Some things I think we need for anyone to consider being the "Store Running Member":

1. Be willing to front the money for bulk order.
2. Be willing to have bulk order delivered to you.
3. Be willing to then "sell" the shirts to members without making a profit (i.e. sell at cost + shipping)
4. Be able to collect payment of money in a way that people feel safe transmitting their money through. I don't buy things online very often, so I'm not sure how Paypal works in terms of transferring funds only when the goods are shipped.
5. Find a way to deliver the shirts to members around the world that wouldn't be more expensive than them ordering them directly from Cafepress. From what I understand, using Ebay would add some fees to this? I'm not sure where Cafepress ships the shirts from, but if shipping them from CharlieMurphy's (or whoever volunteers) location costs more, then I see another additional cost.

As far as I know, TL.net doesn't plan on profiting from this venture, so we wouldn't be taking a cut. Aside from that, I still think the best way to go would be with Cafepress. The shirts are relatively cheap (so long as our design is simple) which makes them more affordable to our members and also allows them to order more in case they want more or the one they got gets worn out, the site offers up its own shop service so that no one has to go through the hassle of playing merchant (and thus potentially getting screwed if people are slow to/don't pay or change their minds about buying a shirt), the site appears trustworthy and easy to use, and it'd be easy to make more designs later if it goes well.

I think if people really want to go with a design that requires a bulk order, I think we could find a way to do it. For example, I don't think any one person would want to order 100s of shirts up front, but I don't think any site requires order sizes of that many. While it's hard to judge demand, I think we could probably use a few volunteers who could each handle a certain chunk of the shirts. For example, I'd be willing to front the cash for 25-40 or so shirts, assuming there was enough interest expressed to me beforehand. It's not too bad, just buy a bunch of t-shirts mailers and print up labels when people send me their addresses... don't even have to go to the post office since the mailman comes to my office every day, and I can do postage online if I want. Lots of people spend a lot more time doing things for this site that this would require.

People can trust me or not, but I'm not really going to bother trying to scam people out of a few dollars (especially since I am out the few hundred at the beginning and need people to pay me back to recoup the costs.. and oh I have a job, etc.). If people want, I can have a few people pay me at a time at first and then I'll ship the shirts as the money arrives, so I'm never in possession of too much money without providing the merchandise. Honestly, having TL pissed off at me could be geniuinely bad given how much personal information I've divulged over the years on here.

Oh yeah, and I will have to get over my hatred of Paypal. Ohhh I hate them so... but that's no big deal.

I also think having a few people act as middlemen is better because I don't think it's cost effective for me to ship individual shirts out of country (e.g. Europe, Korea). We could have a few volunteers in different areas, maybe 2-3 for the US, one in Europe, one in Korea.

Again, this is all if we end up with a design where it makes more sense to get them printed at a place that has a minimum order. If we can do it on an individual basis, that's great too.

fanta[Rn]

Japan2465 Posts

June 19 2007 10:54 GMT

#268

yes davidgurt, it's a japanese vagina - yellow outside, blue inside.
Kizz: nice shirt! but wouldn't that violate the copyrights?

LuMiX

China5758 Posts

June 19 2007 10:54 GMT

#269

On June 19 2007 19:35 MYM.Testie wrote:
It's supposed to be a pylon obviously. ;p

You have quite the imagination, I would have never thought of that!

ManaBlue

Canada10458 Posts

June 19 2007 10:59 GMT

#270

Some really nice designs in this thread. Nice work guys!

I actually like every design that's been posted in one way or another. Keep the creative juices flowing. The last couple pages have some really nice, simple, refined designs.

zXk3

Mexico1178 Posts

June 19 2007 11:13 GMT

#271

On June 19 2007 17:55 fanta[Rn] wrote:
Oh and PLEASE people, stop posting those sandlot logo t-shirts all over the place unless you post a HIGH RESOLUTION version of it. All of those you posted will look incredible blurry, bad and small on a T-Shirt.

T-T like i said before... i have been working on THIS!!,only need the flags.. i CANT finish it.. but ill be glad to send someone the PSD file..

Still working in another entry..

jimminy_kriket

Canada5541 Posts

June 19 2007 11:15 GMT

#272

Ok, Seeing as some people couldnt see the first one I posted, here it is :

I moved the logos around to fit the layout thats needed:

The back is still the same.

I know these arent to standard with the size/ dpi etc, But im not too sure how to change it.
It might not be possible considering I based the design off this low res image.

What I ask is A) Is it possible to make high res, etc?
and B) Is it good enough to go through the work making it high res?

Cambium

United States16368 Posts

June 19 2007 11:33 GMT

#273

So, why do people not like cafepress and insist on wanting a member as a distributor?

ManaBlue

Canada10458 Posts

June 19 2007 11:45 GMT

#274

Dealing with Cafepress will give us an easy, reliable system to deal with the logistics of distribution. Despite the best intentions of some of our members, it is best that we stick with this plan so that shirts will be readily available to anyone that wants one.

We should let this issue rest now and continue on with brainstorming awesome tshirt ideas!

Last Romantic

United States20666 Posts

June 19 2007 12:13 GMT

#275

kriket- why lurker and not hydralisk?

evanthebouncy!

United States12796 Posts

June 19 2007 12:29 GMT

#276

I'll buy w/e has lively battery quote on back. Preferably with a shield battery picture and a me gosu front!

TheosEx

United States894 Posts

June 19 2007 12:33 GMT

#277

I like both of these. And like Clutch, I am also willing to front the money for a bulk of the shirts.
Seriously, if anyone can make this happen, I will even be willing to buy a large number of these for myself.

I just don't want anything too "geeky" like pylon quotes or "Source to SC" or anything like that. Simple Team Liquid logo and a decal will do it for me. Anything too fancy is just overkill. No offense to anyone, but I don't even like the SandLot logo... unless that was the only thing on the shirt.

Wasabi

United States3085 Posts

June 19 2007 12:41 GMT

#278

--- Nuked ---

Last Romantic

United States20666 Posts

June 19 2007 12:48 GMT

#279

Wasabi, I think it'd be much better without the quote.

But otherwise the text/image are pretty badass :D I really like the zeal