2016 Holiday Ornaments (and 2017 Monster Calendar) are on sale now!

[factotum]

Wow. So, CafePress has actually suspended my new ornament designs because they say that they need proof that I am the owner of the Order of the Stick trademark.

Wow, that's insane. Even more insane that they'll apparently allow you to keep selling the *old* stuff with the same trademarks on it while blocking the new ones!

[The Giant]

OK, it looks like they've been reinstated. If anyone notices any other issues, feel free to let me know.

[Griffincat]

I just got my shipping notice and tracking number. Hopefully by the end of the week, I will have my 3rd OOTS calendar.

[The Giant]

I updated the first post in this thread with info on the ornaments, including pictures if you want to see the text on the Belkar one. Check it out.

I just got my shipping notice and tracking number. Hopefully by the end of the week, I will have my 3rd OOTS calendar.

Huh, that's weird, because the calendars are still at the printer. I guess Ookoodook has pre-assigned tracking numbers so that when the calendars come in, they can just slip them in the addressed envelopes and send them out right away.

[gooddragon1]

I updated the first post in this thread with info on the ornaments, including pictures if you want to see the text on the Belkar one. Check it out.



Huh, that's weird, because the calendars are still at the printer. I guess Ookoodook has pre-assigned tracking numbers so that when the calendars come in, they can just slip them in the addressed envelopes and send them out right away.

Was there some other time the oots was in a cold/snowing environment? Cuz Durkon doesn't look like a vampire here ;P

[The Giant]

Merchandise exists outside the time/space continuum. Everyone knows that.

[Keltest]

Merchandise exists outside the time/space continuum. Everyone knows that.

What was it the Demon Roaches said? All the merchandise stuff is in a timeline where characters exist in their most marketable state?

[Ceaon]

(T)his year I've been drawn away from my desk more than normal by a pair of back-to-back family emergencies.

I hope everything turned out all right or at least calmed down again.
In any case the ornament design clearly didn't suffer from your away-from-deskness; it looks gorgeous.

[Hazelnut]

Wow. So, CafePress has actually suspended my new ornament designs because they say that they need proof that I am the owner of the Order of the Stick trademark. I need to somehow prove that I'm me, even though I have been selling the same content on their site for twelve years—and the trademark type on the bottom of the ornament has literally been unchanged through all 12 previous ornaments (which are all still unsuspended). So, I guess it's good that I went ahead with that sneak preview, or else this would be a lot messier than it already is.

I have no idea how long this will take to resolve, but apparently no one will be able to buy the new ornaments until someone at CafePress fixes it. The old ornaments seem like they're still available, though I suppose anyone interested in buying the old ornaments will want to wait to buy the current ones, too.

Every year, CafePress gets a little bit more unfriendly to people who are trying to use it to maintain a brand rather than just randomly throwing up a slew of indiscriminate designs that the company can aggregate and sell cheap. I have strongly debated closing my shop there every year for the past few years, this might well be the last straw to get me off my butt to find an alternative after Jan 1.

Stay tuned, everybody.

Goodness, that's laughably ridiculous - but only because you found it in time to have it fixed in time.

I've never ordered any of your merch off CafePress before today, mostly because I didn't have much spare/OOTS cash and it was solely buying books + kickstarter. (also not really much of a merch buyer) I loved this years' ornament design though, so decided to get one. (would be even better IMHO if it didn't have the cursed numerals of 2016 on it.. but what can ya do eh? ;-)) The whole series would be nice, but thanks to my wife the tree always groans from the weight of decorations anyway... so happy with just one now the whole crew is on there. Also got a grow up princess unicorn for my daughter who loves OOTS, although it's sad to me she's now too old to want her old man to read to her, I have many hours of great memories of us reading OOTS together and I think this design will delight her. Never seen it before, but for all I know it's been there for years.

Anyway, rambling on a bit now but my point is that CafePress website was a little kooky, and had to re-do the whole order once but I thought the shipping was very reasonable indeed. It would be good if you do look for an alternative that the shipping rates for us non-yanks remain reasonable. :D

Thanks for OOTS Rich, it has given me & my family much enjoyment over the years. Have a great xmas!

[Ted The Bug]

Goodness, that's laughably ridiculous - but only because you found it in time to have it fixed in time.

I've never ordered any of your merch off CafePress before today, mostly because I didn't have much spare/OOTS cash and it was solely buying books + kickstarter. (also not really much of a merch buyer) I loved this years' ornament design though, so decided to get one. (would be even better IMHO if it didn't have the cursed numerals of 2016 on it.. but what can ya do eh? ;-)) The whole series would be nice, but thanks to my wife the tree always groans from the weight of decorations anyway... so happy with just one now the whole crew is on there. Also got a grow up princess unicorn for my daughter who loves OOTS, although it's sad to me she's now too old to want her old man to read to her, I have many hours of great memories of us reading OOTS together and I think this design will delight her. Never seen it before, but for all I know it's been there for years.

Anyway, rambling on a bit now but my point is that CafePress website was a little kooky, and had to re-do the whole order once but I thought the shipping was very reasonable indeed. It would be good if you do look for an alternative that the shipping rates for us non-yanks remain reasonable. :D

Thanks for OOTS Rich, it has given me & my family much enjoyment over the years. Have a great xmas!

This whole post made me extremely happy.

[gooddragon1]

Wow. So, CafePress has actually suspended my new ornament designs because they say that they need proof that I am the owner of the Order of the Stick trademark. I need to somehow prove that I'm me, even though I have been selling the same content on their site for twelve years—and the trademark type on the bottom of the ornament has literally been unchanged through all 12 previous ornaments (which are all still unsuspended). So, I guess it's good that I went ahead with that sneak preview, or else this would be a lot messier than it already is.

I have no idea how long this will take to resolve, but apparently no one will be able to buy the new ornaments until someone at CafePress fixes it. The old ornaments seem like they're still available, though I suppose anyone interested in buying the old ornaments will want to wait to buy the current ones, too.

Every year, CafePress gets a little bit more unfriendly to people who are trying to use it to maintain a brand rather than just randomly throwing up a slew of indiscriminate designs that the company can aggregate and sell cheap. I have strongly debated closing my shop there every year for the past few years, this might well be the last straw to get me off my butt to find an alternative after Jan 1.

Stay tuned, everybody.

My Reaction

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[The Giant]

Just an update on the calendars:

The shipment arrived on Friday at the Ookoodook warehouse and the staff has been packing up pre-orders all weekend. I have been informed that they expect all pre-orders to be in the mail by end of business on Monday, so any orders placed from now on will ship out the following day.

Also, there are only about 160 left to sell! Every year it's a guessing game on how many to get printed, and this year, more sales than usual came in after I had already placed order. Maybe it's because we got started early and more people weren't thinking about calendars yet back in October. Who knows? Also, some of which will probably be classified as Scratch & Dent after the team finishes looking through every box and seeing whether any got scratched or dented. Bottom line, 160 calendars left.

Oh, and everything worked out with CafePress. Ornaments are on sale, no problems.

[NerdyKris]

Ah! I forgot to order! Got it in just in time.

[Almanro_De_Nerossa]

I forgot to place my pre-order thinking I would have time to order it, but it sold out (also "Scratch and Dent" section is empty) in less than 2 hours from when I got the email from Ookoodook that they had it in stock (and I didn't open my PC in those couple of hours!)... Been a follower from strip #23 (or around there) and it's the first time that I'm not getting an OOTS calendar, board game, book, etc. Very sad at the moment...

Didn't expect that it would have been a "only pre-order" calendar, more clarity on the News post would have been better... sad end of the day for me... :(

PS: I'll still support the comic buying the next book/specials whenever the pre-order post will be out, without delays next time...

[VaarsuviusFan#1]

Nooooooo! Ookoodook are out of stock on the calendars! Are you guys going to be printing anymore?

[Almanro_De_Nerossa]

I have a question: would it be possible to buy a digital version of the calendar at the same price (or higher) of the now out-of-stock printed one? So that I can then go to a copy center and print a copy for myself (better than nothing at all!)

[The Giant]

OK, yeah, wow, that sold out quickly. There are a couple things going on.

First, obviously, once we announced there were only a 160 left, there was a rush to order. But second, once Ookoodook started opening all the boxes, it turned out some boxes were a few calendars short, for a total shortage of around 40 calendars. I'm going to call the printer and find out what happened; if there's another box sitting on a loading dock somewhere, then we'll have a few more to sell. If they just didn't print enough, then I doubt they'll set up the whole printing press for 40 copies. More likely I'll just get a partial refund for what I paid. So, keep an eye on this thread because I'll let you know either way.

As far as reprinting, that's not really an option financially. The press has a minimum print run size, and it's roughly 75% of the quantity we actually ordered. While sales were obviously a little strong this year, there's no way we're going to sell through another 3/4s of the same number again. Reprinting that many would turn this into a money-losing project for me fairly quickly, considering the short shelf life of a calendar.

Also, given how quickly this snuck up on everyone (myself included), I am going to look into the digital PDF release that people have been asking for. I didn't want to undercut sales of the paper calendar because in previous years we ended up with hundreds extra that have to be marked down at a loss just to make room in the warehouse. But seeing as that is irrelevant now, I'm more inclined to give it a try.

All in all, sorry this worked out this way, but it's really impossible to predict how many sales there are going to be. I try to estimate based on previous years, but it never works. We printed the same number we printed last year, based on the fact that the first week of pre-orders now was about the same as the first week of pre-orders then, and last year the calendars lasted all year; we still had about 20 left when this year's went on sale. The year before, we printed more, and we still have 200 sitting in our warehouse gathering dust. I'd rather sell out than be left with hundreds, but selling out this early was never the plan.

Anyway, more announcements to come as I learn more. Stay tuned, and thanks for your patience.

[Agnostik]

Also, given how quickly this snuck up on everyone (myself included), I am going to look into the digital PDF release that people have been asking for.

That would be great, I can't afford international shipping anymore anyway, but I'd happily buy a digital version.

[Keltest]

Is it strange that ive learned more about managing a business (or I guess brand) from these forums and the various holiday misadventures that seem to inevitably occur than I have from my actual job at a store?

[rushl]

Hello! I'm a long-time reader, and occasional forum reader. But I've registered today just so I could post here. PLEASE make the 2017 calendar available in PDF form! I was not in a position to get the physical copy until later in the month, and the popularity this year has worked against me in that respect. However, I would love to still read the comics and jokes on the calendar - and a PDF version would be just the thing!

Thanks!
Tim

[Joerg]

+1 for the PDF calendar. I'm also one of those who didn't order the physical calendar this year because of the shipping costs and the cumbersome import procedures (somehow, Oookodook packages always end up at the customs office).

[ChristianSt]

I'm just glad I randomly decided to just bite the shipping bullet and order the calendar last week instead of waiting longer. I really did not expect that it would sell out this quickly (especially remembering the last years).

I hope not too much people miss out due to this.

[Cozzer]

Another not-American fan here, I usually buy the books but couldn't pay the international shipping price for just a calendar, so I hope the PDF idea becomes a reality! I'm always happy to throw money at OOTS whenever I have a good excuse for doing so.

[littlebum2002]

Also, given how quickly this snuck up on everyone (myself included), I am going to look into the digital PDF release that people have been asking for. I didn't want to undercut sales of the paper calendar because in previous years we ended up with hundreds extra that have to be marked down at a loss just to make room in the warehouse. But seeing as that is irrelevant now, I'm more inclined to give it a try.

I mean, to be honest this seems like a fair deal for everyone. You want PDFs? Well, then make sure all the paper copies are bought first so I don't lose money. Kinda like blacking out a football game on TV unless the stadium sells out.

[Dr. Gamera]

I'm in the USA, and signed up for tracking updates when Ookoodook sent me the tracking number. So far, the USPS has alerted me that the package was picked up yesterday in Houston, Texas; departed the Post Office that night; and arrived at an "origin facility" in Houston, Texas this morning.

[Porthos]

Guess whose calendars arrived a day early.

[Peelee]

Guess whose calendars arrived a day early.

Meanwhile, I don't even have a tracking number....

[Crod]

NoooOOooOOoooo! The calendar sold out. Is there any chance there will be more of these? Pleeaaaassee Giant

[The Giant]

Some updates:

• We are definitely sold out. Looks like the printer just didn't print enough, for whatever reason. We're exactly 50 short from what we ordered, and there's no extra box sitting somewhere as far as I know. I'm getting a nice credit toward next year's calendar order, but reprinting those last 50 was not even offered.
  
• The PDFs are happening. I just need to get them converted and put up on Gumroad. In fact, since people have been asking for this for a few years, I'm going to go ahead and put all 4 calendars that we've done so far up on Gumroad. Look for them later tonight; I'll make another announcement in this thread when they're available.

[rushl]

The PDFs are happening.

Yay! I can't wait to grab these.

Thanks!
Tim