CafePress.com

Infobox Dotcom company
company_name = Cafepress.com
company_
company_type = Private
company_slogan =
foundation = San Mateo, California, USA
location_city = San Mateo, California
location_country = USA
key_people = Fred Durham Co-Founder Maheesh Jain Co-Founder
num_employees =
industry = Custom products
revenue =
products = Electronic commerce, Shopping mall
url = [http://www.cafepress.com/index.aspx www.cafepress.com] List of domain names


caption = The Cafepress product selection screen.
website_type = online market
language = English
registration = Required to buy and sell
launch_date =

CafePress.com is an online retailer that produces and dispatches user-customized products on demand, including teeshirts, bags, mugs, wallclocks and calendars. Customisation involves a user specifying a "stock" product and uploading their own graphics design, logo or text, which will be added to the product by CafePress.

CafePress.com also offers print on demand services for books and music CDs.

Business model

As well as allowing users to specify product customizations for their own use, the site also allows the user to have a virtual CafePress "shop". With this option, the user can specify selling prices for their "enhanced" products, and CafePress will then pass on to that user the difference between this price and a pre-set "base price" when any of the products are sold.

Opening and operating a basic CafePress shop is free, but CafePress also offer a "premium" shop option that provides additional features for a monthly fee.

CafePress.com provides the online storefront and website hosting, order management, fulfillment, payment processing, and customer service. User-payments are issued monthly.

History

CafePress was founded as a privately owned company in 1999 by Fred Durham and Maheesh Jain. As of February 2006, the site hosts over 2.6 million online shops with over 200 million products. CafePress.com is headquartered in San Mateo, California, and its production facility is located in Louisville, Kentucky.

Major "franchise" accounts include Star Trek, Dilbert, Phil Collins, Peanuts, and Wikimedia. Shops are also frequently created for pop-culture phenomena such as JibJab.com, Forteans.com (from the X-Files inspiration the International Fortean Organization) and "All your base are belong to us".

In July 2008, CafePress acquired the specialist photographic art printing business imagekind.

See also

* imagekind
* Zazzle
* Online shopping
* Self-publishing

External links

* [http://www.cafepress.com/index.aspx www.CafePress.com]

* "The Register": [http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/12/22/cafepress_ddos_attack/ CafePress wilts under DDoS assault] (22 Dec 2006)

* "Reuters": [http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS197167+08-Jul-2008+PRN20080708 CafePress Expands Its On-Demand Canvas by Acquiring Imagekind] (8 Jul 2008)

* Jack Schofield, "The Guardian": [http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/aug/18/cafepress/print Cafepress: Get your customised badges, tops and thongs here] (18 August 2008)