methods, whether cash, checks, credit cards and, ideally, a combination of each. You’ll
also need to make shipping arrangement for sales that aren’t local to you. You’ll need to
have some sort of return policy, in most cases. That’s an awful lot of time, money and ef-
fort to sell some shirts. In fact, it can quickly turn into its own full-time business.
Here’s a better idea. Let the Internet come to the rescue. There are several sites where
you can create all sorts of products and have them created and fulfilled on demand. That
means you won’t need to carry an inventory. You sell one shirt. They print and ship one
shirt.
The grand daddy of these services is CafePress.com, which is the seasoned pro when
it comes to Web-based on-demand printers. A CafePress account is free to set up. Free is
good. They offer a wide range of products including apparel, drinkware, posters, key
chains, tote bags and more, right down to license plate frames, all of which you can slap
your logo and site address on.
Add your CafePress store link to your site, e-newsletter and other outlets, such as
Facebook and MySpace pages, Twitter, etc. When someone buys a product, the magic
starts. CafePress receives the order, prints up the product and handles the shipping for
you. Plus, they offer several promotional tools and information resources, including cus-
tomizable widgets for your site. CafePress makes it easy and is a fairly risk-free method
to sell merchandise online.
Selling merchandise is only one part of the story. When fans buy your merchandise, it
becomes a promotional tool. In effect, your fans are paying you for the privilege of pro-
moting your act. When a fan wears one of your shirts or hats, think about how many oth-
ers will see it and maybe visit your site or ask about your music.