Is it worth making a CW 'shop' thread if you're planning to submit your items direct-to-shop and no slot them? (Personally, I like the idea of everything being unlimited instead of only having 10-20 of them in existence.) I thought it might be good for getting visibility, gauging interest, and grouping everything in one place; right now I have an Interest thread in the Discussion section, but that seems not so frequented.

I hate slotting like... It's so damn tedious. For like the last... 4-5 months I've been submitting stuff and then selling it once it's approved. People can just come pick up their copy and run off. So much less stress for me. I usually don't use the 'DTS' though, I'll submit the full batch and keep a 'batch extras' shop where I sell the other 4 copies from the batch for a bit cheaper for people who wanna snag them quickly.

I DO suggest a board in the main CW market so you can ping customwear and encourage people to slot for this. Just throwing it in your shop will not get you nearly enough publicity for you to sell copies unless people see it in the wardrobe and just absolutely go crazy for it before you can even release it publicly. That said, releasing this way means not many people will post in your thread / keep it active, so you may sometimes need a friend to help buffer your new post with new releases since you can't post twice in a row.

I just... feel weird about only releasing ten or twenty of one item. It seems unfair, almost, for people who come later to have it so restricted. Like I have so many CWs on my wishlist I'll never get because only five of them were release, five years ago.

And I'm still not sure how slotting, DTS, and batches work, to be honest. With your method, you still only have a few copies of the item in your shop, right? You can't submit a batch of five then make it unlimited in the shop, because that's against the rules from what I've been reading. Or am I misunderstanding?

So what I would suggest in your case is submitting as unlimited, but not putting 'Unlimited' copies into your shop. You can release smaller copy amounts at a time, in order to keep the value of your item up and encourage people to actually purchase the item. Let's say for example you submit an item and you decided with this method "I will release 20 copies right now, but later on I may want to release more if people show up and want copies later." In your thread all you'd need to do, to follow the rules about batches is say something like "This item is unlimited but I am only releasing X number of copies right now." This then gives you the chance let's say... 6 months later you have 5 people who want copies, then you can throw out another 5-10 copies for people / etc and it would be totally okay to do that. :)

The difference between Slotting, Not Slotting, and DTS is like this: Slotting: I have 'backers' to help pay for my item to be submitted. When I submit my item I put in their name and the amount they need to pay and they help me fund the item! Not Slotting: I decide I don't want to do DTS, so I have to put the full amount in at the start. But this means if I can sell the extra copies from this batch, I make back my money much quicker. Usually if I sell all 4 extra copies, I break even. This requires knowing a little bit about what will and won't sell though or you could be out money. DTS: You put in a ton of money to get your copy, and it takes quite a bit more copies sold to re-make that money you initially invested. Honestly I only recommend this option for people who only need one or two copies of an item total just because... you usually end up losing money unless the item is popular. Both slotting AND not slotting options provide exactly what DTS can, but for cheaper for you as the submitter in the long run. (You can still submit as unlimited and you can still put them in your cw shop, etc.)

This is so complicated... >x<' Or is it just my tiny brain? :,P

Okay. Let's break it down. (Lucio voice Oh, let's break it down!) I submit as unlimited and put 20 items in my shop at a time. Do I need fill 20 slots for this, seeing as you recommended not using DTS?

You're right, it is very complicated and a lot of the information isn't even accurate or up to date because the system has changed a few times over the years T_T So I'm terribly sorry and I know that contributes to the confusion you're feeling.

If you submit as unlimited and then place an item into your shop, it can sell at what ever pace it sells at. Once it's in your shop it doesn't require you to slot anymore. It'll be the exact same as a DTS item once it's in there :) There is a spot where you'll just type in how many you want 'available' at that given time and then it'll just sell as it sells, no slotting or anything :)

I apologise in advance for the long post:

Honestly submitting a first batch, and selling spare copies and then throwing in your shop tends to be quite profitable once you've gathered some followers.

A lot of people underestimate how many people actually buy CWs. MOST people that buy CWs do NOT post on the forums.

Since I switched to more shop releases versus releases on the forums, or releasing limited copies on the forums and adding to my shop later, my shop has become MUCH more profitable.

There's a "followers" section in your CW shop where you can see who follows your shop, I have a lot of followers, and while some aren't active anymore, I gain followers every month.

Of those followers 1/2 to 2/3 of those followers are not posting on the forums frequently. In fact 90% of the usernames in that list, I have never seen slot on the CW forums at all.

While making your items keep value is definitely something many buyers are after, what many people don't realise is MANY buyers don't post on the CW forums at all and rely solely on CWs placed in CW shops.

Often times I'll put CWs in my shop in limited numbers or for a limited amount of time: the duration of a site event like morostide/survival/vesnali or during a bonus weekend to keep value stable while letting staple items stay unlimited for longer periods of time.

I think the best thing to do is find what works for you. Every releaser has their own way of doing things, we all do it because we enjoy it. So find what works for you and what will help you enjoy CWs.

When you submit DTS, you're paying a fee for the ability to put your item directly into your CW shop, plus the cost of your copy.

If you submit an item as unlimited (meaning you can release an unlimited total number of copies) but submit a batch of 5 first, you pay for that batch, and then you can move the item into your CW shop for free at any point, and list any number of items you want for sale at a time (up to however many copies you have available if you were to submit it with a batch limit instead of as unlimited).

Some people will submit the first batch of an item and put the extra copies into a user shop like mentioned. Some people will take slots for only that first batch so they can get the batch extras taken care of right away (and if an item turned out to be super popular, you could send invites to the other people who were interested beyond that first batch, but if you put unlimited copies into your shop, you wouldn't have to do that either. Just ping them and let them know when it's available or something :))

Im not much help at answering your question but i just wanted to say that im so glad there is someone else who agrees that CWs shouldnt be limited! I always feel bad for people that join the site, find a CW they love and then realise it was released a year ago and only had 10 copies and will never be able to get their hands on it.

To quote some of the replies 'in order to keep the value of your item up' and 'my shop has become MUCH more profitable' - I dont care about these things and i submit CWs for myself and if other people want them then thats a bonus for me, i dont release CWs to make money which is why i try and put them as unlimited in my shop.

Theres a ton of CWs on site that id kill to own but have missed out on slots because of my time zone or because im not in the right ping group and it really sucks. I released a limited CW years ago and because i didnt make it public and let everyone have one i got bullied off site for it which made me depressed to the point of self harm so thats what put me off :/ Its really great to see others with a caring mindset :)