# any other experiences with artsnow / RazooPress?



## sophiedophers (Aug 28, 2008)

Sorry to jump in several months late--I've just joined this site.

I've been selling (retail but mostly wholesale to other stores) ArtsNow products since February I guess. Here's what my "market research" has come up with:

- The shirts aren't very good quality. If nothing else, they often shrink.
- Mouse pads are terrible
+ Heart watches are my most popular product, and they are fairly hardy
+ Sports watches are great, too
- Rubber coasters are awful
+ Business Card Holders--sometimes the printed enamel top comes apart from the metal casing, but only with abuse.
- Keychain watches fall apart easily
+ Key chains are awesome quality!
+ Money cases are cute, if pricey for the quality
+ Letter openers are excellent quality and beautiful--another popular item I sell
+ Money clips are great
+ Ornaments are touch and go--one of the three test ones I ordered had strange white "paint" spots 

I would be very interested in hearing others' experience with ArtsNow / RazooPress. In particular, I am now exploring their line of mugs and handbag purses. 

(In case you are wondering, I have joined this forum because I want to expand to shirts and mouse pads that aren't $9.99 each as I am a wholesaler... so looking into heat transfer/dye sublimation...)


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## Rodney (Nov 3, 2004)

Moved this post out of the "paypal" topic into its own thread in the fulfillment section.

Sorry, I haven't heard of artsnow, so I can't give you any feedback on my experience.


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## scribbleprints (Jan 9, 2008)

There's another thread on ArtsNow here you might be interested in:
http://www.t-shirtforums.com/t-shirt-fulfillment-services/t49175.html

But here's my opinions:

Shirts are not labeled correctly for sale in the US (no fabric content or washing instructions, just the size on the label) . Maternity shirts look really cute on. All women's shirts are WAY undersized. They fit better if you are flat-chested. Dark t-shirts, though they look great at first, wear out quickly with washing. See pictures below: 
A New T-shirt
New ArtsNow Shirt on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
Same Design in a T-shirt That's been washed less than 10 times
ArtsNow Shirt After 4-10 Washes on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

I've liked their ornaments - bought over 20 of them and only had a problem with one (and a customer still bought it at a crafts show...so probably only something I'd notice). 

Travel Alarm Clocks often don't work (I've heard that and experienced it).

There's like a waxy film on the greeting cards - not noticeable on cards with light backgrounds but cards with dark backgrounds show scratch marks easily.

Watches and keychains are GREAT - one thing on keychains (and any other product with an enamel coating, like golf divots, dog tags, etc.) is that the enamel coating may fade the image slightly, so a red design may look a little pink or orange.

Golf Divots are great - sold well at a craft show. Seem to be good quality but then I never put them into use so don't know how they fair long-term.

Magnets are great - I asked for thicker magnet backs on their forum and actually GOT them. Now they are better quality than CafePress (unless CafePress has improved since I bought them). I couldn't get the round CafePress magnets to stay on my fridge when I opened the doors, let alone hold anything up. ArtsNow holds stuff up. Their pins are good quality too. Plastic backs, not metal, but I like that because it makes them lighter.

Shipping is crappy. It's not just the long time (which is understandable since they ship from Hong Kong and still have low shipping costs). Items often come damaged if you order different sized/shaped items together. My mom had a letter opener come bent because it was literally wrapped around a travel alarm clock (which didn't work...that was a fun phone call). I've had them send cards with a whole bunch of other stuff and which could have easily been damaged because of the way they were packed. Ornaments have been the exception...they've come very adequately swaddled in bubble wrap. 


I am wondering about legal issues with selling things through them now, though, because they are overseas. It was something I just didn't think of when I sold stuff at a craft show last year, but now I'm wondering if I am considered "importer" by doing this and should have labeled my products as "made in China." And that's just the one issue I know of concerning that. UG.


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