http://forums.printfection.com/showthread.php?t=3046

…I haven’t tried it myself yet. The core of what it does is similar to CPShop, I think - it’s based on a script that browses the store’s contents to get its data - but while it’s okay with PF at the moment they hope to have developers come up with a different solution once they’ve made their API available. So I haven’t been in a hurry to start depending on this one.

On the other hand the API is probably way out there in the future, so eventually I may give it a try.

I also never went down the premium shop road for many reasons, so the extra options (that tend to not work more often then not from what I see) available to them I would never miss, since I never had them to begin with.

What is the system with incorporating PF shops into an external one if you don’t mind? I assume it’s third party, or not? that sounds great. That’s the one big issue I really see that stands out with going to Z and PF.

And to me the marketplace is no big whoop, so less traffic at PF is no biggie. A sale from the MP is great when it happens, but as you know you can’t rely on it for anything but a bonus sale. And with how spammy it has become of late it has very little value anymore at all. One of the great things that Marty has done with cpshop recently is the addition of hooks, and using a combination of hooks and tags, SEO with a cpshop has become such a pleasure.

And as for the volume bonus, well, just have to make up for that with more sales, I guess. From what I see of the nicer, hipper, trendier, stylish, more requested products at both, that shouldn’t be too hard…

Of course there are some other CP features that I glossed over here. What most migrating shopkeepers miss are Cafepress’ bulk editing tools for adding, changing and cloning existing products. It’s not that I don’t think they’re important. I just don’t think they’re the most important thing. When you add products or modify them you’re doing something once; those products remain on sale forever. So though it’s nice to have tools to make editing faster and easier, I just don’t see those tools as essential. Like you, I started there in 2002, before any of those features had been created, and I know that though they’re nice (when they work) I can get by without them - because I already have done

If most of your business is shirts, I do highly recommend Printfection. They offer free, highly customizable shops and great product quality. There’s a very early version of a system for incorporating PF shops into an external web site, but I haven’t tried it yet. The SEO that Printfection shops use is excellent if you write appropriate text for product descriptions and the names of sections and products. The most trouble that migrating CP users seem to have there is that the PF marketplace has much less traffic than the CP marketplace. You do need to drive your own traffic to your own shops. I really didn’t see any problem with that - it’s what I’m used to doing anyhow - but it does seem to come as a shock to some.

In this post I really concentrated on the bottom line, which for many includes CP’s volume bonus, and it does look to me that after the dust settles at the new Zazzle the volume bonus will be the one core thing they’re still missing. The other features can grow over time, I think.

I’m just getting started with Zazzle now that they seem to have gotten their act together and haven’t tried Printfection, but plan to after the holidays.