Discuss the CafePress service and features. Please note: this is not an "official" CafePress sponsored forum, it is a peer to peer community for current and future CafePress members. Visit CafePress.
Hey,
Do most of your guys make sales from your actual shop or mostly from the marketplace? I have been running my shop for about a year now and about 75% of the sales come through the marketplace.
This isn't a bad thing but since only the popular designs get high rankings, the other designs in my shop never get seen. The customers usually don't visit the actual shop, so a lot of the designs just sit there.
Do you guys have the same problem? What are some ways to fix it?
-Sindu
Hey,
Do most of your guys make sales from your actual shop or mostly from the marketplace? I have been running my shop for about a year now and about 75% of the sales come through the marketplace.
This isn't a bad thing but since only the popular designs get high rankings, the other designs in my shop never get seen. The customers usually don't visit the actual shop, so a lot of the designs just sit there.
Do you guys have the same problem? What are some ways to fix it?
-Sindu
Pardon my ignorance, but what is the marketplace..as you are reffering too?
i think by market place he means the actual cafepress page.
i think casue cafepress is obviously more popular this will be the case for you, but this is the reason your website is through them, right?(to get trafic thorugh their popularity)
an observation: firstly, i love your home page. simple, clean and the signature s a nice touch. however, ur contact info (maybe a bio/about company, etc) is nowhere to be found. Also, dont take this the wrong way but if you feel comfy charging 35$ a shirt, you should definitely have your own label on ur shirts. I know i would rarely by a 35$ shirt, but if i do if can say american apparel or hanes on it. i also think u shouldnt charge 3$ extra for plus sizes considering the shirt price. Either you take off this charge or dont offer those sizes. i think u'll get more sales that way. just a thought
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Divine Perfection needs not Human Corrections-->MashaAllah sonambvlo !¡ artista
Hey Guys, thanks for the replys! bunuttz808: The marketplace I'm talking about is the one on the CafePress main site. It allows customers to search and buy products from all the shops on CafePress. The more each design sells the higher the ranking it gets in the marketplace. sonambulo: Yeah, I definitely understand where your coming from. I just raised the prices in my shop like two months ago to see if items would still sell, and they did so I left it. And I'm still in my second year of university so I need all the financial aid I can get. !
(The extra charge for the plus size is added by CafePress, I don't think I can remove that. If there is a way, please let me know because I'd rather not charge extra either)
It is true that a lot of people see a high percentage of marketplace sales, this is partly due to the fact that CP do have a very active marketplace that gets a lot of traffic.
However, it is skewed by the"Source" bug. All sales are reported as Marketplace if they did not solely take place on your shop and never enter the MP. For example, I run custom shops, shops off of the CP domain, and every single sale I make is listed as Marketplace, even though none of my products are in the marketplace. People see the same thing with cpShop.
The other thing to think about is your own marketing efforts. You can generate more "true" shop sales if you market your shop better. A lot of people don't bother going that route anymore because you can make a decent income from Marketplace sales alone. Although, verteran shop keepers who were taught to promote your shop first, and see MP sales as a bonus, generally pay more attention to marketing their shop foremost.
None of that is pointed at you - just a general "why it can happen". Hope it helps.
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Adam - Buy-Tees.com Success is often a rebound of hard work - Fortune Cookie
It is true that a lot of people see a high percentage of marketplace sales, this is partly due to the fact that CP do have a very active marketplace that gets a lot of traffic.
However, it is skewed by the"Source" bug. All sales are reported as Marketplace if they did not solely take place on your shop and never enter the MP. For example, I run custom shops, shops off of the CP domain, and every single sale I make is listed as Marketplace, even though none of my products are in the marketplace. People see the same thing with cpShop.
The other thing to think about is your own marketing efforts. You can generate more "true" shop sales if you market your shop better. A lot of people don't bother going that route anymore because you can make a decent income from Marketplace sales alone. Although, verteran shop keepers who were taught to promote your shop first, and see MP sales as a bonus, generally pay more attention to marketing their shop foremost.
None of that is pointed at you - just a general "why it can happen". Hope it helps.
Oh, I see. Yeah your right about the marketing, I do a little bit when I get the time, but nothing major. I don't have money to spend money marketing so currently I'm just using sites like MySpace and Facebook. Maybe increased traffic to my site will lead to sales from the Shop itself. Thanks for the feedback!
All of my sales say they came from the Market Place, but I know that's not true. My sister in law for one has bought directly from my store and it read Market Place. I have bought from the store and it said Market Place. I am just happy- no matter where the sales come from I don't have money to spend money marketing <<you don't always need money to advertise. Hang up flyers, pass out business cards (make these yourself). Wear a shirt of yours.
I've heard of CP over the years, but have not looked to much into it until now. From what I've gathered is...you submit you artwork/photographs etc and they will sell your designs on their products.
Is this the basic premis of CP, or is there alot more to it? Pardon me in advance if this sounds like an ignorant question, however I am a rookie trying to gain and share as much knowledge as possible on this great forum.
..you submit you artwork/photographs etc and they will sell your designs on their products.
It's a little more work than that. You have to "build" you a store" (CP has store templates to choose from). YOU have to sell your designs. You upload your designs and put them on whatever products YOU want to sell. Then you advertise and drive traffic to your store and get people to buy from you. CP has a base price, you then mark the items up to make a profit. Go with the Premium Shop, it's $6.95 a month and you have more control over how many designs and products you can have.
CP will print your products. They'll market pages on their site with products on them but they won't go out of their way to market yours. It's your job to do that.
They print, take payments, manage customer service and send you a cheque (check). They also provide you with an online shop that you can market as you wish. That's really all there is to it.
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Adam - Buy-Tees.com Success is often a rebound of hard work - Fortune Cookie
Hmm. Thats weird!
So even my shop sales show up as Marketplace? But them, some of the sales say Shop. If its that inaccurate, them its a pretty much a useless feature, no?
I really want to know where my sales are coming from. So I can optimize according to that.
Hmm. Thats weird!
So even my shop sales show up as Marketplace? But them, some of the sales say Shop. If its that inaccurate, them its a pretty much a useless feature, no?
I really want to know where my sales are coming from. So I can optimize according to that.
Looks like CafePress recently launched a new feature that ties into Google Analytics that helps show you in more detail where customers are coming from. I just read this announcement in their newsletter.
Looks like CafePress recently launched a new feature that ties into Google Analytics that helps show you in more detail where customers are coming from. I just read this announcement in their newsletter.
Nice. Thanks alot Rodney!
How new is this feature. I've never even noticed that option under shop management. I've been using StatCounter till now, but I signed up for the Google Analytics. I'll let you know how it works out.
And um, did you do this for your shop? because right now on the Google Dashboard it says "Tracking Not Installed", is this because I just added it?
Anyways, Thanks a lot for the notice.
Only making sales through the Marketplace? 
