Merch?

[=VG= SemlerPDX]

19 hours ago, =VG= STRONTIUM-DOG said:

Yep super cheap and small orders welcome most people use Alibaba.com  10000s of manufacturers willing and abel  : ) 

i'm going with the DOG tags .... flash up a message in game as soon as any player hits 10 kills, offering them VG dog tags 10$ + added shipping  10$ 20$ all in, with there name, use a metal name stamper on blank tags. easy to do 10$ a wack  : ) 

It will help recruit new members and reach more people, i did the math on 400 members and the pickings look slim. 

We could start with one item see if it helps out with costs. 

 

Sounds very reasonable.  Thanks, man!  The first (last) item that was on the list YEARS ago was the 550 Paracord bracelets, BLuD wanted to get those on offer.  And I love the Dog Tags idea, too!  And others... so we will get one to three items to start... I'll dive into the logistics and details this weekend, got a dentist thing tomorrow, so I'll be sore from the holes he's gonna want to drill in my face most likely, will have some solid ideas and plans by Monday.  Again, my goal is to have something(s) up by the start of March.

If that date gets waylayed due to jackassery, I'll brief you all.

[=VG= STRONTIUM-DOG (Inactive Duty)]

On 19/02/2020 at 1:27 PM, =VG= SemlerPDX said:

got a dentist thing

OMG a trip to the tooth puller,, double check that  wako before he makes up a bill hahahha..... ok 550 Paracord bracelets will go down well, i would use one and get another and another. In the UK TAX is only charged if you make more than 7k PA if anyone is a USA tax expert chip in, we can play the game well : ) all legit : ) hoo and if people donate 10 or 20 bucks and get a free bracelet then were not selling anything  : ) 

USA Tax and Law is out of my range so i'm calling on all USA VGs to help out keeping the bills down to - 0 - 

Crusty stock is a accountant lets all beg him for a bit of help to  : ) hes a nice guy  : ) 
I cant find him on VG so please send him this in game when ya see him  : ) 

message to crusty ............ Hay mate long time no frag  : ) fancy a job ?

Pay  = 0 

Hours = part time 

Office = kitchen + phone 

Job description =VG= merchandising accountant / tax consultant  : )    

Application  =VG= SemlerPDX 

Yours

=VG= STRONTIUM-DOG

[=VG= BLuDKLoT]

I can ask all the hottest chics I know to make a VG calendar, that's a good idea! But I've made shirts in the past, clippy has made tags, it be nice to have a store, but making shit ppl want is the issue. I'll ship it and do the processing, but we need like 10 awesome items people want! Blud 

[=VG= BLuDKLoT]

I'm pretty sure sem made this too

https://www.amazon.com/Thrustmaster-VG-18-Grip-Add-PC/dp/B07H1Z3L67/ref=mp_s_a_1_12?keywords=thrustmaster&qid=1582488588&sprefix=thrust&sr=8-12

 

[=VG= SemlerPDX]

   "VG"
  But I'd never sell anything on Amazon - they take 30% if ya want access to their customers.

I saw that thing just the other day, and literally thought -- hell, for that price, I'd learn how to make my own!  Same with those rudder pedals they use - Always a bit too close together, and made of plastic.  Gonna get a 3D printer someday and make some sweet controllers - might even be able to crack out enough to sell here at VG Store, for sure!  Button boards, custom USB hubs, wireless TrackIR TrackClip Pro mods, etc.

USB Pinball game controller with actual pinball launcher and haptic feedback (flippers inside that actually move and give that "feel") is my next DIY project

[=VG= STRONTIUM-DOG (Inactive Duty)]

11 hours ago, =VG= BLuDKLoT said:

10 awesome items people want! Blud 

1 Dog Tags 

2 VG calendar with chick's NOT players lol 

3 Para cord bracelets

4 T shirts 

5 Baseball caps 

6 Coffey mugs with personalized photo and stats 

7 10 kick player tokens ..........Ban player if missuses tokens............. keep the 10 bucks  : ) 

8 VG Tested mics and head sets 

9 Condoms  i'm Catholic 10 kids,,,, so i never humped a plastic bag,,,,,,,, but all my palls carry them about FUN purchase/gift  

10 Volod's cussing,, phone ring tone  : ) hahaha  an eastern European voice, is the best for cussing, Volods downloadable hahah   

10+ hater 1 actual ring tone, hes mint and authentic, he can make a good Squad out of 6 goof balls and a wing nut,  better Sargent than R. Lee Ermey 

Voice commands a gift ...........

 

 

[=VG= 0100011000101]

16 hours ago, =VG= STRONTIUM-DOG said:

2 VG calendar with chick's NOT players lol 

 

or both?

16 hours ago, =VG= STRONTIUM-DOG said:

10 Volod's cussing,, phone ring tone

that would be awesome! but not just this "yyyuuuu phakkkkinkkk nooooop" also "i will kill you !!!" and "WWWWYYYYY Uu donttt rhe-wife mee ??!?!?!? u are useless !!!!"

...you can make whole tracks out of it ... hardcore-tekkno @ 144 bmp or very slow industrial with suffer background ^^

[=VG= SemlerPDX]

lol - I like the actual suggestions - good ideas.

We won't be selling "kick" tokens, tho - lmfao!

Swimsuit calendar might be a bit off subject for the community, tho, might be better to stick with awesome screenshots from games.  I share amazing pics on the Falcon BMS 4 facebook group we run, and some are very wallpaper/calendar worthy -- same with some of the shots from PR, Arma 3, and some other games we play.  Just a thought.  Would be more on point to what we do here.

I like the idea of everything from PC gear to Survival gear, small stuff at first, pins stickers magnets or patches, shirts / hoodies / sweatshirts, paracord bracelets...  Again, it's a matter of getting small bulk orders with logos that look well enough to be worth it (single-color text is not what I have in mind).  Gonna spend some more time looking around, the links above are appreciated.

 

[=VG= STRONTIUM-DOG (Inactive Duty)]

3 hours ago, =VG= SemlerPDX said:

stick with awesome screenshots from games.  I share amazing pics on the Falcon BMS 4 facebook group we run, and some are very wallpaper/calendar worthy

Yep after =VG= 0100011000101 s  dating photos we should skip the chicks and stay politically correct  : ) 

 

0100011000101 after seeing chris cunningham videos like window licker, YOU HAVE to see a hypnotherapist to remove the images from your mind hahah 

Is that Xenolight second to the right ?????

 

 

 

MY fave is the ring tone downloadable chargeable easy peasey   : ) 

i have to get on the boat  but will be back soon  : ) 

 

 

 

[=VG= 0100011000101]

6 hours ago, =VG= STRONTIUM-DOG said:

YOU HAVE to see a hypnotherapist to remove the images from your mind hahah 

then watch this with your hypnotherapist and he will suicide...;p

actually you don't see any hard pictures but I still find it extremely disturbing.

[ if your pacemaker batteries are weak, do not watch the vid! ]

AFX - Rubber Johnny:

 

6 hours ago, =VG= STRONTIUM-DOG said:

i have to get on the boat  but will be back soon  : ) 

i will quote you on that!

[=VG= STRONTIUM-DOG (Inactive Duty)]

Rubber Johnnys the best lol monkey drummer is a close 2nd hhhahah we better save this for the VG radio post  : ) 

as no one will pay for it lol somethings cant be unseen im lucky working with sailors i have thick skin.DO not look at this vid  just don't lol  

[=VG= keed]

On 2/24/2020 at 12:14 AM, =VG= SemlerPDX said:

I saw that thing just the other day, and literally thought -- hell, for that price, I'd learn how to make my own!  Same with those rudder pedals they use - Always a bit too close together, and made of plastic.  Gonna get a 3D printer someday and make some sweet controllers - might even be able to crack out enough to sell here at VG Store, for sure!  Button boards, custom USB hubs, wireless TrackIR TrackClip Pro mods, etc.

Looking at prices for high quality HOTAS mounts, sticks, grips, throttles, pedals (ex), buttons, MFDs and so on I regret not taking the CNC route in Highschool. The simmer community will import products from China or Lithuania because apparently there is a huge gap between products from mass producing companies like logitech or thrustmaster and small shops like virpil or ch products.

 

[=VG= SemlerPDX]

3 hours ago, =VG= keed said:

Looking at prices for high quality HOTAS mounts, sticks, grips, throttles, pedals (ex), buttons, MFDs and so on I regret not taking the CNC route in Highschool. The simmer community will import products from China or Lithuania because apparently there is a huge gap between products from mass producing companies like logitech or thrustmaster and small shops like virpil or ch products.

Personally, I never regret what I didn't learn in High School thanks to the modern information age -- you could essentially teach yourself anything from the comfort of one's own home (if you're the self taught type, asking questions on forums instead of to a Teacher) -- I've done that with so many things I can't even count.  If I could only get the money I spent on Locksmiths when I was younger, before I taught myself how to pick all sorts of locks via YT, I could probably afford an enthusiast grade motherboard and CPU easily.

I mean, if I could teach myself how to fly an F-16 in the most accurate & complete true-to-life combat flight simulator in the consumer world, let alone the handful of computer languages I've become very familiar with, I can safely assume that the barrier to creating products with a CNC router would be simply the cost of a CNC router (and a place to put it in my already way too cramped work shed).
Like I've said before, I will be getting a 3D printer someday soon, just still afraid of the sticker price and of the best product for my use case scenarios - I've put in serious time and research into this, and still extremely hesitant to even build a list of potential purchase candidates.  I've definitely gotta upgrade my MoBo/CPU/RAM and AIO CLC before I cannot sell my old ones for any substantial price to recuperate funds for my next PC gear upgrade.

A $600-1000 3D printer of good quality is just not in the cards right now -- but will be someday, and I'll likely want to buy/build a CNC router, too, for working with metal parts, etc.  Worst thing about any rudder pedals for flight sims these days is the cheap plastic parts and sometimes far to close together left/right footpads.

[=VG= SemlerPDX]

Well, everything seems just fine so far... except one gigantic fucking glaring detail.... Shipping.  I've found several nice items that would be within the realm of possibility, problem being that a $80 order of 500 custom bottle openers has a shipping fee from China of $189 for fuck sake!  Then each individual "bottle opener" (for example) would cost around $80 for me to ship just one $10 bottle opener to somewhere across any ocean like UK, EU, AUS, etc.  Whether I ship one or one hundred from USA overseas, it's at least $80 USD for a tiny package even as small as 6x2x2 with less than a half-pound of weight.

Now, I realize we've discussed regional distribution, so we could have some items at a member's house in UK, someone in EU, someone in US.... But follow along here because the initial delivery and shipping charges for the bulk orders are far and above the cost of the order no matter what address I plug in (whether US, UK, or several places in EU) -- and minimum order quantity (MOQ) is often 50-500, meaning that the initial order would need to be placed and delivered to one location, and then split up and sent to regional distribution volunteers.... after that, money would need to be  transferred to said individuals so they could cover the local shipping fees.... transferring money involves additional fees and comes with it's own set of issues...  and ALL OF THIS IS A FUCKING LOGISTICS NIGHTMARE!

This little project is going to need some rethinking, as it seems the only possible method so far includes flat items like stickers, embroidered patches, and potentially (risky) dogtags with the designations "Member, PR Admin, or Clan Member", the clan name, player name, and maybe one more line if allowed.  I note this is risky because Eclipse sent me my dog tags in a letter envelope, and it had some holes torn in the paper and tape patching them.  The cost for these individual custom items is low, and flat mail is cheap.. less than $15 (USD) all said and done.

 

So -- I've sent out some inquiries to factories through Alibaba for die cut stickers and embroidered iron-on patches -- the process would be to get questions answered, decide on sticker type, size, and specifications with the manufacturer, and then to get a few samples sent or just trust that it's a big company and go straight to the main order  - depends on the company for that flow.  Either way, it's not a fast process, and so we will not have items for sale yet and until this natural process works it's way through. So, no Merch for March (yet), we'll see  - shipping from China, etc. takes weeks, let alone the turnaround time to manufacture.

I will keep you all posted as I dig deeper into the logistics of all this.   Thanks for your patience and understanding!!

[=VG= BLuDKLoT]

I'll ask my one of my professors about it. He might have ideas. Let you know. Blud 

[=VG= STRONTIUM-DOG (Inactive Duty)]

Send a member from china a begging message then were winning  : ) 

On 3/3/2020 at 6:10 AM, =VG= SemlerPDX said:

one gigantic fucking glaring detail.... Shipping

understand shipping costs are a way to jack up the cost, lots of people add massive charges hoping people will still complete the order, 10 bucks can be jacked up to 99 bucks , also the shopping cart just adds 10 bucks for each item 100 item 1000 bucks shipping ???? lol e mail the company and ask for shipping and its 10 bucks for 1 item or 20 bucks for 100 .......  Alibaba users  company's are fast to reply with the right shipping costs. 

  

On 3/3/2020 at 6:10 AM, =VG= SemlerPDX said:

shipping from China, etc. takes weeks,

yer i get lots of stuff from there, the postage chain of custody (company's used )  on the package, is bigger than a menu. but it always arrives  : )