CafePress questions

[tigertoy]

I am considering publishing some of my photography with CafePress. I've just spent a couple of hours looking through their site and there are still a few things I wonder about which do not seem to be answered on the site. I am wondering if there is anyone reading my journal who has actually published stuff with CafePress who could answer these.

1. When they send your payment for your sales, do they hit you with a service charge, or is the check actually for the full amount accumulated? They clearly explain how the pricing works and how much money you're supposed to get. They explain that there is a "payment threshold" you have to meet before they send a check. They imply that you get to set this threshold yourself. Can you just set the threshold to $1 and get a check every month you sell anything, or is there a hidden charge to make you leave the money there? There's nothing in the terms of service that says there is a charge, but there's nothing anywhere that says there isn't.
2. It does say that you have to give them your SSN so they can report what they pay you to the IRS. Assuming you're so fortunate as to have such income, how do you report it? All it says in the TOS is that it's the user's responsibility.
3. What the heck is CafeCash? There are some references to it in other FAQ pages about payment but nothing that I can find explains what it is.
4. Are you allowed to have more than one free shop? It says you have to have a separate email address for each shop. But can two shops have the same real name, SSN, and address?

Comments

[tollermom]

CafePress makes their money off what they charge for items (prior to your markup), so no, there's no charge for getting your payment from them. The minimum amount you can select for a check is $25, though. If you have money in your CafePress account, you can spend it with other CafePress "merchants," at which point it becomes CafeCash. (There may be other ways to acquire/use CafeCash, but that's the one I'm aware of.)

I haven't had income from them, but it should just be treated as self-employment income, I would expect.

Multiple shops can be attached to the same "shopowner" account. I have two... separate storenames but one management interface.

[danebassett.livejournal.com]

1. No Service charge. The minimum to get a check is $25...up to that it is cafe cash (use for purchses on cafe press)
2. You would report it as income just like an ebay or any other sale... You put it under misc income.
3. Cafe cash is "dollars" that are spent on cafe press. it means rather than paying by credit card, you use money from your account....
4. Yes. As far as I know there is no limit (i have three) and I use the same e-mail for all of them. There is a catch to the free account if you are selling stuff on a shirt.... I don't think there is the same thing with photos.

I like cafe press but it doesnt make me much money. I use it mainly for employees to buy my company shirts... Etsy seems to be a better way to go for pictures.

[tigertoy.livejournal.com]

The only catch mentioned in the FAQs is that you can only have one of each item type in a free shop. (One T shirt, one poster, one calendar, etc.)

[tigertoy.livejournal.com]

I don't want to make a big bunch of shirts (or calendars or whatever) and then be on the hook to sell them. I don't want to do web sales fulfillment myself. Someone who already has the printing, web site, and order fulfillment already in place is the right model for me. If I prove that I can make something people who aren't my friends want to buy then it's worth looking into a different model that could bring me more of the profit.