Start an Internet T Shirt Business Through Cafepress
Starting an online t-shirt business can seem a little daunting at first. The folks at Cafepress will erase those fears by making it very simple for anyone to sell t-shirts, coffee cups, caps, clocks and calendars.
Steps
- Find a decent graphics program like Macromedia or Adobe to design your shirt. If you're not an artist, don't give up hope -- shirts with sayings on them are also big sellers. Or you can settle for some software that is a little more simplistic -- Microsoft Paint will suffice. Save your design as a PNG file.
- Upload your design to Cafepress -- you can preview it before putting it up for sale.
- Sit back and relax. The real power and beauty of Cafepress is the fact that Cafepress will handle all of the billing, shipping, and customer service inquiries. This allows you to attend to more important issues, such as, designing and promoting your store.
- Don't expect to get rich. Cafepress will absorb most of the profit and will leave you with a small percentage of the sale. On the other-hand, they are providing the merchandise for you so you do not have to keep any inventory in stock. Before you run away in disgust, it really does add up if you can generate enough traffic and sales. This is where the support community really shines. Most of the shop owners have no problem telling you what works and what doesn't work when promoting your shop.
Tips
- Use graphics that are well-made and as professional-looking as possible. The same goes for text-only shirts, but is easier to achieve. If something looks sloppy nobody will buy it.
- Don't be shy. Meet the other shop owners through the forums. They are there to help you.
- Understand that since you invest nothing, you get little back. If you can actually convince buyers to pay $15-20 (plus shipping) a t-shirt, you might want to consider printing them yourself and keeping more of the profit. Cafepress sales have rapidly declined since people are realizing how much they are losing (and making their supporters pay to the middleman).
- Always be on the lookout for ways to promote your shop.
- For a small monthly fee, Cafepress will throw in additional features that will allow you to better grow and customize your store. Multiple stores can also be linked together and affiliations can be formed with other shops.
Warnings
- Never use copyrighted images you do not own the rights to, this is illegal and can easily get you in legal trouble.
- Be careful not to spend too much time on Cafepress, because your earnings will be at most minimal.
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