[Ambassadors] Re: store SIG?

[Jeffrey Tadlock]

On Mon, Oct 27, 2008 at 5:58 AM, Sandro red Mathys
<red at fedoraproject.org> wrote:
> The Store SIG is pretty much dead, AFAICS. But I'm actually thinking about
> just opening a store at spreadshirt.net (or similar) for Europe. There's
> been too much talking about this topic instead of just realizing the
> simple idea.

As Clint mentioned the Store SIG was discussed at the FADNA this year
in Ohio.  I was able to show the various quality of shirts from
cafepress and spreadshirt in comparison to a similar shirt actually
made at a screen printer.  Though the color accuracy of spreadshirt is
off a bit, it was deemed close enough to not be a major issue.

While setting up the store seems simple there are a couple of details
that need decided.  One was what potential ramifications does it have
on Fedora Project to sell items with a small profit.  In the US that
would require reporting said profit which Fedora Project is not really
in the position to do.  The EMEA group would likely be able to work
around this by opening the store under their control and having it
fall under the non-profit status.  We do not have that in the US as of
now.

The other issue, which largely just requires some organization is to
make sure access to the behind the scenes portion of the store is not
left to a single person.  People get busy and their amount of time to
volunteer varies.  So having a group of trusted people to manage the
store is important as well - again, not a major issue but a decision
that does need made.

The Store SIG was also attempting to provide a front-end at store.fp.o
to lead people to the on demand vendor of choice.  That way
ambassadors and such could easily refer people to store.fp.o when a
person wanted to order an item from the store.

Another decision the Store SIG had to reach was whether a single
entity could serve everyone.  After looking at the various options it
is most likely that one store cannot adequately serve all areas of the
world.  Spreadshirt does lend itself well though to having one based
in the European region and a second in the North American region to
get started - though they would be two separate stores - they could be
given a similar look and feel.

Also, the French already have a spreadshirt store, so it might be wise
for the EMEA to see about working with them to avoid paying the annual
fees to have a customizable store twice.

Thanks,
Jeffrey