Cafe Press vs. Zazzle by gojiro

GENERAL DISCUSSIONS

Cafe Press vs. Zazzle

POSTED BY: GOJIRO
UPDATED: Monday, August 30, 2004 06:15
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VIEWED: 4026
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Friday, August 20, 2004 9:26 AM

No, it's not the battle of the century.

Just wondering if anyone out there has had dealings with either or both Cafe Press and Zazzle. If so, what did you think? How was the product quality?

If you're a vendor, how is it working with them? How do you get paid if someone buys something with your artwork on it?

Some folk have asked me to put some artwork on t-shirts (very flattering!) and I'm just wondering who I should use and such.

Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance!

gojiro

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Friday, August 20, 2004 9:51 AM

CAPTAINHARBATKIN

I dealt with Cafe Press. They put the design on the shirt upside down.

This despite the fact that it contains two English words and they HAVE IT RIGHT SIDE UP ON THE BILL.

And then, even though THEY screwed up they refused to refund the shipping cost.

Never again...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
...Cafe Press'll rape us to death, eat our flesh, and sew our skins into their
clothing - and if we're very, very lucky, they'll refund our shipping costs.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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Friday, August 20, 2004 2:09 PM

GOJIRO

Well. That certainly does make me lean toward Zazzle. Thanks!

gojiro

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Friday, August 20, 2004 2:36 PM

ANNIK

OTOH, the Zazzle TOS is very clear but appears to be somewhat more restrictive than the CafePress TOS. The handful of times I've gotten things from CafePress has been fine, except for all the 'lovely' add-on fees the gorram customs agents slap on the package before releasing it for delivery.

Cheers,
Annik
... my sister's a ship. We had a complicated childhood.

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Friday, August 20, 2004 2:41 PM

WILLOWY

I've ordered a mousepad (Remember, always be yourself. Unless you suck. - Joss Whedon) and a women's baseball jersey (Buffy&Willow&Xander&Giles) from Cafe Press. The mousepad was standard issue but the jersey was really thin fabric.

I ordered a Serenity retro poster shirt from Zazzle that has yet to arrive so I can't speak for their quality just yet.

"Once, in flight school, I was laconic..."

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Friday, August 20, 2004 6:54 PM

GOJIRO

Let me know when you get it what it's like. I'm definitely leaning more toward Zazzle after the comment about Cafe Press using really thin fabric. I've had thin, cheapo tees before, and they shink like crazy the first time you wash them.

gojiro

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Friday, August 20, 2004 7:13 PM

TIGER

When I first looked into putting the retro posters on t-shirts, I checked out cafe press and zazzle. I went with zazzle becasue they had much better descriptions available about the quality of the material they use (you can see it either by going to their help section, or clicking on the tiny question mark next to the customization options of a specific product), and the buyer seemed to have many more options to personolize their product.

But I guess when it comes down to it, you just can't be sure until you've got the product in your hands.

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Saturday, August 21, 2004 5:39 AM

WILLOWY

Will do, gojiro. Yeah was sort of disappointed, but I still wear it at every opportunity. The letters kinda stretch out too, though I believe that's my fault due to my anatomy up front!

I'm hoping Zazzle will dazzle me, because I plan on continuing to buy fan items and I'd like the best possible quality, you know?

"Once, in flight school, I was laconic..."

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Saturday, August 21, 2004 10:33 AM

SGTGUMP

I hadn't heard of Zazzle before you guys said something, so I checked it out. I like that they have a lot of different colors for their shirts, but I think that they are a little more expensive. Oh well.

If you want just a regular Blue Sun t-shirt you can go to my store on CafePress and buy it. I priced it at actual cost, so I won't make any money.

http://www.cafepress.com/miestelita

Have a nice day.

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Saturday, August 21, 2004 5:16 PM

SHINYHAPPYKLIN

I have two long-time CP shops, and have seen the quality of the output go up and down (careful around Christmas...mistakes go up then), but I've never had a problem that they didn't fix to my satisfaction. They are a rapidly growing company, and things will happen, but they also have a very active user base, with boards and mods that help get things fixed, get new products, etc. I've talked directly to their president several times and he's always been very interested in what the store owners are doing, and CP is quite active in helping the owners use their stores for good...charities, fundraising, etc.

I have always been pleased with the quality of my CP items...I have never had a "thin" tee from them; in fact, I usually feel some of them are too heavy for us in the South! They do offer a "value" tee now, and that might be thinner weight, but most of the shirts are good 100% cotton, Anvil tees. Some of the junior size shirts, well, most co's. seem to be making those out of tissue paper these days, so careful there, and of course, they run very small. I've not had an issue with the standard men's or women's sizes.

I just ordered the retro poster shirt from Zazzle (yep, got in before they pulled it!), and it was also of decent quality - a Hanes Beefy-T, fit nice and roomy. The print quality seemed slightly less than CP's (had some weak print areas, seemed slightly distorted on one edge, some minor cracking), but not objectionably so. Once you wash'em (and do wash'em inside out...), they soften up and you don't notice the little flaws. However, it appears that Zazzle's print area is larger than CPs...that's cool! However, they both still print too low on the shirt for my liking. At least Zazzle prints the back image higher than CP, which I like.

I will try listing some items on Zazzle soon just to see what happens, and because I like the wider range of shirt colors. However, Zazzle does seem to be much more expensive than CP. It's a toss up...more colors? Less cost? What to choose...

Personally, if I could afford to stock a gazillion items in every color, size and design, I'd have them screen printed (although my artwork often doesn't reproduce as well that way as it does with dye sub, like CP and Zazzle use). But since I can't, I'll gladly take some minor glitches and restrictions in colors for on-demand order processing, credit card processing, and direct shipping to the customer...all I do is wait for the check!

"We gotta go to that crappy town where I'M a hero..."

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Monday, August 30, 2004 5:34 AM

ZAZZLEHATER

My name is Justin Evans and I have had massive problems with Zazzle.

One of their main customer service reps is named Charles. Charles is unresponsive, he doesn't listen and he is obtuestly abrasive in the rare times he does reply. Zazzle mixed up my order and has refused to fix it for over 6 weeks. I've emailed repeatedly and have had no response. Additionally, the prints I did receive from Zazzle prove they have no idea what professional printing is. Every mom and pop shop printing company knows that printing below 300 DPI will result in substandard images. Zazzle was apparently asleep the day they taught their staff the fundamentals of printing since they print images at a fraction of that resolution resulting in soft, fuzzy, pixilated posters that don't come close to true professional posters.

Do they warn you that the majority of the images you can purchase are far below 300 DPI? No. Is there ANY mention of what constitutes standard resolutions for professional printing when uploading to their website? No. What happens if you TRY to email them about this issue? They won't answer. And if you upload large files to ensure they will print at 300 DPI at large sizes? The uploads will likely crash...as they did for me over 15 times.

Lastly, their site is completely counterintuitive. Want to move a self-made poster from your private gallery to public? No options available. Want to change your user name? No options available. Want to make adjustments to an already created poster? Minimal to no options available. Want to move a public poster to a new category? No options available. Want to track your order? They claim its available but it doesn't work correctly. Type in the wrong address for your credit card? They'll approve the order, then cancel it after it was supposed to ship but with no warning. Want to correct the problem with customer service? They'll take the corrected information but insist that you replace the order from scratch...they don't seem to care about wasting a customer's valuable time.

This is a great idea for a company...but unfortunately its been created by the wrong people. They prove that it's the people who make a company succeed, not an innovative concept. Eventually one of their competitors will force them to change or they'll go bankrupt.

I would have gladly spent several hundred dollars a month at Zazzle. I'm the art director for an animation studio and we planned on using them for a variety of products. They botched our first order so badly that I will go out of my way to talk about what a terrible company they are. I'm not just an angry customer. I'm an enemy.

- Justin Evans

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Monday, August 30, 2004 6:15 AM

TENTHCREWMEMBER

Could you please just make it stranger? Stranger. Odder. Could be weirder. More bizarre. How about uncanny?

Quote:
Originally posted by zazzlehater:
And if you upload large files to ensure they will print at 300 DPI at large sizes? The uploads will likely crash...as they did for me over 15 times.

I have had no problem with items uploading over 300 DPI, either singularly or in bulk uploads.

Quote:
Lastly, their site is completely counterintuitive. Want to move a self-made poster from your private gallery to public? No options available.

Actually there is. Under the "Manage key" you can do just that.

Quote:
Want to change your user name? No options available.

*shrugs* haven't had a reason to, so I guess I'll take your word for it.

Quote:
Want to make adjustments to an already created poster? Minimal to no options available.
Want to move a public poster to a new category? No options available.

Again, use the "Manage key" located on the right hand side of the screen.

Quote:
Want to track your order? They claim its available but it doesn't work correctly.

In what fashion?

Quote:
Type in the wrong address for your credit card? They'll approve the order, then cancel it after it was supposed to ship but with no warning.

Well that is your responsibility. And they can go from the assumption that if you screwed up, it could be someone trying to use your information fraudulently, so yeah it sucks, but it was your mistake not theirs.

Quote:
Want to correct the problem with customer service? They'll take the corrected information but insist that you replace the order from scratch...they don't seem to care about wasting a customer's valuable time.

Again, goes back to preventing fraud.

Quote:
This is a great idea for a company...but unfortunately its been created by the wrong people. They prove that it's the people who make a company succeed, not an innovative concept. Eventually one of their competitors will force them to change or they'll go bankrupt.

Odd then that Disney would sign up with them.

Quote:
I would have gladly spent several hundred dollars a month at Zazzle. I'm the art director for an animation studio and we planned on using them for a variety of products. They botched our first order so badly that I will go out of my way to talk about what a terrible company they are. I'm not just an angry customer. I'm an enemy.

Your money, your right, to not only shop elsewhere, but to tell everyone you want to about your bad experiences. However, as for you being an enemy, know that I will not be your enemy for the mistakes you've made (such as the belief your cancelled order for your mistake is their fault).

I am sorry to say you seem to be in the minority, and I genuinely feel bad that you've had a bad experience with them, however, thus far, I am quite pleased personally, and will continue to recommend them until they give me cause to do so otherwise.

TCM
"I do the job...then I get paid. Go run your little world."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BROWNCOATS! Rise again and promote Firefly/Serenity!
visit: http://the11thhour.home.att.net
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Show your Browncoat pride! I have original (meaning: designed
by me!) T-shirts and posters for sale at:
[url] http://www.zazzle.com/contributors/products/gallery/browse_results.asp
?cid=238479146958815760

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