Apologies for bumping such an old thread, but I have to get some things off my chest because I think about this project every few days, the mistakes I made, and what I've learned. I'd like to get it out of the way with some apologies for the first e-commerce venture I made.
[1] Flaw in the general idea. I apologize for thinking plastic wristbands were comparable to a hand-made armband. For an individualistic movement showing resistance, there should never have been a mass-produced icon. Further, arguing we should be subtle was a mistake. While I think they do fill a niche where it'd be unreasonable to wear a large white armband, it should not have been promoted as an alternative. I don't think these ever should have been sold, although there was enough support for profit. Adam Kokesh's armband idea was far more radical, eye-catching, and ultimately would have been multitudes more successful at raising awareness. I definitely apologize to Kokesh for having a heated argument with him over that.
[2] Flaw in design. Like Cowlesy said above, not paying the extra for the ink-injected text was a huge mistake, and I apologize for it. I did not have money at the time and was only able to buy what I did off a loan. On top of that, I did not know if I'd be able to cover costs. If I did something like this over again, I would invest a much larger sum in initial inventory purchase because ultimately, it was a very minor factor in the price. I ended up throwing out ~1/3 of the bands because I didn't believe they deserved to go through the company's QC. Shipping was the lion which needed to be tamed, not the product costs. These could have been healthfully sold @ $3 shipped each if I applied what I now have and know.
[3] Flaw in shipping. These should have been shipped every day, not once or twice a week. But, haha, you know... I only had a Learner's Permit at the time and didn't know about USPS's free pick-up service.
[4] Flaw in software configuration. I should have tested and improved the system which handled purchases. Overall, it wasn't too horrible. There was only one customer who didn't receive product out of ~50 unique customers. However, there was one critical mistake I made by not ensuring customers received order confirmation immediately after their purchase and instead did it manually when I got around to it.
[5] Mistake in how I handled emails. No email addresses were ever given out, but there should have been confirmation a customer wanted to be added to an e-newsletter (actually, I think there may have been now that I think of it, but I deleted the newsletter, so Idunno for sure). While I didn't utilize the e-newsletter too much, I did go through all the receipts (along with receipts and emails from other projects) to promote a money bomb for Ron Paul's campaign. I'm no longer convinced the impoliteness was justified and apologize for it.
[6] Mistake in where I purchased from. I purchased the large quantity of wristbands from a corporation which pays taxes. Ultimately, the taxes paid are negligible because product cost was ultimately a very low factor, but if I did it over, I would either hire an individual to make a product or do it myself. At the very least, I would keep it local.
[7] Mistake in cleaning up an image I posted. You know if you saw it. My computer screen at the time had very low contrast, so I couldn't tell the difference between white and slightly-off-white. I was amused and horrified when I first saw it on a better monitor.
[8] Mistake in priorities, not keeping Slave Uprising popular by narrowly focusing on SUW. While I should have been promoting the idea behind SU, I was promoting wristbands pretty exclusively. Big mistake which cost long-term revenue with worse consequences aside.
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