Redbubble is a respectful, supportive, and encouraging community that is deeply passionate about art and creativity. We welcome artists of all experience levels and walks of life. Redbubble asks that you do not seek or engage with the content you don’t agree with (no need for troublemaking). And if you see behavior or content that goes against our guidelines, please flag it through one of the reporting functions on our site. Above all, we urge you to make the most of your time here by offering support to artists. Contribute positively to the community, and you’ll find that Redbubble can be a fun and rewarding place. (Yay.)
Note: for additional guidance, please visit our separate Coronavirus/COVID-19 Content and Mask Guidelines pages.
- The Fine Print
- Age
- Mature Content
- Self-Promotion
- Adult Language
- Nudity/Pornography
- Designs Referencing Children or on Children’s Clothing
- Violence and Hatred
- Racism
- Use of Symbols
- Country-Specific Laws
- Defamation
- Vilification
- Harmful Misinformation
- Uninvited criticism
- Personal attacks
- Harassment
- Baiting
- Threatening Behavior
- Copyright and other forms of IP protection
- Upload Limits
- Use of Bots and Fake Accounts
- Account deletion for policy violations
- Indigenous Cultural Intellectual Property (ICIP)
The following paragraphs summarize Redbubble’s approach to behavior and content. These guidelines have been made public in the spirit of open communication but it should be noted that they are adaptable and will evolve over time. Depending on the severity, a breach of Redbubble’s guidelines can result in a formal warning, account suspension, or account closure. Redbubble has internal policies and procedures in place to ensure these guidelines are applied in a consistent and fair manner. In applying these guidelines, Redbubble reserves the right to remove a work or close an account at our sole discretion.
Members must be 18 years or older. This is a legal requirement as people under the age of 18 are not able to enter into a legal contract with Redbubble.
Mature Content refers to works containing content that may be considered not suitable for viewing by some audiences, such as nudity, blood, guns, alcohol, drugs, violence, adult language, and other similar themes.
Artists should indicate that their work is Mature Content as a part of the upload process, however, this can also be done at any time using the Edit Work function.
Marking your work as Mature Content ensures that it will only be seen by viewers who choose to include this content while browsing Redbubble, and it will not be indexed off-site. Failure to comply with this guideline may result in account restriction or closure.
Members can self-promote in their parts of the site (i.e. journal, profile), but should refrain from uninvited self-promotion outside of these areas. For example, members should not self-promote in the comments under another member’s work. Artists can promote products and services they provide in their journals or profile but need to be clear and transparent about the details – in particular, the financial details.
Malicious or hurtful swearing at another member is not permitted (it is considered a personal attack). Swearing and adult language in a more general context is acceptable. Works containing adult language should be marked as Mature Content.
The following material is not permissible on Redbubble:
- Sexual material: Explicit and gratuitous foreplay. Displays of sexual intercourse showing genitalia in direct contact including, but not limited to, male-to-female, female-to-female, and male-to-male. Male or female masturbation where hands come into contact with genitalia in real or simulated masturbation/fondling. Semen and vaginal fluids. Urine when considered in a sexual context. “Sex toys” in use with genitalia or in a clear sexual context including but not limited to penis-rings, dildos, strap-ons, vibrators, etc. Manually spread vaginas or anuses (either sex) by hand or manipulated open by any other artificial means.
- Penises and vaginas: Any image that is deemed to be gratuitous - definition of gratuitous: "unnecessary or unwarranted". This will generally include close-up vagina images or images that show intimate details of a vagina, men with an erection that is clearly visible, or images where the penis is the focal subject.
- Nude or 'sexualized' children: Redbubble has a conservative approach to images of children. Children should be appropriately clothed. As a general rule, 'appropriately clothed' means no genitalia, no uncovered bottoms, and, for pubescent girls, no bare chests. We define a child as anyone under the age of 18. In images of babies or infants, some nudity is acceptable (for example, in the style of Anne Geddes' portrait photography) but we request that genitalia is covered.
- General titillation: Images constructed with the primary purpose of sexually exciting the viewer and where no attempt at an artistic statement has been made.
Designs Referencing Children or on Children’s Clothing
We take a conservative approach to designs that reference children or are made available on children’s clothing.
Designs that reference children or that are made available on children’s clothing should be free of undesirable associations or connotations (for example, sexually or violently suggestive content, demeaning, derogative material or political phrasing that could be interpreted as such). This includes using adult themed tag words on children's clothing or works that reference children.
Additionally, designs made available on children’s clothing should be suitable for children of all ages. Humorous slogans need to be tested against a broad range of views as they can cause unforeseen and unintended offense. Gender-specific slogans also need careful consideration.
Work that glorifies or trivializes violence or human suffering is not permitted. For example, graphic depictions of violence, works that trivialize violent acts, and work or behavior where the intent of the artist is to incite hatred or violence. This includes the promotion of organizations, groups or people who have a history of violence and/or an agenda of hate.
Works that deal with catastrophic events such as genocides or holocausts or other atrocities need to be sensitively handled. Works that have the potential to cause the victims serious distress may be removed.
Racist content or behavior and material designed to incite racism is not permitted. We define racism as either the hatred or intolerance of another race, or discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different race based on the belief that one's own race is superior, or a belief that all members of a racial group possess characteristics specific to that race, especially to distinguish it as being inferior.
Racist Terms: Works that use racist terms in a casual and/or derogatory way are not permitted. The decision to remove a work will depend on the context in which words are used, but as a rule of thumb, this excludes situations where legitimate discussion or commentary is taking place. For example, a written work where the artist uses a racial slur in the context of describing their personal experiences of racism would be allowed to remain, but a slogan t-shirt featuring the slur would not.
Symbols and icons carry strong messages e.g. the swastika, crosses, the Confederate Flag, Hitler, and the Koran. These symbols and their like can be used in a work, but only with considerable care. Works may be removed if:
- the intent is ambiguous or needlessly provocative
- the content appears deliberately designed to contravene anti-vilification, anti-racist, or hate guidelines
- the content does not comply with country-specific laws
Any work or behavior that can reasonably be considered defamatory is not permitted. As a general rule, works that are presented as an opinion or a criticism on a subject of public interest do not fall under this definition.
We define vilification as conduct or content that is intended to invoke serious contempt, revulsion, or severe ridicule of an individual or group of people because of race, religion, disability, gender identity, sexuality, or they are deemed to be a vulnerable person or group eg: refugees. This includes the promotion of organizations, groups or people whose views are inherently vilifying any of the above. As a general rule, works that are presented as an opinion or a criticism on a subject of public interest do not fall under this definition.
Harmful misinformation is not permitted. We define this as any misleading or false information that harms or significantly threatens public health and safety, or where the intent is to cause fear and suspicion about a topic that can cause real-world harm.
Criticism should only be provided on a work or journal where it has been specifically requested. For example, where the artist writes in the description “critique of this work is welcome” or “constructive criticism is welcome”. Criticism includes:
- negative comments about the quality of a work, and
- finding fault with the arguments or ideas expressed by a work
Redbubble provides a supportive and encouraging environment for artists of all skill levels and experience. If someone is unprepared for criticism or is self-conscious about their work, uninvited criticism can be upsetting and can have a negative impact.
A personal attack is where a member writes hurtful or insulting things about another member or makes personal remarks with the intention of hurting or upsetting them. Personal attacks can also include comments made about a group of members and names don’t have to be mentioned in order for behavior to be considered a personal attack. Most importantly, provocation is not a justification for a personal attack on another member.
If an exchange is becoming heated or if someone’s behavior isn’t appropriate we strongly advise taking a few deep breaths, reporting any instances where the behavior falls outside Redbubble’s guidelines, and then ceasing communication.
Redbubble staff does their very best to listen and address concerns but we ask that you treat staff as you treat each other. The staff welcomes suggestions, ideas, feedback, and constructive criticism but we ask that you share your thoughts in a mature, respectful, and considerate manner. Personal attacks on staff will be followed up in line with our Community Guidelines.
Depending on the severity, an isolated comment or Bubblemail can usually be dealt with as advised in our help article on resolving conflict online.
Harassing behavior includes: to disturb persistently, torment, humiliate, bother continually, pester or persecute. Names don’t have to be mentioned in order for behavior to be considered harassing. Harassment doesn’t have to be negative behavior; it also includes unwelcome behavior.
Harassment can include:
- Persistent communication after a request has been made to cease communication
- Persistent or continuing intimidation, bullying, or stalking behavior
- Continuing of offline disagreements or other negative personal issues
Depending on the severity, an isolated comment or Bubblemail can usually be dealt with as advised in our help article on resolving conflict online.
If you are being harassed, as a first step please politely ask the person not to contact you again. If the harassment continues, please report all harassing comments, Bubblemail, and other communication to Redbubble staff using the reporting links provided around the site.
Baiting is engaging in behavior or posting content to Redbubble that is abusively disparaging or intended to deliberately provoke an angry response or argument over a topic. Baiting behavior includes posting controversial or inflammatory messages, which provoke other members into angry and emotional responses.
Threatening behavior includes threatening the life, safety, or well-being of another member. Threatening behavior will result in immediate account closure.
Copyright and other forms of IP protection
Redbubble respects Copyright and Trademark laws and will remove any work found to infringe Copyright or Trademark protection. If you believe your copyright or other intellectual property rights are being infringed, you are able to make a formal complaint by using the processes described in our policy.
Redbubble was designed so you can showcase and sell your best work. With that in mind, you may upload up to 30 works per day to your Redbubble account. If you are operating multiple accounts, you must not upload more than 30 works per day across all of your accounts. If you create multiple accounts in order to exceed this daily limit, all of your accounts will be closed.
Users are prohibited from using bots, multiple accounts, or scrapers in a way that interferes with the functionality or integrity of the marketplace.
Account deletion for policy violations
If an account is found to be in violation of any of our content or account policies, including the User Agreement, Community & Content Guidelines, and IP/Publicity Rights Policy or is otherwise being used for purposes Redbubble was not designed for, it will be immediately and permanently disabled.
If the account is found to be linked to an existing account, the consequences for policy violations will be applied to all of the artist’s accounts.
Examples of policy violations that may warrant account deletion include but are not limited to the following:
- User uploads content that defames or vilifies a person, people, races, religion, or religious group and/or is obscene, pornographic, indecent, harassing, threatening, harmful, invasive of privacy or publicity rights, abusive, inflammatory, or otherwise objectionable
- User has repeatedly reuploaded content that was previously removed for violating our Community & Content guidelines
- An account is used primarily to harass or intimidate other artists or to cause conflict and bad feeling within the community or otherwise engage in unacceptable behavior as defined by our Community & Content Guidelines
- User does not own the rights to sell the products offered in their shop or does not otherwise have permission from the owner of those rights
- The products in the user’s shop infringe the intellectual property rights or other rights of any person or entity, including copyright, moral rights, trademark, patent, or rights of privacy or publicity
- User has reuploaded content that was previously removed in response to complaints from a rights holder or which otherwise infringes upon the intellectual property rights or other rights of another
- User uploads content using any bot, scraper, or other automated means for any purpose without our written permission.
New accounts found to be owned or operated by users of disabled accounts will be closed immediately.
Indigenous Cultural Intellectual Property (ICIP)
Redbubble respects the rights of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to their ICIP and acknowledges the importance of Indigenous art to the cultural identity of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
Redbubble recognises the deep harm and cultural offence arising from misuse and misappropriation of Australian Indigenous art and actively encourages its users to notify it about any potentially problematic use of ICIP occurring on the Redbubble platform.
Artists must ensure all Content is accurately labelled and tagged as part of the upload process. Content which is not created by an Australian Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander Artist should not be titled, tagged or described as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art. Content will be removed if they are found to be inaccurately titled, tagged or described as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art or is found to be inaccurately suggestive of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander origins.
Please refer to our Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Policy for more information.