Direct Creatives is a digital marketplace designed by and for small business owners, direct sellers, and solopreneurs. Currently, Direct Creatives supports the sale of digital products and one time digital services such as printables (self/team assessments, business tracking forms, etc), digital graphics (for personal and/or commercial use) and other downloadable, digital assets designed for personal or professional development and use.
A zip file is a common type of computer file where the contents of one of more files are compressed for storage or transmission. A zip file makes it easy to keep related files together and can be used for both file compression and encryption.
PDF, or Portable Document Format, is a file format that captures the elements of a printed document as an electronic image that you can view, navigate, or print. Commonly used for documents like manuals, eBooks, and application forms, they can contain text, images, embedded fonts, video, and more!
Store Owners on Direct Creatives have the ability to set their own terms and sales policies for their shop. For information pertaining to returns, credits or refunds, please visit the shop where you purchased your product. Any inquiries regarding returns, refunds, credits or exchanges need to be handled with the seller directly.
The settings on the website are currently limiting downloads from purchases to 3 downloads. However, if you have any trouble downloading your purchase and need another download for any reason, please email our team at support@directcreatives.com and we will get you taken care of.
If you have an issue with a seller and have been unable to settle the issue with the seller directly, you may formally submit a complaint to Direct Creatives by emailing support@directcreatives.com. Direct Creatives is unable to issue refunds for completed purchases as sale proceeds are delivered to the seller immediately upon completion of the transaction. However, if Direct Creatives receives repeated complaints against a seller and finds the complaints valid, corrective action may be taken against the seller including cancellation of their account and ability to sell on the platform. Direct Creatives reserves the right to refuse service to anyone.
Click keep scrolling to view our extensive FAQs on becoming a Direct Creatives Store Owner!
Direct Creatives is a digital marketplace designed by and for small business owners, direct sellers and solopreneurs. Currently, Direct Creatives supports the sale of digital products such as printables (self/team assessments, business tracking forms, etc), digital graphics (for personal and/or commercial use) and other downloadable, digital assets designed for personal or professional development and use. Direct Creatives also supports one time virtual services via our unique booking system.
When uploading products and services to Direct Creatives, you will be given the opportunity to choose between a virtual product and a downloadable product.
A downloadable product is one that is sold "as is." It does not require any customization and is delivered to the customer as soon as the sales transaction is complete.
Virtual products are any other non-shippable products that require customization. In situations where virtual products are for sale, the consumer will complete their purchase and provide the store owner with details of what they are requesting. The store owner will then complete the request and send the final downloadable project to the consumer with the requested customization.
To protect trademark and copyright laws and align with brand specific policies and procedures, Direct Creatives can not approve products to the platform with brand specific names or logos on them.
Not at this time. If we have enough interest in offering this service we can set it up to allow our premium store owners to set up and run digital subscriptions through their Direct Creatives store!
When you upload a new digital product to sell on Direct Creatives, you will also upload the full, digital file to be delivered to the purchaser upon payment. Delivery is instant and automatic once payment has been received. No need to worry about shipping fees, packaging or multiple trips to the Post Office!
At Direct Creatives, we use product approval to maintain a strong integrity across all of our product channels. This means that all products must be reviewed by an administrator before being approved to the Direct Creatives site. Doing this ensures all products are of the highest quality and that they do not violate any of our terms or conditions. We strive to approve products as quickly as possible. Product approval can take up to, but will not exceed, 72 hours.
Should any issues arise during product approval (downloadable file not attached, price not listed, etc) reasonable attempts will be made to contact the store owner via the primary e-mail address associated with their store.
Direct Creatives offers three membership levels to best meet your needs. The introductory membership, Basic, includes a Direct Creatives store as well as the opportunity to list up to ten ready to download products for $9 per month or $90 per year.
Our second tier membership, Plus, allows you to list up to 25 ready to download AND virtual (customizable) products for $15 per month or $149 per year.
The Pro membership, our top tier, gives you the option to list unlimited products- both ready to download and virtual (customizable). With this level, you will also be able to access our unique booking system to offer even more online services to your customer base. This package, available for $29 per month or $299 per year.
You can get started with a store owner account on Direct Creatives for less than $10 per month!
To expand your store presence, you can choose one of our two amazing premium memberships.
As a store, you are responsible for any applicable fees assessed by Stripe, our store payment platform. See their full list of terms and fees HERE.
At this time, all Direct Creative Store Owners can be in one of 5 countries: the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand. Continue to check back with us frequently as we look forward to expanding into other territories.
Direct Creatives doesn’t collect any license information from you because every country has different requirements. However, you are expected to understand and comply with all local laws which apply to your business type and obtain all relevant business licenses and sellers’ permits where and when applicable.
Misunderstandings can arise, and it’s good to know about your protection options. Payments on Direct Creatives are processed by the Stripe payment platform. Each payment platform has specific processes in place to settle any disputes that may arise. As Direct Creatives is the facilitator of the sale, connecting seller and buyer, any disputes regarding payment must be handled directly via Stripe, the payment processor. You can see the policies HERE.
Any earnings that you receive from Direct Creatives are your responsibility to manage appropriately within your local country/state/municipality. We cannot provide advice on how you should proceed to pay taxes on your earnings as tax laws vary greatly from country to country. We encourage you to seek out professional advice on tax-law and filing taxes. While the specifics of your country’s (or state or municipality) tax laws might be different, there is a probable chance that your government still wants you to declare your income.
As a store owner on Direct Creatives, it is your responsibility to manage any local sales taxes that may apply to your sales. For example, for Canadian authors, sales taxes such as Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) may apply on sales to Canadian buyers. For Australian authors, GST may apply. For US authors, US Sales Taxes may apply to some US buyers. We recommend that you talk to a tax advisor or accountant to find out if you have a sales tax responsibility in your area. As all products sold on Direct Creatives are digital goods, you will need to find out if your area applies sales taxes to digital goods. In many states in the US, digital goods are not taxed. You should speak to your tax advisor to ensure you are taking appropriate steps. In the US, for example, you need to determine what states you have nexus in, and those states you should account for sales tax in (if sales tax applies to the products you sell in that location). Make sure to check the relevant rates to charge. Most countries require some form of registration in order to send your sales taxes in. Talk to your tax advisor to ensure you are taking appropriate steps. Please note that we cannot provide advice on how you should proceed to pay taxes on your earnings as tax laws vary greatly from country to country. We encourage you to seek out professional advice on tax-law and filing taxes.
Direct Creatives offers competitive commission payouts for all three of our tiered membership plans.
Basic Membership - 60% Commission Payout
Plus Membership - 70% Commission Payout
Pro Membership - 80% Commission Payout
Commission fees due to Direct Creatives will be automatically deducted from the completed sale. The store owner's payout will be net of all commission fees due to Direct Creatives.
Store owners are responsible for any applicable payment processing. Please view Stripe for the most up to date payment processing structure.
Commission payouts are immediately deposited into a store owner's account upon successful completion of each sale. Direct Creatives utilizes Stripe online payment processing for both customer payments and store owner payouts. By participating in the Direct Creatives vendor program, you agree to the Stripe Connected Account Agreement. A copy of the agreement can be found HERE.
You MUST be connected to Stripe in order to list products and receive payment on sales.
Signing up for your Stripe account is easy! Visit the Stripe account creation website, provide your email address, full name, and create a password. Activate your account from the Stripe dashboard and you'll be ready to start receiving commissions within minutes!
You will be able to add a banner to your Direct Creatives store in two separate places. The first option will be during the initial set up of your Direct Creatives store. To upload a store banner once your store owner account has already been created, visit My Store > Settings. Recommended banner size is 1650 x 350 pixels. If you do not upload a custom banner for your shop, a site wide default image will be used. We highly recommend uploading a custom shop banner to reinforce your branding and store's unique identity.
We hate to see you go, but understand that sometimes, life happens! If you need to delete your store for any reason, choose the “Contact Admin” button from your Store Manager Dashboard and send us a message including the email address associated with your shop. Our team of admins will work to verify your store has no outstanding orders and take the next steps to delete your store.
Store membership pricing is grandfathered each year, unless communicated otherwise. When we re-open store registrations the pricing may change, but the pricing you paid will remain the same as when you signed up. You will receive email communication prior to your membership renewal anniversary to remind you of your upcoming renewal.
From your store's My Account page, navigate to Store Manager. Select Products > Add New to enter in your product details. Here, you will also be able to select your product category, tags, write a product description, and upload photos of your product.
When uploading a product that is over your store capacity, you will be presented with three separate options to choose from. First, you will have the option to delete a current product to upload your new product. Secondly, you will be offered an extra slot for your additional product at a nominal fee. Lastly, you will also be able to upgrade your store at this time to make room for additional products in your storefront.
From the Add Product page, choose "Downloadable" from the menu under the product description. This will allow you to add your downloadable file.
You are able to link an additional published product while uploading a new product by using the "Linked" menu on the left hand side of your product upload screen. Here, you will be able to choose from your published products.
Several of the membership tiers offered through Direct Creatives do offer the flexibility to be able to sell custom items such as printables, logos, and more.
From the "Add Products" page, choose the "Attributes" menu. Here, you will be able to add in different variations to your listing.
One time virtual services such as social media audits or one on one coaching sessions can be booked by our Pro Store Owners utilizing Direct Creatives unique booking system.
Direct Creatives stores are currently intended to be use by one individual or LLC, so more than one person may use it, but we are currently only allowing one login per account.
Good news! We are always working on making our website mobile browser friendly. The mobile browser makes it easy for you to manage your products, analyze sales, and track orders right from a smart phone or tablet.
Upon a store's cancellation, Direct Creatives will hide and hold the store and product collateral for 30 days, after which time it will be deleted from the system.
