only be one login/account per store.
What Happens To My Products If I Delete My Store?
Upon a store’s cancellation, Direct Creatives will delete all files from the system once the cancellation has been fully processed.
