
The Way of the Dodo — How to Sell 10,000 iPad Cases at $60 Each - gr366
http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2010/07/19/dodocase-shopify/
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crad
I like the idea of my DodoCase, and if it weren't mostly defective, I'd use
it. It's a very inconspicuous way to carry the iPad, which I love.

Unfortunately the bamboo curls outward in essence making the shape that of |(
where the pipe is the iPad and the parenthesis is the DodoCase.

I've sent a request for some sort of reasonable way to fix this, as it's been
this way since I've received it. The reply was they would send me new rubber
feet and it's doing what bamboo does naturally. I stopped using it the day my
iPad slipped out of the case and hit concrete on the corner making a nice
nasty dent.

~~~
Terretta
Happened to me, except the iPad bounced on carpet. Their Friendly Support is
excellent, and sent a replacement quickly. Replacement was bowed too, before
or during shipping.

They then offered a technique to micro-fracture the outer bamboo, but I'm not
persuaded this would help it hold the iPad tighter.

I think they should consider changing the layers to counteract the curvature
-- it should want to curve in to hold tighter, not curve out to hold less.

While assembling, they'd also have the option to pre-form the bamboo to a
bowed in shape, then glue the layers while bowed. The glue would keep the bow
in place, and use the aluminum (not gonna bow) iPad hold it back straight. The
case might look odd without an iPad in it, but would grip much better when
carrying the iPad.

~~~
crad
That's great that they offered you a replacement. No such luck here, even sent
them a photo of the case and the damage.

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wgj
From winner, Nashville Flood Tees:

"Not only did PayPal shut us down for 24 hrs after only being live for less
than 8 hrs, because of the sheer volume we sold, but they’ve been really slow
and difficult releasing funds to us."

~~~
bosch
This is why I can't understand how startups still use Paypal. With Paypal,
your dispute could take forever to get resolved and there's no one you can
call directly to get things fixed asap. Not only have costs on your own
merchant accounts come down, they're easier to setup as well as make your
business look more professional.

~~~
oscardelben
Because they either don't know about the problem or they think that the
current alternatives are too hard to implement (or don't know them either).

~~~
jeza
Might also be a problem that Paypal is a brand that end users want to use. I'm
sure I've read reports of online sales increasing when Paypal is an option. I
guess the downside is that with that increase in sales there is the cost/risk
that Paypal might also give you problems.

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pchristensen
I bought a DODOcase and absolutely love it. I found out about them when their
founder asked about optimizing a sales pitch on the Lean Startups Google
Group. It's a great product and I can't recommend it enough!

Vaskel, I don't know about suspending their merchant account, but they do have
about a 4-5 week wait after your order. I know you can't sell speculative
products on Etsy but they never tried that (to my knowledge).

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andreyf
With this guy, I can't get my mind past the feeling that he's trying to sell
me a DODOcase, a Shopify account, and a get-rich-quick scheme in one post. Are
we to believe that he, of all people, isn't being compensated by DODOcase or
Shopify? I mean, it's a cute story by its own merit, but unless they're paying
for it, he just did them a huge favor.

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chriskelley
I believe he's an advisor for Shopify:
<http://www.crunchbase.com/company/shopify>

I didn't catch a disclosure in the post, but I may have missed it.

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alexk7
Disclosure – The Full Monty: <http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/ftc-
disclosure-blog/>

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jinushaun
It just goes to show that there is a market out there for creative cases. Not
everyone wants the standard silicon rubber or neoprene cases that are sold in
Apple Stores. I love my DodoCase. The only thing I wish it had were pockets in
the left cover.

Check out Etsy for other amazing hand-crafted iPad cases and sleeves.

~~~
smackfu
It also shows that there are moments to break into a market and moments not
to. If they had made an iPhone 3GS case, no one would care. Making an iPad
case though, that is the new hot thing, and everyone was doing case round-ups
and linking to the new cases.

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vaksel
isn't this the same company that was selling cases that they haven't even
built yet, so Google or was it Paypal locked their merchant account

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hartror
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1432107>

Yeah it got too popular and they had trouble filling the orders fast enough
and got some complaints from impatient customers. A slight mishandling of
things by the sounds of it but an understandable one. FYI Selling something
you haven't yet built isn't a crime btw.

~~~
eitally
"Selling something you haven't yet built isn't a crime btw."

Wait what? Manufacturing companies do it every day. For a lot of them, their
entire profit margin rides on the fact that their AP is on Net-90 and their AR
is Net-60 (or similar). For stuff with long lead times, payment in fact does
often happen before delivery. How is that illegal?

~~~
hartror
Was responding the the parent implying that selling something that isn't yet
in existence is somehow wrong.

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lionhearted
That whole article was pretty good. This was the most insightful part for me:

> On the marketing side, we’ve learned that having a great story is as
> important as having a great product. As a small company, you need to connect
> with your customers on an emotional level as well as on the physical level
> of the product. We sell DODOcase’s exclusively online which means most of
> our customers are buying a product without ever touching it. To achieve
> sales in this way, its important that customers ‘want’ to buy into the story
> as well as the product.

