If you search the marketplace for certain keywords pertaining to the licensed stores, such as "The Office" you are taken directly to a gold label store. Does this mean they are part of the market place?
I don't know that it's scary in this regard. "Office" doesn't do that, only "the office" and "dunder mifflin" and other words that would be the intellectual property that is licensed to gold label and that would suggest that someone is looking for that type of material. After all, if it's a keyword you or I can't use, then it shouldn't pull up any of your or my products, right? I don't see that as the same thing as keywords, but it is definitely grey.
The Office content is officially licensed to CafePress and can be promoted by affiliates. All the Gold Label content is officially licensed to us and can also be promoted.
Am I to understand that the Gold Label shops are owned and operated by Cafepress and I as a SK'er now have to compete with them for marketplace dollars.
Stratman, maybe I'm misunderstanding why you are upset. If so, I apologize. But the marketplace belongs to CP. I would think if they want to have their own shops in it, they're entitled to do so. All SKers have the opportunity to market their shops and products wherever they choose, including in CP's marketplace. If a show such as The Office chooses to license with CP and have them sell official products, it shouldn't matter to any of us because the rest of us can't infringe to begin with. I think having the search term forward to an officially licensed shop is the right idea.
It looks like Steve just said that the Gold Label content is "licensed" to CafePress.
Either way, if the merchandise/designs are the intellectual property of someone other than you, then you can't have it in the marketplace anyway. If it draws traffic to CP, rock on. As an affiliate, I'm happy as a lark.
Thank you Steve for the fast work and reply on behalf of us affiliates.
Granted, Cafepress owns the marketplace and of course they can do anything they want with it. It's just that I have always felt that I was in partnership with CP. The only competition I had for marketplace share was with other shopkeepers and no one shop or shops had an advantage, other than their SEO abilities. I've continually been told, what's good for CP is good for me as an individual shopkeeper.
When you're the one that controls the search algorithm and can manipulate it to direct customers to your own shops, show banner ads and control keywords you have a distinct advantage that is going to impact my profits in the long run. Granted, at this point the impact is only minuscule, but if they keep adding licensed products that have a marketplace advantage, it's going to have a major adverse impact on the bottom line of regular shopkeepers.
Maybe I'm getting upset over nothing and surely I'll adapt and roll with the punches of late but it sure gets old when your partner is the one that keeps throwing the punches.
A) What makes you think it's their own shop? B) What profits are they impacting? Do you have "The Office" merchandise?
C) This is a business relationship, not a partnership, and if it is a partnership, it's not an exclusive one. If I go and trademark/license something like "Life is Grand", I can strike a deal with CP that I'll give CP exclusivity based on certain terms. I'd say that someone searching for the exact term "Life is Grand" had better not result in anything else than my products, right? So, why not redirect them to my shop just to make sure other people's stuff doesn't sneak through the CP marketplace?
Now, if CP were designing products and competing with us, that's a different thing. I think it's good to be a bit cynical, but I think this isn't that big a thing. I'd rather they were here where I can affiliate them and where I can get a little residual traffic - they still have that CP bar at the top - even if it's miniscule.
A) What makes you think it's their own shop? B) What profits are they impacting? Do you have "The Office" merchandise?
C) This is a business relationship, not a partnership, and if it is a partnership, it's not an exclusive one. If I go and trademark/license something like "Life is Grand", I can strike a deal with CP that I'll give CP exclusivity based on certain terms. I'd say that someone searching for the exact term "Life is Grand" had better not result in anything else than my products, right? So, why not redirect them to my shop just to make sure other people's stuff doesn't sneak through the CP marketplace?
Now, if CP were designing products and competing with us, that's a different thing. I think it's good to be a bit cynical, but I think this isn't that big a thing. I'd rather they were here where I can affiliate them and where I can get a little residual traffic - they still have that CP bar at the top - even if it's miniscule.
All good points, and yes I'm making an assumption based on the the reply of steveCP that the gold Label shops are run by CP. If the designs are licensed to CP, would it not make sense that they are the ones selling it, hence it is their shop. It doesn't appear as if a separate entity has opened a CP shop and they are selling licensed merchandise but I could be wrong, it would not be the first time.
My biggest concern is with manipulation of search results designed to favor a CP owned shop. Example, If you do a marketplace search for the word "Rambo" notice that although designs are displayed based on this search term, a banner ad for the "Official Rambo Shop" is at the top of these results. Do you not think this has an impact on sales of regular shop keepers as customers are diverted away from their designs and directed to a CP owned shop?(still an assumption)
I hope you are right and this is nothing I should be worried about. I've always had a problem with accepting things I have no power to change. I could have developed several affiliate link to these "Gold Label" stores in the time it has taken to post here, so I'm off to make better use of my time.
This message has been edited. Last edited by: Stratman,
I hope you are right and this is nothing I should be worried about. I've always had a problem with accepting things I have no power to change. I could have developed several affiliate link to these "Gold Label" stores in the time it has taken to post here, so I'm off to make better use of my time.
Bingo.
FYI, if you click the "About Gold Label" link on their shops, then click the "speak up" link on that page, you'll see that Gold Label is based in Calabasas, CA. Looks like a separate company.
Originally posted by Teesed: FYI, if you click the "About Gold Label" link on their shops, then click the "speak up" link on that page, you'll see that Gold Label is based in Calabasas, CA. Looks like a separate company.
Yeah apparently so. I guess the old adage about making ASSumptions holds true again.
Community Forums: Home 
