Not only has Temu stolen my handmade product design but they are using my pictures! There are documents and methods to send Takedown Notices, but this is my plan to make it harder for these companies to steal my products and pictures.

Over the last few years, customers have sent me their findings of my products on Temu, and other similar sites. It is a problem and threatens my livelihood, so I plan on fighting back.

What a Lawyer has to Say About Temu Stealing Product and Photos

Here is a list of what Lawyer James L. Arrasmith had to say:

1. Document the infringement: Take screenshots of the infringing listings on Temu, making sure to capture the date, URL, and any other relevant details.

2. Check Temu’s IP policy: Familiarize yourself with Temu’s intellectual property policy and the steps they outline for reporting infringement.

3. File a DMCA takedown notice: Draft a Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) takedown notice and send it to Temu’s designated copyright agent. This notice should include your contact information, a description of the infringing material, and a statement that you have a good faith belief that the use of your material is not authorized.

4. Follow up with Temu: After submitting the DMCA notice, follow up with Temu to ensure they have taken down the infringing listings.

5. Consider legal action: If Temu does not respond satisfactorily to your takedown notice, you may want to consult with an IP attorney to discuss your options, such as sending a cease and desist letter or filing a lawsuit.

6. Protect your IP: Moving forward, consider registering your copyrights and trademarks to strengthen your legal protection. Regularly monitor sites like Temu for potential infringement.

Read the entire lawyers response here.
Using this as a template, let’s take a look at Temu’s IP Policy next…

They sure do make it seem like they are on our side. So, what to we need to do to make a DMCA?

How to Send a DMCA Takedown Notice

Here is yet another list of things to do, according to WebsitePolicies.com.

1. Collect evidence of infringement
2. Find the infringer’s contact information through their hosting or domain registrar
3. Draft a DMCA takedown request in the appropriate format
4. Send the Notice
5. Keep Evidence

Your DMCA takedown request which should contain the following elements:

• Your name and contact details or that of your authorized agent (mailing address, phone number, and email where you can be reached)
• URLs where the infringing content can be found so that the service provider can locate it
• URLs where your original content can be found
• Brief description or explanation of your original content
• A statement made in good faith confirming that the use of your content is not authorized by yourself, your agent or the law and that you request that the content be removed
• A sentence requesting that the online services provider inform the infringer (website owner) and ask them not to use or publish your content again

Why I am NOT Going to Bother Getting the Listings Taken Down

I can tell you right now, this is all great, and will probably work, but – it is a waste time. Here’s why.

People take advantage of these insanely low prices to stock up for resale. They then go to websites like Etsy, eBay and Amazon and resell them at a higher price. Sometimes, people will take new pictures to differentiate the product, but a good chunk just download the pictures from Temu and use those.

Therefore, my pictures are now everywhere. Unless I want to hire a team to find every listing, on every website and send takedown notices, I’ll never be able to keep up.

Not only that, but Temu is like Amazon. They do sell their own merchandise, but are also a marketplace for independent sellers.

Independent sellers are more likely to steal product ideas and product photos to quickly populate their shops. Even if they are going against policies, get found out and shut down, they are just going to pop right back up again.

Now might be the time you feel like giving up, but try to use these feelings to power you forward! Let’s start bay making these pictures steal-proof.

How to Make Anti-Theft Handmade Products & Pictures

Step 1 : Watermarks, but They’re Not Watermarks

What does that even mean?

It’s not a great idea to cover up your art piece in color dulling, confusing logos and words. We do need to think about the thousands of eyes looking to buy, and the one or 2 looking to steal. And, not only this, but Etsy recommends not to have watermarks because then that listing won’t be eligible for their email “top finds” emails or google ads. Other marketplaces forbit them altogether.

I believe it is in all of our best interest to be adding our logo as naturally as we can INTO our pictures. This can be as simple as having a business card in the background.

You could also have a dedicated mini plaque, like this one that I laser engraved and cut out, that will last a long time and stands out.

If you have the means to make, or purchase, a custom earring board, it can feature your contact info, logos, website, ect. This picture will at least advertise for my website if it is used somewhere else.

Step 2 : “Complicate” Your Design

I imagine that the most profitable products for someone to rip off are ones that are easy to replicate. They are made of materials they have access to and are of a design they can whip up in similar fashion, if not exactly the same.

This suggestion might not be doable for everyone, but hopefully this inspires more ideas that could help you out in the long run.

Using my type of products as examples, what I mean by this is do some research on Temu and see what is out there the most. I wasn’t seeing any handprinted stud earrings, so these pizza ones are probably complicated enough for a thief to pass on.

Same goes for these plaid ghosts. It might be harder for them to find this specialty acrylic style, especially with it being made here in the US.

Of course, this doesn’t mean that it’s impossible for them to still rip off these designs in some other way. I have seen a design or two of mine that was simply printed on clear acrylic, a opposed to them tracking down the harder to find types of acrylic.

If there is a way to finish your product with trade techniques or custom made additions, these could both aide in turning away thieving eyes. And as a bonus, your customers will be impressed!

Step 3 : Try Out “Multi Design Listings”

This idea might not apply to everyone, depending on what you sell. What I mean by a Multi Design Listing is if you sell the same or similar design in other ways, consider grouping them together.

For example, if you sell a design as earrings and a necklace and a keychain, sell them all in one listing. Pretty much every marketplace as variations, and you can now group these together, separate and in all sorts of combinations.

This would make all your pictures showcase different combinations of your product instead of just one product, and could potentially make it an undesirable picture to steal.

When scrolling through Temu, I see that they can sometimes group a few earrings designs together in a listing, but not multiple types of product.

Step 4 : Have Pictures of You Making the Product

In order to prove to your potential customers that your product is in face made by you, show it in your pictures. You don’t have to have a step by step guide, but a slightly unfinished piece in front of a finished one would get the message across.

If you sell on Etsy, having a listing video showing your creative process is a great way to utilize this feature. Here is the video I made for those 3D Glasses Earrings.

If not a video, a simple picture like this will help to convince your customers that these are truly made by you.

Conclusion

Unfortunately, there is not way to get these people to stop copying our products. Hopefully these ideas get your creative juices flowing on how we can at least make our pictures harder to steal.

One thing that is important in this small handmade world we live in is to have an audience that supports you. This is why having an email list or at least one type of social platform can be so beneficial. These people want you to succeed, and when you share stories like mine, they will be sympathetic. Of course people want you to succeed! You deserve it!

Don’t give up! This isn’t the end of your business. Those rip off listings will fade away and you’ll still be here making awesome things that make the world a more creative place, and no one can take that away from you. Don’t give up.

Watch the video below to see more ideas like these and hear my story.

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