Print on Demand Shops Reviewed
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Print On Demand - Where to Sell Your Art on Printed Products FOR FREE!
Ever wanted to design your own shirts, mugs, mousepads, cards, calendars or other printed items to sell, but the printing costs scared you off? Well, now there is a way to put your artwork and ideas on printed items without having to spend anything up front. The idea is simple. You supply POD (print on demand) companies with the designs, and the POD company provides you with a shop that shows your design on products--but nothing is actually printed until a customer orders it. When a customer orders the POD collects their "base price" fee and you make a commission or mark-up on the sale.
There are various print on demand services out there. Below I have info on how to choose the right POD for you, reviews on several PODS that I've used, and links to more POD sites and other useful tips and tools for selling through print on demand!
There are various print on demand services out there. Below I have info on how to choose the right POD for you, reviews on several PODS that I've used, and links to more POD sites and other useful tips and tools for selling through print on demand!
POD Reviews
Below are reviews of four POD services (CafePress, Zazzle , Printfection and ArtsNow ) outlining how they stack up on the points mentioned above. Below these reviews you will find links to additional Print on Demand Services and some helpful links for shopkeepers I've found.
What to Look For
There are several different considerations in choosing a print-on-demand company. Some may be more important to you depending on what you want to sell, who you want to sell it to, and how much time you want to put into your shop.
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Product Selection
What products can you sell? -
Product and Printing Quality
Are the products and printing good quality? -
Storefront
How is the store front laid out, what features are offered, how much flexibility do you have to make it your own, and how difficult is it to set up, add products, and maintain your shop? -
Product Price
What is the base price of the products (before adding your commission or mark-up)? -
Production & Shipping Time/Cost
How fast do products get to your customers, and how much will they pay for shipping? -
Customer Base
Does the company have a market for your product already in place, or will you have to rely mainly on your own promotional efforts?
CafePress
Product Selection
CafePress has a nicely rounded out selection of apparel (including baby and maternity) and gift products. They have ceramics, stationary, and gifts for home and office. They offer embroidery, but it is limited to a pre-set shaped patch on certain apparel items. They also offer books and audio and video CDs.
Of the PODS reviewed here CafePress is the only one to offer the following products:
Sigg water bottles, thermos bottles and containers, ceramic travel mugs and stackable mugs, banners and yard signs, navy colored aprons, gym bags, men's and women's underwear, baby blankets, yoga mats, Christmas stockings, vanity licence plates, trailer hitches, car magnets, wall peelies, shot glasses, clear glass cups, Thermos products, kids sized water bottles, magnetic bumper stickers, blankets, sheets, pillowcases, shower curtains, flip flops, lap top skins, mylar baloons, round jewelery boxes, US shaped stickers, wine and beer labels, and more.
Product and Printing Quality
Overall, CafePress has a relatively good product and printing quality. I have had things mis-printed, but they've always been good about replacing the item when there was a problem. So, if the printing quality seems bad, contact them--its probably a misprint. Every thing else I got from them was excellent quality, though in my personal opinion the journals would more appropriately be called notebooks, as the cover is card-stock and the size is somewhat thin for a true journal.
I have experienced issues with their printing quality before but they are very good at accepting returns when their are any issues of this type (so long as the fault is theirs, and not an image quality issue).
Product Price
CafePress has average prices.
Production & Shipping Time/Cost
CafePress has a reasonable shipping rate and processing time.
Storefront
If you use their Basic Shops (their free shop version), you are VERY limited in how you can customize your shop. You have one logo you can add at the top, and an area you can add text to underneath, but NO custom HTML (URLS typed into the text area will be turned into links for you). You can have only one of each product in a basic shop (although you can open as many basic shops as you need). But it seems CafePress is moving away from basic shops and may do away with them eventually.)
You can now choose to pay a set price for a premium shop or pay a percentage of your earnings. With a Premium Shop you can organize your products into categories and subcategories, and have as many products and designs as you want. You also have more flexibility to customize your shop. They have templates you can choose from or you can design your own. Unfortunately the templates contain some discontinued features, which are difficult to remove. I don't know why they haven't updated them.
Both premium and basic shops are fairly easy to set up (depending, of course, on how much you want to customize a premium shop). You can add multiple products at once, and also change things like prices and description in bulk.
Mark-Up/Commission Method
Starting in June, CafePress is moving to a new commission method. In the past, you started with a base price for your products, and set whatever price over that you wanted to. This is still how it will work for your shops, but products listed in the marketplace will have a set flat rate and your will receive 10% commissions from sales.
You also receive volume bonus if you sell over a certain amount from your shops. Orders originating in the marketplace do not count towards this bonus.
Customer Base
CafePress has one of the best, most established, customer bases. It's possible to get quite a bit of sales solely from their marketplace. However, starting in June 2009 marketplace products no longer linked to shops (so you still get sales from the marketplace, but will have less of a chance to gain repeat customers that way), and they changed their rules so that they could exclude designs from the marketplace they thought were redundant or otherwise unwanted. (this doesn't remove them from your own shops, only the marketplace) Also, you don't have a choice on which color gets featured in the marketplace anymore (again, this doesn't apply to shops). So, that customer base is not quite as accessible as it used to be.
Misc.
CafePress has deals with various TV shows, movies, video games and groups to allow their designers to make designs associated with their brand. These include Star Trek, Lost, Twilight, and more. You can find more detail and the complete list of fan portals CafePress offers here. It also recently added customization, which I haven't been able to try out yet and will give my take here once I do.
Summary
Their well established customer base and marketplace makes this a good shop to start with if you don't want to do much promotion (and if you don't mind only taking 10% of marketplace sales)--though recent changes have made this less of a benifit. If you want to add a lot of designs, section your shop, or otherwise make your shop your own (and are willing to promote your shop yourself) then you'll want to pay the extra for a Premium shop.
Visit CafePress
CafePress has a nicely rounded out selection of apparel (including baby and maternity) and gift products. They have ceramics, stationary, and gifts for home and office. They offer embroidery, but it is limited to a pre-set shaped patch on certain apparel items. They also offer books and audio and video CDs.
Of the PODS reviewed here CafePress is the only one to offer the following products:
Sigg water bottles, thermos bottles and containers, ceramic travel mugs and stackable mugs, banners and yard signs, navy colored aprons, gym bags, men's and women's underwear, baby blankets, yoga mats, Christmas stockings, vanity licence plates, trailer hitches, car magnets, wall peelies, shot glasses, clear glass cups, Thermos products, kids sized water bottles, magnetic bumper stickers, blankets, sheets, pillowcases, shower curtains, flip flops, lap top skins, mylar baloons, round jewelery boxes, US shaped stickers, wine and beer labels, and more.
Product and Printing Quality
Overall, CafePress has a relatively good product and printing quality. I have had things mis-printed, but they've always been good about replacing the item when there was a problem. So, if the printing quality seems bad, contact them--its probably a misprint. Every thing else I got from them was excellent quality, though in my personal opinion the journals would more appropriately be called notebooks, as the cover is card-stock and the size is somewhat thin for a true journal.
I have experienced issues with their printing quality before but they are very good at accepting returns when their are any issues of this type (so long as the fault is theirs, and not an image quality issue).
Product Price
CafePress has average prices.
Production & Shipping Time/Cost
CafePress has a reasonable shipping rate and processing time.
Storefront
If you use their Basic Shops (their free shop version), you are VERY limited in how you can customize your shop. You have one logo you can add at the top, and an area you can add text to underneath, but NO custom HTML (URLS typed into the text area will be turned into links for you). You can have only one of each product in a basic shop (although you can open as many basic shops as you need). But it seems CafePress is moving away from basic shops and may do away with them eventually.)
You can now choose to pay a set price for a premium shop or pay a percentage of your earnings. With a Premium Shop you can organize your products into categories and subcategories, and have as many products and designs as you want. You also have more flexibility to customize your shop. They have templates you can choose from or you can design your own. Unfortunately the templates contain some discontinued features, which are difficult to remove. I don't know why they haven't updated them.
Both premium and basic shops are fairly easy to set up (depending, of course, on how much you want to customize a premium shop). You can add multiple products at once, and also change things like prices and description in bulk.
Mark-Up/Commission Method
Starting in June, CafePress is moving to a new commission method. In the past, you started with a base price for your products, and set whatever price over that you wanted to. This is still how it will work for your shops, but products listed in the marketplace will have a set flat rate and your will receive 10% commissions from sales.
You also receive volume bonus if you sell over a certain amount from your shops. Orders originating in the marketplace do not count towards this bonus.
Customer Base
CafePress has one of the best, most established, customer bases. It's possible to get quite a bit of sales solely from their marketplace. However, starting in June 2009 marketplace products no longer linked to shops (so you still get sales from the marketplace, but will have less of a chance to gain repeat customers that way), and they changed their rules so that they could exclude designs from the marketplace they thought were redundant or otherwise unwanted. (this doesn't remove them from your own shops, only the marketplace) Also, you don't have a choice on which color gets featured in the marketplace anymore (again, this doesn't apply to shops). So, that customer base is not quite as accessible as it used to be.
Misc.
CafePress has deals with various TV shows, movies, video games and groups to allow their designers to make designs associated with their brand. These include Star Trek, Lost, Twilight, and more. You can find more detail and the complete list of fan portals CafePress offers here. It also recently added customization, which I haven't been able to try out yet and will give my take here once I do.
Summary
Their well established customer base and marketplace makes this a good shop to start with if you don't want to do much promotion (and if you don't mind only taking 10% of marketplace sales)--though recent changes have made this less of a benifit. If you want to add a lot of designs, section your shop, or otherwise make your shop your own (and are willing to promote your shop yourself) then you'll want to pay the extra for a Premium shop.
Visit CafePress
Zazzle
Product Selection
Zazzle offers an excellent selection of apparel and stationary products, and a moderate selection of other gift items. They offer more shirt styles than any of the other POD mentioned here, and have a good selection of shirt colors as well (although not as many as Printfection). They offer custom embroidery (not limited to a particular size like CafePress) on select styles of apparel and bags, but you have to pay a one-time fee to convert your original artwork for use on embroidery unless you have the ability to save your work in the format they require (you can do text designs using their fonts and dingbats without having to pay this fee, though).
Of the PODS reviewed here Zazzle is the only one to offer the following products:
Keds shoes, skateboards, portable speakers, Blackberry and Samsung Galaxy cases, Skins for items from phones to headphones, colored water bottles, placemats, napkins, US postage stamps, Avery binders, planners, shaped stickers (heart, star, square, etc.), stationery and letterhead, flyers, rack cards, slim and chubby business cards, various sizes of invitations, square buttons, kids style aprons, ties, dark colored tote bags, belt buckles, micro-fiber sports apparel, patterned shirts (stripes, houndstooth, and argyle), and various other styles of shirts not offered elsewhere including twofer, sheer, distresed, burnout, and kids ringers.
Product and Printing Quality
I have been very satisfied with both the product and printing quality of everything I've ordered from Zazzle. I was expecially impressed by the printing quality of their paper products (stickers, cards, business cards).
Product Price
Zazzle product price is a little bit higher that other PODS on most items, though you can lower your cost per item by buying multiples of the same type of item. Zazzle also frequently offers coupons and discounts, which can save you a lot. In addition, as a shopkeeper, you can shop through your own affiliate links and get affiliate earnings from your own purchases (they allow this and even encourage it). The real price consideration at Zazzle, though, is shipping cost, which I deal with below.
Production & Shipping Time/Cost
Zazzle has quick shipping/production time, but depending on the combination of items you get, it can cost a lot. On some products it's reasonable (buttons, magnets and keychains start at $1.99 shipping cost, and economy shipping for apparel starts at $4.99). Greeting cards however have a starting price of $5.99 for 1-3 cards, and mousepads start at $6.98, which ups the price of these items considerably. At most places you can expect the shipping cost per item to go down the more items you buy, but that's only true with Zazzle so long as you are buying multiples of THE SAME TYPE OF ITEM. However, if you are ordering DIFFERENT types of items you are charged the combined shipping rate FOR EACH TYPE OF ITEM. See examples below:
1 Shirt = $4.99 shipping
1 Card = $5.99 shipping
1 Magnet = $1.99 shipping
Ordered together -
1 Shirt + 1 Card + 1 magnet = $12.97 shipping
If you have a coupon for free shipping, it often comes with the small print that it will not apply to oversized orders (i.e. orders which have more than one type of product). So, on the example above a free shipping coupon would not cover the whole $12.97 but would only reduce the price by $5.99.
However, in 2011 they introduced a program called Zazzle Black which allows shopper to pay a set rate per year and get free US shipping on all purchases. In the example someone would pay less to purchase Zazzle Black then the shipping on that one order.
Storefront
Zazzle's storefront has some nice built in features. Customers can customize any of your products (unless you opt out of this feature) by addding their own text or photos, moving or resizing your design, or changing the product style or color. You can even create product templates where they are asked to fill in text or photos at specific areas of your design. Here's some examples of template items from my shop:
Zazzle shops have some nice features for building customer loyalty and communication. Customers can comment on products, rate them, and save them as favorites. They can join your fan club and receive updates every time you add something new. Zazzle makes it easy for people to share things they like by offering links in the product pages that customers can click to ad products to Facebook, StumbleApon, Twitter, Blog, etc. .
In your shops you can categorize and sub-categorize, add your own header images, choose what features to include (comments/etc), and add as many products and designs as you want. But there are only certain places where you can add html and it's harder to brand this as "your own shop" than Printfection, ArtsNow, and CafePress VIP shops. They do, however, allow HTML in the product description, which is a nice feature when you want to send customers to see matching products or visit other parts of your store.
When you create products you can resize, rotate, and move your design anywhere on the product, change the background color (on some products), add text, and add multiple designs on one product. It does take a considerable amount of time to add products individually and do all this tweaking though. While you can add products in bulk using Zazzle's Quick Product Create, I'm not sure which of these features are available if you do (I haven't personally used this tool).
Once you ad an item, you can change everything about it (style, model, description, etc.) EXCEPT the design itself. You can delete your product and add it again with the changes you want, but unfortunately when you do that you loose all the comments, awards, and ratings associated with the product.
Mark-Up/Commission Method
At Zazzle you earn a percentage of the product sale price. You get to set the percentage, and the product price increases accordingly. You can earn more on products sold through your affiliate links. You also get a volumn bonus if you sell over a certain amount of product during a month.
Customer Base
Zazzle has a good customer base. You can expect sales through their marketplace.
Misc.
CafePress has a deal with Sony Records allowing Zazzle shopkeepers to do fan designs for some of their songs (including Heartbreak Hotel, Girls Just Want to Have Fun, I Fought the Law and the Law Won, and more). You can find out more about that here. They also allow for customer customization of products.
Summary
An easy shop for beginners to set up, with a good customer base and quality products. Their storefront and marketplace has many tools to build customer loyalty, and they offer products that customers can customize.
Visit Zazzle
Zazzle offers an excellent selection of apparel and stationary products, and a moderate selection of other gift items. They offer more shirt styles than any of the other POD mentioned here, and have a good selection of shirt colors as well (although not as many as Printfection). They offer custom embroidery (not limited to a particular size like CafePress) on select styles of apparel and bags, but you have to pay a one-time fee to convert your original artwork for use on embroidery unless you have the ability to save your work in the format they require (you can do text designs using their fonts and dingbats without having to pay this fee, though).
Of the PODS reviewed here Zazzle is the only one to offer the following products:
Keds shoes, skateboards, portable speakers, Blackberry and Samsung Galaxy cases, Skins for items from phones to headphones, colored water bottles, placemats, napkins, US postage stamps, Avery binders, planners, shaped stickers (heart, star, square, etc.), stationery and letterhead, flyers, rack cards, slim and chubby business cards, various sizes of invitations, square buttons, kids style aprons, ties, dark colored tote bags, belt buckles, micro-fiber sports apparel, patterned shirts (stripes, houndstooth, and argyle), and various other styles of shirts not offered elsewhere including twofer, sheer, distresed, burnout, and kids ringers.
Product and Printing Quality
I have been very satisfied with both the product and printing quality of everything I've ordered from Zazzle. I was expecially impressed by the printing quality of their paper products (stickers, cards, business cards).
Product Price
Zazzle product price is a little bit higher that other PODS on most items, though you can lower your cost per item by buying multiples of the same type of item. Zazzle also frequently offers coupons and discounts, which can save you a lot. In addition, as a shopkeeper, you can shop through your own affiliate links and get affiliate earnings from your own purchases (they allow this and even encourage it). The real price consideration at Zazzle, though, is shipping cost, which I deal with below.
Production & Shipping Time/Cost
Zazzle has quick shipping/production time, but depending on the combination of items you get, it can cost a lot. On some products it's reasonable (buttons, magnets and keychains start at $1.99 shipping cost, and economy shipping for apparel starts at $4.99). Greeting cards however have a starting price of $5.99 for 1-3 cards, and mousepads start at $6.98, which ups the price of these items considerably. At most places you can expect the shipping cost per item to go down the more items you buy, but that's only true with Zazzle so long as you are buying multiples of THE SAME TYPE OF ITEM. However, if you are ordering DIFFERENT types of items you are charged the combined shipping rate FOR EACH TYPE OF ITEM. See examples below:
1 Shirt = $4.99 shipping
1 Card = $5.99 shipping
1 Magnet = $1.99 shipping
Ordered together -
1 Shirt + 1 Card + 1 magnet = $12.97 shipping
If you have a coupon for free shipping, it often comes with the small print that it will not apply to oversized orders (i.e. orders which have more than one type of product). So, on the example above a free shipping coupon would not cover the whole $12.97 but would only reduce the price by $5.99.
However, in 2011 they introduced a program called Zazzle Black which allows shopper to pay a set rate per year and get free US shipping on all purchases. In the example someone would pay less to purchase Zazzle Black then the shipping on that one order.
Storefront
Zazzle's storefront has some nice built in features. Customers can customize any of your products (unless you opt out of this feature) by addding their own text or photos, moving or resizing your design, or changing the product style or color. You can even create product templates where they are asked to fill in text or photos at specific areas of your design. Here's some examples of template items from my shop:
Zazzle shops have some nice features for building customer loyalty and communication. Customers can comment on products, rate them, and save them as favorites. They can join your fan club and receive updates every time you add something new. Zazzle makes it easy for people to share things they like by offering links in the product pages that customers can click to ad products to Facebook, StumbleApon, Twitter, Blog, etc. .
In your shops you can categorize and sub-categorize, add your own header images, choose what features to include (comments/etc), and add as many products and designs as you want. But there are only certain places where you can add html and it's harder to brand this as "your own shop" than Printfection, ArtsNow, and CafePress VIP shops. They do, however, allow HTML in the product description, which is a nice feature when you want to send customers to see matching products or visit other parts of your store.
When you create products you can resize, rotate, and move your design anywhere on the product, change the background color (on some products), add text, and add multiple designs on one product. It does take a considerable amount of time to add products individually and do all this tweaking though. While you can add products in bulk using Zazzle's Quick Product Create, I'm not sure which of these features are available if you do (I haven't personally used this tool).
Once you ad an item, you can change everything about it (style, model, description, etc.) EXCEPT the design itself. You can delete your product and add it again with the changes you want, but unfortunately when you do that you loose all the comments, awards, and ratings associated with the product.
Mark-Up/Commission Method
At Zazzle you earn a percentage of the product sale price. You get to set the percentage, and the product price increases accordingly. You can earn more on products sold through your affiliate links. You also get a volumn bonus if you sell over a certain amount of product during a month.
Customer Base
Zazzle has a good customer base. You can expect sales through their marketplace.
Misc.
CafePress has a deal with Sony Records allowing Zazzle shopkeepers to do fan designs for some of their songs (including Heartbreak Hotel, Girls Just Want to Have Fun, I Fought the Law and the Law Won, and more). You can find out more about that here. They also allow for customer customization of products.
Summary
An easy shop for beginners to set up, with a good customer base and quality products. Their storefront and marketplace has many tools to build customer loyalty, and they offer products that customers can customize.
Visit Zazzle
Printfection
NOTE: I stopped actively using Printfection in 2010. Though I still receive their newsletter and try to keep up on changes, my experience as a day to day user is based on activity prior to 9/2010.
Product Selection
Printfection offers various styles of t-shirts, as well as a small number of gift items (aprons, cutting boards, tote bags, mouspads, and coasters, and mugs).
Of the PODS reviewed here Printfection is the only one to offer the following products:
cutting boards and various t-shirt, sweatshirt and hoodie colors not available at other shops reviewed here.
Product and Printing Quality
Printfection is known for their excellent quality printing.
Product Price
Product price at printfection is reasonable, and they offer volume discounts if you buy more than one item.
Production & Shipping Time/Cost
Shipping at Printfection is based on weight, so you have to view your shopping cart to determine the shipping cost. I've found the prices to be reasonable on the orders I've made. Shipping time is normal for POD printing.
Storefront
The storefront offers A LOT of flexibility. You can have as many sections, products and designs as you want. The layout is completely customizable if you know how to code for it. Unfortunately, the templates available if you DON'T know how to do your own coding are somewhat lacking.
At Printfection you can move your designs anywhere in the product space. The space available on T-shirts is a little larger than most at most other PODS.
Mark-Up/Commission Method
They have a base price and you set whatever mark-up you want above that. You can also set a mark-up for each bulk pricing level (for instance, if they buy 2 or 10 items, you can change your mark-up on each of these bulk pricing levels).
Customer Base
I never made a sale through their marketplace...in spite of my designs being fairly high up in their marketplace under some key search words, and the same designs doing comparatively well in CafePress and Zazzle.
Summary
A great store if you want to sell mainly t-shirts, do a lot of customization to your site (and don't mind coding it yourself or hiring someone to do it), and are willing to do your own promotion (not rely on their marketplace). However, they have been doing better and more frequent sales and coupons, so are easier to promote then they used to be...which might help change that for the better.
Visit Printfection
Product Selection
Printfection offers various styles of t-shirts, as well as a small number of gift items (aprons, cutting boards, tote bags, mouspads, and coasters, and mugs).
Of the PODS reviewed here Printfection is the only one to offer the following products:
cutting boards and various t-shirt, sweatshirt and hoodie colors not available at other shops reviewed here.
Product and Printing Quality
Printfection is known for their excellent quality printing.
Product Price
Product price at printfection is reasonable, and they offer volume discounts if you buy more than one item.
Production & Shipping Time/Cost
Shipping at Printfection is based on weight, so you have to view your shopping cart to determine the shipping cost. I've found the prices to be reasonable on the orders I've made. Shipping time is normal for POD printing.
Storefront
The storefront offers A LOT of flexibility. You can have as many sections, products and designs as you want. The layout is completely customizable if you know how to code for it. Unfortunately, the templates available if you DON'T know how to do your own coding are somewhat lacking.
At Printfection you can move your designs anywhere in the product space. The space available on T-shirts is a little larger than most at most other PODS.
Mark-Up/Commission Method
They have a base price and you set whatever mark-up you want above that. You can also set a mark-up for each bulk pricing level (for instance, if they buy 2 or 10 items, you can change your mark-up on each of these bulk pricing levels).
Customer Base
I never made a sale through their marketplace...in spite of my designs being fairly high up in their marketplace under some key search words, and the same designs doing comparatively well in CafePress and Zazzle.
Summary
A great store if you want to sell mainly t-shirts, do a lot of customization to your site (and don't mind coding it yourself or hiring someone to do it), and are willing to do your own promotion (not rely on their marketplace). However, they have been doing better and more frequent sales and coupons, so are easier to promote then they used to be...which might help change that for the better.
Visit Printfection
ArtsNow
(a.k.a ArtsCafe, ArtsCow)
SPECIAL NOTES:
ArtsNow also has a SuperVIP program where you can sign up resellers under you with their own shops branded with your name. So, if you discover a new POD which seems to have the same products as ArtsNow...well, it probably is a site managed by an ArtsNow VIP. Product price may be different, but product quality wll be the same.
I stopped selling through ArtsNow in 2009 so some of this information may be outdated.
Product Selection
With over 200 products, ArtsNow has the widest product offering of all the PODS I've worked with.
Of the PODS reviewed here ArtsNow is the only one to offer the following products:
puzzles, watches, cuff links, earrings, necklaces, dog tags, Italian charms, belt buckles, money clips, cigarette lighters and holders, flasks, golf accessories, USB flash drives, netbook cases, PSP and NDS Lite Cases, porcelain plates, night luminous mugs, poker chip guards, leather purses, camera cases, purse holders, car window signs, handbag mirrors, purses, towels, photobooks, umbrellas, and more.
Product and Printing Quality
I've found both the product and printing quality to be inconsistent. Though some products have proven to be very good quality, others are noticeably poor in quality. Some products look very good at first, but break easily or have problems that show up later, and printing quality varies greatly with each order. I have some more detail on specific products below.
Products I Found to Be Good Quality
Watches (Many of their watches are made by Citzen , and ArtsNow only takes off the front to add the picture)
Porcelain Ornaments
Button Style Magnets
Golf Divots
Cigarette/Money Cases
Fair Quality Items
Items that might be a little under what I expected, but still acceptable.
Puzzles - Don't come with a box, and the cardboard is not very thick
Greeting Cards - Cards have a waxy coating that I've never seen on other printed cards. With a light background look fine, but cards with a dark background scratch easily so I would not suggest using this service for cards with colored backgrounds..
Poor Quality
Nonfunctional or Otherwise Unacceptable
Travel Alarm Clock - Simply didn't work (Several complaints on forum also.)
Apparel (See Note below)
Special Note Regarding ArtsNow Apparel
I have several complaints about apparel. Women's shirts are about two sizes too small (build for women with a very small bustline). Printing color quality has been inconsistent (two maternity shirts with the same design came with one much lighter than the other), and while the printing on dark shirts looks great at first, it wears out quickly with washing. But the problem that caused me to remove them from my shop was a legal one. The shirts are not labeled properly for US Federal Trade Commission standards. They need to have information including care and fabric content and all the labels have is size. They said they would work on the problem but I'm not sure if it's been addressed yet.
Special Note Regarding ArtsNow Key Chains
*Their key chains are made with zinc, which does contain lead, but when I contacted Arts Now about it they said that it meets the European export safety standard. This is different than the American standard, and am not sure how it compares.
Product Price
ArtsNow has the very low base prices--sometimes costing as much as half what similar or even identical products cost at other PODS. You can mark up prices quite a bit and still keep prices low. If you sign up for VIP service you get even lower base prices (though you can't lower the price below ArtsNow own prices for custom item--you can however offer coupons which lower the price more).
Production & Shipping Time/Cost
ArtsNow is located in Hong Kong, so it's 8-12 business days for standard shipping plus 24 - 48 hours production time. This means that items can take up to three weeks to ship (longer during holidays...expect to stop selling items to ship by Christmas around December 1, and expect a extra one week delay in late January/early February when the plant shuts down for the Chinese New Year Holiday.).
Shipping costs, however, are extremely low--starting at only $3 ($1 for orders of small items like buttons or Italian charms) for worldwide standard shipping. For VIP shop owners shipping is free.
However, shipping quality is often poor. I have had a coffee mug come wrapped in a t-shirt I ordered, had items damaged because they were packed together with other differently shaped items in the same bubble wrap bag, and had cards come with the wrong sized envelope. On the plus side, I do like that their buttons, magnets, key chains, watches and other jewelry items come individually wrapped--which saves them from damage (but not from damaging other items, like cards). Also their ornaments come well swaddled in plenty of bubble wrap and I've never received one broken (and I've ordered over 20 of these).
Storefront
You can add as many products and sections you want to your storefront. There are various templates available for both VIP and basic stores. Under basic free service you have a limited amount of customization you can do, but if you pay for VIP service most aspects of the store can be customized to create the look and feel you want, and it is possible to remove the ArtsNow branding completely from VIP stores. VIP stores also come with invoices which can be customized (so that when your customers receive your orders your branding is on their Invoice) and the ability to offer your own coupons. If you want to pay the extra to become a SuperVIP you can have reseller accounts under you and earn money through them.
Set up at ArtsNow can be a bit tricky. There are numerous features for which you are given no instruction. On the other hand, there is a lot of flexibility in the way you can add and re-arrange products. You can open as many stores as you want and move or copy products easily between stores (even in the free program), and do many other changes in bulk. When designing a product you can place the product anywhere within the design space.
A few notes of concern:
-There are typos in the product descriptions which ArtsNow still has not addressed in spite of many complaints by various shopkeepers
-Customer service for shop problems can be slow
-If you are signed up for VIP, when a customer contacts "Customer Service" they contact you. (Some might consider this a plus, but personally it's one of the services I expect the POD to cover, not me).
-Under VIP you will need to have to have your own domain or most of the extra feautres (including setting your own shipping price and the lower base prices) won't work. People can still access your site through the www.artsnow.com/yourname URL, but when they do, you're coupons don't work for them, your lower VIP base price doesn't count, etc. So, make sure to set up your domain name right away and promote it, not the www.artsnow.com/yourname URL. The VIP base price also doesn't apply to marketplace sales. You cover the cost of the domain name yourself.
Mark-Up/Commission Method
You select a mark-up over the base price. If you sign up for VIP service you get a lower base price, but can not lower your prices below ArtsNow's custom prices. As a VIP you also earn a mark-up on custom items people make through your stores.
Customer Base
Though I have sold an occasional item through their marketplace, overall it is not a very user friendly marketplace and has a low customer base. There are no links to your shop from the marketplace, nor is there any links to your other designs or products.
Misc.
Your own purchases and customer's purchases from your shop are listed together, and there is no easy way to tell them apart, which is a nightmare come tax time.
Summary
ArtsNow has very low prices and a huge selection of products, but the quality of products, printing, and service is inconsistent. Their low customer base and poor marketplace structure means you can't rely on marketplace sales, but should expect most of your sales to come from your own promotional efforts.
Visit ArtsNow
ArtsNow also has a SuperVIP program where you can sign up resellers under you with their own shops branded with your name. So, if you discover a new POD which seems to have the same products as ArtsNow...well, it probably is a site managed by an ArtsNow VIP. Product price may be different, but product quality wll be the same.
I stopped selling through ArtsNow in 2009 so some of this information may be outdated.
Product Selection
With over 200 products, ArtsNow has the widest product offering of all the PODS I've worked with.
Of the PODS reviewed here ArtsNow is the only one to offer the following products:
puzzles, watches, cuff links, earrings, necklaces, dog tags, Italian charms, belt buckles, money clips, cigarette lighters and holders, flasks, golf accessories, USB flash drives, netbook cases, PSP and NDS Lite Cases, porcelain plates, night luminous mugs, poker chip guards, leather purses, camera cases, purse holders, car window signs, handbag mirrors, purses, towels, photobooks, umbrellas, and more.
Product and Printing Quality
I've found both the product and printing quality to be inconsistent. Though some products have proven to be very good quality, others are noticeably poor in quality. Some products look very good at first, but break easily or have problems that show up later, and printing quality varies greatly with each order. I have some more detail on specific products below.
Products I Found to Be Good Quality
Watches (Many of their watches are made by Citzen , and ArtsNow only takes off the front to add the picture)
Porcelain Ornaments
Button Style Magnets
Golf Divots
Cigarette/Money Cases
Fair Quality Items
Items that might be a little under what I expected, but still acceptable.
Puzzles - Don't come with a box, and the cardboard is not very thick
Greeting Cards - Cards have a waxy coating that I've never seen on other printed cards. With a light background look fine, but cards with a dark background scratch easily so I would not suggest using this service for cards with colored backgrounds..
Poor Quality
Nonfunctional or Otherwise Unacceptable
Travel Alarm Clock - Simply didn't work (Several complaints on forum also.)
Apparel (See Note below)
Special Note Regarding ArtsNow Apparel
I have several complaints about apparel. Women's shirts are about two sizes too small (build for women with a very small bustline). Printing color quality has been inconsistent (two maternity shirts with the same design came with one much lighter than the other), and while the printing on dark shirts looks great at first, it wears out quickly with washing. But the problem that caused me to remove them from my shop was a legal one. The shirts are not labeled properly for US Federal Trade Commission standards. They need to have information including care and fabric content and all the labels have is size. They said they would work on the problem but I'm not sure if it's been addressed yet.
Special Note Regarding ArtsNow Key Chains
*Their key chains are made with zinc, which does contain lead, but when I contacted Arts Now about it they said that it meets the European export safety standard. This is different than the American standard, and am not sure how it compares.
Product Price
ArtsNow has the very low base prices--sometimes costing as much as half what similar or even identical products cost at other PODS. You can mark up prices quite a bit and still keep prices low. If you sign up for VIP service you get even lower base prices (though you can't lower the price below ArtsNow own prices for custom item--you can however offer coupons which lower the price more).
Production & Shipping Time/Cost
ArtsNow is located in Hong Kong, so it's 8-12 business days for standard shipping plus 24 - 48 hours production time. This means that items can take up to three weeks to ship (longer during holidays...expect to stop selling items to ship by Christmas around December 1, and expect a extra one week delay in late January/early February when the plant shuts down for the Chinese New Year Holiday.).
Shipping costs, however, are extremely low--starting at only $3 ($1 for orders of small items like buttons or Italian charms) for worldwide standard shipping. For VIP shop owners shipping is free.
However, shipping quality is often poor. I have had a coffee mug come wrapped in a t-shirt I ordered, had items damaged because they were packed together with other differently shaped items in the same bubble wrap bag, and had cards come with the wrong sized envelope. On the plus side, I do like that their buttons, magnets, key chains, watches and other jewelry items come individually wrapped--which saves them from damage (but not from damaging other items, like cards). Also their ornaments come well swaddled in plenty of bubble wrap and I've never received one broken (and I've ordered over 20 of these).
Storefront
You can add as many products and sections you want to your storefront. There are various templates available for both VIP and basic stores. Under basic free service you have a limited amount of customization you can do, but if you pay for VIP service most aspects of the store can be customized to create the look and feel you want, and it is possible to remove the ArtsNow branding completely from VIP stores. VIP stores also come with invoices which can be customized (so that when your customers receive your orders your branding is on their Invoice) and the ability to offer your own coupons. If you want to pay the extra to become a SuperVIP you can have reseller accounts under you and earn money through them.
Set up at ArtsNow can be a bit tricky. There are numerous features for which you are given no instruction. On the other hand, there is a lot of flexibility in the way you can add and re-arrange products. You can open as many stores as you want and move or copy products easily between stores (even in the free program), and do many other changes in bulk. When designing a product you can place the product anywhere within the design space.
A few notes of concern:
-There are typos in the product descriptions which ArtsNow still has not addressed in spite of many complaints by various shopkeepers
-Customer service for shop problems can be slow
-If you are signed up for VIP, when a customer contacts "Customer Service" they contact you. (Some might consider this a plus, but personally it's one of the services I expect the POD to cover, not me).
-Under VIP you will need to have to have your own domain or most of the extra feautres (including setting your own shipping price and the lower base prices) won't work. People can still access your site through the www.artsnow.com/yourname URL, but when they do, you're coupons don't work for them, your lower VIP base price doesn't count, etc. So, make sure to set up your domain name right away and promote it, not the www.artsnow.com/yourname URL. The VIP base price also doesn't apply to marketplace sales. You cover the cost of the domain name yourself.
Mark-Up/Commission Method
You select a mark-up over the base price. If you sign up for VIP service you get a lower base price, but can not lower your prices below ArtsNow's custom prices. As a VIP you also earn a mark-up on custom items people make through your stores.
Customer Base
Though I have sold an occasional item through their marketplace, overall it is not a very user friendly marketplace and has a low customer base. There are no links to your shop from the marketplace, nor is there any links to your other designs or products.
Misc.
Your own purchases and customer's purchases from your shop are listed together, and there is no easy way to tell them apart, which is a nightmare come tax time.
Summary
ArtsNow has very low prices and a huge selection of products, but the quality of products, printing, and service is inconsistent. Their low customer base and poor marketplace structure means you can't rely on marketplace sales, but should expect most of your sales to come from your own promotional efforts.
Visit ArtsNow
More Print On Demand Services
The PODS I review above are not the only PODS around (and in some cases not even among the most popular)--just the ones I've had experience with. Here are some others.
- Spreadshirt
- Another well established POD, mainly for apparel. They have shops for both the UK and North America (US and Canada). Their American storefront is at Spreadshirt.com (linked above) and their UK site is at Spreadshirt.org. Unfortunately, you have to set up a shop in both if you want to sell in both markets.
- Image Kind
- A mostly art oriented POD acquired by CafePress but run separately.
- Lulu
- A POD primarily for book printing.
- Skreened
- An eco-conscious POD for selling T-shirts and Tote Bags. They have a very large print area for their shirts.
- PrintMojo
- NOT technically a POD since they do screen printing and embroidery and you do have to actually buy the T-shirts, but they print them, store them, and sell them for you.
- Yersies
- A shirt POD offering some features like puffy print and stitched designs (text or their pre-made designs only) as well as regular design printing.
- T-shirt Monster
- A Canadian based POD with a nice range of T-shirts.
- Spoonflower
- A custom cloth printer - they only sell cloth, and if you sell through them you get a flat 10% commission. You have to buy a $5 swatch for each design you sell to proof it. After that selling through them is free.
- Shirt City
- Shirt city offers three different printing products. In addition to shirts they offer hats, undergarments, and a nice variety of gifts including, mugs, colored dog shirts, lanyards, bags, mousepads, buttons vinyl decals. They don't seem to offer paper products (like stickers or cards).
- MagCloud
- Create your own magazines for 20 cents a page (you can add your own mark-up after that). Your book is listed in their marketplace and can be ordered in single quantities.
- EnGreet
- The just sell greeting cards. People can customize the cards and send them directly to their recipients, or order them to resend. You earn 20% commission.
- RedBubble
- RedBubble offers t-shirts, prints, and greeting cards.
- Card Gnome
- They only offer cards. Their cards are customizable, printed with organic ink on recycled paper, and mailed directly to the recipient. You earn $0.75 on most cards, $0.50 on discount cards.
- Greeting Card Universe
- Sell cards customers can customize and send directly to their recipient. You earn 15% - 20% (I think...percentage varies based on volume ordered).
- Trezzle
- Sell your own fair trade t-shirts.
- Lollypins
- A POD for pins only! Artists receive a 15% commission.
- Inktastic
- You can sell a nice variety of shirts, gifts, stuffed animals, stickers and skins here. They have the best variety of baby and children's clothes I've seen, plus they have maternity. You earn 30% commission.
- Minted
- This is not actually a POD, but worthy of mention. Like Threadless you can submit designs which are voted on, and if yours is chosen you can win prizes and also receive 6% commission. They also have a photographer program where photographers can set up a shop where their customers can buy prints, cards, etc. and they recieve a 10% commission.
Submission Based T-Shirt Sites
Earn money by submitting designs
The following t-shirt sites take submissions from artists and pay you for your work if it's accepted. Though not print on demand, they also offer opportunities to artists wanting to earn money from their work.
- Good Joe
- $1 of every shirt sale goes to artists, and $1 goes to charity. They accept artwork submission on a number of themes.
- Threadless
- You can submit graphic designs and text slogans to Threadless and if any of yours are chosen you can earn $2,000 in cash, a $500 store credit, and $500 more any time the shirts are reprinted.
More Reviews
Want a second oppinion? (Or want reviews on other PODS not reviewed here? Here's other a few other reviews I've found:
- Which POD Gets Your Nod
- This article by Tees in a POD (my new favorite POD blog) gives a detailed comparison of six major PODS: Zazzle, Skreened, CafePress, Printfection, Redbubble, and Spreadshirt. They compare print size, printing method, affiliate programs, payment, and more. I highly suggest this article!
- CafePress vs. Zazzle
- A squidoo lens comparing Zazzle and CafePress.
- CafePress vs. the Competition
- This lens compares Cafepress to Printfection, Zazzle, and Spreadshirt. It's a good comparison, but some of the information on it is old (like, it says on Zazzle you can not set your own mark-up, which now you can.)
- T-Shirt Printers Review
- This site reviews 10 different t-shrit printers. While most of these aren't print on demand, they do cover most of the major print on demand prodiders.
- What's the Best POD Service
- This lens does a very good job of reviewing the major POD services (though a few items he mentions are outdated): CafePress, Zazzle, Printfection, Spreadshirt, RedBubble.
T-shirt Forums
Most PODS have their own forums, and these can be extremely helpful in learning both the graphical and promotional aspects, as well as the best practices for shops on those particular PODS. However, when you are trying to DECIDE on a POD, they offer little help, since answers that are derogatory towards the POD, or discussions of other PODS, are often prohibited and censored. Some of the forums below are aimed more at customers then producers/shopkeepers, and so could be good places to advertise your tees as well.
Here are some T-shirt forums where you can find other POD sellers and get a more unbiased opinion. Even if you are looking to sell something other than T-shirts, people on these forums can often be of help, since many of them also sell gift items along with their shirts.
Here are some T-shirt forums where you can find other POD sellers and get a more unbiased opinion. Even if you are looking to sell something other than T-shirts, people on these forums can often be of help, since many of them also sell gift items along with their shirts.
- The T-Shirts Forums
- I love the T-Shirt Forum. I've gotten so many insightful, detailed, and helpful answers here.
- Tee Banter
- I just discovered this forum...but it seems to be pretty active! It's aimed more at buyers then sellers. In their own words: "Primarily an interest group for collectors and general t-shirt fans interested in discussing the huge variety of t-shirts out there." But there are sections obviously for sellers to post in. You can showcase your designs here but make sure to read the rules because there are specific ways to go about it.
POD Related Sites, Blogs and Tools
- POD Person
- Great blog with lots of freebies and tutorials.
- Tee Plates
- Free Printfection themes! Completely customize your Printfection store without ever learning or writing a single line of CSS.
- Zazzlit
- This is a widget similar to the Zazzle flash panel which fits nicely in the side-bar of your site, and gives you more control over what products are featured.
- POD Helper
- A great site with helpful articles, news updates and a forum.
- Tees In A Pod
- Excellent blog and pod-cast about the print on demand business.
- Zazzle to Squidoo Tool
- A tool for promoting your products on Squidoo.
- Temporary Guide Files for New Zazzle Phones
- Useful guide if making designs specifically for the new phones (and you want to make the dimensions exact.
More Shopkeeping Articles and Squidoos Lenses
- Beginner's Guide to Starting a shop on CafePress
- A great three part guide covering opening a shop, designing, and adding products.
- Success With CafePress
- Great tips for making your CafePress shop successful.
- Making a Zazzle Squidoo
- How to make a great Squidoo for your Zazzle shop.
- How to Show Off Zazzle Products Using Text Modules
- A guide on how to show off your products in Zazzle text modules using Zazzle's affiliate tools (available to any registered Zazzle member. Actually, you can even use these if you're not a member...you just don't get commission for it).
- Posting Linked Images on Zazzle Forums - Video Tutorial
- This is useful if you want to share your products on the Zazzle forum.
- Creative Artists Blog
- A blog featuring artists who sell their work on print on demand websites.
- Creating Fan Art Through Print On Demand
- Learn about the different branded products (like movies, t-v shows, video games) that you can legally create designs for through a POD fan portal.
- Zazzle Paper Invitation Quality
- A photographic description of the Zazzle invitation paper quality, with pictures capturing all different types of paper colors and textures and notes on the sturdiness of the different paper types.
- 52 Ways To Monetize Your Photos
- Got a hard drive full of pictures? Wish you had a bank account full of cash? If you've got good photos, you've got an opportunity to make some useful
- Zazzle Invites Samples, Quality and Sizing
- This covers all the paper types at Zazzle, and has really great examples.
Design Tips and Tricks
Various resources to help you get your designs looking their best.
- Testing Fonts and Dark Stroking on Dark Shirts
- Article shows a test of various font sizes, and the difference between color areas with a tiny dark "stroke" (1 pixel outline) and without (on CafePress Dark Shirts). VERY USEFUL!
- CafePress Color Swatch Test
- Shows a color swatch and font size test on various CafePress shirts. I like this one because you can download the original color swatch so the you can sample the colors.
- Kerning
- A technique for good looking text designs.
- CMYK vs. RGB - Things You Should Know
- Helps you learn how to best use color so that your designs look the same printed as they do on screen.
- List of Cool Color Tools
- Helpful resources when picking out your colors.
The "template section" technique
TIP:
CafePress doesn't have a direct way to set a default price for all of a certain product in your shop--but here is a nice work around (shared by Tanith on CafePress forums). Set up a hidden section with your standard product set, set your prices, set up example images if you like. Then when you create a new design instead of selecting from the product list you import from the hidden template section. When you replace the sample design with your new one it will be applied at the same size and location as the old one.
CafePress doesn't have a direct way to set a default price for all of a certain product in your shop--but here is a nice work around (shared by Tanith on CafePress forums). Set up a hidden section with your standard product set, set your prices, set up example images if you like. Then when you create a new design instead of selecting from the product list you import from the hidden template section. When you replace the sample design with your new one it will be applied at the same size and location as the old one.
Places to Find Free Graphics
The following places have free graphics which you are allowed to use on CafePress. Each site may have specific restrictions on this, so make sure to look for site rules and read them.
- Anita Vallle Art
- Some fun graphics, free to use, even commercially.
- Graphics Fairy
- She posts free public domain images. She asks that you not use any more than 6 on a page or single project.
Free Calendar Graphics
- 2011 Calendar Templates
- Free calendar graphics the fit on the back of Zazzle chubby business cards.
Clock Faces
Cool free clock faces you can use with your clock products.
- Free Clock Faces
- Free clock faces for CafePress clocks. The owner asks the you donate a portion of sales to a humanitarian cause if you make money from clocks using these.
- Free Clock Faces by Tee Teaser
- Lots of basic numeral designs for free with more you can buy.
- Roman Numeral Clock Face
- Free Roman Numeral Clock face under Creative Commons Copyright - through Diary of a POD person - Very Nice!
- 60 Minute Face
- Clock face under Creative Commons Copyright - through Diary of a POD person
- Heart Clock Faces
- Cute pink hearts (a little more detailed than just regular hearts) - Clock face under Creative Commons Copyright - through Diary of a POD person
Affiliate Tools
Several PODS, inlcuding CafePress and Zazzle have affiliate programs. Below are some helpful links for affiliates.
- CafeWish
- Allows you to place ads on a website based on keywords.
- JGoode's Handy Product Finder Tool
- If you find a product in the marketplace you can plug the product number into JGoode's handy product finder tool, and it will give you the shop it came from.
PODS and Twitter
- Zazzle n' Tweet
- An overview of twitter for Zazzlers.
- Zazzlers with Twitter
- Are you a Zazzler looking to network with other Zazzlers on Twitter? Find a list of Zazzlers who twitter here.
Comments Please!
I love feedback! Please leave your comments below.
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Joleene Naylor
May 30, 2012 @ 8:09 pm | delete
- Thanks for this! A lot of great info :) I was looking into cafe press and zazzle earlier and trying to compare the differences, so this saved me a lot of time!
I am also looking for a POD that does trading cards, but I haven't been able to come across any yet...
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goldenecho
May 31, 2012 @ 10:14 pm | delete
- Arts Now sells playing cards which you can fully customize. You can customize each one individually, which means you could sets of 42 cards that were all different. But unfortunately, their printing quality on other products (cards) has not been the best, so I can't really recommend them. You can use the chubby sized business cards at Zazzle for this. See examples here: http://www.squidoo.com/creativebusinesscards#module12663596 You would have to buy 100 through and and mix them up to sell in another venue though. Don't know of any place that sells smaller packs of trading cards (thought that doesn't mean they aren't out there). I think there's other PODS that sell customizable playing cards though, so you might look into that as an option.
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Reem
May 29, 2012 @ 11:53 pm | delete
- Hi, I greatly appreciate your comments, tips & information ..
how can I contact you directly? I have some questions I think you will be able to help me with.
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goldenecho
May 31, 2012 @ 10:07 pm | delete
- Hi Reem. Right under the picture on my Profile there's a little contact button (most lensmasters have this unless it's been disabled). Here's a direct link to mine: http://www.squidoo.com/utility/contact/goldenecho
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marvelpress
May 11, 2012 @ 6:44 am | delete
- Great info, i've come across your blog while researching the competition...
We're launching a similar service at marvelpress.co.uk, we specialise in smartphone cases and acrylic block sublimation printing. Have a look you might be interested in some of our products.
Thanks
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by goldenecho
I'm an artist and webmaster and mother of three. I make lenses on Squidoo to earn donations for charities which support causes I care about.
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