So. Tomorrow’s the day. My original plan was to remove all the tags from my images on June 1, so that they would not show in the marketplace, but still be available to my existing affiliates. But I have taken a step backwards, and I’m still on the fence about what to do. I’m thinking I might ride it out for a few months and see what happens, even though I feel like that’s a cop-out.
My marketplace earnings for May were $379.00. Cafepress has the official new prices posted here, so I added up the amounts of the various products I sold and under the new system my May earnings would have been about $81.00, or %21.5 of what they are under the old system.
Reasons why I’m having second thoughts:
- Everything else aside, $81.00 IS better than nothing.
- My sales have improved with the marketplace algorithm changes. Many of my designs show up on the front page when I search for my major keywords.
- The number of designs in the marketplace in my niche has dropped since the announcement, and if they drop even more after tomorrow then I would have less competition in the marketplace.
Still, I don’t know. I think I’ll give it a month while I finish moving everything to Zazzle and reworking my website.
Tags: cafepress sucks
You may find it interesting to know that you are NOT alone. There are other unhappy CP campers who do not like the way they will be exploited by CP when the new policy to pay only 10% commission across-the-board for sales in the marketplace takes effect June 1, 2009.
You can find a complete review regarding this new policy and why it exploits artists/writers at Cafe de Art http://www.byteland.org/cafedeart/index.html.
I have used the analogy that this new policy is like a commercial bomb. I think that is a good comparison because the new policy does NOT take into consideration the value added to designer work based upon the education, experience and talent of the artist/designer. Hence the artist/designer is being exploited.
This new policy permits CP to keep a bigger piece of the pie for itself to pay managers and others who have the power and control to set policy. It violated the TOS agreement in effect since the conception of CP which permitted artist/designers to set their own markup and earn a fair commission for their work. This is akin to going back on one’s word or promise, is it not!
For this reason I can understand why many who have used CP over the years will be disappointed with the new PIMP policy. I am using that term because when a big company adopts a policy that turns artists/designers into prostitutes, forced to accept whatever one will pay to screw them over, that is much like the situation prostitutes are in; they do all the work, get screwed and the pimp takes all the money except what little they pan out.
Really, it does NOT feel good to not be paid what one’s work is worth given their education, experience or talent. But that is exactly what a 10% across-the-board policy does; it turns every artist/designer into a prostitute, peddling their wares for whatever CafePimp with pay.
Don’t get me wrong, I love CP. What I don’t like is to suddenly be hit in the fact, to be battered and abused, to have someone say I am worthless! Yet that is what this new policy does; it says I’m a prostitute, I’m not worth anything. And in saying that it kicks me out the door onto the street and says, “Screw you!” If you don’t like it I’ll find someone to take your place.
It is this type of pimp policy which hurts people. I’m sorry if such analogy offends anyone, but you should be offended by the policy, not by someone who is sensitive and care about how this will hurt people.
I’m a sensitive person. I can’t help but feel for how this policy will hurt creative people. I still believe if you have the education, the experience and the talent, that makes your work worth more than if you were just peddling something made by worms dipped in paint and let to squirm and wiggle at random on a canvas. To me as an artist/designer who has education, experience and talent, you bring value to your work. To say you are only worth 10% and try to make you accept and believe that is to PIMP your work, to turn your into a prostitute.
Such exploitation of workers is common place in third world nations. It also happen here in America, especially to migrant farm workers. But 10% does not even equate to minimum wadge. I suggest that perhaps we need laws to protect people who contribute to POD type services, to protect the worker, the artist/designers. That law should say that POD contributors must be permitted to set their own markup.
This needs to be made law! I urge every artist/designer and creative person to write their representatives and urge that they pass both national and state laws that require that all POD services permit contributor to set their own markup. Unless this is done POD companies like CP which adopt a 10% policy across-the-board will be exploiting artist/designers.
So people, if you don’t want to get screwed by CP’s exploitative policy, take action! Urge everyone to demand that states pass a law to protect them from big companies like CP who decide they will break their own TOS agreements and pimp the hard work of artists/designers by not allowing artist/designers to set their own markup.
This is a very reasonable solution to the problem. It may take time and effort. But if companies like CP see that there is a movement to demand change in the laws to permit artist/writers to set their own markup, perhaps this will get them to reconsider their pimping policies. This strategy has worked for the workers in the past and it can work for the workers in the future. So I say let’s make it law that POD companies must permit workers to set their own markup; that if a company changes this policy it must pay retribution in an amount to what people would have earned if they had been permitted to set their own markup, that retribution equal to a 50% markup.
If this is done it will prevent companies like CP from screwing the workers, from exploiting artists/designers and essentially saying that they are worthless, despite their education, experience or talents.
If you like this idea you can email me at terry@byteland.org. Of course you can also write your congressman and send a copy of the letter to CP. Also you can start an on-line petition to be sent to CP. If we do this it will show CP that we are NOT happy campers and do NOT accept the exploitation they have proposed!
What do you think? All replies would be appreciated.
I hate what has happened with Cafepress, hate it, hate it, hate it. And we were hellbent on leaving a month ago when the changes were first announced. But, damn, if the idea of taking down all 450 of our designs and starting over someplace where this could all happen again isn’t slowing us down! We’re also giving in to taking this transition slowly. We’re looking into everything from teaming up with smaller companies who do reasonable printing and handling the quality control and customer service ourselves to doing our own website and filling orders with whatever POD offers the best deal, customer service and ethical attitudes. That seems like the best way, actually, for us. Then if we have to change POD and order fulfillment services again at least our own website will remain intact.
We can rant all we want, and I don’t blame anyone for doing so. But, your story of losing 80% of your income is quite typical, and I have finally come around to refusing to believe that the powers that be at Cafepress can actually be so stupid as to expect shopkeepers to stay.
This leaves several possibilities open. The scariest one to me is that the short term money grab (note that most shopkeepers have not left yet, even if they intend to) has had predictable and calculated consequences. Suddenly Cafepress grabs an 80% increase in marketplace income, and they’re going to use that money to buy out a competitor; like Zazzle, maybe. Others have suggested a different theory, that Cafepress is getting ready to sell out to another company, and in the short term the influx of cash raises their stock value (no matter how short sighted that is). All just theories, of course.
I certainly understand CP wanting to thin out the marketplace of poorly selling designs, and you’d think that they would want to retain the best selling designs. But why insult/injure ALL your designers at once?
Here’s one answer: another shopkeeper reported that one of her best selling designs started dropping in sales, and she noticed a virtual copycat design selling at a price BELOW BASE PRICE. So, why wouldn’t Cafepress just copy all the best selling designs and sell them at any price they see fit, without paying out any commission? They know exactly which designs sell at what quantities already, what need to do they have for designers anymore? We’ve all been fired, we just don’t know it yet. And the market research we provided makes CP successful from here on out.
Instead of just getting angry, lets unravel the possibility of evil genius at work here. The trend has been to screw over and exploit the designers. Just follow that logic and it all makes sense. They are making profitable decisions for the company with no regard for the incomes and sometimes lives that they are ruining.
And yes, of course they are subject to individual lawsuits as well as class action lawsuits on the part of all CP shopkeepers.