Zazzle gets new investors

According to an article on ZDNet, my favorite poster/card/t-shirt producing company Zazzle has some new investors and according to their short but successful track record, the outlook is pretty good.

What is Zazzle? You've have heard of Cafe Press, right? Think of it as Cafe Press on steroids and without all of the hidden charges and limitations. At Zazzle, you can put your images on posters, shirts, cards, and now postage stamps—all at top-notch quality. The best part about it is that it's free. The products aren't obviously, but it's free to sign up and you can upload as many images as you want.

Now, with some new investors, Zazzle's future looks very bright. Its new investors are those who initially invested in Google and we all know how well that turned out. With this new investment, Zazzle's board of directors gains two new members and a new product to offer. It now offers postage stamps with your own images on them. At this time, it doesn't allow you to buy other artwork on stamps other than special collections (not your average joe's artwork) but as it states in its help section, it expects to add it in the future.

Found Zazzle shortly after it began and have been very pleased with its every aspect ever since. I'm able to upload unlimited images, create posters up to 78" x 52", and do it all in a very pleasing environment for free. It's hard to turn that down. I've watched it grow every step of the way and they've matured quite nicely. Its design has changed a lot to focus on its new products and business but its feel is still the same—commercial, but not too commercial while still pleasant to use. Kudos to them for that.

If that isn't enough to get you interested, try ordering something from them. The quality is phenomenal (and I'm pickier than anyone when it comes to my own work). All printed images are as vibrant as they are on the screen. All Zazzle needs is a JPG at 100px/inch. Honestly, I'm not sure how they do it but they do it right.

My first question when I learned about them was "What's the catch?" because with anything this good, there's always a catch. The only "catch" is that you only make 10% profits on everything you sell. It's a drawback but for a hobby, an acceptable one. I'd like to earn more but for what I get, it's nice that I get anything. Fortunately, since I was an early member, I keep the original 12% royalty on the images I submitted before they matured. It's a small perk but a nice one.

I'm pretty excited about this investment and what it will mean for Zazzle. I think they're able to do wonderful things and if they keep up their fantastic quality and service, things look pretty good.