The Admin Shop at CP Amuses Me

Well, a recent post on the CP forums said that CP would be auto-generating new products with our designs on new products in our Admin shop.  I was curious about what new products were added and skipped into my admin shop to check out a preview.  Well, guess no sneak peak for me....

Yeah, all those product number 114, 115, ect. were not visiable...but I did see some older stuff they had added to my shop.  Like this...

Here's the same design with rounded corners, larger...

Really CP?  REALLY?   You know, there's a reason why I haven't added any yoga pants.  I just don't think my artwork is best displayed on someone's butt (or crotch?  Which is it?  I've never been able to tell).   And this particular one...it looks like they're looking at, ah sheesh, nevermind.  (UPDATE:  When I posted this on the CafePress/Zazzlers facebook page I was told it's printed on the bottom, not crotch.  And someone commented that if you flex your butt muscles the ladies could kiss... I laughed my undecorated butt off at that! )  Still, deleted the product and hope they don't add it back.  

I also thought these were amusing...

So, CP, you think people want wine coolers and cocktail shakers with a baby crib on it?

Ok, MAYBE someone might buy that...but not likely.   Sheesh, this is why product addition should not be automated.  

New Ability to Create Collections On Zazzle

You can now create custom collections at Zazzle, and it doesn't use tagging.  You can pick whatever products you want to include.  Find the full details here.

CafePress Finds One More Way to Pay Us Less. Thanks CP.

CafePress is changing it's Content Owner Agreement once again, and once again, it ain't pretty.  If in the last three months you have not done the following, your commission could be reduced to as much as little as 5%:

• Logged  in to CafePress
• Uploaded at least one design
• Gained a follower on CafePress.com
• Followed another designer on CafePress.com
• Have a designer profile that is at least 80 percent complete

When they first introduced this, they sort of glossed over the fact that many people could see their marketplace commission lessen, emphasizing that some would see an increase.  Well, turns out that only some hand-picked by CafePress would be able to participate in a bonus program and possibly see their commission increase to 15%, and only on specific products/designs.

So, in stead of rewarding good participation they're choosing to take a punitive role (hey, why not when it means they get to keep more of their money).  It's sad, really sad.  When I first started selling through them CafePress they encouraged promotion through the affiliate program, and maybe because of that or maybe just because of the great community they had going, people really supported and promoted each other.  Participation levels were high.  That all came to a crashing halt around 2008 when they made changes that took away our ability to set our own prices in the marketplace, and reduced people's commissions to 10%.

You know, I was really encouraged when they set up the dashboard to encourage participation and interactions among artists here...I thought it was a good move towards rebuilding that community.

But now this had put a sour note on all of it.  They COULD have just made this a benificial thing, rewarding those with high participation.  But they basically said "Participate or else" and now this whole thing is feeling much less fun.

Meanwhile ALL SALES MADE THROUGH 3rd PARTY SITES will receive a 5% commission.

CP  also made some changes to their permission to use our designs--this isn't that much of a difference from what came before so I'm not too concerned about that. Though they are wrong that they "The Content Owner Agreement has always granted CafePress the right to automatically add your content to any of our assortment of base goods." No, I specifically remember when they added that, and the concern that our designs would suddenly appear on products we didn't want them on. Saying they can reposition items doesn't really change much though, so I'm not as concerned about this.

NOTE:  Click here for a great post on how to find out your current CP ranking/commission.

Zazzle - New Product Check

If you have any cases, go check your new products on Zazzle.  Zazzle has automatically updated your cases to new ones, but you may need to make some changes to alignment.

And, make sure to check out all the new products added this September (and the end of August...sorry I missed those) including new apparel items, Wallets, and Wallpaper.

Zazzle Adds Scarfs and Leggings!

Zazzle just added SCARVES and LEGGINGS!  Woo hoo!
Scarfs come 9 colors in leggings come in 12!  You can see the size of the area you can use in the examples below (both sides of the scarf can be utilized, though the one below just shows one side).  More info here.

Fiery Leaves Scarf Wraps by scribbleprints
Browse additional scarves

Fire Leaves Legging Tights by scribbleprints
View more Fall Leggings

CafePress Just Added New Products!

Shoes, more cases, baby stuff, maternity tank tops...wow. It's to late to do a full post tonight, but I know I know I'll be busy adding stuff tomorrow!

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).