# Clarity on DecoNetwork and Inksoft...Please!



## Sublyminal

I'm a little lost on the exact function of deconetwork and inksoft; Are they stand alone web platforms with "everything you could possibly need", or are they meant to supplement your existing website(s)? 

Are they compatible with something like Hubspot (or wix, though I would never use wix)?? 

I guess what I'm confused on is whether, or not, these platforms (inksoft/deconet/etc) are meant to be a full-service web solution, or if they are typically used as a link on your existing website...

Thanks for looking....


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## Fltees

Both Deconetwork and Inksoft can be stand alone all in one solutions OR as an add on to your website. Deconetwork doesn't charge a set up fee, inksoft does. I switched to Deconetwork (from a stand alone) about 2 months ago. Not terribly thrilled with it. Feel free to check it out and play around....it's the first link in my signature.


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## offcenter

Fltees said:


> Both Deconetwork and Inksoft can be stand alone all in one solutions OR as an add on to your website. Deconetwork doesn't charge a set up fee, inksoft does. I switched to Deconetwork (from a stand alone) about 2 months ago. Not terribly thrilled with it. Feel free to check it out and play around....it's the first link in my signature.


What is it that you don't like? I'm about to sign up for Deconetwork so I'm very curious to hear what your issues are with. Also, did you come from Inksoft or another platform?


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## Sublyminal

Fltees said:


> Both Deconetwork and Inksoft can be stand alone all in one solutions OR as an add on to your website. Deconetwork doesn't charge a set up fee, inksoft does. I switched to Deconetwork (from a stand alone) about 2 months ago. Not terribly thrilled with it. Feel free to check it out and play around....it's the first link in my signature.


Interesting. I noticed some of your links end with .co, and some with the actual url of your site followed by .com. Is this because of the different domains associated with your site and cart options within DecoNetwork? What is it about DecoNetwork that's turning you off? Is it the pricing, the user interface, or something else? 

Which stand-alone platform did you use before, and are you considering switching back? 

I'm thinking about using HubSpot, and then trying to tie in InkSoft or DecoNetwork, but I have ZERO experience; thus the reason for reaching out. I feel like there is more versatility with something like hubspot (or wordpress), but I'm worried the interface would be too convoluted for the customer. 

I appreciate your time and opinion on this!


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## Fltees

The reason for the .co and .com is because I have a blog attached to my deconetwork site. I came from BigCommerce. I'm disappointed in the lack of flexibility. The site itself is not google friendly as many of the links just add numbers and symbols and you do not have control over that. You can not submit to google shopping. I offer other products besides shirts and it's very difficult to add anything else to the site. Support is quick and responsive, so I do give them that. The back end is great if you are a screen printer, but not so great if you are a print on demand. Too many screens to go through and too many steps to go through to actually get an order marked shipped. Not one customer has used the designer as it is confusing and clunky. I added the blog to try to get higher rankings and if necessary something to fall back on if I decide to scrap deco.


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## Sublyminal

Fltees said:


> The reason for the .co and .com is because I have a blog attached to my deconetwork site. I came from BigCommerce. I'm disappointed in the lack of flexibility. The site itself is not google friendly as many of the links just add numbers and symbols and you do not have control over that. You can not submit to google shopping. I offer other products besides shirts and it's very difficult to add anything else to the site. Support is quick and responsive, so I do give them that. The back end is great if you are a screen printer, but not so great if you are a print on demand. Too many screens to go through and too many steps to go through to actually get an order marked shipped. Not one customer has used the designer as it is confusing and clunky. I added the blog to try to get higher rankings and if necessary something to fall back on if I decide to scrap deco.


Sounds to me like you have personalization and SEO issues with DecoNetwork; both can be resolved with Wordpress or Hubspot. Or maybe even adding in Shopify in some way or another to help with your specific issue(s)...? 

This brings me back to my original dilemma; whether, or not, DecoNetwork and/or Inksoft are flexible enough to integrate with an external inbound marking platform or site builder. 

In your opinion, would it be efficient to link the DecoNetwork shopping interface and cart to a wordpress (or hubspot) site? How about an external blog linking in the same way (like you're already doing)?

I guess my biggest concern is two fold: 
1) Will the consumer have to jump through too many hoops linking from my personally built website to DecoNetwork (or Inksoft)?
2) Is their custom designer software (for the customer) accessible, and efficient, via linking (for the customer)?

Also, if you don't like DecoNetwork for print-on-demand, what (if anything) have you considered replacing it with?


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## BidsMaven

We took a look at Hubspot and decided against them. Here's why: All-In-One Internet Marketing and Hosting with Hubspot? No.


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## Sublyminal

BidsMaven said:


> We took a look at Hubspot and decided against them. Here's why: All-In-One Internet Marketing and Hosting with Hubspot? No.


Good read.. Kinda scary to be honest  

May I ask what you're currently using and your opinion thereof? Do you have an opinion on the best overall set up and program(s)/software(s) to address the following...?:

1) The best platform to build my site (currently entertaining wordpress and Hubspot<<<<maybe not Hubspot so much anymore) (Refuse to use Wix)...
2) A designer software that is consumer friendly.
3) A shopping cart/ecommerce solution that can be tied in seamlessly. 

I feel like DecoNetwork and Inksoft have too many limits to address all three categories on a stand-alone basis...especially from an SEO and versatility perspective; but combining them with another platform in an efficient way is my concern. Thoughts?


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## brenden

Fltees said:


> The reason for the .co and .com is because I have a blog attached to my deconetwork site. I came from BigCommerce. I'm disappointed in the lack of flexibility. The site itself is not google friendly as many of the links just add numbers and symbols and you do not have control over that. You can not submit to google shopping. I offer other products besides shirts and it's very difficult to add anything else to the site. Support is quick and responsive, so I do give them that. The back end is great if you are a screen printer, but not so great if you are a print on demand. Too many screens to go through and too many steps to go through to actually get an order marked shipped. Not one customer has used the designer as it is confusing and clunky. I added the blog to try to get higher rankings and if necessary something to fall back on if I decide to scrap deco.


Hi Fltees,

Hope you don't mind me chiming in on here  I'd like to get some more info from you on a couple of points you've made.

First the too many steps: At minimum it should only be two steps you need to ship an order:

1. Mark production as complete
2. Mark as shipped.

Could you possible have PO enabled in which case it is asking you to generate a PO? If you don't use POs you can turn this off by changing the Purchase Order workflow settings. See this help topic for details Purchase Order Settings overview


SEO ranking is a topic I'd love to discuss with you in detail also. Perhaps you can PM me your email to discuss?

SEO can be a tricky topic as it is totally site dependent. But I can confirm many DN websites rank very well so its more down to how you configure the platform.

I'm in Australia so my search results would be a little different but if I search for "custom t shirt" which is very generic then three DecoNetwork websites appear on the first page:

The T-shirt Mill in position 1
The Print Locker in position 2
Teejunction in position 6

My search link: https://www.google.com.au/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=custom t shirt

I hope this gives you some insight into what's possible. We can recommend a very affordable SEO firm who has worked with quite a few DN website and has them ranking in position 1 for many of their targeted keywords. They know DecoNetwork very well and configure each of your pages to ensure the URL, page title, meta content and page content are all configured to help you rank higher. Let me know if you are interested in their details.

Or let me know if you want to have any other questions or points answered.

Thanks for you time!
Brenden


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## brenden

Hi again,

You can read over our API integration document at Integration and APIs. This might answer some questions about integration with other platforms.


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## Sublyminal

brenden said:


> Hi again,
> 
> You can read over our API integration document at Integration and APIs. This might answer some questions about integration with other platforms.


Hi Brenden, 

So I've browsed the link you provided, and it seems that the process for integrating DecoNetwork with existing websites is not very intuitive. Do you have any clients that are currently doing this? If so, would you mind sharing their website link(s) so I can browse around as a customer? I'd like to see what the user experience is like from the consumer side of things...

Thanks!


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## brenden

Hi,

The API documents are intended for developers. Though some people have built their own plugin's for mainstream platforms like Magento.

See this example in our forums: DecoNetwork forums :: Topic: Our new website, built with external cart integration (1/2)

A DecoNetwork site owner built a Magento integration using our API and I believe makes this plugin available to others.

Their site is EGOsketch - Customize a Sleeve or Case for your tablet and smartphone


Cheers,
Brenden


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## BidsMaven

Sublyminal said:


> Good read.. Kinda scary to be honest
> 
> May I ask what you're currently using and your opinion thereof? Do you have an opinion on the best overall set up and program(s)/software(s) to address the following...?:
> 
> 1) The best platform to build my site (currently entertaining wordpress and Hubspot<<<<maybe not Hubspot so much anymore) (Refuse to use Wix)...
> 2) A designer software that is consumer friendly.
> 3) A shopping cart/ecommerce solution that can be tied in seamlessly.
> 
> I feel like DecoNetwork and Inksoft have too many limits to address all three categories on a stand-alone basis...especially from an SEO and versatility perspective; but combining them with another platform in an efficient way is my concern. Thoughts?


We use WordPress with a Woo Theme (Appply) and Woo Commerce for our Cart. This has worked well for us, but we're a software company. I suggest you check with other folks regarding your best options for a designer software and eCommerce solution.


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## offcenter

BidsMaven said:


> We use WordPress with a Woo Theme (Appply) and Woo Commerce for our Cart. This has worked well for us, but we're a software company. I suggest you check with other folks regarding your best options for a designer software and eCommerce solution.


I've built a lot of Wordpress sites so I've searched around for as many options to have a shirt designer and ecommerce and stay on Wordpress. Here are two "plugins" for a designer that integrate with woocommerce on wordpress:

Fancy Product Designer
WooCommerce Plugin | Fancy Product Designer

Woodesigner by Print Commerce
WOODesigner HTML5: Woocommerce Product Configurator/Designer Plugin | PrintCommerce


Fancy Product Designer is only $40.00 for 1 license. Woodesigner I'm not sure as they have not returned my email asking for pricing info. 

A few things have me leaning toward Deconetwork though:

1. They appear to have the most involved backend. I'm hoping to streamline my entire business by having quotes, PO's, and even submit blank garment orders from it. 

2. The clip art that's instantly available on DN is huge. I don't see an online designer being really useful without graphics available in it. Yes I will probably upload my own designs and create some in the designer for customers to personalize or change, but who knows how long it will take to build up a decent amount of them. I also want to avoid people uploading some crappy image the found on google and expect that we be able to print it.

3. Affiliate stores. I have a feeling that in my market the ability to offer affiliate stores is going to bring me a lot of business. The possibilities are almost endless for groups, businesses etc. to market these to.

4. Price. Inksoft would be a contender if the initial cost wasn't so much. I just can't justify it when there's new equipment to buy and my physical storefront to improve too.

I've been exhausting every option I can for the last couple of months for which platform which designer etc. and I keep coming back to Deconetwork. I am a bit concerned with SEO and creating a unique site, but I figure I'll jump in and see what I can do and if in 6 months or a year I don't think it's working right I'll see about integrating into a different platform. By then I should have a much better understanding of how deco works and what's possible.


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## bakedts

We have been using DN for about 4 years. It has worked well for us and is continually improving. We are running about 300 customer affiliate stores. We did not integrate it with our website other that creating a link that opens another window so the SEO is primarily driven by our website. We are a print on demand store and have found DN to be very efficient for our business. We only use it to process online orders not our retail store orders.


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## Sublyminal

bakedts said:


> We have been using DN for about 4 years. It has worked well for us and is continually improving. We are running about 300 customer affiliate stores. We did not integrate it with our website other that creating a link that opens another window so the SEO is primarily driven by our website. We are a print on demand store and have found DN to be very efficient for our business. We only use it to process online orders not our retail store orders.


Please clarify the part where you indicated that you "did not integrate it with our website other than creating a link...". 

Are you saying that you maintained your previously established website (non - DN website), and simply link to DN for the "creator" and "eCommerce" functions? 

If so, have you had ANY issues with consumers leaving your site due to the new url that isn't necessarily tied into your primary domain? This, or the idea that it's taking them too many "clicks" to get to the creator and or shopping features? 

I am VERY interested in your response....thanks for looking....


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## brenden

Hi there,

In general we don't recommend having two sites. It's known as splitting your Google juice. You want to maximize the information all under one URL to improve its chance of ranking.

If you want some inspiration on what you can with with DecoNetwork I suggest you browse some of our showcase sites. These are real sites using DecoNetwork. Showcase DecoNetwork websites.


Brenden


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## bakedts

Our primary business is retail based in our store front location. We have setup our primary domain in DecoNetwork to be store.ourdomainname.com so our customer still sees our primary URL. We went for a simple and fast solution and did not want to invest the time integrate the sites or even make them look as if they are the same (although we are working on customizing the look of our DN site to match our website). We also did not want to use DN as our primary website because we already had one and we did not want to lock ourselves into a technology that we did not know. Our goal with our website was to get customers into the store and secondarily provide them with the convenience of buying online (or selling their own designs with us as fulfillment). DN represents about 10% of our business volume.


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## Sublyminal

brenden said:


> Hi there,
> 
> In general we don't recommend having two sites. It's known as splitting your Google juice. You want to maximize the information all under one URL to improve its chance of ranking.
> 
> If you want some inspiration on what you can with with DecoNetwork I suggest you browse some of our showcase sites. These are real sites using DecoNetwork. Showcase DecoNetwork websites.
> 
> 
> Brenden


Hi again Brenden...

I appreciate your feedback on this, but after viewing your link to API & Integration, and the notion that one must be an expert/developer to use such tools, I'm not sure I want to go down that road. The last thing I want to do is create an integrated designer and/or cart, then realize 30 days later that all of my customers are being bounced away at checkout (or before). 

I've literally spent hours upon hours reading threads on your product (and inksoft's), and have yet to come up with an intuitive solution (that uses either of your programs). Sounds to me like you guys are on the cusp of losing a battle that you may not even realize is brewing....ie: when shopify (or other huge ecommerce sites) decides to integrate a designer into their offerings. 

My request seems pretty straight forward/simple: I need a designer and cart for my own website....one that I can SEO optimize without being bound by your templates and restrictions.


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## Fltees

I wouldn't consider Shopify as a contender. I tried them last year and unless they have changed drastically, they are too pricey for what they offer. If you need variations, you need to install and pay for another module (monthly). That module doesn't link directly with the shopify backend, but rather has it's own back end. Same with shipping. You can not bulk edit either. Shopify itself is very basic, but if you need to add more functionality, they are all add on's.


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## brenden

Hi Sublyminal,

I have to agree with Fltees here. Solutions like DecoNetwork or InkSoft really can't be compared to Shopify or any generic solution. In reality DecoNetwork is not just a designer but a full business platform with sales and production management, plus capabilities that are decoration specific like support for common decorating pricing models, industry product catalogs and more. Likewise you wouldn't use DecoNetwork or InkSoft to sell generic products only as generic solutions suit that well. 

If the need for decoration specific pricing, graphic support and products is not needed then perhaps a generic solution is more suited to you. Most platforms give you free trials to test them out. 

All the best!


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## Sublyminal

Ok... So I'm coming up on nearly a day straight (literally) of research and tinkering with these two platforms, and these are superficial pros & cons I'm seeing (I'm basing everything off the DTG experience): 

Where DN beats Inksoft:
-Ease of set up (apparently waaayyyyy faster and more intuitive; especially for beginners)
-No initial set up fee
**-Less dynamic creator/design studio than inksoft (which according to my wife, was easier to use, thus "better" for an online environment).

Where Inksoft beats DN:
-More options in the creator/design studio. Better for someone (customer) who truly wants to "design" their own logo/art without having to learn illustrator/photoshop/corel when they come to my website (or physical location).
-Seemingly better clip-art with waaayyyyy more options... Anybody disagree? 
-No transaction fees

I feel like the cost of either software is essentially synonymous if you choose to work with apples to apples options... 

Cons of both:  
-SEO versatility sucks, and the potential to get locked into an outdated infrastructure if we fast-forward a few years is a real concern. How do we even know these relatively new companies will even be around in 2020??? 

My feelings so far: 
-I think Inksoft is actually good/intuitive enough for a brick & mortar to use at their physical location as an option for customers to design their own garments. This could potentially cut down on the customer/designer interaction time (in actual face-to-face minutes), increasing overall front-end efficiency. DN falls short in this regard, but in all honesty, is a bit "easier" for the inexperienced online user... Unless I'm missing something, DN has far fewer "options" in their design studio....am I reading this wrong? 

I think that inksoft could actually serve to piggyback a designer's preferred graphics software (corel/illustrator/photoshop/etc), moreso than DN could. 

**The biggest issue my wife and I had when trying to use inksoft, from a consumer perspective, is that we were forced into a magnified template of our design almost immediately. This may sound funny/elementary, but it was a huge deterrent....so much so that my wife said she would have given up and _*gone to a competitor*_ if I wasn't forcing her to design a T-shirt using this software for comparison purposes. Knowing that the solution is extremely easy; simply click the magnify button to get back to a full-view of the template T-shirt, almost makes me overlook such a minute issue, but it's a feature on inksoft that doesn't mimic the "big boys" and will undoubtedly force online consumers away....it did me, my wife, and our neighbor; so no, I don't think I'm being overcritical here...lol... I wonder if there's an option to prevent this???

I am still open to as much feedback as I can get here. I do not like the idea of having to build a web-site on one of these non-SEO friendly platforms, but it's looking like I may have no choice; unless I build a site with DN or inksoft and just link them under a "design now" or "shop now" button/tab on my wordpress site... Which is obviously not ideal.... 

Anybody have a more extensive list of pros and cons? Is there something that any of you prefer in DN over inksoft, or visa-versa? Again, I'll take all the feedback/advice I can get! 

Thx for looking...


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## brenden

Hi,

Just to note DecoNetwork no longer has a transaction as of version 7 which was just released. 


Brenden


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## tshirtsrus

brenden said:


> Hi,
> 
> Just to note DecoNetwork no longer has a transaction as of version 7 which was just released.
> 
> 
> Brenden


You meant to say Transaction Fees, right? or in another words, NO transaction fees, NO setup fees and NO surprises fees with Deconetwork, am I correct?


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## offcenter

brenden said:


> Hi,
> 
> Just to note DecoNetwork no longer has a transaction as of version 7 which was just released.
> 
> 
> Brenden


I did not realize that had changed. That's great news! I'll be signing up soon.


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## Fltees

I just looked at the new pricing. Are these tiers seriously limited by the number of orders?


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## offcenter

Fltees said:


> I just looked at the new pricing. Are these tiers seriously limited by the number of orders?


Oh, here I assumed it would still be $150.00/month with no transaction fees. I'm a bit less pumped now 

I might just set up a woocommerce store with fancy designer and see how it works now instead.


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## tshirtsrus

Fltees said:


> I just looked at the new pricing. Are these tiers seriously limited by the number of orders?


You make more than 500 orders per month? if so it wound be hard to pay just one dollar extra per order... I mean I won't mind selling more than 500 orders per month.


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## brenden

Hi all,

The limits are not hard limits but the fee-free order allocation you receive the for the plan. Consider it like a mobile phone plan where each plan gives you an allocation of SMS's and then there is a fee for each SMS thereafter.

This is to fairly give a generous allocation and then cover additional server costs for high-traffic sites. The rate is flat so it is not a percentage of your order therefore predictable.

In monetary terms if you look at an average order being $100 then you'll not pay any fees until your monthly revenue hits $50,000 (500 orders X $100).

If you opt in for a yearly plan then the order allocation is doubled. So you pay no fees for your first $100,000 transaction in a month.


Cheers,
Brenden


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## ericsson2416

Hey Daniel

You have some good into on the pros and cons. We use Inksoft and it works really well for us in our retail location as well as online.

The part about your wife not liking how it zooms in with the design studio, that is a check box you can check in the backend to remove the auto zoom. (We've removed it on our site).

As far as set up it takes a few days and then some of devoting time watching videos and doing the setup. There are a lot of check boxes to make it best fit your application and It takes some patients. We've had our share of frustration but once you get your store set up it works fairly well and the site hasn't failed or gone offline (knock on wood). If you are looking for something to plug and play right out of the box insoft is not it. We've found the backend to be pretty clunky but can with some exploring and watching the library of videos we always get it to work if you think like a developer (Inksoft has been really good about contacting them with an issue and they fix it or their support staff sends a video explaining how to fix it).

If you want something that is fairly stable we've had three years of pretty good results as long as you have some patients for the setup. As far as it working, I teach full time during the day - once it was setup you just leave it to do its thing and i haven't had to worry about it working.

Just a comment on SEO, while it doesn't have a lot of flexibility in design what is there has worked for us as we utilized the whole SEO experience. Initially I thought it was all about the site but as we integrated and connected our blog, Facebook, google plus, twitter, etc our Inksoft site has moved up the search results where we now rank #1 for our local market and surrounding market. So it's doable using their platform with the other SEO components.

As someone who has been with Inksoft for three years we've been with them through the new backend update and seen their platform develop. While occasionally frustrating overall we like it and would recommend it. You're always welcome to send us a PM if you have specific questions on the platform or want to ask more questions about the backend.

Eric


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## Sublyminal

brenden said:


> Hi,
> 
> Just to note DecoNetwork no longer has a transaction as of version 7 which was just released.
> 
> 
> Brenden


Brenden, 

Can you clarify the features concern(s)? 

How many fonts, clip art images, etc. come in the designer, without any "additional" fees? 

For example, if we signed up for the $199 package, what options would our customers get in the designer?


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## Fltees

tshirtsrus said:


> You make more than 500 orders per month? if so it wound be hard to pay just one dollar extra per order... I mean I won't mind selling more than 500 orders per month.


We are a print on demand in a niche market, so the answer to this is yes. Which means deconetwork is geared towards the bigger screen printers with larger orders.
http://www.pinterest.com/pin/create/extension/


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## brenden

Fltees said:


> We are a print on demand in a niche market, so the answer to this is yes. Which means deconetwork is geared towards the bigger screen printers with larger orders.


Hi Fltees,

Just to clarify you don't pay anything for your first 500 orders. The majority of clients are actually design on demand t-shirt companies like T Shirt Printing Online, Custom T Shirts & Personalised T Shirts | Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Adelaide - The Print Bar and Design your own T-shirt - Custom Printing by Tee Junction for example. Most of our clients are DTG or embroidery. Screen Printing is a recent addition to our platform.


Brenden


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## brenden

Sublyminal said:


> Brenden,
> 
> Can you clarify the features concern(s)?
> 
> How many fonts, clip art images, etc. come in the designer, without any "additional" fees?
> 
> For example, if we signed up for the $199 package, what options would our customers get in the designer?


The designs in all levels contain the same features so this is not reduced.

Font wise I believe it includes 1,000 plus but I can get the exact number tomorrow when I am in the office. Google fonts plus some of our own.

Has 160 embroidery fonts, 10,000 embroidery designs, plus 10,000 odd clipart items and templates.

Design supports DTG, sublimation, screen printing and embroidery.


Cheers,
Brenden


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## Fltees

brenden said:


> The designs in all levels contain the same features so this is not reduced.
> 
> Font wise I believe it includes 1,000 plus but I can get the exact number tomorrow when I am in the office. Google fonts plus some of our own.
> 
> Has 160 embroidery fonts, 10,000 embroidery designs, plus 10,000 odd clipart items and templates.
> 
> Design supports DTG, sublimation, screen printing and embroidery.
> 
> 
> Cheers,
> Brenden


Since I'm just 2 months into deconetwork, I'm still learning and am hoping that I'm missing something. 10,000 clipart? I am assuming this includes the clipart that you have to pay a monthly fee for and the pay per use clipart. I'm only finding a few dozen that are actually included in my subscription.
http://www.pinterest.com/pin/create/extension/


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## brenden

Hmm strange. I can look into your site in particular if you PM me your details.

So the free collections with no fees or pay-per-use have 4,000+ designs.

Then there are 13,100+ designs which are free to the FC owner but charged on a pay-per-use to the buying consumer. These are licensed designs from providers like Digital Art Solutions, Rival Art, T-Biz Network and OESD where we have negotiated no fee for the site owner to have on their site, but the consumer pays only for the single design they choose starting at a max of $2.50 per design and going down as volume is purchased. 

Here is a screen shot of those collections above showing the categories and numbers of designs in each category. The designs show here don't cost the FC any fees excluding the pay-per-use which again the consumer pays based on which design they select and pay for during their checkout.










Then finally there are 7,600+ monthly paid licensed designs again from providers such as above where they require a monthly fee for the collection.

The fees are based on what the licence holder requires for the sale and use of their collections.

So you should you be able to enable around 17,000 designs on your site that don't cost you anything to display. If you don't see this PM me your site and I'll check it for you.

I'm off for the night. Approaching midnight here.

Have a great day.
Brenden


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## Sublyminal

brenden said:


> Hmm strange. I can look into your site in particular if you PM me your details.
> 
> So the free collections with no fees or pay-per-use have 4,000+ designs.
> 
> Then there are 13,100+ designs which are free to the FC owner but charged on a pay-per-use to the buying consumer. These are licensed designs from providers like Digital Art Solutions, Rival Art, T-Biz Network and OESD where we have negotiated no fee for the site owner to have on their site, but the consumer pays only for the single design they choose starting at a max of $2.50 per design and going down as volume is purchased.
> 
> Here is a screen shot of those collections above showing the categories and numbers of designs in each category. The designs show here don't cost the FC any fees excluding the pay-per-use which again the consumer pays based on which design they select and pay for during their checkout.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Then finally there are 7,600+ monthly paid licensed designs again from providers such as above where they require a monthly fee for the collection.
> 
> The fees are based on what the licence holder requires for the sale and use of their collections.
> 
> So you should you be able to enable around 17,000 designs on your site that don't cost you anything to display. If you don't see this PM me your site and I'll check it for you.
> 
> I'm off for the night. Approaching midnight here.
> 
> Have a great day.
> Brenden


Even more confused now, lol... 

Let's start with the basics: 

1) What is "free" to the consumer (and subscriber) with regards to clip art and fonts (DTG); how many? I'd like to have the option of clip art & fonts w/o having to up-sell the customer...

2) I've seen a few DN sites, and none of them seem to have additional font options for DTG... Maybe they're just not activated? 

3) How is the payment for certain "paid" images handled? 

Thanks for the clarity Benden...


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## brenden

Hi. No problem at all 

1. 100% free with no pay-per-use is around 4,000 with more on the way. Release date of the new content not confirmed yet but hopefully not long! Of course you can upload as many of your own stock designs as you want. So if you own and stick design CDs with the rights to use them you can. No limits. 

2. Pretty much every DN site has all fonts in use. Two examples I posted here have all fonts enabled. More than 600 all up. Could you clarify what you mean by font options? Just to make sure I'm answering correctly  If you mean effects then we have drop shadow , glow, outline, fill and outline colors, plus envelops and arcs. 

3. The pay-per-use art is first charged to the customer buying in your site. Ie they choose a sports template and pay say $2.50 for using that design. You as the site owner collect that $2.50 as general part of the order revenue. If you like you can add a markup to the designs. Say you add a 10% markup then the customer would pay $2.75 for the design. On your next month subscription bill you will be charged your monthly subscription plus and licensed design pay-per-use fees charged the previous month. So in this example the $2.50 design fee and you get to keep the 10% markup ($0.25). 


Hope this makes sense! Typing on my iPhone in bed. Can't sleep - argh ! 

Brenden


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## Leann

I am an Inksoft user and let me preface this by saying I have no experience at all with DN. I have used godaddy stores, shopify.. many different sites and I found limitations that I did not like with all of them. 

Pros to InkSoft.
1. They have great customer service and offer 1 on 1 training, if you need it. Their templates can be somewhat limiting, but in the back end, if you want to change things around, you can.
2. I can create up to 24 websites with my account. I think the basic one allows you up to 3, but I pay to have access to more sites. You can have your customers design shirts or sell shirts with your own designs on them. Tons of flexibility in that regard. 
3. They are implementing MicroStores for fundraising. GREAT for schools and organizations. 

Cons to Inksoft. 
1. Most of their training is done via video. I would much prefer a manual I can thumb through to look up things when I need to. The videos are helpful, but tend to show you where things are that you can change.. and not necessarily how to change them... or what they do. 
2. The upfront fees can be somewhat daunting. 
3. When you want to make changes, it's often faster to call in and ask them to make the changes.. make note of what and how they did it.. then to poke around yourself. It's not the most intuitive. 

All in all.. I have been extremely happy with them. They are always helpful, check in with me from time to time to see how I am doing, and ask if there are new features I would like to see. They upgraded a bit ago, so now you can schedule your production schedules online. Removed tons of my paperwork.

All in all.. it's not perfect, but it suits our needs quite well and after all my research, it was the best choice for us.


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## Fltees

After a ton of thinking on this, we are moving away from DecoNetwork and here are the reasons. We are grandfathered into the old pricing structure, but that also means we are locked in as if we changed plans, the pricing is just way too out of line. It's a great site for companies that do multi-shirt orders, but is not really realistic for the print on demand in my opinion. During certain times of the year we will crank out 1-2k orders, but these are single shirts and being charged an additional dollar per order rather than the 1.8% that it was, is just not cost effective.

The designer: It's just too clunky and most of our customers haven't even touched it. 

It is compatible with CorelDraw, so we got a subscription to CorelDraw and after hours of frustration, we are told it's not compatible with CorelDraw 6 and can't get a straight answer as to when it would be.

SEO: Much more difficult in my opinion. Our traffic has dropped to a ridiculous level and yes, even though SEO takes time, we've never experience traffic as low as we are with DecoNetwork.

If you sell anything besides decorated products, the site is a pita having to use work arounds.


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## Sublyminal

Fltees said:


> After a ton of thinking on this, we are moving away from DecoNetwork and here are the reasons. We are grandfathered into the old pricing structure, but that also means we are locked in as if we changed plans, the pricing is just way too out of line. It's a great site for companies that do multi-shirt orders, but is not really realistic for the print on demand in my opinion. During certain times of the year we will crank out 1-2k orders, but these are single shirts and being charged an additional dollar per order rather than the 1.8% that it was, is just not cost effective.
> 
> The designer: It's just too clunky and most of our customers haven't even touched it.
> 
> It is compatible with CorelDraw, so we got a subscription to CorelDraw and after hours of frustration, we are told it's not compatible with CorelDraw 6 and can't get a straight answer as to when it would be.
> 
> SEO: Much more difficult in my opinion. Our traffic has dropped to a ridiculous level and yes, even though SEO takes time, we've never experience traffic as low as we are with DecoNetwork.
> 
> If you sell anything besides decorated products, the site is a pita having to use work arounds.


Interesting... So what will be your fallback? Are you going to get on board with Inksoft, or try to use something like openshirts? 

Your issues with DN highlight my reluctance to jump on the bandwagon. Unfortunately, the fact that I need a designer and cart functions, almost ties my hands...

Thanks for the transparency...


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## Fltees

We are moving back to 3dcart. Alpha Broder has a designer that we can tie into it until after the holidays are over and we can take a look at Open Shirt.

Another thing to consider when choosing a platform (one that we didn't think of until now), is the ability to export your products! DecoNetwork does not have this ability, so all the work we have done will be gone.


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## Cjefferson02

Brenden I know this was posted a while ago. I am interested in the deco network platform but want my questions answered before moving forward can we talk I'n more detail about your experience with Deconetwork?


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## brenden

Hi Cliff,

Sure no problem at all. I'm based from our Sydney office. Are you in the US? I can certainly put you in contact with our US team or you can help me on bprazner(at)deconetwork.com


Cheers,
Brenden


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## Cjefferson02

I am US based.

Thanks Cliff


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## marzatplay

Any Deco Network specials for t shirt forum members?


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## brenden

OK no problem. Did you want to email me your details and I'll have Sandra from our LA office contact you tomorrow.

Cheers,
Brenden


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## marzatplay

marzatplay said:


> Any Deco Network specials for t shirt forum members?


I guess that's a no.


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## brenden

Sorry Marz,

I actually completely missed your post as I was writing mine as you posted yours. Not that I am aware of but the US team can fill you on any promotions or specials that might be happening at this time.


Brenden


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## Solltirol

Hi Eric
I seen your post just now, and I realise its 2yrs later.
But I thought id write to ask, how much has inksoft improved in the 2 years.

Ive tried deco network and am still with them.
But for me I am a travelling sales man, and want to use the online designer in front of retailers.

Deconetwork for me , the designer tool lacks functionality and is a bit slow. I want to change branding colours to suit retailers, be able to show designs on other products quickly.

With deco network, I have to create a new product for each different apparel, I offer. 

Even when you import graphics , it shows more colours in your design.

Plus there website templates are shocking, they are so outdated.

Im more worried about the backend system ? Is inksofts fluent enough to have no worries.

I basically customise the colours of my designs in store and press a button and everything I want to automate/forward to my printer and he droships. 

I want to use DTG/Screen printing and embroidery.

Your thoughts would be really helpful.

Many Thanks


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## ALBATROSS

Brenden-
Could you tell me how often the suppliers intigrated catalogs are up-dated?

Thanks,
Sandy


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## Mietek

ALBATROSS said:


> Brenden-
> Could you tell me how often the suppliers integrated catalogs are updated?
> 
> Thanks,
> Sandy


Hi Sandy,
Let me try to address this one as Brenden is on his way back to Sydney. In short, we update them as often as the supplier is doing that (with the slight delay due to the amount of work that needs to be done... but we are trying to minimize this delay drastically in 2017). On average, each vendor is making two updates a year, and we follow this pattern as well. We have a dedicated team of people working on those updates as well as adding new catalogs. As a result, all of the products in DecoNetwork have smart select rules applied to them (i.e. polyester shirts not available for DTG by default, etc...), so you don't have to worry about using a wrong product for particular decoration process when adding the entire catalog to your DecoNetwork shop.


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## ALBATROSS

Mietek said:


> Hi Sandy,
> Let me try to address this one as Brenden is on his way back to Sydney. In short, we update them as often as the supplier is doing that (with the slight delay due to the amount of work that needs to be done... but we are trying to minimize this delay drastically in 2017). On average, each vendor is making two updates a year, and we follow this pattern as well. We have a dedicated team of people working on those updates as well as adding new catalogs. As a result, all of the products in DecoNetwork have smart select rules applied to them (i.e. polyester shirts not available for DTG by default, etc...), so you don't have to worry about using a wrong product for particular decoration process when adding the entire catalog to your DecoNetwork shop.


Thanks Mietek-
I subscribed on Saturday - I'm not a super techie guy but have had far success getting my first store set up. i'm making a list of the things I cant figure out and will give them a shout. Seams to be a slick set-up.

Thanks again for your response,
Sandy


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## brenden

ALBATROSS said:


> Thanks Mietek-
> I subscribed on Saturday - I'm not a super techie guy but have had far success getting my first store set up. i'm making a list of the things I cant figure out and will give them a shout. Seams to be a slick set-up.
> 
> Thanks again for your response,
> Sandy


Hi there,

I need to monitor this place more. Gosh so many channels to look out for  But I do check in daily on our community forums at www.deconetwork.com/forums and lots of user ideas there as well!


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## brenden

Hi there,

We'll be posting update on our blog and podcast on the release of DN8.


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## Revan

We have been using DN for about 4 years. It has worked well for us and is continually improving. We are running about 300 customer affiliate stores. We did not integrate it with our website other that creating a link that opens another window so the SEO is primarily driven by our website. We are a print on demand store and have found DN to be very efficient for our business. We only use it to process online orders not our retail store orders


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