Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
SSL Certificates<br />
One important requirement for selling your goods on your own site is an SSL<br />
Certificate. This means that your customer’s data is secure and encrypted when<br />
they’re shopping on your site. When they enter their credit card information,<br />
they don’t want to risk their information leaking out through an unsecure and<br />
untrusted connection. You can learn more and get hooked up with an SSL Certificates<br />
at GoDaddy for cheap.<br />
I recommend reading discussions from other brands regarding eCommerce and<br />
your t-shirt biz.<br />
Uline.com offers some handy options for shipping t-shirts. These Poly Mailers are quite<br />
popular and allow you to put stickers on them for branding.<br />
Shipping & Fulfillment<br />
I remember when I got my first order back in 2005 after I launched my own line<br />
of “Mylkhead” t-shirts. Mylkhead was the alias I went by while freelancing and<br />
this was my first batch of t-shirts. I was so excited when I got my first order! I<br />
had to think fast and find a way to mail the t-shirt to my first customer.<br />
All I did was run to a big box store like Wal-Mart and grab a bunch of padded envelopes<br />
that looked big enough to hold a t-shirt. I wrote the customer’s address<br />
on the package with a sharpie marker and wrote my own return address (my<br />
house) on it too. I threw in some Mylkhead stickers and buttons, printed out<br />
their order from PayPal and wrote a hand-written thank you <strong>not</strong>e on it. I sealed<br />
the whole thing up, took it to the post office and sent it priority mail. Then I<br />
THREAD’S NOT DEAD • Jeff Finley<br />
gleefully skipped out of the post<br />
office and went on my way. My<br />
wife Kim wrote down their order<br />
on a spreadsheet and checked<br />
off that we shipped it. Done and<br />
done!<br />
Most first timers do it themselves<br />
like I just described. This is totally<br />
cool and it’s what I would recommend<br />
if you’re just starting<br />
out. There’s no need to get a UPS<br />
or FedEx shipping account and<br />
schedule pickups or use a third<br />
party distributor at this stage.<br />
If things go right, you’ll get more<br />
and more orders. Soon it becomes<br />
quite a bit of work just to keep up with the demand. Even 10-20 shirts a<br />
week is a lot of work! I remember Rob Dobi posting a photo of a week’s worth of<br />
Full Bleed orders making a giant pile on his bed! Damn!<br />
5 Self Shipping Tips<br />
1. Uline has cheap mailers that are good quality<br />
2. Get a shipping scale to weigh your packages<br />
3. You can use PayPal to print labels and generate tracking codes<br />
4. Ship products within 1-3 days of orders to keep customers happy<br />
5. Don’t charge a lot for shipping! $3-$5 is enough for a t-shirt unless you are<br />
shipping internationally. More on this in a second.<br />
Shipping with Paypal<br />
I found a specific tutorial on shipping your products with PayPal if you’re looking<br />
for more detailed information.<br />
Sales & Fulfillment 69<br />
Rob Dobi<br />
shipped all his<br />
Full Bleed orders<br />
himself. If you<br />
get popular, you<br />
might have a<br />
stack like this on<br />
your bed!
Change language