RFP for ENS Official Gear Shop Spin-Up

DAO-Wide Draft Proposal
1
Status Draft

Submission of Request for Proposal

28 April 2021

Overview

Request for Proposal to ENS DAO to provide funding for costs occurred to stand up an official ENS merchandise store using Shopify and Printify. Previously on forum; multiple members had discussed about implementing an official ENS merchandise store, discussed different services, looked at different designs and provided positive feedback. The original post can be found here.

Scope of Work

The core duties of the person(s) directly involved and or who assumes the responsibility for the proposed implementation into the ENS DAO ecosystem will be the following:

To stand as the ENS Merchandise Lead (EML) person of contact regarding all merchandise activities. Act as a liaison for communication and representative for official business between the services and or platforms used and ENS DAO.

EML will also act as the lead designer for illustrations, art and other imagery to be used and displayed on merchandise sold. Designers and artists that are within the DAO are encouraged to assist in merchandise design and ideation processes but should also be aware that we will need to implement a limit of choices for production purposes.

Selection Criteria

  • EML must be familiar with web platforms that provide a service such as Shopify.
  • Be competent in their ability to find solutions for incorrect orders, shipping and or billing issues etc.
  • Be fluent, concise ad professional in all official communications.
  • Have a background in providing exceptional customer service.
  • Familiar with design tools like Adobe CC
  • Experience in product marketing ad or advertising preferred but not required.
  • Uphold the fiduciary integrity and responsibility in transfer of funds between EML, DAO and service providers.

I hereby nominate myself to complete the tasks and responsibilities aforementioned.

Budget

Shopify

BASIC, SHOPIFY, AND ADVANCED PLANS INCLUDE:

  • Online store
  • Unlimited products
  • 24/7 support
  • Abandoned cart recovery
  • App ecosystem with 4,100+ apps
  • Print shipping labels
  • Sales channels

Sell on online marketplaces and social media. Channel availability varies by country.

  • Fast and reliable checkout
  • Free SSL certificate
  • Over 100 currencies for your online store
  • Discount codes
  • Shopify POS Lite

Accept casual, in-person payments at markets, fairs, pop-ups, and more.

  • Shopify POS Pro for $89 USD a month for each location (not needed unless for RL Events)

Run your brick-and-mortar business with powerful tools built for omnichannel selling.

  • Manual order creation
  • Gift cards
    @ $79 per month

Printful
The service allows for custom pricing. So the difference between the cost to print and ship and the order price will be the profitable margin.

For example if a shirt cost $10 to make and the order price is $20 then $10 would be the net profit. I will let the DAO decide as to what would be appropriate to keep for compensation of work and how much would be redistributed back to the DAO

On average a quality shirt costs about 18-25 to make. At a $25 cost per shirt, $10,000 would cover the cost to make 400 shirts. The cost will be received back plus the profit margin on top of that.
If I could also retain a small stipend for a ISP upgrade that would be very beneficial over using a MiFi.
Iā€™ll leave compensation amounts up to the DAO as Iā€™m not exactly sure how much work this will involve until the work starts.

1 Like
2

Broadly supportive of this! The RFP needs some work, though.

Rather than proposing a solution, an RFP should ask for them - specify the requirements, and allow submitters to specify how they will achieve them.

And this should definitely be part of a proposal.

3 Likes
3

Hey @accessor.eth, it seems that this is the reverse operation. Your post will follow the RFP :point_down:.

Thereā€™s a process outlined in the Gov Docs.

I started a thread on discord with a link to a HackMD so we can asynchronously craft the first RFP: Request for the start-up and operation of an official ENS store.(?)

Since this is the first one, letā€™s make sure it sets the proper precedence for the RFP system that @nick.eth wanted to move towards.

To work on the draft of this RFP head to discord!

ā€”> Discord

3 Likes
4

Yes, this is currently a ā€˜Proposal for Request for Proposalā€™ (PRFP). Then it should move to RFP. Then P. Then moon.

1 Like
5

I need permission to access the channel ( metamana#4073 )

6

So the process goes like this instead:

Craft a RFP
Submit to the Steward, Accordigly
Steward Submits Draft Proposal
Reviewed
Active Proposal
Voting
Approve/Disapprove

Actually, IDK. Iā€™ve read the instructions multiple times. Very confusing. I donā€™t understand what I am missing or did wrong. So this isnā€™t an RFP? This is actually a proposal, except?

Iā€™m around all day.

7

No, Iā€™m requesting for this to be officially proposed?

1 Like
8

Can I suggest that the formal request for also includes the ability for folks to order individual or custom prints?

My thought is that ENS is all about the uniqueness of the individual names, and folks will want to order ENS merchandise w/ their ENS name on it. Instead of thinking of the store as a warehouse of 400 t-shirts for resale, think of it as a portal to purchase one of several designs that are custom prints that would include your ENS name.

I believe both @berrios.eth and @Coltron.eth have both ordered some custom stuff recently. Itā€™d be great if they could share the results or their experience (or anyone else who has already done this manually).

2 Likes
9

You got it right mostly, I didnā€™t mean to sound discouraging. You are putting out a proposal on behalf of the DAO to open a ā€œtenderā€ process for merch store. You will obviously apply for the tender yourself as well. Process goes:

  • Someone asks the DAO to put out RFP/ā€œtenderā€ (you are asking in this case with this proposal)
  • DAO votes to float tender
  • Tender floated & proposals come in
  • Proposals are voted on by the DAO and one or more are accepted

Make sense?

1 Like
10

Hey! I think this is a good idea.

To accomplish this, we can make this a specification of the RFP. We may have to decide if this is a contingent requirement or if there is some flexibility on allowing them to put it on their roadmap.

This will interesting for a submission to tackle because we will want to specify global fulfillment, while still allowing the flexibility for custom 1/1 artwork.

Can we bring the discussion of exact specifications to Discord? Once we hammer out the details, we can post the draft here.

1 Like
11

no, tender just made me more confused. Tender process?

12

If you want a custom shirt then you will have to submit your custom graphic. Or order on your own behalf. Everyone wants a custom shirt but handling 1000ā€™s of custom shirts may not be feasible.

1 Like
13

I am using ā€œtenderā€ and ā€œRFPā€ interchangeably. You are asking the DAO to float an RFP for merch store since you recognised that the DAO needs it. You have to lay out what you think are DAOā€™s needs in terms of merch and we will add to the discussion and the proposal, for example custom design orders.

1 Like
14

I used vistaprint.com and with @Coltron.eth helping out with the graphics, and then later doing the graphics myself, I was able to create custom designed merch for my NFTs (including resizing the ENS logo, as needed). Polo shirts, T-shirts, Mugs, etc. No minimum order.

15

Yep. Thatā€™s what I was thinking.
This ENS store could certainly have an inventory of pre-printed shirts for resale, but the awesome service this store could provide would be to *simplify the custom order process you and Colton went through. Essentially make it as close to turnkey as possible by providing a simple tool to build the right sized logo + ENS name and then provide a path to ordering the item (either via manual instructions or via automation if available).

@berrios.eth - were you happy with the finished product, and do you know of any other custom ENS swag orders that had a good outcome?

1 Like
16

I agree that ENS can make the entire process simpler; the idea as I understood it when I purchased an ENS Domain was to make purchases or donations to my wallet a simpler process to compete with Paypal and other merchant services without having to use a long hash.

There are a lot of companies and websites that are able to provide turnkey solutions for merchandise-they just need the B2B (business to business) aspect curtailed in such a way that becoming a ENS_Web 3 Compliant Partner would add value to their business and industry.

That is where the true power of ENS remains-its industrial application for enterprise services, but that can only happen if we get Web 2 adoption and onboarding and that integration must be built up-either by our community or some different project.

17

Services like printful have APIs that allow each item to be customised automatically. I think any merch store ought to offer that, and not via a lot of manual work on the backend.

2 Likes
18

I was very happy! Ordered 10 items over three separate orders. You pick the quality of shirt, type of graphic application (i.e., printed or embroidered). You have so much control over the designing. One caveat is they may recommend a color change, if it doesnā€™t work, but itā€™s their recommendation and your decision; I did not have any major issue (I needed to change one NFTā€™s hoodie from white to light blue for embroidery).

19

Spreadshirt is pretty good at t-shirt printing in central and western Europe at least. I was very happy with my order as well, planning to get more soon. I believe they also have a US store.

2 Likes