According to the CafePress announcement:

While we’re excited and eager to see integration (we’re sure you are too) we have no immediate plans for integrating our websites or brands. In the months to come CafePress and ImageKind will be working together to better understand the optimal path for future integration.

So, for now, it seems that ImageKind shall survive. Still, as an affiliate marketer and IK shopkeeper, I’m hesitant to put too much work into the Imagekind venture for the moment. It appears from that statement that an eventual integration process will occur.

How are you going to handle your ImageKind ventures with this piece of information?

According to the affiliate manager for CafePress, there will be no changes to the affiliate program in 2008. Quote from A Best Web:

From an affiliate program perspective, CafePress and Imagekind will remain separate and run independently of each other. Plans for integrating the two programs are TBD and frankly I don’t expect anything to happen for the remainder of 2008.

Rumors abound concerning the purchase…. according to some sources, CafePress beat out rivals Zazzle and Art.com by paying as high as 15-20 million dollars.

So now what? Will ImageKind disappear completely? Will they continue to operate as a seperate entity? What about the affiliate program?

My guess? Absorbing the company into CafePress completely will be made easier because ImageKind does not do it’s own framing in-house. I don’t think the ImageKind brand will survive and the existing SAS affiliate program will be discontinued to combine everything into CJ. New York affiliates may find themselves with yet another set of walking papers.

I also suspect that the recent rash of subdomains that CafePress has created are going to be used to organize a bit more and pull Imagekind‘s artwork onto their site. Check out http://art.cafepress.com, http://gifts.cafepress.com and http://t-shirts.cafepress.com. Revamp in the making?

I’ve been looking forward to the release of Success With Imagekind.com for months now. The launch of greeting cards and a change in pricing structure were recently implemented at ImageKind. According to Daniel’s statement at his blog, he feels that the timing just isn’t right due to the several changes being made. Apparently, even more changes are coming.

Thankfully, the project hasn’t been completely killed all together. We’re crossing our fingers- and toes- that the project will be restarted when the dust settles.

Greeting Cards Arrive at Imagekind

As some of you have noticed, we have been shaking things up here at Imagekind. We have rolled out a new product, jazzed up the show art work page, debuted a new model for granular pricing and improved the shopping experience for our customers. We are excited about the changes and think that the result will be a better experience for both our artists and our customers. After a quiet launch a few weeks ago, we have been tinkering away and now are ready to shout it from the rooftops.

You can now sell your art on Imagekind as greeting cards. As with all Imagekind products, we provide you and your customers both selection and outstanding quality. Imagekind greeting cards come in three different paper types: Matte, Satin, and our luxurious Magnolia. Customers can choose either black or white for the back of the card. Cards are available as singles, 12-packs, and 24-packs.

As an artist, you have the ability to allow customers to crop the image to best suit their needs, or to have the image fit the card, with the cropping function disabled. Either way, this is a low-cost product that is sure to delight customers, while still respecting your work. Your name and gallery will appear on the back of every greeting card, making this product a great way to market your work. More information about greeting cards is available on the site, just click here to find out more.

Here are some examples of our cards; we have worked hard to have the best quality card in the business, and we’re sure you’ll agree.

As existing Imagekind artists, you are by default opted-out of sales of greeting cards. To turn greeting card sales on, visit your admin, and click on the “Pricing” page. If you want to make all of your images available for greeting cards, set your markup either as a fixed amount (e.g. $25.00) or a percentage (e.g. 25%) at the Portfolio Level.

To allow only some of your images or galleries to be available for sale as greeting cards, set a price for those images in the “Galleries” and “Images” portion of the pricing Page. For those who prefer even more control of their pricing, you can set markups for each quantity (singles, 12-packs and 24-packs) and paper types (Matte, Satin, and Magnolia) by selecting the “Advanced Markup” option on the “Portfolio”, “Galleries” or “Images” tabs.

We have had many requests by artists for more control of their prices. Greeting Cards is just the first wave. Soon, we will be allowing granular control of your prints as well. To find out more about pricing click here.

You can also make greeting cards using Imagekind’s create path, which lets you make fine art greeting cards with your favorite images of friends and family.

Remember, if you don’t want to sell greeting cards, you are already opted-out. However, if you would like to sell greeting cards, visit your admin and start selling today.