Hello my friends!
I know it has been a long time since I have posted but finally I am sitting down and taking the time to write this post. As most of you know over the years I was the first to make free tutorials and put them online. Reason being I simply wanted to help others who wanted to learn the craft or make something amazing for their child. Homecoming Mums are a fun and crazy tradition and should be enjoyable and I wanted to make the process of either making one or ordering one easier on parents everywhere :)
Now for the frauds. I tend to be the one who speaks up in defense of others or when an injustice is being done and nothing upsets me more than seeing these people take advantage of consumers. Every year I see these people just "pop up" overnight on Craigslist or Facebook, sometimes even Etsy or a website! They use other mum makers photos, never original photos of their own work and solicit mum business at deeply discounted prices. The old piece of advice here is 100% true: if the deal seems too good to be true then it probably is.
How to spot some frauds:
- Look for watermarked photos. Somewhere on some of their photos if you see a business name or logo that is NOT THEIRS then they are illegally using digital copyrighted photos of another persons work. Another way to spot whether they are using another makers photos is look at their "examples" do they have a similar style? Or are they all over the place? I will post a pic below as an example. Most mum makers have a style that you will find in their work that big or small, you can tell it was made by the same person. Please look at my website MelzMumz.com and you will see how my "style" is reflected in all of my mums.
- Not in business for long. Its a new Facebook page or Etsy listing. Craigslist ads are almost always fly by night frauds UNLESS they have a link in their ad to their website or Facebook page which shows the legitimacy of their business.
- They tell you they can make an exact replica of someone else's work. Most legitimate mum makers will tell you they can not duplicate exactly but will make something similar with their own style on it. No one but the original mum maker can actually "duplicate" a mum because they and the owner of said mum are only people who know everything on it.
- Extremely low prices. This is the biggest indicator. When they are advertising Mums for $20 - be aware of what $20 gets you. Go to a retail store and look at the price of ribbon alone. It is not possible to make a full length custom mum for $20.
- Ask EXACTLY what is included on the mum. If they want to say it is only $50 and show you a photo of something that runs $150 everywhere else then you will not be getting a mum like the $150 one. I have proof of this too!!
First here is a photo from a good friend and fellow Mum Maker Kisha Crooks. A fraudulent mum maker was using Kisha's photo illegally to solicit business. A customer of hers saw it and knew this was a mum Kisha had made however the lady was offering it at half the price! So this customer wanted to see what you would actually get and she ordered one. Remember the picture on the left is what the fraud was using (Kisha's mum) and the mum on the right is what the customer received from this fraud. When I said if the price is too good to be true then it usually is.
Now here is another example of a mum fraud. This was just found last evening. A lady used 4 different mum makers photos to advertise on Etsy and Facebook! Not one photo was actually hers. If you look at the mums none of them resemble each other. Each mum used a different style of loops on back. One mum used curling ribbon to hang down. I know this can be tricky but it is one reason it is better to stay with someone who has been in business at least a couple of years and can provide you with many photos of their own work.
I also will be doing a post shortly to explain some of the costs of homecoming mum making. I hope this helps any possible MUMTATROPHIES from happening to unsuspecting customers. As always please feel free to contact me directly if you have any questions! Please visit my website melzmumz.com for Custom Mums, Mum Supplies and Tutorials! Happy Mum Making!!
Melissa
