I have another question about the custom apparel! Thought I'd make a new thread with a more relevant title, simply so if anybody else is looking for answers to similar questions they might hopefully be able to see any answers I receive and not need to ask also

First question-

How do I fund a custom apparel token? I'm not able/willing to pay real dollars, and grinding is… a slow process right now, I have seen the other forum post asking about that and I understand as time goes on the difficulty may change but for now… I want to make custom apparel and am stuck behind that pay wall.

I have seen some posts where others have shared their designs and are offering “pre-orders” From my understanding when you make a custom design only 5 in total will be made available for purchase, including the ones you keep for yourself. So how do pre-orders work in that case? And are the pre-orders funding the cost of the token to be ABLE to sell the designs? How do people know you wont just take the gems and run? (i might be overly sceptical of this process haha)

Second question-

If I want to sell more than 5 pieces, or I want to own however many pieces and sell however many more, does that mean I have to pay for multiple tokens to be able to create more than 5? If so i suddenly understand why the current custom market is the way it is

Third question-

The main reason I want to do this at all is I want to put a feather on my wolves and, feathers being as simple an item as they are, I can imagine many others would as well. Feathers also have this wonderful quality of being ALL sorts of different colours.

Eg: (I based these off native Aussie birds--still wip)

I'm guessing I would have to have a new token for each separate colour… well I guess that goes back to the first question, how on earth do you fund that!!

Fourth question- (Photoshop)

This question I managed to answer myself so I'm putting it, and the answer I found here, just for anyone else who may have gotten stuck on the same thing.

I don't have photoshop! How do I open the psd files?

my answer: put the torrent sites away, Adobe has made sure theyre all viruses (thankfully worked that out BEFORE downloading a virus)

I use FireAlpaca, it can open psd files!

According to google these (free!) programs can also open psd files:

Gimp — Paint.net — Photopea.com (browser based) — Clip Studio Paint — Paint Tool Sai

And I would assume your favourite art program likely also does! I just can't personally vouch for any others as I haven't used more than the above listed myself

Fifth question-

Assuming I am eventually successful in posting a custom item, how do I decide the price?

If I can only make 5 for every 100 moon stones I'm spending then I would need each item to be 20 moonstones each just to break even, if it weren't for the small bit that the site takes from each sale… so even 20 moonstones would still run you at a loss. But 50 feels like too much, even though looking at the current market the prices are going all the way up to 100 for items that I personally raise an eyebrow to…

Pre-orders to me, mean paying less because you're funding the thing you're buying, or paying more because you're getting something extra for doing so. But if I wanted to charge what feels reasonable to me (honestly less than the market average) then I'd be either running at a loss or…. running at a loss. Although if I was only able to fund the item beCAUSE of the pre-orders is it really a loss or a lack of profit?

I'm gonna stop, hopefully someobody knows what I'm asking here because I straight up dont anymore. Overthinking for the win!

I think thats all my questions, as I receive answers Ill try to add them here so future question havers can have the answers right away!

…my brain hurts

@SilverDirt

pretty feathers!

How do I find a custom apparel token? aside from outright buying them, there are several people who will sponsor your custom item if they like it, or you can do pre-orders. a lot of people go the pre-order option because it means not having to wait for the item to be re/stocked. this is a perfectly acceptable way to obtain an apparel token!

If I want to sell more than 5…? yes, each 5 you sell you have to buy a new token to re-stock your item, which is why things have to be priced at some sort of profit.

I'm guessing I would have to have a new token for each separate color…? yeah, each item that's different (even if it's just re-colors) requires a token

How do I decide the price? i think a lot of people struggle with the pricing. i would decide based on, first, if you are able to make a profit (enough so to hopefully re-upload the item), and second, how long it took to create the item. a lot of the items on the CA market fit multiple breeds/both stances, so it's reasonable to price higher since the items essentially have to be re-created multiple times.

hope this helps a little!

edit to add: once the economy starts evening out and there are more pebble-sinks at play, ms should become more available for FtP players. there's been a lot of upset since ms are incredibly more desirable than pebbles at the moment, so hopefully we'll see some changes soon.

@SilverDirt

How do you fund a Custom Apparel Token as a F2P player?:

You can either interface with the site and sell wolves/items/services until you earn 100 MS, convert wealth from other petsites with cross-site trades, sell art commissions unrelated to your custom item for the price of the commission + 100 MS, or put your custom item up for pre-order.

A pre-order does operate on trust. As you say, there's no guarantee for users purchasing a pre-order slot that you won't just take the money and run. But that's a very quick way to get yourself blacklisted from the community, and whatever you get away with won't be as profitable as genuinely just selling your custom item, especially if you've already illustrated it and are looking to see a return on your labor.

It's normal to be skeptical, but keep in mind how beneficial it is for both parties! Pre-orders are a well established method in the community for a good reason – it enables artists to make the art they'd like to make and easily connect them with users who want to buy and enjoy their art!

How many Tokens do I need to buy if I want more than five copies of my item?:

You need one additional Token to print another five copies of your item. So, another 100 MS.

Do recolors of a Custom Apparel item need to be submitted separately?:

Yes, each new recolor would be a new item, and would need another Token to submit it, and consequently another 100 MS to purchase that Token.

Again, this can be funded through gameplay on Lorwolf, cross-site trades, commissions, or pre-orders.

How do I price my custom item?:

At an absolute minimum, 25 MS per copy of your item, assuming you keep no copies for yourself, for a single five copy run of an item with no future printing plans. If you keep a copy or two, shift the price onto the other copies that you're selling to make up for the loss.

However, I would personally recommend charging more for your work, regardless of how many copies you keep or plan to print. Even if you're only producing small accessories, your work is being made with a lot of consideration for your time as an artist, the creation of the art itself and the skill that entails, the PSD file management, the submission process, the marketing/advertisement in the forums, and potentially the distribution if you don't use Lorwolf's market and instead trade them directly to users.

It is a lot of work, and I can almost guarantee you that you're undervaluing yourself if you feel like running at a loss or only breaking even is reasonable. As uncomfortable as it may be, feeling like it's reasonable doesn't mean it actually is, and I'd challenge you to step into that discomfort for the sake of fairly compensating yourself.

As a goal, you don't want to just cover the item you're making. You should be able to pay yourself for your labor and potentially fund future endeavors with the profit.

And like, I'm not going to say that valuing art isn't a constant game of pricing and repricing to find the “sweet spot” for your sales-to-work ratio, because it kind of can be, but unless you're absolutely blasting out custom items in five minutes and truly have very little to compensate for and no plans for future works, give yourself some credit and charge up.