Transparency
In the spirit of openness that defines the project and community, we've crafted this page to give you a behind-the-scenes look at the choices that shape our eCommerce operations. Why did we choose Shopify? How do we handle orders, and what drives our pricing strategy? These are just a few of the questions we’ll answer, providing clear, concise insights into the decisions that enable us to support and grow our community.
Choosing Shopify: A Strategic decision
Picking Shopify over an open-source platform might seem a bit out of left field for us, right? Here's the thing: we chose Shopify for its ease of use, reliability, and because it lets us zero in on what we're truly passionate about—organising fantastic events for the open-source community and contributing to open-source projects. It's all about picking the right tool for the job, and Shopify is our tool of choice to streamline our operations and keep our focus on fostering open-source love. No reasons to reinvent the wheel, right?
The life cycle of your order
Curious about what happens after you hit that ‘order’ button on our site? It’s pretty cool, actually. We partner with Printful, a print-on-demand marketplace that takes care of everything from printing to shipping your favourite merch. Depending on where you are in Europe, the nearest print centre gets your order zapped over, they print it, do a quality check, and ship it out. All within a few days! This way, you get your gear fresh off the press, and we can keep focusing on bringing more open source love into the world.
Our eco-friendly approach to fulfilment
Why choose print-on-demand? For us, it’s about responsibility—towards our planet and the future. This method significantly cuts down on waste and overproduction, echoing our commitment to sustainability. By only producing what’s needed, we minimise our environmental footprint, aligning our operations with our values of care and conservation.
Fair Pricing for sustainable support
We understand that our prices may not be the lowest on the market, and there's a good reason for that. Our pricing strategy is built on the principles of sustainability and fair value—for our members, our community, and the artists and creators we collaborate with. Each purchase supports the high-quality production of our merch, contributes to our open-source events and projects, and ensures fair compensation for the talented individuals behind the designs. It's about creating a cycle of support that benefits everyone involved.
Contribute to Schroedinger Hat
By choosing to buy the merch you’re supporting and contributing to our open source project. You’ll have something really cool to wear at the various events across the world and you’ll spread the love for open source!
Every penny makes a difference
Let’s say you’ve just spent 100€ with us, where does the money go? Simple, 63€ goes towards the cost of producing the item, ensuring you receive something of great quality; 9€ covers shipping, making sure your order gets to you swiftly; 3€ is given to the artists for their creative work; 5€ helps us cover administrative costs, refunds and fixed platform costs.
The remaining 20€ is our margin and is reinvested into Schroedinger Hat. This reinvestment allows us to keep organising those events and meetups you love, supporting the open-source projects we're passionate about, and ensuring the sustainability of our community's ecosystem.
