Toronto Craft Alert

17 comments

• 1 lovecrafting // Jul 7, 2010 at 2:12 pm

  These show are a waste of time. You get stuck in the basement of the store, they do no advertising you get very little to no sales. I did the show, what a waste of time and money. DON’T WASTE YOU TIME!!! DON’T WASTE YOUR MONEY!!!!!!

• 2 risshes // Aug 13, 2010 at 11:15 am

  VENDORS BEWARE… READ THS LINK BEFORE SIGNING UP….SCAMMERS….

  http://www.wikidomo.com/place/1265129/called/the-purple-thumb-boutique/in/toronto_ontario_canada

  The referral program is a sham. I referred a friend to them, I never received the $50 credit. My sales were not good, neither was my friends…

  I emailed them several times about this matter, but they still have not responded.

• 3 Sparkles // Aug 22, 2010 at 4:10 pm

  Hello,

  I am glad you were able share your experience, then others will know not to sign any contracts with the Purple Thumb.

  Sorry to hear about you and your friend being scammed by the Purple Thumb. I am also a local Toronto based artist but i haven’t used the Purple Thumb. You can try to call the Better Business Bureau at (416)323-9946 and see whether they might be able to help. Hope this might help you and your friend.

• 4 DDHPT // Sep 2, 2010 at 8:23 am

  Well, I just finished up my 4 months contract with the purple thumb. I did not get back half of what I put in. Very unfriendly people. I feel all they want is more money. They offer me to work in the store, for less rent. That was the solution to me not making any money in their store. So, they still collect my rent cheque, they get free labour. I hope they don’t expect me to baby sit too. :))

• 5 TM // Sep 7, 2010 at 2:52 pm

  Was it really that bad?!?!?! I was considering signing up with them. They just opened a new store and I was contacted by them.

  I was going to start really small… a $50 shelf for 4 months. But now I’m second guessing

• 6 Markson // Sep 10, 2010 at 5:22 pm

  Don’t sign up with these people. If you want to sell you work, do some research. There are lots of reputable shops out there. I can’t stop you, but I am advising you. It is the worst think you can do with your $200.

• 7 TM // Sep 11, 2010 at 1:13 pm

  Thanks so much for the heads up. Glad she had this site attached to her site. :)

• 8 Chandelle // Sep 13, 2010 at 12:05 pm

  A total waste of time and alot of money. They’re nice at first but eventually their true colours show.

• 9 chipchip mosaics // Sep 13, 2010 at 12:38 pm

  WHAT A WASTE OF TIME, MONEY AND EFFORT!!!
  i too was stuck in the basement on a sunny Saturday, with another vendor who imported her jewellery from South Asia! great woman, but clearly the owner didn’t do too much research into that vendor’s company, or care that it wasn’t handmade. she also wasn’t very helpful.

• 10 Beverly // Sep 27, 2010 at 3:11 pm

  Why not organize yourselves and take them to court? Post an ad looking for former ripped off artists in the local community papers and plan some action together! They shouldn’t be allowed to continue to rip-off unsuspecting artists!

• 11 Shirley Sequeira // Oct 2, 2010 at 11:57 am

  I am having the same problem right now. The Purple Thumb has “lost” some of my jewelry and has not paid me up to $280.00. I have contacted the Better Business Bureau for advice.

  If there are any vendors out there with the same issue, please feel free to contact me. I am sick of the runaround and want to be paid fairly. I have emailed them several times with very vague responses. I have an appointment this Tuesday after hours, so hopefully issues will be resolved. I will post after Tuesdays meeting.

  I am frustrated!!!!!! I cannot believe store owners would do such things to their vendors. Thank you to the Toronto Craft Alert for this forum!

• 12 Can you believe this????? // Oct 2, 2010 at 12:36 pm

  BEWARE……

  http://toronto.en.craigslist.ca/tor/off/1983517484.html

• 13 Sparkles // Oct 3, 2010 at 8:17 pm

  Shirley, I am thrilled to see you are aware of of the Better Business Bureau to report the “Purple Thumb”

  I do hope more vendors will be able to also contact you or the Better Business Bureau. I do hope they will be able to help. I would love to hear what happened.

  Sparkles

• 14 Lisa // Oct 4, 2010 at 6:11 pm

  For those who are beginer artisans, from a person in the biz almost 20 years…you NEVER go into stores that charge rent like the Purple Thumb. There’s a reason all other shops do consignment. If the shop/gallery buys outright they may be stuck with merchandise that doesn’t sell. If you have to rent a space then once they have the rent money they don’t care if your stuff sells as they’ve been paid. With consignment neither gets paid until things sell. This way the owners have true interest in selling your things. These stores always have higher sales as well due to the fact that so many crafters try to get in because there’s no outlay of money to start. This is good as shops can pick and chose from many and take only top quality items, not just those who can afford 4 months rent upfront. It also means shelves are always stocked and always with new things….the more merchandise the more people come in to browse. Arts On Queen is only blocks from the Purple Thumb but they (and all other craft/galleries in Toronto) do well…they are also well organized and cheques are out to artists asap..the difference is they are consignment…rental space shops are a lose/lose for both the owners and crafters, that’s why no one else does it that way. I have my things in 20 stores all over Ontario, the only time I ever did rental (against my better judgement but I took a chance) was at PT…it’s the only time my sales where so low and I didn’t get paid on time.

• 15 TM // Oct 5, 2010 at 11:24 am

  I have noticed that they took the banner for the TCA off of her webpage… guess she doesn’t like the reviews. :P

• 16 Beverly // Oct 5, 2010 at 3:07 pm

  There’s always that ol familiar protest activity – picketing their store!

• 17 jen // Oct 5, 2010 at 9:49 pm

  hi guys,

  thanks to everyone for sharing their experiences and advice to fellow crafters on this issue. we always welcome and encourage an open dialogue about your experience of craft in the city. we have decided to close comments on this post at this point as we feel that a particular perspective has been adequately addressed. if you’d like to share a perspective not represented above, feel free to email me at jen@torontocraftalert.ca.

  thanks!
  xjenx