Do you charge to make an online store?

[Homer]

What's your system like? Do you require a deposit to create a store? What if it doesn't sell anything, how do you recoup any money for time lost? This is a struggle I'm trying to figure out. Coach has a team of 50+ kids so it sounds promising. You create the design, create the store, it sells a whopping 10 items....Not enough to cover your time and expenses, now what? Do cancel the orders, refund the money and move on or charge a flat rate for store creation?

[Frog]

I've never done these, but what about a deposit to cover the initial time investment that is refunded after a pre-determined minimum number of purchases is reached?

[farmboygraphics]

A local shop does, not sure how much. On the rare occasion that I do one I only offer one, maybe two items.

[Sbrem]

Our stores are trade schools, some have only a few items, others as many as 10 items. I have one department that is always a small run, so transfers, no setting up the press. I did have one department that was very small, but it was a simple one color print. I didn't want to turn it down, as bad press, deserved or not, can travel pretty quickly. We don't charge to build them, because it's fairly easy now that I know what I'm doing...

Steve

[balloonguy]

This is a constant struggle for us. We do a few schools and they are mostly great. It does seem like every time the PTO board changes someone wants to go nuts and add 62 designs that their middle school prodigy designed in canva. We have an unofficial rule that we will put up 4 designs for no charge and them we start charging $25.00 per design and $10.00 per item. So if that 5th design is going on 3 different shirt materials and 5 colors  for each of those We charge and extra $175.00. It has helped up reduce the work and helps them focus on the designs that actually sell and make us all money.

[CSports]

That's all we really do anymore, is online stores. We don't charge to set up the stores, what we do is add a $1 or $2 for each item, to help offset the cost of setting up and then sorting the orders.  We used to set up the stores on our own but switched to OMG a couple years and never looked back. We try to stay consistent across the board in our pricing, so a short sleeve is around $14 online. Now, depending on how many were sold, we figure out what to charge the customer. So, if it's not a lot then we charge them $14 a shirt and they don't make a profit. If they sell a lot then we would charge them $13 so they get a profit of $1 an item, and so on for different items. The more items sold the more profit they would make per item.  It works good for both sides because they like getting a profit check without having to do a whole lot, and we don’t get burned if it’s not a big order because we just don’t give them any profit if they don’t hit a minimum. It also helps if they know they could make a profit for their group/team, so they push it more for people to order. Our clientele is mostly high schools, so all sports, booster clubs, staff, fanwear, etc.  We have gone the transfer route if the order is not worth printing, but we have figured out what stores/groups sell better than others. So, the ones we think won’t sell great we keep to a 2-3 color job, so we don’t get a small order with a 5-6 color design. Hopefully that helps.

[Homer]

Problem is I don't want to spend time creating a design and building a store for a chance to sell something. I need a guarantee. Sourcing all the items is better now, but it can still take time to locate. We do have templates set up but they still require changes. Not every store wants the same stuff, sometimes it's faster to start from new.

Taking a deposit is a guarantee, but I highly doubt the coaches would front the money. I know I wouldn't pay a 250.00 deposit. If the store sells X, you get that money back. It puts the burden to sell on the coach and not me, which is what I want but again, who would take that deal? It might help the coach remember to send out the link though...

I charge a flat fee for products and whatever the coach / organization wants to make I just tack it on. I don't give volume discounts. Order in bulk and you handle the back end, then I can do a bulk rate but in a store, no thanks. I'm doing all the sorting, packing, shipping etc. OMG fees, credit card processing fees.... PITA all around if you ask me. But you can make some serious coin if marketed properly. I have to sort this out, there's gotta be a way...

[whitewater]

Also, does anyone keep track of the true profit of the stores they do?

Cost of the apparel, labor in decorating, labor in separating and / or shipping, the fees involved..and labor in setting up the store.

Tacking on $1 or 2, and you sell 30 items....$30-$60 bucks for the time, doesn't seem worth it to me.

And I keep it at no more than 2 designs, I push 1 design on everything offered though.