Free vs Paid Patterns

,
1

Hey all! I need honest opinions from crocheters who purchase patterns on Ribblr or third party apps like Etsy.

Do you buy patterns from other creators, or do you only search for free patterns? If you buy them, what is your price range?

I love to create crochet patterns and write them down. I want fellow creators to enjoy making something I’ve designed. After being on this app for a couple years I haven’t made any sales. I don’t know if the designs I make are too niche or prices too high.

It would be nice to get some compensation for the hard work I put in to designing amigurumi, but I don’t know if I’m charging too much? Or if no one even buys patterns anymore because of the skill levels increasing or just the abundance of resources out there.

Any insight from other creators would be appreciated! Thank you!

16 Likes
2

I do both. If I’m looking for a… say a bumblebee amigurumi. I’ll look for a free version because the basic pattern tends to be about the same. But in my search, I will always come across a unique and creative version. So do I buy it? Depends. Im a big time collector of a couple different things. Bumblebees happen to be one. Alot depends on my emotions in the moment what’s going on offline that I need to deal with, my bank account , how badly do I really want this, how many this month already? Blush.

So there’s that. But that’s my collector mentality.
I made an semi impulse buy today of oversized sweater/coat pattern. It ticked every box. I can justify the $9.00 pattern. I have all the materials, product will get alot if personal use… Etc

Then lastly, the lovely favorites button. I have all sorts of rules about how I use it, but to your question… I fell in love with a cute character purse, month’s ago. I didn’t buy it then but I hearted it. It’s still on my wishlist and while I’m not actively looking to buy it, I’m not ready to give up on it yet either.
If that makes sense. I’ll most likely end up buying it with a mix guilt and excitement. Shopping mentality. Whoop. Crazy

Sorry this was a big reply. I hope it helped some. I totally understand the research you’re doing. I’m a pencil and ink artist. I’ve been in your shoes. It took me a really long time bc I hate doing the sales myself. You’re doing it right!

Best of luck! Hit me up sometime. I would love to chat.

Smiles
Laurey

4 Likes
3

Your pricing on Ribblr seems decent! A lot of Ribblrs are young and can’t purchase patterns.

Your shop has licensed characters and as a creator and occasional pattern purchaser, I tend to stay away from the licensed characters as it can get you into legal trouble.

You can definitely try to get more sales by putting yourself out there (if you have social media, post often), being active in the community, and just sharing your work!

When I purchase patterns, I’m looking for patterns that are worth the price - am I going to make it often, what does the final product look like, etc.

I’ve been eyeing a pattern for months and it looks detailed and pretty, but I don’t have and can’t justify spending $12usd on 1 pattern I would probably only make once (a licensed character mashup).

3 Likes
4

I’m not allowed to buy patterns so I always look for free ones!

4 Likes
5

I can tell you I will not spend more than $7 on a pattern. I’ll freehand it if I really wanted something that I can’t find cheap or free. Right now I’m looking for specific flower patterns for a door curtain I’m making but cannot find any outside of 3D granny squares.

3 Likes
6

I’m having the same problem. I moved a couple of my patterns to free cause I only had 1 sale and I feel like it’s a waste if my stuff just doesn’t get made. But at the same time, I know some of these things took a while to create so I feel like I’ll be doing a disservice to myself if I give them all for free.

I opened a shop on ravelry too but still no sales there either. I feel like there’s just too many free patterns out there that most people don’t want to pay. Or as others have said, they can’t because they’re not allowed to by their parents.

4 Likes
7

I should add that I haven’t bought many patterns myself unless they really called to me, but that’s because I don’t sell my makes and they’re all gifts so unless someone is paying me to make something, I’ve gotta really want it to justify the price.

2 Likes
8

That makes sense, thank you for your insight!

9

I can only buy free patterns as of now. If I was buying paid patterns I would most likely not buy any $10+ patterns except if they are really good/large.

2 Likes
10

I checked out your shop and a lot of your designs are cute! They’re definitely priced fairly. A lot of people prefer free patterns because, duh, free, but also, Ribblr is basically social media for 14 year old teen crafters. Literally. I can’t count how many 14 year olds I’ve seen on here, but the point is, they probably don’t have money of their own to buy patterns and have to ask their parents for money. Yes, I’d love to buy patterns, but I’m a little short. Once I get more funds, yes, I’m definitely buying patterns.

A mistake I see a lot of people make is that they try to sell a basic pattern and expect people to hop when it’s not really that unique. Another user commented on bumblebees. They’re really popular and a lot of people have made patterns for them. Since there are a lot of bee patterns out there, and anyone can make a bee since it is so simple, a paid pattern isn’t going to do well when there are hundreds of free bee patterns. If you’ve checked out my shop, you will find a bee pattern for 2 dollars. Why? Although a bee is simple, it DOES take time and effort to create the pattern for it, and I want to be paid for my time and effort. Do I expect to get any sales? No. I put it out there because I want to share my patterns with the world and because I’m proud of my pattern.

Now, if you have a unique pattern, like my tank top, or one of your lil monsters, 100% sell it. Something like that takes a whole lot of effort, brainstorming, time, and frogging. And there is not another pattern like it out there, so it’s special. Those monsters? Maybe not super popular on Ribblr, put trust me, there are people who would go crazy over a pattern like that and make 300. For every product, there is a niche. Another bit of advice: Don’t sell yourself short and put a lot of time and effort into a pattern only to sell it for free. YOU put your guts into that and YOU deserve recognition for it. Going back to my bee pattern, could I have made it free? Yes! But I asked myself, would I rather have 20 people get my pattern for free and cut myself short or have one person buy it and feel proud? And this isn’t about money, it’s about not cutting yourself short to “go with the flow.” So, no your patterns are not too niche, you might just be targeting the wrong audience. Try teaching teenage boys who play video games how to crochet and then presenting them with one of your patterns. Keep doing what you’re doing!
(Also, sorry for this long post. I grew up surrounded by email copyrighters who turned me into a business shark, and I hate to see people doubting their patterns.)

4 Likes
11

I ONLY get free patterns.

2 Likes
13

I do both. I have bought many patterns from different places. I think $5 is about average on what I spend. The problem I have found is that patterns are niche. Depends on who is looking for what at any given moment. I have considered setting up an Etsy store because more people go-to Etsy looking for craft patterns amigurumi items than on Ribblr. Ribblr just isn’t that well known. In fact I found it by accident from a Google search for a specific pattern.

1 Like
14

I mean for now I have found some rlly cute patterns but I don’t use stripe I kinda wish there was another payment method but the max I would spend on a pattern would prob be $6 unless it’s a bundle or smth rlly big

15

I will say, I had a couple of your patterns on my wishlist to buy when we have expendable patterns. For a small/moderately sized amigurumi, I wouldn’t pay more than 3. Anything the size of a regular teddy bear I wouldn’t buy for more than $6 because i know I’m making it once, maybe twice. I work at a card shop, so I’m biased in saying your shop isn’t that niche to me considering how much people sink into the things associated with your patterns.
Like others said, I’m always going with free before paid, unless it’s something I haven’t seen elsewhere or seems like it would take longer than a week to complete or create. If it takes me a while to follow a pattern, i can only imagine how long it took to write it!
All in all, I think your patterns were a good price, might perform better on other sites as well? But you deserve to get paid for them

16

i don’t buy patterns cuz it is kinda expensive for me because i live in brazil and 1 usd is worth around 6 brl, so a 5 usd pattern cost around 30 brl which makes it hard for me to get them, but i do want to cuz i know that making a pattern is hard and time consuming and i want to be able to buy patterns, making so the creator can keep working in more patterns

that said, I’ve seen a large ammount of teenagers here, the app is kinda buggy and discovering new patterns is kinda hard outside searching, which you need to know what you want before, making it hard to really discover new designers if you are not actively searching, so i guess most people just don’t have money to buy a lot of patterns or just don’t find them.

but please don’t get discouraged. keep going, you may be selling low ammounts, but i bet you are making prople happy with the patterns.

now, about prices, I’ve seen some patterns go from 1 to 15 usd depending on the complexity. i personally wouldn’t charge more than that (when/if i manage to design something) cuz as a brazilian i know that conversion rates can be bad for people, but i also want my patterns to be accessible, but still give me some extra money to “pay” for my effort and help me with bills or just something extra for myself, not really a job, but i know people can and would take it as a full time job and that’s valid. everyone should charge as much as they think their work is worth, i would never judge someone for asking for a high price, it’s their work, their art, and they should get as much as they think it’s worth.

i will now check your work and edit this with my opinion on your pattern

your work is pretty good. the patterns are not expensive, and they are super cute. i love the pumpkin, the eeve and the ddlc girls. the pumpkin is probably the cutest pumpkin I’ve seen. i would love to see what you come up with next.

also i haven’t seen a lot of people using needle felting in their patterns, so you get bonus points :)