
Selling t-shirts beats selling mobile apps - ingve
http://blog.krzyzanowskim.com/2017/05/10/selling-t-shirt-selling-mobile-apps/
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cheetos
I expected to read about how OP built a successful e-commerce business after
transitioning from full-time software development. Instead this is about how
he earned $275 over three days on a one-time shirt idea. Click-bait.

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kleiba
The most interesting observation for me in this post was the realization that
no-one would pay 25 bucks for my app while it's a normal prize for a T-shirt.
Yet, arguable, the skills required for me to make a T-shirt are much less than
the ones required to make a new app.

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visakanv
I sell t-shirts on the side. As a person who makes/sells t-shirts and uses
apps (and only occasionally pays for them), here's how I think about it:

It's not about the skills required to make a t-shirt or app. Consumers don't
care about that. All they care about is whether or not they're going to be
using it. I'm usually hesitant to pay for apps because I don't know if I'm
going to use them more than a couple of times. (Exception: I paid like $100
for Things 2 and 3, after using them during the free trial and realizing I
loved them and was going to keep using them. And I have.)

It's easy to look at a t-shirt and think "Oh golly, I'm going to wear this all
the time!"

Another really common reason people buy t-shirts is as gifts. I wonder if
there's any corollary to that in the app world. Can people buy apps as gifts
for friends? People will definitely spend ~$10 to send a friend a download
link to gag app that mocks them, I bet.

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digi_owl
There may also be the physicality of it.

A t-shirt is something you get, and can keep as long as you don't ruin it.

BTW, i recall reading that someone had more success with a "unlock feature X"
model of payment, even though it in total was more expensive than unlocking
everything at once.

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Cerium
For a great example of that look to the Android app Pleco, a Chinese
dictionary. Free to download and use, but have to pay to unlock features.
Between 5 and 30 dollars per feature, I've sent at least 70.

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krzyzanowskim
Thanks to those short-term campaigns, I could subsidize my WWDC trip to San
Jose this year. Thank you very much to anyone who bought the t-shirt. I've met
some of you during the WWDC, that was an excellent experience!

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bathtub
Anyone who could provide a quick overview/comparison of sites like Teespring,
Redbubble, etc from a creator's perspective?

Are they reliable? Do they pay in time and for all the sales? Do they hide
sales?

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rasjani
I can see the analogy of being indie musician and this - total income might
not come from your main work but from all kinds of sources that is somehow
related to it. In this merchandise.

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dna_polymerase
I'd argue for non-indie musicians it's the same these days. Spotify and other
streaming services aren't paying too much anymore, CD sales are down, direct
sales (like iTunes) are not the highest anymore.

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0x00000000
Not just these days - even before streaming got big. Most artists have always
made pennies from sales and most of their money from tours and merch not to
mention other unfavorable conditions imposed by record labels. Even the huge
EDM artists and rappers make most of their money from charging 6 figures a
show, not from record sales.

I would argue that now is a better time than ever to be a musician given that
with the internet, a record label is not strictly necessary and you can market
and sell merch to a massive audience and make money with just an internet
connection.

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coldtea
> _Not just these days - even before streaming got big. Most artists have
> always made pennies from sales and most of their money from tours and merch_

In the last 10-15 years maybe, but up until the nineties or so, merch (even
t-shirts) wasn't much a thing for most indie musicians -- except in the metal
world perhaps.

As for tours, they were seen as loss-leaders for album sales. Some select
concerts in big cities could get money, but the expenses of touring around
e.g. the US where big too, and in the end it was a bet in getting even.

On the other hand, in the vinyl era, indie musicians (which had better profit-
sharing deals and recorded cheaply, not spending $200,000 for farting around
in the studio for 6 months) could sell 30.000 - 50.000 albums or so and be
able pay the rent from that.

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Theodores
The dinosaur on the T-shirt is wrong. The tail should not be dragging along
the ground but held high. You would not be able to sell this in the Natural
History Museum!

Make of that what you will.

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petra
A side question about the t-shirt biz: business of that type(marketplaces)
usually have strong network effects and usually it ends at a winner takes all
situation.

But in custom t-shirt platforms we have many competitors.

So why isn't there one winner ? What's different ?

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AndrewKemendo
Basically no barrier to entry and no margins.

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stuaxo
\+ selling TShirts is another extremely competitive market.

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bberenberg
Not sure if I am reading it correctly, but are you saying that you don't own
the copyright for the design for the shirt?

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davidf18
I live in NYC and I see people smoking cigarettes which cost about $12-$14 per
pack. Some people smoke 1 pack a day and some 2 packs a day.

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krzyzanowskim
This is rather normal in the real-world goods economy. $4 app on the phone is
considered as a rip-off.

