# Zazzle Vs. Cafepress vs PrintFection vs Spreadshirt, print quality pics!



## SchneiderStudios

So i ordered a shirt i made from zazzle and cafepress for the first time, and i just got them and i was amazed on the big differences of the quality between zazzle and cafepress, zazzle having the best quality and cafepress having a really bad quality print. i cant believe how cafepress would send this tshirt! 



pics:

Zazzle close up:
http://img297.imageshack.us/img297/562/closeupnewzazzle2127ly8.jpg
http://img297.imageshack.us/img297/167/cloeupnewzazzle2133aa3.jpg
http://img297.imageshack.us/img297/9489/newzazzle2133dz4.jpg
http://img297.imageshack.us/img297/9461/newzazzle2127bb9.jpg 

Cafepress:
http://img122.imageshack.us/img122/724/closeupnewzafe2143uu0.jpg

http://img511.imageshack.us/img511/1691/zafe2143gi7.jpg

Edit: Spreadshirt quality pics on page 3!


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## Zed is dead

*Re: Zazzle Vs. Cafepress, my pics!*

Looks like CP print head was 1/4+ from the shirt. Quality control 
Thanks


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## sunnydayz

*Re: Zazzle Vs. Cafepress, my pics!*

Wow those cafe press pics look awful, it definately looks like the head was way to far away from the garment.
I would contact them and tell them how bad the print was. The zazzle ones look good.

Cafe press is sure making kornit look bad right now


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## SchneiderStudios

*Re: Zazzle Vs. Cafepress, my pics!*

they are both done with DTG


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## sunnydayz

*Re: Zazzle Vs. Cafepress, my pics!*

Yep I can tell they are both dtg but it looks like cafe press is printing with the printhead too high above the garment which is making it blurry.


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## SchneiderStudios

*Re: Zazzle Vs. Cafepress, my pics!*

yeah that sucks because i paid $30 for that cafepress tshirt, and it was a glidan only.. while $20 for zazzle
im waiting for 2 shirs from spreadshirt.. well see if they are better


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## CoopersDesignCo

*Re: Zazzle Vs. Cafepress, my pics!*

Has anyone heard that these company actually sub out to smaller DTG companies to print? If so, maybe that's where the inconsistancies are coming in?


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## sunnydayz

*Re: Zazzle Vs. Cafepress, my pics!*

I believe cafe press uses the kornits. I have not heard of them subbing out jobs.


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## SketchBox

*Re: Zazzle Vs. Cafepress, my pics!*

it looks like cafepress used spray paint and a cardboard stencil.  they need to tighten up quality control.


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## atxsigns

*Re: Zazzle Vs. Cafepress, my pics!*

Yeah, the CF unit is junk. I'd be embarrassed to place my brand on that.


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## sunnydayz

*Re: Zazzle Vs. Cafepress, my pics!*

The kornit machine is actually a really nice machine but if you have a bad operator it doesnt matter how nice the machine is.


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## Creations

*Re: Zazzle Vs. Cafepress, my pics!*

i hear cafe press has like 10 of the kornits maybe one was having a "bad day"...the operator is key to any DTG that is for sure.

garbage in =garbage out


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## tim3560

*Re: Zazzle Vs. Cafepress, my pics!*

I just don't get it. It would seem that they would take the time to hire people that gave a crap about quality prints but I guess the almighty dollar goes further with cheap help. Even if they have to replace it.


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## sunnydayz

*Re: Zazzle Vs. Cafepress, my pics!*

I think the problem could be they dont have enough quality control. Maybe they have grown too quickly to keep up


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## tim3560

*Re: Zazzle Vs. Cafepress, my pics!*

I guess, but the part that gets me the most is that the idiots making these horrible prints either don't care that the prints are bad or weren't trained to know the difference. I guess they just have too many fires burning.


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## sunnydayz

*Re: Zazzle Vs. Cafepress, my pics!*

I think that is what would make me not sell my designs with fullfillment services as you have no control over the product that is produced and sent out. Those pics above are a perfect example of this.


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## tim3560

*Re: Zazzle Vs. Cafepress, my pics!*

That's exactly why I haven't put mine on CP yet. The sample I got was so far below my standards that I just can't bare to sell them on CP.

The thought of no money tied up in inventory is great, but I'd like to have return customers as well.


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## Girlzndollz

*Re: Zazzle Vs. Cafepress, my pics!*

I just don't see how CP will be able to keep customers with shirts like that. They won't stay big long, and then they'll have more time to produce better quality prints.

I watched a TV spot where a fellow uploaded his same design to Spreadshirt, Zazzle and CP. In his review, they came back in that order for quality.

It's alot like what the OP is doing in this thread, so I am waiting for his Spreadshirt shirt to come back. Can't wait to hear his review.


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## SchneiderStudios

*Re: Zazzle Vs. Cafepress, my pics!*

im never using cafepress again, i didnt even call them.. im waiting for my spreadshirt shirts to come this wednesday, i will post some pics on that.


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## Xeon

*Re: Zazzle Vs. Cafepress, my pics!*

The moral of this story is: Avoid CP unless you want half (or more) of your customers to receive crappy prints. With CP, you never know how bad the shirt is gonna end up.

CP is surviving because they have economies of scale to keep them going, meaning they have a large volume of shopkeepers (millions) and they survive on that.
So, if 25% of their stuff gets returned, they still have 75% to keep them going, unlike smaller boys like PF.

But then, PF can be trusted and you can sleep soundly at night.


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## Girlzndollz

*Re: Zazzle Vs. Cafepress, my pics!*

Is PF Printfection? Hi, Xeon.


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## prometheus

*Re: Zazzle Vs. Cafepress, my pics!*

I haven't tried Zazzle yet. The print's look good. The stuff I got back from CafePress, I was not really excited about: http://www.t-shirtforums.com/cafepress/t39648.html. I definitely think they need to up the quality, or at least pay the guys $7.50.


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## Girlzndollz

*Re: Zazzle Vs. Cafepress, my pics!*

Hey Robert, 
Just read your cafe press post. Thanks for all the pictures and details. A shame you got the better shirt as a replacement one. Would be nice if that was the one you received in the first place. I hope the girlies like their shirts. Kelly


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## Xeon

*Re: Zazzle Vs. Cafepress, my pics!*



> Is PF Printfection? Hi, Xeon.


LOL, yeah, PF = Printfection and SS = Spreadshirt, CP = Cafepress and ZZ = Zazzle.


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## SchneiderStudios

*Re: Zazzle Vs. Cafepress, my pics!*

i have not used Pf yet, but i like Ss the best  ive used bluecotton and they are the best but the cost alot and takes time, because the use screen printing, and there are no minimum, check them out:
http://www.bluecotton.com/

if you want a pic of my shirt for quality just ask!


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## staned

*Re: Zazzle Vs. Cafepress, my pics!*

i'm sorry, but for my money neither one looks good, not even the white. nice design, worthy of screen printing. just my two rips on the bong. stan


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## prometheus

*Re: Zazzle Vs. Cafepress, my pics!*



SchneiderStudios said:


> i have not used Pf yet, but i like Ss the best  ive used bluecotton and they are the best but the cost alot and takes time, because the use screen printing, and there are no minimum, check them out:
> BlueCotton, Design Custom T-Shirts Online, Screen Printing and Embroidery Tee Shirts
> 
> if you want a pic of my shirt for quality just ask!


That's one of the best sites I've seen when it comes to a shirt designer. Go ahead and throw up a pick of your shirt, so we can see the quality.


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## Girlzndollz

*Re: Zazzle Vs. Cafepress, my pics!*

Bluecotton website: Is there a design program that is that easy to use that can be bought?


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## SchneiderStudios

*Re: Zazzle Vs. Cafepress, my pics!*

Very clean screen print:
http://img408.imageshack.us/img408/7213/cimg2149ej2.jpg

http://img219.imageshack.us/img219/4149/cimg2151lu6.jpg 

http://img408.imageshack.us/img408/9039/cimg2152ac0.jpg


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## prometheus

*Re: Zazzle Vs. Cafepress, my pics!*



Girlzndollz said:


> Bluecotton website: Is there a design program that is that easy to use that can be bought?


This has been asked around here, but I am not sure there is. There is Hanes T-ShirtMaker® Plus Deluxe, but I've never messed with stuff like that.

It makes me think, it would be cool if there was something like the bluecotton software that would allow you to create a design online, and then for a nominal fee, download the artwork.

Well, it might be on it's way: Aviary - Creation on the fly / blog


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## Gunslinger

*Re: Zazzle Vs. Cafepress, my pics!*

I agree with Stanley ... Zazzle ones didn't impress me, but it may be the camera picking up more than the naked eye can see (I've notice that when I take close-ups).


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## SchneiderStudios

*Re: Zazzle Vs. Cafepress, my pics!*



Gunslinger said:


> I agree with Stanley ... Zazzle ones didn't impress me, but it may be the camera picking up more than the naked eye can see (I've notice that when I take close-ups).


 dtg prints that are better then zazzle?


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## Rodney

*Re: Zazzle Vs. Cafepress, my pics!*



> So, if 25% of their stuff gets returned, they still have 75% to keep them going, unlike smaller boys like PF.


I don't think CafePress (or any fulfillment company) has anywhere near a 25% return rate.

With ANY print on demand service ,you are going to get inconsistencies. That's the nature of the beast.

The quality of the finished job is only as good as the weakest link in the chain. You could probably find pictures of bad zazzle prints, bad printfection prints, bad cafepress prints, bad screen printing prints, bad dye sub prints.

Sometimes things slip out even at the best of companies. They are all ran by humans, who are imperfect by nature.

Even if you are printing your own garments, I would be very surprised if you _*never*_ made a mistake in any job that shipped out. 

Thank you for sharing the detailed photographs, schneiderstudios. It is still very helpful for people to see the quality of prints that can happen with the different printing methods.

It would have been cool to see the exact same design printed by the different companies so it could be a side by side - apples to apples - comparison.


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## Gunslinger

*Re: Zazzle Vs. Cafepress, my pics!*

LOL, well ... from the pics so far, I'd like to say mine are ... but it's hard to tell from pictures, and without sample comparisions in my hand, it wouldn't be fair say, for sure.


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## Gunslinger

*Re: Zazzle Vs. Cafepress, my pics!*

I wrote that, as Rodney was posting ...

For custom/contract work, I agree ... there is a small percentage of the work that goes out with imperfections. It's laid out in the contract the client signs (goes for any type of garment printer, DTG, screen print, vinyl, etc.). But, for retail fulfillment, no ... I would never let some of the shirts shown here in this thread out of my shop. As has been said, this is a quality control issue.


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## sunnydayz

*Re: Zazzle Vs. Cafepress, my pics!*

I too would not ship a shirt that looks like that one from cafe press, but then again I am the one printing and I am very particular about my quality. I do have print mistakes but those dont get shipped. They seriously need to take a look at their operators as that is where the problem lies. That is definately the person doing the printings mistake and not directly cafe press or the machine although that person is representing the quality coming out.


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## SchneiderStudios

*Re: Zazzle Vs. Cafepress, my pics!*

So today i got my Spreadshirt - shirt, (one of them) i took some quality pics for you:

http://img527.imageshack.us/img527/3558/cimg2153ey4.jpg

http://img527.imageshack.us/img527/4441/cimg2154xf8.jpg

http://img337.imageshack.us/img337/9806/cimg2157ns8.jpg

im very happy with my design! very good quality. the shirt is great too, by American Apparel 

http://img337.imageshack.us/img337/1900/cimg2161ht5.jpg


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## tim3560

*Re: Zazzle Vs. Cafepress, my pics!*



SchneiderStudios said:


> Very clean screen print:
> http://img408.imageshack.us/img408/7213/cimg2149ej2.jpg
> 
> http://img219.imageshack.us/img219/4149/cimg2151lu6.jpg
> 
> http://img408.imageshack.us/img408/9039/cimg2152ac0.jpg


Who printed this one?


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## SchneiderStudios

*Re: Zazzle Vs. Cafepress, my pics!*



tim3560 said:


> Who printed this one?


It says "Spreadshirt" lol

Fleck Print


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## tim3560

*Re: Zazzle Vs. Cafepress, my pics!*

I'm talking about the ones that you posted on page two. I didn't see where it said anything about who printed. I saw where you had 2 spreadshirts ordered, did they arrive separately?


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## Zed is dead

*Re: Zazzle Vs. Cafepress, my pics!*

Now that all pics are posted I need to know 
1. Zazzle pic (1st post)did the art on the S supposed to have a white outline or is that the underbase showing
2. Same shirt yes?
3. Is SS shirt screen printed or a thermal transfer?
Never tried any of these services so this is VERY informative

Thanks in advance


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## SchneiderStudios

*Re: Zazzle Vs. Cafepress, my pics!*



tim3560 said:


> I'm talking about the ones that you posted on page two. I didn't see where it said anything about who printed. I saw where you had 2 spreadshirts ordered, did they arrive separately?


Ohh thats from bluecotton, screen printed
and my other spreadshirt - shirt is coming tomorrow becuase i made it the day after 
it will have the fire and it will be orange/white


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## tim3560

*Re: Zazzle Vs. Cafepress, my pics!*



SchneiderStudios said:


> Ohh thats from bluecotton, screen printed
> and my other spreadshirt - shirt is coming tomorrow becuase i made it the day after
> it will have the fire and it will be orange/white


So you paid like $14 to ship 2 shirts?


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## SchneiderStudios

*Re: Zazzle Vs. Cafepress, my pics!*



Zed is dead said:


> Now that all pics are posted I need to know
> 1. Zazzle pic (1st post)did the art on the S supposed to have a white outline or is that the underbase showing
> 2. Same shirt yes?
> 3. Is SS shirt screen printed or a thermal transfer?
> Never tried any of these services so this is VERY informative
> 
> Thanks in advance


ok so, 1. its the underbase.. not that bad if you dont come and see it very close..

2. yes

3. fleck print/vinyl print


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## SchneiderStudios

*Re: Zazzle Vs. Cafepress, my pics!*



tim3560 said:


> So you paid like $14 to ship 2 shirts?


yes i was stupid, but not really.. i had a $5 off coupon that i used X2 times = free shipping LOL


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## tim3560

*Re: Zazzle Vs. Cafepress, my pics!*

Lol, I'm glad it worked out.


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## Girlzndollz

*Re: Zazzle Vs. Cafepress, my pics!*

The SS shirts look great, there's no comparison. That's what the TV spot said, too, and it's nice to be able to see the differences up close. Thanks for the photos!

Are you guys saying that PF is better than SS?

SS
ZZ
CP

If that is the order in quality starting from the top and going down, where does PF fit in? Thanks.


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## SchneiderStudios

*Re: Zazzle Vs. Cafepress, my pics!*



Girlzndollz said:


> The SS shirts look great, there's no comparison. That's what the TV spot said, too, and it's nice to be able to see the differences up close. Thanks for the photos!
> 
> Are you guys saying that PF is better than SS?
> 
> SS
> ZZ
> CP
> 
> If that is the order in quality starting from the top and going down, where does PF fit in? Thanks.


thanks, LOL i will post pics on the same quality design when ill get my $2 shirt from PF  i think it will be on monday.. im trying all the companies

P.s kelly did it work?


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## Girlzndollz

*Re: Zazzle Vs. Cafepress, my pics!*

That's great, I didn't know you were trying PF, too. Great, I'll wait to see that, too. 
And all is good. Thanks!!


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## SchneiderStudios

*Re: Zazzle Vs. Cafepress, my pics!*



Girlzndollz said:


> That's great, I didn't know you were trying PF, too. Great, I'll wait to see that, too.
> And all is good. Thanks!!


awesome ^_^


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## atxsigns

*Re: Zazzle Vs. Cafepress, my pics!*

Awesome report, saves a lot of money and time trying them, thanks guys!

I have a new website setup and I'm looking forward to ramping up! coolz!


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## Xeon

*Re: Zazzle Vs. Cafepress, my pics!*

Yes! PF vs. SS will be interesting to watch because I've heard a lot of good things regarding both their quality, but have yet to know which is better (obviously, PF / SS pound CP and ZZ real hard).

However, though, it's not really a fair comparison because SS does flex-flock printing and although it's super-durable and no-fading, the designs are limited to 3 colors and can't be too complicated.
Whereas at PF, the designs can be very complicated and because it's direct printing, there should be a bit of fading after the first wash, but not that noticeable, if at all.

To be fair, maybe we should use SS's direct printing vs. PF's direct printing.


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## Adam

*Re: Zazzle Vs. Cafepress, my pics!*

That's not the case any longer Zeon. Just the other day SS announced the release of DTG on color.


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## Gunslinger

*Re: Zazzle Vs. Cafepress, my pics!*

I would imagine all the fulfillment players will add DTG to their arsenal ... it's gonna get harder to compete without it.


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## Xeon

*Re: Zazzle Vs. Cafepress, my pics!*

*From Adam:*


> That's not the case any longer Zeon. Just the other day SS announced the release of DTG on color.


Thanks Adam! But err....do you have any SS link which says that? Can't seem to find any info of this news on SS's forums.

I'm aware that SS all along has DTG, but their DTG can either only:

1) print on white t-shirts

2) print on colored t-shirts but image has a white background

Regarding 2), they said they're testing ways to fix this and so far, haven't heard from them yet.

*****EDIT******

Ok, I looked again, and it's this "Digital Direct" printing they're talking about, but I doubt it will be released so soon, though, although I wished it was!


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## SchneiderStudios

*Re: Zazzle Vs. Cafepress, my pics!*

they still dont have dtg, they use the vinyle which is better for now.. "Imo"


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## Tonio

*Re: Zazzle Vs. Cafepress, my pics!*

yeah that was bad printing from cafepress, but unfortunately that doesn't suprise me. I think it is that people don't care, not just at cafepress but just people in general. I purchased a shirt from my site at cafepress that was not aligned right. I think it is just the people not the machines. Did you call customer service about the problem and if so what did they say?


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## SchneiderStudios

*Re: Zazzle Vs. Cafepress, my pics!*

ok so i got my PrintFiction shirt and the quality is really bad! logo is faded and really low colors.. again i just got it today, also the design is not aligned! - take a look:

http://img530.imageshack.us/img530/8167/cimg2190my1.jpg

http://img155.imageshack.us/img155/4678/cimg2189co2.jpg


http://img530.imageshack.us/img530/2450/cimg2188ap4.jpg



So i would say that the best companies with the best print/shirt quality are:
1. SpreadShirt - Vinyl Print
2. Zazzle - DTG Print


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## Xeon

*Re: Zazzle Vs. Cafepress, my pics!*

I don't believe this!
Are you sure the t-shirts above are not from CP and ZZ?

Also, no offense to anyone, but could you be some marketing manager / corporate evangelist from ZZ / CP / SS?


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## Rodney

*Re: Zazzle Vs. Cafepress, my pics!*



Xeon said:


> I don't believe this!
> Are you sure the t-shirts above are not from CP and ZZ?
> 
> Also, no offense to anyone, but could you be some marketing manager / corporate evangelist from ZZ / CP / SS?


That is a very rude accusation to make. He has taken the time to show photos from several different printing places. 

Without any proof or reasoning, that's not a very cool thing to say at all.

No service is perfect, there will be misprints that come out of any service that is selling 1000's of t-shirts per day. It's just the nature of the beast.

It shouldn't be anything common or a large percentage of all orders, but that's what customer service and return policies are for. As long as they are standing behind their work in the few cases that come out wrong, a small margin of error is to be expected.


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## Xeon

*Re: Zazzle Vs. Cafepress, my pics!*

Yeah, thanks Rodney.

Anyway, I apologize to SchneiderStudios.
I was just totally shocked that this happened to PF, though. 

Regardless, I stand behind PF!


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## sunnydayz

*Re: Zazzle Vs. Cafepress, my pics!*

I totally agree Rodney, I was going to post close to the same thing. I was going to say that with any of these companies you have a chance of getting a good print or a bad print as they are all pretty much using the same machines, what makes the difference in the print is the operator of that machine. So one day you can have a very detail oriented person running the machine and on your next order you may have someone who is just there to get paid by the hour not really paying attention to how the machine is printing and you will get a not so good print. That can happen with any of these companies. What would be intersting to see is if you were to get another print, if the quality would be the same as the ones you already recieved. Heck I might even be willing to cover the cost of the garments just to see if you would get the same quality from all of these places twice, whether they were good or bad the first time.


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## SchneiderStudios

*Re: Zazzle Vs. Cafepress, my pics!*

no im not.. i got 3 shirts from ss and they are all great! same with zazzle, but cp and pf, just dont bother.. its just so weird how they pass those shirts for quality check.
basically i ordered shirts with the same design from all 4 companies to check the print/shirt quality and i found my answers.. regarding non screen printing.. i did try one screenprinting company (bluecotton) and they are great but very slow and pricy now..

p.s rodney can you please change the name of my thread to like : spreadshirt,zazzle,cp and pf quality pics
? thanks!


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## Xeon

*Re: Zazzle Vs. Cafepress, my pics!*

To save PF's reputation, I'm going to order one t-shirt very soon and hopefully I can post it here!


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## SchneiderStudios

*Re: Zazzle Vs. Cafepress, my pics!*



Xeon said:


> To save PF's reputation, I'm going to order one t-shirt very soon and hopefully I can post it here!


 
yeah just get the $2 white t and use a vector or transperent design..


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## tim3560

*Re: Zazzle Vs. Cafepress, my pics!*

Just out of curiousity, I wonder how far the quality control goes? Does one person print it, another person roll it, another bags and tags, and all 3 missed it? Or the same person doing the printing, does everything? Seems like to me that the cost of paying a team of individuals to check out each shirt before shipping would be money well spent. Not only are they costing themselves money with reprints and shipping, they're costing the shopkeepers happy customers and reorders.


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## SchneiderStudios

*Re: Zazzle Vs. Cafepress, my pics!*

i know that ss has multiple people, and they have 3 people that check the quality and when they send you the shirt they give you a card and on that it says who checked your shirt and the name of the person, thats nice


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## tim3560

*Re: Zazzle Vs. Cafepress, my pics!*



SchneiderStudios said:


> i know that ss has multiple people, and they have 3 people that check the quality and when they send you the shirt they give you a card and on that it says who checked your shirt and the name of the person, thats nice


Yeah, that sounds like they've got a good system in place.


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## Rodney

*Re: Zazzle Vs. Cafepress, my pics!*



Xeon said:


> To save PF's reputation, I'm going to order one t-shirt very soon and hopefully I can post it here!


Nobody is saying that all of printfections t-shirts are bad  There's no reputation to save.

As Bobbie said, what goes out is only as good as the operator (and QC) people working at that time. 

When 1000's of t-shirts ship out a day, with 1000's of different graphics from 1000's of different people who have 1000's of different levels of graphic design experience, it's not hard to understand that a bad print might go out.

Sometimes, the print is bad because the graphic is bad. Not in this case, but if you think about the ease of use of these print on demand companies, not all the people who use their services are experts in DPI, graphic design, vectors, etc.

So there are 1000's of different images that these people have to proof, and not all of them are quality to start with. Some could have blurred edges, jaggies from JPG artifacts, they could be low resolution from the web, they could have been skewed in the design.

There's a lot of factors that can happen that would allow a misprint to get out. Some things that they may consider "misprints" may actually be what the original graphic looks like.


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## tim3560

I agree with that. And it could also be that the 3 of us that have had similar troubles are the only one's posting about them. You have to admit though that when 2 of us have similar instances with bad prints that are remarkably better when we have them reprinted, that that's just the printer being lazy. It would take the person 2 seconds to hold up the shirt and say, "Wow, that's really off center" or "That's too fuzzy" and do the reprint on the spot. 

But I guess going back to a previous point of yours, if it's just a small percentage of returns, I can also understand why they'd rather take a few returns then pay a group of employees an hourly wage to catch a few mistakes here and there.


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## Rodney

> You have to admit though that when 2 of us have similar instances with bad prints that are remarkably better when we have them reprinted, that that's just the printer being lazy.


Not necessarily lazy, but the person doing the check may not have spotted the issue because maybe the other 18 designs that they were checking that hour had bad artwork, so they may have thought that what they "ok'd" was "good" or "close" to what was uploaded. 

After the shirt gets sent back, then it would be given more special attention to make sure that the artwork is correct and that the final output is matching as close as possible.

I'm just not ready to make it a cut and dry case of bad quality checks overall. There's a lot more to it.

I'm hoping to do an interview with cafepress and zazzle in the upcoming weeks, so hopefully they'll be able to shed some more light on their QC process.

It's great to see actual photos from each different service though. 

I think I may try to do something similar in the future, but using the same graphic so it will be easier to see side by side comparisons of how the different services treat the same graphic.


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## prometheus

Here's a thought, why can't they print out a sample of the job, so the operator can see what he is dealing with.


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## Girlzndollz

I feel I would prefer the attention to artwork the first time around. I suppose this is just like anything else, some printers/services give higher quality "more consistently". It could be these spot checks are just showing a varying degree of consistency to the high quality. If all of CP's shirts came out mediocre, how would they still be in business? No one delivers 100% quality - 100% of the time. But some services deliver quality on a more consistent basis than others.


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## tim3560

Girlzndollz said:


> I feel I would prefer the attention to artwork the first time around. I suppose this is just like anything else, some printers/services give higher quality "more consistently". It could be these spot checks are just showing a varying degree of consistency to the high quality. If all of CP's shirts came out mediocre, how would they still be in business? No one delivers 100% quality - 100% of the time. But some services deliver quality on a more consistent basis than others.


I would certainly prefer it also and feel like all shopkeepers would too. Like I said earlier, if I'm a shopkeeper putting in good artwork and cp keeps sending out bad quality prints of my items, they're going to cost us both money in the long run. I'm going to lose customers that may have returned if they had gotten a good quality shirt.

I also understand that they do thousands of shirts weekly, and that it's harder to quality control such a large quantity.

I'm always willing to give the benefit of the doubt, so I would definitely be interested in seeing CP and Zazzles sides of the story.


----------



## tim3560

prometheus said:


> Here's a thought, why can't they print out a sample of the job, so the operator can see what he is dealing with.


Probably just because of the sheer volume that they deal with. They'd lose a lot of time and money if they printed out that many samples.


----------



## Rodney

> Here's a thought, why can't they print out a sample of the job, so the operator can see what he is dealing with


I think they do use a small printed copy for a proof. But even then, how it looks on paper will be different than how it looks on the screen, which will be different than how it looks on a garment.


----------



## Gunslinger

prometheus said:


> Here's a thought, why can't they print out a sample of the job, so the operator can see what he is dealing with.


That's how I run my shop. I have a printed garment for every job, every print I have ever done. So, I could use them for quality control checks and consistency. This became vital, whenever changes to the software or new releases to the inks came out, if I ever needed to do another run for a given print/client.

But, while I believe this is the way every shop should be run ... I can see Tim's point, I just don't know how feasible that could be when dealing with that much volume. You also have to consider ... just how many less-than-desired prints go out and not returned, compared to ones that are and need to be refunded or reprinted. Numbers to numbers ... it's just less costly and more efficient for the big dogs to pumpin' out the product, keeping within acceptable loss percentages.

This is a great thread, but Rodney's right ... way too many factors to consider making a cut and dry decision with any one of these companies.

Where is Consumer Reports when we need em???


----------



## Girlzndollz

And does the consumer view the resulting product in the same way a printer does. It's possible the level of printing expected here may exceed what the everyday consumer is expecting.

I know the shirts for our school are literal junk, but folks buy them without much thought.


----------



## tim3560

Girlzndollz said:


> And does the consumer view the resulting product in the same way a printer does. It's possible the level of printing expected here may exceed what the everyday consumer is expecting.
> 
> I know the shirts for our school are literal junk, but folks buy them without much thought.


I think there's a lot of truth to that last statement.
I have honestly found that 9 times out of 10 even though I might not be 100% satisfied with something I've printed, the customer is usually thrilled.


----------



## Rodney

Girlzndollz said:


> And does the consumer view the resulting product in the same way a printer does. It's possible the level of printing expected here may exceed what the everyday consumer is expecting.
> 
> I know the shirts for our school are literal junk, but folks buy them without much thought.


This is also a VERY big point. 

Some stuff is obviously bad. 

But a LOT of the stuff that we would see as really bad, a customer would not ever know the difference and would probably LOVE the design when they received it. They may even be a return customer after receiving a "misprint".

I remember going to one of CafePress's meet and greets, and they talked about how their focus on always improving the quality of what goes out and customer satisfaction rates. 

One surprising thing that they found was that one of the highest measures of customer satisfaction didn't come from the quality of the print, it came from how fast the item reached their doorstep after ordering.

That's not to say that they stopped focusing on the quality of the prints, far from it. But it's just interesting to note what customers see as a priority when ordering custom printed apparel online.

More info here: http://www.t-shirtforums.com/cafepress/t7451.html


----------



## Gunslinger

So true ... I know I never paid any attention to all the details we now see and fuss about, until getting into the industry.


----------



## prometheus

It reminds me of a job we had a work a while back. We spent a lot of time trying to get this one aspect right, everytime it printed. Then one day someone brought it up to the customer, and they didn't even care about it. Nobody had really asked them.


----------



## kitkaplan

I sell my photographs on t-shirts for the Coney Island Wonder Wheel at wonderwheelstore.com on CP and am looking for a better source if anyone has recommendations. I need a place with total custom CSS and great photo tees. Since CP stopped heat pressing the quality of my photo tees has been unacceptable and in general I have had ro return 50% of my orders done on direct print. Some have been so obviously unacceptable I wonder if anyone has looked at them. They are happy to send a new one but I want it right the first time.


----------



## Xeon

Have you tried Spreadshirt? They are the best POD I can recommend to anyone, especially since their paid "premium" service lets you customize the invoice etc.

Recently, they've introduced Direct-to-Garment printing and you can interact with their staff on their forums. Pretty good.


----------



## bob emb

Hi All,
A few of you folks have asked why doesnt CP or Zazzle print out a sample. Alot of you may not realize that if an order is a 1 off and you print a sample you are taking twice as long to print and making 1/2 the money.
Who will pay for the second shirt!!!!

Artwork is especially a problem. We had 2 orders this week where we had to go in and change all the colors- no charge and another order that was a jpeg pix that was so pixelated if you tried to increase the size it was unrecognizable. Also their was so much noise around the text we decided not to print it and sent it back to the customer to redo.

We are not cafe press zazzle or any of the others. If a customer sends lousy art work
2 things can happen one is send it back as unprintable or do what CP Zazzle etc wont do redo the art, but the customer has to pay. In the case of a 1 off IS IT WORTH IT.

Bob


----------



## bob emb

Bob here again,

I went to page 3 and looked at the schneider studio samples in turquiose and white. My eyes may be going but that certainly does not look like DTG printing.

a post or 2 down from Dan in VA showed a Scneider print with an apple- thaqt is certainly a DTG or screen print. But I would bet Dans life-hahaha- that the schneider samples are not ink they look like sone very lite film or vynil. the edges are way to sharp and their is no shirt under it the image is as flat as if it were on a non apparel surface.

Any thoughts

Bob


----------



## sunnydayz

You know what Bob, I just looked and you may be right. I too do not see any fibers with the logo print he has there which does make it look like their flex print they carry which I think is vinyl.


----------



## SchneiderStudios

bob emb said:


> Bob here again,
> 
> I went to page 3 and looked at the schneider studio samples in turquiose and white. My eyes may be going but that certainly does not look like DTG printing.
> 
> a post or 2 down from Dan in VA showed a Scneider print with an apple- thaqt is certainly a DTG or screen print. But I would bet Dans life-hahaha- that the schneider samples are not ink they look like sone very lite film or vynil. the edges are way to sharp and their is no shirt under it the image is as flat as if it were on a non apparel surface.
> 
> Any thoughts
> 
> Bob


All the information i posted next to the picures is correct.
all true and %100 right..


----------



## Belinda Flanagan

*Re: Zazzle Vs. Cafepress, my pics!*

Well that's good
You just made my mind up about Cafe Press!!!!!!!!!
Did'nt think they would be any good..
Sounded good but that's usually the case!!
Can't trust anything that sounds too good to be true!!!!
I'm just new to the forum. Well even that net!!!!
Been seeking a good quailty printing company it is not an easy mission!!!!!!

Getting samples sent from many different company
DTG Digital Printing Machines Screenprinting And Transfer Prints
Keep you informed if I find the right one.........


----------



## prometheus

If you are talking about this post: http://www.t-shirtforums.com/t-shirt-fulfillment-services/t41579-3.html#post247874 , it is from Spreadshirt, which is vinyl.


----------



## bob emb

I went back to page 3 schneider studio and yes the info was there-- some were vynil and some were dtgd or screened. My apologies if I offended anyone but the info on the type of decoration ie vyunil , screen or dtg should be up there with the pix. It would be less confusing, as that was the case with a lot of replies asking what is on the shirt????

B est of luck to all and have a great holiday weekend.

Bob


----------



## DRM

Hello!

Just about to use spreadshirt, I'm okay with the flex/flock transfers, but I'm weary about the DTG. Forgive me if I missed it, but I've only seen samples of the flex/flock from Spreadshirt, but I haven't seen any DTG shirts from Spreadshirt...Anyone care to upload photos or vouch for their quaility? Thanks!


----------



## DRM

*Re: Zazzle Vs. Cafepress, my pics!*

The question is, which company has a quality control department? That actually proofs the prints before sending out to customers!


----------



## Binary01

yeah... i need to see pics from the dtg from SS also...... asap......

i tried their forum but couldnt find anything...grrr...

b


----------



## badtuna1

Hi all,

Just to join in the conversation regarding the quality of these tee print suppliers, I use both Zazzle and PF. I like the quality more with PF than Zazzle. However, I use Zazzle most because they have a better marketing strategy then PF. Here are some examples of both suppliers. As far as CP, their quality is pretty bad (blurry images, etc.). I can't seem to find the T-shirt I bought from them a year ago. I must have thrown it away because it was that bad. 

Bob V.


----------



## kitkaplan

I just ordered a sample of a photo tee from all 4 and in the Spreadshirt bag was a fancy postcard saying it was inspected by three people. It must have really been moe, curly and larry because the quality was so horrible I asked for a refund early last week and got no response yet though I'm sure I'll get it. The image colors were way off and very muddy. Zazzle, Printfection and CP were identical, bright accurate colors but the zazzle image was HUGE. I will say after years with CP, the customer service is IMPECCABLE! I once ordered 15 shirts and did not like them. they let you keep the shirts and redo them IMMEDIATELY no questions asked. The response is immediate. They answer a phone which is critical for me and my customers. Since my stores are topic based and sales come more from the venue I made the store for, this is a critical issue. CP quality is hit or miss, ofetn miss but...To me it is VERY important how a company handles it when they screw up because they all do.


----------



## tshirtnoob

Thanks for the latest comparison update.
I went to each site to re-check them out.

I figured they are using the latest machines so they look exactly the same now... BUT...

I downloaded their template files to compare their resolutions and noticed this

Cafepress 2000x2000 10x10 in
Printfection 3300x2700 13.5 x 16.5in

Thats a nice improvement over CafePress

Anyone know exactly what machines they are using?
ALSO I created a black test shirt and Printfection comes in a dollar cheaper!

Now im sorta pissed because I just ordered 2 test shirts with my designs from cafepress last night. Now I gotta try out printfection... doh


----------



## Binary01

SS is 10x10in 3000

i'm getting nervous here...since i need to order shirts for my artists/gallery and if the quality is **** then i'm screwed.... since i have like 80 products in the SS store..... 

pics of SS?????????????????


----------



## matius89

It actually looks like there was too much spray in the pre-spray treatment. That is why the designs appear to have a ghostly bleeding to them.


----------



## Tone

It would be good if one of the people who has used all the services could do a comparitive review, comparing categories like print quality, shirt quality, prices, service, etc. 
I mean it would be really helpful to see the pros and cons of each laid out. 
Different people care about different things. Maybe each site suits different types of designs better, for example a review could summarise "zazzle is great for photo images, but bad for drawings, cafepress is great with text on white shirts, but terrible with multicolored pictures on black shirts", etc etc. (I have no idea what the reality is, just examples). 

I'm really annoyed now that I went ahead and signed up with cafepress, I feel like I basically flushed a tonne of my designs down the toilet and that I have to start over, make up a new brand name and etc. I wish someone told me "don't use cafepress if you care about the prints coming out right".


----------



## DRM

Me too!!! I need to see SS DTG photos. I just launched my spreadshirt site and I'm expecting good sales, but I'm so nervous about the quaility clients will be receiving. Especially after reading Kitkaplan's post...yikes! Just the thought of having to switch from one store to start another after setting up a googillion products makes me sick to my stomache. If anyone can share a shirt showing the quality of SS DTG, it would be appreciated! Thanks!


----------



## Binary01

well i just dropped 200bones on some gear for model pics/etc..... dtg from SS so hopefully i wont be diss-appointed

i'm working on a tight time frame here with my detroit artists going on tour and all that....i didnt have time to order 1 shirt then wait another week on top of that..... so i hope everything looks good.... i tried to get 1 shirt per design just to make sure everything is good....

i will post up pics when i get them in and with my models/artists in them...

b


----------



## Rodney

Tone said:


> It would be good if one of the people who has used all the services could do a comparitive review, comparing categories like print quality, shirt quality, prices, service, etc.
> I mean it would be really helpful to see the pros and cons of each laid out.
> Different people care about different things. Maybe each site suits different types of designs better, for example a review could summarise "zazzle is great for photo images, but bad for drawings, cafepress is great with text on white shirts, but terrible with multicolored pictures on black shirts", etc etc. (I have no idea what the reality is, just examples).
> 
> I'm really annoyed now that I went ahead and signed up with cafepress, I feel like I basically flushed a tonne of my designs down the toilet and that I have to start over, make up a new brand name and etc. I wish someone told me "don't use cafepress if you care about the prints coming out right".


There are a few posts like that in the forums if you search for the different services


----------



## betilfan

I think some people are missing a really big point here. If you want real quality, you need to go with a smaller company. None of the big guys are going to get everything right. They'd never pull off the quantities if they did. They'll take some blog bashing b/c they know that your order was .0001% of what they sold that day. Nothing in this business beats the hands on touch a smaller company will provide.


----------



## Rodney

betilfan said:


> I think some people are missing a really big point here. If you want real quality, you need to go with a smaller company. None of the big guys are going to get everything right. They'd never pull off the quantities if they did. They'll take some blog bashing b/c they know that your order was .0001% of what they sold that day. Nothing in this business beats the hands on touch a smaller company will provide.


I don't think that's true at all. Both small companies and big companies make mistakes. You can get quality from both.


----------



## betilfan

Again the point is being missed. What I see here is some people nit picking about why this design was printed larger, or not positioned right, etc. Production is production. Hands on is the only way you'll get truely custom orders done right.


----------



## Rodney

betilfan said:


> Again the point is being missed. What I see here is some people nit picking about why this design was printed larger, or not positioned right, etc. Production is production. Hands on is the only way you'll get truely custom orders done right.


I get your point, I just dont' agree 

I don't think "hands on" is the only way to get production right. If that was the case, then companies would never outsource. And outsourcing production is done by the majority of companies, from the big names like Disney, Google, Harley Davidson, down to the many smaller companies.


----------



## betilfan

Completely different business model. You get Disney orders right every time or they pull $2 million in business away from you. The random person does not qualify for that type of treatment.


----------



## Gunslinger

It doesn't matter the size of the company, only managing the quality of the product. I have seen just as many smaller companies with little regard for quality control, as I have with larger ones.

The point of this thread was to see how the major fullfillment services compared with each other, print methods, and such.

LOL, I would hate to _ever_ see the thread that may come up, comparing the lil guys.


----------



## sunnydayz

Hi,

Just wanted to let everyone know some posts have been removed from this thread as they were driving the thread off topic. Please try to keep the responses relevant to topic.

Thanks


----------



## SchneiderStudios

New shirt from SS. Flex print on american apparel tshirt

this shirt was washed about 5 times


----------



## Girlzndollz

SchneiderStudios said:


> New shirt from SS. Flex print on american apparel tshirt
> 
> this shirt was washed about 5 times


Hey! Long time, no see. So, how do you like this new shirt from SS, do you see a difference in printing? It looks good from here. How do you like it in person?


----------



## prometheus

SchneiderStudios said:


> New shirt from SS. Flex print on american


What's a "Flex" print?

It looks like vinyl.


----------



## Rodney

prometheus said:


> What's a "Flex" print?
> 
> It looks like vinyl.


Yes, Flex is Spreadshirt's name for vinyl. Maybe it comes from the "thermo*flex*" brand of vinyl. That brand is manufactured in Germany, which I think is where Spreadshirt started.


----------



## Girlzndollz

Dang, no wonder the letters looks so 'clean'. Is the vinyl "soft", Schneider? Thanks.


----------



## prometheus

Girlzndollz said:


> Dang, no wonder the letters looks so 'clean'. Is the vinyl "soft", Schneider? Thanks.


If it is ThermoFlex as Rodney said, then yep. It has a soft feel, similar to IronAll dark.


----------



## Girlzndollz

prometheus said:


> If it is ThermoFlex as Rodney said, then yep. It has a soft feel, similar to IronAll dark.


 
Thanks, Prom. I was kind of hoping for softer than that even. I'll end up going out to the threads to find the vinyl that is said to be as soft as screen print. I want to try that. I thought SS would have used something that was "that" soft... 

Okay, thanks a gillion. Peace, brotha.


----------



## Frank_Rizzo

Thanks to everyone who posted pictures in this thread for helping me somewhat before I even get started...


----------



## cjtadas

*Re: Zazzle Vs. Cafepress, my pics!*



SchneiderStudios said:


> So today i got my Spreadshirt - shirt, (one of them) i took some quality pics for you:
> 
> [media]http://img527.imageshack.us/img527/3558/cimg2153ey4.jpg[/media]
> [media]http://img527.imageshack.us/img527/4441/cimg2154xf8.jpg[/media]
> [media]http://img337.imageshack.us/img337/9806/cimg2157ns8.jpg[/media]
> im very happy with my design! very good quality. the shirt is great too, by American Apparel
> 
> [media]http://img337.imageshack.us/img337/1900/cimg2161ht5.jpg[/media]


That is a pretty sweet font.  What is it? I also want thank everyone for posts.


----------



## herrherrlich

Did I see an autobot logo on the sleeve?


----------



## SchneiderStudios

*Re: Zazzle Vs. Cafepress, my pics!*



cjtadas said:


> That is a pretty sweet font.  What is it? I also want thank everyone for posts.


Fireye from dafont

and to "herrherrlich" - yes you did.


----------



## SchneiderStudios

Girlzndollz said:


> Dang, no wonder the letters looks so 'clean'. Is the vinyl "soft", Schneider? Thanks.


hey whats up?? they always come out the same and in good quality, and no its not soft or anything, it has a matte texture like to it. i love it, the colors NEVER and will not fade in time! ive washed my shirts for a year now and they still look new lol. I just made a new design now.

Btw guys, all of the pics here are top page on google images hehe


----------



## Girlzndollz

SchneiderStudios said:


> hey whats up?? they always come out the same and in good quality, and no its not soft or anything, it has a matte texture like to it. i love it, the colors NEVER and will not fade in time! ive washed my shirts for a year now and they still look new lol. I just made a new design now.


 
Hey! =) I had to go back and look up what my question was about.. lol. 

Thanks for the reply. I looks really good, and it's great to hear they are holding up really well. 

Good to see you again, hope things are going good... 

Oh, one more Q, now that you've washed them for this long, how is the fabric holding up? Any fibrillation, anything like that? 

Thanks! =)


----------



## SchneiderStudios

Girlzndollz said:


> Hey! =) I had to go back and look up what my question was about.. lol.
> 
> Thanks for the reply. I looks really good, and it's great to hear they are holding up really well.
> 
> Good to see you again, hope things are going good...
> 
> Oh, one more Q, now that you've washed them for this long, how is the fabric holding up? Any fibrillation, anything like that?
> 
> Thanks! =)


Great 

uhh like i said both the shirt fabric and the print are in great shape and yes the fabric is high quality, you know i used the AA shirts. oh wow did you get mod? lol


----------



## Girlzndollz

SchneiderStudios said:


> Great
> 
> uhh like i said both the shirt fabric and the print are in great shape


Did you? Sorry, I missed that.  It's late... you know? 



> and yes the fabric is high quality, you know i used the AA shirts. oh wow did you get mod? lol


It's been a while, I didn't remember that. That is great. Another reason folks like that shirt I guess. The last Q, I dunno... haha, just happens sometimes, lol. 

If you make the new design and want to share it, that'd be cool. Good luck with everything and thanks for the posts.


----------



## Patrick1979

*Re: Zazzle Vs. Cafepress, my pics!*



sunnydayz said:


> I think the problem could be they dont have enough quality control. Maybe they have grown too quickly to keep up


You probably hit the nail on the head with that one.. 

A company should do everything it takes to keep their business founded on relationship and quality service.

For that Cafepress shirt to go out, tells me there isn't quality control watchin' what's going on.


----------



## mokothemonkey

I recently ordered from spreadshirt (from my own store) and this is what I got.


----------



## adrienword

I used to shop at Zazzle but I try Wordans since a while and the t-shirts they print have really better quality, it's a bit more expensive but for the difference of quality I keep use Wordans.


----------



## LickEmWear

I just wated to jump on thread and say it's becuase of this post that I went with Zazzle and could not be happier with the products the send out. Thanks guys!!


----------



## 124002

I was going to make a similar post but thanks for making this thread. I personally prefer zazzle and spreadshirts quality.


----------



## jack3b98

*Re: Zazzle Vs. Cafepress, my pics!*



SchneiderStudios said:


> no im not.. i got 3 shirts from ss and they are all great! same with zazzle, but cp and pf, just dont bother.. its just so weird how they pass those shirts for quality check.
> basically i ordered shirts with the same design from all 4 companies to check the print/shirt quality and i found my answers.. regarding non screen printing.. i did try one screenprinting company (bluecotton) and they are great but very slow and pricy now..
> 
> p.s rodney can you please change the name of my thread to like : spreadshirt,zazzle,cp and pf quality pics
> ? thanks!


Blue Cotton has Kornit DTG printing equipment as well as screen print. I don't know if you can request one or the other.
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p79XxAo8-zo[/media]


----------



## notorioustees

I have an account with all but printfection. I can say your top two by far are Spreadshirt and Zazzle as far as quality goes. Cafepress...is kind of like the Microsoft windows of POD sites, for the most part they suck but they've been around so long they just short of monopolize the POD industry. Quality is almost always poor, and there base prices are set so high it's hard to justify to the customers the price you put your products in your shop for.

That being said I think Spreadshirt is by far the top as far as quality and base prices go and since I've tranfered my main domains to sell mostly there products since back in 2010 I have had only 3 returns due to the print quality. In my opinion that's great, plus they offer a few different print type options as wella s the ability to upload vector images so you can offer different color variations within your design should someone choose to use the custom designer to make their own product.

I'm curious since this is an older thread what people think of Redbubble? I have been working on some more artistic designs that what I normally do and they look like a good POD site to list them on. Has anyone else used RB or do you have opinions on quality or price?


----------



## Refugeek

I have read great things about RB and chose them as my POD service after careful research. I have yet to see the quality first-hand though, and haven't sold any shirts yet either.


----------



## notorioustees

Refugeek thanks for the reply...lkeep us posted about your progress and I will as well. I'm about a week to a week and a half away from being ready to upload some designs (final touches)

someone mentioned before that there isn't really enough being posted about RedBubble and I have to agree.


----------



## Refugeek

I will, but I'm not doing a lot to promote my store atm, so it may be a while before i get any sales


----------



## doodle28

anyone tried to sell your designs on these websites too? I want to know if you really can make money through their service


----------



## notorioustees

I can say I make ok money utilizing these POD sites...I would be making a lot more if I could afford to jump in full time. It depends on the work you put into it, I know a few people who make a living using both cafepress and spreadshirt, one of which makes just over 100K on average.

a few things to keep in mind:

1. quality designs. customers have to like what they come across and both these sites' marketplaces are littered with poor quality design, so make sure yours are top end and stand out.

2. cafepress' marketplace is huge, almost 75% of my sales on there come from the market pace. Spreadshirt's is not nearly as large but I see a good amount of sales (most of my sale here though come from marketing myself throughout social networks and word fo mouth)

3. even if you do use these be sure to get your own domain. Searching and SEO wise, you'll be glad you did.

cafepress has a higher base price on their products, forcing you to sell at a premium price to make money. Spreadshirt has a lower base price allowing you to keep your comission at a decent rate without charging a high end price. Spreadshirt's quality of print is very good while cafepress has a tendency to screw up prints. All in all I like spreadhisrt better and both my main sites use spreadshirt for printing. I started with cafepress first and although i don't update the account with new designs it still develops sales so I keep in anyway.

hope that helps


----------



## doodle28

Thanks for the information. i see some negative comments on the printing quality with cafepress. have you also tried zazzle?


----------



## notorioustees

I have a zazzle account but I have not had anything printed for myself, nor have I updated it in a loooong time. But I do hear good things about them and for the 20-30 items sold I ahev no returns thus far so I'd say they do a good job with their printing.


----------



## Souljas4Christ

I need true help and ASAP....LOOKING FOR THE BEST ONE TO USE, PF, ZZ, PMJO OR SS? Looking for one that had no minimums and greater profits?


----------



## gretchen2u

*Re: Zazzle Vs. Cafepress, my pics!*

I bought a Cafe Press shirt once..about a year ago. Never wore it; just stared at it in disbelief for a while. It was really blurry also.


----------



## doodle28

i was told that cowcow is giving out a "double your profit" offer which they will double the profit you make. sounds like a cool offer but not sure about their print quality tho.


----------



## Souljas4Christ

Never heard of CowCow and does anyone on here do busyness with any of these companies? Do ppl on this forum have an online store I can visit? I need real business folk here......my line is launching in March


----------



## jipsee

Anybody have experience with Shopify? How do they compare??


----------



## printaura

jipsee said:


> Anybody have experience with Shopify? How do they compare??



Shopify is just a e-commerce shopping cart where you can sell products but they aren't a fulfillment company. There are companies that integrate with their service but Shopify as a service is just a way to "sell" products.


----------



## jumpy

ive only had hands on experience with redbubble, ive done a couple of blogs on the print quality with close up photos

RedBubble T-shirt Printing (pt.1) | Jumpy
Redbubble T-shirt Printing (Pt.2) | Jumpy

to make money youd have to be on more than one and uploading quality, consistent designs thru a few of the fulfilment guys and do lots of self promotion imo.


----------



## Micki23

*Re: Zazzle Vs. Cafepress, my pics!*



SchneiderStudios said:


> yeah that sucks because i paid $30 for that cafepress tshirt, and it was a glidan only.. while $20 for zazzle
> im waiting for 2 shirs from spreadshirt.. well see if they are better


You can return it for a refund! or get another one. I have done this and got a good print the second time. Quality control was the issue.


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## Whateverchan

So is Spreadshirt better than Vistaprint? Would the colors fade away after a few washes?


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## Micki23

*Re: Zazzle Vs. Cafepress, my pics!*



tim3560 said:


> I guess, but the part that gets me the most is that the idiots making these horrible prints either don't care that the prints are bad or weren't trained to know the difference. I guess they just have too many fires burning.


I did a design on Cafepress recently for some canvas shoes. They say "WYSIWYG" and the design looked really good on the sample image. It was three distinct shades of brown. So I ordered a pair of shoes of my design for myself. I got the shoes and you could not tell any variation in the shades of brown. They were all the one shade. Although it looked fine online, whoever printed it made it way too dark. I requested a refund mainly for the printed design defect but also the shoes were huge. They gladly refunded my money and let me keep the shoes, although I have no use for them. They have a great customer service - but really need to get their printing together. If so, they might not have to do as many refunds.


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## Micki23

Whateverchan said:


> So is Spreadshirt better than Vistaprint? Would the colors fade away after a few washes?


I've had really good luck with Vistaprint shirts. We did a club shirt and they came out great and they washed great too. I don't know "Spreadshirt".


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## R03

When you were refering to shopify i believe you ment merchify. Merchify is the DTG fullfiller you can use on your shopify store. I use them and it is a great quality shirt and design. I sell quite a few shirts on my site that i am not able to screen print. They look exactly like my designs to the T. now i do not know about actual photo quality on a tee if that is what youre asking. 

Sent from my SGH-T989 using T-Shirt Forums


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## stephgray013

i had the same problem with bags i purchased from both cafe press and zazzle. zazzle was a much better print job


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## aisse

Cafepress after first use/wash with cold water...


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## pinprinter

What does Cafepress use to print their shirts? Is it DTG? I think Redbubble use DTG and their prints are nice but expensive.


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## awesomehoodie

Zazzle is price hight


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## NZACO

pinprinter said:


> What does Cafepress use to print their shirts? Is it DTG? I think Redbubble use DTG and their prints are nice but expensive.


What i'm interested in is WHERE are their shirts printed?

Pretty sure they are not printed in the US and am very sure they are all printed on D2G printers.


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## KuhlToys

We have been using Cafe Press for a while, and the shirts are ok quality. We also use Queensboro, but for screen print they have a minimum order quantity. Of the two the Queensboro quality is better and we know exactly the shirt manufacturer before we order. 

With Cafe Press, we have had different brands on different orders making sizing an issue. 

One of our clients is an auto racing team and they had a very high return rate on hoodies at CP. The band we are working with to write a theme song for our web show uses Spread Shirt. And that is what lead me to this thread. The lead singer is a graphics designer for a big big company here in SoCal so I figure he knows something I don't. 

From the other posts, I think it is worth a try to see how SS does so that may be next.


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