Shirt.Woot

Told myself this would be an after work treat if I had a good night and by some miracle they weren't sold out. Thanks, Max!

nathanwpyle wrote:I believe pay is still 1,000 for the first day, but they're anticipating higher sales numbers as the shirt continues. I was hoping to make it all the way to 5k!

Except unless they decide to have a fluctuating sell-out number, it does the average tee no favors, as the average tee here doesn't sell out at 3K, and most of the best ones don't even hit 2K. If they're gonna set a 1K sell-out for a less likely winner, that might benefit the artist. But at the end of the day, the most logical change is that you just lost over $3000. Even if we presume there's a plurality of people who wouldn't buy at $15 that would at $10, you could have still tacked an extra grand onto your profits, while woot tacked another $15K+ of sales that they don't need to share with anyone. I'm not a huge fan of this design, but general fairness states that you got hosed and woot made out like bandits.

AdderXYU wrote:Except unless they decide to have a fluctuating sell-out number, it does the average tee no favors,
...
Even if we presume there's a plurality of people who wouldn't buy at $15 that would at $10, ...

Maximum debut sell out numbers ...

5k shirts @ $10 = $50,000 gross to Woot, $1k to the artist.

3k shirts @ $10 + 2k @ $15 = $60,000 gross to Woot, $5k to the artist.

To tell you the truth, I'm not sure such a move does Woot any favors either.

Narfcake wrote:Maximum debut sell out numbers ...

5k shirts @ $10 = $50,000 gross to Woot, $1k to the artist.

3k shirts @ $10 + 2k @ $15 = $60,000 gross to Woot, $5k to the artist.

To tell you the truth, I'm not sure such a move does Woot any favors either.

I think the difference is that woot would not have to wait the 4 weeks(actually it's more like 8 weeks) it takes a normal shirt after the first day to sell the extra 2000 shirts. So they might make less in the long long run but much more on the first day.

jesspants wrote:Told myself this would be an after work treat if I had a good night and by some miracle they weren't sold out. Thanks, Max!

Hahaha. Miracle Max is indeed responsible for this

Re: numbers discussion

I too am happy to see woot grow, be a part of it. I/woot have sold 4700 shirts so far! That is awesome for me.

nathanwpyle wrote:I believe pay is still 1,000 for the first day, but they're anticipating higher sales numbers as the shirt continues. I was hoping to make it all the way to 5k!

Hey Nathan--judging from your posts, it seems like they did at least tell you about this increase before yesterday, right?

DianaSprinkle wrote:I think the difference is that woot would not have to wait the 4 weeks(actually it's more like 8 weeks) it takes a normal shirt after the first day to sell the extra 2000 shirts. So they might make less in the long long run but much more on the first day.

True. And yeah, there's also the aspect that some folks won't/can't buy at $15, but would/could at $10.

What it is more indicative of, however, is that they've expanded their screen printing abilities. To allow for 5k sales in a day means that they need to have that kind of printing capacity too. And my guess is that it was all funded by Cheese ... 3k @ $10 + 1600 @ $12 + 8700 @ $15 = $179,700 gross. $20k to the artist, and that's still almost $160k of revenue to Woot.

Narfcake wrote:True. And yeah, there's also the aspect that some folks won't/can't buy at $15, but would/could at $10.

What it is more indicative of, however, is that they've expanded their screen printing abilities. To allow for 5k sales in a day means that they need to have that kind of printing capacity too. And my guess is that it was all funded by Cheese ... 3k @ $10 + 1600 @ $12 + 8700 @ $15 = $179,700 gross. $20k to the artist, and that's still almost $160k of revenue to Woot.

Woot has purchased Skynet and turned it into a printing facility....buwahahahaha!

kevlar51 wrote:Hey Nathan--judging from your posts, it seems like they did at least tell you about this increase before yesterday, right?

The increase actually happened last week, but I guess this was the first shirt to push the 3,000 mark.

AdderXYU wrote:Except unless they decide to have a fluctuating sell-out number, it does the average tee no favors, as the average tee here doesn't sell out at 3K, and most of the best ones don't even hit 2K. If they're gonna set a 1K sell-out for a less likely winner, that might benefit the artist. But at the end of the day, the most logical change is that you just lost over $3000. Even if we presume there's a plurality of people who wouldn't buy at $15 that would at $10, you could have still tacked an extra grand onto your profits, while woot tacked another $15K+ of sales that they don't need to share with anyone. I'm not a huge fan of this design, but general fairness states that you got hosed and woot made out like bandits.

I agree, bad design, but Nathan got screwed.

Narfcake wrote:True. And yeah, there's also the aspect that some folks won't/can't buy at $15, but would/could at $10.

What it is more indicative of, however, is that they've expanded their screen printing abilities. To allow for 5k sales in a day means that they need to have that kind of printing capacity too. And my guess is that it was all funded by Cheese ... 3k @ $10 + 1600 @ $12 + 8700 @ $15 = $179,700 gross. $20k to the artist, and that's still almost $160k of revenue to Woot.

Except "expanding their screen printing numbers" is a totally meaningless gesture in a world where the average tee doesn't scratch their former upper echelon. This is basically what big box stores have done with CDs for years... lose a little profit to turn in quantity numbers and traffic for bigger profit items. We're not looking at "5000 tees at $10 is $50,000, 3000 at $10 + 2000 at $15 = $60,000"... the reality is, even if only 10 people who bought past 3000 would have bought the tee for $15, that's $20 worth of lunch Nathan could have had. The artist is beyond a doubt the most important part of the woot equation, and should be treated accordingly.

If they can afford to put their printing presses on full steam because of Cheese, they should instead put their printing presses on full quality. There is that perpetual lie of "we print this so we can print these risky tees," which is continually proved a lie when we see that risk is not something brought to bear at this site. If we must have that shirt be such a sales powerhouse, and if they want to use that windfall to improve the site, it should be purely to invest in making that lie true. I wouldn't be happy to see tees like that exist in any world... I still insist one can create popular without eschewing quality... but so long as they do, the number one concern should be the artist. We come here (yes, even I come here for this) to see amazing art from our favorite artists. Some people have no idea what amazing art is, and couldn't sniff out an artist if they were doused in paint, but ostensibly they come here for their own warped idea of that. Woot is a corporation. In what sane world does a faceless corporation mean more than the individuals pouring their soul into (or in many cases, selling their soul out for) their work? Swing the numbers any way you want. I'm glad Nathan is OK with being fleeced, but that doesn't make the practice OK overall. It's greed triumphing over what people deserve.

Johndis5 wrote:I agree, bad design, but Nathan got screwed.

Well obviously its not 'bad' cause of the amount of sales. It may not be your personal choice, but bad? No.

AdderXYU wrote:The artist is beyond a doubt the most important part of the woot equation, and should be treated accordingly.

...

While I'm not going to argue about what makes a print a great work of art versus pandering to the masses (because that's all opinion), I do agree that it's the artists that are losing out with the new debut-day sales cap.

My concern is won't this hurt the shirt's reckoning chances?

Because first day sales don't count towards reckoning numbers, right? So those 1700 shirts that (might) have been bought on day two or so won't go towards saving the shirt next week.

osadczuk wrote:My concern is won't this hurt the shirt's reckoning chances?

Because first day sales don't count towards reckoning numbers, right? So those 1700 shirts that (might) have been bought on day two or so won't go towards saving the shirt next week.

Correct - debut day sales don't count. So yes, it definitely affects its survivability in the reckoning. Afterall, a $10 shirt sold is a $15 shirt that won't be sold.

By the math I posted here, Nathan took about a 45% cut in commissions under the new higher cap versus if even just 1 out of 4 bought at $15.

I'd much rather see Woot go with a graduated system instead ... let the first 3k go at $10. If it sells out before the first day is up, continue selling them at $12 with the $1 commission split. That way, artists still get compensated for a good design, and Woot still gets to reap in more revenue.

An additional concern for the reckoning is that this will (at least temporarily) calcify what is there now at the expense of the new shirts since they have to sell so many more to make a dent.

oooops.. forgot to say a big congrats on the cool 8bit art here ..congrats ))))

bluejester wrote:

She didn't go for it. She still married me though, and as a concession allowed us our exit music to be a combination of classical music that faded into the Imperial March as the groomsmen left.

Yup, good times. Good times...

Hah, my wife agreed, thinking it was a great idea, to come down the stairs to Queen's version of the Wedding march from Flash Gordon.

I love her.

Received June 1.

Nice shirt!

Received my shirt today and my Vizzini has no coloring/print where his hair should be...

You're trying to kidnap what I've rightfully stolen!

I just received an email about the missing hair that says we're getting a coupon code for it and it lists the code. Does this code have an expiration date (it didn't list one) or is it just valid until I use it on something?

Alleykatden wrote:I just received an email about the missing hair that says we're getting a coupon code for it and it lists the code.

I did too. Thank you, Woot, for the prompt response! Am I being a total ass if I contact you guys for swapping it out for one with more "hair" than Patrick Stewart?

Missing the hair on a simple pixel art Tee is kind of a major screw up if you ask me.

THE FIX....
Printing out a peice of paper and taping it the shirt as a fix?

(link) http://files.woot.com/ToupeeApplicationGuide.pdf
Not funny or practical!

Plus $5 off a $15 purchase when most new tee
deals comes out to $13 is wrong.

So to recap, your screw up has now become a
promotional deal to sell more shirts?

I'd prefer a refund on mine.

Thanks

spoonmanx wrote:Missing the hair on a simple pixel art Tee is kind of a major screw up if you ask me.

THE FIX....
Printing out a peice of paper and taping it the shirt as a fix?

Not funny or practical!

Plus $5 off a $15 purchase when most new tee deals comes out to $13 is wrong.

So to recap, your screw up has now become a promotional deal to sell more shirts?

I'd like a refund on mine.

Thanks

The email says, "If you're the kind of superficial person who makes a big deal about whether somebody's bald or not, please respond to this email to arrange to replace your shirt with a hairier one."

ducktorwho wrote:The email says, "If you're the kind of superficial person who makes a big deal about whether somebody's bald or not, please respond to this email to arrange to replace your shirt with a hairier one."

Same here, and I responded indicating my preference for one with folicles intact.

bluejester wrote:Same here, and I responded indicating my preference for one with folicles intact.

I just think it's funny they are having us respond to a noreply address.

Edit - Ahh, actually hit reply... Goes to the service address.

Is it bad form to request a replacement for the misprinted shirts?

Well, I got mine sans hair, and I just think it's funny. I like the shirt so much I may just use it as an excuse to get one more (on my dime).

Is this also a reference to Friday by Rebecca Black?

When I got my shirt in, I knew something looked odd and I noticed the baldness but for some reason didn't think much of it and just hung it in the closet.

Then I got the email and laughed. Unfortunately, I forgot to use the coupon code this morning when I ordered 2 of the ever so truthful raisins ruin everything shirt.

Has anyone received a reply on how to get a replacement shirt? Does it involve sending the first one back? That may be too much effort for something so trivial :p

Woot customer service rocks! My original order had been lost (we have really crappy postal service here in my office and it had been placed in the wrong box) so I emailed woot about it, and they sent me a replacement. About 10 minutes ago, someone came in with my lost package! YAY! This shirt had the bald spot, which I actually think is incredibly funny! THEN...not even 5 minutes after I get my lost shirt, the replacement shirt gets here! YAY! And this one does not have a bald spot! YAY! I'm not super excited that I have 2 poison shirts that I get to wear!

Thank you Woot! Staff for being incredibly awesome!! You guys rock!

Thank you, Woot, for sending out the replacement shirt, and for getting it here so quickly!

Well, woot is awesome. I just got my replacement shirt with hair. Thank you!

As a side note, I was comparing it and it looks like my first shirt has shrunk, maybe when I washed it. Is that normal with woot tees?

goldenthorn wrote:Yep! Woot shirts are 100% cotton, and definitely not pre-shrunk.

Labeled or not, pre-shrunk cotton just means they won't shrink as much. They still will. How much of a difference exactly, I don't know, as different manufacturer's knits and fabric react differently.

I too hang dry most of my stuff, though more so for financial reasons. Hang dry = zero energy costs.

Anyone get anywhere on the shirt Woot riddle? Thought I had it figured out but no cheese. Perhaps a someone wiser in the ways of Woot has made some headway?