Question about selling completed cases

[KDJewl]

I understand that I may catch some heck for asking this, as it seems to be an iffy topic, so to speak. But hear me out.

I stumbled upon The Cover Project early last year when I started (re)collecting Nintendo 64 games. Of course I was buying loose carts; they're cheaper and easier to find than boxed ones. But after I collected a substantial amount and had them sitting on my shelf next to my other games, I decided I just couldn't bear to have them sitting there all boring and grey and not that pretty. Then I found this website.

I also discovered the magic that is Universal Game Cases. Now, I live in Canada, so the price of getting the cases shipped to me put me off for a long time, but I've decided that enough is enough. I'm boxing my games. But what I'd absolutely love to do, is sell the completed cases. I'm definitely aware that there are other places doing this, most if not all of them being located in the U.S. It costs an arm and a leg to get any kind of decent amount of cases shipped here to Canada, which was my first plan when I decided my cartridges weren't getting the attention and protection they deserved. As far as I know, there isn't a Canadian-based seller for any kind of custom game cases, and if possible, I'd love to be the first one.

I'm aware that its a big issue of ownership and rights and permission and whatnot. That's why I'm making this (rather long) post. I want to hear some opinions on this, as the ones I've found are very mixed and in different contexts.

Any covers used that come from this website would absolutely have credit given where it is due. The Cover Project would get full credit, as well as any individuals who created/uploaded the covers themselves. I will do my best not to try and undermine anybody with this project. As nice as profit would be, the priority would be to supply people in Canada with a cheaper means of getting their collection looking just a bit better.

What are your guys' opinions on this? I'm going to go ahead and make the necessary purchases in order to box my own collection, and by then I hope to have some feedback on this idea.

Thank you for your time.

[segamer]

So, you want to sell cases and artwork in Canada? Well, you should talk to Shadow Fox and sell his cases. I'm sure if you are buying in volume, he can give you a good deal.

I personally have no issue with selling covers but I would recommend giving back to the community by providing needed scans.

[Shadowfox]

Hey there KDJewl,

Like segamer said, I'm the guy you want to talk too. 

You are correct about there not being anyone in Canada who is selling these cases in mass amounts, mainly due to the fact of the upfront cost in getting a large amount over there.

I'll be honest, the way to make this work would be either a 10,000 case order (2 pallets worth of cases) or the next size up at a 20' container. On the 10k you would still be looking at $1ea USD And we would have to figure out the duties and taxes and fun stuff like that. For a 20' container the price per unit would be lower... but I'd have to run the numbers and get details from you on it.

If these 2 items didn't scare you off shoot me a PM and let's see if we can figure something out.
 

[tylerbgood]

There are a few users here on The Cover Project who sell covers, but they either sell covers they've designed themselves, like wiggy, or produce the cases the covers are used for like Shadowfox. They also both contribute to the site in various ways, which encourages collaboration. Making a profit off of others work is generally frowned upon and is morally questionable in any situation, but there's really nothing people here on the site can do about it, especially since the covers we produce use trademarked images and text. You can find covers from the Cover Project being sold on a dozen different websites as well as on eBay, all without this website's permission. I personally don't have a problem with cover selling though, it's not as if you are stealing profits we would otherwise be earning, since our covers are shared for free and we don't sell them ourselves. The only possible exception to this would be wiggy's custom covers, since he does sell those on his own site.

I would say it is better to not credit or link to The Cover Project from your store, because if you get into legal trouble links to this website could lead lawyers to shut us down as well. That is why we don't sell covers ourselves, even though it would be a great source of income to do so. Sharing them for free is one thing, but profiting off of the IP of large corporations like Sony and Nintendo is just asking for trouble. So it's my opinion that you should keep our name out of it should you decide to move forward with your plan.

And I second segamer's idea that being a shadowfox reseller could be a great idea if the logistics could be worked out and you're serious about this.

[KDJewl]

This is exactly the kind of feedback I was hoping for, thank you guys!

First off, Shadowfox! You're the operator of CustomGameCases, right? I just ordered some Gameboy cases from you

This is a really interesting idea, being a reseller. However with my current income, a purchase of that magnitude is kind of out of the question right now.

As for the question of legality, I totally understand about not linking back to here, that makes a lot of sense. I also understand that I would be selling other people's work, and I definitely wouldn't want to be on the wrong side of someone because of that.

Maybe I'll sit down sometime and work on some of my own covers, and see how that turns out. My priority right now is to box up my own collection; selling them on the side would just be a fun bonus and hobby.