Help with Zazzle and Cafepress

[madelaide]

These are two sites I have some difficulty finding my way, so here are some questions.

Cafepress. In the Basic Shop, which is free, I can only have one product of each type, but I can have more than one shop.  So I can have for instance a store "Summer", with a mug, a card and a mousepad in it, and a store "Spring", with another mug, card and mousepad in it.  Right?  What is then the purpose of many free shops?

Zazzle.  It doesn't have this restriction, so I can create as many products as I like.  But is there a way to organize the products?  I've just seen a link "Add new product line", but I didn't see a way of moving existing products to it.  Am I missing something? 

Also in Zazzle, I don't understand its concept of "template".  When I allow products to be "templates", what exactly is customizable?  For instance, my greeting cards are empty inside, I leave it for the buyer to write whatever he wants - is this only possible if it is a template?  Will the buyer be able to change anything on the front of the card (the design) and back (my copyright notice)?

[Dreamframer]

I can say only about Zazzle, because I don't have an account at Cafepress. I think the template is some combination of elements that you can save for further usage. For example, you combine some image and some text, and you save it as template. This way, you can use the template later without combining the image and the text in every single product again and again.

I am also not sure if we are able to move products from one line to another... I guess it can't be done...

[cthoman]

I think you have it right for the Cafepress. I never really did all that well there, so I canceled my account.

For Zazzle, login to your "My Zazzle" and select "Products". There you can "Add New Product Lines". These function as categories for your store. You'll have to edit your images and add them to that product line. You can check out how my store is organized:

http://www.zazzle.com/toontopia

The Product Lines are on the sidebar. As for the templates, I'm not sure. I'd select someone else's template product and see how you can modify it.

[madelaide]

Thanks Whitechild and cthoman (you have an awesome portfolio there, btw!)

About templates, I took one of your cards and I was given a choice to replace the image for one of mine, so I believe this is what they call a template.  It doesn't make much sense, I think.  It would make sense if you could set a certain area of a t-shirt, for instance, for the buyer to add a name, or if you had  card that is a frame and the buyer would insert a photo in it.  But replacing the card's design doesn't make much sense.  I will try to see how this can be set up.

I have only 4-5 products at Zazzle and I am surprised to have sold there twice (last in July, a set of 10 cards).  It may have been just luck, but I am giving it a bit of attention.

I had no luck so far in Cafepress, but with only 3 products I can not blame them.

[goldenangel]

I am also not sure if we are able to move products from one line to another... I guess it can't be done...

We can do this by editing the product (click "Edit" above the product). There, we select "Change" next to "Seller Product Line" and choose the new product line. I don't think we can have a product in more than one product line in the same time.

[madelaide]

Thanks GA.  I have found that.  I still find the site a bit confusing and there are different modes of edition.  If you are the thumbnails view of your products, the edit will only let you change name, keywords, categories, product lines and a few othe things.  We have to click on the image to view it in a new page, and then there is an option to change the design. 

[Whiz]

These are two sites I have some difficulty finding my way, so here are some questions.

Cafepress. In the Basic Shop, which is free, I can only have one product of each type, but I can have more than one shop.  So I can have for instance a store "Summer", with a mug, a card and a mousepad in it, and a store "Spring", with another mug, card and mousepad in it.  Right?  What is then the purpose of many free shops?

Yeah, that restriction is really annoying. I don't want to pay $4.99 and a commission. I'm stubborn like that.

[Pixart]

I upgraded to an Intuos tablet last night and there is a coupon in it for a free premium Cafe Press store for 5 years.  It says a $300 value.  I have a couple things there but had totally written Cafe Press off because without a premium store it is a silly setup.  When do they payout earnings, is it $100? 

[Kiya]

I upgraded to an Intuos tablet last night and there is a coupon in it for a free premium Cafe Press store for 5 years.  It says a $300 value.  I have a couple things there but had totally written Cafe Press off because without a premium store it is a silly setup.  When do they payout earnings, is it $100? 

I believe you can set it in your account at $25, $50 or $100

[madelaide]

Playing a bit more with Zazzle, I discover we can lock objects, so for instance in my cards now the image and my copyright on the back can not be changed or deleted.  The template thing is also applied to each object, so for instance you can have a text written, but it can be changed by the buyer if you don't lock it and set it as a template object.

I don't think this may be clear to the buyer. 

[cathyslife]

How do you lock objects on zazzle? Creating products is very tedious and slow. I managed to get several items up, including some mousepads, a calendar and a postage stamp. No sales yet.

On the calendar, I see that it will allow the buyer to change and customize the calendar. I don't want that to happen. I want it to appear the way I created it. How can I lock the objects?

[madelaide]

cclapper,

You click on your product and then on edit.  Then for each object you have an "advaced options" link right below those buttons for positioning the object.  One of the options is "lock this object".  You have to do that for each object.  Very tedious to go back in all products already online.  The "advanced options" is also available when you are creating a product.

If I remember it right, Cafepress is more complicate than Zazzle (haven't done anything there in ages...), but yes, creating a product in Zazzle is very time-consuming.

[cathyslife]

thank you madelaide. I'm going to go try that for my calendar.

[madelaide]

An update:

You can not modify an existing product.  

When we edit and save, we actually create a new product in the unfinished product list (or something similar) that does not replace the existing one. We can then publish it and it looks like a duplicate.

Their help file says we can create a new product this way and contact support. I suppose they check if someone has picked your old design (does Zazzle have something like a "lightbox"?) and replace it manually.  The manual replacement would be only thing I can think of that would explain contacting them, otherwise we could simply delete it.

[cathyslife]

Glad you found that out, madelaide. I made changes this morning, and thought it was changed. But you are correct, there it was, in the "works in progress". I had to hit the Post for Sale button. Now I'm waiting for the new one to show up so I can delete the old one.

The site is not very user friendly.

edit: I just emailed support. It still allows buyers to personalize the cover. I'm not sure I want anybody to make any changes to it. I suppose if someone were buying the calendar for someone else, they could put their name on it. I don't know, it's a calendar, not a coffee mug. We'll see. I still want to know how to keep people from personalizing a product.

[madelaide]

cclapper,

He is an example of mine.  Don't you get blocked for editing the image in front and my copyright notice at the back?

http://www.zazzle.com/hearts_and_lines_card-137769451016112259

[goldenangel]

Adelaide, I tried and I was able to remove your copyright notice by selecting the back of the card and then option Edit. I didn't proceed and save it as I wasn't sure what would that do but it seemed like it would let me do so. It seemed like I could also add it to the card and buy it without the copyright notice. One would think that There should be a way of locking design elements on a product...

[madelaide]

GA,

It is bad news.  I tried it without being logged in, and maybe this was the reason I wasn't able to do anything.  But in fact I tried now, I was not able to edit the text, but it can be erased, so one can even put his own copyright notice to it. Very annoying.