Is Zazzle following in Cafepress’s footsteps?
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.
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Let’s hope Zazzle DOESN’T go down this road, especially since this seems to be the main destination for Cafepress refugees.
According to anecdotal forum posts, a lot of people who are leaving CP are building stores on at least TWO other sites. I think that’s smart. I’m doing it myself.
I agree. I don’t think that Zazzle will really screw us over, at least not soon, but it is a good idea to have a backup. Zazzle was my Cafepress backup and I am sure glad I had that.