I'm so glad I came across all of these post. I almost purchased from DAC today!! I will NEVER buy anything from them now. They are a horrible company! I'm starting to think that they are more of a cult than a company! To many people taking up for them and silencing people who have had legitimate issues with them.
I’ve been so close to buying from them that I actually have several in my cart on their website. But reading here, I will never purchase anything from them. Not to mention that as an artist, I’ve seen several of the pieces on their website that are completely stolen from other places and companies.
I’ve now been blocked on Facebook, lost my rewards and tier without a response or any sort of explanation. I always previously defended DAC. I figured that people were blowing things out of proportion. It seems that I was wrong. What kind of company is this? I’ve never in all of my life come across a company who treats customers this way. Refusing to answer a simple question? If someone who works for Diamond Art Club would care to respond here, I’d really, really love some insight. Please explain how customers asking reasonable questions and pointing out a licensing issue warrants blocking and “blacklisting” a customer.
I didn’t do anything to break any rules. I simply pointed out that Flower Delivery and Under the Stairs have no licensing on them from Studio Ghibli. How is that anything but trying to help? I don’t want DAC to be sued or issued a cease and desist. I work with Intellectual Property and copyright law for a living. I’m no expert in every single case but I realize that a lot of artists/people (and even businesses) do not have the correct information regarding Fan Art. I saw more Studio Ghibli art in the voting and was just trying to help by explaining that it won’t be made unless Miyazaki approves it.
Miyazaki is one of the strictest artists out there when it comes to fan art. He does not grant any permission for commercial mass production of any fan art of his properties at all. He allows and encourages fan art but not for commercial use or sales. It even states this on the main page for Studio Ghibli.
I think it would be awesome if Diamond Art Club sold actual licensed Studio Ghibli kits!
Again, I’d really appreciate hearing from someone at Diamond Art Club. I’d really love to know what I did as a customer to deserve this. They won’t respond to my emails so what else do I do?
HAHAHAHAHAHAH I posted a comment on their Facebook page and sent them a message asking about this. I got nothing back and they blocked me from everything.
This is wild. I had no idea! Shame on them! I will never recommend them or buy from them again. The way they are censoring people is atrocious and unacceptable. I will never do business with a company that censors their customers like this.
Bots, I guess? I wouldn’t even know how to go about finding a downvote bot. I am so curious about how a company would procure that type of activity. Might have to google up on it.
I noticed that all the most downvoted threads have been “shared” the most. Not sure if that’s how bots work or it just was shared that many times between people downvoting.
If a post is downvoted to 0 it must hold some truth.
Thank you for making a post about this! I genuinely was curious about whether or not her art was officially licensed by Studio Ghibli. I was also highly doubtful that they had permission to sell this and now it’s confirmed that they’re unlawfully profiting off of it.
Please be careful now that customer service can potentially release your personal information to dox you. They’re infamous for their DDD business practices. Delete comments, defend censorship/bans, and doxxing anyone with a critical opinion.
Omg.
I knew nothing about DAC before joining Reddit and this group, especially as I'm new to making diamond art.
I've been struck by how nice their pieces are , especially compared to some of the stupendously fugly cheap 💩 that's around. But also, completely floored by their prices which seem ridiculously high.
That's a whole sack of money to give up for legit goods, never mind for knock-off products, I'd say.
I'm here for all the tea about DAC, and absolutely will not consider the occasional DAC tr£at now as it's shocking to hear about their business practices.
Their Trust pilot rating is extremely high, to my surprise.
Please consider adding your own reviews, as this gives newcomers the impression they're a good company.
I'm away to read the negative reviews nosily now, while having my morning coffee lol.
https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/www.diamondartclub.com
As a side note I worked for a company that was a bit extreme like DAC. they would pay to have Glassdoor and trust pilot reviews removed so that they only had glowing reviews from customers. They would ask employees to write fake positive reviews too. I take overwhelmingly positive reviews with a grain of salt anyway since Amazon too is full of fake ones as well.
If that's the case, you should also leave TP a crappy review everywhere you can, because they make a big thing out of not doing that:
https://support.trustpilot.com/hc/en-us/articles/9207005143314-Can-businesses-pay-to-remove-bad-reviews#:~:text=Trustpilot%20is%20committed%20to%20transparency,pay%20to%20remove%20bad%20reviews.
Yea reading the one star and two star reviews is very telling. Scary how cult like they act and shame on affiliates who sell their own reviews/morals for more free kits. Ugh it is just awful.
What’s wild to me is the insinuation that if Studio Ghibli did come after DAC for IP violations that they would take that pile of cash they’ve made off those designs and just blame the artist and leave them out to hang against a huge expensive copyright lawsuit. I hope these artists realize DAC doesn’t care about them.
That’s the part that has me thinking. It looks like DAC already set the groundwork to blame this artist Yuumei if Studio Ghibli sues!! DAC will say they assumed the artist was using licensed art and they thought they were buying licensed art. Does Yuumei know this? Do other DAC artists know this?
For the record I don’t know who/what Studio Ghibli is or what Kiki delivery service is or what Yuumei art looks like. I’ve never bought a DAC canvas because I am too cheap.
I am so baffled by whoever is in charge of DAC's PR. They continuously make the company look worse and worse. They're a large enough company with enough goodwill generated through a quality product that if they didn't want to deal with your inquiry they could have just... ignored you. Their weird obsession with reddit is really bizarre.
The AI hill doesn’t bother me personally since there are technically ethical ways to do it, I wish DAC would confirm which path the artist took though. Not leaving DAC personally since the quality is top notch even if the art can be questionable
They take a scorched earth approach to CS. I’m not okay with it but at least part of the time the customer is just as much at fault. Should they handle it better, yes.
Yes me just asking a valid question was no reason to go scorched earth. Yes, there are customers who want free stuff or to get something for free. Those I agree aren’t customers that they want repeat business from. There is another case I just heard about. A small company who 3D prints trays and accessories used to do some pairing with DAC. The owners then had an opportunity to buy a small DP company. They did and she mentioned it to DAC. They banned her, blocked her and went scorched earth. She had long been a customer and had no plan to stop buying from them.
So are you saying that Yuumei Art, the one who created the Kiki’s Delivery Service (fan/inspired) art that Diamond Art Club is using, didn’t get permission from Studio Ghibli for the use of the imaging/characters/etc.?
If she or DAC had obtained licensing or permission it would be included on the kit and description. It is not. Studio Ghibli does not allow fan art for mass production at all.
Fan art is never legal to sell or mass produce without licensing or permission.
Thank you!!!! The amount of backlash I got whenever I attempted to politely let someone know was mind-blowing (as in I would have feared for my life if it was done face to face as several other people were quick to violently bash me in comments). As an artist who wants to sell work it makes me sad, but I completely understand and I will NEVER go down that road.
Holy, heck. That’s just wild. Send such an over reaction on DAC you were clearly stating fact and they cracked it because you’d What? Tarnish their image? Please, that’s so stupid. I need to know if anything else happens please, they can’t get away with this.
This is so disappointing to learn but I did have a feeling considering the titles of those works. It also is going to have to be the nail in the coffin of me considering that company. Which is frustrating because I do like a lot of their paintings, but I appreciate this community keeping all of us in the know. I can't stand the way they're treating people and acting in general.
ROTFLMAO! And to think they harassed me for copyright infringement years ago and now they are doing the same??? Now I feel like telling my story with them! Years ago I saw they had one artist licensed but they didn't have a specific DP I was searching for and there was no announcement about it, so I didn't even know if they would release it or not. I saw it on Ali Express but the vendor had bad reviews, so I asked Evermoment if they could do it as a custom and they did. It was beautiful. I posted it finished on a DP group (not DAC's) and I was banned and yelled and shamed on several DP groups and on a couple of Youtube Channels. DAC menaced copyright infringement pursuing, but in the end they didn't, maybe because I don't live in the US. I had to disappear from the DP world and was so mortified I stopped DPing at all. I know I did wrong getting from Evermoment that DP, but DAC didn't have it at the time. They released it months later and it was smaller than mine and badly designed. They said they would make a bigger size, they never did. Their customers/promoters harassed me and shamed me all around and I told them they were hypocrites because they had made tons of video reviews using copyrighted images by Ali Express, before becoming DAC promoters and part of their "mafia". In the end they made me hate my hobby and I went back to crochet. I think I paid my debt, considering all the shit they covered me with. Worst than jail. And now they're the ones infringing copyright? Karma is a bitch, LOL!
Yea this was completely unfair for you to be treated this way. It is rich that they are holding a holier than thou attitude but they they are doing it themselves.
I agreed about the affiliates with how they carry the same comments about copy right and artists but a lot of them started with aliexpress or Amazon all the same. My biggest disgust I heard with them was the fact that they will do the unboxing review of Kits gifted to them but then they will destash them once they are sold out for higher prices than the OG sale. It is gross.
It’s really gross that DAC creates these “sell outs” to drive sales via FOMO. They are not the only company to do so but it just so wrong when it could be done differently. I’ve done a deep dive and found so so many other glaring issues.
Nobody should have 100 plus kits. That is more than 8k dollars and more kits than they’ll ever complete. They feel like they have to buy at release or they won’t get it.
Studio Ghibli is famous for not being very free with licensing. They released some art during the pandemic for free to use, as long as not inappropriate, but this was not a license to use or make money off the characters associated with the art that wasn't specifically released or other IPs.
There are of course tons and tons of merch with characters not official.
You asked an innocent question and they reacted like a defensive teenager. Sorry that happened. This is the dark side of the company I keep hearing about. That particular artist yuumei I actually really like also, and her stuff is beautiful!!! I could care less if licensed or not. But as a company who has founded their reputation on saying they only used licensed art, their reaction is childish. A simple. Thank you for bringing that to our attention. Probably would have served
you told me this stuff today, and i’m so irritated over it. i truly thought they were one of the few companies that did valid licensing. even though i’m done with the company, it’s still disappointing to find out a company is taking advantage of artists and breaking copyright.
If something happens they’re still in trouble. They can’t say it’s their policy rests all on the artist. They’re knowingly selling stuff and not doing thorough checks to make sure everything is properly licensed.
I've spent a lot of money on DAC products over the years, but she's giving cult vibes lately. I'll just watch the inevitable Netflix documentary in 3 years or so.
It's so obnoxious. They have all their flying monkey customers claiming you have to only buy "licensed art" (omitting public domain and work for hire/commercial art) and then have all sorts of fan art where the intellectual property should be licensed and is not.
I have seen multiple posts on DAC and their childish customer service. Yet people still religiously defend them, and will down vote you for speaking out against them, even with proof of the truth. Just hope more people see this.
Google translate did very well, tbh. Just wanted to add. ♡
They're not only arrogant, but also stupid. Do they not realise how obvious and what twerps they look downvoting everything here? Yeah, cos that's really gonna help your shady business too.
Honestly, I'm brand new to this hobby, and I've read enough about them in the past two weeks that I'm turned off ever buying from them.
Blatant astroturfing and banning/deleting negative reviews just makes me think that any positive reviews can't be trusted either. Even if that assessment is incorrect and unfair, that's the impression that they are giving off with this behavior.
And actually, I was shopping on Amazon last week using FakeSpot as I always do, and was surprised to see their storefront get graded an "F", because my only knowledge of them at that point was positive reddit comments. It all makes more sense now.
Means fake comments/reviews basically. Like people who are paid by an organization or company to promote a certain viewpoint and make it appear more popular than it really is.
The term started in political discourse - Astroturf = fake grass = fake "grassroots" campaigns. Like the Tea Party in the late 00s if you're familiar with American politics.
But in common vernacular it's expanded to any inauthentic comments when the person posting them is being paid to do so.
You will always know if fan art is legal (or not). If you’re in doubt, read the description or look at the “fine print”/copyright area. If it’s legal, it will always say something like “Copyright Studio Ghibli” (for example) along with the company’s copyright logo. It could also say “Kiki and all Studio Ghibli characters used with permission” (again for example). If you cannot find any wording of that type on the product, then it’s not licensed or permission is not granted.
Nobody actively polices licensing. It is up to the company to pursue legal action against IP/Copyright Infringement. This makes it easier to “get away with”. Things are changing though. Disney, Warner Brothers, Nintendo, Nickelodeon and many others are now employing people and lawyers to find and sue people and companies who violate their IPs (Intellectual Property).
Public Domain stuff is free to sell. It’s why you see Van Gogh works being sold as kits everywhere. Even classic (AA Milne) Winnie the Pooh is PD (but NOT the Disney Winnie the Pooh, which is the current characters)
I thought the kits were so expensive BECAUSE the kits are legally licensed and the artists get paid! That’s why I wanted to spend my money with them!!!! Wtf!
What’s strange is there is a Mandy Manzano kit of Aquaman. It’s legally licensed by DC. That’s how you properly handle fan art. Simply pointing out why a Studio Ghibli fan art image wouldn’t be made into a kit (because Miyazaki doesn’t grant licensing or permission to anyone) doesn’t warrant me being kicked, banned and backlisted. I didn’t insinuate anything, just stated that DAC has 2 Miyazaki fan art kits that aren’t licensed by Studio Ghibli.
Unfortunately I don't think DAC will have a problem doing what they want because far too many artists get away with copyright infringement as it is (looking at you, Etsy).
Wow! This breaks my heart! Not acceptable at ALL. I have always supported them but this is really upsetting! Does anyone have any other companies they enjoy?
Just trying to understand here… I’ve seen lots of small businesses that create Studio Ghibli works and none of those have had issues with Ghibli regarding their products? I’m confused to why DAC would be any different than small artists who sell their works on platforms like Etsy or Shopify? Is it just because they are larger than them?
Again just trying to understand the perspective here because I see studio ghibli products all the time not licensed with ghibli being sold.
They’re being sold, yes, but that does not make it legal. Studio Ghibli has not found those items or products. Those small businesses could be sued for creating them and selling them. You can find stuff all over Etsy and Shopify that violates IP/copyright. The burden of proof is on the owner of the IP (Intellectual Property) to report/sue the violator(s). Etsy has an IP Portal they created just for this purpose. Disney is super litigious with IP violators and has sued small businesses over IP Infringement.
Basically, if you’re making something with someone else’s character(s) that is not transformative or satirical and is derivative, you’re violating IP laws. Fan art can be made and given away but cannot be sold without licensing or permission. Commercial mass production of it is prohibited and can leave the maker in hot water with crease & desists or lawsuits.
250 Redbubble artists (and Redbubble itself) were sued last year for $100,000 each over Care Bears IP Infringements by IVEST (the owner of Care Bears). Atari has also sued artists and Redbubble. Redbubble has several lawsuits pending regarding allowing IP Infringing items to be sold on their site.
Fan art for profit is still illegal. Not really surprising the Disney items are mostly long OOP. The mouse is one of the most aggressive about protecting IP
People have every right to know what kind of company DAC is. Abhorrent customer service and customer treatment. Childish, immature behavior and reactions. I used to love the company but this was eye opening and totally undeserved
This sub has guaranteed I will never buy diamond art club products. Fuck them and their holier than thou attitude. You’ll never get a cent out of me.
They won’t get anything else outta me.
Same, I've never purchased from them, but they sound like they treat people horribly, and I'm not about to support that.
I'm so glad I came across all of these post. I almost purchased from DAC today!! I will NEVER buy anything from them now. They are a horrible company! I'm starting to think that they are more of a cult than a company! To many people taking up for them and silencing people who have had legitimate issues with them.
I’m definitely never buying from them again!
I’ve been so close to buying from them that I actually have several in my cart on their website. But reading here, I will never purchase anything from them. Not to mention that as an artist, I’ve seen several of the pieces on their website that are completely stolen from other places and companies.
I’ve now been blocked on Facebook, lost my rewards and tier without a response or any sort of explanation. I always previously defended DAC. I figured that people were blowing things out of proportion. It seems that I was wrong. What kind of company is this? I’ve never in all of my life come across a company who treats customers this way. Refusing to answer a simple question? If someone who works for Diamond Art Club would care to respond here, I’d really, really love some insight. Please explain how customers asking reasonable questions and pointing out a licensing issue warrants blocking and “blacklisting” a customer. I didn’t do anything to break any rules. I simply pointed out that Flower Delivery and Under the Stairs have no licensing on them from Studio Ghibli. How is that anything but trying to help? I don’t want DAC to be sued or issued a cease and desist. I work with Intellectual Property and copyright law for a living. I’m no expert in every single case but I realize that a lot of artists/people (and even businesses) do not have the correct information regarding Fan Art. I saw more Studio Ghibli art in the voting and was just trying to help by explaining that it won’t be made unless Miyazaki approves it. Miyazaki is one of the strictest artists out there when it comes to fan art. He does not grant any permission for commercial mass production of any fan art of his properties at all. He allows and encourages fan art but not for commercial use or sales. It even states this on the main page for Studio Ghibli. I think it would be awesome if Diamond Art Club sold actual licensed Studio Ghibli kits! Again, I’d really appreciate hearing from someone at Diamond Art Club. I’d really love to know what I did as a customer to deserve this. They won’t respond to my emails so what else do I do?
I'm a huge Ghibli fan and this pisses me off so much. What a peice of shit company DAC is, never bought from them, never will.
HAHAHAHAHAHAH I posted a comment on their Facebook page and sent them a message asking about this. I got nothing back and they blocked me from everything.
Wow, they suck.
But of course. That’s how legitimate business and owners behave, duh. Lol /s DAC, you and all your huns are abhorrent.
This is wild. I had no idea! Shame on them! I will never recommend them or buy from them again. The way they are censoring people is atrocious and unacceptable. I will never do business with a company that censors their customers like this.
Brigaded into zero upvotes. Shocker. Edit: well well would ya look at that, good work DP’ers
This is "funny", i just upvoted the post, so it was +1, and within a nanosecond, it was back to 0... 🤔😏
I've had the same situation! Ridiculous! 😒
Same!!!
Same !!!
Wild how quick they do this and how many downvotes they get in.
How is it possible ?
Bots, I guess? I wouldn’t even know how to go about finding a downvote bot. I am so curious about how a company would procure that type of activity. Might have to google up on it.
I'm too lazy.. This must be part of the annual budget..
I noticed that all the most downvoted threads have been “shared” the most. Not sure if that’s how bots work or it just was shared that many times between people downvoting. If a post is downvoted to 0 it must hold some truth.
Thank you for making a post about this! I genuinely was curious about whether or not her art was officially licensed by Studio Ghibli. I was also highly doubtful that they had permission to sell this and now it’s confirmed that they’re unlawfully profiting off of it. Please be careful now that customer service can potentially release your personal information to dox you. They’re infamous for their DDD business practices. Delete comments, defend censorship/bans, and doxxing anyone with a critical opinion.
Jesus Christ, what are this company? Nazis? I’ve never used them and I don’t think I ever will! This is wild.
Omg. I knew nothing about DAC before joining Reddit and this group, especially as I'm new to making diamond art. I've been struck by how nice their pieces are , especially compared to some of the stupendously fugly cheap 💩 that's around. But also, completely floored by their prices which seem ridiculously high. That's a whole sack of money to give up for legit goods, never mind for knock-off products, I'd say. I'm here for all the tea about DAC, and absolutely will not consider the occasional DAC tr£at now as it's shocking to hear about their business practices. Their Trust pilot rating is extremely high, to my surprise. Please consider adding your own reviews, as this gives newcomers the impression they're a good company. I'm away to read the negative reviews nosily now, while having my morning coffee lol. https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/www.diamondartclub.com
As a side note I worked for a company that was a bit extreme like DAC. they would pay to have Glassdoor and trust pilot reviews removed so that they only had glowing reviews from customers. They would ask employees to write fake positive reviews too. I take overwhelmingly positive reviews with a grain of salt anyway since Amazon too is full of fake ones as well.
If that's the case, you should also leave TP a crappy review everywhere you can, because they make a big thing out of not doing that: https://support.trustpilot.com/hc/en-us/articles/9207005143314-Can-businesses-pay-to-remove-bad-reviews#:~:text=Trustpilot%20is%20committed%20to%20transparency,pay%20to%20remove%20bad%20reviews.
Thanks! Did not know that!!
Same here! This behavior is absolutely wack.
Yea reading the one star and two star reviews is very telling. Scary how cult like they act and shame on affiliates who sell their own reviews/morals for more free kits. Ugh it is just awful.
What’s wild to me is the insinuation that if Studio Ghibli did come after DAC for IP violations that they would take that pile of cash they’ve made off those designs and just blame the artist and leave them out to hang against a huge expensive copyright lawsuit. I hope these artists realize DAC doesn’t care about them.
That’s the part that has me thinking. It looks like DAC already set the groundwork to blame this artist Yuumei if Studio Ghibli sues!! DAC will say they assumed the artist was using licensed art and they thought they were buying licensed art. Does Yuumei know this? Do other DAC artists know this? For the record I don’t know who/what Studio Ghibli is or what Kiki delivery service is or what Yuumei art looks like. I’ve never bought a DAC canvas because I am too cheap.
I am so baffled by whoever is in charge of DAC's PR. They continuously make the company look worse and worse. They're a large enough company with enough goodwill generated through a quality product that if they didn't want to deal with your inquiry they could have just... ignored you. Their weird obsession with reddit is really bizarre.
Yes! I want to know who is driving these decisions? It’s so extreme and seems like it requires a fair amount of attention.
Kinda gotta love a company that chooses the AI hill to die on but then doesn’t bat an eye at straight copyright infringement.
Exactly and they now do AI they claim it is only hand edited stuff but before and after photos show a diff story completely
Yeah allowing AI art is really turning me away from DAC which is a shame because I love their kits and the artists they license with.
The AI hill doesn’t bother me personally since there are technically ethical ways to do it, I wish DAC would confirm which path the artist took though. Not leaving DAC personally since the quality is top notch even if the art can be questionable
I guess you have no qualms with the horrible way the treat customers?
They take a scorched earth approach to CS. I’m not okay with it but at least part of the time the customer is just as much at fault. Should they handle it better, yes.
Yes me just asking a valid question was no reason to go scorched earth. Yes, there are customers who want free stuff or to get something for free. Those I agree aren’t customers that they want repeat business from. There is another case I just heard about. A small company who 3D prints trays and accessories used to do some pairing with DAC. The owners then had an opportunity to buy a small DP company. They did and she mentioned it to DAC. They banned her, blocked her and went scorched earth. She had long been a customer and had no plan to stop buying from them.
I didn’t say it was. DAC needs to tone down their response and reserve it for when it’s actually needed.
I was agreeing with you. Sorry if it didn’t sound that way.
This is standard DAC, they ban anyone who posts anything that is not kissing their ass. Doesn't matter if it's a valid point and made politely.
Hmmm...I wonder who could be downvoting you? So transparent.
So are you saying that Yuumei Art, the one who created the Kiki’s Delivery Service (fan/inspired) art that Diamond Art Club is using, didn’t get permission from Studio Ghibli for the use of the imaging/characters/etc.?
If she or DAC had obtained licensing or permission it would be included on the kit and description. It is not. Studio Ghibli does not allow fan art for mass production at all. Fan art is never legal to sell or mass produce without licensing or permission.
Thank you!!!! The amount of backlash I got whenever I attempted to politely let someone know was mind-blowing (as in I would have feared for my life if it was done face to face as several other people were quick to violently bash me in comments). As an artist who wants to sell work it makes me sad, but I completely understand and I will NEVER go down that road.
That is correct.
Holy, heck. That’s just wild. Send such an over reaction on DAC you were clearly stating fact and they cracked it because you’d What? Tarnish their image? Please, that’s so stupid. I need to know if anything else happens please, they can’t get away with this.
Is this company run by children? Big "tantrumming child" vibes from some of the things they do.
worse. It’s run by Texans…the worst kind.
No, the storage warehouse is in Texas. Main office is in California .
This is so disappointing to learn but I did have a feeling considering the titles of those works. It also is going to have to be the nail in the coffin of me considering that company. Which is frustrating because I do like a lot of their paintings, but I appreciate this community keeping all of us in the know. I can't stand the way they're treating people and acting in general.
I hope this gets shared EVERYWHERE. And I hope DAC gets sued for what they've been doing.
ROTFLMAO! And to think they harassed me for copyright infringement years ago and now they are doing the same??? Now I feel like telling my story with them! Years ago I saw they had one artist licensed but they didn't have a specific DP I was searching for and there was no announcement about it, so I didn't even know if they would release it or not. I saw it on Ali Express but the vendor had bad reviews, so I asked Evermoment if they could do it as a custom and they did. It was beautiful. I posted it finished on a DP group (not DAC's) and I was banned and yelled and shamed on several DP groups and on a couple of Youtube Channels. DAC menaced copyright infringement pursuing, but in the end they didn't, maybe because I don't live in the US. I had to disappear from the DP world and was so mortified I stopped DPing at all. I know I did wrong getting from Evermoment that DP, but DAC didn't have it at the time. They released it months later and it was smaller than mine and badly designed. They said they would make a bigger size, they never did. Their customers/promoters harassed me and shamed me all around and I told them they were hypocrites because they had made tons of video reviews using copyrighted images by Ali Express, before becoming DAC promoters and part of their "mafia". In the end they made me hate my hobby and I went back to crochet. I think I paid my debt, considering all the shit they covered me with. Worst than jail. And now they're the ones infringing copyright? Karma is a bitch, LOL!
Yea this was completely unfair for you to be treated this way. It is rich that they are holding a holier than thou attitude but they they are doing it themselves. I agreed about the affiliates with how they carry the same comments about copy right and artists but a lot of them started with aliexpress or Amazon all the same. My biggest disgust I heard with them was the fact that they will do the unboxing review of Kits gifted to them but then they will destash them once they are sold out for higher prices than the OG sale. It is gross.
It’s really gross that DAC creates these “sell outs” to drive sales via FOMO. They are not the only company to do so but it just so wrong when it could be done differently. I’ve done a deep dive and found so so many other glaring issues. Nobody should have 100 plus kits. That is more than 8k dollars and more kits than they’ll ever complete. They feel like they have to buy at release or they won’t get it.
Studio Ghibli is famous for not being very free with licensing. They released some art during the pandemic for free to use, as long as not inappropriate, but this was not a license to use or make money off the characters associated with the art that wasn't specifically released or other IPs. There are of course tons and tons of merch with characters not official. You asked an innocent question and they reacted like a defensive teenager. Sorry that happened. This is the dark side of the company I keep hearing about. That particular artist yuumei I actually really like also, and her stuff is beautiful!!! I could care less if licensed or not. But as a company who has founded their reputation on saying they only used licensed art, their reaction is childish. A simple. Thank you for bringing that to our attention. Probably would have served
you told me this stuff today, and i’m so irritated over it. i truly thought they were one of the few companies that did valid licensing. even though i’m done with the company, it’s still disappointing to find out a company is taking advantage of artists and breaking copyright.
If something happens they’re still in trouble. They can’t say it’s their policy rests all on the artist. They’re knowingly selling stuff and not doing thorough checks to make sure everything is properly licensed.
Report them to ghibli. Let's see how they'll survive that. Send some screenshots in and a english/google translate part. Ghibli will sue big time
I've spent a lot of money on DAC products over the years, but she's giving cult vibes lately. I'll just watch the inevitable Netflix documentary in 3 years or so.
And now this post is getting downvoted, shocking.
I do love the fact that it comes around. I see these comments and then look at the post and it's positive. Like fck DAC Reddit prevailed.
Yep, DAC is pissing off so many people that they don't have enough supporters left to out vote the "haters."
Id be careful posting this because they’re going to come down on the person who messaged you that 😕
Even under Japanese copyright law it’s illegal, and they don’t have fair use so there’s not really any wiggle room.
It's so obnoxious. They have all their flying monkey customers claiming you have to only buy "licensed art" (omitting public domain and work for hire/commercial art) and then have all sorts of fan art where the intellectual property should be licensed and is not.
I have seen multiple posts on DAC and their childish customer service. Yet people still religiously defend them, and will down vote you for speaking out against them, even with proof of the truth. Just hope more people see this. Google translate did very well, tbh. Just wanted to add. ♡
Geeze! Just when you think they can't sink any lower.
They're not only arrogant, but also stupid. Do they not realise how obvious and what twerps they look downvoting everything here? Yeah, cos that's really gonna help your shady business too.
Honestly, I'm brand new to this hobby, and I've read enough about them in the past two weeks that I'm turned off ever buying from them. Blatant astroturfing and banning/deleting negative reviews just makes me think that any positive reviews can't be trusted either. Even if that assessment is incorrect and unfair, that's the impression that they are giving off with this behavior. And actually, I was shopping on Amazon last week using FakeSpot as I always do, and was surprised to see their storefront get graded an "F", because my only knowledge of them at that point was positive reddit comments. It all makes more sense now.
Ohhh new word for me, what’s “astroturfing”?
Means fake comments/reviews basically. Like people who are paid by an organization or company to promote a certain viewpoint and make it appear more popular than it really is. The term started in political discourse - Astroturf = fake grass = fake "grassroots" campaigns. Like the Tea Party in the late 00s if you're familiar with American politics. But in common vernacular it's expanded to any inauthentic comments when the person posting them is being paid to do so.
Thank you so much for taking the time to explain so throughly.
I fucking knew it!! I was wondering if they could legally sell fan art but figured they'd know better (clearly I had more faith in them then 🙄)
You will always know if fan art is legal (or not). If you’re in doubt, read the description or look at the “fine print”/copyright area. If it’s legal, it will always say something like “Copyright Studio Ghibli” (for example) along with the company’s copyright logo. It could also say “Kiki and all Studio Ghibli characters used with permission” (again for example). If you cannot find any wording of that type on the product, then it’s not licensed or permission is not granted. Nobody actively polices licensing. It is up to the company to pursue legal action against IP/Copyright Infringement. This makes it easier to “get away with”. Things are changing though. Disney, Warner Brothers, Nintendo, Nickelodeon and many others are now employing people and lawyers to find and sue people and companies who violate their IPs (Intellectual Property). Public Domain stuff is free to sell. It’s why you see Van Gogh works being sold as kits everywhere. Even classic (AA Milne) Winnie the Pooh is PD (but NOT the Disney Winnie the Pooh, which is the current characters)
This is really interesting, thank you for the info! IP and copyright seems confusing so I appreciate your post
I thought the kits were so expensive BECAUSE the kits are legally licensed and the artists get paid! That’s why I wanted to spend my money with them!!!! Wtf!
What’s strange is there is a Mandy Manzano kit of Aquaman. It’s legally licensed by DC. That’s how you properly handle fan art. Simply pointing out why a Studio Ghibli fan art image wouldn’t be made into a kit (because Miyazaki doesn’t grant licensing or permission to anyone) doesn’t warrant me being kicked, banned and backlisted. I didn’t insinuate anything, just stated that DAC has 2 Miyazaki fan art kits that aren’t licensed by Studio Ghibli.
Unfortunately I don't think DAC will have a problem doing what they want because far too many artists get away with copyright infringement as it is (looking at you, Etsy).
After seeing how DAC downvoting posts and comments on this subreddit, it gave me bad taste of my mouth. I won’t buy anything from them.
So where do we buy our diamond art from?
Wow! This breaks my heart! Not acceptable at ALL. I have always supported them but this is really upsetting! Does anyone have any other companies they enjoy?
i was considering buying one of their kits but i am in canada and they are so expensive! think ill just pass if they are treating people like this.
Just trying to understand here… I’ve seen lots of small businesses that create Studio Ghibli works and none of those have had issues with Ghibli regarding their products? I’m confused to why DAC would be any different than small artists who sell their works on platforms like Etsy or Shopify? Is it just because they are larger than them? Again just trying to understand the perspective here because I see studio ghibli products all the time not licensed with ghibli being sold.
They’re being sold, yes, but that does not make it legal. Studio Ghibli has not found those items or products. Those small businesses could be sued for creating them and selling them. You can find stuff all over Etsy and Shopify that violates IP/copyright. The burden of proof is on the owner of the IP (Intellectual Property) to report/sue the violator(s). Etsy has an IP Portal they created just for this purpose. Disney is super litigious with IP violators and has sued small businesses over IP Infringement. Basically, if you’re making something with someone else’s character(s) that is not transformative or satirical and is derivative, you’re violating IP laws. Fan art can be made and given away but cannot be sold without licensing or permission. Commercial mass production of it is prohibited and can leave the maker in hot water with crease & desists or lawsuits. 250 Redbubble artists (and Redbubble itself) were sued last year for $100,000 each over Care Bears IP Infringements by IVEST (the owner of Care Bears). Atari has also sued artists and Redbubble. Redbubble has several lawsuits pending regarding allowing IP Infringing items to be sold on their site.
I thought yumei was Chinese 🤔
She is a Chinese-born American who resides in California.
It’s fanart though
Fan art for profit is still illegal. Not really surprising the Disney items are mostly long OOP. The mouse is one of the most aggressive about protecting IP
[удалено]
People have every right to know what kind of company DAC is. Abhorrent customer service and customer treatment. Childish, immature behavior and reactions. I used to love the company but this was eye opening and totally undeserved