Cafepress Alternatives - Find out the truth about 'CP's' biggest competitors.

[KynloStephen66515]

CafePress Alternatives & Competitors
Three main competitors are challenging CafePress. Links to each company and a review of each alternative "print on demand" service.
You've spent countless hours creating designs. Now you're ready to open your own online store & make money selling your T-shirts and merchandise! What print on demand service should you choose? Here are the three main competitors of CafePress.com so you can decide for yourself!

Raw Link: http://www.squidoo.c...afepress_alternative

[JavaJones]

Oo, very useful article! I recently bought a CafePress t-shirt for my girlfriend and while it turned out ok, the price and available colors weren't quite what I would have liked. It was an organic shirt, so it's going to be more expensive, but I ended up paying upwards of $30 for a printed (front and back) t-shirt, and that seemed pretty steep. I see pricing is possibly a bit cheaper with Printfection, *and* they have more color options for organic shirts. Very cool. The print quality of the CafePress shirt is also mediocre, so I'm intrigued by this person's review of Printfection being much better. Of course CafePress offers some products that Printfection does not, but if the product is available there, they do seem like an interesting option.

Overall I think I'd say use CafePress only if they're the sole option that provides the product you want to make. Otherwise use Printfection (based only on this person's comments for now) if they have the product you want. Use Zazzle for any large prints, e.g. posters, etc. as that's really what they specialize in. Use Kodak or someone similar for photo prints and photo books (or maybe Lulu.com).

- Oshyan

[mouser]

the cafepress mugs are outstanding quality.. i've been dissapointed with the tshirts ive seen.

as javajones notes, this article suggests that printfection has much better quality shirts, so it would be nice to evaluate.

[KynloStephen66515]

New contender:

www.zazzle.com

Pretty great custom stuff, they even go as far as allowing you to customize your own skateboards and shoes!

[Veign]

Great article...

[JavaJones]

Zazzle has actually been around for ages. I mentioned them in my reply above. Didn't know they were doing shoes and skateboards now though, hehe.

- Oshyan

[KynloStephen66515]

Zazzle has actually been around for ages. I mentioned them in my reply above. Didn't know they were doing shoes and skateboards now though, hehe.

- Oshyan

-JavaJones (April 10, 2010, 12:33 PM)

Yeah...I saw that...honest? haha sorry

[1NR1]

Hello,

I'm going to just wing this comment since I have experience with all of these POD (print on demand) sites and have 'stores' on all also, so forgive any rambling.  Cafe Press has the name that is most recognizable for most T buyers (T=any merchandise), on-line buyers. Zazzle is number two, with Printfection, (they have some very creative stores and commercial artists with pages on the site but their stated business model is more towards Business to Business) and Spreadshirt are in the running but not in as well know a position as the others.

From my experience:

Printfection has the best quality.
Cafe press the most offerings.
Zazzle the most variety .
Spreadshirt best price.

Here's the takeaway for an occasional T buyer (maybe like JavaJones):

Prices are not going to be a lot different when shipping is figured in between all of the above.

If you want a deal look for the "specials" all of these have.  For instance I was msg'd that a 2.00 tee shirt was a special ("store owners cost") so you can see the variation. Speaking of which before buying I would check the store cost (somewhere on the site it's linked) against the retail cost and if it is out of line, 5 to 20 dollars more than the store cost, write the "shopkeeper" and ask to pay 2 or 3 dollars above the list, have them open a private store and you may get it. Same goes for a design you like but want some lettering on it.

If you are buying 10 or more bargain for a good discount and keep shipping low and slow.

Large quantities 100 or more, go local.  And, MAKE CERTAIN you see a sample of the material you are getting.

That's it for starters. Cheers
NR