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Dear CP Team,
dear authors,

First things first: Every day, I’m grateful for visits to my shop and sales—even when the numbers are small—and I often leave comments on other authors’ patterns that I find so delightful. I also quietly hope that my comments contribute just a tiny, tiny bit to customers taking them into account when making their purchasing decisions. I wish you all the best of success, of course.

However, something that has been noticeable to me and others for weeks is that on the homepage—just now again—no fewer than 7 patterns by a single author are appearing, plus one more pattern in the homepage’s featured window.

  Honestly: Many authors, especially new ones, are thinking about how they can increase their sales and promote their patterns (not everyone is on Facebook or has an online shop, website, etc.)—in other words, they design pretty things, craft them by hand, take photos, and so on. Yet, despite great photos and sales of over 6, their patterns don’t appear on the homepage—and if they do, it’s very, very rare. They simply slip further and further down the list in the “New Arrivals” section. Well, we all have to go through this. But it doesn’t have to be this way.

That’s why I think—also in terms of equal opportunity, even though it’s certainly very difficult to maintain a balanced homepage with thousands of patterns—that it seems “necessary” to consider some fundamental adjustments here (rotating listings every x minutes?).

After all, when a pattern appears on the homepage and customers click on it because they like it, they’ll see the other items anyway as they scroll down and can continue browsing.

Since only a limited number of patterns appear on the homepage, I’m slowly getting the impression that one author is simply being given preferential treatment here, which I find very disheartening.

By the way, more and more authors are following suit with selling prices of €1.04 or €0.99 for clothing, which is concerning—even if pricing is ultimately up to the author (there was once a thread on selling prices). Still, I wish these authors every success as well.
It’s a shame I didn’t receive a response to my comment in that thread.

It would be nice if you could share your thoughts with me.
Even though my sales figures give me absolutely no reason to “complain,” I’m also writing this post on behalf of the “smaller” authors who’ve contacted me privately, unaware of CP’s policies.

Thank you very much, have a wonderful evening, and continued success, Ines
P.S. I’m now designing a model with a selling price of €10.00 (just kidding—or am I?)

Hi Ines,

I’ve only been here since last week and don’t really know my way around this platform yet. I also don’t know if the designers featured on the homepage pay advertising fees to be placed there.

I can’t comment on the prices of the patterns, since I’m not familiar with the specific ones in question, and each author has to decide that for themselves. However, I don’t let low prices deter me. Everyone who has worked from my patterns so far knows how much love and time went into them and really appreciates my work.

It’s become a tough battle everywhere on the internet, so you simply have to use various channels to keep getting noticed.

Best regards, Evi

Hi Ines and all the other wonderful designers—

of course, it hasn’t escaped my notice that there’s a designer who’s been constantly featured for quite some time now and is also heavily promoted on Facebook and in the newsletters. Sure, that’s based on sales figures. I get that, too.

But let’s be honest—is that sustainable in the long run? I mean, the homepage does represent CP in a way. And everything seems to be trending downward in price based on what’s on the homepage.

I also have several patterns that have now sold more than 6 copies. But it probably took CP too long to feature them, so these patterns no longer counted as “the best of the new”—too bad. Some of the patterns weren’t even 14 days old. To me, that’s still pretty new. Or am I seeing this wrong? Well, it’s probably also down to the CR, right?

There are also patterns that have already sold about 20 times, but unfortunately the CR is just under 3.00%. Not worth promoting either.
But I did my part through Facebook and discount promotions, which helped it sell quite well in the first place. Of course, that means the CR isn’t that high. Not all my fans are just obsessed with crocheting......

But oh well, we’ll just have to get through it.
I’m going to start offering “small” and “cheaper” patterns every now and then so customers will land on my page more quickly. You’ve got to find a way to move forward somehow.
But what if everyone starts doing this and offering lower prices???? Oh dear, oh dear....

Still, I’m not giving up, and I’m proud of what I’ve achieved so far. It’s more than I ever expected. My ambition is greater than ever.

I wish all designers continued success.

Dear all,
thank you so much for your replies.

You know, Dori, that you’re one of my favorites, so I’m all the more glad that you can relate to what I mean.
Keep being so creative and brave—it’ll even out eventually.
Thank you so much, and fingers crossed.
Good night, Ines

Hi Ines, dear CP Team,
I agree with your opinion too, Ines — I also think “rotation” would be a very good idea. After all, there really are many great designs that equally deserve to be promoted, and they absolutely justify the current price level. A diverse range of authors on the homepage also gives prospective customers a broader selection of different styles.

CP: We also shouldn’t underestimate how motivating it is for a (new) author when their pattern appears in “The Best of the New” — that really spurs you on!
Perhaps a limit could be introduced in “The Best of the New” of max. 2 items per author? That way, more authors could be promoted there.

I also think it would be beneficial if new releases didn’t slip down so quickly. This could be achieved, for example, through a clearer division into the usual main categories, as a small side effect. I started a thread about this.

Im Übrigen:
I think CP is fortunate to have many truly excellent authors working to a consistently high standard. Let’s not allow this portal to turn into a “discount store” just because one low-price author is being promoted disproportionately. If we stay true to our pricing, then exceptions will remain exceptions — including our own lower-priced offers ;-)

With that in mind, I wish you a wonderful and creative Easter season.

...could it be that someone on the CP team has a crush on the model in that pretty photo whose patterns are being promoted so heavily there...? (grin)...
Well then, good night...

I also find the trend of “dumping” patterns concerning. By now, there are two authors who are offering their patterns as if they were at a discount store. And then, based on their understandably high sales figures, they end up right at the top. I just don’t think it’s right for CP to go along with this and promote these people even more, giving them front-page spots in droves. The whole system needs to be rethought. In general, I’ve heard from several sources that the quality of one author’s patterns (I don’t know about the other) isn’t good. This will also have an impact on CP in the long run. If I ever fall for that, I’ll switch to another platform. I believe that customers are more than willing to pay the appropriate price if they receive high-quality patterns in return. I won’t be following this trend, and I hope other authors won’t either. If this trend continues, there’ll be no point in designing patterns anymore—once you deduct taxes, Chamber of Crafts fees, accounting costs, commissions, the cost of materials, and so on, there’s absolutely nothing left. If there are people who are happy to work for free, that’s perfectly legitimate, of course. However, I’m not going to spend my free time on that—I’d rather spend my free time doing nothing than spend hours creating patterns for free. And eventually, other authors might also withdraw from the pattern market. We should really question this development. Do we want fewer designers on the market? And, as a result, fewer patterns? I don’t know.

You’ve already said it all, and I agree with you on every point. I won’t join the “price-dumping trend,” unless I run a discount promotion that lasts a week or two. But everyone does that from time to time, and that’s totally fine. In the long run, I’ll keep the price of my patterns as it is, because I’m convinced that quality has its price and that, in the long term, people will pay it.
(Just think about it—a pack of cigarettes is more expensive than most of our patterns!!)
I took a look at the patterns from sellers in the “low-price sector” and I agree—the quality is absolutely unsatisfactory. I would definitely not buy another pattern there.

Furthermore, I agree with you regarding the front page. I’d also like to see more variety there.

As for the CR—almost all of my patterns have a CR above 3, yet I can’t find myself on the front page or in newsletters, no matter how hard I look. Of course, it’s difficult to always keep everyone in mind—we have a lot of authors here, and they all have the right to promotion. Still, I feel like I’m always seeing the same patterns in the newsletters.

This isn’t meant as grumbling or a reproach, but rather as an attempt at constructive criticism. We all want to make money here with our patterns—and CP ultimately lives from that too. So we should all pull together.

Dear Authors,

This situation is temporary. We have a new author who uploaded all her patterns within a short period of time. Because the product images are well designed and the price is quite low, the patterns became very popular in a short time. In 1–2 weeks, these patterns will be displaced from the homepage by new patterns with similar characteristics.

We do not influence what appears on the homepage. The process for automatically selecting the “Best of the New” patterns has not changed.

Viewed over a longer period, the homepage offers a lot of variety and is very likely to actually show “the best of the new.” Best regards
Alexander

Dear all, you are amazing!!!!
Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your replies and valuable thoughts.
Traudelina, you are a riot! Taking this with such humor (having a crush!), I think that's wonderful.

Even though my main point was not the selling prices, here is an excerpt from my comment on the thread "Selling prices":

"Since I have a deep trust in life, in my creativity, my passion, in my patience and love when designing new models and creating my patterns, and in the taste and fine instincts of the customers, nothing and no one will steer me away from my
path. Even in the most unlikely case that designers gradually lower their prices, I will stick with my pricing, and I think the CP team supports each and every one of us designers through its truly great marketing and advertising. It all balances out
one way or another. I am simply so grateful to be a small part of this wonderful platform and all the creative designers."

Dear Alexander,
even though you have already helped me a lot and I really, really appreciate your/your (CP team) efforts and commitment, your explanation above sounds to me—please forgive me for saying this—like a bit of a "defensive claim."
It should be possible to program the selection process so that the current selection of patterns on the homepage does not remain the norm.

Because following your logic, in an extreme case it would mean that if the designer uploads 100 patterns in quick succession, the homepage would then be completely "filled" with patterns from that designer.

I absolutely do not want to diminish my appreciation for the CP team (see the excerpt from my comment above).

On the other hand, I don't think it is very "fortunate" to include free patterns in "Best of New." After all, besides the showcase window on the homepage, there is the bar with the free patterns, and customers are constantly clicking the Free Patterns link anyway.

Whatever the case, many thanks to all the designers for your effort and, above all, for staying true to yourselves,
that simply makes me feel at home.

All my best wishes, have a wonderful Easter week and Happy Easter. Ines