AIC store

beardedlamb · Post by **beardedlamb** » November 9th, 2006, 1:33 pm

The AIC store is nearly set up. Our initial person for this has discovered he doesn't have the time to commit to it, which is fine. Is there any one that wants to take it on?

Here is some info from the person who had to give it up:
"A long time ago I was asked to set up a Spreadshirt store for the AIC. I did get the store set up but unfortunately the fancy AIC shirt design did not pass inspection for the printing process that Spreadshirt uses. Since you are the fearless leader of the advertising committee, I wanted to pass along the store info to you in the hopes that you can make some use of it. Here is the info you will need to access the store.

Spreadshirt site - www.spreadshirt.com
Login username -
Login password -
Temporary store URL - https://www.spreadshirt.com/shop.php?sid=43578

The design of the store is complete, now all we need to do is upload useable logos and add products to it. I have a lot of experience with this type of store and can answer any questions you might have about it. The printing process they use is not screenprinting so there are limitations to the types of designs that you can use. Please contact me if you would like the rundown on what will work and what will not."

and contact me to get these logins and get started helping us peddle out wares on the internet.
thanks dudes,
jeremy

kaci_beeler · Post by **kaci_beeler** » November 9th, 2006, 2:19 pm

I'll take it on. I have experience with spreadshirt and I know what a cool t-shirt should look like, unlike you oldies.

kbadr · Post by **kbadr** » November 9th, 2006, 2:40 pm

Great.
Hope everyone likes Bonanza-themed AIC shirts.

deroosisonfire · Post by **deroosisonfire** » November 9th, 2006, 2:43 pm

kaci_beeler wrote:I'll take it on. I have experience with spreadshirt and I know what a cool t-shirt should look like, unlike you oldies.

we should take you out for a drink to celebrate. oh, wait . . .

Roy Janik · Post by **Roy Janik** » November 9th, 2006, 2:45 pm

kaci_beeler wrote:I'll take it on. I have experience with spreadshirt and I know what a cool t-shirt should look like, unlike you oldies.

Awesome. I hope we figure out some way to get the first AIC shirt design up in a manner that resembles the original.

kaci_beeler · Post by **kaci_beeler** » November 9th, 2006, 3:36 pm

kbadr wrote:Great.
Hope everyone likes Bonanza-themed AIC shirts.

I don't own even one Bonanza-themed shirt, I'd have you know.
Sad.
Very sad.

Wesley · Post by **Wesley** » November 9th, 2006, 4:12 pm

Another idea for the "store."

I don't want to become limited to or dependent on an AIC Spreadshirt site for several reasons, though I admit it allows us to get stuff up fast. I recommend a different set-up when we rebuild austinimprov.com a little.

I don't want to be limited/dependent because:
a) it is limiting (as we've already seen, some graphics cannot be used and though wide, the selections of products is limited),
b) some troupes already do or will have physical merchandise on hand they'd like to get rid of,
c) and who's in charge of the money? I mean if IFE sells 20 shirts on the AIC's store, who gives that money to IFE? What mechnaisms are there to even know if you are selling anything? Once things begin selling, I think this might become a bigger headache than it is worth.

I'm not against making a general store, but I'd rather austinimprov.com have a "store" page that links out to various troupes.
It can link to a spreadshirt site that troupe has already set-up for themselves, to the troupe's website, or provide an e-mail to the troupe for buying existing merchandise. It would be less of a store in-and-of-itself and more of a portal to collected stores. It could still have sections (T-shirts, CDs and DVDs, Other) and images of the wares, but it wouldn't actually handle the selling of anything that isn't owned and going into the general AIC coffers. It would also allow us to throw up short-term links (say to out-of-towners merchandise during OoB or if UCB ever came through).

DollarBill · Post by **DollarBill** » November 10th, 2006, 8:11 am

deroosisonfire wrote:we should take you out for a drink to celebrate. oh, wait . . .

Damn... Nice work.

kaci_beeler · Post by **kaci_beeler** » November 11th, 2006, 11:34 am

I think I'm going to use more than just the spreadshirt interface so that we can utilize other shops in one place if need be...for example, if we buy shirts from a local company and are willing to sale and ship them if need be.

arclight · Post by **arclight** » November 12th, 2006, 1:15 am

I knocked this out today: http://store.austinimprov.com/

Aside from needing actual inventory, "fulfillment staff" (people to ship product), attractive male models, and a cosmetic overhaul, the site needs to be hooked into a payment processor (Authorize.net, PayPal, etc.) No idea how to nicely integrate this with Spreadshirt or CafePress, but it's possible to sell the merch we have on hand.

Note that the AIC would have to pay sales tax to the city for this since unlike event tickets, AIC shirt, book, & DVD sales are probably "unrelated business income".

Also, I'm not wed to the software; I was just curious how tough it would be to set up something basic.