I love digis! but don't make the mistake of thinking you can share or swap those without permission either

• CommaHolly Said:

No, Holly you do share great info with this. It still irks me that a stamping company would ever frown on a swap.

I understand the frustration. Unfortunately, regular people who swap a few images have paid for the many who have done far worse,,,,,like scan stamps and put them all on a CD for sale,,,,,,,there's good reason for copyright. If you ever produce original art or a work that you profit from, you might be very happy those laws exist.

For example,,,,,,,,not long ago, I saw the complete set of Hanglar Stanglar stamps (popular in Europe and VERY hard to get here and EXPENSIVE when you can find them)that someone had stamped, scanned and burned to a CD for sale on Ebay (the UK version).

Why spend 25 bucks a stamp and let the artist pay her bills when you can get the ENTIRE set for 15 bucks plus shipping and handling?????

EBAY in the US doesn't allow those images to be sold,,,,,unfortunately, some countries don't honor the international laws on this. So who pays the price?? Regular joes who want to share a single image with a friend.

Funny, there have been several swaps on this very site where they swapped stamped images. I guess someone needs to call the stamp police on sb.com

I know. And they are illegal. I'm not the stamp police, and I won't be telling anyone. I'm just stating the facts of the law. This isn't my OPINION. It's fact. People can choose to obey the law or not obey it. Not my problem.

I totally get you Holly, I can see it your way and the way of the Stamp Company aswell. It's just all very innuendo-ish cause even on the Magnolia's package it says and I quote: "Angel Policy, magnolia is an Angel company! We allow our images to be used on items for resale as long as everything is hand stamped and hand coloured. Please do not reproduce any of our images electronically or mechanically, by means of computer or copy machines. Updates and more info can be found at our web site." This clearly says it is ok to sell, trade, swap ect as long as it is hand stamped and hand coloured. I do buy hand stamped Magnolia images of the web when it is a stamp that I do like but not gonna use much. I like to have just a few stamped, sometimes I end up liking the image a lot and buy the stamp anyways.

I find this subject very innuendo-ish... I know there are many different opinions on this subject aswell. It's not correct to attack anyone for their opinion on this (talking in general). I do know there are lots of companies who do not allow this at all. And it's good to warn others about procecution chances n stuff. But I also find that some companies need to be very clear about this. Like Magnolia, they are quite clear but many aren't. That would help us tremendously.

In the meantime, happy stamping everyone!

Stamp Police, just image the uniform Holly! It'll give some good times

I agree that the wording could be much better.
and I agree, you probably COULD trade hand stamped AND COLORED images,,,,,,,but nobody sells colored images,,,,they all sell and/or swap UNCOLORED stamped images.

I wonder if the Stamp Police get as many free stamps as they want

and I just wanted to say that I don't mean to sound like the stamp police,,,,,,or miss goody two shoes. I only know because *I* have swapped stamped images myself, and someone told me about the law. I had no clue before then,,,,,,and I certainly had no intentions of breaking the law! It's a hard position to understand, for us crafters, I think.

You don't sound that way at all, Holly.

I caught the tail end of the most recent upheaval here at sb.com regarding trading stamped images, so I did a lot of reading on the subject.

It's information that every stamper/crafter should look into before they attempt a trade/swap.

This topic interests me and I did some independent reading online about it. I have seen that the problem with a seemingly innocent stamped image swap is many will photocopy the images for multiple uses. Or the will scan them onto a computer for lifetime use.

So, in the instance a company frowns on swaps, it most likely has to do with the bad apples that turn it into a true copyright infringement.

EXACTLY.

which is why most of them have no problem with a friend coming over to scrap, using your stamp and coloring it for a card they are making. But swapping isn't allowed.

holly HOLLY - i had no idea selling an individual stamp would be illegal .... I guess alot of ppl dont know, or dont care because on other sites there are lots of ppl that sell 2 or 3 images from a set they wont use.

I guess in my eyes, if I buy a set of stamps but wont ever use 1 or 2 I should have the right to sell it, since I bought it? *Shrugs* wow, id MAD to be arrested for something I truly didnt know was illegal LoL!

wait wait,,,,,,

you can sell the physical STAMP. What you can NOT sell is the stamped IMAGE. You can not stamp the stamp on paper 20 times and sell that for 5 dollars,,,,,,for example.

you CAN sell any stamp, new or used that you don't want.

I bought my best stamps for $1. michael's has a great collection of $1 stamps and so does joann's. you can also check out free digital stamps online and find some great images. lately that's been my best option...
if you stick to the $1 section for a lot of stuff, as well as use free images from the web.....you'll be able to create some really nice cards.
HTH

Here's a question - maybe Holly or someone can answer. If I purchase a stamp, then stamp the image, scan it and put it onto my computer so that I can then print it in a different size, is that illegal? I've bought it, and it would be for my own use only. What do you think?

It would be an angel policy violation according to the majority of stamp companies terms of use...but I suggest you check each company's website for more info. Hope this helps.

Okay how about this. It's her birthday and I just stamped a few images and gave them as a present because thats all I could afford to do? this way I am not selling I am giving them to her.

Mostly likely not acceptable...because they are just the "black lined" stamped image...unfinished so to speak.