
Postme.me - idea to sales in 3 days - Swizec
http://swizec.com/blog/postme-me-idea-to-sales-in-3-days/swizec/2690
======
lucaspiller
Good job, I'm impressed! I have a couple of questions regarding the business
model though:

Charging $2, after PayPal have taken their fees you get ~$1.60. International
shipping via USPS for a postcard over to here (UK) is $0.98. That means you
have ~$0.60 to make the cards and make a profit - it isn't much. Would you
mind sharing how much it costs you to have the cards printed?

This leads me onto my next question, you cards are unique right (a message and
address on the back), so how do you get this past the printers? I understand
most do bulk discounts, but isn't this for identical prints?

P.S. I also ordered a card :)

~~~
Swizec
Turns out shipping with the slovenian post office is cheaper, only costs $0.61
internationally. And I might be able to arrange some sort of bulk discount
eventually.

The printing is kind of cool, since it's digital you can do bulk discounts on
large quantities of unique things.

------
kalleboo
Ouch, that site burns my eyes.

I think the practice of building sites on painfully short schedules is more
common than anyone thinks, but nobody wants to brag about it because it just
shows you're not enough ahead of the curve.

For instance, we spawned the idea for <http://mostly365.com/> just 3 days
before new years day. We got a design, promotion and all the code (including a
twitter scanner, scraper for 15+ picture posting sites and basic CMS) done in
time for the new year.

I'm absolutely convinced we're not the only ones doing stuff like this. We
just want to pretend we had this all ready months in advance.

~~~
Swizec
Yeah, I'm not a designer so the site is nothing special to look at :)

The more important point is this: * I launched a MVP * It made sales * I
_know_ it's worth investing more time

And I still think it's surprisingly rare not only for people to sell stuff
online, but to even dare to try.

------
webwright
Man, with this idea I would jump straight on the Sincerely Ship API...
Unfortunately, it's for iOS only, but you could imagine it being available for
web apps soon.

Coverage: [http://gigaom.com/2011/10/06/sincerely-postagram-api-
develop...](http://gigaom.com/2011/10/06/sincerely-postagram-api-developer-
kit/)

~~~
frankdenbow
Agreed. I used Sincerely Ship Library for <http://Picsicle.com> and it was a
great experience. They are great people to work with (YC alum founder) and the
library just works. They are looking to add more functionality so I would
recommend them.

------
brador
Any issues regarding copyright?

------
aasarava
When you create a postcard, do you have the option NOT to be featured on the
home page? Because right now, the Magdaleins are showing off their baby to all
site visitors, when perhaps they meant that postcard to only go to family and
friends.

~~~
Swizec
When you create a postcard, you aren't featured. The featuring only happens
when you buy a postcard, which I guess means you're willing to send it out
publicly etc. so it can't be that bad or too personal.

Sometimes I pick and choose cool cards for the frontpage regardless of being
paid for.

------
pdenya
Re: the can't afford advertising problem, you should be able to find a $100
adwords coupon fairly easily. Hopefully you can make enough from that to cover
further advertising.

~~~
MicahWedemeyer
It can be tough to get a good ROI on that first $100. Getting good at
advertising takes time, practice, and money.

No reason not to try, just don't expect AdWords to easily turn $100 into $200
or even $101.

------
wesleyzhao
I think this is really cool. Though I can't figure out how you managed to make
a profit on the first couple... but I bought one :).

------
jmitcheson
Congrats on finishing something. Many start things; few finish. You should be
proud!

