Redbubble Fees Are Killing Your Profits (Here's What to Do)

About this video

RJ Martinez walks through his own Redbubble account to show how the platform’s fees are eating seller profits. On his standard account he shows monthly account fees that reached $132 in January, with other recent months around $110-$129, and explains that payouts are hit by both a platform fee and a markup fee. He says the cuts average roughly 40 to 60% of profits, one payout lost about 80%, and a design that should earn a $10 profit may pay only $3 or $4 after fees. He breaks down Redbubble’s fee tiers: standard accounts average 50% of monthly earnings, premium 20%, and pro 0%, with monthly fees capped at $150; a separate excessive-markup fee takes 50% of the earnings on markup above 20%, pro accounts pay no account fees, and there is no excessive-markup fee on products marked up at or below 20%. Because most of his products were marked up 55% (stickers at 200%), he resets his default markup to 19.99%, applies it to his existing work, and plans to test it for a couple of months. His advice: audit your account, understand and adjust your price points, diversify the same designs across Merch by Amazon, Etsy, Spreadshirt, TeePublic, your own website and KDP, use AI tools to produce more designs, and prioritize evergreen designs over chasing trends, treating a BSR under 500K as a sign of a consistent seller.

Key takeaways

• Redbubble charges standard accounts both a platform fee and a markup fee; he puts the combined cut at roughly 40 to 60% of profits on average, with one payout cut by about 80%.
• Fee tiers average 50% of monthly earnings on standard, 20% on premium, and 0% on pro, and total monthly fees are capped at $150.
• The excessive-markup fee only applies to markup above 20%, so he reset his default markup from 55% to 19.99% and applied it to all existing work as a test.
• Do not depend on one platform: spread each design across Merch by Amazon, Etsy, Spreadshirt, TeePublic, your own website, and KDP so the same design gets more chances to sell.
• Favor evergreen designs that sell all year (a BSR under 500K signals a consistent seller) and use AI image tools to increase design output instead of chasing trends.

Episode details: published April 3, 2026 · 14:08 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. Business results and any income figures mentioned are RJ Martinez’s own claims, shared for education — they are not typical or guaranteed.

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