A recent discussion involving a few members has taken place about the idea of a Towers Times Members Shop. The shop could include various items like clothing, accessories (Pens, Keyrings) and house hold items (Mugs, Posters e.c.t.)
Towers Times have done things like this before. Selling Pin badges and Jackets, however the stock for these items was limited and sold on a first come first served basis.
What are your thoughts on this? What would you like to see in the shop?
Please note I am not saying there will be a shop, this is just an idea. :P
TT Shop?
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.Will
Didn't TT do a selection of hoodies at one point?
Saying that we already have the TT pin badge what more do you want?
:P
Saying that we already have the TT pin badge what more do you want?
:P
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Dormiens-Dave
Fleeces have been tried and failed, we did do the pin badge but other than that we have never really thought it would be a success. Also we make a concious effort not to make profit with TT so it would be a big balance trying to cover cost but not make profit.
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McFlurry
To operate a shop is quite a big operation. You could outsource it but the items are generally so overpriced that no-one would buy anything.
You also have the issues of profits, what happens to them, is it a business, club or association.
If it's something that is done in house you then need a balance to invest into stock, there's also a whole host of other issue to climb across before even a single item is sent to someone.
So, in reality. I don't see it happening.
You also have the issues of profits, what happens to them, is it a business, club or association.
If it's something that is done in house you then need a balance to invest into stock, there's also a whole host of other issue to climb across before even a single item is sent to someone.
So, in reality. I don't see it happening.
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Bote
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The topic has come up many times in the past.
TowersTimes has in the past tried something similar with fleeces, etc. The idea never really took off though so I gather.
There are some enthusiast groups who do have their own clothing and so on, but I personally feel that it makes things much too formal. It's nicer when things are casual and laid back. I'd say it makes it easier for people to integrate and feel like one of the group. I mean imagine if you come on your first meet and everyone is wearing TT clothing and you're just in your everyday clothes. I know I certainly would feel out of place.
The pin badges are a very minor and subtle thing, but I can't say I see many people wearing them when out and about. They're more just for the novelty.
A lot of work went into developing them and the selling system, not to mention all the posting and delivering. It took a lot of time to sort it all.
TowersTimes is made up of people who give up their own free time to do their bit on here, but we do have other priorities which must come first (Work, education, etc.). In order to keep something like a store running we would need to be able to commit a lot of extra time on top of what we already do. We simply could not promise that we would be able to keep something like this running efficiently alongside what we also do.
There are also the costs involved in producing such items. TowersTimes does not operate at a profit or make any money. In fact I think Project Balloon is one of the very few things we have charged for, and there all money will be going into the event. We are very grateful to Chris-TT who pays for us to be here, through server costs and so on. But in order to get such items produced we would need money to come from somewhere to have them made initially, and we would also need to ensure high sales to bring the prices down to a reasonable level.
You will no doubt remember how with the badges we needed a minimum number of orders to bring the price down to a sensible level. We were lucky we could sell everything we ordered in that case, but if we were to have anything unsold it would have cost TowersTimes money we don't have.
TowersTimes has in the past tried something similar with fleeces, etc. The idea never really took off though so I gather.
There are some enthusiast groups who do have their own clothing and so on, but I personally feel that it makes things much too formal. It's nicer when things are casual and laid back. I'd say it makes it easier for people to integrate and feel like one of the group. I mean imagine if you come on your first meet and everyone is wearing TT clothing and you're just in your everyday clothes. I know I certainly would feel out of place.
The pin badges are a very minor and subtle thing, but I can't say I see many people wearing them when out and about. They're more just for the novelty.
A lot of work went into developing them and the selling system, not to mention all the posting and delivering. It took a lot of time to sort it all.
TowersTimes is made up of people who give up their own free time to do their bit on here, but we do have other priorities which must come first (Work, education, etc.). In order to keep something like a store running we would need to be able to commit a lot of extra time on top of what we already do. We simply could not promise that we would be able to keep something like this running efficiently alongside what we also do.
There are also the costs involved in producing such items. TowersTimes does not operate at a profit or make any money. In fact I think Project Balloon is one of the very few things we have charged for, and there all money will be going into the event. We are very grateful to Chris-TT who pays for us to be here, through server costs and so on. But in order to get such items produced we would need money to come from somewhere to have them made initially, and we would also need to ensure high sales to bring the prices down to a reasonable level.
You will no doubt remember how with the badges we needed a minimum number of orders to bring the price down to a sensible level. We were lucky we could sell everything we ordered in that case, but if we were to have anything unsold it would have cost TowersTimes money we don't have.
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Chris W
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I don't think we would have any time to set-up a online shop before the birthday event. And even if we did, what happens to any sales after the birthday event? Were does the money go then?DiogoJ42 wrote: Surely any proffit made could go towards project balloon?
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Big Dave
As if we aren't already. Just look out for a noisy, slightly camp, geeky bunch of people :P
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formula1fan
Only slightly camp?Big Dave wrote: As if we aren't already. Just look out for a noisy, slightly camp, geeky bunch of people :P
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Nightfall
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I think the Pin badges were a good idea but it should stay as just that. However there's nothing stopping any particularly eager members creating their own TTF merchandise. I'm sure the team won't object.
Out of interest Bote you mentioned Chris-TT pays for the site. Didn't there used to be several adverts to help cover this cost? I don't recall seeing them recently.
Out of interest Bote you mentioned Chris-TT pays for the site. Didn't there used to be several adverts to help cover this cost? I don't recall seeing them recently.
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Craig
Ultimately if we did go to a full TT shop then it would be up to Chris-TT to decide really, however the amount of work that was required to do the fleeces and the badges means it's low on the list of priorities at the moment.
To go back to Nightfall's suggestion of others creating merchandise, anything like that would need to be approved by the team, and to be honest there is then the issue of who takes responsibility of things if that went wrong, so it's unlikely to be given the go ahead either at present.
As for adverts, yes we have had small Google Ads in the past on the forum, and the site has also featured some in the past too. These may return in future, however we will always try and keep them to a minimum and be as unobtrusive as possible
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To go back to Nightfall's suggestion of others creating merchandise, anything like that would need to be approved by the team, and to be honest there is then the issue of who takes responsibility of things if that went wrong, so it's unlikely to be given the go ahead either at present.
As for adverts, yes we have had small Google Ads in the past on the forum, and the site has also featured some in the past too. These may return in future, however we will always try and keep them to a minimum and be as unobtrusive as possible
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Nightfall
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Actually I wasn't suggesting other members made them and sold them on. That would get very complicated. It was just that if anyone was really desperate there's nothing stopping them printing a t-shirt with the logo on or embroidering the words TowersTimes into a Hoodie ect.
If the adverts do return I have no issue with them. They were never distracting or felt like they were slowing the page down and they tended to be quite relevant to the site. I just found it strange there weren’t any at the moment.
If the adverts do return I have no issue with them. They were never distracting or felt like they were slowing the page down and they tended to be quite relevant to the site. I just found it strange there weren’t any at the moment.
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