Kickstarter Concept Longbox Case Replacements
Hello, Our names are Christopher Chandler and Justin Fish. And we are the co-owners of BitTRADE; A company here in Toledo, Ohio that focuses on retro video game sales and restoration. We do our best to restore these retro classics, and at times things that are needed to make this happen just do not exist which is what brings me here today. One major thing we have noticed is missing from the landscape is a replacement for longbox cd cases. We have started a kickstarter campaign to recreate these cases. We have gotten numerous quotes on this project and this one we have is the best quality for the best price. The tools (molds) alone to make these cost almost 175,000 dollars to make. The rest of the money in this campaign is to provide rewards and order an initial run of 10,000 cases, everyone who donates to this project in the amount of ten dollars will recieve one or more cases. The community has been clamoring for these for years, We are trying to provide a way to make this happen. These cases after production will be sold on bittraderetro.com (excuse the site it is in a redesign), and possibly on our ebay store (if people want that option), and locally of course. This new run of cases will be made out of strengthened acrylic instead of crystal styrine which adds a lot more strength, which makes them a lot less prone to breaking.
This campaign is not live yet, we are only posting this at this point to guage the response, we are open to suggestions (we know we have amateur video skills) LOL. Please any comments are welcome, We are aware that this is a large project, but we are ready to take it on for the community.
Thank You for checking this out and reading it
www.kickstarter.com/projects/449713938/70143109?token=ddf1d420
Comments
I'm totally down with the idea of replacing the cases, especially if you can use a higher grade plastic that will be more durable, less prone to scratching and scuffing, and with a higher clarity than the originals. I think your price point for them is good, although at that price I would probably only buy cases for my most critical (read: expensive / collectable) games. Honestly, it'll still probably be cheaper to buy a lot of common games on eBay for the cases (I recently did so and got 10 good cases for about $5 each) and I believe it'll be a good while until that market is tapped out. That said, a few points:
I'm not sure about the pricing tiers you have created for the Kickstarter. If I buy 1, it's $10 each. If I buy 3, they're $16 each. If I buy 5, they're $20 each, and if I buy 10, they're $25 each. I know the higher tiers have some extras to them, but honestly, the value is moving in the wrong direction. With the current setup, I would get one.
I assume you will only be able to reproduce the normal cases, not the dual disc ones?
Have you done any reproductions of cases before? Is it possible to show a picture of what the new cases will look like? CAD drafts, anything....
Gotta be honest, I didn't watch the whole video. It's not bad for a Kickstarter vid, but I would make it shorter
I'd leave out the stuff about the patent - it's not really important to the Kickstarter or the process. That's between you guys, your lawyers, and some dude at Patent & Trade.
Originally posted by: The-retro-shop.com
This isnt going to work, unless you get your single case prices down were you can sell them at $3-4 then no one ones gonna jump in........
I agree. I would be interested in some Sega CD cases and possibly PS1 long boxes. But at that price you can prolly just go out and buy a mint game case of a common game and have the case plus and extra game. Granted it may not be the new plasic and all
2.). I would prefer to have identical cases to the originals. With this super stronger plastic, will it retain the originality?
Always wondered if Sega had an off day making them.
Im thinking more a long these guidelines on the reward structure
10$ 1 case
$50 5 cases
100 12 cases
250 40 cases
something along those lines
and to buy them down the line like 6 or 7 dollars shipped for one and then a little cheaper for more at a time
By the way these are being molded directly from an actual sample i sent them so they should be the same and work with other case parts
please any thoughts about this reviced structure would be appreciated
I am also considering getting rid of the extra shipping cost for the international donators
Second, I hear you on the 'donation' aspect - the price is inclusive of getting them into production and providing you with a proved out product that you can sell on your website. I get that. But I think that will lose you customers in the Kickstarter. All the projects I have seen and supported go the opposite way: Kickstarter is to raise money for the process by selling at close to cost (inclusive of your time, setup, advertising, fees, etc., etc.). Once the Kickstarter is done, assuming it is successfully funded, you have enough to start production, pay yourselves, set up the website for future sales, and then make enough cases to thank all your backers at their pledge level.
To put it more bluntly: if I donate $100, I want $100 worth of cases, ideally at a bargain price, but definitely for no more than whatever your going to sell them. I really don't care about setting you up to make more money for yourself in the future.
So, if $4 is your shipped cost, let's say $6 is the cost per case when you include all the extra stuff. Once you have them in production, you'll sell them for closer to $8 each on the website. For the Kickstarter, I would try to do something like this:
$1 : Thank You for support
$10 : 1 case and TY ($10 each)
$48 : 6 cases and TY ($8 each)
$98 : 14 cases and TY ($7 each)
$180 : 30 cases and TY ($6 each)
$500 : 100 cases and TY ($5 each)
$1000: 225 cases and TY ($4.5 each)
And at each tier, you can add on additional cases at the each cost.
Also, just so you know where I am coming from, I'm not a Kickstarter expert by any stretch, so please take all of this with a grain of salt. That said, I am a business strategy consultant who works every day with executives at Fortune 500s on corporate growth and process. So, you know, there is that.
But you are't providing any of these. You're simply using this as a glorified plea for donations without a true benefit for the greater supporters. In that case, what's the point in even offering multiple levels?
You also seem too hung-up on the importance of the gratitude you're offering. It's one thing to have your name immortalized in the manual of a board/video game or the back of a book, but to be honest, no one gives a damn about being "thanked" on a niche website or in a letter that no one else will ever see.
Originally posted by: maelwys
First: awesome that you're still looking into this.
Second, I hear you on the 'donation' aspect - the price is inclusive of getting them into production and providing you with a proved out product that you can sell on your website. I get that. But I think that will lose you customers in the Kickstarter. All the projects I have seen and supported go the opposite way: Kickstarter is to raise money for the process by selling at close to cost (inclusive of your time, setup, advertising, fees, etc., etc.). Once the Kickstarter is done, assuming it is successfully funded, you have enough to start production, pay yourselves, set up the website for future sales, and then make enough cases to thank all your backers at their pledge level.
To put it more bluntly: if I donate $100, I want $100 worth of cases, ideally at a bargain price, but definitely for no more than whatever your going to sell them. I really don't care about setting you up to make more money for yourself in the future.
So, if $4 is your shipped cost, let's say $6 is the cost per case when you include all the extra stuff. Once you have them in production, you'll sell them for closer to $8 each on the website. For the Kickstarter, I would try to do something like this:
$1 : Thank You for support
$10 : 1 case and TY ($10 each)
$48 : 6 cases and TY ($8 each)
$98 : 14 cases and TY ($7 each)
$180 : 30 cases and TY ($6 each)
$500 : 100 cases and TY ($5 each)
$1000: 225 cases and TY ($4.5 each)
And at each tier, you can add on additional cases at the each cost.
Also, just so you know where I am coming from, I'm not a Kickstarter expert by any stretch, so please take all of this with a grain of salt. That said, I am a business strategy consultant who works every day with executives at Fortune 500s on corporate growth and process. So, you know, there is that.
I think that is a good looking set of prices. Would like to see the 30 cases go for $5.50 per so you are about right on the money for what I would think.
I have no idea if or how that would work.
Gold, silver, red, Sega CD blue.
Just an throwing out an idea from reading the thread.
Originally posted by: goldenpp72
You should try to make them look identical to the original but have some minor trait that makes it obvious it is not an original, just so people who want pretty cases can get them and not be lied to about 'mint condition' stuff.
That woudl be easy, make them look exactly the same, but have your company's logo on the bottom right or left corner or something.
like an embossed logo into the plastic
I am interested and would buy at least 200 at this price. I am also only interested if they are identical cases to the originals. No "repro" or company name crap written anywhere, or anything like that. These are CD jewel cases, not reproductions of the games or game inserts. No indication of a reproduction is needed or desired, and a lot more would sell if it were done this way.
The point is get the cost lower and you'll sell way more, and make more $$$, and we would be happier as well, because we'd all be getting the cases we want. We'd all be happier.