Cafepress is going to remove the Value t-shirts from its marketplace BUT will allow shopkeepers to continue selling them through their custom storefronts. This is according to a shopkeeper notice received yesterday which states:

With this change the Value T-Shirt will become available exclusively through individual shops, and will no longer be available through the CafePress Marketplace, or Create & Buy.

The reasons cited were a higher rate of dissatisfaction and a stated desire to move “toward higher quality products that are directly associated with the CafePress brand.”My thoughts on this are:

  1. Cafepress should have done better development on this product in the first place. There is little reason for a product to go to market if it is not of a certain quality and I am sure Cafepress is smart enough to know what is and is not good quality.
  2. Saying that you are going to discontinue to the Value T-shirt in the CP marketplace but still allow the shopkeepers to sell them through their own store fronts when EVERYTHING gets shipped in Cafepress packing (although maybe this is a harbinger of this changing and allowing shopkeepers the ability to brand their own stores?) really defeats the purpose of focusing on “higher quality products” that are “associated with the CafePress brand.”

I am glad to see that Cafepress is constantly working on making their product selection better. But I have a feeling that the reason for the higher level of customer dissatisfaction with a proud that I normally sell for $10.99 is that people simply do not read the description of the product and don’t understand that the term “Value” means “Cheap” and that they are getting what they pay for.Value t-shirts are not a large portion of my sales. They may account for 1 or 2% of everything I sell and mostly out of the marketplace because in my own shops I have the value t-shirts buried behind higher quality and more expensive items. Whether or not that will impact dramatically on my own profits will depend on how many of those 1 or 2% will buy a more expensive t-shirt instead. And 1 or 2% for me is a significant amount of money for me.

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J.J. Jackson is President of Land of the Free Studios, Inc. and Cafepress “Top Shopkeeper”. He has been selling t-shirts on-line since 2004 and is the owner of the T-Shirt Entrepreneur, a site dedicated to helping people get involved in the T-shirt Economy. He is also the owner of Funny When Wet T-shirts, American Infidel Tshirts, Uber Gamer T-shirts as well as many other online t-shirt and gift stores.