So for Day 9, here’s my response to one of the Chinese manufacturers sourced from http://www.alibaba.com
Also – I’m beginning to realize two things:
- If I weren’t doing this publically & having I think FIVE people commenting, I think I’d definitely start skipping days. Tim Ferris is right – telling the world what you are going to do, can be very motivating – as in: trying to avoid the public embarrassment of quitting is a great motivator.
- Blogging about this does slow things down. But it also provides motivation (see above), and actually GREAT information (wouldn’t be pursuing the heat ink mug idea if it weren’t for my friend Warren).
Here’s the conversation with one of the manufacturers (so far):
SUBJECT: Re： offer of the Color changing magic mug sublimation cup from tim
EMAIL:
Hello Tim,
Very pleased to meet you.
To answer your questions:
YOUR QUESTION: We just want to make the confirm with you that whether the picture follows is you need or not ?
ANSWER: The picture is what I need, but to be very clear:
- The mug should initially ONLY show this:
- After a hot liquid is added to the mug, it should ONLY show this:
- As you may notice, the only thing that changes is the box around “CSS IS AWESOME” changes.
- Ideally (if possible), the text “CSS IS AWESOME” won’t change position either – only the box changes.
- If it is at all possible to have interim steps as the liquid heats up, that would be great (I’m not sure if this is possible at all). This means something like
Cold or empty mug:
Getting warmer:
Warmer:
Hot:
YOUR QUESTION: kindly pls let me know the size and quantity you need
ANSWER: At the beginning, I am initially looking for a small quantity (10-50 mugs depending on price) to test the market and evaluate quality, and am willing to pay a higher price per mug for this test.
YOUR QUESTION: then we can arrange to make the real sample and best offer for yours soon . Do you agree with our suggestion ?
ANSWER: Agreed! Very excited to work with you on this.
I have some additional questions for you:
- Do you need me to provide any artwork files, or is this OK?
- Do you do direct shipping to customers, or have a contact that you recommend who would provide warehousing & fulfillment?
- If you do provide warehousing & fulfillment, can you provide a rough estimate on shipping time + cost PER single mug order.
From: tim
Sent: November 27, 2016 4:15 AM
To: Brent Kobayashi <Brent@kobayashi.ca>
Subject: Re： offer of the Color changing magic mug sublimation cup from tim
Hello, Brent Kobayashi
have a good day ,my friend
Tks for your mail . We just get to know that you are in need of the mug from alibaba.com . We can supply the OEM service for yours .
we can make the same as per your picture or design shows . We just want to make the confirm with you that whether the picture follows is you need or not ? if so ,kindly pls let me know the size and quantity you need , and then we can arrange to make the real sample and best offer for yours soon . Do you agree with our suggestion ?
A number of the mug has exported to North America ,Oceania ,European and so on . Last month, just a number of the
mug shipped to Canada. So we are sure the quality of our product.
We can make the real sample for your checking the quality as per your requirment soon . If you feel convneience ,kindly pls let me
know your picture or design soon ,and then we can arrange to make the real sample for yours soon
Pls reply at your ealriest convenience
Best Regards
Tim
**
That’s it for today… Things I noticed & didn’t bother with:
- Blog post categories aren’t correct.
- 99designs contest is mostly getting designs where people seem to be googling “random geek humour that has little or nothing to do with the request” – This ask may also not be very suitable for 99designs…I clearly need to at least give the designers more direction (this feels more of an ethical obligation than contributing to the end-goal…). thinking…
Cheers,
Brent
Brent Online 