JCF Store

[Chuckracer]

I was just thinkin...(yeah, I'm sitting down!), how are sales for the JCF store? Is it helping with expenses? People still buying stuff?

[Manyaxes]

Re: JCF Store

Glad you posted that. I never noticed that there was a store (Duhh). I think I'll order some goodies real soon! Thanks Chuck for posting the obvious! [img]images/icons/rolleyes.gif[/img]

[Chuckracer]

Re: JCF Store

I know there was a lot of excitement when it was first brought online, and it was a lot of work from the administrative team, but I hadn't seen mention of it in quite some time plus I know there are a lot of members since then who may not be aware of it.

[Budman68]

Re: JCF Store

How come there aren't any more beer mugs??? [img]images/icons/frown.gif[/img] Dave->

[Chuckracer]

Re: JCF Store

One Word: Tekky.

He stole them all when he became an admin.

[sully]

Re: JCF Store

Originally posted by Chuckracer:
People still buying stuff?

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">nah...it pretty much fizzled out soon after the release. but it's still there.

sully

[Chuckracer]

Re: JCF Store

Well, I think thats a damn shame. Its a good thing for the forum, and a good thing for the members.
I just put in my order. C'mon guys, lets show some support!

[slayer]

Re: JCF Store

I bought a Coffee Travel Mug right after they came out, I may buy more, I will go looky again [img]graemlins/headbang.gif[/img] Jack.

[ August 17, 2003, 08:28 PM: Message edited by: slayer ]

[sevser]

Re: JCF Store

Originally posted by budman68:
How come there aren't any more beer mugs??? [img]images/icons/frown.gif[/img] Dave->

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Got my JCF beer mug right here! [img]graemlins/toast.gif[/img] but I don't see it in the store anymore. Soldout perhaps?

Got a longsleve too. Quality stuff I might add.

[Tekky]

Re: JCF Store

Originally posted by Chuckracer:
One Word: Tekky.

He stole them all when he became an admin.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Prove it Columbo! [img]graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[ August 18, 2003, 12:37 AM: Message edited by: TEKKY ]

[Newc]

Re: JCF Store

I bought a red and a black-sleeved baseball jersey when it first opened, but I can't wear the grey shirts (cotton/poly kills me), and none of the other shirts have pockets. I gotta have pockets. I may pick up some more, though, but I just wish CafePress would try a little harder with other colors besides white. The iron-on sheets they use have been available for dark-colored shirts for about a year or more (seen em in the store), and they aren't that much more expensive. I think they're just not willing to invest the cost for those out of their own pocket, and they know none of the shop owners they service will pay more because they'll have to charge more as well, and most shoppers won't spend $10 extra for a color other than white or grey.

Newc

[lerxstcat]

Re: JCF Store

You know, it may not take that much of an
advance order to get 'em to order some black shirts for a one-off run? Most rockers and metalheads just love black shirts, and I remember our printer initially wanted 100-shirt runs in color,
but once they saw we ordered regularly, could order as few as 5 at a time (one week's worth of work tees for one guy, in his size).

I really think the difference in sales would be phenomenal. Sully, as the artist, maybe you could take some prepaid
orders, with us realizing it may take you
awhile to accumulate enough to order say 100 shirts of mixed sizes, plus the setup fee for the screen, but if you made a mockup and took orders, I bet you'd have enough for a run very quickly! I know Cafe Press is easier, but if they won't make what people want, few will buy. The
fact that sales haven't been great backs
you up to tell them they need to offer black. I would order 2 black t-shrts at
$20 each today to support JCF, but not a
white or gray that I'd never wear. It's like making a Warrior with a vintage trem; who wants it?

This is NOT a bash of the store! I'm just saying that capitalism requires you to make a product the public wants, and I
think the lack of black shirts probably
keeps most of us from sticking our heads in the door. Just my 2 cents' worth.

[Steve]

Re: JCF Store

yeah I got to get some swag as well , damn Dave could have let me know when he made his order so I could have got something too [img]images/icons/mad.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/images/icons/mad.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] when I start teaching guitar in sept here if it takes off good I'll be ordering some of that swag real quick ! .............I wonder if I could download some [img]graemlins/scratchhead.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] //Steve

[lerxstcat]

Re: JCF Store

I can tell you that the $17.99 white shirt with simple lettering, costs about
$6 apiece up thru XL, $8 in XXL, plus a $30 setup fee, to buy 100 of 'em in mix and match sizes. In color they're $7.50 each, $9.50 for XXL. That's for Hanes Beefy-Ts which are top-quality shirts.

So if you ordered 100, let's say for argument's sake that half are XXL. So:

50 x $9.50 = $475.00
50 x $7.50 = $375.00
Setup = $ 30.00
Shipping = $ 40.00 (high quote)

TOTAL: = $920.00

Now if you take orders for 100 shirts at
$20 each, plus $5 s/h for each, that is a
gross of $2,500.00. $2,500.00 - $920.00
= $1,580.00 gross profit. I know the prices because I ordered work shirts for my boss's plumbing shop for 15 years, and
they're no more than a year old as of now. I ordered shirts in red, blue, black and burgundy at those prices.

It seems if the JCF could gross $1,580.00
by selling 100 t-shirts, that's a good thing. Sully could pay himself for the 2 or 3 hours it'd take to handle the whole operation from order to shipping and there'd still be lots of profit, certainly over $1,000 since the Post Office provides Tyvek Priority Mail envelopes that a T-shirt fits into FOR FREE! Priority Mail is $3.85 a pop.

I'm not saying dump Cafe Express totally,
but maybe we could make up a custom run of shirts that most of us would rather have, and show Cafe that they really want
to consider giving us what we want instead of telling us why we can't have it. Again, once you have a printer and
do your setup and initial run, they'll probably do a few shirts at a time after that, so maybe t-shirts, being Cafe Express's weak point, could be something
the JCF just did separately.

I bet of 1,500 members here, there are 1,000 that won't buy a white shirt! That's 2/3 of your potential market that's not interested in the current product. Many kids that'll buy a cool concert (or forum) t-shirt also aren't as
likely to buy coffee mugs, etc.. because they want to be seen with the swag as they go about town. Perhaps a couple of polls to gauge the interest, and to verify or refute these theories, would be
a good idea?

Again, no bashing intended here; I'm trying to find a way, other than guilting
people to buy something they don't want,
to get the store to work. A white T-shirt is just like a plywood guitar to me though, and maybe others feel the same!

[RacerX]

Re: JCF Store

Lerx is right. I want black. None more black.