Comments on: CafePress Virtually Lays Off Thousands of Shopkeepers http://www.wolfstad.com/2009/04/cafepress-virtually-lays-off-thousands-of-shopkeepers/ Arthur & Amy's personal weblog Mon, 15 Mar 2010 18:22:41 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: alix http://www.wolfstad.com/2009/04/cafepress-virtually-lays-off-thousands-of-shopkeepers/comment-page-1/#comment-96906 alix Mon, 08 Feb 2010 05:21:03 +0000 http://www.wolfstad.com/?p=2172#comment-96906 hmmmm. well I can tell you where they plan to get new and creative artists and designers. I got a coupon for a free premium store for 5 years , (when I purchased a new intuos Wacom tablet) .. I've been happily uploading my designs... that is.. until I started reading all these postings from upset shopkeepers.... but, yes all the new WAcom Tablets are shipping with FREE STORE coupons.. (that's their plan...) it pulled me in... hmm. maybe I will check out Zazzle, as I like the idea of a store.... hmmmm. well I can tell you where they plan to get new and creative artists and designers. I got a coupon for a free premium store for 5 years , (when I purchased a new intuos Wacom tablet) .. I’ve been happily uploading my designs… that is.. until I started reading all these postings from upset shopkeepers…. but, yes all the new WAcom Tablets are shipping with FREE STORE coupons.. (that’s their plan…) it pulled me in… hmm. maybe I will check out Zazzle, as I like the idea of a store….

]]> By: John http://www.wolfstad.com/2009/04/cafepress-virtually-lays-off-thousands-of-shopkeepers/comment-page-1/#comment-91732 John Tue, 08 Sep 2009 05:13:51 +0000 http://www.wolfstad.com/?p=2172#comment-91732 Wow, I am overwhelmingly disappointed in Cafepress. As a professional designer, I used to recommend them to clients, non-profits, schools, businesses, etc, as a great way to help their causes. Can’t do that anymore (at least with good conscience). In fact, I just designed a website for a company and recommended CP to them. This week, I will strongly urge against it — it’s just not worth it anymore. On the one hand, I understand this is a difficult economy and business have been forced to become extremely crafty about gathering every penny to stay afloat. However, the latest changes seem so unlike Cafepress. I have had 2 shops with them from the time they started. Usually, there is a consideration and respect for store owners/designers, and the people they hire always seemed to have a high level of professional standards. That said, I’m not sure I understand the context of the recent changes (unless, perhaps, there has been a new wave of management). For myself, I felt the gutting of my sales recently. It used to be that the yearly fee for 2 shops was waaay more than easily covered with my sales. Now, I honestly make what seems to be pennies compared to what I did before. I never had to ask myself if it was worth it to have a shop, but now I do. With the recent changes, it’s almost like I’m *paying them* to do whatever they decide to with my designs. On that note, I’m surprised that there hasn’t been more uproar about the recent assertion that they can alter the color, etc, of your design for printing purposes. The writing in that clause seemed fairly vague to me and rather over-reaching. It simply does *not* make good business sense to me to pay a yearly fee to have a shop where I have less and less control over my designs and the amount of profit they generate in order to be included in an over-saturated “Marketplace.” To be frank, it is wiser to take the time and effort involved in putting an image on CP products and use it, instead, to submit your designs for some products at stationary companies, at Target, at Papyrus, etc. You would actually stand to make more money worth your time on licensing or payment of usage for your designs. The original Cafepress spirit of empowering independent design and entrepreneurialism seems to be gone. Right now, no designer in their right mind would agree to these sweatshop-like terms of engagement. And yes, I understand it is their “Marketplace”, they pay for ad words to advertise the designs, they pay for production and distribution and most likely a host of other business costs that go unmentioned; however, the scales have tipped far too much. I predict that a host of people who pay the premium yearly store rate will take a huge hit in sales from this and consider closing their stores like I am. They will go elsewhere as their profitability hugely drops. The “Marketplace” will become over-saturated with crappy designs and stores because no decent designers will take CP seriously as a business partner. There are so many more options out there worth one’s time. I honestly miss the old Cafepress. Whoever thought up this crappy idea must be patting themselves on the back as the new profits have been flooding in, but the embers of disappointment on the web regarding these changes are turning into a wildfire. It used to be that you could barely find a complaint in cyberspace about CP, but not any more. I’m so sad to say that I am taking my business and designs elsewhere. You broke my heart CP; now I have to break up with you. Wow, I am overwhelmingly disappointed in Cafepress. As a professional designer, I used to recommend them to clients, non-profits, schools, businesses, etc, as a great way to help their causes. Can’t do that anymore (at least with good conscience). In fact, I just designed a website for a company and recommended CP to them. This week, I will strongly urge against it — it’s just not worth it anymore.
On the one hand, I understand this is a difficult economy and business have been forced to become extremely crafty about gathering every penny to stay afloat. However, the latest changes seem so unlike Cafepress. I have had 2 shops with them from the time they started. Usually, there is a consideration and respect for store owners/designers, and the people they hire always seemed to have a high level of professional standards. That said, I’m not sure I understand the context of the recent changes (unless, perhaps, there has been a new wave of management).
For myself, I felt the gutting of my sales recently. It used to be that the yearly fee for 2 shops was waaay more than easily covered with my sales. Now, I honestly make what seems to be pennies compared to what I did before. I never had to ask myself if it was worth it to have a shop, but now I do. With the recent changes, it’s almost like I’m *paying them* to do whatever they decide to with my designs. On that note, I’m surprised that there hasn’t been more uproar about the recent assertion that they can alter the color, etc, of your design for printing purposes. The writing in that clause seemed fairly vague to me and rather over-reaching.
It simply does *not* make good business sense to me to pay a yearly fee to have a shop where I have less and less control over my designs and the amount of profit they generate in order to be included in an over-saturated “Marketplace.” To be frank, it is wiser to take the time and effort involved in putting an image on CP products and use it, instead, to submit your designs for some products at stationary companies, at Target, at Papyrus, etc. You would actually stand to make more money worth your time on licensing or payment of usage for your designs. The original Cafepress spirit of empowering independent design and entrepreneurialism seems to be gone. Right now, no designer in their right mind would agree to these sweatshop-like terms of engagement.
And yes, I understand it is their “Marketplace”, they pay for ad words to advertise the designs, they pay for production and distribution and most likely a host of other business costs that go unmentioned; however, the scales have tipped far too much. I predict that a host of people who pay the premium yearly store rate will take a huge hit in sales from this and consider closing their stores like I am. They will go elsewhere as their profitability hugely drops. The “Marketplace” will become over-saturated with crappy designs and stores because no decent designers will take CP seriously as a business partner. There are so many more options out there worth one’s time.
I honestly miss the old Cafepress. Whoever thought up this crappy idea must be patting themselves on the back as the new profits have been flooding in, but the embers of disappointment on the web regarding these changes are turning into a wildfire. It used to be that you could barely find a complaint in cyberspace about CP, but not any more. I’m so sad to say that I am taking my business and designs elsewhere. You broke my heart CP; now I have to break up with you.

]]> By: Katie Fox http://www.wolfstad.com/2009/04/cafepress-virtually-lays-off-thousands-of-shopkeepers/comment-page-1/#comment-90919 Katie Fox Thu, 20 Aug 2009 21:04:25 +0000 http://www.wolfstad.com/?p=2172#comment-90919 Hi Arthur! I am reaching out to you today as we respect your influence in the POD community and feel that we have something remarkable which could be of interest to you and your audience. The makers Sellit.com are proud to announce AdPAKs, the latest in our suite of solutions for online merchants. Shop owners can now instantly turn their mini-shops created with Sellit into interactive advertisements which are distributed and displayed across the web. This product was designed for shop owners seeking an easy way to increase exposure for their products and services, improve customer interaction and drive new traffic to existing online shops. Sellit is a social media marketing platform that enables online merchants to drive significantly more traffic to their stores than by traditional marketing/advertising methods. The platform enables users to turn their storefronts into mini-shops that can be distributed across the Web, advertise their mini-shop in an innovative and more effective way, and broadcast across all social media through one interface. The platform takes minutes to set up and is now available to CafePress Shopkeepers. If you are interested or would like more information, great! Please see our official press release... http://ecommwire.com/?id=20510&keys=advertising-marketing-cafepress ...and feel free to check Sellit out for yourself. If we do not hear back from you, we promise to follow up only one time and if you do not respond, we'll leave you alone ; ) Thank you for your time and feel free to reach out for any further info. Katie Hi Arthur!

I am reaching out to you today as we respect your influence in the POD community and feel that we have something remarkable which could be of interest to you and your audience.

The makers Sellit.com are proud to announce AdPAKs, the latest in our suite of solutions for online merchants. Shop owners can now instantly turn their mini-shops created with Sellit into interactive advertisements which are distributed and displayed across the web. This product was designed for shop owners seeking an easy way to increase exposure for their products and services, improve customer interaction and drive new traffic to existing online shops.

Sellit is a social media marketing platform that enables online merchants to drive significantly more traffic to their stores than by traditional marketing/advertising methods. The platform enables users to turn their storefronts into mini-shops that can be distributed across the Web, advertise their mini-shop in an innovative and more effective way, and broadcast across all social media through one interface. The platform takes minutes to set up and is now available to CafePress Shopkeepers.

If you are interested or would like more information, great! Please see our official press release…
http://ecommwire.com/?id=20510&keys=advertising-marketing-cafepress
…and feel free to check Sellit out for yourself.

If we do not hear back from you, we promise to follow up only one time and if you do not respond, we’ll leave you alone ; )

Thank you for your time and feel free to reach out for any further info.
Katie

]]> By: Anne http://www.wolfstad.com/2009/04/cafepress-virtually-lays-off-thousands-of-shopkeepers/comment-page-1/#comment-90117 Anne Sun, 02 Aug 2009 07:58:26 +0000 http://www.wolfstad.com/?p=2172#comment-90117 I am outraged. I see CP is not budging on all these protests. If there were only someway to contact every affected shopkeeper and have them hide (not close) their shops on a specific date for 1 week, what would CP do? Kind of like an online strike. I wrote to customer service who replied I am very sorry we will forward this to the marketplace people. They even gave me an email. But have I heard anything from them? Of course not. I am outraged. I see CP is not budging on all these protests. If there were only someway to contact every affected shopkeeper and have them hide (not close) their shops on a specific date for 1 week, what would CP do?
Kind of like an online strike.
I wrote to customer service who replied I am very sorry we will forward this to the marketplace people. They even gave me an email. But have I heard anything from them? Of course not.

]]> By: Goyito http://www.wolfstad.com/2009/04/cafepress-virtually-lays-off-thousands-of-shopkeepers/comment-page-1/#comment-86695 Goyito Wed, 03 Jun 2009 19:41:10 +0000 http://www.wolfstad.com/?p=2172#comment-86695 Last year I earned $28,500 in commissions from CafePress. Had they not unilaterally changed the volume bonus program, I would have earned another $5,000, for a total of $33,500. As of June 1, shirts that I used to earn 5 bucks apiece by selling are now making me a lousy 2 bucks each. The difference is even worse on small price items such as buttons and bumper stickers. As a company, CP has the right to make business decisions that are in its best interest. As an independent designer, so do I. As soon as I have moved my designs to Zazzle.com I will make them unavailable via the CafePress marketplace. I am absolutely disgusted at the way I and other shopkeepers/designers have been treated. CafePress has acted in a highly offensive, unethical manner. The hell with them. Last year I earned $28,500 in commissions from CafePress. Had they not unilaterally changed the volume bonus program, I would have earned another $5,000, for a total of $33,500.

As of June 1, shirts that I used to earn 5 bucks apiece by selling are now making me a lousy 2 bucks each. The difference is even worse on small price items such as buttons and bumper stickers.

As a company, CP has the right to make business decisions that are in its best interest. As an independent designer, so do I. As soon as I have moved my designs to Zazzle.com I will make them unavailable via the CafePress marketplace. I am absolutely disgusted at the way I and other shopkeepers/designers have been treated. CafePress has acted in a highly offensive, unethical manner. The hell with them.

]]> By: balbuster http://www.wolfstad.com/2009/04/cafepress-virtually-lays-off-thousands-of-shopkeepers/comment-page-1/#comment-85593 balbuster Tue, 19 May 2009 02:25:58 +0000 http://www.wolfstad.com/?p=2172#comment-85593 I think it is very rotten that after luring the finest artist and web designers and creative people make cafepress the most successful bussiness in the POD industry only to get greedy and screw the great shopkeepers with their offer of crumbs when they should get 3/4 of the cup cake. Shame on CP! Spread the word.. If you are a shopkeeper take your avitar in the forums on CP and turn them backwards as to not face this company of cowards. I send best wishes to my fellow shopkeepers.... Now let's ban together and close down CP one shop at a time... If they want to outsource let them do it but don't forgert to take your designs with you.. leave them nothing like they left you! I think it is very rotten that after luring the finest artist and web designers and creative people make cafepress the most successful bussiness in the POD industry only to get greedy and screw the great shopkeepers with their offer of crumbs when they should get 3/4 of the cup cake. Shame on CP!
Spread the word.. If you are a shopkeeper take your avitar in the forums on CP and turn them backwards as to not face this company of cowards.

I send best wishes to my fellow shopkeepers…. Now let’s ban together and close down CP one shop at a time… If they want to outsource let them do it but don’t forgert to take your designs with you.. leave them nothing like they left you!

]]> By: CafePress Virtually Lays Off Thousands of Shopkeepers « http://www.wolfstad.com/2009/04/cafepress-virtually-lays-off-thousands-of-shopkeepers/comment-page-1/#comment-84670 CafePress Virtually Lays Off Thousands of Shopkeepers « Sat, 02 May 2009 20:36:27 +0000 http://www.wolfstad.com/?p=2172#comment-84670 [...] CafePress Virtually Lays Off Thousands of Shopkeepers CafePress Virtually Lays Off Thousands of Shopkeepers [...] [...] CafePress Virtually Lays Off Thousands of Shopkeepers CafePress Virtually Lays Off Thousands of Shopkeepers [...]

]]> By: Caza Creations http://www.wolfstad.com/2009/04/cafepress-virtually-lays-off-thousands-of-shopkeepers/comment-page-1/#comment-84440 Caza Creations Tue, 28 Apr 2009 09:59:30 +0000 http://www.wolfstad.com/?p=2172#comment-84440 I am one of the ones who has decided to close my shop at the end of the year instead of renewing my subscription. My shop wasn't a major money maker so it makes sense for me to close it and the decision is not as hard as for some of the big money makers that will be hit hardest. I have already signed on with a new POD and hope everyone else can do the same. I am one of the ones who has decided to close my shop at the end of the year instead of renewing my subscription. My shop wasn’t a major money maker so it makes sense for me to close it and the decision is not as hard as for some of the big money makers that will be hit hardest. I have already signed on with a new POD and hope everyone else can do the same.

]]> By: Wolfstad http://www.wolfstad.com/2009/04/cafepress-virtually-lays-off-thousands-of-shopkeepers/comment-page-1/#comment-84362 Wolfstad Mon, 27 Apr 2009 00:01:41 +0000 http://www.wolfstad.com/?p=2172#comment-84362 @Damian: Yes, I'm a shopkeeper @Damian: Yes, I’m a shopkeeper

]]> By: me http://www.wolfstad.com/2009/04/cafepress-virtually-lays-off-thousands-of-shopkeepers/comment-page-1/#comment-84360 me Sun, 26 Apr 2009 23:56:14 +0000 http://www.wolfstad.com/?p=2172#comment-84360 You're right, Arthur. Not only are a lot of SKs (like me) leaving CP and taking our designs to a competitor, but the fury this ridiculous and unfair decision has caused spells serious trouble for CP's future. You’re right, Arthur. Not only are a lot of SKs (like me) leaving CP and taking our designs to a competitor, but the fury this ridiculous and unfair decision has caused spells serious trouble for CP’s future.

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