I know some sites have set up shops to sell webcomic merchandise and would like some feedback as to how this has gone. I'm producing some webcomic mugs for friends at Xmas but my mind has gone on to consider about setting up a site-shop in the new year/shortly after.
Whether you printed 100 copys of 'x' and 'y', and x sold out in a month whilst 'y' is still piled up on top of your wardrobe a year later cause you misjudged what people liked, I'd like to know.
Also, one person tells me you can't go wrong with 'paypal' another says he dislikes them? Which system did you go with and why?
Plus, anyone use Cafepress? And is there an equivelent to this in the U.K?
Any other major pitfalls a person can run into in this area I'd like to hear?
The biggest question I ask myself about merchandising is: do I have enough traffic to justify the hassle of keeping inventory that might not sell? So far I tell myself no, but I have no idea how to determine whether or not to go down the store path. Having piles of unsold merchandise scattered around would depress me.
That said, if you go that route, and you live in the US, incorporate and turn it into a real business. Get a federal tax ID#, become an LLC, and all that schnozz. I'm not sure what the equivalent is in the UK, but if a way exists to protect your personal assets, do it.
If you use Cafepress and it's alternatives there's no risk to you at all. The only downside to Cafepress in particular is their shirt quality is reportedly kind of flimsy.
Printfection.com reportedly has better printing and shirt quality...it doesn't have as wide a range of products as Cafepress though.
Oh, and it shouldn't matter that you're in the UK...I think all these kind of places ship worldwide.
A zoo full of cute yet uproariously funny animals...how can you go wrong?
Zazzle has a good reputation (for shirts as well as other things), and a lot of neat stuff aside from clothing.
Cafepress makes good stuff too, but yeah, I make better shirts at home with storebought iron-ons than cafepress ships out.
I own a few mugs and a pillow (oh, and a clock) from there though and have been happy with all of it. I've had the mugs for maybe two years now and they haven't even faded.
Pimpette wrote:Zazzle has a good reputation (for shirts as well as other things), and a lot of neat stuff aside from clothing.
Cafepress makes good stuff too, but yeah, I make better shirts at home with storebought iron-ons than cafepress ships out.
I own a few mugs and a pillow (oh, and a clock) from there though and have been happy with all of it. I've had the mugs for maybe two years now and they haven't even faded.
I'm looking into the printing of samples and using local printers whilst at the same time checking out places like Cafepress. First mug samples from the printers have come back pretty poor and I'm need to improve greatly on this. You seem very happy with the mugs you had printed. What type of printer did you use(small local or bulk printer?)? How many did you go for? Did you find the print to be top class or just okay?
Ah merchandise... I've tried CafePress (what ThickPie is currently using for a store) and I'm currently using Zazzle to sell other projects of mine (just sold a "Nazi Bush" shirt the other day)
The upside is that it costs you nothing to get some product out there... The downside is that you make very little on what you do sell (unless you use a HUGE mark-up)
I have also gone the route of having a bunch of my own t-shirts printed up using a local printer... This is more expensive at first but you stand to make more when you do sell some (it cost me$6-7 a shirt to have printed and I was able to sell them for $15)
So if you're just starting out CafePress or Zazzle are the way to go.... if you've got some cash to sink into it then I reccomend printing them yourself.
Don't think that online is the only venue you can use for selling merchandise. I've had surprising success selling print copies of my comic at local conventions. The amazing thing is, I'm pretty sure most of the people who've bought my stuff have never seen it online-yet they've bought it anyway, after just flipping through the book and talking with me about it.
So, don't underestimate the value of a comic convention appearance.
drugsmugglingcartoonist wrote:I'm looking into the printing of samples and using local printers whilst at the same time checking out places like Cafepress. First mug samples from the printers have come back pretty poor and I'm need to improve greatly on this. You seem very happy with the mugs you had printed. What type of printer did you use(small local or bulk printer?)? How many did you go for? Did you find the print to be top class or just okay?
I used Cafepress (This is the mug I bought). You can order em one at a time or in bulk if you want to. My point was that you could just upload a design and the site will handle all the payments, printing, and shipping for you.
As for the print quality - the lines are sharp, there's no pixelation or fuzziness anywhere (of course I sent them a 150 or 300 dpi image, forget which), and I have no complaints.
I ordered my first mug from Cafepress about two and a half years ago, and I was not impressed with the quality. That being said, I then ordered another mug several months ago and the quality was greatly improved. It's a pro print job now. If you send them high-quality images that are 300 dpi at the size they will be printed, you will get good results.
Also, for what it's worth, Lulu prints very nice books.
GeorgeComics wrote:I ordered my first mug from Cafepress about two and a half years ago, and I was not impressed with the quality. That being said, I then ordered another mug several months ago and the quality was greatly improved. It's a pro print job now. If you send them high-quality images that are 300 dpi at the size they will be printed, you will get good results.
First mugs I've printed aren't great at all, so am getting some more done this week to try and arrive at a quality I'm happy with. If the next few aren't up to scratch it's the printer and his process at fault as we 've improved the images which are at 300dpi.
