Saturday, June 13, 2009

Friday, June 12, 2009

Changes at CafePress

I've been meaning to say more about this, but with everything that's been going on around here, I haven't been able to forumulate a post yet. But this excerpt from the blog Eating the Lotus pretty much brings you up to speed regarding the current situation....

Sure, there had been indicators that all was not rosy in the CafePress camp in regards to designers – first they cut our volume bonus (a system that rewarded designers for selling a certain volume of products each month) late last year. Then one of the CafePress founders left the company – never a good sign. And then, in April this year, the news came through that CafePress had finally crossed the line of goodwill with the POD design community and would, as of June 1st, control how much each product would be sold for and how much money designers could make from their work (a questionable 10%) when selling via the CafePress Marketplace.

Essentially, we went from being akin to partners with CafePress, with the freedom to set our own prices and manage our own business in conjunction with the CafePress business model, to being employees who are expected to accept a flat fee for our unique and original work. I know that is not what I signed up for – especially when all the other POD companies continue to allow designers to name our commission for our creative efforts without interference.
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