Printfection Blog

Drink Up... Coffee Mugs, Aluminum Water Bottles, and Can Coolers Launched!

From collapsible can coolers to aluminum water bottles (and every type of mug in-between), Printfection’s new line of drinkware is brewing with possibilities. Starting today, partners can add these six new products to their store(s). Consumers can customize & buy these items too.

We’re proud to offer a wide variety of the most popular styles at prices easy on the wallet. From the classic 11oz mug to the new, trendy aluminum water bottle, our expanded mug assortment also includes a larger 15oz café mug, a stainless steel travel mug, and a sturdy frosted glass beer stein. Prices for a single, full-color drinkware item range from $4.99 to $17.99, the lowest in the industry. Bulk discounts are available on all items.

  

To celebrate the launch, we’re offering $5 off any drinkware purchase using coupon code DRINKLAUNCH. This is a fabulous opportunity to order an 11oz mug for only $4.99 (normally $9.99) or pickup a can cooler completely FREE! (normally $4.99). Order your own products or promote the coupon code in your store(s). Don’t miss out—this is an incredible deal.

  

Our lawyers say you must enter coupon code DRINKLAUNCH before completing checkout. Discount is applied to the subtotal and does not include shipping, taxes, or additional charges. Offer valid from 10/07/09 to 10/25/09 11:59 PM MST. This offer may not be combined with any other Printfection promotional or discount offers. Orders placed with this discount may be delayed beyond normal estimated ship dates, no refunds or discounts will be given for orders delayed under this promotion.

Printfection Platform Moves to Open Beta, Developer Central Launched

After three months of successful Alpha testing, we are excited to announce the Printfection Platform and API are now in open beta. This means anyone can now get an API key and start developing the future of Print-On-Demand by leveraging Printfection's state of the art service.

Developing with the Printfection API gives you access to nearly every part of the Printfection service. Using the API, you can easily create and manage products, display products and sections, manage shopping carts, and more -- all from your own website.

This creates any number of possibilities. For example, you could:

• Integrate physical products into your existing web or desktop application
• Integrate with other web services to create unique and exciting web mashups
• Build widgets for blogs, social networks, and more… featuring your (or other people’s) products
• Give your website shoppers the ability to create customized products
• Create products on the fly, save setup time
• Create tools to make bulk changes to stores
• Send products to Google Base, Amazon, eBay, or other third parties for marketing purposes
• Integrate with e-commerce software to combine custom apparel with other non-Printfection products
• Create your own custom printing website - letting Printfection handle the fulfillment, billing, and customer service

To help you get going quickly, we have also launched Printfection Developer Central. Here you will find all the documentation as well as a detailed FAQ and other information. We're also encouraging developers to let us know about their applications and services so we can add them to our application directory.

As you can tell, we're pretty excited by the possibilities. We'd love to hear your thoughts as to what you think of the new Printfection Platform and how it can add to your success with Printfection!

Printfection Developer Platform & API Launched!

We're thrilled to announce the Printfection Developer Platform & API have launched into alpha testing! Today marks a major turning point for Printfection as we know it. No longer is Printfection a proprietary, closed system. We've opened up our service so others can create fun and useful applications on top of the core Printfection service. The possibilities are endless. Almost anything is possible on the Printfection Developer Platform!

What is the Printfection Platform?

For Programmers:
The Printfection Developer Platform is a set of application programming interfaces (APIs), tools, and services that provide a way for external applications to access Printfection content on behalf of Printfection users. For the first time in the history of Print-on-Demand, the Printfection Platform gives developers deep integration into all aspects of our service. Using the Printfection Platform you can create, buy and sell real custom printed merchandise programmatically through the APIs; and it even gives you the freedom to build a business around your application. Our goal in creating the Printfection Platform is to allow any developer to leverage the Printfection service in new and interesting ways. We invite you to build on the Printfection Platform and couldn't be more excited about the endless ways you can leverage the platform. As an alpha tester, your input will directly shape the future of the Platform—help us test and improve the most robust, open and flexible Platform the POD world has ever known!!

For Everyone Else:
Today's release of the Printfection Platform means you'll begin to see applications, both on the web and your desktop, that extend what you can do with the Printfection service. Think: bulk uploader applications, Google Base connectors, Amazon/ eBay/ and Google AdWords integration for enhanced marketing possibilities, widgets for your blog/ Facebook/ MySpace, shopping cart software to pull your Printfection products into your off-site e-commerce store, desktop store building software, and more (whew)! The possibilities are endless and you no longer have to wait for Printfection to develop the features important to you! Any developer worldwide can now enhance the Printfection service. Furthermore, you are in control of your information and we've built-in strict privacy settings so you can control what applications, if any, can access your information. Nobody has access to your information unless you specifically authorize the application access to your account.

Developer Features

• Easy integration with your application, or create a new app to extend the existing Printfection service
• RESTful interface
• Complete access to the Printfection service through the API
• SQL-style interface to more easily query Printfection data
• Commercial use encouraged

Possible Uses

• Integrate physical products into your existing web or desktop application
• Build widgets for blogs, social networks, and more… featuring your (or other people’s) products
• Send products to Google Base, Amazon, eBay, or other third parties for marketing purposes
• Display your (or other people’s) Printfection products in your own website or e-commerce software
• Sell store building software to tens of thousands existing Printfection store owners
• Create your own custom printing website - letting us handle the fulfillment, billing, and custom service
• Many more… let us know what you come up with!

Developers, Sign Up Now!

A limited number of alpha testing spots are immediately available to interested developers. Alpha testing spots are available on a first-come, first-serve basis. Fill out this form if you're ready to sign up.

FAQs:

Q: What does "alpha test" mean?
A: "Alpha test" means the Printfection Platform is very new and has only been released to a limited number of developers. These developers are helping us squash bugs and provide us with feedback that will make the Printfection Platform even better when we release it to the general public at a later, yet-to-be-determined date. We'll be sure to update you when the Printfection Platform moves from alpha to beta and/or general availability.

Q: I know a developer participating in the alpha test. Can I add their third-party application to my Printfection account?
A: At this time you must first contact Printfection so we can allow you to authenticate the application.

Q: I have a great business partnership/ development opportunity related to Printfection Platform. Whom should I contact?
A: Business development inquires can be sent to platform [at] printfection [dot] com. Any general support inquires sent to this address will not be answered. Please use our contact form for all other inquires.

Image Sets for the Image Basket

A few days ago we quietly rolled out image sets! Sets work just like folders for your image basket... happy organizing!

FAQs:

How many sets can I have?
As many as you want! There is no limit.

Can I move multiple images into a set all at once?
Yes! On the image basket page, click the checkbox next to the images you want to move and then use the action drop-down to select the destination image set. All of the images you selected will be moved - all at once!

Can I put one image into multiple sets?
No, an image must exist in one set and one set only.

Can I remove the 'unorganized' set?
No, the unorganized set cannot be removed.

Can I put a set inside a set?
No, sets are flat and cannot be put inside each other.

Where did the 'limit' function go?
The vast majority of store owners did not use this feature. To simplify image management we removed this feature and set a static limit.

Do image sets affect my products or stores?
No, image sets are only used to organize your images and have nothing to do with products or stores.

SEOing and Store Logo Improvements

Goodbye to all those meaningless numbers in your product and section URLs. We are now putting the name of the product and/or section in the URL to improve the readability and SEO potential of every page within your store. New URLs are just one of many features pushed to the website earlier this morning....

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Update: Product Detail page URLs and Store Section page URLs have become friendlier! You can now tell what you're going to see before you even click on the link. Look at all that descriptive text within the URL!

Here's a new product page URL: http://www.printfection.com/area51/space-cadet-baseball-jersey/_p_270757

...and a new section page URL: http://www.printfection.com/area51/space-cadet/_s_21117

You'll notice the actual name of the section/product now appears in the URL of the product page instead of just a bunch of numbers. If you change your section name or product name the URL will be updated automatically.

Store Logo & Section Images Update: You can now make your store logo up to 760 pixels in width/height. Section images can be up to 300 pixels in width/height. Both the store logo & section image width/height can now be changed at any time, on the fly!

Furthermore, you can choose to preserve transparency in your store logo & section images so they look nice on colored backgrounds. We’ll automatically save your image in .GIF format with transparency. You can change back and forth between transparent & non-transparent at any time without having to re-upload a new image!

We hope you enjoy the update. As always, feedback is welcome!

Our biggest merchandise launch ever... 70 new colors & 3 new products!

From Pistachio to Prairie Dust, Printfection now has colors to compliment every one of your designs! Early this morning we added a total of 70 new colors and three brand-new products. Let’s recap this massive merchandise launch:

New Products:
Girl’s Baby Rib T-Shirt (3 colors)
Girls Cap Sleeve T-Shirt (5 colors)
Girls Ringer T-Shirt (4 colors)

New Colors for:
T-Shirt (17 new colors)
Women’s T-Shirt (5 new colors)
Long Sleeve T-Shirt (12 new colors)
Sleeveless T-Shirt (4 new colors)
Kids T-Shirt (10 new colors)
Kids Long Sleeve T-Shirt (5 new colors)
Kids Baseball Jersey (2 new colors)
Kids Ringer T-Shirt (2 new colors)

New Light Colors:
Sport Gray
Light Pink
Ice Gray
Pistachio
Heather Gray

New Dark Colors:
Cardinal Red
Forest Green
Charcoal
Royal Blue
Prairie Dust
Blue Dusk
Indigo Blue
Purple
Maroon
Chestnut
Dark Chocolate
Military Green
Dark Heather
Black (Women’s T-Shirt)
Navy (Women’s T-Shirt)
Chocolate (Women’s T-Shirt)

New Plus Sizes:
T-Shirt (more colors in 4XL and 5XL)
Ringer T-Shirt (3XL)
Women’s T-Shirt (3XL)

From the day I started Printfection it’s been my goal to offer the largest selection of custom, on-demand apparel products anywhere. The vision has always been to offer a selection as big as Amazon manufactured on-demand like a Dell computer.

Today we’re one step closer to this goal. Printfection now offers more options than anyone else—215 to be exact! When you multiply the color options by the sizes for each color you get a really big number… 1,028 unique SKUs stocked in our warehouse, ready for your designs!

Many of these wonderful designs are searchable in the Printfection shopping mall. Our shopping mall has been growing in leaps and bounds over the last few months thanks to the hard work and incredible talent of our store owners. This morning’s update added over 250,000 new colors to the existing products in the mall. If you’re looking for a unique gift item you’ve got no excuses! Better start your holiday shopping soon… can you believe it’s almost November 1st? I’m thinking cardinal red and forest green t-shirts for everyone on my list!

Printfection goes International & Simplifies Shipping

We’re excited to announce the addition of 55 countries to our roster of international shipping destinations! Customers in Australia, Europe, Latin America, and many other regions can now place orders with delivery via international airmail. International shipping was one of the most requested features by store owners on the forums.

Furthermore, domestic shipping within the USA has been simplified and the rates are now much lower across the board! Customers are now presented with four simple shipping methods and uniform rates regardless of the shipping ZIP code:

• Super Saver (starting at $4.99)
• Ground (starting at $5.99)
• Two-Day (starting at $12.99)
• One-Day (starting at $24.99)

Canadian customers will notice lower shipping rates as well, with the base rate to Canada only $4.99 - the same as US Super Saver!!

New Upsell Page & Revised Checkout

Earlier this morning we released a brand-new upsell feature and revised our checkout process to boost average order value and improve overall conversion rates for our store owners!

When a customer adds a product to the shopping cart, the new upsell page will show them related products and a mini-cart on the right side of the page. The related products and images shown to the customer are based on the products in their shopping cart & the keywords associated to the image(s) in their shopping cart. Here’s an example of the new upsell page:

Along with a slew of minor usability changes, the revised checkout process includes two brand-new features: gift messages & rush order processing!

Customers can now designate the order as a gift which removes the prices and the billing address from the shipping receipt. The customer also has the opportunity to include a gift message for the recipient. This is perfect for drop-shipping to a 3^rd party, selling Printfection items on eBay, and of course gift giving!

Rush order processing is now available on most orders for a 10% surcharge ($2.99 minimum). Orders that normally take 3 business days for production will ship out the next business day with rush processing! When you really need your order fast, rush processing is an economical and guaranteed way to speed your order through our production facility.

I hope you enjoy these new features and improvements. As always, comments and suggestions are welcome!

New Printfection Blog!

Welcome to the brand new Printfection Blog! We've setup this blog to keep people updated on what's going on in the world of Printfection & to report on the print-on-demand industry, the b2c e-commerce world, and whatever else is on our mind.

The Printfection Forums have been going strong now for six months, but I think this blog will really hit a different audience and provide an ongoing commentary that wouldn't really fit into the announcements section of our forum. When new features are released, we'll announce them here on the blog and also in the forum, so no need to worry!

Besides the blog acting as a big advertisement for Printfection, we'll try to write some in-depth and informative posts relating to our industry. Print on demand coupled with e-commerce is a niche that doesn't get much press considering how fast the industry is growing. There are so many exciting developments happening right now, and we really think there is a fundamental shift happening in the industry-- a migration away from traditional screen printing in favor of the new digital technologies. More on this later!

Since this is our very first blog, suggestions and ideas are appreciated! Leave a comment or send an e-mail to blog@printfection.com if you don't want the whole world to know what's on your mind :)