The New ATS Store...

So your looking for that AWESOME new book by Jim Marrs, Above Top Secret: Uncover the Mysteries of the Digital Age. You could go to Amazon.com and look it up. Pay an evil corporate giant who in turn probably won't give the author more than 50% of the retail price. OR, you could buy it directly from the ATS Gear tab at the top of the page right? WRONG! Nope sorry kiddies, that tab brings you to the cafepress.com page for ATS. While a worthwhile place for all your conspiratorial shopping needs, one thing is notably missing from this grand ol store (and no it's not ATS brand Tin Foil), yes that's right, Jim Marrs's new book, Above Top Secret: Uncover the Mysteries of the Digital Age.

But what is one to do? How can I the avid ATS fan and avid lover of all things conspiracy related find this wonderful and exciting new book? Where will I go to find all those nifty new products that will surely bring joy and more tinfoil into my life?

Well I your ATS concierge am here to help...

ATS has a brand spanking new store at The ConneXtion here to serve all of your needs. The only problem is one would have to be a master detective to find it on this site. But as I am your pal and your ATS Concierge ill help you find this AWESOME and great place all in one click.

The ATS Store @ The ConneXtion

So the question to the board is this, is our own wonderful and masterful webmaster SkepticOverlord gonna put a handy dandy link for this awesome new store at the top of the page, thereby making it easier for those of us members that aren't that web savvy to paruse this new and awesome store for all of it's cool and spiffy merchandise? And, is there more awesome and cool new stuff going to be added to the store?

Enquiring minds must know

reply to post by whatukno


You are now feeling my pain...

As the "Ops Guy" I am in constant conflict with my partner, SkepticOverlord's work load/schedule.

The fact he has to single handedly create, execute and manage all the code for the site, the graphics for the site, the security for the site and the over all programming health of the site makes getting all the things that make the Ops Guy happy take a little longer than the Ops Guy likes....

Oh the agony of being the Ops Guy.

Seriously though, we will have a shiny new button, easily noticed, that presents the greatness of the new store in short order.

Thank You "whatukno" for pointing it out for those who would like to support the site in the mean time.

Springer...

THIRTEEN BUCKS for an 18"x24" foot poster! (sorry)

You guys need to have a little competition for the artistic members here to create more original art that could be sold in your shop.

Hi-Res pics of illustrations, photos of some of the more well known member sightings and just about any pertinant royalty-free pic you can lay your hands on.

I would be glad to help out big time.

Bear in mind it costs nothing to send an image file of a few megabytes and printing costs aren't that expensive if you shop around.....

There's companies on Ebay that do HUGE poster size prints of your own artwork for relative peanuts.

What ATS member wouldn't want a great pic of their favourite planet, ghost or ET hung on their wall.

I particularly think tall or wide mural-type images would suit. Same packaging size and more bang for your buck!

Imagine the wide vastness of space with a hurtling planet of fire heading towards a serene and quiet earth, or a dark doorway with an alien peering at you from the darkness.....spooky.

Just an idea. This is a great opportunity to adorn walls all over the globe that get people to say "where did that come from.....cool!"

I recommend a thread in "member art" if you think this is a good idea. You don't have to use any of the images but I'd like to think some of us could surprise you.

Member content, thant's what it's all about.....If you build it they will come.

[edit on 15/1/2009 by nerbot]

reply to post by nerbot


I love the idea of Members submitting their own artwork to possibly sell in the ATS store. The reality of the piece we have now is it was done by an artist I was referred to by George Knapp who, IMHO, is really good.

The other reality is, we have to pay for the posters up front and stock them in the store, they have to be shipped to the store after they are printed which also costs money. The artist needs to eat, so he has to get royalties on each sale which leaves a buck or two for The Above Network as a return on investment that we need to continue the expansion into the new features we've been posting about in this very forum.

The market will judge whether or not this poster is worth $13.00. I have one hanging up in my office and I think it's awesome, just about everyone who sees it comments on how "piercing" the eyes are. The size is set by the printer, that's the biggest they will print. The print quality is excellent so I am not unhappy with these at all. There are lots of printing companies out there who will do huge posters but after looking at the quality of the paper and reproduction values I wouldn't allow them in the store.

In any case, if Members have art they think would make a great poster, by all means post a link to it and maybe we'll have a contest and pick two or three that we can feature in the store. I don't have time to do this right now (buried with several new initiatives and recuperating from a total knee replacement on my left leg), but it could be something we can look at after February 1st.

Sound good?

Springer...

[edit on 1-15-2009 by Springer]

reply to post by Springer


I'd be happy to start the neccessary thread in "member art" if you like.

Not a competition but just an experiment. No guarantees of publication of work. No commission offered etc (maybe points and an "ATS artist" badge). Just good old fashioned satisfaction, contribution and recognition.

I know some of the members here have submitted their art to Tinwiki in the past and I'm sure they'd enjoy a chance like this. Discussion and links to information is ATS's finest tool but a visual hook outside of the online environment could be an excellent string to our bow don't you think?

I'll research costs and quality for printing and keep you posted on that. (where is the base for the store?)

U2U me if you wish me to go ahead or have thoughts on this. I don't want to take up too much space posting here.

I'm so glad the store is running well, people love "goodies" and they love ATS. Marketing the ATS brand with peoples interest in "stuff" is beating "them" at their own game. I have been surprised members don't mention anything they've purchased from the store in posts....hopefully that's going to change.

Well done.

reply to post by whatukno



edit: was just me

alien wallpaper looks freaky


[edit on 15-1-2009 by bodrul]

The poster looks awesome... but why isn't the ATS logo on the side? It would fit in perfect in the black empty space. Also, it would then be an ATS Alien poster, instead of an Alien poster. I'm a proud member and would love to display it on my wall..... if the ATS logo is there!

Ahhh! Of course I would find this post today, when I spent $19.95 on the book yesterday at Borders.
I'm not even kidding!
Oh well, you guys deserve all the money you can get. ^_^

Posters are a good product, easily sold online as the shipping costs and production costs aren't prohibitive. Also the amount of inventory space is cost effective as well. What would also be cost effective and probably sell-able is perhaps a compilation of the ATS/BTS/AP Mix Shows on CD. (yea I know y'all could download em and put em on a CD yourselves) But as a marketing campaign it would be a great selling point.

Other products submitted by members could include software (for those that have the requisite programing ability) I.E. Games, UFO Tracking software etc.

I for one think that ATS brand® Tin Foil would be an awesome idea,

"Billy Mays here for ATS Brand® Tin Foil, To stop freezer burn and those pesky alien and government signals, I reccomend ATS brand® Tin Foil. Other tin foil may be effective in stopping freezer burn, but ATS Brand® Tin Foil is the only one that is 100% effective in stopping RFID signals entering the chip implanted in your brain! Order today and tell em that Billy sent you!"

I see that S.O. has put a link at the top of every page to the New Store. Cool, I can't wait to see what other products are going to be available for sale.

We've been discussing what products would be good to splash the ATS logo on and offer for sale in the new store...

One of my favorites is a cool Frisbee that looks like a classic flying saucer. I think we could get them (in bulk of course) for a very reasonable price even with the custom logo added.

Another product we are considering is an ATS "koozie". For those who don't know what a "koozie" is, it's the insulating sleeve you put a soda or beer can in to keep it cold.

Then of course we have the ATS mouse pad, which I believe we can get a great price on as well.

One of my personal favorites is a VERY high quality, embroidered logo, "polo"/golf shirts. These are really nice 100% cotton, Cutter and Buck brand shirts that retail for $50.00 before any logos are sewn into/on them. If we order 20+ at a time we can get them for around $48.00 per with the logo in three colors (black red and white thread for the embroidery).

The only thing keeping me from getting these is we would have to risk over a thousand dollars on inventory and with a price point >$50.00 (with shipping) I don't know if they would sell.

Another possibility for the embroidered golf shirts is to buy a less costly brand of shirt and have the embroidery done by a sewing shop (there are several online shops who offer embroidery). I have priced them out this way and we can get a nice, 100% cotton polo/golf shirt for about $9.00 (in quantities of 25 or more) and get the embroidery done for about $12.00 a shirt making this a possibly viable product since we would have

Absolutely fantastic stuff there guys

I know what I'm getting for my B-day







Cheers!!

An ATS Hoodie would be great.

Maybe notebooks for keeping track of all those things we write down to look up later!

reply to post by interestedalways


yep... gotta get that jotter...
Perhaps they should do an ATS camera... never an excuse not to snap that "UFO" then.... perhaps an infrared one

[edit on 17/1/09 by blupblup]

Hahaha!

Of course they already thought of the hoodie, we posted at the same time on that one!

Infrared camera would be awesome, but pricey I am sure.

ATS Bookmarks

Originally posted by interestedalways
Hahaha!

Of course they already thought of the hoodie, we posted at the same time on that one!

Infrared camera would be awesome, but pricey I am sure.

Hey... maybe we can use a mixture of points and cash... or we all get one for just being members!!



I can but dream

Originally posted by interestedalways
An ATS Hoodie would be great.

Maybe notebooks for keeping track of all those things we write down to look up later!

I would buy those too...send them to school with the kids too.


And I am a writer after all.


[edit on 1/17/2009 by Blogstalker]

reply to post by Blogstalker


Notebooks you say... they got 'em

reply to post by blupblup


Thanks... it's been awhile since I was "in" the store.

Just for clarification, the products in the Café Press "Gear Store" are not what I am talking about... All of that stuff comes from Café Press and we don't receive a penny from any sales in that store.

ZedicusZolZorander, one of our esteemed Admins, designed and runs the Café Press store for us. We realized early on there was no way we could, in good faith, mark the already high prices up any further to make a little additional money for the site from that store.

Because of that, we let ZZZ keep what little (and I DO MEAN little, I think the biggest month he's ever had is $8.00 USD :@@ profit that store has ever generated in return for his masterful job of designing it and running it. We only wish it would have done better for him.

The new store at the "ConneXtion.com" is a completely different model than Café Press. The ConneXtion doesn't supply any products, it is up to us to get the products made, pay for them, ship them to the ConneXtion and market them.

The ConneXtion staff are experts in warehousing, inventory management, order fulfillment (dealing with the money) and shipping so that's all they do. Unlike most "online stores" they don't offer any products directly. Matter of fact, they specialize in merchandising for music bands. They have some great services for those who are working to become Rock Stars.

This business model is risky for us on the one hand (if we buy products nobody wants/buys we are stuck with them and have lost our money) but it also allows us, for the first time, to offer anything we can think of versus the limited catalog of pre-selected merchandise Café Press offers.

This is why we are interested in product ideas for the new store. As I said, we can offer anything that can be dreamed up and manufactured, but, right now ALL we have is the book and the new poster.

Hopefully we will be able to add some cool new products in February, it all depends on how well the poster does and whether or not we have the revenue to purchase new products.

Springer...