Preventing Piracy

[Joan Marie]

In a recent (and currently active) thread, artist and deck creator Mel Meleen brought to our attention an Etsy site that is selling pirated versions of her work and of many other independent deck creators.

(I urge you to read that thread if you have not to see what you can do to help get this particular pirate site taken down.)

I posted about this in a deck creator group on Facebook and I learned a few things. Clearly this is happening a lot. What is particularly aggravating is the reluctance of supposedly legit platforms we all use to cease facilitating these frauds. Real creators are competing with fakes.

I don't mind losing a sale to another deck creator, but I'll be damned if I want to lose one to a fake version of someone's beautiful work.

But here's another thing: There are collectors out there (and other buyers) who are only interested in increasing the number of decks they own and are not concerned with the quality or authenticity of the work they are collecting, much less the well-being of or fairness to the artists.

This isn't just about money to the artist. It's emotionally excruciating to see your work stolen like that. What's worse is seeing the care you put into the printing process, the selection of materials and the overall presentation of the work, just tossed out and replaced with cheap slick-paper, poor resolution dark prints and crappy packaging.

And here's a big news flash for buyers: Most of the time, you aren't even saving any damn money.

To appear legit, many of these fraud sellers are charging the going rate for these decks or even more!

But even when it is a little cheaper, you will still just be the owner of a garbage version of a piece of real art.

Nobody wins here except the thieves.


So what can we do?

• Raising awareness helps a lot. I think a lot of people simply don't realise they are buying fakes.

• Always buy directly from the artists from their personal websites whenever possible. Artists can help here by always creating a link to their personal website from any shops they have on other platforms.

• If you do buy from Etsy or Ebay or Amazon, make sure that Etsy shop or that account does in fact belong to the artist.

• If you see or hear of a shop on a major platform selling fakes, report them to that platform. Then tell us about here and on facebook and other social media so we can join in. We need to make pressure on these platforms so they understand.

I also want to make a pledge here at Cult of Tarot
I want to pledge that every deck that appears in our Library of Decks does in fact link to a legit website.

As far as I know, they currently do. Most were submitted directly by the artists or in the case of historical decks, by the restorers and legit sellers who stand for the integrity of the work. But I will be checking and appreciate any help from any of you in this effort. If you see any links that belong to a fraudulent seller, please tell me right away and I will take it down. if you suspect but aren't sure, I will check it out and verify it.
Either PM me or email me at joanmarie@cultoftarotforum.com

By insuring the integrity of our Library of Decks, buyers can consider it a trusted resource and always know the links they click from Cult of Tarot will be authorised and that they will be purchasing original, authentic work of the highest quality. The artist who created it will also know that the people who love and appreciate their work are getting it as it was meant to be.

If you have any comments or other ideas how we can help improve this situation and keep the world from being flooded with cheaply made knock-offs of the cards we love, please share them here.

We can stem this evil tide together.

(click here to see what you can do as a deck creator to avoid getting pirated)

[Rose Lalonde]

Thanks for that. The link to the current thread re Etsy wasn't working for me, so adding it here:
viewtopic.php?f=18&t=2461&p=16213#p16213

[HRU's Muse]

Thanks so much Joan Marie. I love the idea of creating a trusted resource, and I think it is also important to raise awareness.

Pirates obviously do not care, period.

Buyers though, perhaps some buyers would hate to know of the true mental anguish this causes to artists who devote years of their life force trying to create beautiful, well thought out creations. I can attest to that, it truly is a terrible feeling. If they were aware of that, would they do it anyway to save a few measly dollars? (though sometimes no dollars are saved. in my case, the pirates currently doing it charge more!)

Some printing companies might not care, but some might be horrified to learn they were aiding and abetting this type of fraud, which is not only unethical but might leave them legally culpable.

The big platforms don't give a rat's ass about anything but their bottom line. That is patently obvious anytime you see behind their veneer. But people banding together to communicate publically and reveal what is behind the curtain can hurt their precious bottom line.

It comes down to awareness, bringing this issue forefront to all of the various parties attention, and working together. So that people will still make decks, by the people, for the people. Because many creators who do spend their heart blood making these things will get too discouraged and quit, ruining tarot and leaving only things that can be churned out quickly enough that no one cares if they are pirated.