Need feedbacks on POD sites

[unico]

Hi, im looking for the best POD site to use. Now im choosing between Zazzle, Spreadshirt, Cafepress and CowCow. Here's the info i collected so far...

Zazzle and Cafepress tend to have a higher base price on their products and Cafepress has a tendency to screw up prints. I know Spreadshirt and Zazzle have good quality print but again high base price. CowCow is giving out a "double your profit" offer which they double the profit you make. sounds like a cool offer but not sure about the print quality.

Any feedback would be appreciated

[stockastic]

There seems to be increased interest in POD sites as we become ever gloomier about microstock 

I spent some time with Zazzle,  made a few sales, but it mostly went nowhere.  Unless you have a way of promoting yourself, you're just putting your needles in another giant haystack.  And their prices for things like shirts and mugs are, I think, too high.

But for me, the main problem with Zazzle is the site itself, and the tools it provides for creating products; it's just way too slow and tedious.  And the only way you make anything at Zazzle is by creating lots and lots of different products from each image.

Others, who have more salable material, more patience, and/or some self-promotion skills, may give you a more optimistic assessment.

[RustyDoodle]

Hi there,

I am new to the POD environment, started in the later part of last year.

So far, I have accounts at Zazzle, Cafepress and Spreadshirt. I am concentrating on Zazzle at the moment as it is the only place I have sales. Will want to give more time to the other two when possible.

My humble opinion of the 3 sites are as follows:

Zazzle:
+1. Supportive and active community where Zazzlers provide useful information in the forums to help newbies.
+2. A good range of products.
+3. Zazzle's tie ups with other partners like Groupon for promotional activity.
+4. Volume bonuses the more you sell.

-1. Design phase do have hiccups or experience slowness.

CafePress:
+1. Place the design immediately on many products and one has a sensing of how the design looks. The other two sites, you will need to set up templates.
+2. A good range of products.
+3. Established the earliest.

-1. Low royalty fixed at 8%. For the other time, you can determine the royalty amount. 
-2. Design interface does not allow you to move or remove the design on certain products. The black pillow is one that shows the design in a bad white cause it cannot set the white as transparent.
-3. Need to pay a fee to get better perks for starting shops.

Spreadshirt:
+1. Most user friendly and dynamic design interface. One can even add designs and text on the sleeves.
+2. More personalisation options available for customers. For example, customers can choose among several design templates uploaded by different designers and mix and match and change the colors to their own preference. 

-1. Limited range of designs.
-2. Spreadshirt UK and US search engines and shops are not interconnected. You will need to set up shops on both domains.

So my order of preference is Zazzle > Spreadshirt > Cafepress. But I do hear people have more success with Cafepress than Spreadshirt.

Hope this helps!