Kicking Around an Idea...

[Servo2000]

I found a few notes on an old idea of mine, and Kyl working on his shirt thing sort of inspired me to take another look at it. It was inspired by a friend of mine telling me about a store where they rented out tables in the shop to local designers/artists whatever.

It seemed like an awesome idea, since you see people setting up shops all about "helping out little artists" but usually they don't do shit about it and it just makes them look good. I figured, why not set up a website that did something similiar?

Let artists and people without a large advertising budget or much budget at all rent slots on an online shop, or trade goods or something. That way, they can compete with larger shops / brands. Or something.

Anyway, I'm thinking about trying to work on it again, if anyone can think of any flaws or interesting ideas, let me know.

P.S.:

I figured I'd show a brief idea for the logo, this is not the final design (My laptop is busted so I can't scan in my own crest design yet, so I can't use this)

So far, I'm thinking about the name VIVA.

i t a l i c s f o r l i f e

http://www.liarsliarsliars.com

[onemancult]

It's a pretty good idea, but you've got to make sure that you're super-discerning about what you sell and who you take on. It's risky, working with potential flakes and all, but it could possibly pay off. It would also probably work out because you'd be working with people who need and want exposure.

The best business model, from what I gathered, would be like running a record distro, but for clothing/accessories and so on. Not exactly a store, but a way for people to connect to and buy from tiny labels and people that they'd otherwise have no way of connecting with. You'd be the righteous middle man.

This sounds like a really awesome idea overall; I'd love to help out in some way if you ever think about getting it off the ground. I've got some other ideas that might be worth hearing and various skills to lend.

[SENDkylHISPASSWORD]

You got more going for you than my idea does and i'm going for it, so obviously do it man. I like the idea, and the logo is awesome.

How are you going to promote it?... Thats the hardest part.

my favourite things

http://mfthings.blogspot.com/

[minya]

Sorry, you've been beaten to the punch.

http://www.threadless.com

http://www.spreadshirt.com

[SENDkylHISPASSWORD]

spreadshirt is the biggest piece of shit of a website i've seen in a while.

my favourite things

http://mfthings.blogspot.com/

[azad]

good idea.

toma açaí

[englandmj7]

Obviously you are not taking into consideration the insane amount of logistic/trust that would go in to something like that. My little brother used to sell all his clothing/leather pieces in one of those rented space consignment shops, but the difference is that it was a physical storefront. If someone wants their good listed on your site how will it work? Are they going to send it to you and trust you not to keep it or rip them off, or are you going have them send it to the customers when they buy something? How will you ensure the customer that the said product will get to them? There is no way to prevent you or people renting space from ripping people off....only way to be safe would be for the seller to send you their shit, but then you would basically be buying it from them, because I sure as hell wouldn't send you a bunch of stuff I may have taken hours to make and trust that it is going to go on the site and that I will get paid for it......not to mention there would be shipping fees for me to send it to you, and then again to send to the customer, and no one is willing to pay the markup that that accompanies....the reason it doesn't already exist is because it is an entirely flawed idea. The only way to succesfully make money from it would be to open a physical store for it.......

[azad]

u run a store england?

toma açaí

[englandmj7]

^^ Eh, no, but I studied business/finance in university and have worked for many companies; it is not very hard to figure out what the obstacles are going to be.....

[Servo2000]

That's exactly what I was thinking, England. The only reason I didn't do it originally was just that: how to get the shipping to work, and setting up a payment system.

The payment system could either be a monthly fee to avoid middle-man prices, but then I'd have to take on a bunch of brands that probably shouldn't be there just to pay the bills.

Or, taking a percentage off of sales through the store, it would probably have to be like a monthly-paycheck type thing. How to make sure that it's set up to be transparent to sellers would be important so that there's no way that I could cheat the system, basically.

Second off, the shipping is definitely hard. Having to send all merchandise to me and then to customer would be absurd, especially considering that some people are say, in Europe. Europe -> San Diego and then possible back to Europe? Iffy.

I could relay addressed of buyers to sellers, but then you have to deal with people flaking off, losing merchandise for some reason, etc... not to mention that if someone buys items from two different people, they'd arrive at different times and have different shipping costs.

It might be possible to run it like eBay and have only one item at a time and just do it that way (i.e. pays one buyer, gets items in return) and you could even set up an eBay like distribution system.

Anyway, a lot of issues. I'll keep playing around with the idea, and by tomorrow I should have a little more of the webpage to show.

Oh, and P.S., neither Threadless or Spreadshirt are really all that similiar, except that they stock clothes. And most of them aren't very good, to boot.

i t a l i c s f o r l i f e

http://www.liarsliarsliars.com

Edited by Servo2000 on Apr 5, 2006 at 10:16 PM

[6MT]

doesn't sound all that interesting. there is bunch shops like that in long beach......and it's just really weak.

[englandmj7]

Quote: That's exactly what I was thinking, England. The only reason I didn't do it originally was just that: how to get the shipping to work, and setting up a payment system.

The payment system could either be a monthly fee to avoid middle-man prices, but then I'd have to take on a bunch of brands that probably shouldn't be there just to pay the bills.

Or, taking a percentage off of sales through the store, it would probably have to be like a monthly-paycheck type thing. How to make sure that it's set up to be transparent to sellers would be important so that there's no way that I could cheat the system, basically.

Second off, the shipping is definitely hard. Having to send all merchandise to me and then to customer would be absurd, especially considering that some people are say, in Europe. Europe -> San Diego and then possible back to Europe? Iffy.

I could relay addressed of buyers to sellers, but then you have to deal with people flaking off, losing merchandise for some reason, etc... not to mention that if someone buys items from two different people, they'd arrive at different times and have different shipping costs.

It might be possible to run it like eBay and have only one item at a time and just do it that way (i.e. pays one buyer, gets items in return) and you could even set up an eBay like distribution system.

Anyway, a lot of issues. I'll keep playing around with the idea, and by tomorrow I should have a little more of the webpage to show.

Oh, and P.S., neither Threadless or Spreadshirt are really all that similiar, except that they stock clothes. And most of them aren't very good, to boot.

Well, it is good to see that you have got most of your angles covered.....good luck with it.

[thinctank]

nice logo.

use the crest for the second v. it reads "vivva."

also, i don't know how it would ultimately look. it may be too busy in the end, but try to extend some lines and volutes from the crest into the other letters to create a visual relationship between all of the elements of the logo.

go for it.