Does Anyone Know of a Website Similar to CafePress?

[DeminDC]

I am trying to find something that is cheaper than Cafe Press, but offers the same services. When I say cheaper, I mean that I want the products they sell to be cheaper in cost.

[gospelized]

1. just

buy iron-on transfer sheets from a craft store if you're making tshirts.

[DeminDC]

2. I Know

However, I am looking to market something over a wide distance in the US to a large group of college alumni, so printing it myself will be prohibitive in terms of my time.

[gmoney]

3. I'd guess you'll have a tough time...

based on the cost of producing custom items, processing individual payments, shipping items to individual buyers, customer service and all the rest, I think CafePress is pretty reasonable.

You can probably find cheaper places to produce specific goods, like only stickers, or only t-shirts, but they probably won't offer the "free online store" and fulfillment capabilities. Plus with the other guys, you end up tying up a lot of money in inventory (you want shirts for $5 each? you gotta buy 1000 of them).

There might be someone knocking off CafePress' business model, and you might shave a few percentage points off, but then you risk going with the "offbrand" and who knows what you'll actually get in terms of quality or delivery.

If you buy 15 or more of most items, you'll get 35% off. That's a pretty generous discount, but they all have to ship to the same place. Good for clubs or teams or whatever, but not so good otherwise.

http://www.cafepress.com/cp/info/help/bulk_cb.aspx

Also, if you're going to use a college's name or team names, watch your step. They have lawyers to get all up in your grill.

Good luck with your venture.

[DeminDC]

4. Thanks

This is through a college sports booster organization, along the lines of the Cameron Crazies, so the legal issue is not in play as much. The main problem is finding a logo for our mascot other than the one that Nike created.