Well, the idea behind the merchandise, like any merchandise, is to actually make money from it, so that we can pay for things like system upgrades or have some of the cost of bandwidth paid for, which we currently pay out of our own pocket.

We don't want to rip anyone off and so prices will be average/reasonable and like you'd find anywhere, but we're also not going to invest in having a stack of merchandise and not try to make some money off it to off-set the running costs of the site.

Considering goth.net makes next to nothing in donations from the thousands of people that visit the site, something that does offer some income to offset costs and to use for future investments and upgrades would be nice.



It's looking like at least a few more months... we'll be sorting out designs, products, supply and base funding for some stock.


Lilith

Well, standard t-shirts go by "XS-S-M-L-XL" sizes... which seems to be fairly similar the world over, but I can give cm/inch dimensions of each shirt if that makes life easier for people.

Currently yes we're looking at only adult sizing, if you're female though then baby/lady tees should fit even a smaller frame, especially in like an S size.

We'd have to look for junior sizes and I don't think that would necessarily be the easiest thing... 1) we'd need a lot less in those sizes which would drive cost up 2) not all shirt printers would have junior sizes in their range so we'd possibly have to find a seperate place to print those and incur additional printing costs and design fees.



Lilith

If the USPS will ship there, we'll ship there. There are a number of countries which are on the out-of-bounds or restricted service list which we obviously won't ship to.

At the moment according to the USPS site this is: Afghanistan, Cuba, Guinea Bissau, Iraq, Korea (North), Lebanon, Liberia, Libya, Somalia, Venezuela.

Okay, I doubt we even have visitors from those countries, but those are the ones where the USPS won't ship to at present or who have shipping restrictions placed on them.

One thing that will have to be worked out at some point is the method of shipping internationally. I think at any rate we'll be shipping by international airmail at the very least. While there is the option for surface mail, that can take weeks (goes by ship), and I don't think that either we nor the recipient wish to be kept in the dark about where the products are... nor would I want to field frequent emails asking me where the hell all the stuff is.

I think things like delivery confirmation or insurance would be options to add onto postage seperately by request.

Anyway, Poland is Europe (or close enough to, even if it's not a member of the EU) so I don't see that as too 'exotic'.


Lilith

I didn't mean the price should be the price you pay, I meant the price shouldn't be all that high because 20$ for a shirt is a bit too high for me...


I'm safe

Well, we're not looking to price everything so high that people won't buy it, as that would obviously defeat the point, but we'll definitely take into account what similar merchandise is selling for on sites similar to ours.



Lilith

I believe that it won't be a problem - I have just recived my painball marker from US - I had no problems with buying or transport, so I believe that a t-shirt or a mug will also come without any problems But from the other side it is damn expensive to ship from US to Poland



It is possible that we will be sooner in EU than you will start selling all the stuff :>

Well, unfortunately shipping is always going to be fairly expensive for anyone living overseas, as is any product that needs to be converted to a currency that's weaker against the US$, but there's little we can do about that.

While shipping via surface mail would be somewhat cheaper, the difference wouldn't be all that much, but the time difference would be and as such I wouldn't consider it an acceptible method of shipping.

Lighter objects obviously also wouldn't be anywhere near as expensive to ship as heavier ones, and tshirts would be a lot lighter than mugs.



Well, in order to make an order of shirts, even if we get like 50-100 still requires a wad of cash to put down with no guarantee of immediate return on investment, so we'd prefer to do that from a supply of money that is expendable and won't leave us on the breadline if we never sell them all.


Lilith

Im a girl but i prefer t-shirts i voted standard t-shirt small. Much more comfy. I would definately buy one.


DES

Hey Lillith - just in talking about shipping overseas, got me thinking. When S worked for a website that sold..ahem...adult videos, there were some places which people often never received their merch because of customs officers taking it. Not that t-shirts are anywhere near porn vids but the point was, the company had a policy of not reimbursing people who lost their product to unscrupulous customs officers. Or places that imposed "moral code" upon what merch was allowed through. And I mean, he received complaints from people in Germany, China, Japan, everywhere. Odd thing, that. It's probably nothing to worry about really, but I thought of it and thought I'd share that experience with ya.

Yeah, I think I've seen you mention it before somewhere.

Once we mail it, it will be out of our hands, and I will most definitely put a disclaimer on the site that we are NOT responsible for loss or for customs taking it or charging duty on it.

If people want it tracked they can get stuff like insurance or tracking and I'll definitely offer that (for an additional fee) but we cannot run a business (or even just a merchandising section, whatever) and be responsible for things that are out of our control, and once in hands of the postal system it's out of our control and out of our responsibility.

But you're right, a regular tshirt won't get nabbed most likely, nor will it face the kind of restrictions or imposed morality that adult videos would, but if customs stops it that's an issue between the recipient and customs, nothing to do with us.

I wonder if you can get proof of shipment receipts at the post office, because I would definitely like some proof of sending items in the case of unscrupulous buyers reversing charges that they shouldn't be...

Alternately I just make shipping such that a form of tracking or registered shipping is included to avoid any such problems.


Lilith

I'll probably end up buying a M standard t shirt, but at the minute, I like shirts which look like they've been turned inside out, IE with seams on the outside and i like reasonably tight t shirts as well. If, however, you can't get either of these then a M standard will be fine.

im really skinny, a xs would fit me :p

As skinny as your attention span here?

yeah...guess so

anyways...u really took ur time on that reply...

Are these T-shirts made up? Are they silk screened? What's the quality of the shirt?