Cafe Press vs. Zazzle

POSTED BY: gojiro
UPDATED: Monday, August 30, 2004 16:15
VIEWED: 5078
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GOJIRO

Friday, August 20, 2004 7:26 PM

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

CAPTAINHARBATKIN

Friday, August 20, 2004 7:51 PM

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.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

GOJIRO

Saturday, August 21, 2004 12:09 AM

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

gojiro

ANNIK

Saturday, August 21, 2004 12:36 AM

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.

WILLOWY

Saturday, August 21, 2004 12:41 AM

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..."

GOJIRO

Saturday, August 21, 2004 4:54 AM

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

TIGER

Saturday, August 21, 2004 5:13 AM

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.

WILLOWY

Saturday, August 21, 2004 3:39 PM

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..."

SGTGUMP

Saturday, August 21, 2004 8:33 PM

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.

SHINYHAPPYKLIN

Sunday, August 22, 2004 3:16 AM

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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