Onion game Cases

[Azarkhel]

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.

Exactly! I love the idea of your cases man but i'm not gunna order nearly 10000 of them in one go haha. Definitely just be ordering 100 here, a 100 there as I need them.

And yeah, if the kickstarter thing is too complicated just do a simple pre-order thing on your website and use that to get production rolling. Definitely keen to see this start happening this year.

[Seymor Onion]

I found a math error! It was a genuine face-palm moment. It might even leave a scar...   

Kickstarter will work @ $2.00 per case, shipping included, for USA customers, by way of a 50-pack for $100.
I'm now going to try to get that down to $100 for a 100 pack.

Tomorrow I'm going to have 2 friends, and 3 family members, check my math.
I know, i need a vacation; but now is a bad time... 

[Polygon]

Well, considering that the UGC is about $1 each, I wouldn't mind paying an extra $1 for cases that I don't have to modify. If you managed to get them down to the same price that would be awesome.

[WolfAlmighty]

The NES cases can't come soon enough!  Any idea on a time frame? 

Of course, then I'll have the dilemma of whether to switch out my existing cases with Onions or not.  Knowing how OCD I can be with regards to my collection, I probably will.  I could almost convince myself to stick with modifying UGCs if it weren't for the fact that if I were to approach a complete NES set I would still have about another 500 cases to modify. 

[Seymor Onion]

I managed to get the USA Price down to $1.55 per Case. This Includes Shipping.
Once I got that sorted, I was able to adjust all of the international prices, to accommodate their Shipping Costs.

Here's a list of the countries I'll be able to offer "Rewards" of 100-Packs of NES/SGB Cases to:

Group 1: United States

Group 2: Belgium, Finland, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands (Not Antilles), Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Vatican City.

Group 3: Canada

Group 4: France

Group 5: Germany

Group 6: Japan

Group 7: New Zealand

Group 8: Poland

Group 9: United Kingdom & Northern Ireland

All left-over Cases will be available for purchase on my website, (after I ship out the Rewards to the donators) to all of the countries above.

Once they're available on my website, I'll also open up shipping to include:
Australia, Brazil, British Virgin Islands, Greenland, Iceland, Mexico,
the Antilles part of the Netherlands,
Philippines, and South Korea.

If I'm unable to get a Shipping Contract by that time, I'll also offer a 68-Pack and a 136-Pack,
so you guys (who live in the countries in the Blue Paragraph) can get the best bang for your buck.  

As to the timeframe, it's going to take 1 month (give or take a week) to set up the Listing on KickStarter, and let it run it's course.
Then I may have to wait a week or 2 for Amazon Marketplace to release the funds (assuming I hit the goal).
Once I have the funds, it will take anywhere from one month, to 6 months, to get the cases made.

So, it will be between 2 to 7 months before the cases are available.
I'll update the timeline as the information becomes available.

I am going to try to get the Injection Molders to split up the order into two shipments; so I can fulfill the Rewards ASAP,
and so my house won't bust at the seams when I try putting 100,000 cases into it. @_@

They'll all fit; but I'll have to visit my folks @ bedtime, so I'll have a place to sleep, for the first couple of days,
if I can only get all 100,000 cases in a single shipment.  


EDIT: It will be it will be between 2 to 7 months before the cases are available On My Website, and Begin Shipping to You Guys.[/b]
The listing on Kickstarter may take up to a week to set up, because I have to sign up for an Amazon Marketplace Account and verify my identity.
I'll post here once it's up and running.
Once it starts, I have 30 Days to hit the $ goal.

[UncleBob]

I'm curious - which type(s) of cases are you going to put up first?

[WolfAlmighty]

2-7 months isn't bad at all!

So when you mention your 'target', is that a target dollar figure for a certain type of case?  Since the NES seems to be at or near the top of the list, how many preorders would you need before you'd hit your goal and be able to start producing?  If these things are UGC quality you can put me down for 300 cases (though at $1.55/case it'd definitely have to wait until next month as I'm WAY over budget on my game spending this month, heh).

[Seymor Onion]

2-7 months isn't bad at all!

So when you mention your 'target', is that a target dollar figure for a certain type of case?  Since the NES seems to be at or near the top of the list, how many preorders would you need before you'd hit your goal and be able to start producing?  If these things are UGC quality you can put me down for 300 cases (though at $1.55/case it'd definitely have to wait until next month as I'm WAY over budget on my game spending this month, heh).

Yeah, I need to hit 100,000 dollars.
Up to 10 K of that is going to be eaten up by Kickstarter and Amazon. -_-
It will take 645 100-packs to reach that goal, or about 64,500 Cases.

Should I wait until March 1'st to start the Kickstarter thing, so you all have plenty of lead time?
Once It gets posted, it only stays up for 30 days.

I'm curious - which type(s) of cases are you going to put up first?

The 8-Bit NES / Super GameBoy Case [OGC-SNES-SGB].

I will be able to start making additional case types, after the Second, or Third, run of NES Cases sell out.
The first run is a break-even run, because the Mold costs so much to make.
This will not be the case, for the other cases, that have the same Outer Dimensions as the NES Case, as the mold will be modular:

When I get on the Second or Third run of NES Cases, I will do a poll and ask what to make next:
Famicom
SNES & SFC
n64 & Memory Pak

Atari 2600 & Jaguar

Genesis & EA
Genesis Game Genie & Sonic & Kunclkes
Sega Master System & 32X Carts

Interspersed throughout will be the cases for CD-Based games and Handheld Games.
I don't have a timeline for those yet, as I need to get a couple of UGC-Style-Case Product-Llines active first.

[WolfAlmighty]

Yeah, I need to hit 100,000 dollars.
Up to 10 K of that is going to be eaten up by Kickstarter and Amazon. -_-
It will take 645 100-packs to reach that goal, or about 64,500 Cases.

Should I wait until March 1'st to start the Kickstarter thing, so you all have plenty of lead time?
Once It gets posted, it only stays up for 30 days.

Yeowtch...100k might be pretty tough to reach, but I wish you success.

Oh, and definitely don't delay anything on my account.  30 days is plenty. I'd just rather wait for my month-end paycheck to hit before I pledge anything so I'd be able to do so the first week in March.  Do whatever you have to to get as many people on board as quickly as you can.

[Azarkhel]

That's a whole bunch of cases for this kickstart thing. When you have a prototype to show get onto all the big gaming blogs about your product. Your going to need all the advertising you can get.

Surely a smaller run without this program would be easier for you to manage? I'm not sure of the maths or the markets for this but 100k seems like a huge amount to start with.

Either way ill be preordering as soon as you allow it.

[WolfAlmighty]

That's a whole bunch of cases for this kickstart thing. When you have a prototype to show get onto all the big gaming blogs about your product. Your going to need all the advertising you can get.

Surely a smaller run without this program would be easier for you to manage? I'm not sure of the maths or the markets for this but 100k seems like a huge amount to start with.

Yeah, I'd be inclined to agree.  Trying to raise $100k for this project over the course of 30 days would be a colossal undertaking even with decent exposure.  It's kind of stupid that Kickstart only gives you a 30 day window.

[sheep2001]

Aaargh.  Nes case is the only one I don't need 😥

I do however wish you the best of luck.  I can't help but feel that separating out the different systems is going to make it difficult to reach your target, as well as cause you warehousing issues in the long run.  It may be late in the day for you,  but have you thought about a universal empty case with a removable tray for the different carts?

Not sure if an empty inner would drive the cost of injection moulding down at all?

I would happily buy up the outer cases I need, knowing that the inner trays to fit my carts would be available at some point in the future.  This would perhaps make it easier to reach a goal of 10000 outer cases.  You could then do a smaller run of the insert trays to go inside.  (perhaps the trays could be modifiable to fit a smaller outer case similar in dimension to the 12 disk poly too?)

Just a thought.  I know you've already done considerable research, so you may have already decided this approach was a bad idea.  Good luck with whichever ones you decide on.

[amarthar]

$2 is also okay with me. That's roughly what I buy double-wide DVD cases for. Though I would like to know how much would it cost to ship to Poland.

[Seymor Onion]

You make an excellent point about the prototype.
I'm going to get some prototypes made before I do the Kickstarter thing.
I'm going to start meeting with some local companies and get some made.

That right there is going to knock 5,000 off of the 100,000 goal.
As part of the prototyping process, 3D CAD Files will be generated.

With the 3D CAD Files, and photographs of the Prototypes,
I can quickly get quotes from multiple injection molding companies,
across the country, via e-mail.

And you know what that means! A lower overall price could be had for this project. 
If I could make fewer cases, and still qualify for the ideal price-per-case, that would be sweet,
since I am going to be limited on warehouse space, for a while.

When I ran the numbers for Shipping Quotes yesterday, I added 1 inch to each dimension of the 100-Pack Shipping Box, and I also added 1 pound, to be on the safe side.

Using that method, Shipping to Poland is 114 USD.
When you add that to the previous cost estimate of the cases, that works out to about $2.39 per case.
Poland is the most expensive country to ship to.

[mojoeskateco]

I've been following this thread and it seems too good to be true.

It's a very good idea!

I would probably just stick to UGC for NES games as I am already 200 deep.

I would still suggest to start with the NES cases for production though.  I think they would sell the best initially.

I'd like to offer my services free of charge if you need them .. I'm a certified accountant so I could help with budgeting / cost tracking, cost / benefit analysis, etc. 

If you have some different production options with cost estimates I can help evaluate the alternatives.  Perhaps free your time to work on the cases.

I'd love to see the project succeed.

Cheers and good luck!