I’ve been getting some questions on the blog about the existence of a single piece of equipment that can print both mugs and other items, such as mouse pads. Novachrome’s new Power Cube is part of a modular sublimation system that lets you run two presses at once—either two mug presses, two plate or tile  presses, or one of each.

The Power Cube is designed for compatibility with all current and future Novachrome satellite presses. It provides a stable power source for both satelllite press units while monitoring temperature sixty times per second to ensure accurate results.

When combined with other Novachrome modular satellite heat presses (such as mug, or plate and tile presses), the Power Cube can be used to imprint T-shirts, ceramic mugs, tiles, mouse pads, award plaques, metal signs and many other items.

We have not used or reviewed this press yet, and we recommend you contact Novachrome for up to date information and pricing.

As with any business, you’ll probably want to accept credit card payments for your photo mug website. Initially, it can be confusing when you try to sort out the options and methods for accepting credit card payments. After slogging through online forums and FAQ’s, I finally managed to figure it out for Kustom Kup.

Here are the steps, divided into easy and technical categories. You may want to hire a web developer to handle the technical tasks.

Setting up credit card processing: easy part

1. If you don’t already have one, open a business checking account in a reputable bank. Then ask for their merchant services department, and tell them you want to process credit card transactions online. This should lead to the establishment of an additional entity called a merchant account. A merchant account will track your credit card sales, and make deposits or withdrawals (for refunds) into your checking account.

2. The merchant services department will tell you which gateway they use. The gateway is the interface with your website that will securely collect and process credit card payments. The gateway is behind the scenes, like the Wizard of Oz. It only communicates with your website’s shopping cart via a script (see technical part, below)

3. The merchant services department will ask you to sign an agreement to certain terms. The terms usually involve:

• a percentage per transaction, such as 2.2%
• an additional set fee per transaction, such as $.30
• a monthly minimum, such as $25.00, that is charged whether or not any transactions occur.
• a monthly statement fee, such as $12.00
• possibly a monthly gateway fee, such as $10, that is charged for the use of their API which communicates with the script in your shopping cart.
• additional monthly fees and percentages for optional acceptance of American Express and Discover cards. (I chose to accept these cards.)
• Lease or rental fee for an optional telephone terminal. This is a keypad for entering sales manually, such as sales you might receive over the phone.

All in all you may be looking at anywhere from $50 to $100 per month in merchant and transaction fees. (Or more, if your business does really well.) Keep in mind that merchant fees are negotiable, and you may want to shop around for the best rates. After you’ve been in business a while, you will have more leverage to negotiate a better rate.

Setting up credit card processing: technical part

1. Shopping cart. You’ll need to install some sort of shopping cart on your webserver. There are many free ones available on the web. Some of the higher-end ones are worth paying for.

2. The script. You’ll need to install on your web server a script that posts transaction data to your gateway (described above). Scripts can be written in different languages, such as php or perl. This is where you may need the help of a web programmer. Your shopping cart may already have the needed script built in. It will need to be customized with your company’s gateway url, merchant identification number, and password.

3. Secure certificate. Ask your web hosting company about this. Secure certificates cost in the neighborhood of $200 to $400 per year. The secure certificate is necessary to make a secure connection to your gateway, so that transaction information sent from your shopping cart is encrypted and can’t be read by casual observers

Other options

This is only the tip of the iceberg for credit card processing. I haven’t begun to discuss other options, such as hosted shopping carts and PayPal. Hopefully I’ll get to those in a later post.

You don’t need a lot of equipment to get started printing your own photo coffee mugs, but it’s important to have a grip on the technology before you get started.

Here are the basics:

Computer and software
You’ll need a Windows or Macintosh computer with an image editing program such as Corel Draw or Photoshop. (I personally used a Macintosh and Photoshop).

Novachrome Mug Press used by Kevin for mug printing

Ink jet or dye sublimation printer
Although you can buy special dye sublimation printers, you don’t necessarily need one. Many inkjet printers, such as the Epson 1280, can be filled with dye sublimation cartridges or adapted to use higher-volume bulk dye systems. Before you buy a printer, check with your dye sublimation dealer and find out which printers they sell dye sublimation cartridges for.

Dye sublimation cartridges or bulk system
Cartridges look like ordinary ink jet cartridges, and fit into ordinary ink jet printers. Bulk dye systems can be adapted to the printer so that it will be fed from larger vials of dye. This is handy for higher volume operations.

Heat Press or Mug Press
There are dozens of models to choose from, but this is my absolute favorite: Novachrome Mug Pro. Heat presses wrap around the mug and cause the image to transfer permanently to the mug’s surface.

Transfer paper and heat tape
Dye sublimation transfer paper looks like regular inkjet paper, but is slightly thicker. You’ll print onto this paper, and then fix it to the mug with heat tape (should be called “heat proof tape.”) before inserting the mug into a heat press for 4 or 5 minutes depending on the heat press instructions.

Blank mugs
Blank ceramic mugs come in a variety of styles and colors, although the basic background of white is necessary for true color printing via dye sublimation. Mugs are usually ordered in cases of 36.

Where do I get this stuff?
Most of the specialty items on this list are available from Novachrome.

First promo shot

In 2002 I became interested, obsessed even, in photo coffee mugs. I was in transition in my life, and looking for a business to start, and I set out to create a website where users could upload photos and text to make their own coffee mug designs.

I left my graphic design position at The Oregonian, made a simple business plan, and purchased some equipment:

• Single mug heat press (horizontal style with handle up)
• Epson color scanner
• Epson 1280 color printer
• Bulk dye sublimation mod kit for printer
• Sublimation dye
• 36 blank coated ceramic mugs

I set up shop in my basement and began testing designs.

Meanwhile my website was barely functional, but it it did work. Users could upload one photo and some text simultaneously using a “multi part” form and PHP. The image was scaled by a web server application called imagemagick, and the text was presented as HTML. Although users chose a font style at the upload step, they never were able to preview how their actual design worked.

However, even with no confirmation that their design would look great, business that first fall and winter was gangbusters. Google had ranked Kustom Kup in the top 3 for some of the most important searches: photo mug, photo coffee mug, photo mugs, etc. My wife and I sat and watched the orders pop up in our email box, sometimes coming as frequently as every two minutes. During peak times we sold perhaps 50 mugs a day.

We slaved away making hot mugs in the basement, drying the finished products on large racks, and packing them into 5 by 5 boxes. It was tedious process getting all those shipping labels on the correct orders. But the mugs went out, the customers were happy, and a small profit was made.

Kustom Kup was up and running!