Are there any good print sites that actually give you value for your money?
I am abit dubious about those sites that give you 1$ for your work while their site is charging 30-40-60$ for it...
any suggestions?

I use zazzle.com

Quote - I use zazzle.com

I have used Zazzle.com myself to make personal poster prints.  I've been pretty happy.

that zazzle looks ok. Thanks for that Gill, do you actually sell stuff through them or just get them to print it for you. couldn't quite work it out, but it sounds like i could get some prints for myself, maybe keep ordering prints to sell myself, and if you contribute, i presume that means let them sell copies of it also (at no extra charge to me) and get 17% of thier sales of items made with my images aswell.

was just wondering if you sell with them (contribute) and can confirm that they don't ask for any further payments from you in order for them to sell items made with your images, and that if you do that you get 17%, also do they decide how much they sell your items for through thier store or do you decide how much it would sell for.
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thanks for any help.

I sell my stuff there - though I did have one of them printed off so I could show my non computer using mom

The prices are set by Zazzle per size and you get 17% commission on all sales - including your own if you buy them.  They supply the paper, the ink, pay the postage etc.  17% doesn't sound much but it's one of the best around.

I did try CafePress before that but they had some odd TOS so I moved.

CafePress is nice, but their base prices are way too high imo for anyone to make any sort of decent profit after adding to that base.

Been awhile since I was over there..what is a coffee mug running now at base price? It used to be $10.99 base...and any profit you made was whatever you added to that base....I myself wouldn't pay 11 bucks for a blank white cup...so I left there as I knew any amount I added to cover my artwork just wasn't going to cut it.

O.o mmm...wonder how bad it would be to find a local printer..17% is not much at all.

No 17% isn't much but you'd have to find/generate/create a customer base, pay for printing (small numbers cost more), pay for packaging materials - mine came in one of those cardboard tube thingies, and pay for postage.  Bearing in mind that people won't pay huge sums of money for a print/poster, you may well be worse off and could possibly make less than 17% of what you charge to your customer.

Not trying to put you off going for a local printer, just pointing out the possible expenses incurred :)

thanks Gill!!

i was actually thinking of using it as a side product, Darkelegance, so that i get stuff printed with them anyway, which i would then sell at whatever price i wanted, but if i contributed aswell i would get a bit back (it would be the same as getting the prints done cheaper) by letting them sell stuff for me aswell (with no extra cost to me), if you look at it this way, if they sell 100 copies of one of my prints, that would be the same as 17 sales i wouldn't of made.(which i then put in the paying for prints kitty (meow)

so i was thinking of contributing as a way of lowering cost of getting the prints done in the first place a) it's costs less if you contribute anyway,whatever percentage off, and b) you get more off the more they sell for ya. i just wondered about who decides the price bit, as the downside would be if any of your customers got wind of it, they could get copies cheaper than you were selling to them, (damn them bargain hunters, and their haggling ways (waves fist at 'em))

I use www.pictureframes.com for giclees and I won't use cafepress ever again.  The difference is amazing.  The cafepress image looks like it was printed on a home computer with a lousy printer.  Pictureframes looks and feels professional.    I've sold large prints framed from pictureframes as well as individual giclees. 

Not bad pricing on those prints at pictureframes.com either..20x24 is only around 30 bucks....an 11x14 at Kinko's would run around 50

they dont seem bad..but while reading through pricing and set up and all that jaz...Do they do the same thing as say zazzle or deviant? where you just upload, set the placing and -they- sell it and ship it? or it is that I have to have the prints printed up, shipped to me and I ship them?

I think the second option is what they do. I did the whole Zazzle and CP thing, and I have decided to do my own printing by way of something like pictureframes.com or Kinko's {until I become rich and famous enough to buy my own large scale 6-8 ink  printer :laugh:}

That way, I pay a set price for having it printed on giclee and stretched, or framed, and can set my own price on it for sale, instead of giving most of my profits away...I can always include the shipping charges in my final price.

And with Pictureframes you have the choice of paper.  I think a sampling is around $5.   When you upload, you can order as little as 5 at a time and they send you a proof that you have to sign and send back before they'll begin printing your giclee order.  They include authenticity sheets that you fill in with the print name and if it's an open edition, etc. 

The only issue I've had with them is the fact that I use a Po Box and their "standard shipping" is ups.  I always understood "standard shipping" to be USPS but they weren't very descriptive.  The first proof was either sent out and returned or never sent but once they learned why they sent out another to my business address with no problem.