I’m looking at the fee structure for the very popular service I think most people use. It seems to work out to an 8% to 16% commission for the stuff I sell, with the 16% almost certainly out of my reach (if I did sell that much merch a month – and it’d have to be four figures in gross sales – I guarantee you I’d be bumped up to a higher tier anyway). This is… kind of horrible, but arguably found money at my current level. I may very well use it anyway, if only to let people buy their own fridge magnet or something.
However, if I want to have my own products to hawk at cons and stuff I’m going to need a company that isn’t (three syllables, starts with R, last two syllables rhymes with trouble). Thoughts? I understand that small batch orders cost more, but surely there are companies out there whose business model isn’t dependent on people making hasty decisions. I want merch, but I’m not desperate for it.
Go local. Any decent print shop can make you most of what you want.
They don’t have a distribution network, but if you’re selling the merch yourself…
#THIS
Luke is correct. Also talk to some of the automotive customization shops – some (by no means all) have very intricate vinyl decal design equipment, and high quality adhesives. Not the kind of stickers your kids would have, but ideal for grown-up subtle decorations.
Mew
That “found money” thing is indeed arguable. In my experience, things like merch-buying come out of a mental account in your customers that says “I like Moe. I want to support Moe. Oh, look! I can support Moe by buying merch. That’s cool.” Having the vast majority of the “I want to support Moe” dollars wind up in merch company pockets rather than your pockets is… not necessarily ideal.