Hi I'm trying to start a t-shirt business and I'm trying to figure out weather I want to do it under CafePress, or an independent company. It will be online either way, independent will be more money, I'd have to buy a printer, heat press, carry inventory, and maintain a website, but the margins will be higher, and I'll have a brand. Cafepress is well known, but also have a ton of designs on there to choose from, and it will be a little more expensive for the product, and slightly lower margin, but, it will be pretty much be free for me, unless I take the premium store, which is less then $10 per month, and they just send the commission check to you. No inventory, just set up the t-shirts, and put them up on the website, maybe create a small advertising campaign, word of mouth, whatever, to set my store out from everybody else's. I can also register a domain, and do a redirect, to keep a website in people's mind, not just 'cafepress'

I'm leaning towards cafepress, at least to start, and then grow on there, and eventually off of there, but I'm wondering if there are any pitfalls with cafepress? I just don't want to be paired with cafepress long term. Money is in issue though, and a 12,000 startup isn't out of my range, but it certainly is a stretch.

Any help will be appreciated
Thanks
John