I just wanted to give my opinion on the two print on demand sites I have used. Granted I have only used Printfection for about two months, I still feel comfortable writing this.
No Contest. It's hands down better to go with Cafepress right now. They have more visibility on the internet, more members to help, larger marketplace, constantly updated coupons, and tons of help that get back to you quickly. Printfection has virtually no marketplace, little advertising promoting the actual printfection brand and virtually no other members online to help with issues. Aside from Gavin of course. He does help a lot.
I have been with Cafepress for a few years now and got a sale within my first couple weeks of being a member. It went from there and I now receive a semi-steady income every month. Not a large sum, but enough to keep me updating with more designs. It also allows me to dream of way day being able to do it full-time. Printfection has been slow. So slow in fact that I have not gotten one sale in the few months I have been with them. Which makes me sad. I do like some of the things you are able to do at Printfection.
Some positives at Printfection. First, being able to completely hide all Printfection labels on your personal homepage is great. It really makes it seem like a separated shop. Also, you do not pay for a premium membership at Printfection. At Cafe, it costs a minimum of $4.99 per premium shop a month. I have two, so that is $10 a month for fees. While those fees seem unnecessary, something has to pay for amazing amount of advertising they do. So it's a fair trade. Also at Printfection you have the option to change your markup for items bought in bulk. You can't do this at Cafepress. Printfection also has a much larger print space on the actual t-shirts. For a designer this is great. Gives you more flexibility in your designs. Something I wish everyday, we could get at Cafepress. That is about it though.
Positives at Cafepress. Where to start? I just love the site. It's simple to get started, marketplace is substantial and feels like it's own shop to customers. Tons of advertising support and SEO is stout across the board on anything t-shirt. Just try and look up any t-shirt on google and Cafepress should appear. Another great thing I love is the community. Got a questions, need some feedback, having trouble, just post and wait. It shouldn't be to long before another member will chime in. Variety of products is also a great advantage at Cafepress. You could literally open up a site concentrating on everything but shirts they have so many products.
Another thing of note. If you were serious about doing your own advertising and really hitting it hard, Printfection may be the way to go. It seems like they really want you to take on the responsiblity of your store. At cafepress they just do a lot of the work for you. Also at Cafepress, if you do some advertising on your own and get people directly to your shop to buy items, you will get a shop bonus percentage.
If you have any questions or comments for me please respond. Maybe I'm just unlucky with Printfection but they just aren't as friendly and cuddly as Cafepress.
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