Cafepress sometimes strikes deals with famous brands which allows the shopkeepers to create and sell designs based on those brands. It is a great opportunity for shopkeepers to make money as there is a ready made market for these brands. It is also very common for Cafepress to heavily promote these items so if I recommend taking advantage of these deals when they appear. If you are already a fab of these brands it can also be great fun.
Official Dexter T-Shirts and Gifts at Cafepress
Last time they announced a deal it was for American Idol and this time it is for another two TV shows, Dexter and the L Word. Both from Showtime. I am a big fan of Dexter and have already upped my design. The reference is very subtle and I think you would have to be an avid fan indeed to catch it but that’s the charm in my opinion.
Official The L Word T-Shirts and Gifts at Cafepress
Anyway, if you take advantage of these deals be sure to read the rules carefully as there are always some restrictions as to what you can do. Below you can see the original email from Cafepress.
We’re pleased to announce that CafePress will be launching an official fan portal for Dexter and The L Word next week. If you’re a big fan of the Dexter or The L Word TV show, here’s your chance to design gear for the official fan portals. And, you can start now!
* To get your Dexter or The L Word designs included, be sure to tag your designs: “Dexter Showtime” or “L Word Showtime”
* Additionally, if your design is themed around a specific character, be sure to tag with the character’s first AND last name.We’re thrilled that Showtime is embracing the CafePress creative community and trusting our community with their brand. Accordingly, there are very specific rules that designers must adhere to in order for their content to be featured in and sold through the Dexter and/or The L Word fan portal.
All images created for the Official Dexter Fan Portal and Official The L Word Fan Portal must comply with the following rules. Please note that these rules may be updated from time to time.
DEXTER FAN PORTAL MERCHANDISE RULES
* No use of any official Dexter logo
* All images must be tagged with “dexter showtime”
* No use of images or depictions of the actors in, or writers, directors or producers of, the television series Dexter
* No use of profanity, vulgar or hate language, or graphically violent images
* No use of explicit sexual language, images or graphics
* No use of copyrighted material from the television series or its promotional materials (e.g. no use of images of the television series, posters or images from the Dexter website)
* No political party associations (e.g. Republican, Democrat, or candidates)
* No use of Dexter book cover imagesTHE L WORD FAN PORTAL MERCHANDISE RULES
* No use of any official The L Word or OurChart logos
* All images must be tagged with “L word showtime”
* No use of images or depictions of the actors in, or writers, directors or producers of, the television series The L Word
* No use of profanity, vulgar or hate language, or graphically violent images
* No use of explicit sexual language, images or graphics
* No use of copyrighted material from the television series or its promotional materials (e.g. no use of images of the television series, posters or images from the The L Word website)
* No political party associations (e.g. Republican, Democrat, or candidates)
You will be competing with officially licensed gear at the Gold Label Cafepress shop for both of these brands though. Click on the images above to check them out.
As previously mentioned by here on POD Helper Cafepress have formed a partnership with a website called Sellit that provides widgets that you can use to promote your store in MySpace, Facebook and basically anywhere you you can post HTML code without restrictions. Previously when I checked it was in closed beta so I couldn’t really get a good look at it.
Now I have looked at it I have to admit that I am unimpressed. I think that people new to the web love this type of widget/gadget but the fact is that in general they look very unprofessional. I think they can only look good if they can be can be seamlessly integrated into the design of the website. I have yet to see this happen though.
Actually you are very limited to what you can do with this widget. It seems that you can only use a section which contains products which for most Cafepress shopkeepers means that you can only promote one design at a time. Apart from choosing whether to display one item or a grid there seems to be no customization features. At the moment you can only associate one Cafepress store with your membership too.
Verdict: One good point about this is that the links lead to your store rather than the Cafepress marketplace so you can get the commission you deserve but unless they add some features I recommend that you spend the time you have allotted to marketing your products elsewhere.
Zazzle have come up with a nice new tool for building referral links. All you have to do is install it in your bookmarks (doesn’t even take a second) and click it while you are on the Zazzle page that you wish to link to. You do need to be logged in to your Zazzle account when you click and I assume you have to be logged in to an account with which you have set up an Associate account.
It’s a nice tool and may be of use sometimes but it could really be improved. I imagine that most bloggers are like me in that they want to include an image in our posts rather than just a link. To get this image you will still have to click on the “link” link.
To get images you need to click on "Link"
I would love to see something like what Jennifer Goode has created for Cafepress and what can be found on Zazzle when you click “link”. Zazzle’s link is a little slow, the position of the link is not convenient and you have to be logged in to add your referral code. In those three areas Jen’s Cafepress version is superior.
This Referral Link Builder will be good for a quick link to portal pages or when you want to create your own images to link to rather than links to the product pages.
Link: Jgoode’s Cafepress Tools
I think Zazzle should add a nice little favicon so that it would be easy to spot in your bookmarks too.
In one of the last Zazzle newsletters I saw that they were promoting one of their shopkeepers. I’m guessing they are classified as a corporate client so that in itself is nothing new for Zazzle or any of the PODs. The promotion was for a website called JibJab who seem to specialize in e-cards and such. The first thing that I noticed was that they were selling a limited edition t-shirt which is easy enough to do (just remove from store when the time period is up) but then I noticed that it said they were screen-printed.
Shipping time for the JibJab limited edition “He’s Barack Obama” screen-printed t-shirt is 1-2 weeks. This t-shirt is available until June 26, or while supplies last.
They were also selling the tees for just $18 and they are available in only one color. I guess they will be outsourced and because they will be printed in bulk it allows for more savings to be made and allows Zazzle to sell them at the lower price. I think it is all good.
Screen-printed Obama T-Shirt by JibJab at Zazzle
The thing that worries me a little though is that Zazzle is that a similar thing happened at Cafepress too. They sold a limited edition Obama t-shirt by Rolling Stone (which I bought and love). It was sold at a price lower that Cafepress shopkeepers could possibly sell theirs for and it directly competed against the the shopkeepers, was heavily promoted by Cafepress and paid out no affiliate commission. Since then I have noticed that Cafepress frequently sell t-shirts that directly compete against their shopkeepers and at prices that make it difficult to be competitive, like the current patriotic tees.
Now what worried me is that Zazzle will also go down this path and start competing directly with the shopkeepers as Cafepress has done. Let’s just keep our fingers crossed and hope this will not be the case. One evil corporation in the POD biz is enough.
Lots of Oops at Cafepress
Cafepress’s recent decision to screw their shopkeepers out of their hard earned cash has resulted in many people opting out of the Cafepress marketplace which in turn has resulted in many Oops! pages like in the image above. It will probably take a while for this situation to rectify itself because there are still many people on the fence about whether to opt out of the marketplace or not.
I haven’t really talked too much about Cafepress’s decision. I just don’t want to waste my time on it but this site was created with the intention of helping people set up and be successful with their POD business so I think I should give you my opinion.
In general, I believe that Cafepress’s decision to pay out only 10% commission on marketplace sales will make it very difficult to make money there. Unless your art is exceptional or you are lucky enough to be chosen by Cafepress for extra exposure the likelihood of generating more money in Cafepress than you would in another POD is very slim.
At the moment I can only recommend Zazzle because that is the only other POD that I have spent any time with. Their commission structure is good and combined with the volume bonus and referral system I believe it is better than Cafepress ever was. That said I advise against keeping all your eggs in one basket as I am sure a few thousand Cafepress shopkeepers will tell you. Other PODs I’m interested in at the moment are Spreadshirt, Printfection and Skreened. If you are a Cafepress shopkeeper, the guys at Skreened as well as a few others are doing their best to help you upload your designs there with ease. That will be my next stop although I will continue to focus my attention on my Zazzle stores.
I previously mentioned that Wordans were going to start up and affiliate program and today they have. So get your affiliate hat on and get to work. We are still waiting for the new version of their site though. Well, I have signed up but have yet to really study it. The link building system seems a bit tedious but there may be more efficient ways of doing it. Also at first glance I don’t see how to deep link to particular items. Anyway, if you want to make me some money, click on the banner below and buy lots of stuff from Wordans.
They are using a Canadian service called ConnexPlace for their affiliates which is a pity as really, who wants to sign up for yet another affiliate company. On the other hand, sign up was totally hassle free.
Cafepress have announced the new retail pricing for the marketplace as of June first. The big changeover day when Cafepress will start to make even more money than before by by only allowing the shopkeepers a paltry 10% commission on items sold in the marketplace. If all goes well, not only will Cafepress be making more money item but will also be selling more items. By going well I mean for Cafepress not for the shopkeepers that they are taking a dump on.
Anyway, enough about that. Below are the prices they have initially chosen but they are subject to change with notice. (See at Cafepress.)
The starting retail prices for products in the Marketplaces are below. As we are doing price testing, be forewarned they will be changing and fluid not only for the initial testing, but moving forward as well. We will not always have advanced notice of when individual items may change from this schedule, nor will we be able to inform you of changes each time.
Please note: All sales made from the Marketplace will result in a 10% commission for the selling Shopkeeper.*
*Excludes Books, CDs, and Flip Mino cameras – their commission structure is as follows:
- Books and CDs will maintain the mark-up commissions as assigned by the Shopkeeper
- Flip Mino and Flip Mino HD still earn a flat $10 commission for Marketplace sales
| Clasic T-shirts | |
|---|---|
| White T-shirts | $22.00 |
| Light T-shirts | $22.00 |
| Dark T-shirts | $22.00 |
| Organic T-shirts | $28.00 |
| Organic T-shirts (dark) | $28.00 |
| Long Sleeve T-shirts | $28.00 |
| Long Sleeve T-shirts (dark) | $28.00 |
| Baseball Jerseys | $22.00 |
| Ringer T-shirts | $22.00 |
| Yellow T-shirts | $22.00 |
| Green T-shirts | $22.00 |
| Sleeveless T-shirts | $20.00 |
| Fitted T-shirts | $25.00 |
| Fitted T-shirts (dark) | $25.00 |
| V-Neck T-shirts | $22.00 |
| V-Neck T-shirts (dark) | $22.00 |
| Women’s Long Sleeve T-shirts | $28.00 |
| Women’s Long Sleeve T-shirts (dark) | $28.00 |
| Fitted Ringer T-shirts | $24.00 |
| Fitted Raglan T-shirts | $24.00 |
| Fitted Spaghetti Tanks | $20.00 |
| Cap Sleeve T-shirts | $22.00 |
| Tank Tops | $20.00 |
| Organic T-Shirts | |
| Organic T-shirts | $28.00 |
| Organic T-shirts (dark) | $28.00 |
| Organic Fitted T-shirts | $26.00 |
| Organic Fitted T-shirts (dark) | $26.00 |
| Hoodies & Sweatshirts | |
| Hoodies | $38.00 |
| Hoodies (dark) | $38.00 |
| Zip Hoodies | $45.00 |
| Zip Hoodies (dark) | $45.00 |
| Sweatshirts | $32.00 |
| Sweatshirts (dark) | $32.00 |
| Raglan Hoodies | $38.00 |
| Fitted Hoodies | $35.00 |
| Tracksuits | $45.00 |
| Performance Jackets | $45.00 |
| Plus Size T-shirts | |
| Plus Size Scoop Neck T-shirts | $30.00 |
| Plus Size Scoop Neck T-shirts (dark) | $30.00 |
| Plus Size V-Neck T-shirts | $30.00 |
| Plus Size V-Neck T-shirts (dark) | $30.00 |
| Maternity T-shirts | |
| Maternity T-shirts | $30.00 |
| Maternity T-shirts (dark) | $30.00 |
| Kids T-shirts | |
| Kids’ T-shirts | $18.00 |
| Kids’ T-shirts (dark) | $22.00 |
| Organic Kids T-shirts | $24.00 |
| Organic Kids T-shirts (dark) | $25.00 |
| Baseball Jerseys | $18.00 |
| Kids Hoodies & Sweatshirts | |
| Hoodies | $25.00 |
| Sweatshirts | $20.00 |
| Baby & Toddler Clothes | |
| Baby/Toddler T-shirts | $14.00 |
| Organic Cotton Toddler T-shirts | $24.00 |
| Organic Cotton Toddler T-shirts (dark) | $25.00 |
| Organic Cotton Baby T-shirts | $20.00 |
| Organic Cotton Bodysuits | $22.00 |
| Infant Bodysuits | $15.00 |
| Organic Kids & Baby Clothes | |
| Organic Cotton Kids T-shirts | $24.00 |
| Organic Kids T-shirts (dark) | $25.00 |
| Organic Cotton Toddler T-shirts | $24.00 |
| Organic Cotton Toddler T-shirts (dark) | $25.00 |
| Organic Cotton Baby T-shirts | $20.00 |
| Organic Cotton Bodysuits | $22.00 |
| Infant Bibs | $10.00 |
| Accessories | |
| Black Caps | $17.00 |
| Trucker Hat | $15.00 |
| Stonewashed Caps | $22.00 |
| Military Caps | $22.00 |
| Thong Underwear | $12.00 |
| Boxer Shorts | $16.00 |
| Messenger Bags | $25.00 |
| Stickers | |
| Bumper Stickers | $5.00 |
| Oval Stickers | $4.00 |
| Rectangle Stickers | $4.00 |
| Lapel Stickers (48 Pack) | $30.00 |
| Bumper Stickers (10pk) | $40.00 |
| Oval Stickers (10pk) | $30.00 |
| Rectangle Stickers (10pk) | $30.00 |
| Bumper Stickers (50pk) | $150.00 |
| Oval Stickers (50pk) | $120.00 |
| Rectangle Stickers (50pk) | $120.00 |
| Buttons | |
| 3.5″ Buttons | $5.00 |
| 2.25″ Buttons | $4.00 |
| Mini Buttons | $2.50 |
| 3.5″ Buttons (10pk) | $40.00 |
| 2.25″ Buttons (10pk) | $30.00 |
| Mini Buttons (10pk) | $20.00 |
| 3.5″ Buttons (100pk) | $250.00 |
| 2.25″ Buttons (100pk) | $200.00 |
| Mini Buttons (100pk) | $125.00 |
| Magnets | |
| Round Magnets | $4.00 |
| Rectangle Magnets | $5.00 |
| Round Magnets (10pk) | $30.00 |
| Rectangle Magnets (10pk) | $40.00 |
| Round Magnets (100pk) | $200.00 |
| Rectangle Magnets (100pk) | $250.00 |
| License Plate Frames | $15.00 |
| Drinkware | |
| Small Mugs | $15.00 |
| Large Mugs | $18.00 |
| Steins | $20.00 |
| Ceramic Travel Mugs | $22.00 |
| Sigg Bottles 1.0 Liter | $28.00 |
| Home & Fun Stuff | |
| Keepsake Boxes | $25.00 |
| Wall Clocks | $18.00 |
| Large Wall Clocks | $40.00 |
| Modern Wall Clocks | $40.00 |
| Throw Pillows | $20.00 |
| Mousepads | $13.00 |
| Tile Coasters | $10.00 |
| Framed Tiles | $15.00 |
| Journals | $10.00 |
| BBQ Aprons | $18.00 |
| Teddy Bear | $18.00 |
| Ornaments (round) | $10.00 |
| Ornaments (oval) | $10.00 |
| Flip Mino Camcorders | $179.99 |
| Flip MinoHD Camcorders | $229.99 |
| Pet | |
| Dog T-shirts | $18.00 |
| Small Pet Bowls | $20.00 |
| Large Pet Bowls | $20.00 |
| Paper Goods | |
| Mini Posters | $8.00 |
| Small Posters | $18.00 |
| Large Posters | $20.00 |
| Small Framed Prints | $40.00 |
| Large Framed Prints | $40.00 |
| Framed Panel Prints | $40.00 |
| Greeting Cards (10pk) | $18.00 |
| Greeting Cards (20pk) | $30.00 |
| Note Cards (10pk) | $15.00 |
| Note Cards (20pk) | $25.00 |
| Greeting Cards | $3.50 |
| PostCards | $8.00 |
| Wall Calendars | $18.00 |
| Vertical Wall Calendars | $22.00 |
| Oversized Wall Calendars | $25.00 |
