general questions:



what is bookis.org?



We are a group buying community for t-shirts with your designs on them. This is a popular idea in China and it's know as "tuangou." "Tuangou" is when a bunch of people who all want to purchase Product-x get together and all pitch in to buy it wholesale, essentially skipping the middle man. We allow a place for artists or just anyone with a good idea for a T to show their idea to the world and get paid for it.

This is how it works: A designer uploads the image and decides on a name, price, & shirt color, as well as how much profit they (the artist) want to make per shirt sale. Then, based on the price and designer's profit, we set a pre-order amount for the shirt. It's usually pretty low and can be adjusted. At this point the shirt is only available for pre-order. Anyone who likes it can pre-order one at no cost until the shirt is printed. Each time a shirt is pre-ordered, the pre-order amount goes down by one. When it hits zero the shirt goes to the press! Each customer who placed a pre-order is automatically charged and the shirts are printed & shipped. The shirt will then stay on the site to sell individually until we decide it's had enough (if it's not selling anymore).

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who should use bookis.org?



Everyone should use bookis.org. It makes buying shirts while supporting artists easy. Bookis.org is set up for a whole range of groups and individuals to sell their designs. To name a few:

-Independent artists who want to get their artwork out there and make some money
-Organizations, groups, leagues, or clubs who want to buy customized shirts as a group.
-Any Joe or Flo Shmoe who has a hilarious shirt idea. Bring on the lolcats!
-You.

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what's the difference between bookis.org and other shirt sites (i.e. threadless)?



Bookis.org is a unique shirt site because it allows artists to get their designs printed even if only a few close friends are interested (opposed to the thousands of votes required to even have a design considered on the other sites). Don't get us wrong: other shirt sites are awesome, but beside the fact that we all print shirts, our services at Bookis.org are much different and aimed toward a different market.

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designer questions:



as a designer, do i get paid?



Yes! during the creation process you will specify your profit. Whatever dollar amount you enter is the amount you will be paid per shirt that sells.

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after my shirt sells, how do i get paid?



Right now there are two options: Bookis.org will send you the money via PayPal or we can send you a money order. The safest way we can ensure that the money is being sent to the right person is for you to email us (from the email address you signed up with) and tell us that you're ready to withdraw your money.

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why does the pre-order amount vary with different profit and costs?



The pre-order amount changes because we need to make sure that when the shirt is printed it has made enough money to cover the price of the shirt, shipping & handling, and printing costs. The higher the sale price, the lower the pre-order amount.

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how can i change it?



Changing the sale price, your profit, and the number of colors will change the pre-order amount. Try adjusting the numbers and you will see.

shirt_price - your_profit + number_of_colors = base_price

The higher the base price the fewer pre-orders the shirt will need.

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do i still own the image i used for my design?



You will still own the image. The Terms and Conditions that you agree to when creating a shirt say that you still own it, but you give us the right to print it for 6 months.

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how do I prepare artwork to be to upload



You will need two different pieces of artwork:

1. Your preview image. This is what everyone will see on the website. Just a standard .JPG or .PNG of your whole image. If the background is transparent, the shirt color you select will be set for the background color, otherwise we recommend that you make the background color the same as your chosen shirt color.

2. Your source file. This is what the shirts will be printed with. Please submit high resolution art in any of the formats listed below. Minimum DPI of 300. It is best to start at a high DPI (300 through 600) rather than a low one (72 dpi - web standard). It is also best to start at the size of the design you want; don't scale images to be larger. For example, it is best to design your 10" print at 10" rather than 3" and then increase it. We accept files in the following formats:

  • Portable Document Format (*.pdf)
  • Adobe Illustrator (*.ai)
  • Encapsulated Post Script (*.eps)
  • Adobe Photoshop (*.psd)
  • Tagged Image Format (*.tif)

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How do others find out about my shirt?



After you create your shirt you are encouraged to promote your own shirt! After all, the more shirts that sell, the more you get paid. If you view your own shirt page you can use the "SHARE" link to send a link to all your favorite social sites (i.e. Twitter, Facbook, MySpace etc...)

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buyer questions:



what is a pre-order?



A pre-order is simply a way for people to let us know they would pay money for the shirt. When you Pre-order a shirt you will enter your credit card or Paypal info but you won't be charged until the shirt goes to printing.

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can i cancel a pre-order?



Yes. You can cancel your pre-order at any time. Just log in and on your profile page there is a list of all your pre-orders with a handy "CANCEL" link. If you cancel before the shirt goes to printing, you will not be charged anything and the pre-order amount for that shirt will go back up by one. We never-ever store any of your financial info, so obviously we won't/can't hold onto it.

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will it ever automatically cancel?



Your pre-order will automatically be cancelled 28 days after the pre-order is placed. It will also be cancelled if the designer deletes the shirt from the site.

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do i have to pay for a pre-order?



You won't be charged at the time that the pre-order is made. But you will automatically be charged the price of the shirt and $4 for shipping if the shirt goes to printing.

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why do i have to provide my credit card number?



Your credit card number or Paypal account just lets us know that you do intend on buying the shirt once it's available. For your safety, we never store your credit card number on our database, it's immediately sent to the financial institution to be approved.

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when does my credit card get charged?



Your credit card or Paypal account will automatically be charged if the shirt's pre-order amount (the red number below the title) hits zero. So if you place a pre-order when it says "1" you will be charged instantly.

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when does my shirt get shipped to me?



After all of the pre-orders are placed the shirt will go to printing which usually takes about 10-14 days. It will then promptly be shipped to you. If you are ordering a shirt that is already available and printed you can expect it within 5 business days.

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what's the difference between a pre-order and an order?



An order is just a shirt that has fulfilled all of it's pre-orders. So you can add as many as you want to your cart, then checkout. You will be charged immediately and the shirt will be shipped ASAP.

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