Some time ago I asked if anyone was interested in getting merchandise with the
Bushtracker Logo on it. Suggestions included Polar Fleece jackets and Vest, Caps, Hats, Stubby Holders, Polo style T shirts and Embroidered badges which could be sewn on other garments and gear. The response was quite positive and I have been following up on prices and availability. If we can get an order together then, as I mentioned in the earlier posting, I am happy to coordinate and arrange shipment against firm order. While all this has been going on, the managers have also been discussing the potential of setting up a web site for the
Bushtracker Owners Group which would give us a bit more control over tailoring it to meet our needs and also provide some much needed extras, not the least of which would be a search facility so that members could search through past messages and postings to chase up a particular topic. A site that offers such facilities is www.exploroz.com. I am sure many of you are familiar with it. If not, have a look and check out the search functions and the additional areas for track notes and other topics. Such a site would also get rid of junk advertising which is constant on Yahoo and MSN Groups but at the same time, provide us with an opportunity to provide advertising space to Group Sponsors. We have had some initial discussions with David Martin the Technical Director of IT Beyond, who manages this site. David is able to set up and maintain a similar site for the
Bushtracker Owners Group. Obviously, this comes at a cost. There is an initial set up cost and then an ongoing maintenance fee. The managers have considered that either an
annual membership fee could manage these costs, and/or a premium on the cost of merchandise that would cover the site costs. The production cost of merchandise is quite reasonable so a premium would not make these costs excessive. Whilst we have some indicative pricing we have not done any firm specification. The initial setup cost could be around $3000 to $4000 depending upon how much we want to customise the site and how much of the message archive we want to bring across from the current
forum. Annual costs for management and maintenance are likely to be around $1,000. Remember that this is to have the site professionally managed and hosted so that it is always backed up, supported 24hours a day, 7 days a week etc and is hosted at a location which gives fast response times. Both these issues are raised in the one post because the decision on whether we stay as an MSN Group or move to our own site has a bearing on the production of the merchandise, because we want to make sure the logo carries the right web address. So we need for feedback from the existing members. Firsly, on the subject of the wb site. Do members think there is value in moving to our own site with extra facilities and total control over the content of the site? Secondly on the merchandise. I have posted some photos of proposed merchandise under a heading “Merchandise Photos. The table below shows the merchandise we a re proposing and an indicative price (does not include Shipping), subject to confirmation when we have final numbers. These are the items which we are considering offering Stubby Deluxe Neoprene Stubby Holder, printed 1 colour exactly the same logo as last time. $5
Caps Baseball caps embroidered exactly 2 position the same as last time. $8
Hats Bucket Hats, embroidered exactly the same as last time $8
Vests Polar Fleece Vests embroidered in 1 position, folded and bagged (available in Navy, Black, Red, Orange, Royal, Yellow $23
Jacket Polar Fleece Jackets embroidered in 1 position, folded and bagged (available in Navy and Black only) $28
Pullover Polar Fleece ½ Zip Pullover embroidered in 1 position, folded and bagged (available in Navy, Bottle, Red, Royal and Black) $25
Polo Polo Shirts in Poly Cotton for hard wearing/easy care, Solid body colour with contrast stripe in collar, cuffs and placket, embroidered in 1 position, folded and bagged. Available in 12 combinations of colours. $21
Badges Embroidered Badges, with over locked edges ready to be sewn on to garments $8 The logo to be used is:
You will notice that there is a new link on the left hand side called Feedback on Merchandise and Website. There are a series of heading related to the various items of merchandise and also questions related to the website. If you can provide the likely numbers under the merchandise headings and “Y” or “N” answers to the questions related to the website, that will help us to work out next steps. The sooner you get your responses in, the sooner we make decisions. This is early days; so if you have any other feedback, comments or suggestions, please respond on this thread. Thanks
