Zazzle vs CafePress – I have made up my mind!
And the winner is … Zazzle! I will focus more on products for and promotion of my Zazzle shops. But there will be stuff in my CafePress shop too 🙂
I have SO much to say about these print-on-demand companies. But when it comes down to it, here are the reasons that I choose to focus more on Zazzle, but will still be selling a few items through CafePress.
Zazzle Has
- All shops are free.
- Lots of sales! These make it easier to purchase your merchandise – for quality control, or just because you want to.
- Set your royalty as a percentage of the final sale price. May be affected negatively by “sales” and referral fees.
- More customizable.
- Zazzle Black – about $10/year for free shipping on many items.
- $50 minimum payment threshold by PayPal. $2.50 fee for payments below this threshold.
$100 minimum payment threshold by check. $5 fee for payments below this threshold. - Items found on Zazzle but not Cafepress as of October 13, 2012
- Playing Cards
- Dart Board
- Pacifiers
- Belt Buckles
- Tea pots
- Cake Toppers
- Skateboards
- And they use to offer Ked shoes, which I was really excited about. I hear they will start offering another kind of shoes in the next several months.
Browse other gifts from Zazzle.
CafePress has
- Basic and Premium shops
- Basic is free, but severely limited
- Premium costs a monthly, yearly, or percentage fee. High volume sellers would do best to pay $60/year up-front. Low-volume and new would do better with the 10% of royalties fee, up to $10/month.
- Cool clipart, and I think they had more cool fonts?
- $25 minimum payment threshold. Money by check or by PayPal.
- Items found on CafePress but not Zazzle as of October 13, 2012
- Pillow Cases
- Shower Curtains
- Key Hangers
- Mylar Balloons
- Blanket Wraps (think snuggie)
- Throws / stadium blankets
- Dog hoodies
- Yoga Mat
- Books
Both have
- Similar base pricing on similar products.
- Standard print-on-demand items such as t-shirts, stickers, and greeting cards.
- Good quality.
Room for improvement
Both of these print-on-demand shops have room for improvement. I would love to see an option to make full-size images on shirts. Like make a pattern that will extend from the neck to the bottom. I can understand why this might be more expensive – but still hope to see it soon. I would also like to see the ability to list certain items in multiple categories within my shops. Sure, I could recreate that perfect shirt or poster. But if I have a picture of a puppy in flowers, why can’t I list it under pets AND under flowers?
Hi, I have a question.
I would like to know the printing quality from both.
I am a designer and artist. I just started using cafepress but have not made any orders yet.
I’d like to know how my print will come out on things like tote bags, rugs, cushion with my own graphic images ( fresh paint and pen&ink medium). I do use some of their design tools like shapes and their fonts..I just wonder how the colors, print result will be overall? Because I have read many bad reviews about their printing quality. If you have any experience with them, any insights, I would greatly appreciate you could share with me and advice. Thank you very much!
I have not had anything printed by CafePress lately to tell about their quality. But I am almost always pleased with results from zazzle! And the one time I was not pleased, they were quick to ask for more details so that they could decide if a reprint was needed.
Zazzle’s cheaper quality level posters come out wonderfully! Their photo prints are .. eh. They are not bad, but they are not spectacular enough to justify the wait and price when compared to places that specialize in photo prints. (like if you have a local photo center) Keychains and playing cards do not look as good with a photo as they do with illustrations. (The cards have a textured feel to them, which is really nice. But I think it affects how photo prints show.)
I had a smaller poster printed at CafePress and was extremely disappointed with the quality. It looked as if they used water-based inks on a glossy surface which pooled instead of printing cleanly. The image I used was more than large enough and was uploaded at 300dpi. The Canon printer in my studio could have produced a far more superior print. I expected more, since other products I had ordered from CP were fairly good.
I haven’t had a poster or print created at Zazzle yet, so I have no comment to offer.
Dave, if you have a zazzle account I suggest you sign up for their newsletters. (if you have not already) They can be a bit annoying when you aren’t in the mood – but sometimes they have really nice deals. … By the way, I have had 4 posters printed by Zazzle now and one “photo”. The posters seemed to be of better quality, which I found surprising.
Hi Michelle! Thanks for the article.
Would love to check out your zazzle shop if you’d be into sharing the link?
Thanks,
Jonathan
Hello Jonathan 🙂 My Zazzle shop is still a work in progress. (Other jobs are taking higher priority since I published this article.) But sure! Here is the link: http://www.zazzle.com/easttexasdesign*
Hi Michelle,
You have a great comparison summary for Zazzle and Cafepress. I too choose to spend more time on Zazzle over Cafepress. I still haven’t really figure out how to customise on Cafepress and simply resize images on products only.
Just for sharing:
Zazzle is looking to increase their product line – e.g. Lunch boxes, Leggings, Scarves. New product launches can be found in the forums news – http://forum.zazzle.com/news
Cafepress has a full-size image on T-shirts. It is titled the “All Over Print T-Shirt”.
You have a lovely starting collection on Zazzle. I’m sure you will do well!
Cheers,
Rusty
Thanks for the update Rusty … Zazzle has been doing some great product line increases lately. I wish they would bring back tennis shoes though. … So excited to hear about CafePress’s “All Over Print T-Shirt”! I picked up a side job for a screen print & embroidery company, so it will be a while before I order any more shirts from CafePress or Zazzle. I really want to order a cafepress shower curtain. Not sure if my design is cool enough to justify the price.
By the way, great job on your zazzle store. Excellent artwork. 🙂 Most of my designs are still on scrap paper stuffed in the nightstand. *sigh*
Hi Michelle,
Thank you for this comparison. It is quite helpful as I have a store, Rustic Harbor, on both. I have been focusing more on my Zazzle store though (http://www.zazzle.com/rusticharbor). I’ve had sales from both sites but only received feedback from the products sold on Zazzle. The quality from Zazzle seems to not disappoint. I guess I will continue to focus on Zazzle even though I wish some of the products offered on Cafepress were available on Zazzle.
Great job on your store! Very impressive!
Thanks again!
Ali
Thank you 🙂 And I agree, it would be great if Zazzle offered some of the products that I see on CafePress. Specifically I have some shot glass and shower curtain designs I would love to post.
Good job on your store too 🙂 Thank you for sharing the link!
Thanks so much for posting this comparison and also for sharing your Zazzle Store. Thanks Ali for sharing the url for your store. What I think I see in looking at these two sites is that the the quality of Zazzle’s merchandise is far superior to that which is produced by Cafe Press. Can you confirm that for me? I don’t want to have the wrong impression. I began yesterday setting up a store on Cafe Press and do not find it intuitive at all, its merchandise is printed on white–at least the merchandise which interested me and I had other issues that I could not resolve, such as being unable to upload a photo for one of my sections. Having just had the recent experience of trying to set up a store on Cafe Press, it will be interesting in comparing the process myself. I’m on my way over to Zazzle.com right now.
It has been years since I ordered anything from Cafepress. No complaints on quality, but I never ordered anything like a t-shirt.
The quality of my zazzle products has been amazing! I was shocked at how nice the poster prints were and how well clothes have stood up to the daily life of a kid. The cheapest keychains and playing cards are not as impressive. But they are still good enough quality that I am glad I purchased them.
I will try to order something from each store soon so I can give an up-to-date quality comparison.
Thanks for information