I was having a look at photos in the Flickr Groop Pool and I just want to give y'all a heads-up regarding posting links to Etsy/Artfire/whatever shop you have.
Don't Do It.
Ok?
I am not saying this to be a party pooper or because we don't want you to share the shop love, but because it is not allowed, per the Flickr Community Guidelines.
Don’t use Flickr for commercial purposes.
Flickr is for personal use only. If we find you selling products, services, or yourself through your photostream, we will terminate your account.
So please, please don't link directly to shop listings from individual Flickr photos! We don't want anyone to get into trouble and/or shut down on Flickr because of this. If you blog about your stitched goodies for sale on your blog, it is probably fine to link to such a post. But please don't say "hey this is for sale, have a look at my blog" - because that is pretty much the same thing as posting a link to Etsy, ok?
It is fine to have a link to your shop in your profile, but even there don't fill it with 'advertising'. Just put a single link in your profile and then if you insist on giving 'commercial info' in your photo descriptions, simply write something like 'for more info see my profile'.
Clarification: Will you get shut down for having the occasional link? No, probably not. However, I have seen people being told either to tone it way down or simply being told that they risk getting shut down - in one case the Flickr user didn't really have many links to her shop.
The point of this post is: don't do something that could be interpreted as violating the use of Flickr. And it doesn't just apply to this group, it is across the board. Better to be safe than sorry.
* * * * * *
Now, apart from it not being allowed, I want to add this, and this is just my opinion, of course.People will take a look at your profile and/or contact you if they see something they like it and want, even if there is no mention of it being for sale (although if you have loads of images of the same thing/s you can usually conclude that that is the case!) It really isn't necessary to plaster 'advertising' all over your photos. In some cases it just makes your images look a bit cheap and you look kinda desperate. Flickr is a photo/image sharing site, not a store front.
Before I became a part of the Feeling Stitchy team, I would be totally honoured if Flor, or someone else, posted one of my stitchy photos on the blog - I don't know if others feel this way too, but I will say this: even if I like your work, I am not very likely to blog about it here on Feeling Stitchy if I get the feeling that you are just 'sharing' your stitchy photos because you want to sell what you make.
I love embroidery and I love sharing the love and showcasing the awesome stitchers in the group, and I don't mind linking to people's shops but that is very much secondary, if not tertiary or even fourthiary!
Ok, gettin' off my soap box! Happy stitchin'! :-)
