Yet ANOTHER "How do I start..." post from a newbie
Well, I've read some really helpful threads on here for the last hour and a half, but and I decided to make a post anyway for questions I haven't found an answer yet. Bare with me, because I'm sure I'll be asking things that have probably already been answered somewhere else. I'm totally naive to this business, which is why I'm here to learn more about it.
So I've already bought a domain.
webhosting, website design aside, I am wondering if I have the right idea of how to go about this:
I don't want to go thru sites like cafexpress (because I want to keep the rights to my design and the majority of the profit).
So being a "home business," do I just contact a local t-shirt print company and have them print the designs in pre-ordered bulk or as the orders come in?
I will be doing the shipping, but should I get a P.O. box? I don't know if I want to put my residence as my return address, because I don't want some creepo showing up at my doorstep simply because he was sent the wrong size or something.
What format am I submitting my designs to the print company? Illustrator file?
Do I need to trademark or copyright every single design I make? Would it even help? Because what is keeping Joe Schmoe, who lives 300 miles away, copying my designs for his t-shirt company and claim that it was just "coincidence?"
What are the legality of using game icons, such as Pac-Man? Do I need permission and/or license? How about public figures/actors?
I hear Paypal is a good merchant service, but adding credit card payment option is more expensive, right? If so, how much more expensive are we talking about? (I don't know what fees are associated with this).
Re: Yet ANOTHER "How do I start..." post from a newbie
1. contact your local printers in your state, see if they offer contract printing. ... send them the shirts, and pay them to print.
2. i guess get a PO BOX - but if you do everything right, I doubt you'll have someone knocking on your door, unless your selling to a market that would do that lol
3. Save your money on your trademark... google 'poor mans trademark"
4. ask your screen printer on what format that like... most want vector not bitmaps
5. don't even think about using pac-man or someone else's trademarked names... do a search on here to read more, you'll find more detailed answers for your questions.
6. just use paypal for now... if you end up doing 3-5k a month, then check into getting a merchant account - we got ours from Costco.com they had the best rates when we checked.
Re: Yet ANOTHER "How do I start..." post from a newbie
dont get a po box. if you are ordering something for your business most places dont ship to po boxes. plus i know i would feel more comfortable if i was buying something that wasn't a po box.
Re: Yet ANOTHER "How do I start..." post from a newbie
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(because I want to keep the rights to my design
You do keep the rights to you design if you use fulfillment services.
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So being a "home business," do I just contact a local t-shirt print company and have them print the designs in pre-ordered bulk or as the orders come in?
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What format am I submitting my designs to the print company? Illustrator file?
Ask the print company. Some will want illustrator, some may prefer something else.
If you are having them screen printed, then you would need to get them pre-ordered. Not sure what your definition of "bulk" is, so I won't say "yea" or "nay" there
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I will be doing the shipping, but should I get a P.O. box? I don't know if I want to put my residence as my return address, because I don't want some creepo showing up at my doorstep simply because he was sent the wrong size or something.
A PO BOX will work, but a private mailbox is better. I used a PO BOX just fine for years.
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Do I need to trademark or copyright every single design I make?
You can trademark your brand.
You copyright your designs.
You don't have to do either before you start selling.
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Would it even help? Because what is keeping Joe Schmoe, who lives 300 miles away, copying my designs for his t-shirt company and claim that it was just "coincidence?"
The copyright and trademark officially establishes that you "did it first" and have rights to that image or brand.
You would have to police your trademark or send cease and desists and/or pursue legal action to get people to stop using your trademarks/copyrights.
What are the legality of using game icons, such as Pac-Man? Do I need permission and/or license? How about public figures/actors?
A general rule is you can't use any design you didn't create. You can't use logos from other companies to create your design. So PacMan would be out. You can't use actors or public figures (search for right to publicity for more info on this). You can use politicians.
Re: Yet ANOTHER "How do I start..." post from a newbie
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Originally Posted by Rodney
A general rule is you can't use any design you didn't create. You can't use logos from other companies to create your design. So PacMan would be out. You can't use actors or public figures (search for right to publicity for more info on this). You can use politicians.
So then how is it, that there are shirts out there, such as "Bert and Ernie," where Ernie is bent over and Bert is giving it to him from behind? Obviously Sesame Street wouldn't allow that, so is there some loophole, or they're just basically printing it illegally until they get a written notice to remove such print?
Also, what's a reasonable (average?) price for having a webdesigner create my online storefront? I'm getting quoted from $1500-5000, but wonder if I'm still being gauged? I'm imagining a store that's pretty standard to most existing tshirt stores: Cosumer chooses the design, size, and color scheme...
One more thing, if it's not too personal, I'd like to know what the average monthly income does your online tshirt store bring in? (you can pm it to me if it's something you dont want to talk about in public.
Re: Yet ANOTHER "How do I start..." post from a newbie
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So then how is it, that there are shirts out there, such as "Bert and Ernie," where Ernie is bent over and Bert is giving it to him from behind? Obviously Sesame Street wouldn't allow that, so is there some loophole, or they're just basically printing it illegally until they get a written notice to remove such print?
Yes, that is correct. They are printing it legally. Some companies do not send written notices to ask people to stop. Some companies will just sue you.
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Also, what's a reasonable (average?) price for having a webdesigner create my online storefront? I'm getting quoted from $1500-5000, but wonder if I'm still being gauged? I'm imagining a store that's pretty standard to most existing tshirt stores: Cosumer chooses the design, size, and color scheme...
It's going to vary depending on what exactly is needed, but that sounds about average. If you search the ecommerce section of the forum, there are more posts on this.
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One more thing, if it's not too personal, I'd like to know what the average monthly income does your online tshirt store bring in? (you can pm it to me if it's something you dont want to talk about in public.
Sorry, that's none of your business
Even if I told you, it wouldn't help you in any way.
Re: Yet ANOTHER "How do I start..." post from a newbie
Anyone have any web designer (preferably in the bay area) who you could refer me to?
Also, did you guys create the online storefront before or after you created your designs? I was thinking of getting the "hard" part out of the way first by having the site completed, and then make it open to the public once I get my designs out.
Re: Yet ANOTHER "How do I start..." post from a newbie
I see a lot of copyright violations at fairs and on-site vendors, but not many advertised publicly. Go to a bike rally and 90% of the Harley Davidson prints you see are violations.
IMO, the hard part of web design is the artwork and if you're designing shirts, you should have that down. A web design program will get you through the coding part of it. I use Adobe GoLive.
Re: Yet ANOTHER "How do I start..." post from a newbie
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Anyone have any web designer (preferably in the bay area) who you could refer me to?
Since we have many members here who are designers or who offer design services, we tend to stay away from web design recommendation posts. You can find lots of freelance web designers by doing a google local search or checking freelance websites like elance.com, guru.com, designoutpost.com, etc.
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Also, did you guys create the online storefront before or after you created your designs? I was thinking of getting the "hard" part out of the way first by having the site completed, and then make it open to the public once I get my designs out.
You really could do it either way, but it might be easier to create a site that compliments your designs if the designs are already done.
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I see a lot of copyright violations at fairs and on-site vendors, but not many advertised publicly. Go to a bike rally and 90% of the Harley Davidson prints you see are violations.
Re: Yet ANOTHER "How do I start..." post from a newbie
As for ecommerce sites I have used a few of them and I will give you my recommendations. Zen-cart.com is great if you know your way around a FTP program and you dont mind doing a little HTML here and there. You will have to do the install yourself which requires setting up a database (not hard at all) and installing the Zen-Cart software on your hosting account. If you don't want to do that there are easy shopping carts available for about at some popular hosts.
If you dont have a clue what I said....You should pay someone. I wouldn't pay that much but it depends on how much help you need.
This is a discussion about Yet ANOTHER "How do I start..." post from a newbie that was posted in the General T-Shirt Selling Discussion section of the forums.
Yet ANOTHER "How do I start..." post from a newbie 
