Changes to the Marketplace

Well, CafePress made changes to it's terms of service again, and I'm looking at these with mixed feelings:

In order to keep designs fresh and of high quality as we launch new products, styles, and printing technologies, solely for designs that you are selling through the CafePress Marketplace: (i) CafePress may automatically add your designs to additional products in the CafePress Marketplace; and (ii) in order to improve the printing quality, CafePress may automatically modify your designs (e.g., cleaning up JPG artifacting, adjusting colors for different printers and products, and adjusting design placement on products).

So, what this means is that, while products sold in my shops will remain the same, since I sell through the CafePress marketplace as well, my designs might be added to products I never intended them for.

It's the "automatically" part that concerns me the most. Sure, sometimes it would be nice to have my design "automatically" available for sale on new products. But there are some designs that are just not meant for some products--I mean, what sense does a toddler t-shirt with "sleep deprived parent" on it make? And while I really don't care if CafePress wants to clutter their marketplace with those types of non-sequiturs, I do care if one of my design is added to a product that changes it's meaning in a way that I don't approve of. For instance, I wouldn't mind if my "Body by Baby" design was added to a thong (That's actually kinda fun, and I've nothing against thongs, really--I just haven't added them because I don't think they fit the type of image I'm aiming for.). But, a "Body by Baby" shirt on a child kinda starts to get creepy. And that's nothing compared to the racier designs put out by other artists. What might be sexy on an adult could reek of pedophilia when put on a child, and artists should have the discretion on whether to place their designs that way.

Anyways, right now I'm leaving things as is. If they do this intelligently (only adding designs to very similar products that are already listed) it might not be bad. If they do it wrong, I may have to pull at least some of my products from the marketplace. Not that this is entirely a bad thing. Right now with the way the marketplace pricing works most products cost more while earning me less when someone buys them directly from my shop. THAT alone is another reason this is a somewhat scummy move on the part of CafePress. In response to the recent change in the commission structure of the CafePress marketplace (artists used to set the mark-up themselves, but marketplace prices are now set by CafePress and artists get a flat 10%) many artists have pulled most or all of their products. Others have left only products where the commission or price was similar to what it was before the changes (so they wouldn't be competing with their own shops for sales, and earning less)--which might be one reason why they're doing this.

But, most of my sales come from the marketplace, not my own shops...and I really hoped to continue relying on marketplace sales so that I could spend less time on promotion (which I'm not that good at) and more time on designs and things like playing with my kid...and, yes, even cleaning house (another thing I'm not that good at...but it has to be done).

Anyways, if you want to read more about this topic there's a very good article over at Irregular Times.

Lead Testing - UPDATED

Saturday morning I completed a home lead test on a key chain that I had ordered through ArtsNow (previously ArtsCafe, and also the company behind ArtsCow). The test turned black, indicating over 50 ppm (parts per million of lead). Because this was the highest amount that could be tested with this test, I assumed it was a dangerous amount. Turns out, regular dirt has 50 ppm of lead. This test only says that this has more than that...so, it doesn't prove that it's safe, but it doesn't prove that it's dangerous either.

Since then staff from ArtsNow have gotten back to me about this issue. Here is what they wrote:

"Our key chains are made of Zinc, and all Zinc product contained lead. However, our product is up to the required European export safety standard.

I am collecting further data of containing lead, will get back to you later. Thank you."

If you have bought a key chain from me you are still welcomed to take me up on the refund I offered earlier. You can contact me at ecarian@yahoo.com regarding that.

And, I am still, most likely, not going to re-open my shop with ArtsNow. As I mentioned previously, there were other quality control problems that had prompted doubts. It made me wonder if they were missing so many minor quality issues, whether they could be missing major issues, like safety issues, as well. That, and the news of lead tainted toys from China, is what prompted me to get the home test. I had also contacted ArtsNow previously about those doubts. I mentioned my concern for overall safety quality, and specifically asked them about lead in ceramics and t-shirt inks (I don't remember if I mentioned any other items). As I recall, they assured me that there was no lead in ANY of their products. I'm not saying they lied...I could be remembering wrong (boy do I wish I could find that original e-mail!). Or, it could be a language issue. These have come up before, since ArtsNow is located in Hong Kong and English is not most of the staff's first language. It could be that since I mentioned the t-shirts and ceramics they simply meant that none of their t-shirts or ceramics contained lead. But man, it would have saved us all a lot of trouble if they had simply said at that time that such and such products did contain levels of lead that was compliant with the European export safety standard.

Regardless, now that I've gone and taken down most of my products from that shop, I actually feel a sense of relief. There were just too many problems. I think the best step for me is to just focus on my other shops through Zazzle, CafePress, and Printfection, and not look back.


MISC. NOTES

*The home lead test I used is Arbotex Lead Inspector Lead Test Kit.