Onion game Cases

[sheep2001]

I was thinking this too.  As I'm currently looking for a way to case my snes and master system games without importing ugc's.  I would be looking for an initial batch of around 300.

If these cases are going to be another year off, then I'll have to look for another solution. 

[Polygon]

That's a great idea and I would support it as well.

[Azarkhel]

I'm definitely comfortable with a pre order scenario. Need onion game cases!

[scarmullet]

I have a question,

Could you make cases like the 12 Disc Poly cases, the same dimensions and all that, but have cartridge holders in lieu of the CD holders?

http://www.burnsmart.com/Twelve-Disc-Black-Poly-Case-p/68.htm

[Seymor Onion]

Can't the tabs that lock the nes game down be cut off to make it accommodate the black cases? After all, we already have to do a lot of cutting on the UGC covers.

You guys can modify my cases however you like, but doing so will void the warranty. 

Suggestion:

How about using Kickstarter as a way to get cases going?

You could list several different styles of case, each under it's own project.  Users could donate towards whichever case they want, basically "pre-ordering" the styles they want.  Once you reach your goal, you collect the money and place the order for the cases.

This would allow you to potentially make multiple styles of cases at once without worry of not selling enough to cover your costs.

I'll look onto this! 

[Seymor Onion]

I have a question,

Could you make cases like the 12 Disc Poly cases, the same dimensions and all that, but have cartridge holders in lieu of the CD holders?

http://www.burnsmart.com/Twelve-Disc-Black-Poly-Case-p/68.htm

That would certainly be possible, but they are too small for a majority of the console-based games' manuals.

[Seymor Onion]

Hey, guys.
I've been doing some reading on the Kickstarter website, learning how to set up a project.
I've hit a bit of a snag with shipping costs, and need your help.

I need the weight and measurements of a box of 100 empty, unmodified UGCs.

The measurements of the outside of the box should be in inches.
(any measurement that is not equal to an exact number of inches (like 4 & 1/32 in) should be rounded up to the next inch (for example, 4 & 1/32 in would become 5 inches).

The weight should be on the Shipping Label.
If it's not there, you can take it down to a US Post Office, and use the scale at one of their kiosks. 

[sheep2001]

when i was asking over at shopper inc to look at shipping some - they said the dimensions/weight of 1 box of 100 is:
20 lbs

26” x 16” x 12”

[scarmullet]

I have a question,

Could you make cases like the 12 Disc Poly cases, the same dimensions and all that, but have cartridge holders in lieu of the CD holders?

http://www.burnsmart.com/Twelve-Disc-Black-Poly-Case-p/68.htm

That would certainly be possible, but they are too small for a majority of the console-based games' manuals.

I know, I use them because I don't have manuals.

[Azarkhel]

Pretty sure a couple shops near me have the 12 disk poly cases with no disc moulding. Just use those? Great fit for NES carts.

[Seymor Onion]

I hate to say it, guys, but Kickstarter won't work...

Apparently, that site is designed to give donators "Rewards" that are far below the actual dollar value a person donates.   

I've been crunching the numbers for nearly 12 hours now, and have been unable to find a way to use that site,
without having to charge everyone at least TWO TIMES what you'd normally pay, if you just bought them through the website. 

I did learn a few things about shipping to certain countries.
Due to USPS Size Restrictions, I can only put up 68 Onion Game Cases Per Box,
and it would cost roughly $107 to ship that box.
This only applies to:
Australia, Brazil, British Virgin Islands, Greenland, Iceland, Mexico,
the Antilles part of the Netherlands (this does not apply to the other parts of the Netherlands)
Philippines, and South Korea.
So, people in those countries would wind up paying about $2.08 USD per Game Case.
IMHO, that's too much to pay for shipping.

I know I can get a better deal, by getting an International Shipping Contract with a different company.
I plan to do some shopping around, for a better international rate, before I start selling the Game Cases. 
I have to wait until the Prototyping Stage is finished before I do this, as they are going to need the actual dimensions of the product, in order to give me custom rate tables to use with my Shopping Cart software. They'll also need that info, so we can work together to determine the appropriate custom shipping box size ranges.

One of the cool things about having a shipping contract, is that they charge by the overall volume and weight of all boxes per order, instead of for each individual box.
If you've ever received multiple packages for a single order that say "1 of #" on the shipping label, you've seen an example of this already.

By the way, information on the Kickstarter website looks to be written by a PR Guy, and is lacking many details, such as how they handle Shipping and Handling.
From what I've gathered by Googling, it's up to me to pad my Goal Amount, to cover S&H for "Rewards" to Donators. Since I gathered that info from sources outside of their website, I can't trust the truthfulness of it.

For the record, I plan to ship to 27 Countries outside of America.
If Shipping and Handling could be Separate from the $ Goal, and set up to be mandatory, AND depend on where the donator lives, then I could use their website after all, without the need to double the prices to you all, in order to be able to cover the shipping, if I get thousands of donators from the most expensive countries to ship to.

[UncleBob]

Could you set rewards like:

$X - 50 NES Cases Shipped Anywhere in the US.
$2x - 50 NES Cases Shipped Overseas to an approved country.

Additionally, my suggestion for Kickstarter was to get the initial order placed.

Basically, set your goal amount towards whatever it is you need to make to place the order without a loss on your end... so if you have to order 100 cases at fifty cents each and you plan to sell them for a dollar each, then you can set your goal at $50 and have the "rewards" be the 50 cases.  Once you've raised enough to cover your costs, you'd place the order - ship out the "rewards" - then have the rest of the batch to sell.

If you limited the initial rewards to US customers only, overseas customers could still get in - after the product was available to the mass market.

[Azarkhel]

And for the record, $2 USD isn't bad at all really. Those damn 12 disc poly cases cost that much here, that said I'm all for cheaper shipping!

[Seymor Onion]

Hmm...
So you guys wouldn't mind the temporarily higher pricing, if I went the kickstarter route, to get the project started faster?

And for the record, $2 USD isn't bad at all really. Those damn 12 disc poly cases cost that much here, that said I'm all for cheaper shipping!

Assuming that you have all 759 NES Games (this is an estimate; I can't find a hard number for this), and use one extra case for a Super GameBoy,
that's 760 cases x $2 = $1520 USD.
Now, that's a number that I would love to cut in half (if at all possible). 

[Seraph Man]

The price is something you would cut once you have made a substantial profit. However, keep in mind that kickstarter was a suggestion. If you don't feel it's right for you, then you don't have to go that route. You could just set up a preorder page on your website, and use the money from the preorder to get production started, then when the rest of the money comes in, pay off whatever you need to.

Most people wouldn't buy 759 cases to start with anyway. They start small, see how it works out, then order more, depending on finances and other factors. Over time, sure, it will be appear expensive, but this isn't exactly the cheapest hobby to begin with. And seeing as how I've seen people try and sell individual UGCs for $3.50 a pop (plus tax and shipping) in the past, $2 isn't all that shocking.