New Product: Shower Curtains

will there be any other price points? the base price doesn't leave much room for profit. on CP these retail with mark up for $60. while i have seen some high priced ones on amazon, i do wonder if they will go for the higher price of these.


---Mike Savad
MikeSavad.com

Great!!! Looking forward to this!

Trying our some shower curtains now. Thanks Sean.

That's why Cafepress lost $17 million last year... was forced to sell off its entire art business a few months ago in order to stay afloat... and is on the verge of going bankrupt.

http://www.marketwatch.com/investing/Stock/PRSS/financials?CountryCode=US

We're only going to have the one price point.

Sean

Sean, are the curtain holes reinforced?

Sharon,

They're reinforced with extra stitching but not with something like a metal ring.

Sean

Our shower curtains are made from 100% polyester fabric and include 12 holes at the top of the curtain for simple hanging from your own shower curtain rings. The total dimensions of each shower curtain are 71" wide x 74" tall.

Ok, thank you!

Awesome, I can use one in our house. -W

Thanks Sean. I'll give it a shot. Never know when someone wants to see my image while showering! I've only sold prints and greeting cards to date, but there's always a first time for one of the other products :)

** Mary Lee Dereske

Hmmm....lemme guess this is going on FAA too?

Cool

Awesome....Thanks Sean! Do you think FAA will ever do T-Shirts?

Thanks Sean. Will be interesting to see how they sell.

What's next? Toilet seats?

Thanks for continuing to expand your product line Sean - love sending clients here.

Really enjoy the home decor items.

I'm pricing my margin at $35, what is everyone else's price point? I think the $100 mark is the threshold, buyers will likely be discourage if a shower curtain costs $100 or more, but if it was just $99.99 or less, it might make the difference. -W

@Wings - I did mine at $36 to keep it under $100. The wife said I should go higher. Might if they sell.

Let's see how they will sell. Thanks.

$5........I am not greedy.......

I have shelf space....endless amounts of shelf space.

No matter what I do merchandize is only a sideline. Selling prints is what will matter.

Dave

@Greg: Yup, I think for most, that $100 is the magic number.

...I just updated all the images I want to sell shower curtains on for that $35 margin. Glad I added a gallery named "art and photography with extended products" awhile back when the phone cases were added, it makes updating prices for new products like this for only those images you want to sell products like this so much simpler. -W

By different "price points" do you mean difference sizes? Not sure what that means here. I hope this doesn't become an image thread. I'd like to read member's remarks on what they are doing and general info/advice.

Pricing is not about greed. With commodity products you have to compare to the competition. If you overprice you are out of the market. Under price and you are not achieving market value.

🍂 . . ★ . . :: Halò . haven't checked on the cafepress prices I closed my account there yesterday after reading Sean's newsletter . . but I do know they are associated with imagekind yes? . . And they hold your sales until you have reached a sales $50 threshold like Zazzle . . which is rude . .

. . so the good news is that this base price on FAA on shower curtains is compatible with Society6 . .
One would not want to mark them up too much or you'll price yourself out of the market . .
You're not looking at making lots of money on shower curtain sales . .
I believe for most of us our goal is to market Metal Prints and Canvas primarily . .
Yet even so . . on the additional products
You'll be more focused on volume . . and set your price accordingly . .
Society6 doesn't let you adjust your price on much of anything . . that way the entire site is uniform on pricing on these type Décor products . .

On FAA you can set your own markup . . an option which I do like . . yet even so . I keep the markup low for the reason I stated above . . .


.Most importantly . . you do receive your sales payment each month in a consistent and timely manner . .
FAA is mid month on the 15th and always pays on time . .
. . and s6 is on the first of the month . 1st - 3rd . .
. and on either of them there is no sales threshold . . you are paid no matter how much it is . .
If you enjoy many sales and have several hundred or thousands of dollars or if you only sell a couple of greetings cards and a pillow . . all your sales are paid each month with no minimum threshold limit you must first meet . . and that is important to me . .
I am sure it is important to you too yes . .

Please give us Calendars :: . . ★ . . ☆ ✿ ☆ ✿ . . ★ . . ✤ •*`*•.¸¸.•*`*•.¸¸✽ ❥


Sharon Mau Photography | Maui Hawaii
Find everything for sale in my shop here :
http://sharon-mau.artistwebsites.com
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but in some ways it doesn't matter if your on CP or not. the curtains are there. some people aren't picky about the design or the artist. they just want the product and the theme.

---Mike Savad
MikeSavad.com

Just wanted to say that I just completed going through my 341 images and adjusting for placement, and editing out pricing on a few images not suitable for shower curtains.

Now I must put them on my Shower Curtains board on Pinterest....gah! :) I'm happy to as I'm happy we have this product and I think they really look nice. Also, when I'm doing my Pinterest marketing, I really feel like I'm doing something to get the word out about my new offerings.

Sean, could you kindly hold off on rolling out any new products until I get my curtains up on Pinterest? ..... j/k!! ...... :)

Is this an american thing, using shower curtains? I remember we had shower curtains in Berlin in the fifties...

I have a shower curtain.

I guessed there are shower curtains still in production here and there. I also guess the producers of curtains uses designs by educated designers for this purpose, not just photographs or paintings out of someones portfolio. But I have been wrong before...

Adding on to what Mike said above - some sites run free shipping offers and other promotions. I suppose they can because some do everything in house.

When I buy wall art I don't shop around. If I love the art I buy it - if its in my price range. Many people also buy artwork because they believe it will raise in value.

Commodity products are different. Everyone knows the going rate for a coffee mug. And its utilitarian - no one expects it to be an investment. If its unique enough it people will spend more - up to a point.

Lutz B.,

Shower curtains most certainly are an "American thing". People who do not have sliding glass doors around their bath tubs and showers find this to be the easiest solution to contain water and to prevent water from splashing on toilet paper, walls, and other areas. There are really two curtains - one a plastic, waterproof liner, and two, a cloth decorative curtain that hangs in front of the liner on the same set of hooks. What we print our images on here is the cloth, decorative curtain of the whole functional ensemble.

In my tiny apartment years ago, I used ONLY a liner, since the decorative element was of little interest to me. This also was less expensive and labor demanding, as far a maintenance was concerned. Most people, however, insist on the decorative element, since they are not as stoic as I used to be.(^_^)

Lutz, Robert...from what I've seen on TV and through some of my FB friends in foreign countries, I think their bathrooms are all tile and they have an "open" shower...no containment around the shower at all. I guess they just wipe down the floors and walls??

I am in the process of renovating my bathroom and I will buy one (of mine) to go with the color I plan to paint.

Two of my daughters have brand new houses and two bathrooms/showers in each house WITH shower curtains. It's a Canadian thing too :-)

Hi Robert K,
if the curtain is printed on textile cloth as you said, than I cannot understand why the production coast here is 60$ while a canvas print about the same size (rolled in a tube) is about 200$.

Is FAA competing with itself ?

Some great wisdom here we should all listen to ..

". haven't checked on the cafepress prices I closed my account there yesterday after reading Sean's newsletter . . " ". . so the good news is that this base price on FAA on shower curtains is compatible with Society6 . . One would not want to mark them up too much or you'll price yourself out of the market . . You're not looking at making lots of money on shower curtain sales . . I believe for most of us our goal is to market Metal Prints and Canvas primarily . . Yet even so . . on the additional products. You'll be more focused on volume . . and set your price accordingly . "


I hope people listen to Sharon Mau. She has been here a long time. The mark-up many have on shower curtains seems in protest of the 5% commission thing being talked about. Why don't we all just listen to Sean and shut down our ( if we have them ) other POD sites and come to FAA? .... and bring our colleagues with us!! I believe if this happens with Pixels / FAA its because we're not taking seriously Sean's warning.

Lutz, Robert...from what I've seen on TV and through some of my FB friends in foreign countries, I think their bathrooms are all tile and they have an "open" shower...no containment around the shower at all. I guess they just wipe down the floors and walls??

... sort of like a gymnasium shower, I suppose. But I wonder about space limitations. It would seem that such an approach would require more space. How far away is the toilet? -- far enough away to prevent the toilet paper from getting wet? Then there is the mildew containment issue - extremely damp wall area suggests a greater possible area for mildew, whereas a contained shower stall limits the intensity of possible growth to a smaller area, I would imagine. And who wants to wipe down walls, when a curtain-contained area could reduce this labor?

If you do not want to use shower curtains, then the way to go is sliding glass doors. Let's see, shower curtain vs. sliding glass doors - $ vs. $$$.

"Why don't we all just listen to Sean and shut down our ( if we have them ) other POD sites and come to FAA? .... and bring our colleagues with us!! I believe if this happens with Pixels / FAA its because we're not taking seriously Sean's warning."

Why should we put all our eggs in one basket?

FYI, the other site that Sharon mentioned now pays monthly like FAA

Here you go, Robert...a typical Indian bathroom http://www.fullstopindia.com/a-bucket-a-day-keeps-the-dirt-away-a-guide-to-bucket-baths

Some European countries are also set up like this, although I can't remember which ones. Some of the older structures typically have very small bathrooms. You need to watch the HGTV channel :)

🍂 . . ★ . . :: Halò Frank . . thank you so much . . and for your personal email as well . . . I appreciate your kind feedback . .

I do have several websites / storefronts on other sites . . yet as I said FAA / AW is my primary storefront . .
I closed my cafepress account for several reasons but all the others are active and selling . . so as long as they are showing a profit they will remain open .
And an account on S6 is free . . there is no monthly or annual membership fee . . . .

On the subject of shower curtains . yes . . the markup simply cannot be too much or they'll price themselves out of the market . . my markup on shower curtains is very minimal to keep it inline with the automatic markup on other sites . . Yes . as some have said and I am sure most customers would agree if they actually knew the base price is really high . . I for one cannot imagine why the base price is so high . . So considering how expensive a custom shower curtain is already I choose not to mark it up too much and instead focus on volume sales . . . Yet the lack of uniformity in price on FAA for shower curtains is something I am sure our customers have already noticed for the disparity is so wide . it would be good if they were set to the same retail price throughout FAA . . but that would interfere with our ability to set our own prices . . so my statement about that is only advice for a member to consider when setting their own markup and not a request for our freedom to set our own prices to be changed or interfered with . I wouldn't want that to happen . . And it is important to note that Society6 is a totally different market than FAA . . I enjoy sales there almost every single day . . and considering actual products what sells on S6 is usually completely different than what sells on FAA . . it is for me anyway . . . .

So S6 sales are usually ancillary products / home decor such as pillows . shower curtains . rugs . and mostly tapestries and leggings . . they sell . and they sell often . .
My sales on FAA are primarily prints . canvas . metal . paper . . actual prints . . with fewer sales on other products . .

Consequently I do make more on one sale on FAA because it is usually a print . . while I have more sales = volume on S6 because the sales are mostly other products . where the price point is already set with no ability to adjust the markup and therefore which caused the products retail prices to be uniform throughout the site . . therefore less profit per sale but higher volume . . Do you understand what I mean? . .

I actively promote fineartamerica . . first . .
I also actively promote s6 and other sites as well . . . secondary . . . .
I actively promote the websites I like and where I have a portfolio and most importantly where I receive timely payment and enjoy sales . . .

I don't actively promote websites which are unfair to their members in either their business policies or their social media showing favouritism to only a few nor those websites which are incredibly tedious or static . . . .


So the most important point I wish to make here is that I would never have only one POD (print on demand) . . and I did not suggest anyone do that . . .

Yet although I have several sites where I sell my work I do focus mostly on FAA and S6 because they are the most active .

Many of my images are on the top sellers list on society6 . .
A couple of my images are on the top sellers list on imagekind . but that is probably due to the fact that I am not active there much . . sales would probably increase if I had the time to give it more attention . . . why do I say that? . . because every single time I publish something there which is only about once a month it always results in a flurry of sales . . then when I am quiet on that site and don't visit it for a few weeks the sales stop . . it is all about me . . I am the one who drives my sales . . that is an indisputable fact . . . the visitors to the site who are shopping are probably not going to find me and my work if I am not active on the site . . So we can market all day long but we also need to be active on the site . . I think many people would be amazed how many sales are generated through the activity feed . . .


I actually have no idea how many of my images are on a top sellers list on FAA . . but I have an idea of which ones are . . if there is such a list on FAA that is purely organic

I am interested in true SEO and not what may be manipulated by some mysterious internal algorithm . .
Discussion : Tags - Keywords - Algorithm : http://fineartamerica.com/showmessages.php?messageid=2027923


I am saying Who knows what is real and tangible ?

My work is real . . and Sales are real . . that's for sure yes . . .

Much of what I do is intuitive . . .
I focus on what I love which is a great passion for photography . .
I do the best I can with the equipment I have to work with . .
And I market my work on all my social media networks . .
And I actively help others and promote members whose work I admire . .
I appreciate creative inspiration and try to focus on love . . and beauty . . in all I see and do . . . .


Chances are if I love something enough to photograph it and publish and offer it for sale someone else will love it too . .

My primary goal with my time online is to sell . .

Whatever I have to do on a professional level to drive my SEO and improve my visibility on the internet and manage my portfolio and define and refine my keywords and tags for optimum results and continuous improvement on google search results for my own prints and products is what I have to do to win in this competitive market . .

One must always remember these important words for they are indeed powerful and this is a universal truth . .

★ Thought becomes Form . .

. . and this is my mantra . . .
★ What you focus on you give power to :: . . ★ . . ☆ ✿ ☆ ✿ . . ★ . . ✤ •*`*•.¸¸.•*`*•.¸¸✽ ❥

. . ★ . . :: Sharon Mau :: . . ★ . .
Maui Photographer | Hawaii Photography
http://www.sharon-mau.artistwebsites.com



Discussion New Product: Shower Curtains : http://fineartamerica.com/showmessages.php?messageid=2606314

. . ★ . . :: @Jessica . . no they do not pay monthly like FAA . . .

With FAA payments are sent to you on the 15th of each month for all of your sales that were received by Fine Art America on or before the 15th of the previous month which were not subsequently canceled or returned within 30 days after the sale date. And there is no minimum payout threshold which must be met first . . you are paid for your sales which conform with these terms no matter how much or how little . . . . .


Within 45 days following the end of each calendar month Imagekind will send you payment for Earnings for the relevant month .

. and . as I said . . imagekind does in fact have a minimum $50 threshold and they do not currently anticipate a change to these terms :: . . ★ . .

Jessica -- "Why should we put all our eggs in one basket? " To be more clear, if another POD sells items that Pixels does not, then that should be the only reason to be there. Otherwise everything should be on FAA ... it's a no brainer. Plus it also builds the Brand as the iTunes and Amazon for Art and Photography.

It is well know before a prospect buys from us, they check us out online. Keep it simple for the buyer.

Sharon N.,

When I clicked on that link to the Indian bathroom you posted, my computer mouse pointer completely disappeared off the screen, and I had to shut down my whole computer and restart it to get it back.

I will NOT be clicking on that link again -- not sure what's going on with that website to cause this to happen - suspicious activity?, ... malware? ... I don't know .

Anyhow, I will google "Indian bathrooms" to see if I can find an image.

Is anyone else having an issue with transparent PNG files on shower curtains showing black instead of the transparent areas? Not all of mine are doing it but quite a few and it is only the shower curtains. Other products with the same file look fine. When I click and hold the slider on the shower curtain product page I can see the correct color but when I release it the image shows with a black background. I've sent a ticket to support about it but haven't heard anything and I noticed another image doing it today. I'd like to know if I'm the only one with this problem. I've tried it on both Chrome and IE with the same result and also had someone else check and they were seeing black too.

MM I did send that to the coders and am now waiting to hear back.

Robert, I'm sorry! I get aggravated when my computer freezes up when clicking some links posted in the forum. I have a Mac so I'm pretty sure it wasn't a bad page, it was a travel blog. Probably something in the scripts or coding.

Thanks Abbie. Did anyone else mention seeing the issue on their images? I just was concerned if it was only me that I don't know why that would be.

🍂 . . ★ . . :: Halò Abbie . did you hear back from the coders on Linda's question on PNG files: (MM) :: . . ★ . . ☆ ✿ ☆ ✿ . . ★ . . ✤ •*`*•.¸¸.•*`*•.¸¸✽ ❥

Nobody else mentioned it but the coders are working on a few back issues today

When I go to my AW website and click on Products and Shower Curtains, it only shows 9 images of one category and doesn't show any other images.... whereas ToteBags shows all of my images, no matter the category. I do see that if you go to for instance, a different category on the actual FAA website, and click on an image, it offers the shower curtain there for all of my images, but not on my AW site. Is there something I am missing here?

UPDATE: Okay, I think after editing Bulk Pricing, the images that were not recently uploaded to include the shower curtain launch, (in other words my past images) will take 24 hours to show up in Search Products on the AW side. I think......

I'm still seeing the black background problem on some of my transparent PNG shower curtains so I guess it hasn't been fixed yet. It's really odd that it doesn't occur on all of them consistently but it does only occurs on shower curtains. And when I click and hold the slider the correct color shows up. I hope they get it fixed soon because I've been reluctant to promote them.