Well, in between the art, the writing, the rendering, the website coding, the font creation, three French hens, two turtledoves and a bottle of Advil in a pear tree, I spent time today talking with the folks over at my bank regarding the merchant account I'm going to need for the site store, as well as the API specifications required to get it to interact with the site.

Wait…what?  We haven't even launched and I'm already thinking of merchandise?  I'm sure all of you right about now are probably thinking the same thing:

Well, I'm sure you all, like myself and Ayne, would like to make a career out of this (that's why you're here at Fan to Pro, right?); some of you have even gone so far as to start actual incorporated businesses for your craft (you did start a business, right?  If not, I'll be going over it in a later post).  You're all planning to make money off this someday, correct?

There's an old story that gets passed around many a con by hopeful webcomickers.  About a webcomic whose work was so in demand that people begged him to move the strip to daily.  Said artist then basically told his audience that in order to do daily work, he'd have to leave his job; he couldn't do so unless he could make about $60K, which would be enough to cover both his pay and the bennies (medical insurance, etc.)  By the end of the year, he now had a "salary" from his comic equivalent to $122K.  All from his fans.

Chances are, that's not going to happen to you.  Chances are, your initial funds will come from one of three places: the tip jar, passive income (aka ads), or merchandise.  I've never been one for the tip jar, because while I appreciate the kindness of others, I feel they deserve more than just "donation wallpaper of the month!"  While ads from networks like Project Wonderful and Google AdSense will bring you in money, it won't be enough; furthermore, you'll probably be using those networks to advertise yourself, thus decreasing your income overall.

So what's left?  Well, chances are you're already doing stuff for artists alleys, so you're more than famliar with merchandise.  In our case, while we'll be selling prints and such, the long term plan is to sell T-shirts and also digital goods (no, not wallpapers – fonts, including the one we'll be using for Claude & Monet).  But to do that, you need an online store.  And, unless you're planning to fork over some of your profits to eBay, Etsy, Artfire or whatever, you'll need the store on your own site.

So why a merchant account, you ask?  Yes, there are some options not requiring them.  For example, Paypal, Google Checkout, Amazon Payments, and Square.  They're easy to get (chances are you have one of them already), they don't require credit checks or business tax IDs, and you don't have to wait long for your money.  But there are drawbacks: Paypal's customer service is infamous for being pathetic.  Google Checkout isn't accepted everywhere, so you can kiss those customers overseas goodbye.  Unless you know bare metal code, Amazon Payments is not compatible with a lot of plug-in store software. And lastly, there's Square, which requires an internet connection; furthermore, Square was never meant to be plugged in to a site.  That leaves merchant accounts, which your local bank (always go with a local bank or a credit union!  Big banks charge too much!) should be able to provide you with.  The rates are competitive with the previous services I've mentioned, and unlike those, there's less restrictions that you have on their use.  Oh, and the big one – fraud and chargeback insurance; remember that when you sell something online, there's always the chance that they might screw you over, and that comes out of your pocket.

Lastly, there's nothing like success when you see those monthly merchant reports.  Trust me – I already see some from Megami's business division, and it can be very rewarding and a confidence booster.

Tomorrow: Day 26 – Scripting, or Words Make Head Hurt.