I have an Etsy shop where I sell personalized 3d printed items for a niche community. Ive managed to make a good start and am hoping to move this into a full-time business. I have over a 1000 sales and hundreds of 5-star reviews.
I know my product would be very easy to replicate. After a year, I finally had it happen. I’m based in the US and the saving grace is they’re in the UK. Now, the larger market is in the US, but I sell plenty in the UK. He copied pretty much everything he could, down to slightly changing the description of the listing.
I’ve tried to differentiate a bit with my creativity, design and networking. I am trying to use this as motivation to innovate and drive, but I feel a creeping panic that I am trying to fight off.
Someone help me with a good pep talk and advice before I break down!
One thing I’ve learned over time is that if you make something cool, it’s going to get copied sooner or later. Even if you get a patent, companies from China will copy it exactly and constantly change the name as you blow through money filing for takedowns or sending cease and desist letters. I got to Toy Fair every year as a part of my job and any time there’s a new and innovative product, you can be certain there will be 5+ companies with the same product at the next year’s show.
It’s a hard truth to swallow, but it’s tough to outrun copycats. They’ll use the same product design, same copy, and oftentimes, even your same images photoshopped with their product into it.
The bright side is that you had the ability to pull an idea out of the air and turn it into reality and sold thousands of them. Not many people have the ability to do that. If you did it once, you can do it again. And each time you do it, you’ll get better and better at the process.
So, get out there and do it again!