Hi Guys,
Just an idea from a fairly new guy to the board. I've been seeing a high demand for XOC stickers. And it seems that it's just too much time invovled with getting them printed and distributed by those running the show.

What about making a graphic, or even using the graphic for the current sticker and posting it on www.cafepress.com. On this site, you can just upload the graphic and have it applied to numerous different products including shirts, hats, stickers, etc. Members can purchase these products direct from cafepress whenever they want. It's free to set up and run a basic shop. You can even increase the selling price by a dollar or two and make a profit to cover any administrative costs to yourselves. I would even go so far as to say that I would set up the shop and administer it for the Club if you wanted.

Again, just an idea.......Sorry if I am out of line for suggesting this.

It's been suggested before.

The site owner did not like the quality of cafepress products and since the owner controls the copyright on the XOC logo - he wanted to control what it gets put on.

For now - all sales of XOC merchandise will go thru the site owner.

It's kinda silly to look at it that way, Cafepress products are actually really good. I ordered two shirts and a mousepad, just one-time prints to test out how things look. I was impressed, both shirts (1 tshirt, 1 golf) have lasted well through many washes and still look great. Their stickers would probably be fine too.

No overhead, no worries, just design it and go. If nobody buys anything, there's nothing lost. If people buy like crazy, there's a few extra bucks to be made.

I have to agree with jens, here. What are the chances Ian will let us use the logo? Seems like a no-brainer. If he cared so much about XOC and the logo, would he have bailed?

I have used cafepress for many projects that I have been involved in and have always gotten great feedback about their products. Not sure when this was considered before, but over the last 2 years, they have actually improved the quality, as well as the product line.

The key with cafepress is to make your graphics HI-RES.....the old rule applies here - garbage in, garbage out. If you upload a low res image, you will get a low res product print.

Here is what the site owner thought about cafepress quality:

link: http://www.xterraownersclub.com/cgi-local/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=008419

I'm all for keeping the logo in high quality print for good representation. My sugestion is to make a sample item to see if the process has changed. If it still looks like crap, is there a way to restrict the print to a specific media, namely stickers. Haven't heard any compliants on that part, and the demand is definately there.

I think XOC had a problem with the stickers too. (He DID buy samples and tested them - that's how he knows they are crap)

I believe the problem with the stickers - is that they were made with "cheap ink" and will fade very quickly on the outside of a truck.

In case you didn't notice... XOC (the person) is very talented in the graphic area and he has high standards for such things. He owns the copyright and its his perogotive (sp?) to control its distribution and the quality at which it is reproduced.

MediStorm - Yes, you can have the logo printed on as many or a few products. YOU make the store the way you want it.

KJ - I completly agree with you that it is XOC's final decision. I was merely asking if it had been thought of (I know I should have searched). I have also been involved extensively with graphic design. I understand about quality standards as well. I have used cafepress on several occasions with no complaints from clients or customers.

Now I will be the FIRST to tell you that not ALL of cafepress' prints/products are great, however, I had a shirt printed up about 4 years ago and i wear it at least 3 time out of a month and wash it after every wearing and it is still holding up......a little bit of fading, but it's still holding up. I also have a stainless steel coffee mug and the logo is almost gone already (also after 4 years).

I'm not trying to SELL cafepress here, but I just figured it would be a quick and painless way to satisfy the sticker demand and maybe even make XOC a little money to cover some administrative costs.

I think that Ian was not happy with the early Cafe Press quality. Since then, I believe they have changed their methods because they do have good quality printing now.

His decesion is his decision though and you have to respect that.

I will be offering decals and maybe more in the near future.

Keep you panties on :-)

Mine are thongs and firmly wedged up my ass so they should stay on for a little bit....

Yea?! Well, I go commando, so there!

Er...uh..deletedeletedelete.

Just wanted to chime in to say that I've made shirts through Cafepress.com and they are bad ass! Just in case anyone was thinking about it.

Good quality shirts, and I can't believe they made the design using a JPEG that I uploaded. Amazing stuff!

actually midnight we were wondering

thong
grannys
bikini cut
boyshort
boxer

Which one?

Well...

I refuse to answer that question.

awww come on!



PUH PUH PUH PLEASE!

i usually wear thong unless im going out than i wear silk boxers so the girl doesnt think im a freak

Dude, too much info!

too much info would be me telling you about my manscaping habits before a date

but i was kind enough to leave that little tidbit of information out of the conversation wasnt I

First the Beetle, now this.

Christ.