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Creator success Launching products New Products

Spring Your Ideas to Life with Custom Products! 

After years of watching creators blow up with success, we kind of know a thing or two about how to get you there—custom products.

Spring is now offering Custom Products for creators who have reached certain benchmarks. Why? Because we believe all your hard work should be rewarded. Read on for all the details or apply to create your own custom product here.

If you can dream it, we can make it. 

Think up the wildest, most creative custom made merchandise your fans might like, such as fuzzy cat vases, avocado slippers, and unicorn poop emoji candles (TMI?), and make it come to life with Spring.

Spring’s product options grow every year, but this year we’re blowing off the lid on opportunity. Why stop at simple merch when you can literally do anything? Turn your ideas into decor, toys, make custom clothes, whatever your heart desires. Test the limits of your imagination. 

Whether you’re a new or existing creator who is already creating products such as plushies, calendars, and various accessories, you have the chance to create a unique connection with your audience. You can sell YOU. All your custom products are showcased on your own storefront. No fees. No sweat. We cover all that. For free.

And if you’re sitting there thinking to yourself, “But who wants to take the trouble to learn how to design, build a storefront, track inventory, ship it, and provide customer service…” Stop. You don’t have to know how to create custom clothing, candles, or plushies. We do all that for you, too. We’re the experts so you don’t have to be. You can focus on the only thing that matters—dreaming up your custom products! 

Get started here!

Custom products are the key to success

Don’t take our word for it. Check out this Spring creator, Laura Porter, who used custom products to connect deeper with her fans and make an adorable plushie of her rainbow crab! 

Howie the Crab is a beloved social media star, famous for his charming walks and cute, quirky outfits. 

Thanks to Spring, Laura was able to bring Howie the Crab’s TikTok charm to life as a lovable plushie, letting fans keep a piece of Howie with them. As a result, Laura experienced:

  • Major Sales: Howie’s plushie launch generated 20 times more sales for Laura in the first week compared to previous weeks.
  • Deeper Fan Connection: Howie’s plushie gave fans a fun way to connect with their TikTok favorite.
  • Seamless Selling: With Spring’s social integrations, Howie’s plushie was available to fans on every corner of the internet.

Spring has also helped countless others bring their ideas to life through custom products. Check out some of our favs below!

Don Marshall’s famed Lord of the Rings “On This Day” Calendar. See full store. 

Katie Shober’s Beach Reads & Bubbly “Hot Girls Read” Bookmark. See full store.  

Tom Bates’s Nigel and Marmalade Plushie. See full store.

Who qualifies and how do you get started? 

If you’re a new creator or thinking about getting started, there are a few things to consider before you apply. 

We’re looking for creators who:

  • Have a public social media profile
  • Have over 5k engaged following on at least 2 social channels
  • Frequently post content
  • Have at least four months of original, high-quality, shoppable content
  • Have experience promoting shoppable content

Apply now! 

Why you want to launch a custom product NOW

Launch Ahead for Holidays

Look, we know many creators have success all year long, but there’s no denying that the holiday season boasts 121% more sales than the rest of the year combined! 

Get your piece of the holiday pie and here’s how: 

Create and launch your custom products now!  You’ll thank yourself later when you’re kicking your feet up with an eggnog and watching your sales tick up. 

Most importantly: Order samples to use in your content.

And guess what? You can buy your samples At Cost. Yep, we don’t aim for profit because we know you need samples to build your business. Order what you need to showcase on your channels to hype up your fans. Have fun with it, and make sure to let your fans know when they need to order to receive it before any upcoming holiday. (Black Friday/Cyber Monday anyone?)

Speaking of Dates (If you’re the last-minute type) 

When looking to launch custom products, be aware of some crucial target dates, including cutoffs. Here’s a quick guide for the 2024 holiday season:

  • LABOR DAY (Sep 2)
  • THANKSGIVING (Nov 28)
  • BLACK FRIDAY (Nov 29)
  • CYBER MONDAY (Dec 2)
  • CHRISTMAS & HANUKKAH (Dec 25)
  • Cutoff Dates for Guaranteed Delivery before Christmas:
    • Mid Nov for International Orders
    • Late Nov for U.S. Orders

Why it’s not just about the holidays

While the holidays are great for business, you want to keep up your game all year long. Here are two strategies to employ to create custom merchandise:

  • Launch Limited Editions: No one wants to blink and miss something special. The FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) is always real when a custom clothing design is only available for a limited time. You can always bring back popular editions and keep tweaking for fresh versions.
  • Offer Year Round Products: A good way to build up your fanbase and keep new people coming into your brand. When the holiday season rolls around, you can run your promos and ramp up deals to an established fanbase. 

Ready to get started?

If you fit the parameters above and want to get started, fill out this form here. 

Can you Spring it? 

Yes you can. Happy Selling!

Categories
Insights News

How to prepare for the U.S. 2022 tax season

Tax season is upon us. Creators who have requested more than $600 USD in payouts in 2022 may be prompted to provide more information by filling out a 1099 form.

If you’ve previously completed the form, but your Tax Exemption Type has changed within the calendar year (for example, from Individual to Corporation) please notify us as soon as possible by emailing creatorhelp@spri.ng.

Note: If you have multiple accounts on Spring, you will need to update your account information for each, as we will be merging your payout amount into one 1099 form.

Update account info

1. Identify yourself

If you’ve received over $600 in payouts from Spring in 2022, you may be prompted to fill out the tax information form. The first part of the form asks you to identify yourself—this information helps us determine if you need to receive a 1099. See further explanation of each option below:

  • Corporation: If you are filing taxes as a corporation.
  • Individual: If you are filing taxes as an individual.
  • Non-profit: Select this option if you are filing taxes as a 501(c) organization (non-profit organization).
  • International: Select this option if you are an international entity (you reside year-round outside of the U.S).

Please note, only individuals will receive a Form 1099. Corporations, partnerships, LLCs, and international entities etc are responsible for reporting taxes themselves by consulting a tax accountant.

2. Check your account information

Remember you have until Wednesday, January 20th, 2023 at 11:59PM PST to update your tax info within your Spring account settings.

  • Make sure your Spring account email is valid (we’ll email you your 1099 form to this email address).
  • Make sure the default address in your dashboard under “Settings” is correct.
  • Remember to notify creatorhelp@spri.ng if your Tax Exemption Type has changed (for example, from Individual to Corporation).

Make sure your default address reflects your residential address during the calendar year.

If you don’t update your information and do not receive a 1099 form, it’s still your responsibility to file your taxes properly based on your earnings, including earnings from Spring. We cannot provide tax advice—please consult a tax professional.

A link to your 1099 form will be sent to the email address associated with your Spring account by January 31, 2023.

Spring account settings
Categories
Creators

Updates to pricing

Spring is constantly working to source the highest quality and most economically priced products for you and your fans.

Due to rising inflation and the ongoing global supply chain crisis, we need to increase some of our base prices in order to maintain quality products and services. 

What you need to do:

  • If you want to maintain your current profit margins, you must edit your product pricing
  • If you’re running any promotions, you must make sure your product is profitable at the discounted price.

If you do not take any action, Spring will automatically adjust the selling price up to the nearest $0.99 amount that ensures profitability (example below)

These changes will take effect September 27, 2022. You can see the example product and categories in the table below. You can also reference product pricing here.

What you can expect

As of September 27, 2022, cost changes will be applied to new product launches.

  • For affected products, the base cost will update once the product’s print cycle restarts (following a sale). 
  • After the base cost is updated, if any products have a negative profit margin, we’ll automatically update the selling price up to the nearest amount ending in $0.99 that ensures profitability (for example, if your product has a selling price of $15.00 but has a negative profit margin because of the update to the base cost, we’ll change the selling price to $15.99 to ensure a positive profit margin).
  • You’ll receive an email notification indicating the products that have been updated so you can make further changes if you like.

These base cost increases will enable Spring to continue offering key features and services like order processing, production, shipping and handling, not to mention our in-house support teams who love to assist you and your fans as illustrated below. 

Have questions? Reach out to creatorhelp@spri.ng anytime!

Categories
Creators

Welcome, Rodrigo Velloso

Spring is thrilled to announce that Rodrigo Velloso has joined the company as our first ever Vice President of Creator Success – a new role established to cement Spring’s commitment to the creator community. With creators at the core of all business operations and strategy, his main focus will be to ensure Spring creators successfully engage, grow, activate, monetize and authentically connect with their communities by using the platform.


Rod’s experience and track record of success in establishing and sustaining relationships with strategic partners and content creators alike will be an asset to Spring’s leadership team. He has led teams across several multi-international corporations, including Google, YouTube, Redbubble, Roblox and Twitter, whereby his roles have largely focused on content and partnerships within the general creator economy space.

As VP of Creator Success, he will be responsible for the continued success of Spring’s users and the business in delivering its value proposition to creators and other strategic partners. Rodrigo will be instrumental in organising the Spring team and resources to make certain creators achieve their objectives, across areas of creator management, success, support and growth. As VP of Creator Success, Rodrigo will look to maintain and expand the distance between creators’ needs and the platform’s capabilities, where Spring is always one step ahead.

Here’s some more about him in his own words: 

What led you to Spring?
Rod: What brought me to Spring was the opportunity to take-on a creator-centric leadership role at a creator-centric, late-stage startup that has great traction, outstanding creator and platform partners, incredible potential to scale and a visionary leadership team. Chris Lamontagne has built an incredibly solid foundation for the business since I first worked with him in 2018 and brought in an accomplished commerce platform leader to take it to the next level in Annelies Jansen. I’m excited to join them on our mission to take Spring to the next level.

What will your new role as VP of Creators encompass?
Rod: As VP of Creator Success, my primary role is to ensure that Spring creators accomplish their evolving fan community development objectives using the Spring platform. Creators today want to engage, retain, grow, activate, monetize, delight and authentically connect with their communities. The physical and digital products, services and content they provide are all key elements of those relationships. Creators want increasingly sophisticated capabilities to address those opportunities in ways that are innovative, differentiated, integrated, fan-friendly and sustainable. My role is to keep Spring’s finger on the pulse of creator needs and requirements and work with mine and other teams at the company to make sure that we are responding to creators to the best of our ability and staying ahead of their needs. A key part of that, for which I’m excited to take responsibility, are Springs creator platform integration partnerships with YouTube, Instagram, TikTok and Twitch as well as creator tools and services partnerships we are developing and excited to announce soon.

What is your vision for Spring in the long-run?
Rod: I believe that branded clothing, adornments and objects are the among most tangible and meaningful connections that can be forged between creators and their communities. They are also building blocks of the bonds formed among community members which, in turn, attract others to the community. We all want to belong and merch has always been a big part of our cultural symbolism of community (long before it was called merch). So, my vision for Spring is that we are building the world’s first and best creator community building and monetization platform. To me, that’s the natural evolution of creator commerce and the logical next step of Spring’s journey as a business.

Categories
Creators

Update – Delayed Creator payouts

Following up from the message I sent on Monday, August 15th, I wanted to confirm that all outstanding creator payments have now been made. If you missed that email, please see the FAQ below.

If you requested a payout on or before  08/06/2022 and have not yet received the funds, please reach out to creatorhelp@spri.ng as soon as possible. We will investigate and respond within 24 hours.

Once again, please accept my sincere apologies for the issues leading to this incident as well our communication about it with you. Unfortunately, we have continued to see an increase in suspicious and attempted fraudulent activity that has continued to drain our resources – we are actively addressing this. Rest assured, the Spring team and I have learned a great deal and continue to make changes to our product & processes to continually improve monetization for creators.

As always, don’t hesitate to reach out to us at creatorhelp@spri.ng if you have additional questions.

Chris Lamontagne
CEO | Spring

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS


What is the situation? 
Some creators have experienced delays receiving their requested payouts on Spring. Impacted creators are understandably upset and have asked for information and action.. 

When will it be fixed? When will I get paid?
We are already catching up with payments to creators and plan to complete all delayed payments by August 29th. Catch-up payments will be made in batches based on the date the payout was requested.

How did this happen?
Making sure creators get paid is a critical and complex part of our business. Over the last 3 years,  more than 5 million new creators have signed up with Spring. This caused a substantial increase in the number of small (under $10) payout requests and strained our legacy payment systems. We are working hard to keep pace and, in the course of implementing a more automated payment solution, inadvertently broke some of the systems we use to ensure prompt payment to creators. We should have done more to ensure we had the relevant checks and balances in place to manage such an important transition. We apologize for the disruption and have updated our protocols to ensure that it doesn’t happen again.

Why hasn’t Spring communicated earlier?
We were unable to diagnose the situation fast enough and did not want to miscommunicate information or provide inaccurate timelines for fixes. In hindsight, we should have communicated sooner and provided frequent updates instead of waiting for the solution.

What is being done to fix the situation?
We have rolled back the changes to our payment systems in order to ensure we can pay creators on time going forward.

How will Spring ensure that this doesn’t happen again?
We are working on solutions to ensure that we avoid future issues with creator payouts, including but not limited to improvements in our automated payment processing, greater transparency and real-time updates.

Categories
Creators

Important: Creator payouts

FAO: Spring Creators

I wanted to reach out with an important update with respect to creator payouts. 

Firstly, I want to assure you that the technical issue that caused delays in some of your payouts has been addressed and that our team is working through the backlog payments to ensure that all outstanding creator payments are made by August 29th. Please review the FAQ below for additional detail.

On behalf of Spring, I sincerely apologize for these delays. We know how important it is that you get paid on time so that you can keep doing what you do. Your frustration is entirely justified. I will follow up on this message should there be any new information. 

As a creator business, we missed the mark. We hold ourselves accountable for becoming a better partner and we are more committed than ever to supporting independent creators with community development and monetization solutions.

Thank you for your patience and the opportunity to earn back your trust. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to us at creatorhelp@spri.ng if you have additional questions.

 
Chris Lamontagne
CEO | Spring


FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS


What is the situation? 
Some creators have experienced delays receiving their requested payouts on Spring. Impacted creators are understandably upset and have asked for information and action.. 

When will it be fixed? When will I get paid?
We are already catching up with payments to creators and plan to complete all delayed payments by August 29th. Catch-up payments will be made in batches based on the date the payout was requested.

How did this happen?
Making sure creators get paid is a critical and complex part of our business. Over the last 3 years,  more than 5 million new creators have signed up with Spring. This caused a substantial increase in the number of small (under $10) payout requests and strained our legacy payment systems. We are working hard to keep pace and, in the course of implementing a more automated payment solution, inadvertently broke some of the systems we use to ensure prompt payment to creators. We should have done more to ensure we had the relevant checks and balances in place to manage such an important transition. We apologize for the disruption and have updated our protocols to ensure that it doesn’t happen again.

Why hasn’t Spring communicated earlier?
We were unable to diagnose the situation fast enough and did not want to miscommunicate information or provide inaccurate timelines for fixes. In hindsight, we should have communicated sooner and provided frequent updates instead of waiting for the solution.

What is being done to fix the situation?
We have rolled back the changes to our payment systems in order to ensure we can pay creators on time going forward.

How will Spring ensure that this doesn’t happen again?
We are working on solutions to ensure that we avoid future issues with creator payouts, including but not limited to improvements in our automated payment processing, greater transparency and real-time updates.

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News

The rules have changed. Sell on YouTube with only 1K subscribers.

Ready to start sell products on YouTube? It’s your turn. Creators with 1,000 subscribers can unlock the merch shelf, live shopping features, channel stores and more.

As of last week, you only need 1,000 subscribers+ (previously 10,000) can unlock YouTube’s suite of powerful selling features. This is HUGE; more creators than ever will be able to seamlessly engage fans and sell their Spring products on Youtube. 

Head to the monetization tab of your YouTube Studio now to see if you’re eligible below.

Visit YouTube studio

This is an opportunity not to be missed. If you meet the criteria, waste no time in checking out the video below for a reminder on how to set up the merch shelf. Here’s a short refresher:

  • YouTube Merch Shelf

Use the merch shelf to showcase your brand and enable fans to browse and purchase your products directly below your videos.

  • YouTube Store

Create a store on your channel page that features your products, making them easily accessible to your community.

  • YouTube Live

Drive awareness and excitement around your products during live streams through pinned product announcements on YouTube live.

Learn more about YouTube’s eligibility requirements here.

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Uncategorized

The Spring x Picsart partnership has landed: the solution to creating quality merch designs

You don’t need to be a design wizard to create and sell products your fans will love. Easily design merch with Picsart and apply them to any product with Spring. There’s more… read on to find out. 

Sign up to Picsart, create merch designs instantly 

Spring creators who sign up to Picsart Gold get to enjoy the full creative suite for one month free. With your trial, you’ll be able to spin up designs for your Spring products in moments. Sign up to start below.

Start my free Picsart Gold trial

Here’s what to expect:

  • Thousands of templates, fonts, stickers, and tools at your fingertips
  • Design on both the mobile app and the web
  • 20M+ high-res stock images 
  • Easily remove and change design backgrounds with a click
  • No watermarks whatsoever
  • Save your designs as JPG, PNG, or PDF—take them to Spring to start creating.
  • Design with no ads whatsoever ✨

How to sell more with Spring using Picsart 

React quickly to important moments in your community. Picture this: your fans just asked for a hoodie featuring a new favorite catch phrase. You need to create a design and start selling ASAP, before the moment passes. Use Picsart’s online design tools and templates to create designs and apply them to a hoodie on Spring in minutes.

Stay on top of design trends. Picsart has designs for all creators and genres of content, and they’re uploading new ones each week. Use the most up to date stickers by browsing the Hashtag section on the Picsart app.

Create promo content with ease. You aren’t limited to merch designs, either—promote your products easily and create engaging content on Picsart using promo templates, 1+ fonts, stickers, and Picsart’s video editor.

Participate in the Spring x Picsart Challenge for a 10% promo code

To kick off the Spring x Picsart partnership, we’re running a contest to get your creative juices flowing. It’s easy to enter, head to the Picsart app, sign up, and create a design with summer vibes.

1. Create a design on Picsart using the #SummerTShirtChallenge Stickers

2. Apply your design to a t-shirt on Spring

3. Get a 10% sponsored discount to give your fans (you keep 100% of your profits)

Enter the contest and sign up to Picsart below to get started.

Enter
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Uncategorized

Creating a free store on Spring

After you’ve signed up to Spring, follow these simple steps and you’ll have everything you need to start creating and selling products to your followers.

1. Set up your store

Head to the ‘Stores’ tab of your dashboard to get started.

2. Set up your store

A great looking store not only streamlines your fans’ shopping experience, it compliments the products inside it—making visitors more likely to purchase products. 

Before you start customizing your Spring store, grab your brand logo and think about the colors you use on your social profiles. Here’s some of the customization features available: 

  • Logo and branding: Upload your logo and pick colors for your navigation bar, hero text and buttons.
  • Branded shopping experience: the branding elements on your store will be reflected on listing pages and even the transactional emails your fans receive after purchase.
  • Social media icons: clickable social icons to your store’s navigation bar and/or store footer.  
  • Add a domain: Your store will have a unique URL generated based on its name, but you can also connect or purchase a domain. Learn more here.
  • Hero banner: use “advanced settings” to add custom buttons, headings and text to your store. 

3. Fill your store with products

Once you’ve created products, start adding them to your store. Start in the Store Editor on the stores tab of your dashboard and click ‘Products’ on the left navigation. Star the products you’d like your fans to see first in the ‘Featured Products’ section.

Top tip: Check out your finished store within the editor to ensure everything looks perfect. Most fans will be on their mobile devices, so make sure you preview all your branding on both device views.

4. Fill your store with products

When you’re ready to start sharing your store live on Facebook Gaming, copy your store link from the Stores tab in your dashboard. 

Find out how to start creating and selling products below.

Start creating and selling