Artist Alley Thread: Happy Holidays Edition

[Corky-Lunn !CorkyloMxc No.10074315]

last thread: >>10044411

>Please read the FAQ before posting in the thread (always updating)
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1PpDyjw2LDxbupdvHMNsBUOBVB66Lzwf44RM1You1GDA/edit?usp=sharing
>Resources
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/10uNmynwRn6CRc-OMqCeXmJwCNnEnd-vYi-7AQzSx74I/edit?usp=sharing
>Artist Spreadsheet
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ESQ-1h4IRUivbGNaxJFxXyDU1lSv26xTmMdH0sDX7sU/edit?usp=sharing
>How to order from Vograce (now with video on how to set up files)
https://docs.google.com/document/d/18UxKnpgrmeb82NnW5e4YIEX-eZ3zHt178Mp6i0A5gME/edit?usp=sharing
>Convention List (always WIP)
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/13o7hD5xS3sDqVptnTVGUlRae3ovEE-vPPST_QOrQwtM/
>IP taketowns (based on artists contribution, may or may not have been a one time thing, use as a guideline)
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1696MDhNPhrZ0ySZhXkoJnGxb7l1OjW4JsVhu1wKvaWE
>AA Inspo (thanks anon!)
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1D19QV9nHwaY8AaNiEXZAAkEhkBTSsb01?usp=sharing

If anyone else has inspo photos they'd like possibly added to the above link, email the account [e-mail]

We have a discord!
If you want into the CGL AA discord, email [e-mail] with a picture of your table or merchandise. It is not a jury, just to make sure you do cons.

Happy New Year seagulls!

[Corky-Lunn !CorkyloMxc No.10074316]

Reminder for any gulls using Alibaba printing services from China - Chinese New Year is approaching on 5th February so its best to stay away from ordering from there if you need it asap.

[Anonymous No.10074435]

Saw that Tasty Peach studios was recently hiring so went to check them out and was really impressed by how much they've grown. Started looking around more to figure out when they started to evaluate my own business goals, but stumbled on their glass door employee reviews. Yikes. They reply to every single review and they even outed one of the anonymous bad reviews as their former employee who started their "Helping Paw" program. Is anyone else in the next stage of hiring/paying people for your small business? Do you think you'll get to this point?

[Anonymous No.10074477]

>>10074435
I really should be hiring someone to help me part time, maybe 20hr/week right now it would really help me grow so i could focus more on the art and not the fufillment/management of stores/customer service but damn i really don't want to lol. The thought of having to onboard someone is a nightmare.

I'll just stick to doing it myself and never getting any bigger...

[Anonymous No.10074486]

For someone most familiar with anime conventions who is looking to possibly start selling at furry conventions, what are some important things to know?

From what I've seen it looks like selling actual merch at furry cons requires a dealer's table rather than an AA table. Are there any other big differences or things to keep in mind about furry cons? Should I even bother with much merch or just prioritize commissions? Can you do both at the same table?

[Anonymous No.10074514]

>>10074435
jesus christ, what a fucking nightmare it must be to work here

[Anonymous No.10074581]

>>10074514
Went through all of there reviews and their responses are really immature but worded as if to sound professional. It's gross

[Anonymous No.10074585]

>>10074435
>Do you think you'll get to this point?

I'm more interested in creating and licensing IPs ala Pusheen/Claire Belton style instead of having a whole warehouse. I would like to hire people to work for me but that's a hell of a long way off.

[Anonymous No.10074656]

>>10074486
dealer tables at furry conventions are basically the same as artist alley tables at anime cons. Artist alley tables at furry cons are almost exclusively art commissions.
You'll just need to remember that you have to sell full on furry stuff there. "Neko" stuff that is basically "furry-lite" sells well at anime cons, but not too well at furry cons.
Oh, and be prepared for everyone to actually really care about you. Dealers get treated like royalty at furry cons.

[Anonymous No.10074658]

>>10074311
>does anyone know anything about sweetstickers?
I've used them and I like them. They're not a big operation so they're not super fast, and their prices are a little high, but they do low MOQ and the quality is nice. One thing to keep in mind is they print/cut on a roll, so kiss cut sticker sheets come out kind of stretched, particularly bigger sheets. They're better for die cut. I also agree it is frustrating they don't have a list of products and pricing anywhere, though.

[Anonymous No.10074693]

>>10074514
>addresses gaslighting within the company
>gaslights

everyone else doesn't think there's abuse going on, therefore nothing is going on or ever was, silly former employees~

[Anonymous No.10075266]

Do you guys get all of your art related profit from sales (cons, online store, commissions, etc), or do you also accept donations (patreon, kofi)? If you also take donations, how big a part are they in your profits? Are people who are more likely to donate different than people who are more likely to purchase merch or prints, or are they generally the same crowd? Is there anyone here who only works with donations and not sales? Rough estimates are fine, I'm just curious about the differences between AA/sales and donations, and how they work out for different people. I'd also really love to hear some general experiences with both if you don't care for profit chat.

[Anonymous No.10075292]

>>10074435
I'm glad I've had people to warn me about Tasty Peach. She made one of my friends cry at a con just because she didn't hand out enough flyers or something. awful awful awful owner.

I'm not big enough for full time employees but I occasionally have people help me with menial tasks and I happily pay them for it and treat them nicely :P

[Anonymous No.10075501]

I'm still new to taking commissions... A friend of 15 years wants to commission me a 36x24 realistic sketch of his friend on canvas, full body. I'm not even sure how much to charge as is, but then there's also the issue of "the friend discount".

He's not asking for a discount, but I feel like I should give him one since he's been like a brother to me all my life and often took care of me when I was sick.

[Anonymous No.10075536]

>>10075266
Patreon isn’t a donation service

[Anonymous No.10075748]

>>10075501
I charge all my friends when they ask commission from me. If they can't pay, I'm not doing it. I don't work for free.

[Anonymous No.10076108]

>>10075266
I don't think people make anything significant from ko-fi unless they have incentives ("donate x amount of ko-fis and I'll draw you a sketch!")

Ko-fi is really meant to be a tip jar for most people and seems to function as so. I have a following about 2k on my main social media and I rarely get ko-fis without advertising them, but it happens.

[Anonymous No.10076182]

>>10075266
I've been wondering why your question is bothering me so much and I think it's the insinuation that patreon and kofi don't actually require any work, since you consider them donations. I run a patreon and it's a lot of work, since people who pledge to it are pledging for particular rewards, even if it's just for previews of art or tutorials, etc. You have to keep up with a consistent schedule. It's definitely a different work style than selling physical merch, because you don't have to worry about delivering actual product, which comes with its own set of problems, but people are also much less likely to spend their money if they aren't getting a physical good in return, so you have to work much harder to convince them that you are worth pledging to. It's definitely good to run both and cover your bases, but it's also twice as much work if you don't make an effort to balance it well. This is going to be different with any given person, so I'm not sure what info you think you'll be able to collect here that's useful for you. If you're trying to decide whether to do a patreon or not, but consider it donation/extra or think it's a lot less work than physical merch sales, don't, because it requires actual work for it to be profitable.

[Anonymous No.10076189]

>>10075501
At the end of the day whether or not you want to give him a discount is up to you and your relationship with him sounds like a genuine and close one. He seems to respect you as an artist so I believe giving him a discount is fine.

[Anonymous No.10076229]

>>10075536
>>10076182
I'm sorry, I didn't mean to come off as implying that patreon etc. would be easy money for less work at all, I'm very aware that it requires a lot of time and thought to maintain and to make it worth. I wasn't exactly sure what word to use to differentiate those types of sites from regular sales at cons or online stores, but it seems that donations is not the one for it, apologies. My question was obviously worded badly, but it's exactly because patreon etc. offer content and rewards to supporters that I was interested in how it feels different from doing purely sales. Ko-fi too, since I've often heard the term "ko-fi commissions" used, and it made me curious why people would use it instead of taking regular commissions, for example.

[Anonymous No.10076234]

So gulls, I got into anime boston! But it's going to be my first convention - I was hoping to get into a couple small cons first just to try it out and gauge my merch, but it seems I'm just going straight to anime boston.

So, how much stuff should I bring to a con that size? My art isn't perfect, but it's certainly not bad at all. Would it be unreasonable to bring 20 - 25 or more of a couple prints I think will sell well, and maybe like 10 -15 of others?
And overall, how much do you think I should put towards producing merch? I was thinking about $500 worth of stuff. That would be 280 large prints, 150 medium prints, and 150 charms. Does that sound okay, or should I go higher or lower? Sorry, I'm unsure what numbers are reasonable. I know the conventional wisdom of "bring like 5 - 10 of each print" but I'm unsure if that applies to large cons..

[Anonymous No.10076236]

So gulls, I got into anime boston! But it's going to be my first convention - I was hoping to get into a couple small cons first just to try it out and gauge my merch, but it seems I'm just going straight to anime boston.

So, how much stuff should I bring to a con that size? My art isn't perfect, but it's certainly not bad at all. Would it be unreasonable to bring 20 - 25 or more of a couple prints I think will sell well, and maybe like 10 -15 of others?
And overall, how much do you think I should put towards producing merch? I was thinking about $500 worth of stuff. That would be 280 large prints, 150 medium prints, and 150 charms. Does that sound okay, or should I go higher or lower? Sorry, I'm unsure what numbers are reasonable. I know the conventional wisdom of "bring like 5 - 10 of each print" but I'm unsure if that applies to large cons..

[Anonymous No.10076284]

>>10076236
>how much stuff should I bring to a con
enough to where if you sold it all you'd be happy with your profit and if you were to not sell a single thing, you'd have lost a manageable amount.
>I'm unsure if that applies to large cons
larger cons =/= larger profits.

[Anonymous No.10076290]

>>10076236
Anon, you definitely want to go lower if this is your first con and you’ve literally never sold before. A bigger con doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll sell more if your skill isn’t up to par. If I were you, I would do like 5-8 of prints you don’t think will sell as well and 10-15 MAX of prints you think will sell.

[Anonymous No.10076811]

can't help but notice zap creatives is constantly in my email inbox with massive sales. are they losing their customer base to vograce and are in desperation mode?? i never see anyone with zap made charms these days desu

[Anonymous No.10076818]

>>10076236
go with lower quantities of prints and scope out a reliable and fast printer nearby that you can use to print extras if you need them. There may be a minuteman press in the area, or if you're really desperate I know there's a FedEx office within walking distance. Go ahead and figure out what file formats and procedures your chosen printer has, and set up all of that before the con. That way, if you sell out of something you can pull the trigger on reordering it immediately.

[Anonymous No.10077062]

Am I illiterate or is Sakuracon really telling us to mail them a check this year?

I haven't gotten in since they changed to lottery but I've never had a con actually require a mailed check before

[Anonymous No.10077121]

>MTAC waitlisted me for the 4th year in a row
I'm beginning to think they don't like me....

[Anonymous No.10077312]

Anyone know where to get the star/heart keychain attachments for vograce prices ($.25 each)?
The guy on AANI is kind of a rip off (20 for $10 and $9 shipping???) I've searched Alibaba/Aliexpress/Etsy and can only find them at around $.40 each (no shipping). Was thinking about maybe asking Coco if I'm allowed to buy extra next time I order from Vograce, but not sure if that's possible (has anyone done it before?)

[Anonymous No.10077328]

>>10077312
https://m.tb.cn/h.3IAtKQ9?sm=03fff3
hope this helps

[Anonymous No.10077329]

Someone is selling HOLOGRAPHIC 11x17s for $5 at ALA. Sell at whatever price point you want but damn I almost feel bad for them

[Anonymous No.10077342]

>>10077329
I always wonder if these people think its going to be like walmart and they're gonna make a killing by undercutting everyone. Or if their self esteem is just in the toilet.

[Anonymous No.10077420]

>>10077342
If they want to suffer and burn out fast, they can be my guest. Its that dumb Survivor mentality: Outwit, outlast, outplay. It doesn't work well in reality because its not a fake reality tv game show where you eventually run out of competitors. You don't run out of competitors in the real world, you run out of money.

[Anonymous No.10077988]

>>10077329
What is the usual price for this? 25?

[Anonymous No.10078051]

>>10077988
I usually see holographic prints sell at the same price as their regular counterparts. Maybe a few dollars more if the artist has both types available.

[Anonymous No.10078195]

>>10077988
I usually see a $5 difference higher. If they sell regular prints for $15, the holo tend to be $20.

[Anonymous No.10078228]

Hi, I went to my first big convention in Detroit called Youmacon and there was a huge artist alley and dealer alley in the same room. I was not really sure what the difference is. How do I know whether the artist I am buying from and supporting is actually doing their own art or if they are just buying and reselling from taobao or aliexpress?

[Anonymous No.10078246]

>>10078228
If you want to be absolutely sure, you can check out the lists online and make a personal map of artists you want to check out at the con. Otherwise it can be difficult to tell nowadays since more and more artists are blurring the lines between dealers and AA.

[Anonymous No.10078378]

>>10078228
Artists and dealers are still grouped into their own little sections (at least, at the cons I attend). Usually I can tell if they’re an artist if
> I see them open for commissions
> The artwork displayed is more or less consistent
> The display is linear (as opposed to being more squared/deep)
> Subject matter is more ‘specific’ (visible core fandom) vs broad (multiple fandoms of very different genres)
Though when in doubt, you can always just ask.

[Anonymous No.10078406]

>>10078228
Artist's Alley always looks physically different from dealer's. Dealers get open space in which to set up that's marked off by floor marks or pipe and drape, while AA is confined to the space on top of and around the perimeter of the tables.

[Anonymous No.10078417]

>>10078228
99% of the time it is incredibly obvious which is which. Artists typically sit behind their table and have fanart or original crafts (plushies, shirts, cosplay accessories) which dealers almost always have licensed merchandise like bags with offical art on them and figurines.
Artists sometimes get a dealers table, but they usually sell original artwork on clothing.
Basically, does it look like offical artwork from an anime? Dealer. If not, artist.

[Anonymous No.10078534]

I'm curious, what's the largest button you guys sell at con. I normally just sell 2-2.5" buttons. But just went to a con casually and wore a big ol 3.5" button. Is a button that size worth selling?

[Anonymous No.10079086]

>>10077062
They asked last year too. I still have no idea why.

>>10078534
I typically sell 1.5" but also started those heart/star buttons that are roughly the same size as the 2.25" rounds.
imo, I think anything bigger than that are specifically centerpieces for shrines and itabags, but most premade rosettes are already the 2.25" size.
I think it's way too clunky for the usual pinning on vest/regular bag/lanyard and the narrow practical usage of it means I personally wouldn't buy it unless the art was VERY nice.

[Anonymous No.10079103]

>>10077312
Yeah you can ask Coco for extra keychain attachments, you just have to be super clear about it. I got a bag of 100 basic lobster ones from her for .11 a pop when I was replacing the string versions I had previously on my charms which was infinitely better than what I could find on ebay and otherwise at the time.

[Anonymous No.10079519]

I feel like this has been asked before, but how do you all deal with package loss? Once an item is in the hands of the package service, we're no longer liable for it, yet customers still come to me asking for full refunds on lost or "delivered" packages that they didn't receive. The difficulty is that some of these customers are trustworthy and valuable, so I don't want to upset them by sticking tight to my policy, but ultimately I can't afford to replace or refund every order that turns up missing in a foreign postal system or was stolen from someone's porch. Do I just gotta be "mean" and put my foot down? Is there an alternative way I can explain to them since they don't seem to recognize that asking me for a refund is just asking me to take a hit for their sake with nothing benefitting me except the possibility of their future business? I guess it just comes down to, as nice as these people are, they still don't distinguish between me and amazon...

[Anonymous No.10079525]

Where do you guys go for your custom ribbons? I'm using Ribbons Galore but it's a bit outdated.

[Anonymous No.10079532]

Anyone have any ideas or suggestions on how to get into the furry art comm?

[Anonymous No.10079563]

>>10079519
I'd offer to resend the package the missing package. But I'd have the customer do the legwork to contact USPS, contact their neighbours, and make them wait extra time 1-2 weeks to double check if the package turns up. Your markup should be high enough that even if you have to resend again, you're not at a loss. Usually this resolves things for me, and results in very happy customers.

For full refunds, I'm a bit on the fence on this one... especially for international customers. I feel like even if I do a full refund for them as a gesture of good customer service. They might not try ordering again from me in the future, especially if there were issues with shipping to them overseas in the first place... what does everyone else think about this?

[Anonymous No.10079570]

>>10079519
I tell them to make sure they gave me the right address and if so contact their neighbor to see if they accidentally got it in their mailbox or porch (which as happened more than once). If they still don't find it, then oh well, sorry. Sometimes I'll offer them a discount for a replacement.
I've had a dozen or two people contact me about not getting their order and I believe only one or two ended up never locating it. Its usually just the package was placed somewhere unusual.

[Anonymous No.10079624]

>>10077329
Lmao you make it sound like this was their entire booth but it was literally only one print

Maybe it printed wrong or they have an excess of it and are trying to get rid of it, chill out

[Anonymous No.10079698]

>>10079519
I don't do refunds, it's cheaper to send a replacement. If the person's trying to scam me, I'd rather them just get two for the price of one, than get one for free. If the person admits that they used the wrong address or something, I'll also make them pay for the shipping cost. If it got mysteriously lost in the mail, I pay the shipping since I'd rather take the loss than risk getting a bad review.

[Anonymous No.10079743]

>>10079532
draw fanart for 'popufurs'

[Anonymous No.10079811]

How did ALA go for everyone? Better than last year, I hope?

[Anonymous No.10079878]

>>10077328
Thank you so much! Time to learn how to use taobao haha
>>10079103
Oooh thanks for letting me know! I'll add some to my next order :O

[Anonymous No.10080027]

I get mine from rakuten but vograce you could always ask them about buying some off them, never hurts to try but I can't say that I have asked to do that.

[Anonymous No.10080054]

>>10079811
I did worse compared to last year's. And compared to other shows where tables are $150-300, this was my worst. I think most likely due to my art and display, I was trying something different. The aisles were also narrow so during peak hours when there were too many bodies, people kept moving without really looking. But even during slow times, the majority skipped my table. I assume my table was un-appealing.

[Anonymous No.10080061]

>>10079811
Actually down by a few hundred compared to last year but still in the $2k range for pure profit. I'm attributing it to the location change of AA and me personally not having as much stock as last year.

[Anonymous No.10080065]

>>10079811
I thought I did worse but after counting my money, I'm up by almost $500. It felt slower overall though - that Thursday definitely didn't need to exist.

[Anonymous No.10080073]

What was up with those two tables near the entrance of ALA that were across from each other but were selling the same stuff? I think it was just stickers too. I didn't know we could buy two tables.

[Anonymous No.10080080]

>>10074315
Just wanted to say: Thank you Corky for always making these threads. As salty as they can be sometimes, these threads have been a gem in terms of ressources.

[Anonymous No.10080123]

>>10080073
They're actually two separate artists. They are rl friends and shared similar ideas and designs. They even used to share tables.

[Anonymous No.10080126]

>>10080080
Amen
Thanks to these threads that gave me a good jumping off point in research I actually did the thing I wanted to try for years.

Broke 1k gross for the first time hurray. Time to aim for 1k profits

[Corky-Lunn !CorkyloMxc No.10080161]

>>10080080
>As salty as they can be sometimes, these threads have been a gem in terms of resources

You're very welcome anon! I enjoy reading these threads all the time and I tend to find it way more useful than the AANI FB group.

>>10080126
>Broke 1k gross for the first time hurray. Time to aim for 1k profits

congrats anon! Always aim higher, and I wish you the best of luck in 2019!

[Anonymous No.10080201]

what does everyone prefer to put in grab/ lucky bags? older merch that hasn’t moved, new shit, or a mix of both?

[Anonymous No.10080285]

>>10080201
Adding on to this, thoughts on mixing old but non-defective merch with grade B merch in grab bags?

[Corky-Lunn !CorkyloMxc No.10080295]

>>10080201
>what does everyone prefer to put in grab/ lucky bags? older merch that hasn’t moved, new shit, or a mix of both?

I put old merch that isn't selling as well as it did in previous years. People usually seem pretty happy buying lots of mystery items for cheap.

>>10080285
>thoughts on mixing old but non-defective merch with grade B merch in grab bags?
as long as you make it clear that some items will be B grade (maybe have an example of a B grade item to show customers) as well as A grade, people should be fine with it.

[Anonymous No.10080340]

How much do magnets usually go for?

[Anonymous No.10080388]

>>10080340
i usually see them for around 4-10 dollars but I think it really depends on the size and quality

[Anonymous No.10080485]

Does anybody have a good storage solution for carting prints around? I’ve just been using my boxes they arrive in but they break down after a con or two and I’m constantly needing to tape them up. TSA always opens it up too which leaves it more damaged than it needs to be. A more permanent solution would be wonderful.

[Anonymous No.10080500]

>>10080485
I use one of those hard sided laptop/document rolling cases but I've only used it as a carry-on so ymmv

[Anonymous No.10080568]

Momocon acceptances are going out!

[Anonymous No.10080616]

>>10080568
I got in!!
It was in my spam folder! So if anyone else is reading this, check your spam folder!
Now I have to figure out parking and hotel. Any advice on this? Momo is the most expensive con I attend and it isn't my most profitable, so I'd like to save a little money if I can.
Last year I just got a hotel near the con and walked every day to the con and parked my car far away somewhere cheap.

[Anonymous No.10080650]

>>10080616
Last year I used this site to reserve my parking: https://gwcc.clickandpark.com/

MomoCon doesn't show as an event yet so wait about a month or so and it should show up. I paid $60 for 4 days in the Georgia World Congress Center (GWCC) red deck.

Hope this helps, and good luck!

[Anonymous No.10080831]

Any tips for maintaining/growing a fanbase while having to keep most Extra Effort pieces under wraps for zine stuff? I’m aiming to make an original zine this year, and am not too worried about profits as long as I can break even (it’s more of a personal thing), but would still like to keep my social media going.
I’m a full time student, as well, so I’d appreciate any on keeping engagement up without running myself ragged! For example, are sketches and roughs posted more often better, or a few bigger pieces less often better in the long run?

[Anonymous No.10081108]

>>10080616
The MARTA is pretty good too take too Momo and has free daily parking, and some lots have $5/Dy parking

[Anonymous No.10081142]

>>10080831
My experience has been more frequent is always better, no matter the quality. Plus people love to see the artists process. Post wips and snippets as you go. It'll also build hype for the project.

[Anonymous No.10081184]

2018 AA survey data is out https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1WDtPkMhZ3ZKNinGzMoRvuZW6TWbfmWm-4x4YH7u6azk/edit#gid=346288018

[Anonymous No.10081334]

>>10081108
thank you! I didn't know about that.

[Anonymous No.10081590]

Has anyone done cosignment with Toranoana before? How was it?

[Anonymous No.10081646]

>>10081184
Oh shit at someone only making $150 at Anime Boston... I wonder why. It scares me since that will only be my third con this year, and that I lack con in my art haha

[Anonymous No.10081650]

So stickermule only offers their promotions 1 per person now? Any way to get around that?

[Anonymous No.10081665]

>>10081646
I laughed at the person who made $46 at AX and described it as "same as last year".

(I'm sure it's a typo though, or else that would be really sad.)

[Anonymous No.10081701]

How do you guys ship your products? Is there any cheap way to ship them plus supply like bubble wrap?

[Anonymous No.10081805]

>>10081665
Are these people mistaking gross revenue for profit maybe?

[Anonymous No.10081812]

Thanks for the IP Takedowns list based seagulls

[Anonymous No.10081819]

>>10081650
You mean besides creating new accounts?

Seriously though seeing how glitchy their website is, I THINK it is possible to use the same promo multiple times per account. I have an idea of how-to but never got around to testing it since i don't make enough stickers that requires cheating the system like that.

[Anonymous No.10081857]

>>10081701
I buy padded mailers in bulk for wholesale prices and then print labels directly through paypal. I don't make enough steady income to bother with things like shipstation or whatever, so even if paypal sucks, it's the only payment processing I currently know of that you can print mailing labels directly from it.

[Anonymous No.10081953]

>>10081701
I get most of my supplies on amazon.

[Anonymous No.10081988]

>>10081701
i get my bubble wrap on papermart, mailers and sticky labels on amazon, and get labels with paypal or etsy

[Anonymous No.10082035]

Career AA-ers/AAers who's art makes up a good portion of your income, how are you guys trying to supplement the money now that there's a decrease in conventions that people are actually able to get into? I've done an upwards of 9 cons in a year before but now I'm dwindled down to 3 because of increased competition for tables.

[Anonymous No.10082090]

>>10082035
focus more online. cons and etsy use to be 50/50 for me, but then I started making social media accounts/posts and just generally way more focus online, so now I make twice as much online compared to cons.

[Anonymous No.10082103]

>>10082035
You too, huh? I'm only getting into half the stuff I apply for this year, when it was closer to 80% last year.

I am also focusing on online orders, and it's working just fine. It's a bummer though, because I really like all the travel involved with the con circuit.

[Anonymous No.10082117]

>>10082035
>cries thinking of being able to make a living doing only 9 cons

how do /you/ do it anon? I did 22 cons last year and 30 the year before

[Anonymous No.10082144]

Lmao at all these cheap artists heavily abusing stickermule's coupons and spreading word about it. I wonder if stickermule are aware of these orders or don't care.

[Anonymous No.10082148]

>>10082117
If you don't mind me asking, how much do you make in an average year from all those cons, just pure profit-wise?

[Anonymous No.10082161]

>>10082144
no shit, people will take advantage of loopholes to save money

[Anonymous No.10082174]

>>10082117
>I did 22 cons last year and 30 the year before
wut. how?
I can't imagine most of them being very profitable. Unless you are a dealer and leasing your art/merch for other people to sell.

[Anonymous No.10082195]

>>10082148
two years ago I did 12k ish in pure profits (I was only full time artist part of the year) and 2018 I did 20k (full time)

My sales per con were good (though not amazing). The main issue is I'm not a print artist and my total comprehensive expenses for last year were ~50k (comprehensive meaning this includes literally everything, food at cons etc)

A tooonnn of the vendors I know who do full time do 24 - 50 cons a year to make it work >:

[Anonymous No.10082210]

>>10082148
>>10082103
I'm actually in the "AAers who's art make up a good portion of your income" category. I don't live off of AA per se (still live with parents) but it was a majority of my income.

[Anonymous No.10082211]

>>10082035
I usually do 8-10 cons a year but I'm still holding strong with about 4 confirmed and hoping for about 6. I make a lot more on etsy now so i don't feel pressured to take on more cons. Ideally I would only do about 4 of the highest earners and stay home the rest of the year if i could.

When i first started i would do 2-3 cons in a row and now i would rather die. Just doing two in a row makes me want to kill myself, it's just not worth it when one con can net 10k+ there's no reason to kill myself anymore.

[Anonymous No.10082212]

>>10082117
I'm actually in the "AAers who's art make up a good portion of your income" category. I don't live off of AA per se (still live with parents) but it was a majority of my income.

[Anonymous No.10082215]

>>10082035
Surprisngly, I don't really have this problem? I did 19 cons in 2017 and 21 cons in 2018. This year I have 10 confirmed cons so far and I'm hoping to hit about 15 ~17 or so by the end of the year. Trying to cut down a little on cons because I have a personal project so I purposefully skipped out on applying to a couple.

If a con lets artists in the exhibitor's hall, that might be a way you can still table at cons that you can't get into.

[Anonymous No.10082216]

>>10082195
>total comprehensive expenses for last year were ~50k (comprehensive meaning this includes literally everything, food at cons etc)
So that means you are spending $50k just to make 20k profit? Thats kinda bad anon.
I went to 6 cons last year and sold on etsy. total costs for materials, hotel, everything else was $8k. total revenue was $28k. so I also made $20k last year profit. I'm not a print artist either.

[Anonymous No.10082251]

>>10081590
imagine working hard and barely making money

japan clout tho amirite

[Anonymous No.10082253]

so whos gonna share the stickermule coupon list

[Anonymous No.10082298]

>>10082216
I didn't claim it was good, just I know a lot of people in this situation too. I had thought I was doing better over the year but I was going over stuff for taxes and nope >_<

I do have a ton of inventory left still, i think a lot of my problems come from overstocking, but it's difficult to predict what I need to stock.

[Anonymous No.10082419]

>>10082144
last April when people were reusing the same coupon and stacking orders, took about 2 months for stickermule to put a stop to that with a new policy "1 coupon per account."

I'm sure soon they'll make it "1 coupon per address" or no more combining coupons.

[Anonymous No.10082426]

>>10082195
Oof i was actually thinking you made more. I do less than 10 to 15 cons a year and make about $40k in profit. I hope things improve for you. That's a lot of work for... not much return.

[Anonymous No.10082431]

>>10082426
Thanks, I'm still fairly new so I'm not too let down by it, but this year will be a lot of fine tuning to try and get these costs down.

[Anonymous No.10082614]

>>10081701
>https://m.tb.cn/h.3IAtKQ9?sm=03fff3
I buy padded envelopes in bulk from The Boxery. They're not fun colors or anything, but they do the job and are cheap. I also buy my tape in packs, usually on Amazon. Shipping-wise, I just print labels out via Paypal using normal paper.

[Anonymous No.10082940]

Is anyone interested in just general AA/online store tutorials? I was thinking of making some from my own experiences. Or would it be looked down upon as too much spoonfeeding?

[Corky-Lunn !CorkyloMxc No.10082942]

>>10082940
I don't think anyone will complain about info like that. I can add it to the list of our OP links as well.

[Anonymous No.10083160]

If customers are buying with Euros or Pounds from my etsy, but shipping to the US does that usually mean that they're getting it proxy shipped or shipped to a relative since I don't offer international shipping?

[Anonymous No.10083167]

>>10083160
seems like a stupid thing to even worry about, you getting paid right?

[Anonymous No.10083179]

>>10083160
>since I don't offer international shipping
??? why would you not offer international shipping?

[Anonymous No.10083211]

>>10083179
Not op but, I used to and after stuff being undeliverable, losing 30$ on shipping fees... and stuff being broken in transit and unable to ship a replacement with out another 22$ in fees it's just not mathematically worth it. I'll ship to neighboring countries that don't have stuff stolen consistently in their mail system, and that's about it.

[Anonymous No.10083225]

>>10083211
why not mention you aren't responsible for any damaged products in your policies? I've never had any issues with the 40+ things i've shipped internationally and having worked in a shipping warehouse for a year.... i'll be honest, 99% of things that get damaged are due to the shipper badly packaging the item.

[Anonymous No.10083235]

>>10083167
I'm just curious because I'm thinking about whether I should be looking into opening international shipping and how to ship internationally. I'm a small, beginning store so after seeing posts from others like >>10083211
I decided not to offer international shipping atm.
>>10083179
Like >>10083211 said, I'm afraid of that happening to me esp since I'm just starting out (I've only been selling online for about two months). I also don't have much experience shipping items yet. But I guess I'll consider shipping internationally.

Any tips on countries to avoid shipping to and how to package things so they'll reach their destination safely?

[Anonymous No.10083250]

>>10083235
shipping internationally is no different at all than shipping locally other than larger/heavy packages need an page of documents printed out and put on the outside of the box. Also longer ship times, of course.

[Anonymous No.10083273]

>>10083235
a couple of threads back (unfortunately it's been deleted) someone listed the countries they avoid. I remember it mostly consist of countries in south america. Some countries don't scan the tracking, and so customers can claim packages as lost or never received.

[Anonymous No.10083338]

>>10083225
That doesn't stop packages that are undeliverable from eating the original cost. If I spend 30$ to ship it and then I have to cancel the order from being undeliverable, I'm still out 30$ as when you cancel everything is refunded. Unless it has changed. I leave a notice on my shop, if your country isn't listed please pm me to has your country added. I did it twice for peeps. It's just super hard to handle damages. It left the transaction kinda bitter, I can toss the item in for free but you gotta pay 22$ for shipping again. I can just give all my stuff to you anon to ship, we spit 50/50.

[Anonymous No.10083346]

>>10083273
MEXICO. The one country I hate shipping to. Fortunately I only get an order from there once in a blue moon.

[Anonymous No.10083374]

>>10083338
>and then I have to cancel the order from being undeliverable, I'm still out 30$ as when you cancel everything is refunded.
then don't cancel the order and just refund the item cost. I've had many packages not make it to their destination and get returned to me. I never refund shipping unless it was explicitly my fault.

[Anonymous No.10083383]

>>10083273
If that anon could repost that, I'd greatly appreciate it. I'm just starting out and probably need to narrow down the countries I ship to from the US.

[Anonymous No.10083449]

Not an AAer but I'm getting 3 copies of a charm made through vograce for myself, does coco quoting $3.85 per charm (2.5 inches, double printing/double acrylic) sound about normal?

[Anonymous No.10083450]

>>10083449
Well, you are only getting 3 charms.

Vograce prices have gone up in general lately though. This is why I'm treating all my sources as confidential information from now on, screw the dissenters.

[Anonymous No.10083493]

>>10083450
Urgh, yeah. And people still try to guilt trip you with "it's for the greater art community~~~why won't you share!!! so selfish!!!!"

Vograce spread like wildfire, though. I had a few customers actually ask me directly, "so is this from Vograce?" (at least they did their research I guess)

[Anonymous No.10083503]

>>10075501
Maybe just have him eat you out as payment? Win win

[Anonymous No.10083655]

>>10083449
Like the other anons said, it's because of your low MOQ. Maybe jump into a group order and see if that lowers your cost any?

[Anonymous No.10083722]

Does anyone know how to figure out the size for the designs on these types of keychains? all "insert picture" keychains I mean, not just this specific one.

Would just tracing the space and then scanning it work? I have a really great idea for using this but I can't figure out how I'd size the artwork properly to fit in it.

[Anonymous No.10083755]

>>10082940
I'm interested!

[Anonymous No.10083915]

>>10083722
Do you have the actual keychain on you? The keychain is transparent so I would just literally put the keychain into a scanner and scan. By doing that you get the exact measurement and template.

[Anonymous No.10083930]

I feel like a legitimate idiot for asking this but how does everyone attach their buttons to corkboards? Every time I try I feel like I’m maiming the pinback to get it to stick in there.

[Anonymous No.10083975]

>>10083930
I just shove it in there. No need to shove it hard enough to maim the pinback though.

[Anonymous No.10084007]

Anime Next AA applications are up: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd690P477D6OrlFqjYM5_FYkXoUSqLnRpjqOOTO1II38zwSxQ/viewform

Costs $175 & includes a badge this year

[Anonymous No.10084020]

>>10084007
>10ft x 10ft booth

Eh?

[Anonymous No.10084148]

I've been doing AAs for about 6 years now. Winter time is usually my break but now its gearing up to be con season again. I already have a few booked but I'm really just... dreading going. Anyone else lose their motivation for cons? Anything I can do to reinvigorate myself? Besides thinking of the money lol

[Anonymous No.10084160]

>>10084148
Hmm sounds like you need a break after this. But maybe hanging out with friends or making plans with other con friends for those conventions would be help? Anything in particular that you're dreading? Interacting with customers, setting up, drawing more stock, etc?

[Anonymous No.10084198]

>>10079525
Mayarts ribbons/May Arts Ribbons? My workplace orders their ribbons in bulk but I don't know how customized you're looking for...

[Anonymous No.10084474]

Has anyone ever signed up for the Chicagozinefest? Do they give you email confirmation of your placement upon payment?

[Anonymous No.10084938]

How was Anime Impulse for everyone? I feel like separating us from the exhibitors this year kind of hurt sales overall, but I may be an outlier since my spot was kinda shit.

[Anonymous No.10084987]

>>10084160
Thanks ! Maybe that will help. My friend and i were making plans to cosplay together for the first time. So I'll try to focus on that

I'm just really dreading the travel with the heavy luggage + setting up. I'm trying to change my setup this year to get rid of the metal cubes that always make my stuff weigh a ton

[Anonymous No.10085319]

Any word on A-kon? Last I heard they changed dates. We've been trying to find more info, but we are coming up with nothing. Anyone got an insider scoop?

[Anonymous No.10085434]

For those of you that do enamel pins - how many do you stock for a year for each design? Popular vs less popular designs?
I'm starting pins this year and I'd ideally like to just cover the one year (attending 10-12 cons). I've gotten good feedback online about the designs i'm proposing but I'm well aware that that doesn't always translate into sales.

[Anonymous No.10085440]

>>10085434
Depends on the designs I suppose. Do you mainly do original/popular themes/or fanart?

Most of the pins I make are original and Id say 100pcs is good enough. Ive done some fan pins but their for really niche series. Those ones have sometimes been "hits" for me, and then I'd recommend 200-300pcs for those more popular designs.

If you are doing fanart of a popular series I'm not sure how those sell, you'd maybe want more if they're popular and/or you're attending big cons

[Anonymous No.10086539]

>>10085319
apparently they're changing venues too, i thought they were locked in at that stupid forth worth location but i guess they're renegotiating their contract

[Anonymous No.10086626]

Artist Alley Convention List mod here - I didn't realize I set it to view only, you should be able to edit it now.

Also, any feedback? Want to add another con to the list but don't know how, request one now! (must be at least 3k attendance)

[Anonymous No.10086717]

>>10085440
original but I am mostly 'known' for my original stuff (as opposed to getting popular off fanart - no offense to those who do, but it's not like i'm taking a gamble with my audience being interested in what I produce original-wise)

Thanks for your advice!

[Anonymous No.10087503]

If I were to make enamel pins at home with my own machine and "paint" them by hand should I advertise that they are not factory-made? Or does that not matter? Also, should I avoid nickel?

[Anonymous No.10087506]

>>10087503
IMO yes you should advertise they are personally made by you. I have no idea how you plan to to do it but it will be more time intensive than getting them outsourced so you should be charging more. it's the same as premium domed shrinky dink brooches costing more than pass produced acrylic and enamel pin brooches, we know the artist made it themselves.

[Anonymous No.10087705]

>>10087503
Where do you live? Enamel pins get outsourced to China most of the time because the factories in first world countries won’t/can’t deal with the chemicals from its production.

[Anonymous No.10087713]

I didn't see this in the FAQ, I'm debating on applying for a table but the con hasn't opened up applications for it yet but was wondering what do they ask of your when you apply for a table? Do they ask for picture of your work as a way to quality check?

[Anonymous No.10087722]

>>10087506
Thank you. That makes sense.
>>10087705
Right, plating. Thank you for reminding me. I am interested in building a machine that can engrave stuff and I guess I got carried away. I will do more research but it looks like I will have to think of something else.

[Anonymous No.10087805]

Otakon wave 1 came out and so have waitlist emails. Anyone know if rejected artists are auto-added to the waitlist or if you have to opt in like Fanime?

[Anonymous No.10087806]

>>10087713
It varies wildly on the con. You could perhaps get a more specific answer if you actually name the con you're applying to.

[Anonymous No.10087881]

what do you do if you want to make merch of a character but don't have access to a full body shot of their outfit yet? do you make up the rest? (do customers mind?)

[Anonymous No.10087912]

>>10087881
hide the outfit, like a head and shoulders sticking out of an onsen

[Anonymous No.10088001]

>>10087881
Is this KH3 related by any chance?

[Anonymous No.10088147]

>>10087912
hmm, like an outfit change? thanks

>>10088001
actually steven universe

[Anonymous No.10088612]

>order 100 charms from zaps
>usually get a tracking notification from DHL a few minutes after I get the shipped email, but this time I hear nothing
>two days go by I email them “hey I haven’t gotten a shipping notification for my order yet, what’s going on?”
>they quickly respond “hi, only orders that are valued at £200 get upgraded to courier shipping for free, you can track orders valued under £200 unless you pay for it blah blah, I also see that your last order was upgraded by mistake to courier we’ll make sure that doesn’t happen again”
>both orders in question were valued at £240
>what the hell are they talking about
>send them a screenshot of all my orders telling them I was confused since mine are clearly worth more than the £200 specified
>haven’t heard a response back from them yet
Is there literally anything Zaps won’t fuck up?
I’ve been using them for almost a year and nothing has changed, they’re always fucking up literally the dumbest and smallest shit possible.
My order that was shipped incorrectly may also take 6 weeks to arrive now, fucking thanks you useless company.

[Anonymous No.10088662]

>>10088147
if it’s one of the ‘new’ gems, go back and comb through the battlefield silhouette scenes for a gem that resembles them. characters often show up before they’re formally introduced

[Anonymous No.10089791]

I really hate it when customers ask to break a bill without buying anything.

This happens at every gaming con I’ve done. Within the first 10 minutes of opening, people ask me to break bills so that they can go make bets or enter tournaments. If they ask me later in the day when I have more change, then sure whatever.

Is it just me?


Also at a recent anime con, this person wanted to buy a $3 sticker and asked to break a 100 bill. While counting up to 97, she suddenly didn’t want the sticker anymore but still wanted to break the 100. It was super awkward at that point cause I already had the money out.

[Anonymous No.10089811]

>>10089791
I'd be really worried about the bill being fake

[Anonymous No.10089816]

>>10089791
Yikes the sticker thing is rude af. And I'm pretty sure they did that on purpose too so you couldn't say no without it being awkward. The other one, just say oh I'm sorry it's too early in the day for me! I get it some times, sometimes i have extra 20's from the last con and break it sometimes I don't. Everyone who does this early in the day understands it's not guaranteed.

>>10089811
Unlikely if you know how to check for it, people are just lazy assholes that didn't go to the bank the day before.

[Anonymous No.10089818]

>>10089791
There's always like 4-5 people per con I swear. "sorry I can't just break bills" seems to work for near everyone I deal with, and generally I don't accept large bills.
Really its amazing to me that people cant just hit up a bank before the con though, literally every con I've been to has had at least one bank you can walk to in less than 10 minutes.

[Anonymous No.10089824]

Hi, I just opened up an online store on Tictail but I'm kinda worried about the shipping price deterring people from buying my merchs. I'm currently selling small charms and stickers but sadly the shipping price plus tracking for international countries are quire expensive. Should I lower my merch prices to attract buyers?

Also, for experienced/seasoned online sellers, how long did it take for your online store to gain customers/traction? Is it okay if i spam my online store on my social media every week to gain customers? Or would that put people off?

[Anonymous No.10089829]

>>10089791
meh, just tell them no. I can only think of one time that an attendee asked for change without buying anything. Its normally an artist needing extra ones or something.

>>10089824
>Should I lower my merch prices to attract buyers?

You could set international shipping at a fix, low price to get international people to buy.

>how long did it take for your online store to gain customers/traction?

It took me a few months to get a reliable amount of sales. My stuff was kinda bad at first though.

>Is it okay if i spam my online store on my social media every week to gain customers?

I'd focus more on improving the shop and adding more items at first. you want people's first impressions to be good. You don't want to spam the shop link and for people to just find a few low quality items and then never consider clicking your shop link again.

[Anonymous No.10089832]

>>10089811
It's because ATMs like to spit out big bills. You should be more concerned about fake 5s or 10s, which are easier to replicate and less likely to be checked.

[Anonymous No.10089839]

>>10089824
Bro Tictail is shutting down in April and merging with Shopify iirc. Before pushing any hard advertising you might want to go with a different storefront/host.
If you have a good following then places like Tictail, Storenvy, and Big Cartel would be good if you can self-drive your traffic. If not then maybe try using Etsy for a bit. It really helps you gain customers especially if you're a beginner. And it helps calculate shipping costs.

[Anonymous No.10089847]

>>10089829

So does 5USD-8USD fixed shipping rate to international countries sounds reasonable? (For small items less than 500g?)

Alright! I'll improve on my shop front and put up more products first before going wild with the spamming.

Thanks for the advice!

[Anonymous No.10089848]

>>10088612
Honestly just stop using them, they have the capability of speaking perfect English and still fuck up

Chinese conpanies with broken English have better business sense

[Anonymous No.10089849]

>>10089839

Wait what? Ah man! This is what I get for not doing more research on online stores! So are they gonna start charging store owners now when Tictail merges with Shopify? I actually wanted to avoid Etsy since I have to pay monthly to put up a product.

Is Storeenvy an okay online shop? Or do I still need to pay certain fees like Etsy? If so, maybe I should just bite the bullet and open an Etsy store in the end.

I guess everyone on Tictail is planning to jump ship in April?

[Anonymous No.10089917]

Domestic US sellers: how do ya'll feel about the new USPS zoning rates. I understand shipping stuff further should cost more but I don't know if it's automatically applied with all storefronts

[Anonymous No.10090132]

>>10089917
Stupid as fuck. Every year they increase the rates but somehow the service gets worse.

But whatever, we have to suck it up every year. In any case, I do flat rate shipping anyway.

[Anonymous No.10090178]

>>10089917
I'm so far past being mad about it. It's all fake. It's not the actual cost to ship it, they're increasing because they're losing money elsewhere (coughAmazoncough) and so they build in more and more profit in the customer costs, while also cutting staff everywhere they can. In 2012, I used to be able to send a flat rigid mailer overseas for $10, there were 6-8 desk workers at my post office at all times, and my mail actually got delivered every day. Now it's $30 to send the same envelope, I'm lucky if there's TWO people working at the office at any given time, and my mail is delivered every other day because they don't wanna pay people to actually come out every day. USPS is garbage bullshit.

[Anonymous No.10090181]

>>10090178
cont: The fucked up thing is that this is actually a genuine crisis, but the only people who are really picking up on it is small businesses, because most people don't mail anything bigger than a letter frequently enough to realize how much the costs are going up, and larger businesses get rate cuts so they're not feeling the increase. Our postal system is fucked but no one really cares enough to protest about it except small businesses, and no one gives a fuck about us. If all those angry customers upset about how expensive things are to ship and demanding "free shipping like amazon' would turn it on the postal system instead of independent sellers, maybe something would get done about it.

Sorry, tl;dr, I'm really mad about it.

[Anonymous No.10090234]

>>10090178
>>10090181
Mother works at post office, can confirm it's shit. Thanks to unions they won't fire people that do a shit job as well.

[Anonymous No.10090235]

>>10090181
It's a huge pain. I get a lot of angry messages from Europeans about my shipping prices because they're convinced I'm scamming them, even though I charge a couple dollars less than I pay.

On the bright side, I think Amazon is getting tired of USPS too. My recent purchases have had a prime tracking number that doesn't touch usps/fedex/ups and they were delivered by Amazon employees

[Anonymous No.10090296]

>>10090178
>>10090235
meh, being able to ship anything across the world in just around a week or so is still an incredible accomplishment.
It would be nice if it were cheaper, but I think you underestimate how big of a modern achievement the current status is.

[Anonymous No.10090304]

Has anyone started receiving Colossalcon acceptances yet? I checked their website and they stated they would start going out on the 25th, but I haven't heard much.

[Anonymous No.10090390]

>>10090304
I haven't gotten anything yet but the Colossalcon cruise is happening right now. Its probably distracting the staffers involved.

[Anonymous No.10090480]

>>10090235
I guess it's just my area, but my Amazon purchases are pretty much only ever delivered by Amazon employees now. Probably cause USPS can't handle that <=2-day delivery, and bc Amazon certainly has the money to pay other people to do it faster. Idk. But I've heard Amazon is one of the big things keeping USPS afloat so hmm...

Also yeah, the intl shipping is pretty crazy, I feel guilty charging so much to ship a keychain the size of my thumb. As long as they're willing to pay, I guess...

>>10090296
It's definitely an accomplishment but I think we're all irked because the prices have just gone up consistently. Then again it's probably attributed to an increase in the volume of shipped items (bc ecommerce) and shrinking of USPS.

[Anonymous No.10090519]

>>10090296
Buddy we could all ship anywhere in the world a decade ago for a quarter of the cost, WITH international tracking. I'm not gonna praise them for slightly less service for multiple times the cost.

[Anonymous No.10090527]

>>10090519
try shipping it via ups or dhl then lol like we could do a lot of stuff cheaper a decade ago. but it's fine, if we keep screwing USPS their rates will just get higher and higher until we're forced to pay UPS/DHL/Fedex rates :)

[Anonymous No.10090530]

>>10089849
>I have to pay monthly to put up a product.
What? No? There’s a fee for listing that expires, but you don’t have to repay it every month or anything. If you want to try Etsy out, I can give you my referrel code and we’ll both get some free listings.

[Anonymous No.10090553]

Can I use premade logo vectors to make parody designs, etc to sell on stuff like redbubble? Like this one for example. https://seeklogo.com/vector-logo/98159/neon-genesis-evangelion

[Anonymous No.10090561]

>>10090527
Whu?? Why are you sucking USPS dick on 4chan? I'll never understand people who love to come to the defense of big companies and organizations. UPS/Fedex still charges more so we'll all keep using USPS because we have no choice, it's not like anyone other than amazon's "screwing" them in any way, it's not our fucking fault the rates keep rising.

[Anonymous No.10090576]

>>10090519
Well, inflation played into about 10% of that. The other thing usps transitioning from a letter deliver service to a package delivery service so their pricing structure has to go through some changes.
Like others have said, ups and fedex charge more for smaller/lighter items, so its still a reasonable price. Their previous pricing wasn't sustainable.

[Anonymous No.10090591]

>>10090561
You sound exhausting to be friends with lol

[Anonymous No.10090601]

>>10090591
you pick your friends based on their mail opinions?

[Anonymous No.10090602]

>>10090390
Aw man.. I thought as much. Thanks!

[Anonymous No.10090605]

>>10090591
Because I don't want to defend an organization that's fucking small businesses and is a constant thorn in my ass everytime I promote my sales and get messages yelling at me that my international shipping cost is too high? Geez sorry.

>>10090576
Still don't understand what you get out of defending them. People ship out of Canada for half of what we pay but whatever.

[Anonymous No.10090608]

>>10090605
>defending them.
i'm not defending them, i'm just explaining why they operate the way they do.

>People ship out of Canada for half of what we pay but whatever.

absolutely not. I just looked into this recently actually. international shipping in canada is roughly the same as the US, EXCEPT, their cheap shipping provides no tracking. You can't cheaply ship out stuff like shirts from canada with tracking unless you want to pay $60+

[Anonymous No.10090610]

>>10090605
It costs way more to ship things via Canada Post than USPS. What are you even on about?

[Anonymous No.10090615]

>>10090608
>>10090610
There’s a service in Canada which basically ships things as USPS in order to save people some money. Honestly, I’m almost embarrassed with my shipping rates sometimes because my intraprovincial shipping price is more expensive than the price of shipping to Alaska (once it’s passes the border, USPS takes over for a fraction of the costs apparently).

[Anonymous No.10090633]

>>10090605
I feel like your art is just ass if can't sell things because of shipping. I frequently have people buy internationally without complaint. The few that do I tell them to fuck off, because it's literally the cheapest option compared to privatized companies. If a majority of people are "yelling at you" then maybe your customer base is just full of idiots idk.

Like no one likes to pay shipping, but acting like USPS is out to purposefully "fuck" you is so stupid, like yea USPS loves to lose business. But yea, that's why you sound exhausting to be friends with. If I had to listen to someone whine about USPS all day instead of the customers who are the real idiots I'd just have to start tuning you out.

[Anonymous No.10090662]

>>10090608
>>10090610
>>10090615
>>10090633
Guess I'm glad to give you all someone to pile onto.

Still don't get whiteknighting the USPS but do what you have to I guess. Canada Post ships my main parcel type at half the cost. Maybe it's different for larger packages, I shouldn't have generalized.

And sure, I'm constantly going off about the USPS in my real life and not just in this one thread because someone brought it up as a point of frustration and I responded to that. I guess my art is shit and my customers in particular are shit and international pricing being way too high is entirely my fault. Sorry everyone.

I cannot believe.

[Anonymous No.10090688]

I know it's called artsits alley and y'all are artist. But I got 0 art skills how or where do I go to hire artist to draw merch for me?

[Anonymous No.10090705]

>>10090633
NAYRT and not even in a country that uses USPS so I have no opinion on the matter, but you sound even more annoying than anon to "be friends with". What the fuck is that even about? Who fucking cares who you'd be friends with? Also complaining about postal services is still quite an universal and understandable problem (where I live is no exception), and in this case also even relevant to the thread. You being a whiny pissbaby because someone has complaints to make and thinking someone gives a fuck about how you feel anons would be as friends is however, very much off topic. Now fuck off.

[Anonymous No.10090720]

>>10090688
If you join any artist group, you could scout for people who would be interested. I can't see it being profitable unless you are moving very high amounts of stock though.

[Anonymous No.10090772]

>>10090720
You thinking to short term, gotta play it in the long run.

[Anonymous No.10090913]

>>10090662
The problem with you is someone trying to explain something is "white knighting".

>>10090705
I'm just being mean lol

[Anonymous No.10090925]

>>10079532
Post to twitter/instagram. Use the tags. Draw fanart of popular furries to draw people to your art. But mostly, have a unique and eye catching art style with a distinctive fursona. You'll find most people want to see art of their own character and if you've got good enough art you should be able to cash in quickly. Just stick to my key point of having your own style that stands out, copying Falvie or another popular artist won't work.

Unrelated to the above, but has anyone ordered lanyards from vograce? I'm thinking of getting some

[Anonymous No.10090975]

>>10090925
Only if you're okay with desaturated colors, off centered images, and thread sticking out from sewing in the metal hardware. They're not AWFUL but there's a reason they're not well known for lanyards

[Anonymous No.10091051]

>>10090688
>>10090772
Go away. The only way you'd make a legit go of this is if you license multiple artists and present yourself as a distributor and do the legwork of taking their stuff to cons where they can't go or selling it online for them while giving them all a decent cut of their sales. Obviously you have no idea how to do that since you think it's as simple as "hiring an artist to draw merch for you". Artists can draw and sell their own merch without you taking a cut of it. What do you offer them? You can't even spell.

[Anonymous No.10091058]

>>10090913
>I'm just trying to explain something
>I'm just being mean lol

[Anonymous No.10091070]

>>10091051
So you tell me desperate artist. Wont sell they work to me for me to sell without paying them royalties cuz fuck licenseing. Challenge accepted also no need to be rude.

[Anonymous No.10091121]

>>10091070
You're talking about scamming. You want to scam people. You want to take advantage of "desperate artist(s)". Go away.

[Anonymous No.10091154]

>>10091070
lol the reaction images and attitude is so cringe.
If you're going to be that shitty just own it and buy your bootlegs off wish like every other asshole

[Anonymous No.10091171]

>>10091058
Well i tried to explain, but they showed themselves to be useless so I was mean :) Not too hard to understand, i hope

[Anonymous No.10091172]

>>10091058
Well i tried to explain, but they showed themselves to be useless so I was mean :) Not too hard to understand, i hope

>>10091070
If you think it's this easy and profitable why don't you just go do it? There are thousands of artists all over social media falling over themselves wanting to draw for money. You sound pretty damn incompetent if you can't even find them still

[Anonymous No.10091174]

>>10090925
>>10090975
Really? My lanyards have all been fine, except for one misaligned (bc of the fold for the metal attachment) batch where the mistake was in the sample picture they sent me but I was a dumbass and in a rush and didn't catch it. Haven't had any of those problems you mentioned.

I typically just go with Vograce while I'm ordering charms anyway bc the other companies I've tried have had exactly those problems listed: messy, weak stitching, printing misalignment, and desaturated colors. Decided not to fix something that ain't broken (for me at least).

[Anonymous No.10091318]

>>10091070
You understand customers aren’t ducking retarded right? They always want to talk and get to know the artist, that’s part of the experience of buying “live art” per se.
People are gonna see your different art styles you’re trying to “sell” and already know what you’re trying to do, you ain’t slick lmao.
You’re boring.

[Anonymous No.10091343]

>>10091318
what? i don’t want to fucking chat up the artist, i want to grab my sparkly animu keychains with as little eye contact as possible. hell, i probably wouldn’t even notice someone selling multiple artists’ work if they were all generic enough

[Anonymous No.10091352]

>>10091343
A lot of customers would notice. And every artist around them in AA would notice and report their ass so fast.

[Anonymous No.10091359]

>>10091343
Not everyone is you. Also in this day and age, artists tend to maintain an online presence so a lot of attendees know who they are what they look like. I've had total strangers message me on platforms to ask me if someone was stealing my art because they saw my helper instead of me and knew that my helper wasn't the artist. Most successful artists tend to maintain an online persona as well instead of just posting and selling art only. I get several people at each convention telling me that I'm one of their favorite artists or asking to take photos with me. I know my friends have also had similar experiences. Sure, you might not notice. But there are plenty of people who treat artists as mini convention guests - and those people will DEFINITELY notice.

[Anonymous No.10091376]

>>10091070
>you tell me desperate artist. Wont sell they work to me for me to sell
Your grammar leaves so much to be desired, wtf is up with the random sentence breaks?

Anyway. In an AA context...no, they won't. Maybe in some other situation, since young artists do get taken advantage of by companies sometimes, but AA has always been operating in a way where things go directly from the artist to the customer (sometimes with aid from a manufacturer, only because the artist can't usually physically produce things like keychains). In the context of AA, they would gain literally nothing from having you sell their art/products intead of doing it themselves and receiving all the proceeds.

[Anonymous No.10091384]

>>10091174
Hmm, sounds like you've been using them often. I only tried printing lanyards from Vograce last summer, so it could have just been just the con crunch, but for my first experience the quality I received was mediocre enough to turn me off.

[Anonymous No.10091495]

>>10091121
How is it scamming if I decided to commission an artist to make art for my company and pay them fairly to gain all the legal rights to they work?

>>10091154
You think I won't?

>>10091172
Nobody says it's easy profit unless you got a plan and Jewish blood. Will you hold your hands into the sky and believe in me?

>>10091318
Never said that I'm going to pretend to be the artist. Selling merch for your brand is different from selling your own art. Just fyi and to clarify.

>>10091376
I was tired, sorry about the bad grammar, to prevent it pay more tax and build a wall to prevent foreigners like me.

[Anonymous No.10091497]

>>10091352
Report to who? Lol
Oh noes that's an art from another artist
>plot twist they both have the same art style
>literally the poor artist gets death threads and dox for no reason
Nice outrage brooo

[Anonymous No.10091512]

>>10091497
The con? You know some cons don’t allow proxy selling right? Or the artist themselves who can contact the con and issue a DMCA if you didn’t specify commercial use in your contract.

Also, how much do you think buying full legal rights for someone’s work costs? You’re looking at high hundreds to thousands here. Adding on production costs and all the other expenses, it’s just not feasible unless you already have an established reach and money to invest.

[Anonymous No.10091554]

>>10091512
It's not like he's actually going to go through with it, so everyone might as well just save themselves the trouble of trying to speak some sense into a frogposter. Anyone who starts with needing validation for their plans before they've even started is the type to never actually do anything in the end, so I doubt there's anything to worry about in this situation.

[Anonymous No.10091571]

Someone from another country just spent 60 dollars for express shipping on one of my preorder items. God I hope they speak English/ know what preorder means. Has anyone ever had issues with language barriers? Another time I had some European person leave a review complaining that my shipping was too high and they didn't realize I was from America (after they already paid...?)

[Anonymous No.10091717]

Guys stop responding to the troll.

>>10091571
I would consider contacted them to make sure they're aware of the preorder period. Hopefully at least if they don't understand English well they can try to google translate it since you're contacting them directly.

[Anonymous No.10091732]

I increased the price to one of my more popular items, but also added a coupon for it thats super easy to find and it is amazing. People who can afford the full price, pay the full price, and people who can't afford the full price look for the coupon to get the price down for an affordable price.
I get the most amount of money out of everyone, without blocking anyone off from the price being too high.
I wish I had thought of doing this before.

[Anonymous No.10091894]

>>10091512
Who said I was gonna sell at a con? Anywho hypothetical if I change an artist art it will become transformative and so becomes fair use meaning I can sell it without giving shit or care about dmca.

For the other subject if the artist is worth it I wouldn't mind shedding 200-500 depending on the art. And I can make the money back in the long run.

>>10091554
You think I won't go thru with it? I shall give you an update in a year. I will invite y'all once I'm rich to a trip around the world all paid by me.

>>10091717
I ain't no troll, I am gonna corner the market.

[Anonymous No.10091895]

You guys gotta ignore this rando troll, they're clearly not gonna get far with whatever it is they're doing so there's no point using your efforts to argue anything. If anyone gets duped by someone this obvious it should be a lesson to be learned.

>>10091384
Strange, I've been using their lanyards for 2+ years and have had a generally good experience (my last batch was in December)--but yeah it could be the con crunch.

Maybe it's because of my terrible experiences with other companies that my standards are lower haha...I'm talking design-is-literally-on-the-edge-wtf-do-you-mean-there's-no-problem shit experiences.

But in terms of the problems listed in the earlier comment, if anything my Vograce lanyards have been a liiittle more saturated/darker (nothing crazy, actually sometimes turns out better than I expected haha), and maybe 3-4 in a batch of 100 is /slightly/ misaligned/has a print splotch. But I figured that was satisfactory and actually quite good. And the stitching is secure too. I've seen some ass-quality stitch jobs...ugh.

>>10091571
Agree with other anon, would contact them directly and specifically throw in a future date/month in there so that if anything, they might at least catch that.
Also it might help to put a "PREORDER: DELIVERY EST. APRIL 2019" etc. etc. text picture in your display pics or something, then copy that into your description to make it as /clear/ as possible that they won't be receiving it any time soon.

[Anonymous No.10091915]

>>10091894
>I ain't no troll, I am gonna corner the market.

oh honey if you're gonna pretend to just be an ignorant idiot you're gonna have to drop the reactions

[Anonymous No.10091922]

>>10091894
Get off 4chan and go do your homework.

[Anonymous No.10091934]

Multiple people have heard back from hama-con nearly a week ago.. but I still haven't heard anything..... should I email them?
Their website says we will be notified no later than January 31st, so should I wait until after that?

[Anonymous No.10092075]

>>10091895
Would you know of any other sellers that make lanyards then?

[Anonymous No.10092389]

>>10091915
>Drop your reactions
But that's my face tho.

>>10091922
I will but only with you tug me in later tonight and read me a chapter of one of my favorite book.

[Anonymous No.10093236]

How do you guys organize your stickers/buttons/charms/small items at home for online orders? any pictures or things I could buy that would help?

I have a lot of designs and I'm tired of mixing them all together, I really want to organize it but I'm not sure how

[Anonymous No.10093411]

My friend and I are going to be selling at Con Nooga this year, and it'll be our first AA experience where we'll be the weebs selling the merch instead of buying it. Anyone been to Con Nooga before? How busy can it get? Is it even worth it for us inexperienced chitlins to continue selling on Sunday or should we stop after Friday?

[Anonymous No.10093553]

>>10093411

Leaving your table empty for extended periods is really bad form and it may even ruin your chance at returning to that event in the futur. Conventions expect you to be at your table the majority of the event save for bathroom breaks, panel obligations that you're hosting, and emergencies. You can switch out shifts with friends if you want to roam but you should never leave your table unattended for the bulk of an event.

[Anonymous No.10093707]

>>10093553

Huh? No bro, I mean should we stop selling our merch after Saturday and not even bother with sales on Sunday. I've noticed that some tables would do that, where they just stay open for the first two days, and I wondered if that's the better move for newbies like us to do so we aren't just sitting around hoping for last-minute sales that probably won't ever come.

[Anonymous No.10093711]

>>10093553

I just realized my mistake. I meant Saturday, not Friday. Jesus, I'm out of it today.

[Anonymous No.10093737]

>>10093707
Why would you not try to maximize your profit? If you're already this halfhearted about it, why bother?

[Anonymous No.10093805]

For people who've done half table setups, do you feel like its significantly harder to draw people in with a more cramped display space? I'm trying to weigh the pros and cons (as opposed to sharing a whole table setup) because I'm splitting a table with someone whose art is radically different in style and quality.

[Anonymous No.10093823]

When does Vograce come back from holiday?

[Anonymous No.10093827]

>>10093823
On the 15th of February IIRC.

[Anonymous No.10093832]

>>10093827
Thanks!

[Anonymous No.10093836]

>>10093707
Sunday can be a big day because a good amount of people save their purchases for the end of the con. Some people do leave AA on Sunday but I'm pretty sure it's usually because they have other engagements...that, or they decided during the con that they were doing so miserably that it was a waste of time. But you shouldn't be going into a con with that kind of low confidence, I'm not sure why you think newbies should be having that kind of mindset.

>>10093805
It depends on how cramped you're talking, but in general more filled out tables are better than empty ones. If you're talking "so cramped I have zero clue where to look" then yeah, maybe need to cut out your less popular items.
But idk if I'm misunderstanding, you said sharing a whole table setup? I would hope you're sharing a whole table and not a half table...unless you have very few items that would make for a very difficult setup.

[Anonymous No.10093842]

>>10093711
Its cool, buddy. I see what you're asking now. I skipped a full Sunday early in my AA life and I haven't gotten back into that show again. Maybe Con Nooga is more lax?

A decent amount of people only get a day pass for Sunday because they work on Fri/Sat. Other attendees will throw whatever spare cash they have from the weekend that didn't go to food and other swag by then. I get 25-30% of my profit on Sundays.

[Anonymous No.10093854]

Any tips on a portable half table display for an 8ft table when you have a lot of table merch like charms, pillows (6 designs around 12” each), stickers, and pins? I have my pins, charms, and stickers on a cork board for now, but not sure how to display 6 pillows. I was thinking of hanging up the cases like prints so they’d be viewable and then maybe having the stuffed version behind the table. But would prefer a solution where they’ll all fit in the table cause I feel like that attracts more customers.

Also does anyone have opinions on when sharing a table if your merch should be displayed separately or together? Like should charms from both artists be on the same cork board or on separate sides of the table?

[Anonymous No.10093869]

>>10093836
(half table anon) What I mean is in the past when I've shared tables with someone, sometimes we'll use one display and intersperse our stuff throughout the 6 feet, so it's not obvious we're two different artists. The other option would be to have the two halves of the table completely separate from one another so it's obvious that we're two different artists.

The reason I'm considering doing that is because I know my tablemate's stuff will be off-putting to the kind of people who usually buy from me. It's harsh, but if I saw her art at a table, I know I'd most likely keep moving. It's not an ideal tabling situation, so I'm trying to figure out how to make the best of it.

[Anonymous No.10093885]

>>10093236
I get lots of hardware boxes from hardware stores

[Anonymous No.10093907]

>>10093869
As someone who has done both interspersing and splitting, I find the latter works better. It's just more visually understandable for a passerby who has to decide whether they want to approach you within 5 seconds. Even if we split though, I do still do joint deals with my partner and we agree to price similarly.

[Anonymous No.10093941]

>>10093869
I've always just split. I find it's much easier that way to browse as a customer, and if your styles are way different I think it might be somewhat strange to be interspersed.It's also much easier to coordinate and organize, because if someone is staring at your side of the table you can engage them because you know they're looking at your stuff. There's no need to feel bad about not wanting to mix your merch with your partner, in fact if you want to be recognized as two different artists I find splitting down the middle to be much better and more navigable.

[Anonymous No.10094008]

>>10093869
thirding the split like >>10093885 & >>10093941

Ideally if you can even get a wing down the middle that would make it obviously two tables / two artists it's even better.

[Anonymous No.10094116]

>>10093737

I'm only saying these things so I don't go in with the mindset of "OH BOY I'M GOING TO SLAM DUNK IT AND WE'RE GOING TO MAKE SO MUCH FUCKING MONEY". Basically I'm trying to put my expectations at rock bottom so I don't get disappointed, but now that I type that all out, it does sound really counterproductive.

>>10093842
>>10093836

That makes a lot of sense actually, didn't think about that. Even my friend and I made sure to save most of our money for Sunday at different con last year (just attending, not running a table) just so we wouldn't have to drag a bunch of shit around while going to panels. And about the mindset, see above. What kind of attitude do you guys recommend, then? Cautious optimism?

[Anonymous No.10094119]

>>10094116
I'm fairly new (but thankfully so far succesfull) to AA, and I do think that your attitude isn't the best. I definitely get where you're coming from, but still. I personally approached my first time as a learning experience, but I still put in effort to do everything as well as I possibly could. I figured that I shouldn't think too much about how well I do sales wise since obviously for the first time you'll be spending a lot of money (having to make your first stock of everything, get stuff for the table, buy all sorts of little from storage to packaging...) that even if you do smash it sales wise it wouldn't be like you'd be swimming in pure profit anyway. But also instead of expecting to do badly I just genuinely went in with zero expectations: it's a new experience and I have no way of knowing how it turns out so no use thinking about it beforehand.
In the end I really enjoyed my first time tabling! I had my table open from start to finish (and like others have mentioned, made a good chunk of my sales at the end), got a nice amount of sales, and even more compliments on my style and people asking if I'll be at other cons, and managed to make a few regular customers by being positive and welcoming. The first couple of times money wise I managed to break even and that's it, but last time I tabled I more than tripled what I'd previously made and ended up making clear profit. But a good bunch of my returning customers are the ones I met during my first time, so remember that first impressions matter a lot! Try to have positive expectations of the experience itself beforehand, and think about the money matters after the fact. And remember that the first couple of times are always more about getting the feel of things. So definitely think about tabling the full weekend if you have the energy for it!

Sorry for the wall of text, and good luck anon!

[Anonymous No.10094129]

>>10094119

You're a total bro, that's exactly the kind of response I've been needing. I've been trying to focus on just having fun, but the fear of not even getting our money's worth back is definitely there. When my friend wakes up I'm going to show her your reply because I think she especially needs to read this - she is the one who gave me the idea of expecting the worst so we won't be let down after all.

[Anonymous No.10094219]

>>10094129
Glad to hear! Best of luck to the both of you, and remember that whether or not it'll be a good experience will depend a lot on your own attitude and how you choose to perceive it.

[Anonymous No.10094545]

>>10094116
Agreeing with a lot of what >>10094119 said. I know a lot of people go in with high expectations nowadays, now that people know how much potential money there is to be made in AA, but for a first timer you just need to go in hoping to first, have fun, and second, take notes on your experience so you can only continue to improve. Take the time to interact with people, make friends with your neighbors, relish in the great atmosphere that AA has to offer...that's honestly a huge part of what makes people keep coming back.

Going in with a positive mindset rather than a negative mindset will also make the experience much less stressful. Don't be afraid to have goals, but don't get too hung up over them! Like anon above said, money comes later. You'll eventually learn what sells as you keep tabling. And remember...selling out of stock is /almost/ always better than having way too much stock.

[Anonymous No.10094563]

I just got my charms from Vograce and while they look really cute they are also very...de saturated, then again I tend to work with more muted colors.

Would uping the saturation help?

[Anonymous No.10094570]

>>10094563
Yeah, I usually up my saturation by 30% before I send the designs in and it looks fine

[Anonymous No.10094608]

>>10094545
>selling out of stock is /almost/ always better than having way too much stock

Are you fucking retarded? It’s backwards you dumbass.

[Anonymous No.10094613]

>>10094608
...no?

[Anonymous No.10094617]

>>10094608
No, it isn't. It's worse to have leftover stock when you're starting because it means you're much more likely to actually profit which is encouraging. Not to mention, you can keep track of what are your best sellers and what went the faster, which gives you a much better idea for ordering another time.

[Anonymous No.10094627]

>>10094608
selling out means you lost potential money
having too much stock means you lost actual real money.

[Anonymous No.10094656]

>>10079519
If you’re using paypal or most online selling platforms, you are liable for it until the package is marked as delivered to the correct address. You can refuse to replace or refund, but they can just file a claim and they’ll 100% win.

[Anonymous No.10094670]

>>10094608
lmfao alright buddy, settle down now.

Obviously you're losing potential money if you sell out but having a jillion pieces of something you'll probably never sell is, I guarantee, a bigger pain in the ass to deal with.

[Anonymous No.10094673]

>>10094627
>>10094608
I'm the anon from earlier with the 65k sales but very little profit; one of my major problems last year was overstocking inventory. I'd have much rather sold out and actually made a profit than have all this stock taking up space in my house

[Anonymous No.10094677]

Speaking of table displays, that reminded me of a con I did a couple years ago. I heard the girl next to me telling her friend that I copied her table display. Then she kept making comments throughout the con about how if some people would change up their display, then it might attract more people over the buy things.

I think she must have been autistic. Like not saying that to mock but something off was going on with her.

What was the strangest thing someone ever accused you of at a con?

[Anonymous No.10094681]

Does anyone know where to get small elastic journals like pic related made?

[Anonymous No.10094765]

>>10094677
I saw something similar at another con, my two neighbors were passive aggressively making loud comments at each other

For example group A took group B’s chair because B didn’t claim their table for 2 days. B kept yelling loudly “where are my chairs!” Autisticslly while setting up. Honestly A was fucked for taking them but B was such a weenie bitch and should’ve just taken them back.

I swear AA is filled with social retards afraid of confrontation. It’s exhausting.

[Anonymous No.10094854]

>>10094545

Tee bee aytch I'm surprised my inquiries got so many helpful replies from cool anons. That last part reminds me though: what should we do if we somehow manage to sell out of stock early-ish on, like in the middle of Saturday or something? It's really a hypothetical question at this point in time, but I'd like to know what we should do in case it ever does happen.

[Anonymous No.10094881]

>>10094765
>I swear AA is filled with social retards afraid of confrontation. It’s exhausting.

Conventions in general, really.

>>10094854
If you mean prints, find the nearest print shop that can do them in a few hours. You can even look that up beforehand so you know where your options are. Generally this will be a little more expensive than how you normally do prints (unless you're getting them done at this kind of place anyway), but it should be fine.

If it's anything handmade, you can always try to whip something up that evening. Sacrifice some sleep for some profit if you have something that can be done in a few hours.

If it's something you got done by a manufacturer (keychains, pins, magnets), then you're SOL.

[Anonymous No.10094897]

>>10094854
Well one option is to just pat yourself on the back for job well done, pack up, and call it a day. Making more stuff to sell like >>10094881 suggests sounds really though for your first time and not really worth the extra stress it might cause when you have a lot in your mind already, so if you do manage to sell out early then just close up shop and enjoy the rest of the con.

[Anonymous No.10094975]

>>10094656
Oh, stupid. Used to be just proof of shipment was required and the seller would win, since the shippers technically are responsible at that point.

[Anonymous No.10095406]

Is it a bad idea to start a business with enamel pins?

[Anonymous No.10095417]

>>10095406
idk about bad but that does seem like an expensive way to start a business

[Anonymous No.10095427]

>>10095406
If you have a following already, it's not that bad though like >>10095417 said, you could start with stickers or something first..

If you have no following you could be making a very expensive mistake, even with a good design if no one can see it it's gonna be an uphill battle.

[Anonymous No.10095469]

>>10095406
it depends on how strong your design skills are/how good your awareness is of trends really. there are so many people making pins rn doing crappy traced over pop culture won't really cut it rn.

check out mahoukarp - from what I know they largely do enamel pins and seem to do well, but they have a really strong aesthetic and niche. Also meyoco

[Anonymous No.10095727]

>>10095406
Enamel pins have such high startup costs. If you've never done art business before I would highly recommend starting cheaper (prints, stickers, buttons, then charms) and then working your way up. It takes more time but you'll make your mistakes when you don't have a ton of capital riding on your decisions.

Unless you just have a shitload of money and want to do it for fun or something, then just go wild I guess.

[Anonymous No.10095740]

>>10095406
I don't think so! Enamel pins fund my entire business tbqh.

I know we are very anti-middleman here, but if you aren't used to designing for manufacturing, I recommend starting with a low minimum middle man. They will iron out a lot of the bumps for you and don't cost much more.

[Anonymous No.10095859]

is it better to have a concise number of new charm designs available, or is it fine to have all your old designs for sale as well? like, my old designs still sell decently, but I'm not sure if I should replenish my stock as I'm afraid of my display looking too cluttered and the new stuff ending up not standing out well.

[Anonymous No.10095867]

>>10095859
If something sells well there's no reason to discontinue them unless you personally don't want to keep track of so much inventory.

[Anonymous No.10096641]

Long shot but does anyone know any trustworthy sellers who make the cat style badge? I found this example of alibaba but not sure if i can trust or not. Middlemans are ok I'm not bothered about the pricing to be honest.

[Anonymous No.10096720]

>>10096641
There's a group order going on for cat buttons right now, I think the person usually posts about it on the AANI GO facebook group

[Anonymous No.10096821]

how do you do transparency on charms?? do you just leave the layer on whatever percentage opacity on the file you send to the manu?? or does it need a special approach

[Anonymous No.10096843]

>>10096821
most charm suppliers have tutorials on how they want you to set up your files, in my experience they usually have a "white" layer. Wherever you want the image to have transparency, you do NOT fill it in with white. Everything else blocked in on the white layer will be opaque.

[Anonymous No.10096844]

>>10096821
Usually charms have a white layer, you just remove the part of the design you want to be transparent from the white layer. Zap's setup tutorial explains it pretty well.

[Anonymous No.10096885]

>>10090304
>>10090390
It's the 4th now. I've only heard from two people that they got in. Anyone else hear anything?

[Anonymous No.10096973]

>>10096720
Saw those but they're the weird oval shaped ones that look kinda dodgy. They pop up on etsy all the time.

[Anonymous No.10097056]

>>10096885
Got an email a few days ago saying I was waitlisted.

[Anonymous No.10097150]

>>10096843
>>10096844
I order through vograce and they don't ask for a white layer, though it looks like they add it anyway. Anyone know how it works with vograce?

[Anonymous No.10097175]

>>10097150
I made a seperate layer of what I wanted transparent. Seemed to work out okay.

[Anonymous No.10097231]

>>10097150
Here's how I do that with Vograce.

[Anonymous No.10097236]

>>10097056
I haven’t gotten any word from them.. no rejection, no acceptance, no waitlist. Usually I get a waitlist response..

[Anonymous No.10097265]

>>10097150
This is the proof they gave me and its result. Blue part is transparent. So you don’t even have to cut out the opaque part overlaying it desu.

[Anonymous No.10097589]

I've heard of some of you having some of your merchandise shipped to the con/hotel I think? How does that work? I have some bulky items that i'd like to sell at a con, but won't fit in my car along with the rest of my merch. Wondering what my options are.

[Anonymous No.10097605]

>>10097589
Exactly as it sounds like. If you are shipping direct from manufacture just put the hotel address + your name and dates of staying at the hotel (ATTN GUEST: full name + dates). If you are shipping yourself just ship there ahead of time.

Most hotels hold packages for a certain amount of time like 10 days you should call ahead if you plan for the item to arrive more than 7 days before you arrive yourself.

Also check if the hotel charges to hold, some places are free, other places have a fedex that charges you $1 per pound to take the item.

[Anonymous No.10097647]

what's the usual turnaround time for a reply from etsy support? it's been a couple days now.

[Anonymous No.10097820]

>>10097605
thanks!
>>10097647
about 2 days for me.

[Anonymous No.10099051]

Heads up guys, the square card reader device (for magnetic strips) isn’t free anymore. The first 1 is free for new customers but after that it’s $10 each.

Don’t be like me who loses her card readers to table neighbors. I ordered my 6th square card reader today.

[Anonymous No.10099153]

https://twitter.com/FoldableHuman/status/1092846201374892032?s=19

[Anonymous No.10099249]

>>10099051
>I ordered my 6th square card reader today.
6th? how?

[Anonymous No.10099411]

>>10099051
Hey for what its worth, I saw my local target has the headphone jack reader for less than $7 now

>>10099249
In three years I've probably lost that many, though I have that NFC/chip reader anyway so between using the swipe reader only once in a blue moon and sometimes loaning it out to table neighbors, they just get lost.

[Anonymous No.10099679]

>>10097265
>>10097231

Thanks a bunch guys!! Does adding the translucent layer make the charms cost more or is it standard pricing?

[Anonymous No.10099777]

Trying to do my taxes, and just figured out sales taxes exist separate from normal taxes that are due in April.

If I live in Florida, I only pay sales taxes on items that are purchased from Florida residents right?
I do online Etsy sales only.

[Anonymous No.10099874]

>>10099777
>I do online Etsy sales only.
I thought etsy automatically collects sales tax from states

[Anonymous No.10099915]

>>10099874
And gives them to you to pay those states yourself.

[Anonymous No.10100066]

>>10099915
I genuinely don't understand....

[Anonymous No.10100248]

>>10099777
>>10099874
>>10099915
>>10100066
You guys need to go to a tax professional.

[Anonymous No.10100255]

>>10099777
Yes, you only pay tax for your state.
You’re technically responsible for all the other states orders come from though.

[Anonymous No.10100343]

>>10099915
>>10100255

Etsy collects and remits taxes for states that require taxes from out of state purchases though??


https://www.etsy.com/seller-handbook/article/how-marketplace-tax-laws-impact-state/321914904041

[Anonymous No.10101223]

If I offer someone half an anime con table for £58 would they go for it? I don't know if that's a lot.

[Anonymous No.10101251]

>>10101223
Is that half of what you paid?

[Anonymous No.10101296]

>>10101251
it would be. they want an extra 20 to add another person.

[Anonymous No.10102791]

So, first time in Katsu's AA

Is it true that some parts of the AA are a no-cell single zone? the latest email has me spooked.
Also, is it necessary to buy hotel wifi or is there a free wifi network I'm finding conflicting statements

[Anonymous No.10103474]

Liberty City Anime Con's applications went up. You can miss me with that $500 a table.

[Anonymous No.10103689]

>>10102791
I haven't tabled at Katsu in years (RIP I wish I could come back but jury's been rough) and I definitely recall having times where signal is weak and my payment to process. I can't ever recall it being bad enough that I'd resort to buying wi-fi, but I don't know how it's been the last few years. There's been more and more attendees so it's possible signals get jammed too.

[Anonymous No.10103810]

>>10103474
Lmao, wtf? I tabled there last year, it was dead as fuck and they accidentally gave a bunch of people's tables away. People were showing up the morning of to find their tables had been given away to random cosplay guests.

[Anonymous No.10104291]

How well does K-pop and irl idol merch do in AA? I've seen them around and I know some friends who have plushies and all, but those seem to be mostly from overseas group orders.

[Anonymous No.10104912]

>>10104291
I don't make them but from what I've seen they seem to do pretty well for the people who do make them. I just personally have an unending hatred of kboos so while I think it's a potential cash cow, I can't jump on the bandwagon. I would rather not have money than deal with kboos all day at cons.

[Corky-Lunn !CorkyloMxc No.10105062]

new thread >>10105061