Cafepress

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I sell from about 6 shops on Cafepress and like it. The problem is-

finding a niche to sell to. Your shop gets more views if it’s a premium

shop, but then it costs money to have the shop as a premium shop.

The upside to premium is that you are able to have multiples of each

item. In the basic shop, you get 1 of each item, so you can only have 1

design on that item. In the premium shop, if you have 10 designs and

you want them all available in the same shirts or magnets, you can

offer it that way.

Overall, I’ve had shops open for about 3 years through there, and have

made about $150 over that time. You have to have at least $25 to cash

out. It can take a while to earn, but the shops are low maintance after

you get them going.

One thing I found is that controversial shops tend to sell a bt more. I

am a supporter of Gay/Lesbian rights, and I’m pro-choice, so I started

a shop for both, and sell things out of them occasionally.

I have a shop for the game my husband and I run, which does the most in

sales. Two weeks ago, we had a festival online, and offered bonus

points if people bought from the shop- I had 19 sales from the shop

that weekend, and made about $25 from it.

I just started a Red Hat Christmas shop, hoping it would get a few

sales, but nothing yet.

My next most popular shop is geared towards dancers (mostly Ballet),

and I’ve had lots of sales out of that over the past few years.

It’s easy to set up, and again- very low maintance once it IS set up. I

check in every few weeks to see if there are new products to add.

I’ve also ordered from cafepress, and love the quality of the items.

This year, with some of my “Cafe Money”, I designed a round ceramic

Christmas ornament with the family name on it, the year, and under it,

all of our first names. It has a bright border around it, too. It

should arrive soon, and be a great memory for years to come.

I like the site. I definetly recommend it.

Also, if you would like to see any of my shops before hand (or if

anyone is interested in seeing them, for that matter), just email me

and I’ll send you the links. Also- if you don’t have a referral and

don’t mind having one, I’ll send you a referral email. It doesn’t cost

you anything, but on top of what you make, I would get a small bonus as

well (I think it’s based more on the item sold, not the price of the

item, but I don’t recall).

As for the shops, you pick the item, then pick what you want put on the

item. Some shirts allow a design on both front and back. You can

control the size of what goes on the item, as well as positioning on

shirts. For instance, on the maternity shirts, you can choose to have

the design be a “pocket” design (going over the left breast, where

pockets are in T-shirts), a front design (which goes kind of over both

breasts, maybe down just a bit), or a belly design (which would go over

the belly). On the back of the shirts that allow double printing, you

can choose to have it be smaller, and across the very top of the back,

or be a full back design, which is more centered.

Some items have multiple colors, and of those items, you can choose

which colors to offer. For instance, the dark shirts are available in

dark grey, black, and brown. If your design doesn’t look good on brown,

you just unmark it, and it won’t offer it in the shop.

They store the images on their server- and the larger the image, the

better the quality when it’s printed. They have templates that will

give you great DPI for it. The better the DPI, the better and bigger

the picture will show up.

You also set the prices. The way Cafepress works, is that they don’t

charge you a stock or shop fee, because they make the money off the

items sold.

Basically, it breaks down like this-

Each item has a stock price. You can raise the stock price to a shop

price. The stock price in full goes to cafe press. The dfference

between the shop and stock price is what you earn.

So, if you design a value shirt, it’s $8.99 (I think). You want to sell

it for $12.99, so every time you sell a value shirt, you earn $4 off

the sale.

For you to buy from the shop, though, you get all items at stock price

automatically if you log into your account before buying.

For marking the price up on items, you can set it manually as you

design the item, or you can choose a more specific meathod.

They allow you to choose a percentage mark up- say you choose 15%,

every item in your shop will automatically be priced at 15% above stock

price.

Or, you can choose a set amount, like $2- this means every item will

automatically be $2 above stock. Because some items are small and

inexpensive, I don’t recommend that way. You can mark items like shirts

up by more than say a $1.50 pin.

I can’t really think of much else to say, but if you have any specific

questions I didn’t cover, please feel free to email me.

— In Budget101_@yahoogroups.com, Dee Webber wrote:

>

>

> I’m looking for some ways to supplement our income using my hobbies,

one of which is photography, & am wondering if anyone here has ever

used Cafepress to design & sell merchandise?

> If so what are your thoughts & opinions?

>

> Thanks,

> Dee

>

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