☆ How will the process go?
After pledging starts, the designs that reaches the minimum quantity will be made into samples. The pledging period will ends immediately once I'm satisfied with the claw clip samples and will make no further adjustments. All the pledge designs that didn't make enough quota for a production will be REFUNDED.
If the design you pledged for reach the quota, you should receive an email for the discount code, which you can then use for the full price launch. I will calculate interests via the pledge, and begin the production process IMMEDIATELY after pledging period is over. The sales made after will be reduced from the quantity of the ordered production, and NOT a preorder.
For example, in the past I will put preorder product to be able to have the quantity as less than 0, and once people PO'd, it will go into the minus. I then use the quantity of the minus to order the production.
With this system, say, if there are 50 pledges on Sunday's clip. I will send the pledge coupon to those 50 pledges, and order 100 clips into production. And once they're ready to launch, Your pledge DOES NOT secure you a claw clip. You will have to come back and purchase the claw clip at FULL PRICE minus coupon value, you just get it cheaper than everyone else.
I will see if I can set up a system where the people who pledged will have access to secure the claw clip earlier maybe 3-5 days before I officially launch them, but I can't guarantee it for now T_T
The short answer is that pledging system is very similar to kickstarter, and I'm from Thailand, and we don't have access to use kickstarter :)
The long answer is...
I have reflected from on my last 2 claw clip projects, and I've noticed that most people are willing to wait up to around 2 month-ish for smaller items, 3-4 months at the maximum, which I get, normally small items shouldn't take that long to produce, right?
WRONG
Claw clips are perceived as small items, but the timeline it takes to produce them is nowhere near fast AT ALL. Here's the actual time it took for them to work on my last two projects.
1. Make the first sample, take anywhere from 2-4 weeks.
2. Shipping the sample to me take 2 weeks. If I'm not satisfied with it yet, repeat step 1
3. Once I'm satisfied, I make content to promote the claw clip, and accept preorders for roughly 1 month.
4. Preorder ends, if a lot of people PO'd a certain design, cool. If not many, I might have wasted the sample cost AND the time it would have made the rest of the batch be shipped to me faster, but oh well, the MOQ is high so it's better to not fall deeper into the risk of shouldering the production batch cost and not selling, I normally just cancel a design.
5. Production is 2.5-3 months. Shipping to me is another 2 weeks.
6. Quality checking takes 1 week.
7. Fulfillment, yay !
That's a whopping 5 months and a week, if I assume minimum time was taken in every steps. And it definitely WAS NOT minimum time taken in my latest batch due to more complicate designs and more volume 😅
With the new system, the process will become :
1. Pledging starts right after I post an interest check.
2. After a pledge reach the quota, we will begin sampling
3. Make the first sample, take anywhere from 2-4 weeks.
4. Shipping the sample to me take 2 weeks. If I'm not satisfied with it yet, repeat step 3
5. O̶n̶c̶e̶ ̶I̶'̶m̶ ̶s̶a̶t̶i̶s̶f̶i̶e̶d̶,̶ ̶I̶ ̶m̶a̶k̶e̶ ̶c̶o̶n̶t̶e̶n̶t̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶p̶r̶o̶m̶o̶t̶e̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶c̶l̶a̶w̶ ̶c̶l̶i̶p̶,̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶a̶c̶c̶e̶p̶t̶ ̶p̶r̶e̶o̶r̶d̶e̶r̶s̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶ ̶r̶o̶u̶g̶h̶l̶y̶ ̶1̶ ̶m̶o̶n̶t̶h̶.̶ → I surely will still be making content about them, but we don't have to wait for the 1 month preorder window anymore ! Skips to 7.
6. P̶r̶e̶o̶r̶d̶e̶r̶ ̶e̶n̶d̶s̶,̶ ̶i̶f̶ ̶a̶ ̶l̶o̶t̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶p̶e̶o̶p̶l̶e̶ ̶P̶O̶'̶d̶ ̶a̶ ̶c̶e̶r̶t̶a̶i̶n̶ ̶d̶e̶s̶i̶g̶n̶,̶ ̶c̶o̶o̶l̶.̶ ̶I̶f̶ ̶n̶o̶t̶ ̶m̶a̶n̶y̶,̶ ̶I̶ ̶m̶i̶g̶h̶t̶ ̶h̶a̶v̶e̶ ̶w̶a̶s̶t̶e̶d̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶s̶a̶m̶p̶l̶e̶ ̶c̶o̶s̶t̶ ̶A̶N̶D̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶t̶i̶m̶e̶ ̶i̶t̶ ̶w̶o̶u̶l̶d̶ ̶h̶a̶v̶e̶ ̶m̶a̶d̶e̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶r̶e̶s̶t̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶b̶a̶t̶c̶h̶ ̶b̶e̶ ̶s̶h̶i̶p̶p̶e̶d̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶m̶e̶ ̶f̶a̶s̶t̶e̶r̶,̶ ̶b̶u̶t̶ ̶o̶h̶ ̶w̶e̶l̶l̶,̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶M̶O̶Q̶ ̶i̶s̶ ̶h̶i̶g̶h̶ ̶s̶o̶ ̶i̶t̶'̶s̶ ̶b̶e̶t̶t̶e̶r̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶n̶o̶t̶ ̶f̶a̶l̶l̶ ̶d̶e̶e̶p̶e̶r̶ ̶i̶n̶t̶o̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶r̶i̶s̶k̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶s̶h̶o̶u̶l̶d̶e̶r̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶p̶r̶o̶d̶u̶c̶t̶i̶o̶n̶ ̶b̶a̶t̶c̶h̶ ̶c̶o̶s̶t̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶n̶o̶t̶ ̶s̶e̶l̶l̶i̶n̶g̶,̶ ̶I̶ ̶n̶o̶r̶m̶a̶l̶l̶y̶ ̶j̶u̶s̶t̶ ̶c̶a̶n̶c̶e̶l̶ ̶a̶ ̶d̶e̶s̶i̶g̶n̶.̶ This just won't happen, so no more wasted money and resource on samples ! and my office can only fit so much claw clips...
7. After I received the final sample. Actual launch will start. A specific quantity of claw clips to be produced is already set and won't be changed. This is when you can use your pledge coupon to secure your item at a cheaper price, people who didn't pledge CAN ALSO secure their spot !! Just at a higher price. Production is 2.5-3 months. Shipping to me is another 2 weeks.
8. Quality checking takes 1 week.
9. Fulfillment, yay !
That's already a one month reduction on the process ! Doesn't seem that different, but the commitment at the beginning is so MUCH lighter with 1$ dollar pledge. The real commitment start at step 7, when you pay the full price less pledge coupon, and after that only have to wait roughly 3 months untill the start of fulfillment. I think that's much better than than a full price 25-30 USD claw clips and wait five months process like before. Other than the production time strain, this helps SO MUCH more in smoothing the process behind the scenes,
With the new system, your pledge will helps :
☆ Gauge the ACTUAL interests of the upcoming products
If you're an artist, merch maker, or business owners, you might know this very well already. But how well social media "interest check" is received, it doesn't always translate to good-selling product, or even a product that doesn't net a loss. I still very am grateful about every comments hyping and supports you guys always showed me whenever I pitch a new idea🥹 And I don't blame you, cause there is so so soo many amazing ideas shown by everyone every single day. But 1$ pledge is more solid of a commitment than comments. It's also to keep the momentum going AND get my stuff out faster, less time worrying how many should I make, and whether if it will sell, etc. I think this would benefit everyone more. My space is very limited, and so is my money. My house can only fit so much merch that takes forever to clear up, as well as the amount of money put into samples that may or may not be a hit, or even be up to par to be sellable.. (looking at you 300 USD sample cost PER plushie. omg)
☆ Sheltering the cost of samples
From the point above, SAMPLES ARE COSTLY. And I know that is a risk every artist takes when developing new items. With the 1$ pledge, which might seem low. But with everyone contributing. It does become significant enough to make me more confident to actually producing it, or calculate how many to make to be enough for everyone !
☆ Claw clips will most likely become cheaper
And more accessible for everyone's budget, nice ! To be more accurate, it would allow me to price the claw clips more accurately. The manu will quote me the unit cost of the claw clips AFTER I give them the total amount. Which normally will be after the preorder already closed. But with the current system, I have to price it EVEN BEFORE I know how many people want to get it. I might have priced a claw clip at 30 because only 10 people were interested, and the cost was super high. Turns out much more people are interested but the price being 30 was too inaccessible, and if only 5 more people are interested, the unit cost goes down and I can now price them as 25, and so and so on. I feel like the 1$ pledge is an accessible choice to show your interest ! I'm not sure if I explain this clearly here.. T_T
I know every artists cry a little when they have to throw out their epoxy keychains that have turned yellow..(If anyone know what to do with them, please let me know) but yes, merch making can generate a lot of wastes, but if it's been produced already, it might as well be loved to the fullest of their shelf-life right? That's my sentiment. Because we live in a world where minimum quantity order is a thing, By only producing stuffs that reach MOQ interest, we're half-way guaranteeing that at least, there will be someone who house
☆ This might sound bad, but honestly makes me less stress😭
Yea making any new stuffs that has mold costs or sample costs is STRESSFUL. Filling up your house with stock until you have no place to walk is STRESSFUL. Rushing my manu to finish production faster because it has been 4-5 months that people have paid me in full is STRESSFUL. Me and I think anyone tbh, would want to avoid that situation altogether. I would hope this system will be a win-win for everyone !
PS. I saw this system set up first on taobao and another niche apparel clothing maker name Nyahallo, and I feel it's a very promising system, and I personally want to detach myself from kickstarter system I was blessed to be able to use once, but since I no longer can, nothing can be done about it. I'm looking forward to implement this !! Here's hoping it goes well so this can be a running thing we can keep up for bigger projects🤞🏻💕
I could go on, but if you've read this far, thank you ! I hope this helps you understand at least a little bit more of the process going on behind the scenes of making a product. I still enjoy it very much, it's the best job I could ever dreamed of since I was a kid and I for sure want to continue doing it. However, I also love trying new methods of giving a better experience and smoothing the process for you all to be able to enjoy what I create easier ^_^ Thank you for reading this far, and for your continued support <3
Zuzu.