4 ms·

The Results Of My Year-Long Physical Product Experiment

58 points by j0ncc 13y ago

pclark 13y ago
I own a Peel case. It's really great, in fact it's the only case I have ever been satisfied with using.
- tedmiston 13y ago
  Any you chance you have the "white" model? I'm having a hard time telling from the pictures how translucent it is.
marban 13y ago
Any insights where the factories are located and how they found the manufacturing partner?
- pdog 13y ago
  Your best bet is to find a "Gold" supplier on Alibaba.com.
HeyLaughingBoy 13y ago
Awesome read. BTW, both UPS and USPS (don't know about FedEx, etc) will pickup packages on demand. Of course, if you live in an apartment, this does mean you have to be home at the time.
- rbritton 13y ago
  Last time I did that with FedEx there was a charge for it ($10 I believe). I don't believe that's changed.
  - HeyLaughingBoy 13y ago
    UPS also charges, but IIRC it's less if you have an account with them. Pickup is free with USPS.
    - tedmiston 13y ago
      Not sure whether it's changed, but USPS pickup was only free a few years ago when you shipped Priority or higher. I'm surprised how much time was spent writing addresses by hand. Paypal Multi-Order Shipping and cheap adhesive shipping labels, which can be found on eBay, take a lot of pain out of that process.
Pxtl 13y ago
That "exit intent popup" had better not be a big modal thing or else I hate you.
- tedmiston 13y ago
  It's better than alert()
jere 13y ago
>After a lot of back and forth with a few different factories, I managed to find one that could do what I wanted. This is glossed over, yet I have no idea how I would even start contacting factories.
- thruflo 13y ago
  Makersrow.com custommade.com fabhub.com
  - jere 13y ago
    Interesting links. The first is for American factories only, which is neat, but I'd be surprised if this case was made in America. I'm familiar with the second link, but I don't believe it's related to factories/mass production. The third link is being squatted on.
    - thruflo 13y ago
      Ah yes sorry, meant fabhub.io. Ironic to get the address wrong as its my site. Belated disclaimer. For outsourcing, alibaba.com and mfg.com are the big ones. Starting onshore / digital may be good for short run & prototyping. Trade mags and manufacturer associations have local directories.
- createmyaccount 13y ago
  Or how to even find them. I think this would typically be easier in the US than in Europe.
pdog 13y ago
Exit offers for Shopify are powered by Sticky[1]. [1]: http://www.addsticky.com/ http://www.addsticky.com/
- createmyaccount 13y ago
  Any idea about their rates? Honestly, this seems pretty easy to set up yourself.
  - pdog 13y ago
    $10.00 / month
e1l1 13y ago
This is SPAM.
createmyaccount 13y ago
Great post. Mind sharing the company that did the packaging and shipping for you? (Or any alternatives)
colinbartlett 13y ago
I'd love to buy several of these. Would you consider accepting Bitcoin? I'm always looking for ways to spend it and I see you're on Shopify which should make it very, very easy.
nedwin 13y ago
Have you considered outsourcing your shipping to a third party logistics company? Slightly added cost but takes away a bunch of the pain as well.
hengheng 13y ago
> We’re almost at the stage now where we will never have to even see another iPhone case. "We successfully made the transition from being an ad agency with attached warehouse and fulfillment center to being solely an ad agency." So you never had anything to do with the physical product anyway, no development or manufacturing or anything. Naturally you had to streamline your business process to reflect this, but it's not what I'd call a "Physical Product Experiment".
wehadfun 13y ago
So this is the same guy that bought the Las Vegas apartment and rents it on Airbnb? https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6655492 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6655492

58 points by j0ncc 13y ago

pclark 13y ago

I own a Peel case. It's really great, in fact it's the only case I have ever been satisfied with using.

tedmiston 13y ago
Any you chance you have the "white" model? I'm having a hard time telling from the pictures how translucent it is.

marban 13y ago

Any insights where the factories are located and how they found the manufacturing partner?

pdog 13y ago
Your best bet is to find a "Gold" supplier on Alibaba.com.

HeyLaughingBoy 13y ago

Awesome read. BTW, both UPS and USPS (don't know about FedEx, etc) will pickup packages on demand. Of course, if you live in an apartment, this does mean you have to be home at the time.

rbritton 13y ago
Last time I did that with FedEx there was a charge for it ($10 I believe). I don't believe that's changed.
- HeyLaughingBoy 13y ago
  UPS also charges, but IIRC it's less if you have an account with them. Pickup is free with USPS.
  - tedmiston 13y ago
    Not sure whether it's changed, but USPS pickup was only free a few years ago when you shipped Priority or higher. I'm surprised how much time was spent writing addresses by hand. Paypal Multi-Order Shipping and cheap adhesive shipping labels, which can be found on eBay, take a lot of pain out of that process.

Pxtl 13y ago

That "exit intent popup" had better not be a big modal thing or else I hate you.

tedmiston 13y ago
It's better than alert()

jere 13y ago

>After a lot of back and forth with a few different factories, I managed to find one that could do what I wanted. This is glossed over, yet I have no idea how I would even start contacting factories.

thruflo 13y ago
Makersrow.com custommade.com fabhub.com
- jere 13y ago
  Interesting links. The first is for American factories only, which is neat, but I'd be surprised if this case was made in America. I'm familiar with the second link, but I don't believe it's related to factories/mass production. The third link is being squatted on.
  - thruflo 13y ago
    Ah yes sorry, meant fabhub.io. Ironic to get the address wrong as its my site. Belated disclaimer. For outsourcing, alibaba.com and mfg.com are the big ones. Starting onshore / digital may be good for short run & prototyping. Trade mags and manufacturer associations have local directories.
createmyaccount 13y ago
Or how to even find them. I think this would typically be easier in the US than in Europe.

pdog 13y ago

Exit offers for Shopify are powered by Sticky[1]. [1]: http://www.addsticky.com/ http://www.addsticky.com/

createmyaccount 13y ago
Any idea about their rates? Honestly, this seems pretty easy to set up yourself.
- pdog 13y ago
  $10.00 / month

e1l1 13y ago

This is SPAM.

createmyaccount 13y ago

Great post. Mind sharing the company that did the packaging and shipping for you? (Or any alternatives)

colinbartlett 13y ago

I'd love to buy several of these. Would you consider accepting Bitcoin? I'm always looking for ways to spend it and I see you're on Shopify which should make it very, very easy.

nedwin 13y ago

Have you considered outsourcing your shipping to a third party logistics company? Slightly added cost but takes away a bunch of the pain as well.

hengheng 13y ago

> We’re almost at the stage now where we will never have to even see another iPhone case. "We successfully made the transition from being an ad agency with attached warehouse and fulfillment center to being solely an ad agency." So you never had anything to do with the physical product anyway, no development or manufacturing or anything. Naturally you had to streamline your business process to reflect this, but it's not what I'd call a "Physical Product Experiment".

wehadfun 13y ago

So this is the same guy that bought the Las Vegas apartment and rents it on Airbnb? https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6655492 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6655492