I would like to unleash a MASSIVE STORM of visibility on the world

[Member33070]

Hmm, okay folks...sorry if I seem disorganized (shh...I am)

Okay, so things I need to work on:

• volunteer page
  
• shop cheaper than Cafe Press
  
• Etsy store
  
• refining tumblr for random submissions from whoever
  
• general website for all of this
  
• place to submit designs for store (if not offered)
  
• place to submit designs for etsy shop (if not offered)
  

I do like Visibly Ace / Visibly Asexual. Thankooo.

Ookay back to being sleepy.

[NotAllHere]

If you were to buy a bulk order of black rings, you should be able to get a huge discount on them. Then, you could turn around and sell them cheaper, depending on how much the actual cost is. Usually, huge orders, in the hundreds or so get cheaper, because you are buying so many. You may not need them all right away, but rings don't spoil, and should be relatively easy to store(keep them in a box, out of the way and don't knock it over)

I'm willing to submit T-shirt designs. I've been meaning to do so to the store here for awhile now. I don't have much actual drawing talent, but I've thought of a few designs, and my sketches aren't that bad. Do you want me to just upload a photo of the sketch here, or send it somewhere?

[SubtleFire]

For the knitting pattern folks: If you're on Ravelry, feel free to talk about your pattern ideas in the Asexual Knitters and Crocheters group. I'm the extremely lazy and distracted mod there and would love to see more discussion going on there. If you aren't on Ravelry, what are you waiting for? It is yarny heaven!

Also, if you are creating new patterns for this, it is very easy to get listed there as a designer and post your patterns for free download, or charge for them if you wanted to do it as a fundraiser. Once you've done that, there is also a widget you can post that will allow people to download the pattern without a Ravelry login. That could go on the visibility Tumblr, your own blog, etc.

[Member33070]

Awesome stuff about the knitting. GAH info overload but I'm loving it.

Arty T-shirt people: If you have designs now...well you know I'm not really sure if we should be posting them? Since we're going to put them in a shop eventually...

How about gather them for now and tomorrow I will make a place to send them... :)

[sai]

How about friendship bracelets? I've seen some on here before, here's one I've been working on (the colours are brighter than in this photo):

They're fairly easy to make, I learnt how from this book (it's aimed at kids but that just makes it really easy to understand),

also explains it pretty well.

[Laramie]

I like the idea of perhaps a grey t-shirt that just says "the black ring thing" in black letters. Perhaps with a heart for the "ring" i-dot, and a spade for the "thing" i-dot. Just because I think a lot of people would be like, eh, what's the black ring thing? And then we can explain :)

[Laramie]

Oh, and I was also going to say that myfreeforum.org forums come with a free website hosting service which includes a shop template. If you think it might be useful, I'll let you know more about it. And if you do ever decide to use it, I'd like to code/help code it :)

[bristrek]

As someone who was involved in the election of the flag I'll confirm that it's public domain. Use it however you please.

Someone earlier said they thought it was too much like the gay flag? Most flags are formed from straight lines be they the various LGBTetc/QUILTBAGPIPE flags, or nation flags. There was a long long process designing it in which there were were many suggestions and designs and A1 was pretty much always ahead and then won in the final election that involved as much as the asexual community as we could reach. So no, no different flag.

If you want to use the flag and stick a cake in the middle of it or something that's fine, people modify flags all the time. But we're sticking with what we have - it's already gaining recognition in various LGBTetc groups around the world, is being used in Pride and so on.

Love this idea though, even if tumblr says your account doesn't work. I think contacting GSAs or similar groups in various schools, colleges and unis is a good idea. Building up our presence in Prides around the world and other real world LGBT groups. I know not all of us consider ourselves queer and part or the LGBTetc umbrella but they do have resources and networks that could be useful to us, and to providing support to asexuals who have only realised that they aren't heterosexual but not what the rest of it means and go to LGBT spaces first.

More attention in the media would also be useful though I don't know how to go about that.

Also, and here's something I'd LOVE, is if we can get asexuality added to the list. You know, when someone has a ticky box of sexual orientations there to measure an organisation's diversity or something - I'd love us to be there. I usually click bisexual because that's closest to me (with me being demi-biromantic) but it always feels a bit iffy but I refuse to click 'don't want to say' either because I DO.

[Laramie]

bristrek87: the address has now changed to http://visiblyasexual.tumblr.com

[Member33070]

Yes sorry about the URL change folks, I will go fix all the links now. Gawd I was so tired yesterday it was absolutely ridiculous.

Going to go website hunting...I will look into that forum/shop thingy...

I was just thinking I might need help coding things. It's been like...4 years since I've done any coding and that was just for a personal website. Like...CSS style sheet and iframes sort of skill. :lol: It was pretty swanky stuff back in 2001. Still can't believe that was 10 years ago.

Anyway, off to get a move on...

[Member33070]

GAH I can't edit my posts in IE and my Firefox is locked because I have it on this program that locks it during the day so that I won't get on the internet (And I'm circumventing that by using IE...)

*cough* Anyway I'll fix the links above tonight unless a mod would like to go in and do it.

[Member33070]

Okay, so Visibly Asexual is the official name I'm going with.

I've made an email address that will forward to my email so that I can check it. This is going to be used solely for those "registration emails" for the time being...I'd rather not open it up to questions and such, I would die from all the stuff going in my personal inbox. Please don't try to send me emails through it right now.

I made the Etsy shop but I have no forking clue of what I'm doing in there. If there's anyone who is thinking about making handmade things to sell I'm really not sure how we're going to get the handmade stuff in the shop and sell it and ship it. We would have to give everyone who is making stuff access to the account, as far as I can tell, and that can get...messy...if someone untrustworthy goes in there, y'know? I honestly don't have the time to run every single thing we're setting up...I would prefer more of a hands-off approach to the sales (like make a shirt design, post it, it sells, we get money without me needing to interfere). If we can figure out a more hands-off method I'm all for it. Maybe the Etsy shop can be for distinct one-of-a-kind, handmade, auction-quality items to raise a bunch of money for our organization. Like someone can make an asexy thing and then get it autographed by a famous asexy-ish person or something?

Ookay, so the blank Etsy shop profile thingum is here:

http://www.etsy.com/people/visiblyasexual

Here's the thing about Etsy fees:

20 cents for each item listed

If I list one ceramic mug, it costs 20 cents. If I have three of the same mug and put them all in the same item listing, it costs 60 cents. After four months if the item does not sell out it is unlisted and you may easily relist it if you like (at the same price).

3.5% sales fee

When you make a sale on Etsy, you will be charged 3.5% of the total sale price. This percentage does not include the shipping price.

Currency conversion

All fees and items on Etsy are listed in US Dollars. Currency conversion is handled automatically by our payment processing service like our merchant account.

Paying fees

All Etsy fees are paid using either the credit card you put on file when you sign up as a seller, or via PayPal. Each month we add up all your fees, and on the last day we send you an email with a list of everything. You can pay your bill at any time manually using your credit card on file or PayPal account.

Fees FAQ

Can I sell on Etsy if I'm not in the United States?

Yes you can. We already have many sellers in other countries and we'll be adding built-in currency conversion soon.

What currency are fees in?

All fees are in US dollars. When paying your fees by credit card, currency conversion is handled automatically by those services.

If I unlist an item, is the listing fee refunded?

No it's not.

I have not "signed up to sell" yet.

I'm also a little concerned about the whole money situation...I wonder if there's a way to get a seperate account just for this. I would have to talk to my bank. I could make it under my name but have it completely unlinked to anything of mine. Maybe make a business account, or a nonprofit account if they exist? *is clueless*

Edit: Okay, I'm reading some rules on Etsy...

You may not transfer ownership or sell your Etsy account to another party.

So since I made the account, it would have to always be mine.

An Etsy account may not be used for the purpose of redirecting traffic to another web location. This includes shops in Vacation Mode. Please contact Support to have your account closed if you are no longer using it.

So I have to delete the shop if we're not using it, and this kind of makes me wonder if I can direct people to the not-handmade shop (to keep in line with the rest of Etsy's rules) on the handmade shop (the Etsy shop)

Multiple accounts held by one person

DOs and DON'Ts > Membership > Multiple accounts held by one person

Having more than one account ("multiple accounts" or "alternate accounts") is not something Etsy encourages, as it has the potential to cause confusion. Keep in mind that information and accounts cannot be merged in any way, so if you change your mind later, you will not be able to transfer information (for example: listings, feedback, Favorites or purchase history) from one account to another.

All of your usernames must be clearly disclosed in the Public Profile for each account. A statement such as, "I am also on Etsy under these usernames..." would be acceptable. This includes all buying and selling accounts, as well as any collective accounts in which you are involved.

You may not use an alternate account to purchase items from yourself. This is called "shilling."

You may not list the same unique item in more than one shop on Etsy.

Etsy will not issue refunds for accidental activity stemming from multiple account ownership (for example: listing items in the wrong shop). Members who do not comply with Etsy's policies may be subject to review, which can result in suspension of account privileges and/or termination. This includes all of your accounts by virtue of association. In other words, Etsy reserves the right to suspend the use of the site for a person and all username(s) he/she operates under. Suspended or terminated members remain obligated to pay Etsy for all unpaid fees per our Terms of Use.

I don't have an Etsy shop, but anyone that does who wants to be involved should be aware of this.

Multiple people using a single account (collective shops)

DOs and DON'Ts > Membership > Multiple people using a single account (collective shops)

An account that involves more than one person is called a collective. There are three scenarios, outlined below, in which multiple people who know each other may use a single Etsy account.

[snip...we're not a collaboration]

Sharing a Shop: Multiple people who know each other use a single Etsy account to post their own separate items in one shared shop. For example:

Two jewelers share a collective Etsy shop, but they create and list their own jewelry items in the shop.

Friends, a painter and a furniture maker, share a collective Etsy shop to sell their work together.

Vintage sellers share a shop to sell their vintage finds together.

This would be us.

If your shop is a collective, you must comply with all of Etsy's policies, including these additional policies specifically for collectives:

A collective may not be an entity that represents multiple artists by contract (for example: a gallery, a consignment shop, an art agency/dealer).

Okay, so no being paid for your work somewhere else and selling it here too. *shrug* I doubt that's going to happen.

Because of the laws concerning charitable fundraising, a charitable collective shop must comply with Etsy's Charitable listings and shops policies.

Okay, so if we're considered a "charity" there's more rules to follow. Since we're not an official "charity" yet I won't worry about this right now.

The Public Profile page for the account must fully disclose accurate information about each person, their role in the Etsy shop and the relationships between the members of the collective. Etsy may ask for additional information and require that the shop comply with additional requirements.

Each one of us will need to reveal ourselves. No anonymous-ness - LOUD AND PROUD.

The individual who registers the account is responsible for all activities of the account, the bill and any transactions. This includes participation in community features of the site.

Okay, that's me.

All standard listing policies (see Shops and Listings) apply to collective Etsy shops. All handmade items must be created by members of the collective.

Members who do not comply with Etsy's policies may be subject to review, which can result in suspension of account privileges and/or termination. Suspended or terminated members remain obligated to pay Etsy for all unpaid fees per our Terms of Use. If any of Etsy's policies are violated by a member of a collective, all accounts registered to members of the collective are subject to suspension of privileges and/or account termination. Etsy will not mediate disputes between individuals within a collective.

It doesn't sound like there's an easy way to do this...more research!

[Member33070]

Etsy Team

Okay so I made an Etsy "Team"...(gosh I'm a n00b at Etsy, seriously!) Etsy folks can join the team apparently and then sell stuff through the Visibly Asexual shop...if I'm understanding this properly.

I've got it locked/moderated so if you're interested you won't show up right away, I have to approve you first.

http://www.etsy.com/teams/9187/visibly-asexual

Visibly Asexual (http://www.etsy.com/people/visiblyasexual) is the "Captain" of this team.

Again, I'm still pretty clueless but it's up. LOL. :lol:

I'm not going to "sign up to sell" until I have the bank account situation figured out. I think I will go to my bank and ask for their advice on it, and make a seperate account just for this. I will need some start up fees, but those will come out of my own pocket...hopefully it's not too much, but I'm willing to do it. ;)

Also they want an address to sign up. I could get us a PO Box or something but I think those cost quite a bit more than we have at the moment. Maybe later? I'm willing to use my address as long as it's not...displayed as our address anywhere. You know?

So if you're interested in the Etsy shop thing go up there to the Team link and sign up, we'll figure this out together. There's a discussion board inside, here's the link once you're in. Remember I have to approve you first.

http://www.etsy.com/teams/9187/visibly-asexual/discuss/

(Anyone who isn't a member of the team should let me know if you can see this board or not...I'm curious as to its privacy.)

[Member33070]

Now I'm off to work on the Zazzle shop. Somebody said that's cheaper than Cafe Press...I also found a board where they were discussing Zazzle vs. Cafe Press on quality with some images:

http://www.etsy.com/teams/9187/visibly-asexual/discuss/

Interesting stuff.

So you T-shirt folks, get ready.

An artist friend of mine uses another site that I am also going to look into, and Printfection was mentioned elsewhere, so it may not end up being Zazzle. I'd just like to get all the shops ready before I start work on the website. ;)

[Member33070]

Zazzle Shirts

Okay, so apparently if we make a massive amount of shirts we can get them shipped in a group order for "as low as "$2.98 per shirt"...

Investigation:

Basic T-Shirt (6.1 oz Pre-Shrunk 100% Cotton, Sizes Adult S - Adult 6X)

Base colors = Ash, black, brown, dark gray, deep forest, gold, grey, light blue, lime, maroon, natural, navy blue, orange, pink, stone green, white, yellow red

If we order 6000 shirts = $3.19 each (SIX THOUSAND?!)

50 = $7.14 each

25 = $8.52 each

12 = $10.65 each

Basic American Apparel Shirt (Fine Jersey, Adult S - Adult 3X)

Base colors = black, brown, creme, forest, heather gray, lemon, light blue, mint, navy blue, silver, white

6000 = $3.69 ea

50 = $8.24 ea

25 = $9.84

12 = $12.30

Value T-Shirt (5.5 oz 100% Heavyweight Cotton)

Base colors = white only

6000 = $2.98 ea

50 = $6.67 ea

25 = $7.96

12 = $9.95

There's like 800,000 more, but that gives you a basic idea as to the t-shirts and how they are cheaper when one buys more. So it might be cool if someone has an empty garage and they'd be willing to store a bunch of shirts to make them cheaper. But then there'd be shipping costs...

OKAY HERE'S THE ZAZZLE STORE YO.

http://www.zazzle.com/visibly_asexual

(still working on it...)

[drwhofreak]

I'm totally in on raising visibility!

just tell me what i can do :)

[NotAllHere]

Ah, Birdwing, this is getting scary and confusing, for me! I can't imagine how you are handling any of this! I would love to do more to help, but I'm pretty much a newbie everywhere on the Internet, so... But I'll take a look through the links and see what i can help with. If you have anything more specific in mind, drop me a PM. Right now, I'm working on some shirt designs. I don't know if anybody would be interested, but I can also make dream-catchers. Not 'technically' authentic Indian ones, since i don't use suede to wrap them, but they are all handmade and they don't take me much time. I could do the Asexual colors, if nobody minds that any 'gray' beads would me more white than anything else. And I'd have to go buy more beads, but that's definitely not a problem.

[Member33070]

Don't worry SemiFeral (as well as anyone else)...

my ramblings on here are probably more for my benefit than anything else. Anyone who is confused about this...don't worry!

Right now, I'm just getting the shops set up and opening them up for volunteers to get excited and join. Nothing is happening with them yet.

Once all of the shops are set up (hopefully just Etsy and Zazzle for now), I'm going to put in one of my designs and test the system out. Something in the Etsy shop, something in the Zazzle store. I'll sell them if anyone bids. :lol: See how that process works.

Along with the "putting something in the shop" requires me to go make a bank account for this. Any money I make with the "Test objects" will be used to fund the startup costs of the website. Any leftover money will get put in the fund for visibility projects.

I just want to make it clear that I am getting no profit off of anything. I want to keep this nonprofit. Anyone interested in helping should realize that their efforts in the store aren't going to be them cashing in on their T-shirt idea and making gobs of money. Etsy sellers - we may be able to work out something where you get reimbursed for your materials? This all takes time, though, because I would have to write checks out and you would need to prove the cost of things you bought so that nobody's scamming our little nonprofit selves. Then that begs the question of "well, should T-shirt designers get paid for their time?" No, we're a nonprofit, nobody is getting paid for their time. Just irreplaceable materials. All fuzzy gray areas to be thought about.

Once I have it all figured out, I'll start work on the website. At the start, the website will simply be links to the tumblr, Etsy shop, and Zazzle. Then I will add more stuff:

• thingy where the tumblr posts show up on the page
  
• thingy where volunteers can sign up for visibility projects
  
• thingy that explains all of the processes of volunteering
  
• visibility project idea hub/forum/board
  
• once some projects get started, a page with all of the current projects going
  

Something like that. I plan to have a page somewhere on the website that FULLY explains how EVERYTHING under the sun related to this project works. :)

Noooo worries.

Still workin' on the Zazzle shop, BTW. Made some counters for both pages so we can track how famous we get. 8)

[Member33070]

Alright, so I've been deeply investigating the Zazzle stuff and made a quick item...an asexual flag shirt with a "painted" effect. It was fairly easy to do, here it is in the shop:

http://www.zazzle.com/painted_asexual_flag_shirt-235467894199106378

If you're someone looking to submit t-shirt designs, apparently they need to be HUGE. This graphic needed to be 30 inches wide to print at that size! Keep this in mind when designing stuff.

I can't set the royalties any lower than 10%, they won't let me, so we will be making 10% profit per shirt. On this one, that's about $1.30 per shirt. Again, all of that will just get put in the fund for visibility projects. I'm making no profit here! ^_^

Woohoo this is fun!

[Avistew]

This thread is talking about badge (button) designs, I thought it might be useful to get the two threads "in touch" :P

[Member33070]

Good stuff. I'm not much of an artist beyond AutoCAD and architectural sketches, but artists visiting this thread should also check out the other threads and erm...submit things there too. I don't claim any monopoly to these designs. ;)

[Member33070]

I'd like opinions on this though: I want to keep the thing nonprofit, but...Etsy sellers especially will be putting a lot of time into their work. T-shirt designers that draw amazing original art might spend days on it.

If these people got a bit of money back for their efforts (nothing like being paid wages per hour or anything, just a little "thank you") is that getting outside of the realm of nonprofits?

[Member33070]

Facebook page:

http://www.facebook.com/?ref=logo#!/pages/Visibly-Asexual/207116705976880

Twitter:

http://twitter.com/#!/VisiblyAsexual

[Yellow Fish]

Love the effort, might help out here and there. From my personal perspective the big thing with Asexual Visibility is that we need to reach sexuals, not just asexuals. I think there's so few of us that to make a real difference in getting this well known allies will be essential. LGBT folk seem natural allies given their raised awareness of non-hetero perspective, but we do have a lot of overlap with heterosexuals too given all the sub romantic orientations. I'd guess in terms of life experience pan/bisexuals are our closest match as a general group? Which is rather amusing in some sense? [All that might just be nonsense, too.]

But yes - how do we reach people beyond the asexual communities is key. And I think also - how do we reach people in real life, outside internet? There's loads of people doing visibility work online, but the offline aspect is well important, too. I don't have any answers to all that of course. Right now. But yeah - that's where I feel there's a bit of a gap in visibility efforts that do exist?

I am open to people I know. Well not in their face open, but loads know and it's not difficult finding out that information about me. But I am not really into parades and marches. What other options are there to spread the word outside of random personal encounters?

[Member33070]

Well, the plan I have is this:

- Get stores running with t-shirt designs, etc. Get people online involved in actively creating things for the world. People buy them and feel that community connection that this is real and not just something on the internet.

- Once the stores are up enough to function (and they are, this is the next step) start developing the website where volunteers will sign up for community projects - this is key. These things involve actually going into the community and spreading awareness. There will be a link here between ideas and actually implementing the ideas. All this has yet to be sorted out fully.

- Once the website is up, the shop will pay the fees for the website to run as well as any costs associated with the projects. We can adjust the shop prices up and down accordingly.

- The larger goal is to hope that all of this gets noticed. It probably will by the media. It's important to make the website the "go-to" place for visibility ideas and how to get the ball rolling in one's community. It's going to be a hub for visibility, so that when people want to know how to start an asexual group in their area or something, this site can help and be the big resource. :)

[SubtleFire]

Two things:

1) The Etsy wording on redirecting traffic is kind of ambiguous. I think their intent is to keep people from setting up a shop solely to redirect to another site/store. However, it does seem to give them the flexibility to ask you to remove a link if they object to it being there for some reason. So it might be okay to say something like "In addition to our handmade items, check out our t-shirt designs!" and have that linked just once. If this isn't covered anywhere in the FAQ/help, there is probably someone you can email/message to ask.

2) Re getting information to school GSA-type groups and teachers: With the school year winding down, it is probably a good idea to wait to send materials, email teachers/sponsors, etc. I think early August would be good for high schools and mid-August to early September for universities. That way they are already thinking about the new year, things to do, materials and websites to update, and other changes that come with a clean start. So we have some time to carefully craft these materials and let Etsy and Zazzle do their work so we have money for paper, stamps and so on to send them.

2.5) The open letter to teachers might be a good starting place but will definitely need to be reworded, rearranged, and added to. As it is, it's aimed at those already perusing the site and IMO needs more basic educationalness(?) to it. Maybe include a handout in the envelope to cover the basics and be used as a quick reference?

[Member33070]

^ thanks for the Etsy info.

I agree with everything on the letters. :)

I'm getting a headache now...been working on this for 6 hours solid...

I think it might be time for a little break? :)

So the Zazzle shop should have a T-shirt, a ladies' tank top, and some Keds shoes coming in pretty soon. Some of them need approval but just lettin' peeps know. 8)

[Member33070]

Zazzle shop has a bunch of stuff now.

http://www.zazzle.com/visibly_asexual

If you have graphics you want to go on stuff, figure out what you think the graphic should be on and PM me. I will send you the email to send the graphic to and make the item in the Zazzle shop.

You will get full credit for your work in the product description, so let me know what name you want me to use. If you don't provide one I'll use your AVEN name du jour.

My favorite design I've made so far is the tie:

http://www.zazzle.com/flaming_a_tiny_triangle_tie-151787706668330005

and the necklace:

http://www.zazzle.com/asexual_flag_tiny_triangles_necklace-177623896224419655

(I really, really want the tie and the necklace :lol: )

[Member33070]

GAH EVERYONE EVERYONE LET'S MAKE AN ASEXY CALENDAR. :lol: :lol: :lol:

IS ANYONE DOING THAT YET?!?!?!?!?!!?!!!!

We can have like...volunteer models doing asexy things like drinking tea, eating cake and hugging cats. ;)

[Member33070]

GAH THE SHOES GOT APPROVED. LOOK LOOK LOOK.

http://www.zazzle.com/asexual_flag_tiny_triangles_shoes-167640529456071213