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Author: Subject: Science Madness Mug
Syn the Sizer
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[*] posted on 17-7-2021 at 07:27


I do understand the concern with profit, I have no issues with selling it not for profit or donating all profits to a science/education foundation of some sort. I am planning on adjusting the settings this evening.

Syn'




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[*] posted on 17-7-2021 at 09:24


Well, enjoy the profit from my mug purchase, as it's supposedly already boxed up and on its way. You earned it. Specifically by getting off your ass and setting it up so someone else can just order one from their dining room table before work while perusing the board with a cup of coffee in ... a suddenly less attractive mug. Click, click, click I mean my new mug is on the way. (True story)
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Syn the Sizer
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[*] posted on 17-7-2021 at 13:11


Quote: Originally posted by violet sin  
Well, enjoy the profit from my mug purchase, as it's supposedly already boxed up and on its way. You earned it. Specifically by getting off your ass and setting it up so someone else can just order one from their dining room table before work while perusing the board with a cup of coffee in ... a suddenly less attractive mug. Click, click, click I mean my new mug is on the way. (True story)


I am sending all the previous profits which are minimal as of right now to Polverone or a charity/foundation of his choice.

Also I will be rerunning the campaign for a short time and will share here when it is back up and for how long.

Syn'




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[*] posted on 17-7-2021 at 13:48


The store is up and mugs are available at cost, I will be running it until July 19th at 4pm CST. After that I will take it down.

Syn'




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Tsjerk
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[*] posted on 17-7-2021 at 14:12


I didn't post it, but while posting last time I typed a long story about not asking people about the margins they make or not make, because often they can't explain for whatever reason. I don't know if there was something fishy going on here, but asking about margins publicly can only make someone look bad when things can't be explained publicly, even if there were the best intentions in the world.

You buy or you don't, obviously there was a profit being made. Now a select few have mugs, congratulations.

And don't be an ass and get one now.

[Edited on 17-7-2021 by Tsjerk]
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Syn the Sizer
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[*] posted on 17-7-2021 at 14:31


No, I had nothing fishy going on. It was all discussed with Polverone long before I even started looking for a place to print them. Btw, thanks for the support on this post.

Of course I was looking to make a small profit. My profit per mug after administrative fees and before paying the royalty fees was $5.65USD.

I did learn something though, do not ever let anybody know that you are selling shit. What I should have done was lie and bullshit, tell everybody "Hey I found this site selling Science Madness merch" posted the link and left it at that.

I need to remember the climate we are living in where everybodys goal is to make themselves feel better by bitching about EVERY little thing people do without getting the whole story.

Cheers
Syn'

[Edited on 17-7-2021 by Syn the Sizer]




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Tsjerk
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[*] posted on 17-7-2021 at 14:37


You could have just said you were making a profit, and if there was anyone who thought they could do it for less or thought it should be done for free, they could contact Polverone. No need to lie, just tell people to stick it and get on with business.
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Syn the Sizer
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[*] posted on 17-7-2021 at 14:39


You do have a point



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karlos³
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[*] posted on 17-7-2021 at 14:47


Syn, why did you have let this got to you so much?
Tsjerk is totally right.

This is a nice product and a nice idea, and you should continue carrying it.
Its such a niche product anyways, those guys who wondered about the profit margin should have a grip to their own nose and ask themselves how many items would have been sold ever.
Two hundred?
And thats how much, considered an unlikely 50% profit margin?
Still not even a half months pay for most people working in our profession!

So please keep it realistic guys, thats just a nice item and the few dollars might go or not into someones pocket or get donated or not, I don't care.
I actually think the person putting that all on its feet deserves a small obulus for that idea and for making it all work and so on.

Syn had a great idea and made it work, I don't get it why anyone can be against that.
And talking about the profit in public... I'll be honest, there is no way there isn't a certain undertone in this that just doesn't sound nice.

@Syn: please continue this product.
The idea is great and the product looks nice and why shouldn't you deserve a little bit of every mug sold?
Thats just natural, after all, you made this all work.
Effort should be paid off.
After all, we're not a several ten thousands large community, I would be suprised if you would sell more than the 200 I claimed would be realistic...
So put those few dollars in your pocket where they rightfully belong.
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Syn the Sizer
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[*] posted on 17-7-2021 at 15:29


You know karlos³, that is a good question, I am not sure why I let it affect me like I did.

That was my thought too when originally thinking of the idea. I was never planning on getting rich, I have other projects for that. On the 19th I will determine if I keep the store up or not.

I do have other items I am planning, they will be my designs and will absolutely be for profit.




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[*] posted on 17-7-2021 at 16:49


How is selling a coffee mug any different than selling chemicals or glassware?
If the deal was worked out with Polverone in advance, why is this somehow a black deal?
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[*] posted on 17-7-2021 at 22:07


Look, to be clear, when I posted earlier, I wasn’t trying to stop Syn from selling mugs. If Polverone approved him using the logo for personal profit, obviously I can’t and wouldn’t do anything about it. I was just trying to say that if I was in his position, I would sell them at cost, and not take any profit, because the goal would be to get the product out to as many members as possible, and keeping the price really low would help with that. Additionally, I know from making the shirts in the past that it takes very little effort to slap the logo on an item and order as many copies as you wish, so the fact that the logo was already ready made means very little actually needs to be done.

All I was doing was stating my opinion, so I was surprised when Syn sent me a message saying that he decided to stop selling them specifically because of my post. My apologies for inadvertently instigating the interruption in sales.

PS: if anyone is interested in one of the Sciencemadness t-shirts that I’ve given out to several secret santa recipients over the years, I’d be happy to drop-ship one to you at cost (which will vary depending on whether VistaPrint is doing a sale or something). Just send me a U2U if you’re interested in one.




Come check out the Official Sciencemadness Wiki
They're not really active right now, but here's my YouTube channel and my blog.
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Syn the Sizer
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[*] posted on 17-7-2021 at 22:42


I didn't say it was because of your comment, I said out of respect for you I took the store down. You were not the only one who voiced distaste at the idea of profiting. I messaged you voicing that and asking your additional opinion of how you felt I should proceed with the future profits.

It was my choice to take it down and ultimately my choice to lower the price. I am not blaming anybody, I do agree that the idea is to get the product out to as many people as possible.

One point however, when a company uses a logo it is usually with permission from the owner or creator, not reinvented everytime a new product with the licence is produced. If I licenced the use of a Disney character and logo, it would be the official logo and probably original studio art created by somebody else.

I am fine with selling it at cost, as you said it is easy to slap a logo on anything.

Syn'




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[*] posted on 19-7-2021 at 05:16


Nothing innately wrong with "profiteering". It's a small gesture that required some work and design and the person who puts in the work to design and then get approval deserves a little overhead. Just my opinion. I'll be ordering one, I hope you keep the $5.65 in overhead Syn and thanks for doing the work.
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[*] posted on 19-7-2021 at 05:48


I just see this thread now and I must say that I like this initiative. If you make any profit with this, that's perfectly fine to me. Just to show that I support this kind of initiatives I ordered one, now that it still is possible.



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Syn the Sizer
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[*] posted on 19-7-2021 at 06:26


Thanks guys,

I did however drop the price to cost and after some discussion I have decided to keep the store up and even with the support of those who were fine with me profiting it will remain at cost. Sorry to the few who paid the inflated price before hand.

Syn'




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Tsjerk
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[*] posted on 19-7-2021 at 12:53


Well, for next time; in capitalistic economies all prices are inflated. Otherwise there would be no economy. And no SM mugs.
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Syn the Sizer
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[*] posted on 20-7-2021 at 09:09


That is very true. Any products I sell aside from this one will be for profit.

I get the concern that this forum is non-profit. Polverone does not ask for money, he does not have adds on the forum to help cover costs, there is no paid section or paid advantages for members. It is a not for profit community.

Again thanks for the support on this.

Syn'




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Tsjerk
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[*] posted on 20-7-2021 at 09:33


Running a forum as this isn't expensive, you just have to pay for the server to run. If Polverone needed he could ask for donations any time, I think he did in the past, maybe he has a better paying job nowadays?

But of course, the time spent by the moderators is priceless.

[Edited on 20-7-2021 by Tsjerk]
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[*] posted on 20-7-2021 at 10:56


Very true, if I wanted I could setup a forum on my paid host and my hosting is still paid for over a year and it goes from there. Maintaining your URL is cheap and yearly hosting these days for a simple forum is nothing.

You are also correct that time spent by mods is priceless. I run a Discord Chemistry server for PoorMans Chemist, similar situation, 100%. It takes a lot of effort to police the trolls while also trying to allow peoples freedoms.

Though the difference is with Discord you need to be extra careful, they will delete without warning. Some topics discussed here would get a person or server banned.





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[*] posted on 21-7-2021 at 15:48


What a nice initiative to make these mugs :)

I was just wondering: did I miscalculate something or are they just huge?
The website says 11oz or 15oz, which would be 325ml or 444ml, according to the Wiki.

Obviously, for me this almost is a must-have, since a number of my friends call me "the mad scientist". Apparently my answer to "Marten, what's that nice pink stuff over there on your cupboard?" scared the hell out of them - "That's a solution of caesium manganese sulphate.", which made them think I had a beaker of Cs-137 irradiating the room. LOL
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[*] posted on 21-7-2021 at 18:52


Waiting to hear from gearbubble, but they said it was shipped 5 days ago and yet USPS said it's not received the parcel to deliver. I wonder if there's some kind of hiccup from the start stop issues. No worries, it will get sorted, I don't expect anyone here to field questions, just more of a heads up for others perhaps in the first run boat.
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[*] posted on 22-7-2021 at 05:35


That is possible, keep me posted, if you have any more concerns, I will contact gearbubble and see what's up.

Syn'




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[*] posted on 24-7-2021 at 14:49


Received my mug today (the large size). Now I won't have to refill my coffee cup so often...which is a real nuisance!

So, what does "RG" stand for?
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[*] posted on 24-7-2021 at 18:12


Quote: Originally posted by CharlieA  


So, what does "RG" stand for?


I know the question wasn't for me, but if you look closely, you'll see "sciencemadness" written inside the circle that makes up the forum logo. This element rests on a line (which can be interpreted as a text box) and, together with the "RG", forms the "org" of the forum's full online address. As Karlos said, it's a kind of "message for the initiates":D.
Interestingly, I hadn't paid attention to these details until I saw your question and decided to take a closer look at the image. I thought it was just the SM logo applied, but I see it's actually a really nice design.




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