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Have you ever wished there was a consumer guide for graphic sites on the Internet? Well wish no more. Here you will find useful information that will help you in your decision making process when trying to decide if you should pay for a graphics group membership.

The site reviews will not make personal attacks on the appearance of the graphics, or the artist who created the graphics. But I will be very vocal when it comes to certain aspects of a site that may seem unreasonable, unfair, and borderline unethical. It is my professional believe that unethical practices be exposed for what they are. I will update this section. Once a month some updates will contain more information than others. Not every site is the same and some may actually take longer for me to evaluate. I hope this section will help you greatly.

Business Law and Consumer Protection

Every country has a unique perspective on the laws that many businesses try to follow in order to avoid fines and legal problems. U.S. consumers have certain protections under the law when it comes to the goods and services that businesses offer. I won’t get into the heavy details because every state differs slightly in the protections available. But I will sum up the basics that those in the online graphic community need to be aware of when deciding to pay for a membership on a graphics site.

1. “Caveat- Emptor” Buyer Beware

This is your first line of protection. Basically what this means is that you shouldn't assume that the graphics site isn't going to screw you over at the first sign of opportunity. This goes for all businesses online and offline. Do your homework and try to find information about the site or the business that you are interested in. If you are in a graphics community then ask around to see if anyone has had a bad experience with the graphics site. Ask if login problems were addressed professionally. You want a site that has a good reputation, quality costumer service, and a professional attitude. Also ask if the site has a habit of canceling membership without allowing you to defend yourself as to why your membership was canceled.

2. Know Your Legal Rights as a Consumer

Your legal rights as a consumer will vary from state to state. Because of this, it is important to know which U.S. state the business is located in. Why? Well your consumer rights and protection will be based on the laws of the state that the business calls home. More information can be found on Find Law For Small Businesses. If you also own a graphics membership site then I would recommend you also take a look at this short article about Consumer Protection Laws as a way to avoid making the simple mistakes that can turn into big problems.

One thing in general that applies to all U.S. states is the law of dealing with discrimination. If the business is located in the U.S. then a business cannot refuse to serve anyone because of race, sex, age, nationality, sexual preference, or disability. There are a few exceptions to this such as businesses cannot sell alcohol to minors. A business that rejects a person for membership must explain why the consumer was rejected. It is possible to reject a person for membership to a graphics group, but a business cannot reject a person for any reason. The reason for rejection must be within the boundaries of the law.

If you have been rejected by a large company or for a credit card, you will notice that they give you the option of calling them in order to find out why you were rejected. If a business fails to explain why you were rejected then they are walking a fine line and risk being sued under the anti-discrimination laws.

Site Corrections 11/06/2005

I made an error with one of the web site listings. I classified the web site NutterButtercup as a Paid Site. NutterButtercup is a Free Site. So I apologize for this error and I have corrected it.

 
 

 

Each site is rated in 3 Categories which are very important to the quality of a web site. The highest Average that a site can score on each is a 10. I recommend that you still check the site for you own evaluation and not to solely go on what you see here. For more detailed ratings click here.

* paid membership 1=Avoid, 5=Ok , 10=Best Value
Web site
Terms
Feedback
Graphics
Avg.
3
N/A
5.5
  
4
N/A
5.5
  
3
N/A
5.5
5
5
6.5
 5.5
         
 
         
         
Not all low ratings are bad. It could be that one site has more resources available than another. There are some really nice graphic sites out there so many times it's like comparing a small business to a giant corporation. The size of the business will not affect the terms. Terms are terms no matter how big or small the business is. If you want to be removed from the listings then Click Here: Remove Me

Recent Site Owner Concerns Thursday, December 1, 2005 10:15 PM

LOGOS and ADVERTISING UPDATE: After reviewing and evaluating a few sites I now have a better understanding of the Logo and Advertising Issue. There are two sides of the logos and advertising issue.

The first side of this issues comes from the copyright holder of an graphic that gives consent for someone to use the graphics as long as a variation of the orginal is created and that a logo is presented on the page in which the variation is created.

The second side of this issue are those who are trying to get free advertising. The combination of the two issues can cause a certain amount of confusion as to which side the graphics site owner is on. Is the grahics site only fulling an agreement with the orginal copyright owner, or is the graphics site trying to get free advertising? Could it be both? These questions are very difficult to know just from reading the terms. If you are going to apply for a membership with a graphics site be sure to ask if the site is the orginal copyright holder or if they have consent from the orginal artist.

COPYRIGHT WARS: During the first week of November I was fortunate to experience a few conflicts dealing with copyright violations and I felt that it was important to update this section before my December Update. Things to understand about copyrights:

  1. Every country has its own Copyright Law. This is important because what may be considered public domain in the U.S may actually be copyrighted overseas. Or what is public domain overseas is copyrighted in the U.S.
  2. The "20% rule": You only need to change 20% of an image in order for it to be a new image. I do not know how this "rule" applies overseas, but under U.S. Law, this rule should not be followed. The reason is because each copyright case for visual works is decided individually. There is no "blanket" ruling for this. It is not easy to determine just how much a 20% change in an image really is. The recommendation is to ask the orginal artist for permission. Play it safe and don't take chances.
  3. If you think someone is using a copyrighted graphic then, it is better to inform the orginal artist (if you know for a fact who owns the rights to the visual art) or to stay out of it. The only people who should really be fighting a Copyright issue is the orginal owner and the person in violation. Trying to be a "Copyright Police" without having the authority to speak on behalf of the owner of the visual arts can put you at risk for legal troubles. If you don't know for sure then it's best not to assume. Many of the big graphic companies will make you pay big time for wasting their time in defending themselves against an assumption.