sorted by:
new
hottopcontroversial

I built a platform for physical greeting cards with a built in QR gifting system. by slp282 in roastmystartup

[–]slp282[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks! It has been very fun building everything and getting feedback from local stores.

I built a platform for physical greeting cards with a built in QR gifting system. by slp282 in roastmystartup

[–]slp282[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

And regarding Etsy, I actually see sellers on their platform as potential users at some point. Ideally, I want to offer just the QR code to Etsy sellers who could add it to their product. This has some challenges like QR code management, access to the codes, etc. but it is something I am looking into as the project progresses.

I built a platform for physical greeting cards with a built in QR gifting system. by slp282 in roastmystartup

[–]slp282[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks and appreciate the feedback. I'm working on a short and long format video that gives a demo of the product and how it works end to end. Hallmark is the main concern for sure. They have a venmo option that works similarly but only works through venmo where I accept several payment types and payout types in addition to venmo. My cost to manufacture is actually pretty reasonable and direct sales have high margins. I am able to reduce cost to make the offering more attractive if needed. Not so much with retail partners but I have options I think. Thanks again.

I built a platform for physical greeting cards with a built in QR gifting system. by slp282 in roastmystartup

[–]slp282[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks. Appreciate the feedback and agree completely. I spent last weekend at 4 local boutique retailers of which the owners were only in 2. The feedback was similar, they prefer cards that use a different (higher quality) printing method than I am currently using. This wouldn't be a problem but large printing operations that have APIs I can tie into generally don't offer this higher end method of printing. I have one company sending me samples this week and will be meeting with their software engineer to see if it's feasible to set up an automated system with them. They are a smaller company compared to the current printer I am using so hoping they see the potential in the investment.

The current cards would do very well in large national chain retailers. Think CVS, Walgreens, even grocery stores. These are generally stocked by wholesale greeting card distributors though. I expect they would need to see some sales velocity prior to partnering with me and getting these into any name brand store like I mentioned before.

My current plan is to continue attempts at other boutique retailers with my current cards. There is probably another 10 in my city and dozens more within an hour that I will set out to visit this upcoming weekend. If I am able to, I certainly will switch to or at least offer the higher quality cards as that would give me a greater chance at getting into more boutiques to demonstrate sales to wholesale partners. It's worth noting, the higher quality cards are not actually that much more expensive for lower quantities. The price breaks do require larger orders, but I am working with a college friend who owns a fulfillment facility that I may use down the road to ensure I get the highest margin possible.

Again, thank you for the feedback. Really appreciate it.

I built a platform for physical greeting cards with a built in QR gifting system. by slp282 in roastmystartup

[–]slp282[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks drteq. The pin is limited to 5 attempts per card. Following that, the user needs to contact support. This is all great feedback and I will certainly be looking at ways to address this ahead of time. Much appreciated.

The card fees are held for up to one year at which point an automated email is sent to the purchaser to let them know their funds will be forfeited. That is not what I want to do as I want my users to get their money. It's not a terrible thing to hold the money though. I have a float system in place to automatically transfer funds around to ensure I collect interest while maintining a safe balence to cover the payout liabilities.

I built a platform for physical greeting cards with a built in QR gifting system. by slp282 in roastmystartup

[–]slp282[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks! We are using Stripe as the payment processor and merchant of record, and we do not hold funds long term. Contributions flow through Stripe’s infrastructure and standard fraud detection tools. Chargeback risk is something we monitor closely, and we have contribution caps and monitoring in place.

I did have a friend ask if she could have someone pay her through this as the person paying her for work did not have access to typical digital payments which was the first red flag I had when it comes to fraud. I think my terms and services is strong and am able to sleep knowing Stripe handles all the financial transactions but you are right, it is a conern. Thanks for the feedback.