So Many Changes!

There have been so many changes in recent months at both CafePress and Zazzle, I don't know where to start.  I will be talking about these in more detail eventually, but for now I'm just going to list them.

At Zazzle

• Major Changes to Volume Bonus Program 
  Basically, they reduced the bonus, made it only available at a higher volume, and made it only apply to sales you referred, not sales from the marketplace.  Yeah, it sucks.  I understand that they were being very generous before...but I hate to see this become so unattainable for most sellers.

• 5% Mark Up Available
  You can now mark your products up by 5% if you want to.  You don't have to, but you can.

• Major Site Layout Change 
  Zazzle changed their layout to better fit iPad, iPod and other mobile devices.  We lost some of our ability to customize.

• New Papers for Invitations, and Envelopes
  They now have 11 paper paper types for invitations, and new colored envelopes!  This blog post has a good overview of 8 of these.

• New Products
  They have added flip flops, watches, candy tins, and Case Savvy iPad.  The flip flops come in black and white in both mens and womens styles.  The candy tins and watches come in various styles and colors.  See a few examples of the watches and tins below...

At CafePress

• New Profiles and Dashboards
  CafePress is now a lot more interactive.  You have a profile where people can see your latest designs (which they can like and follow).  You can follow others and get news about other CP artists designs, as well as news about your sales and such.  Very nice...I like this.  More on this here.

• New Commission Changes
  They are making marketplace commission changes based on volume sold of certain designs.  It would raise some marketplace commissions to up to 15% but lower others under 10%.  They are framing it as a "reward" for high sellers, but I'm very leery of what this may do to a lot of little guys.  I don't sell much on CafePress anymore, but when I do sell, I'd like it to AT LEAST get 10% commission.  More on this here.

• New Design and List Tool, and Other Updates
  They have a new design and list tool that looks cool, and a lot of other new updates you can see here.

• New Products
  They have quietly, without announcement, added Neoprene lunch bags and diaper bags.  The lunch bags show up under new products, but the diaper bags you have to search under Baby to find.

• New Products
  They have quietly, without announcement, added Neoprene lunch bags and diaper bags.  The lunch bags show up under new products, but the diaper bags you have to search under Baby to find.

• New Products
  They have quietly, without announcement, added Neoprene lunch bags and diaper bags.  The lunch bags show up under new products, but the diaper bags you have to search under Baby to find.

Whew!  Good changes and bad changes all mixed together there.  Sorry I didn't get these announcements posted sooner.  Been busy with real life (and a MESS at Squidoo, where there's been a lot of changes going on too.  More on THAT later too, hopefully,  for those who use that service).