|
Are The Folks At Cafepress Drinking DC Koolaid? |
E-mail
|
|
Written by W.J. Lynus O'Brien
|
|
Thursday, 18 June 2009 |
I'm finally getting around to commenting on the recent change to the Cafepress marketplace--so here it is--
Are you guys F*&!KING NUTS! Apparently you have been studying the Obama playbook and sipping a little koolaid from Timmy Geithner's jug?
You seem to have forgotten in your journey to success, the Net is the last free enterprise left in America--it's why most of us decided to abandon past lives and try to make it on the Web in the first place. Remember kids, the Internet (i.e., the people that work and craft the hundreds of thousands of designs you make your livings from) and all the people that surf and shop our wares makes your lifestyle possible. You seem to have forgotten that, as has Washington D.C.
Look if you needed to boost your bottom line for business survivability, at least have the decency to tell us, we have a stake in Cafepress just as you. But I smell greed and a consolidation of business models more at work. So let me get this straight--
From your email of 04-22-09 Announcing Marketplace changes:
" ... Beginning June 1st: We’ll start setting prices in the Marketplace, and Shopkeepers will receive a 10% commission off the final retail prices from all Marketplace sales. This change provides our shoppers with consistent pricing that’s competitive with other online retail stores. It also allows us to better invest in a quality retail experience and continued growth.
These changes DO NOT impact the pricing, markup, or sales you are driving in your own shops. By separating our Marketplace pricing from the prices you set in your shops, we’re able to preserve shop base pricing and continue to support shopkeepers who drive their own sales. ..."
I was just in the process of adjusting prices to market, finally boosting my Google numbers, increasing my sales and adding new designs almost everyday and then you did the dirty--my sales went off--
YOU are NOW my competition (and even crazier, still making a profit on the sales through my stores to boot) . Don't try and sucker me like DC, make nice and acting like you are doing us a favor by taking money out of our pockets, telling us oh wait and see, you're going to benefit in the end--sounds familiar these days. Here's the reality as I see it.
You've spun this up to appear to the shopper as though your Marketplace will have the fairer prices versus visiting shops, you've ramped up your advertising of the marketplace, touting a better overall experience as to shopping interface, product presentation and ease of use. I won't go into the details, but I have to say I liked the old marketplace better, and I notice there is no longer a link to go directly to a designer's shop. That's convenient, take our products, set the price, give us a 10% royalty of what you decide, keep them off our sites, spread the word the Marketplace is the place to shop. I guess it's, "Yosa Masta' for us from here on out. Very disappointing Cafepress...
Listen, I've had a Cafepress premium shop since early 2006, I have three now. I was just making it work. And my main store (this one) is a nice presentation, I've designed a seamless interface of two domains into one store to have the best of both worlds (your product interface, and a full control CMS on planetearthlogos.com) it wasn't easy for a guy that has taught himself and is still learning, trying to make a go of it in a changing world with a scarred up, beat down bod growing older. This is it for me. I am a web Privateer from here on out, scrapping a meager living in the digital age if the world will let me.
I still love you guys as my favorite POD (print on demand) provider. I know your interface pretty well and like it, but I have taken all my products off your marketplace, and am presenting them more artistically, plus selling them for less than your marketplace price. And the shame of it is, I'm still making more than you would trickle out to me, so how does that work out.
Might be a good idea if you all did a little soul searching next time you decide to whack us off and tell us it's F*&%!$#, we're smarter than that ... and remember there are other options to which we can move our designs. |
Loading Poll...
