CafePress Acquires ImageKind: What it Means for the Entrepreneur

Posted on July 8th, 2008 by thetshirtnexus.
Categories: CafePress, Print on Demand, POD News.

The news is abuzz this morning about CafePress purchasing Imagekind, a high end custom framing marketplace for original and reprinted artwork. Price is said to be between $15 and $20 million according to VentureBeat.

What does this mean to entrepreneurs who use either company? For CafePress shopkeepers this is potentially a huge bonus. Currently CafePress only offers a limited range of products that showcase art or photography for traditional display. They have framed prints but they are in set sizes with set colored frames and matting. ImageKind allows upload of artwork in a variety of aspect ratios and is designed to build the frame to fit the picture. The customer also gets to choose paper/canvas, protective covering, and frame choices and each image is automatically offered in as wide a variety of sizes as is possible with the file uploaded.
ImageKind folks will also gain more likely product possibilities. CafePress offers ceramic tile products such as coaster tiles and keepsake boxes which are very high end looking in my opinion. Journals and larger format calendars will also be new items for ImageKind sellers. And of course CafePress has a whole stable of apparel and other items such as totebags.

Nothing has been said about how the two companies will move forward; however, as an entrepreneur who currently uses both I’m excited about the acquisition. I love how ImageKind can take a file and size frames to fit my artwork and I know the power of the CafePress marketplace. I’d rather save time and marketing efforts by having my art in one storefront.

News Tip from TshirtChat.

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Base Price Increases - 1st Printfection now CafePress

Posted on June 25th, 2008 by thetshirtnexus.
Categories: CafePress, Print on Demand.

Well first POD newcomer, Printfection, announced a price raise. Now CafePress has followed.
Printfection’s increase is the first they’ve had (though of course they haven’t been around that long yet, less than 5 years). CafePress’s increase is the first in 9 years. Printfection says they are increasing prices around 10% across the board while CafePress has varied increases on select items, including the popular White T-shirt. Printfection has also increased its second side printing fee from $2 to $3.
Can we say gas price increases? Neither company specifically says that’s the reason, though CafePress mentions “Margins” which would include that. Printfection makes a point to say that they are absorbing shipping costs for shipping out to customers but they don’t mention an increased cost in wholesalers shipping items out to them which I imagine has happened.
The “Good” news: As a shopkeeper on either system you don’t have to do anything on your end, retail costs will just jump up accordingly. If you want to shave off some of your mark up then you will need to adjust prices on your own.

On CafePress’s end, a small comment caught my eye, some of the price increases will be due to product upgrades. They specifically mentioned journals will get a lined paper choice. I like that idea.

So yeah, I’m stretching to see the “Good” in price increases but these days what can you do?

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CafePress Class in Los Angeles Area

Posted on March 12th, 2007 by thetshirtnexus.
Categories: CafePress.

Long time CafePress shop owner and graphic designer, Jean Roth is again teaching a course on CafePress at West LA College. She posted this on the CafePress forums:

Hello Fellow CPers

I will again be offering the college extension course I did in October on how to kick-start a CafePress shop. I know whoever reads this is already is on your way already :) but do feel free to pass this info on to friends in the LA area who might be interested. And please excuse the shticky wording — its from the catalog!

Do you have great idea for an original t-shirt or putting your art on a poster? Have you ever thought of starting your own online business? Rotem Gear creative director Jean Roth will once again be teaching a class at West LA College where she will show you how to design and create your own products and sell them online through CafePress–with little or no overhead.

Find out what products you can sell (see sample products to check out the quality!), how much money you can make, the type of investment required, print methods, how to upload images, how to attract shoppers to your webpage and much more. **Students will actually set up shops of their own online during class. **

The 3-hour class is perfect for artists, graphic designers, hobbyists, business owners, non-profit organizations and self-employed people who want to bring in some extra cash or create a full business.

Wednesday, March 21, 6:30-9:30 pm
West L.A. College’s Westside Extension (310) 287-4475
Direct link to course info

How to Register

The course is not by CP, so it’s from the point of view of a veteran shopkeeper, but it does have CP’s blessings :)

BTW if this is helpful for anyone — this is the list of resources I give out on a CD to the students .. feel free to use and share!
CafePress Resources

http://www.rotemgear.com/CPCourseCD.html

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CafePress to Offer Women’s Plus Sizes & Kids Dark Shirts

Posted on February 22nd, 2007 by thetshirtnexus.
Categories: CafePress.

Announced in a community chat today, CafePress says they will soon offer Women’s Plus size shirts. Two different styles. They will be new products so we will have to add them to our shops ourselves.

The new print area allowed will be 12″ x 12″.
Kids dark and new light colors are also coming. Infant / toddler and Kids shirts. Dark shirts will be a new product to add.
Predicted date, for all of this, “March”.

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It is what it is - A reminder today of why I love CafePress

Posted on February 1st, 2007 by thetshirtnexus.
Categories: CafePress.

So yesterday I started getting back to back sales on a particular design of mine that I put up a long time ago in a Basic Shop. The design is “It is what it is“. I thought it was just coincidence and got busy doing other things.

Today I went on a mountain bike ride with two friends of mine, we started at the beach then went up into the mountains and back again. It was a pretty day and a great ride.

I came home and checked my sales. More sales for that same design, but in particular, for the design on the Women’s Long Sleeve Dark shirt.

I had done some preliminary searches earlier to see if I had any links coming in, but no, I didn’t find them, of course it takes a while to show up in Google. Searches for just the phrase brought up a variety of results, it is, after all, pretty common.

Finally though I found an article which I think explains it… Olivia Newton John apparently wore my shirt as a guest judge on American Idol! I only saw a tiny picture of the group of judges but it sure looked like my brown shirt! I couldn’t believe it.

Well, maybe I shouldn’t believe it. I found a post that says Olivia’s shirt was from a different website. I looked and they have a very similar shirt to mine but it’s not exactly the same. Their version costs $52!

Frankly, in the small picture I saw, the shirt does not seem to perfectly match my shirt or their shirt but I think Olivia’s microphone pulled the shirt a little out of shape making it hard to see. But hey, I’m not complaining, I put up a design in a basic shop, it made sales, I let it sit for the most part but I kept it up to date.

Now the phrase gets renewed interest because it’s worn by a celebrity.

I go on a mountain bike ride.

I come back and discover my sales have been higher than usual and it seems like this design is what is causing this unusual spike.

I still haven’t found a direct link to the shop, if there isn’t one then I have an increased respect for the power of the CafePress Marketplace because that would mean that when I only had my basic shop (I have since included the products in one of my premium shops) then shoppers were finding the shirt on their own, most likely just searching for it using the Marketplace search function.

I believe the term for the phenomenon demonstrated here is “passive income”, I call it, “I’m glad I found CafePress!”.

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CafeTool Box Now Free - Create a Feed for Google Base

Posted on January 22nd, 2007 by thetshirtnexus.
Categories: Marketing, Google, CafePress.

CafePress Premium Shopowners, you now have another free option for creating a Google Base product feed, CafeTool Box.
Previously the only free option was Adam’s Instant Cafe Feeder.

I’ve not used CafeTool Box yet but the word is that it works great. I have made feeds with Instant Cafe Feeder and was quite pleased with it, especially on how it handled my largest shop.

If you’re not sure about what these tools are for, they are for creating feeds to submit to Google Base, Google’s shopping and user submitted information website. You can get a great response if you have items titled well and on topics that folks often search for. You can read more about Google Base here.

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CafePress Shopkeeper Contest - $500 American Express Card

Posted on November 14th, 2006 by thetshirtnexus.
Categories: CafePress.

Pick what you think will be your best selling product, enter it into the contest to go up against others items and you can win a $500, $250 or $100 gift card.

Only the first 200 entrants will be considered so apply fast!

Even if you don’t win, the entrants will have their products featured in a contest portal!

Details here.

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CafePress Adds New Products

Posted on November 3rd, 2006 by thetshirtnexus.
Categories: CafePress.

Posted Today (but hinted about at CPConnect):

Hi Shopkeepers,

Surprise! Just in time for the Holidays – we’re pleased to announce new merchandise! We’ve added more colors and women’s long sleeved t-shirt. Check out the new merchandise:

• Women’s Long Sleeve T-shirt (White)
• Women’s Long Sleeve Dark T-shirt (Black and Brown)
• Men’s Long Sleeve Dark T-shirt (Black, Navy, and Ash Grey)
• Dark T-shirt (Navy and Military Green – are already found under the Dark T-shirt)

Selling Tip:
Create a “New Arrival” or “What’s New” section on your shop to showcase new merchandise with your best selling designs. It’s a quick way to get your new merchandise in front of your customers while you add the new merchandise to your sections.

Add these products to your shop today!

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