# Which site gives most profit? (Please read the post first.)



## joemontana (Dec 2, 2008)

Hi!

I think the heading can be interpreted in a wrong way so let me explain my situation.

I am trying to create a clan store for my clan (game) members only. I expect the sales to be extreamely LOW. However, I need any help I can get for clan expenses and operations (voice chat server, domains, and other stuffs).

I am expecting sales of 1~20 PER A YEAR.
So the profit we are looking at about *ONLY $72~$120 PER A YEAR.* 

*I do not need to advertise any of the items.* *I do not intend on making this my career. This will be for my clan members only. I do not intend to make the products popular items to others. *

*So, I would like to know which website/company gives the most profit margin. Is it the cafepress?* 

I have done some searching and found out how horrible cafepress's quality of the products are.. What would be the next alternative solution to cafepress? (It should give relatively the similar profit margin).

I am doing this to help cover only $72~120 PER A YEAR. 

*Much thanks in advance!!*


----------



## Rodney (Nov 3, 2004)

I'm not a math guy, but....

If you sell 20 t-shirts with a $6 profit, that would give you $120 per year.

But if you only sell one t-shirt, you won't make your minimum $72 of profit in a year. 

So it seems something might be off with your figures.

With the different print on demand (POD) fulfillment companies, YOU decide how much profit you get. You set your own markup. So if you wanted to sell one t-shirt and mark it up $72 you could do that (I don't know if you'd find a buyer, but it's a possibility). You can set your markup to $0 and make nothing on each sale. $6 is a reasonable markup though.

Also, not everyone thinks cafepress's printing is horrible  Customers buy from there everyday and return for repeat purchases, so something must be getting printed right. Don't believe all the horror stories you hear 

CafePress alternatives include Spreadshirt, Zazzle, Printfection. Check each one out and see how their base prices compare to see if any of them fit what you need.


----------



## splathead (Dec 4, 2005)

You may also want to consider just having the items printed with a direct to garment printer when you get an order. Set up a simple site with a buy now paypal button. when you receive money for an order, have the shirt printed by the dtg printer and either they can ship the item directly to the customer or ship it back to you.

The cost of the shirt will be less than using a cafepress type place which means either more profit to the organization or lower cost to your clan member.


----------



## joemontana (Dec 2, 2008)

@Rodney:

I meant $72~120 to be my goal. 
The expected sales of 1-20 would be a reasonable estimate with the margin of error. So bascially I aim for $72~120 but the sales can be as bad as 1 but if good up to 20 or so per a year. I am a realist! Yes, I had the profit margin to be $6 per an item. 

As for the following:
==========================
CafePress alternatives include Spreadshirt, Zazzle, Printfection. Check each one out and see how their base prices compare to see if any of them fit what you need. 
============================

*Yea, that's practically my question. I wonder if there are people who tried those sites and have a comparative data on the costs.*

I tried one or two but it was a little bit confusing because the fees were different for different colors and what not but so far in between 2~3 sites, Cafepress was cheaper. 
*I wanted to know if somebody did a full comparison of the fees involved (the materials+printing).* 


@splathead:

I think I would go with one of the sites like cafepress. Isn't that easier to deal with? (shipping and etc...)


----------



## Daniel Slatkin (Jun 25, 2008)

Yes as far as shipping and the whole works goes I miss the days when somebody else printed my shirts.


----------



## Rodney (Nov 3, 2004)

> *I wanted to know if somebody did a full comparison of the fees involved (the materials+printing).*


I don't think I've seen anything like that. Seems like it might be making things more complicated than it needs to be though.

If you only want to sell 1-20 tees per *year*, you could do that easily with cafepress/zazzle/spreadshirt/printfection. Either one would probably be equally as good.

The difference between the base prices on the different services is negligible. 

Since it's not really a business endeavor, you would probably want something that doesn't have *any* fees so as not to take away any of your earnings in case you don't get a sale.

For that, I would suggest looking into printfection. Their "basic" offering is like the "premium" offering of some of the other places and it's free. 

Depending on your designs (like if they are simple one color designs), spreadshirt's basic offering might be a good choice. Their flex and flock printing are a good quality alternative from the DTG of other places if you have simple 1 - 2 color solid color type designs.

The cafepress basic store is good as well, if you don't plan on having many of the same product type (like 5 different designs on black t-shirts), then it would also work fine.

The zazzle offering is free as well. Instead of a "markup", you get to set a "percentage" of the sale that you would like to earn. I *think* it's possible to get $6 per sale on the items (depending on the item). They also offer embroidered products on demand now, so if your clan wants cool hats, that might be a neat way to go.

As you can see, they all have possibilities that can work for you. It doesn't have to be too complicated


----------



## joemontana (Dec 2, 2008)

Okay, thanks.


----------

