CafePress has decided to change their pricing policy so that all items in the Marketplace are only allowed a 10% commission for the shop owner.
Beginning June 1st: We’ll start setting prices in the Marketplace, and Shopkeepers will receive a 10% commission off the final retail prices from all Marketplace sales. This change provides our shoppers with consistent pricing that’s competitive with other online retail stores. It also allows us to better invest in a quality retail experience and continued growth.
These changes DO NOT impact the pricing, markup, or sales you are driving in your own shops. By separating our Marketplace pricing from the prices you set in your shops, we’re able to preserve shop base pricing and continue to support shopkeepers who drive their own sales.
So on this topic I sent them an E-mail:
To Whom it May Concern:
I am sorry to hear that this company is going to take away the right of the shop owners to make any profit. Most of my sales have come from Marketplace discovery and not from people going directly to my shop. If this policy had been in place last year I would have lost out on over half of my sales and made barely enough to cover the expense of the shop let alone the immense amount of time I have had to put in to create the product designs due to the need for a different crop for each product. I am very strongly considering closing my premium shop because I do not think it will be worth the $70 a year to make 10% off each product sold. I believe that my work is worth more than that minuscule amount. With this new policy you are saying that the graphic designers and artist who fill your site with unique and interesting designs, do not deserve any benefit for their efforts.
I have put a lot of time and effort into my shop, making sure each image fit the item correctly and gave off the professional feel that should go in to such designs. I am very disappointed that all of this work with have been for naught whether or not I keep my shop open or close it.
Because of this new policy change, my shop at CafePress may be closing by April 30th, 2009.
If you would like to view the shop before it goes away, please visit me at
Cafepress.com/ardentphoto
Opinions? Thoughts?
Posts
I see that your cafepress site is still up and it's nearing the end of June. Is there something that caused you to stay?
ReplyDeleteA fellow frustrated Cafepress shopkeeper.
I also am very angry about the policy and very frustrated. I would like to get my stuff off marketplace and I would like to know if I leave cafepress, can they still sell my stuff. I also see that you are still on cafepress and would like to know why. Can you write me at iidesune@netvision.net.il with some answers. Thanks
ReplyDeleteI was still on CafePress because I complained and they comped the shop for two years. I let it go until January to see if they would change the policy, but it only got worse as you could no longer get to the artist shop through the marketplace. I have now shut down my main shop. I do have some images still with CafePress for exposure reasons, but other than that I have moved my operations over to Zazzle and am very very very happy with the decision.
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