A great solution for personalizing products! Great quality and ever-changing items!
Written: Jun 24 '02 (Updated Feb 10 '03)
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Ever wish you could customize items for your small business, for your family, or just for fun? If you’ve ever searched the web for customizable items you’ll find that nearly all of them require quantities of 250 or more to be ordered! And there’s always a hefty set-up fee or multiple color fee to add to the bill. But, there’s a place where you can customize and buy in any quantity you need, and for the same price if you buy 1 or 100!
CafePress.com allows you to customize these Standard Products:
Fleece Pullover, Fleece Vest, Fleece Jacket, Hooded Sweatshirt (hoodie), Baseball Jersey, T-shirt, Golf Shirt, Jr. Baby Doll Shirt, Boxer Shorts, Infant/Toddler T-shirt, Toddler Button-up Hoodie, Bib, Sticker (oval), Sticker (rectangle), Lunchbox, Large Mug, Mug, Stainless Steel Travel Mug, Frosted Mug, Tile Coaster, Mouse Pad, Baseball Cap (white), Baseball Cap (black), Flying Disk, BBQ Apron, Tote Bag
They also have seasonal items—currently it’s winter so the items are:
Calendar, Greeting Card, Ornament, Stocking, Teddy Bear, Stein, Messenger Bag, Backpack, Unistrap Bag, Post Card and Frame. These items change with the season and are usually available for just a short time.
HOW IT WORKS
Sign up for a free account, design your products, sell your items (or buy them from yourself) and make money from sales! Each item has a price point—the amount that is charged for the product—you set the amount the item sells for and you retain the difference. Or, purchase from yourself and you get it for the price point amount. If you want to go for a full store with features, you can subscribe to a premium service for a fee.
WHAT MAKES IT SO GREAT?
Absolutely no set-up fees for artwork and printing! Upload your photo, picture, etc (need help with figuring out the resolution to use? Visit the Community Boards for the best information!) and put together your 'store' and you’re ready to sell your art or buy it for yourself.
THE SITE
Sign up for a free account—first stop? Visit the Community Boards where you’ll find a wealth of information and assistance in the process. You can access the boards from the CaféPress.com homepage.
Next, check out some of the other stores—a list of categories is listed on the homepage. See what others are doing; get an idea for what you might like to try. You don’t have to do this as a commercial venture; in fact, you don’t even have to make your “store” available to the public. It can be just for you, your family, the group you belong to, etc. I’m the only person who’s ever ordered from my store as the items I’ve purchased as individualized for my son’s and wouldn’t be of interest to others.
MUGS, & CERAMIC TILES – THE THINGS I’VE PURCHASED
The mugs and tiles are beautifully done as long as you use the proper format (gif files for text, jpg files for photos). I designed a tile for each of the 'big' events in my children's school year--had them made and then used them to tile the top of a bedside table for them. Now, they have a wonderful keepsake of all of the great accomplishments for the year! Mixed with plain tiles, it's a striking piece of art for their room. You could also use them to tile a kitchen or bathroom with art you design--specifically to match your décor! The tiles are remarkable—the quality outstanding! They certainly don’t look “homemade” – they offer full color bleed (the image goes to the edge of the tile) which is a nice professional look.
The mugs are very well done--the art is fully glazed and beautifully done. My mugs have gone through the dishwasher hundreds of times without any damage to the design.
FABRIC ITEMS NEED IMPROVEMENT
The fabric items are much like the print-at-home and iron-on products you can buy locally. They only have white and ash shirts because the design is printed on a white heat-applied fabric. It's not professional looking, in my opinion. I've ordered the boxers and t-shirts and while I think they're a great idea, they need more work to be worth the money.
GET CREATIVE & DESIGN SOMETHING!
Great for a family or company picnic--order Frisbees with your logo or make mugs to give to grandma & grandpa with your kids' photos. You can do it as simply as uploading a photo or as fancy as using a photo editing program to enhance and add components to spice it up. The image management is a breeze and you’re warned if your photo/image has too low resolution to provide great results. Stick to the hard lines and you won't go wrong!
ORDERING
Simple online process—for those not comfortable with ordering online there’s also a phone order option.
SHIPPING
Special offers are usually available; however, regular shipping is as follows:
From their site: “CafePress.com offers multiple shipping options for delivery within the U.S. plus international shipping across the globe.
In stock items will ship within 2-3 business days with standard shipping. Expedited (Next Day/2 Day) will ship the NEXT BUSINESS day. Items ordered on Monday will be shipped on Tuesday and received Wednesday (if next day). Items ordered on Friday will be shipped on Monday and received on Tuesday (if next day). Remember, business days exclude weekends and holidays.
CafePress.com uses US Postal Service, UPS and DHL Worldwide for shipping.”
Please see their site for the most recent information, as I write this they have a great special on shipping that is only offered for a short time.
RETURNS AND EXCHANGES
CafePress.com offers a 30-day money back guarantee on all products—for any reason. A simple online form is required. They send a RMA (return merchandise approval) with information on returning. Shipping charges are never refunded. (I’ve never had to return anything so I’ve not experienced this process first hand.)
CONTACT
Telephone: 1-877-809-1657
Customer Service is available M-F 7am-7pm (PST) & Saturday & Sunday 8am-2pm (PST)
CONCLUSION
I've purchased over 30 items and I've never used their customer service--that's how online shopping should be! A clear consistent site, easy to use designing process, great ordering, and fast shipping!
Recommended:
Yes
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About the Author
Member: Mom
Location: USA
Reviews written: 253
Trusted by: 190 members
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