" It's just my take on the situation, but I feel it's important to remember when we design greeting cards that we are creating imagery for a product to sell in a commercial market rather than creating a piece of art for the art world. "
 
Does it make good 'commercial' sense to remove cards that have been good sellers?  

Quote from Judy_139270 on Nov 7^th, 2011, 2:04am:

 
Yup... makes no sense to me.  Doreen's lent plenty of advice, but I am completely confused with the thought that a selling card is removed???  HUH???  
 
Let me ask this - EXACTLY how do you go about deciding on how to design then?  I certainly don't want to waste MY time designing and then waste a reviewer's time making a decision if I can head something off at the pass.  I'm not thinking about art but about this whole definition of "marketability" because I'm just not getting it.

I think predicting which cards will sell is very hard. It depends on the customer, the time of year, the latest fad, and certainly the economy. Even beautifully designed cards have no guarantee. Therefore, the cards that DO sell, should be off limits and left alone. We have to go with our design instincts and artist feelings to design what we think is good, whether it has marketability or not. No one can predict marketability.

Are we not in danger of assuming that quirky and different art is good art? In that case we could put any old rubbish on a card and say that it is art. Somewhere a judgement has to be made, and the owners of the site have a right to say what they do and do not want to sell, just as the owners of a real shop can make the same call.
I am afraid that a lot of the cards listed under the best sellers label are there because they were early cards on the site, and achieved best sellers labels when the site was very young. They are often the first cards the customers see, so they continue to be sold, even if the quality is not what we may like. We have all moved on and learned a lot from the cards created in the early days. Some of mine were awful!
Also, I have heard that the positioning is decided in part by likes and comments, most of which are from card sellers and artists, not from customers. That must be a bad thing, the customers should be deciding what they like, not the artists. Only customers likes and comments should count towards card placements.
I despair of any of us who joined later having our cards promoted as well as these, as we can never catch up. Perhaps it would be better for the site to show best sellers from the last 60 days only?

Norma, saying that the cards that are bestsellers here are only that way because they were early cards and commented on by other card sellers can really be taken as hurtful. I took some time to look at many of the best sellers, and in my opinion most of them are as good or better than many of the designs you will find at a typical card store. They may not be classified as fine art, in most cases, but as I stated before, greeting cards are a marriage of the perfect sentiment with an appropriate image. People are paying 3.00 for an idea, not an expensive piece of fine art. Most bestsellers are that way because they have been carefully researched, thought out, and created to meet a demand.

When did Greeting Card Universe open for business? I think I saw the date once, but I don't think it's that old. It's still growing and evolving.  I'm just grateful I found it, even though I take some blows here with declined cards sometimes.  I saw that Norma and Angela joined GCU around the same time in the May and June, 2008, respectively, and I am so thankful they participate in these forums.  I joined a year later.  I've really loved my time here and have learned from all of you who joined before me and for all of those afterward, too, who have offered their encouragement, design and marketing ideas.

Suggestion:  It would really be nice if we could get a card reviewed, and then if it was approved, be able to make further variations of it without wondering if it will be approved again.  
 
There are no clear standards, neither the artists nor the readers are on the same page.  I think GCU might try to take a stronger lead in setting forth the type of card they want in a visual display.  
 
Also, I look in my home area market place and I see all different types of cards.  With so many choices, people go for all different types of things, as people are very, very different around this country and the world.  I would break up cards into categories of $2, $3 and so forth based on printing costs because price point and sentiment are big drivers of sales, imho.
 
Just a few thoughts I hope will help everyone.

Quote from Norma_133903 on Nov 8^th, 2011, 5:36am:

 
why are fellow artists posting the comments and NOT BUYERS?  HAH then I really have a snowball's chance in hell in ever getting a good ranking.  Shouldn't BUYERS be making this decision?