Hey, just wanted some feedback ...

We are thinking of setting up a little GOTH.NET merchandise store ... nothing major, just a place where you can get official GOTH.NET stuff

I'm after feedback to the following kinds of questions.

1.If we DID start selling stuff, what kind of stuff would you like to see being sold (eg. t-shirts, mouse pads, computer case badges, pens, fridge magnets, stickers, etc)?

We're looking for suggestions of what you would want to see on sale, both what you like from the example list above, and anything else you can think of which would be neat if GOTH.NET sold (branded with GOTH.NET designs).

2. What do you think would be a reasonable price to pay for the items you suggested?

Obviously, if we cannot charge a reasonable price for an item, we will not be getting it made for GOTH.NET at all. Also, our expenses in making these items will be slightly higher than, say, a retail outlet would pay, so this should be taken into consideration.

Of course, all proceeds of any sales of any items will go directly to maintanence and upkeep costs of GOTH.NET and its hosting (so unlike a retail chain, we'll not be getting rich off these sales, by any streach of the immagination).

3. What kind of logos or imagery would you want to see on these items? We obviously have our own logos, would you just want this? or would you want generic gothic stuff? or what would you like to see?

You can also feel free to tell us if you think that a GOTH.NET store would be an awful idea ...

t-shirts... T-shirts?..... T-SHIRTS!!

ahem *clears throat, cups hands around mouth*

T - S H I R T S ! ! !

Okay... now answer the question of whether you'd want GN logo stuff, or "other" goth type prints (or would a selection of those 2 tempt you to buy both?)

And what would you realistically pay for a t-shirt (obviously we'd be looking for good quality shirts, not cheap-ass 'wash-it-once-and-it-falls-apart' stuff)?

Also, for the t-shirts... baby/fitted tees as well as "normal" tees? Also we've come across different material shirts, mainly 100% cotton and 50/50 cotton/polyester..

Lilith

i wouldn't buy a shirt with the goth.net logo. just doesn't apeal to me. price....well i guess under $30 but if its really cool i wouldn't mind paying more


-money burns holes in pockets

I think the goth.net logo looks pretty cool. Maybe if you could do a larger image of something else, and have the goth.net logo in the corner. or if it was a shirt have the goth.net logo small on the front and something else on the back? It is advertizing and it seems like the goth.net logo should be included somewhere.

I personally think less is more sometimes though. There are a very wide variety of ways you could go with this thing and I'm very indecisive... But if things were offered I'd probably pay $20-$35 once I move out and get settled down.

Well, the shirts we'd want to design as something people would want to wear as much as being a representation of the website.

Our main interest with this is revenue rather than advertising, though I guess that the better the advertising is, the better the revenue.

Mmm... sleep meds kicking in, and coherency fading out

The aim is mainly to offer nifty t-shirts and other products that people will want to buy.

Any other product ideas aside from t-shirts? I've had people mention ashtrays and mugs? comments about those?

Lilith

Well every item that has been mentioned sounds like something useful, but it all depends on whats going to be put on them. It seems kind of hard to find images around of things that aren't copy written unless it is your goth.net logo. Maybe if we had some sort of little member art screening and picked some pieces from there that a lot of people liked? I haven't submitted anything yet but I do artwork also.

i would love baby tees and regular cotton t's of goth.net! Also i think lilith could come up with some cool bumper sticker sayings for the t-shirts and but the logo on the back. Other goth stuff would be great.

oooooh oh.... ashtrays hell yah! Every 5 min i'll be reminded to go online =:)

WOA!!!

Now we're talking...

I would like ofcourse the officiall goth.net t-shirt.

I would also like a t-shirt (that I can buy for all the poser 14 year old girls that deserve an assrape for their misinterpretation of the gothic subculture who cut their arms) that says: NOBODY KNOWS I'M A CUTTER...

Else, a coffecup or something smaller would be ncie.
I will get back on this subject when I am not in class and have to pay attention to the teacher...

=:)

Well, PreZ has a friend back in Sydney who's an artist, and who does his own goth comic. We have permission to use some pieces he drew for PreZ years ago and once he has more time in a couple of months he might create some new stuff for us. That time frame suits us fine due to the fact that we'd need some spare capital to actually purchase merchandise.

Right now we're just trying to establish what kind of items people are interested in, and what kind of decorations on them.

Lilith

Something I never see is larger size T-shirts..plus size. can be worn as sleep wear by the smaller ones and as regular T;s by the physically challenged

Also $25-$30 is a reasonable price for quality tees...shipping and handling? method of payment..are both questions i would have..

Coffee mugs and other easily done things are inexpensive alternative.

Plus size being? most tshirt places seem to offer up to XXXL (I think that'll be large enough), but would you be looking at XL, 2XL or 3XL as 'larger' size? Later on we'll be polling what the average shirt size is, to get an idea as to what percentages of shirt sizes we'd need to stock.

Also, would the fact that those larger size tees are slightly more expensive ($1-3 roughly I think) put you off?

Define "easily done things" please... we already have a call for coffee mugs and ashtrays, anything else?

Shipping/handling and payments... I'll leave that for another thread to go into detail. First product orientation

Lilith

I'm not sure I like the idea of just anyone getting a hold of goth.net material, but on the other hand I'd love to contribute to goth.net and get something out too.
The prices sound reasonable, but I'd hate to think of the shipping overheads for getting it to Britain, which appears to be a different planet to everywhere else. Not a word, Mes!

Lapel Pins? I've got a fascination for lapel pins...Ooh, I want a goth.net tie, pretty please! :b As for stuff to go on t-shirts, I'd say about two or three designs for each size, say a goth.net logo, a slogan and something the designer just wanted to chuck out, like a cartoon or other comedy piece. I refer you to the recent merchandising of Meltdown, a Brit goff zine I'm subscribing to: http://www.angelfire.com/zine/meltdown/merchandise.html
If that's any help?

Basically, great idea, but I want a goth.net tie I can wear to work and scare people with mwahahaha!
Ahem.

Well, 'just anyone' will be people who at least visit the website (unless I decide to include eBay or some of the Goth auction sites in this venture), and I doubt people outside of the scene will be interested.



I'd be willing to also consider the surface mail shipping option overseas as well as the airmail option, however you're talking 4-6 weeks to Europe and 6-10 to Australia I believe, if I'm remembering Amazon.com's surface shipping time estimates.

T-shirts obviously wouldn't weigh all that much, but with mugs/ashtrays/whatever else we come up with would be somewhat heavier.



Well, stuff like lapel pins and ties is somewhat elaborate. We'd have to check and see if there's anybody who'd customise them and at what cost. Obviously a market for them might be somewhat limited also.

As for the cartoon/comedy designs, we're currently talking to 2 artists about that. One is a friend of PreZ's from Sydney, he drew the charicature that PreZ uses as an avatar, and he does his own goth comic. He should be doing some work for us, and we already have permission to use sketches etc. of his that we already own. We're currently tossing around ideas with another artist.



We'll look into that one, but no guarantees as of yet.

Lilith