T-Shirt Internet Biz

Over the past couple months I have been scheming on running a T-shirt site. (with mainly my designs I am coming up with)

I think it would be something pretty cool to do. I know the profit isn't huge or anything (i figure maybe a buck or so per shirt sold) but that isn't the main motive. I just want to do it to offer cool stuff, not to mention it will be a learning experience.

So my questions are:

• What do I need for this? What sort of service do you recommend? The only service I really am aware of is CafeExpress.
• Is a service, such as CafeExpress, that handles the screening/printing/shipping the way to go?

Really any insight or information you can give will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Cheers

 

Did you mean CafePress? If you did, you can sell stuffs designed by you:

As I understand, CafePress is quite expensive but giving it a try causes no harm. I've not used them before and unable to comment much... Maybe other members can help you out..

Depending on the time you have on your hands, the other way is to have an ecommerce site on your own. You design, print and ship.

 

Oops

Yeah CafePress is the one I meant. I want to sell my own t-shirt designs.

Ive used CafePress a long time ago and it is ok. But I am wondering what are the alternatives such as other services similar or printing my own?

The bummer about CafePress (unless its changes) is you can't really customize the look and feel of your site so it doesn't look all too professional. And the product pictures etc arn't the best.

Just trying to get a feel for my options.

Thanks

 

Personally i'd go with printing your own. You'll need money to outlay for such materials but it'll be worth it in the long run. To sell your stuff online you could use something like OSCommerce and get a freelance designer to customise the look for you.

More initial outlay and effort but worth a hell of a lot more to you.

Good Luck!

 

If you are serious about it, talk to some local screenprinters about what kind of deal you might be able to work out. Then you control quality and price and have a chance to make some money. Besides, if they like your designs, they might be able to sell some of them too.

There is nothing like talking to someone already in the business to quickly learn what works and what doesn't.

 

I agree , don't go with Cafe Press not nearly enough customization options available.

 

Yeah I was looking at CafePress and Zazzle.

Zazzle looks to have good quality stuff, but their ablility to have a 'shop' isnt really there.

CafePress looks nice. HotScripts has a free php script called CafeScript which basically lets you integrate your products into you own design etc. Seems really complex. The nice thing about CafePress is start up cost. Really doesnt cost me anything, just the time I have to put into making the website and coming up with the design idea. I am wondering if I should try them initially and see how it goes. If I start getting a nice flow of orders, maybe switching over to my own printing etc with more profit? I just don't want to sink a lot of money into printing it on my own and then end up sinking. I have heard mixed reviews of cafepress, some say products are great while others say quality is sub par.

Still weighing my options

thanks for all the suggestions so far

 

Still doing reaserch.

Besides the ones mentioned above I have found 99dogs.com and spreadshirt.com.

Spreadshirt.com seems to offer better quality shirts than any of the others I have looked at. There store capabilities are really lacking however.

That was the one thing I liked about CafePress was the ability to use 3rd party scripts that enable you to put the products directly on your site.

Anyways anyone heard anything about 99dogs.com or spreadshirt.com?

Thanks again

 

Jared, here's a couple of things to think about. CafePress is fairly expensive but they handle all the backend. It might seem like your losing profit but if your spending hours a day packing up shirts and shipping them, it might be a more economical option to use such a service. You'd basically have people doing the work while you could focus on creating new designs and doing what you love.

It's also a good way to do a test market. Find out which shirt designs sell the best. Once you know this, you might resort to going to a service like promodart.com. I personally recemmend them because they gave me a good deal on some shirts. If you ever decide to call them, you'll want to talk to a sales rep named Lalonie. She was really kind and knew the products very well.

 

I had used http://www.zazzle.com