GCU Forum - Is there Profit to be made?

GCU Newbies
artist

Posts: 8

Is there Profit to be made?
Jan 27^th, 2010, 11:46am

I am a send out cards representative and hope to be supporting myself within a couple years. One thing Send Out Cards does not do well is give individual artists a place to sell their cards to others.. That is not the paradigm of Send Out Cards, but it is the paradigm of Greeting Card Universe. Today I opened an account and posted a card on Greeting Card Universe.

I'd like some honest discussion on the differences between Greeting Card Universe and Send Out Cards (preferably from those who are familiar with both). AND I'd like to hear testimonies from artists on GCU that are actually making good money, how long it took to build up, how many cards they have in their store, and how many hours they spend promoting?

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Aardwolf Cards:
http://www.greetingcarduniverse.com/aardwolfcards

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Lyn_Hamer_134412

GCU Newbies
artist

Posts: 23

Re: Is there Profit to be made?
Reply #1 - Jan 27^th, 2010, 12:12pm

Quote from Phyllis_139913 on Jan 27^th, 2010, 11:46am:

I am a send out cards representative and hope to be supporting myself within a couple years. One thing Send Out Cards does not do well is give individual artists a place to sell their cards to others.. That is not the paradigm of Send Out Cards, but it is the paradigm of Greeting Card Universe. Today I opened an account and posted a card on Greeting Card Universe.

I'd like some honest discussion on the differences between Greeting Card Universe and Send Out Cards (preferably from those who are familiar with both). AND I'd like to hear testimonies from artists on GCU that are actually making good money, how long it took to build up, how many cards they have in their store, and how many hours they spend promoting?

Just had a quick look at Send out Cards. It appears there is a start up fee, plus in listening to the tape on how to get started, the business seems to be structured on a pyramid of sorts. It also seems to be more sales oriented. I used to be in a telephone type deal that was structured much the same way.
I like GCU because there is no start up fee. I am an artist, and by using GCU, I can make my own original cards that others may buy. I don't have to get out there and beat the bushes to find customers because I have a website here, and GCU takes care of that end. My personality type is not right for doing sales so SOC's would not be something that I find appealing. While I am not swimming in money from my sales on GCU, I have sold over 100 cards so far, (my promotion consists of mailing lists), and I have only a fraction of my artwork on the site. If SOC's had an option for artists to design for them I would definitely be interested in that.

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Greeting Cards by Lyn:
http://www.greetingcarduniverse.com/greetingcardsbylyn

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Phyllis_139913

GCU Newbies
artist

Posts: 8

Re: Is there Profit to be made?
Reply #2 - Jan 27^th, 2010, 5:01pm

Lyn, Hello yet again. Just wanted to reply here.

There is a sign up fee in SOC, an apparent advantage to GCU, but the cost of the cards is so low that it makes the sign up fee insignificant. You quickly make up the difference. Many people say they do not want to be an entrepreneur and sell SOC, the great thing is that with cards for less than a dollar, it is even very valuable as a customer.

I have been thinking of setting up a website for artwork of SOC distributors so they can sell cards to non-SOC customers (or even artwork to SOC customers). Earlier today I thought maybe GCU is already set up and fulfills that need, but I still don't think the economics of GCU make sense... Do you know what their volume per day is? Odds are pretty low your card will be selected. On the other hand GCU has the securities, payment issues, and exposure already set up that I don't want to have to figure out on my own. (At SOC I make money on any card that my customer sends no matter who's design is selected).

Anyhow, I'm rambling now. I appreciate your thoughts on this. Thank you.

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Aardwolf Cards:
http://www.greetingcarduniverse.com/aardwolfcards

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DENISE_132110

Gold Member
artist

Posts: 769

Re: Is there Profit to be made?
Reply #3 - Jan 27^th, 2010, 9:17pm

Odds are pretty low your card will be selected.

i am one of the mid point artist i would say and i have sold over 900+ cards in the little over 2 years i have been here. there are artists here who sell hundreds of cards a month. so to tell an artist their card will not be found here is not necessarily so. however again i will say the larger your store the more exposure you have.

you also said... There is a sign up fee in SOC, an apparent advantage to GCU, but the cost of the cards is so low that it makes the sign up fee insignificant.

to say the cards are so inexpensive that it makes the sign up fee insignificant, is a bit misleading. having gone to read more about the company i can now say that several hundred dollars in set up fees is going to take a great deal of sales to offset. for those who want to know more about the set up fees etc they are out there to be read. i do not want to link to it here but a set up fee of 300.00 or 400.00 is not insignificant.

i believe if you have questions about the volume per day sales and how much money is generated you need to talk with Mindy... you are coming into her company asking questions and she needs to be the one to share pertinent information.

whether or not you mean to, you are giving the appearance of fishing for information on the company to compare notes... in such a way as to draw artists here into the company you are working with. one card in your store to put a foot in the door, and then throwing in the company info is making it sound a bit underhanded.

artists here are defensive and alert when it comes to matters of phishing or spam. if you honestly want to know more about GCU then i would leave the sales pitch for soc at the door and come in with a true interest in what is done here.

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db visual arts:
http://artist.greetingcarduniverse.com/dbvisualarts

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Phyllis_139913

GCU Newbies
artist

Posts: 8

Re: Is there Profit to be made?
Reply #4 - Jan 27^th, 2010, 10:54pm

Sorry, no intent to offend, nor to fish for inappropriate information.

My intent was to determine if I want to develop my own site (with a SOC back end) or use GCU. Today was my first introduction to GCU and I am trying to find the best plan of action. I will be adding more cards, however I doubt I'll create more than about 15 cards and doubt that that volume will be significant.

I have no interest in "luring" people to SOC. I have little to gain by that, but I am trying to have an honest discussion to figure out the benefits of either site.

Thank you for sharing that you have sold about 1000 cards. As a mid-point artist you have already invested way more than I will be investing, and with that information I can figure about what you made per year. I cannot live on that amount. I hope to be living on what I make at SOC within 2 years. Even hundreds of cards a month does not pay my mortgage.

I am not hiding any information. The most expensive membership fee at SOC is $400 (which includes 100 free cards). I made over $400 back within the first month. So I truly send cards at 62 cents. At $1 to make someone's day I find I send more cards and send about one a day. The 100 free cards is worth $161 at GCU so even if I didn't have any interested customers since the cards at GCU are $1 more I have made up the difference in 239 days or 8 months. I use the system for marketing my other business and $400 for a complete marketing system is cheap. Yep, I get it, GCU is free, but more expensive after 8 months.

I don't think asking volume of cards printed is proprietary information. I can tell you SOC prints about 50,000 a day. If I choose to support GCU instead of SOC I'd like to know the size of the audience. With the number of cards available (283,000) they would have to print about 800,000 cards a day to get my one little card noticed at GCU with the same frequency as SOC (17,000 cards). This bears no reference to any other artists sales, who may be marketing more than I am or have more cards. (And who is Mindy anyway?)

Ive only mentioned SOC here as I wanted a comparison discussion, and it's not fair to ask about GCU without divulging about SOC, and of course to try to clear up any misconceptions about SOC. I am not pitching SOC. I've spent a day investigating and now think I'm clear on my best course of action. No particular need to respond.

But I am curious as to why it seems the artists at GCU are so defensive? Don't you want to know about your options too? As I have repeated in this conversation, each company has different strengths and weaknesses, I intend to use both to their advantages.

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Aardwolf Cards:
http://www.greetingcarduniverse.com/aardwolfcards

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DENISE_132110

Gold Member
artist

Posts: 769

Re: Is there Profit to be made?
Reply #5 - Jan 27^th, 2010, 11:07pm

mindy is one of the administrators and i believe could be classified as co owner of the business.

"As a mid-point artist you have already invested way more than I will be investing"

the only thing i have invested is time....so i am not sure what you mean by what i have invested. i called myself a midpoint artist because i neither sell the least nor the most cards here at gcu.

the artists are aware of those coming in to try to under cut gcu or what ever. defensive probably wasn't the best choice of words on my part. we do try to look out for one another and pass along good ideas and opportunities. again i will say that the questions - had the appearance- of something that it wasn't. i meant that as an opportunity for you to clarify which you have done. obviously since i do sell my work other places i am always on the look out, but, try to be very careful in my searches.

if this works for you that is great. and i wish you a great deal of success. i am afraid if you submit only 15 cards your store will not have a great deal of traffic, but you never know. again, best of luck to you.

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db visual arts:
http://artist.greetingcarduniverse.com/dbvisualarts

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Phyllis_139913 GCU Newbies artist Posts: 8	Re: Is there Profit to be made? Reply #6 - Jan 28^th, 2010, 5:21am Thank you Denise (and Lyn) I appreciate the candid comments. Thank you for not taking my last response to clarify the wrong way. It was rather direct. Today is a new day.. Time to make some cards
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Mindy

GCU Administrator
Community Manager

Posts: 6567
Gender: female

Re: Is there Profit to be made?
Reply #7 - Jan 29^th, 2010, 11:32am

Quote from Phyllis_139913 on Jan 27^th, 2010, 11:46am:

I am a send out cards representative and hope to be supporting myself within a couple years. One thing Send Out Cards does not do well is give individual artists a place to sell their cards to others.. That is not the paradigm of Send Out Cards, but it is the paradigm of Greeting Card Universe. Today I opened an account and posted a card on Greeting Card Universe.

I'd like some honest discussion on the differences between Greeting Card Universe and Send Out Cards (preferably from those who are familiar with both). AND I'd like to hear testimonies from artists on GCU that are actually making good money, how long it took to build up, how many cards they have in their store, and how many hours they spend promoting?

Hi Phyllis,
Welcome to GCU! We are glad to have you here as an artist but as a courtesy please don't use the GCU forum to market Send Out Cards. You are welcome to contact artists individually. Thank you!

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