Anyone making real money with Cafepress, Zazzle, ShirtCity, etc?

All of these services seem like their products are too expensive right off the bat, and I can't imagine them being profitable after tagging on yet a few more dollars per product... is anyone actually successful in using these programs ("successful" as in making hundreds or thousands per month?)

 

It's possible... you'll have to choose a niche where there's money though.

I've only used zazzle, but a few hundred a month there isn't too hard. To make thousands a month though, you'll have to have a TON of designs. Try making templates that you can re-use with related terms/phrases to cut down on the design time.

Also, only design for products that people actually need or use on a constant basis. Postcards and mousepads are nice, but your commission is very low and people rarely buy them. If I were you, I'd start with either designing for business cards or t-shirts. People are constantly needing them, and the markup is pretty decent. With T-shirts, I normally choose a cheaper t-shirt and then mark it up around 25-27%. This makes the base price around $24-25 which isn't too unreasonable. This means I get around $5-10/shirt which isn't so bad. I think I mark my business cards up to around 20%.

 

I have many average $200+/month from CP.
Totally agreed that the price is a bit expensive but what my client is looking at is not the price but the quality of it. So i don't see any slow down in term of shirt sales to my client.

 

Thanks guys - definitely some good thoughts here. I've actually come up with a real hackey niche market for t-shirts that I think would really be a big local hit. I might as well try it out.

 

hi,

yes give it a go, good luck. I just wanted to push the niche idea again as this is where the money is,

dave

 

Interesting - I wondered the same thing. I know during the election some of the more creative slogans did quite well, but were copied quickly. So I think the key is being first on a fad.

 

I opened my CP store Jan 22, 2009.

see http://www.borderraven.com

I already had a few bumperstickers designed, so expanding wasn't a problem. I keep a few documents for collecting thoughts and ideas.

I have zero capital, to take a design, to a tee shirt printer or sublimation shop, and order 50-4XL, 200-3XL, 400-2-XL, 400-XL, etc., nor do I have storage or shop space. CafePress, sets their base price, and I set a my markup. I handle the artwork, select products, organize my shop, and CafePress, does the rest.

CafePress, offers fre to low cost ($60 per year) shop space (compared to 50 cents per sqft on a lease), zero hassles over personnel, training, payroll, utilities, facilities, equipment, maintenance, etc. My shop is "virtual", and boundless.

My focus, is patriotism, Americanism, the US Constitution, Rights, Government, illegal immigration, and I dabble in other pursuits, like 2012, survivalism, as I find niches.

I planned to setup a CafePress shop, after I got a job, but I have time now, so I'll focus, on making some level of income. I've told my brother, he'll take over the store, if needed.

My shop is up and I am modifying it almost daily. No sales, yet, but it is too soon to tell. It may be virtual, but it is a lot of work and long hours, to setup and run it.

BR

 

You would be surprised what people will buy- the most common mistake people make when opening up shops is pricing too LOW really! I make my living at Cafepress, Zazzle and Printfection. I make decent money - of course it depends on what time of year- right now it is slow - last month I only made about $2500
but in December I kicked butt with over $15,000 Combined income from all my shops (CP,Zazzle and Printfection) it Does pay to use premium shops- looks more professional. But start out with free basic shops and build your income up some first if you like then start paying for premium shops- there is no limit to how many free basic shops you can have at Cafepress.


It is not over night and it takes ALOT of work but it CAN Be done.
good luck- with the economy as it is now - it pays to try to make money at home while you are either laid off or working - you can listen to TV While you work I do.

Good Luck and God Bless.

 

Thank you ShopTeez, I'm almost giving hope. I experimented 3 times over 5 years. The last experiment is (now selling) for Earth Day, not doing well. I'm loosing money in Adwords, no sell. What else advice you give other than starting up with basic shop then upgrade to premium shop?

 

ShopTeez: wow, that was really interesting, thanks for sharing!!

 

ShopTeez, that is really inspiring one mate, will look on further on this, thanks again!

 

MakingMoneywithPODs dot wordpress dot com

Hopefully will soon have pages with tips and tricks on how to succeed- working on my shops now though

 

Absolutely ! You can have unlimited free shops at cafepress - use them - they look much better now than they ever did before. I don't use adwords, I don't use paid advertising (I'm cheap) Hardly any of the shopkeepers are selling this month- even the big dogs. Sales are down right now- start thinking of Father's Day stuff now, and 4th of July - give google some time to seo your shops.
Zazzle galleries are free and they have Great ways for promotion- Printfection is young and limited BUT they seem to come up quick in google

AND most importantly do not UNDER price your stuff.. many of my shirts are 15.00 above base price- most are 10-12 bucks over. So think big - people pay for things you would not believe they pay for, they are willing to pay the price..

 

It's not overnight work, it takes months to build a good referral scheme.

 

Yes for a regular income but in the meantime I have had and heard others who have used great key words & descriptions and while the sales are marketplace, they are sales sometimes within a day of placing the product up. The idea is to get more shop sales vs marketplace sales but - hey a sale is a sale when you are just starting the income is the same, the bonus is less with MP sales is all.

 

I hate to be the bearer of nasty news but I have to retract all my suggestions to make money at Cafepress as the company JUST announced a new terms of service that is going to put any of the shopkeepers basically out of business- SO if you want to sell T-shirts go to Zazzle or Printfection. This is going to serious ruin my income as I made 90% from Cafepress so I am trying to save yo the time and trouble.

I apologize for getting anyone's hopes up - this has been the final straw in the screw the shopkeepers at Cafepress for many of us top sellers.

 

wow - that sucks. Were those internal shop results getting you most of your traffic, or were you running your own .com?

 

I only can speak about my experience in zazzle because is the only I use and so far only sold one sticker

 

I think that are too expensive and they didn't guarantee good results...

 

ShopTeez, you've really got me thinking about using my CafePress and Zazzle shops again...well maybe not so much CafePress Zazzle has better products anyway.

Could you give us a link to your shop so we can check it out?