I just wanted to hit everyone with an update and say that we’re sorry for any user experience issues with the site during the Olly Moss sale earlier this week. It was the most in demand release we’ve ever had and it brought a lot of new people into the Mondo world. We posted a blog post last week explaining how the checkout process worked, but I feel that it’s helpful to provide more detail, especially in regards to what we’re doing to improve your experience.
1. I handle putting things on sale online and have a system that I use every time. I send a newsletter first, then put the item up for sale, followed by a blog post and then tweet/ facebook. With the Olly Moss release, as I clicked on sale, it instantly sold out and by the time I could tweet, it was too late. So, for everyone upset about there not being a tweet, I apologize. It was my mistake. I just want to assure everyone that this was an isolated instance and I’ll do my best to make sure that it doesn’t happen again. Once again, I apologize. We’re going to keep the current system on how we alert you to the print being on sale, but with one exception. An newsletter will be sent out the day prior to a release instead of the day of. We’ve found that the emails are hitting spam folders or getting to some customers after the print goes on sale and it’s not a good way to announce something. We will still be doing a blog post and Twitter/ Facebook announcements.
2. When a huge release really tests our site, we are able to look at that data and make improvements. Earlier this year, we had a full blown meltdown on the WOLFMAN release and took steps to improve the site. Since then, the site has performed well. The Olly Moss release brought in never before seen traffic for us and now that the dust has settled, we can make improvements. I have been talking to our web developers since the release and we have already begun making changes to the site. We’ve even bought another server to accompany our already dedicated one, so everything should run smoother in the future. Problems can always arise, but we do our best to keep them to a minimum.
3. We are making a change to how we show you upcoming releases. Earlier this year, we started to debut the posters on a popular website and then we would create an item page for it on our site. This was to let you have a place to prepare for and refresh for the drop. We will no longer be putting the item pages up in advance, but will now be putting the images up on the main page of the site and when the item finally goes on sale, we will activate the links to the items in the store page. We tried this out on the TRUE GRIT release earlier today and feel that this will give everyone more of a fair chance to score a print.
Mondo is a company that truly cares about 1. the products we make and 2. the people who are buying the products. Your tweets, emails and posts on forums are greatly appreciated and we constantly strive to make the site function the best it possibly can to ensure fans will get a chance to buy their favorite prints. We take each one into consideration and are constantly trying to improve and make the experience more enjoyable. Feel free to leave us comments below or to email us directly.
-Justin
Justin@MondoTees.com
As someone caught in the server issues, and as a web developer, I understand the issues you all faced. It’ll happen from time to time. I was upset for a few hours, I (along with every other geek in the world) wanted the Olly Moss posters. But then I got over it. If I really wanted them I could turn to the secondary market. If I didn’t then I had $150 I had planned to spend suddenly freed up.
Thanks for the blog post explaining the circumstances. I look forward to seeing what you guys do next!
Mondo for 2012!
Thanks for all your hard work and for caring about the fans. I hope this blog entry will help people to realize that you do care, you do listen, you do take steps to communicate and you do make changes to improve the customer experience when possible. Keep up the good work–we appreciate all the effort that goes into creating this art and getting it into our hands. My walls would be so boring without you.
No need for the apologies Justin. You’ve been doing great so far and had a minor bump in the road. But it’s great to see improvement on the site and hopefully it’ll provide for smoother transactions in the future.
One thing though, how will we be inform about future prints being up for sale? Sending an email about the prints a day before? Will you send another email the day of as well? Will you send out a tweet first, then put the prints up?
Thanks a lot Justin for all the work you do for the community.
Thanks for the kind words, BIGrick.
We’ll be sending out an email the day before letting everyone know that the print is going up for sale the next day. We can’t give specific times anymore, so it will always be random. I would watch Twitter, Facebook and this blog for the announcement. You can also refresh on the Store page as that’s where they’ll be going up for sale when we make the links live.
Keep up the good work Justin. You guys and gals put out some great product and we all hope you keep it up. I will say I’m glad not much is changing. I hate change.
Thanks, as someone who had trouble grabbing a Moss print its nice to know that you’re always looking to provide the best user experience. Chasing limited prints is quite fun even without scoring any, though, so please don’t change the system too much! It provides a nice break from the tedium of a regular workday.
I want Mondo to have my baby!!!
I still don’t understand why you refuse to do higher edition numbers. You have to admit that you’ve exploded in terms of visibility this year, with all of these new websites and magazines doing features on you.
I understand you want to still stay small and boutique, but you could easily double the number of posters you make, and no one would be upset. 1000 posters is stil limited. And especially if you do more limited variants.
As I grow older and wiser in my collecting ways, I couldn’t care less how many people have what I have, as long as it looks good.
Justin, you go to such great lengths to make sure everyone has the best experience possible and it is truly admirable. I experienced first hand the changes to how things dropped with todays release and I am looking forward to future releases in this manner, given that twitter doesn’t decide to fail at the moment of drop. I guess I’ll just have to give emails a notification tone on my phone so that I will have a better heads up. Can’t wait to see what you have in store for us in the new year. This will always be my favorite shop to buy prints from btw.
I will be “that guy” here. I understand the issues, and honestly never thought I had a chance to get one of the Olly prints. There was too much hype and too much publicity re: these. HOWEVER….. YOU guys pushed the Wired story on your own sites that lead to a lot of misdirection of many of your “new people” – specifically the issue of how the alert would go out. Yes, you pointed to your other postings here on this site, BUT YOU DID NOTHING TO CONTRADICT THE INCORRECT INFORMATION that was propagated across the ether. Sorry… But that is/was Amateur Hour, nothing more, nothing less. I am glad you guys have your niche, and I toast your success – you guys have some GREAT product and have a KILLER stable of artists and licenses.
Read this as sour grapes, but it is not. I had no expectations of getting the prints. I just wanted to at least have a chance. No harm no foul… But I will not now nor in the future buy anything from you guys. This experience and, frankly, the attitude of your postings on the facebook pages, has turned me off to your business.
Steve-
If you look at Mondo 2009 vs. Mondo 2010, we have not only increased the amount of offerings but the editions as well. We are not the only ones making the call on edition sizes. Every poster release we do is a collaboration with the artist and they have input into how many are offered.
Nice to know you’re upgrading your hardware. i was lucky enough to snag all three Olly Moss prints, but i’ve lost out before due to your site freezing. i also think your prints would sell out just as fast if there were 1000 of them instead of a couple hundred, but i understand why you keep them low. Look forward to your future prints.
Ray Yamka-
I addressed what happened with the Olly Moss sale in the blog post and apologized for it. If you could point me to the posts on the Facebook page that have soured you on being a future customer, it would be most appreciated.
-J
I hate to suggest it, since it will likely be met with criticism, but I REALLY wanted these posters in some way, shape, or form. I’m sure the limited-to-400 run is printed on great stock, hand-numbered, fine-inked, etc., but I would totally settle for less fancy “common” reprints. It seems like as long as Mondo made sure there was a distinct difference in the craftsmanship put into the “high-end” posters, the presence of cheaper, standard posters wouldn’t de-value the limited editions. But I suppose that might be pipe dreaming on my end.
Tyler-
We strive to put the best product out. The way we print our posters allows us to do many things that offset posters can’t do. Over printing, metallics, glow in the dark ink, fluorescents, etc. We also have strict rules on what we can and can’t release through our licensors and offset posters is not a product we’re allowed to do.
Justin-
I appreciate the information, but I have to say I am still upset with the process. I truly wanted these posters (as did many others), but will not feed the beast that is what I consider to be predatory actions by those who buy them here and turn a quick profit. I realize that is the way the game is played, but I refuse to play the game.
What galled me the most was that I had the posters and was attempting to login, and could not get past that page. I had specifically set up an account the day before so that I wouldn’t have to enter as much information, but your servers choked on the number of hits I’m guessing. It was *extremely* upsetting to get the sold out notice once I was able to sign in.
I am aware that there are going to be people upset, especially when thousands want what there are only 450 of. I also appreciate that you do beautiful work here at Mondo, but I am very unlikely to participate in this process again, due to my frustration with it.
I hope for all the best for you, and I am glad to hear that you are making improvements.
Sincerely,
Matt from Alaska
Hear Hear on larger editions. Simply do a larger edition with color variants (metalics and whatnot) for collector editions. A run of 1000-1500 posters with maybe two sets limited to a few hundred seems prudent at this point.
If you think that would dilute your market too much, what about some kind of lottery system? People add themselves to a list of intention. You select randomly from that list, if people don’t follow up on their intent you ban them from future sales.
Granted you could probably care less, you sell out every time, it’s no skin off your nose if large portion of your fanbase misses a tweet by literally 15 minutes and can’t get product. You’ve made the profit you intended to make. But like me I think a lot of your fans are simply becoming burned out on the your whole “process”. I can’t watch twitter 24/7 and then instantly jump on your overloaded website and click through the necessary screens before the item is sold out. It’s disheartening and it drives me away from your site.
I’ve previously bought half a dozen posters from your site, but at this point I can’t see ever having the ability to buy another. There is simply too much demand for to limited a product.
Hi, Justin.
Thanks for all of your hard work on these releases; they have been truly awesome. As a person who frequents the various Alamos in Austin, I was wondering if any of the posters are ever for sale at the location on S. Lamar or are the exclusively for sale online. Thanks again!
Matt-
I’m sorry you had trouble with the site and I’m also sorry you didn’t score the posters. There were literally over 10,000 people on the site the day of the Olly release. That is more than 3 times the number of people that has ever been on the site at one time. It’s very hard to gauge how many people will show up to buy something. We are working to make the site tougher and quicker for the future. We can never guarantee that problems won’t arise, but we are doing everything we can to keep them to a minimum.
Brett-
“Granted you could probably care less, you sell out every time”
I have gotten dozens of emails and phone calls with people saying this. To be honest, it’s a very hurtful statement. If we didn’t care, this blog post wouldn’t exist. We do our best to be as transparent and communicative with our fans as we can. There are a number of reasons why we don’t print 1000′s of our posters. License restricitions, time restraints, artist agreements, etc. We are doing the best we can to make the process easier and more enjoyable. I would love it if we could list a specific time for the on sales, but we’ve tried it before and the amount of traffic cripples the site.
I am also a collector. For instance, I was recently trying to grab a Kaws Pinocchio from the KawsOne site. I missed out on it and was super bummed. I just want everyone to know that I am just like you and know how it feels. I’m not going to say that it doesn’t suck because it does, but one day when I do score something from his site, it will be all the more sweet.
Hey BB-
We occasionally do releases in store at the S. Lamar location. If we plan on having one, it will be mentioned on our blog. Thanks for the support.
Please don’t ever consider a lottery! I would rather go up against a limited number of people during a few minute long sale than go up against all of their multiple e-mail addresses (and those of all their recruited friends, relatives, coworkers, etc.) in a limitless lottery.
Hey
You guys put up great posters for sale and Im glad for that. Yea it was disappointing missing out. But the server load is understandable. Thanks for being such a great supporter of artist and putting these pieces up.
I have one small issue I can’t seem to get my head around. You guys say you care about your fans, but mass advertising for a small release isn’t getting posters into the hands of the fans. It’s far too late to pull back now, but only alerting past customers, or subscribers would at least help a few people out.
If the fans were the ones you were getting these posters out to, they wouldn’t be up on ebay 5 minutes later starting at 4 times the cost.
I supported you guys when everyone was complaining about the twitter and server issues, and then the next day my order was cancelled. Came out of nowhere, would hope for a heads up of oversell next time, because man, the people who thought they had it bad when they didn’t get an order in…they have no idea.
Justin-
Keep up the good work. I missed out on Olly but I’m happy as hell to have scored a True Grit.
Don’t let the complainers get you down, they are just whiners, quitters, or both.
20 year anniversary for American Werewolf in London and the Howling are coming up this year. ANy chance Mondo will do a poster a for these to keep my Ansin Wolf Man company?
As someone who lobbed some serious criticisms at you on your “How Things Work At Mondo Redux” (http://bit.ly/eCQaqu) I am very happy to hear this news. The technical details you are discussing sound encouragingly like they will help mitigate a lot of those issues hopefully. I also dare say you’ve had a change in tone personally and even in the comments above seem more polite receptive to the constructive criticism folks have. Unfortunately in business the customer is always right even if they are irrational and or rude, never go there with them. So that’s all great!
New cart.
Again I think limited quantity issues are another conversation entirely and holding you accountable for eBay assholes isn’t fair either. I do still think along with more servers to brute force handle the greater load that the shopping cart metaphor should be re-evaluated somehow. I think I laid out in my comments on the other blog some good reasons why there are more pros than cons to go with an “in the cart = reserved” style approach like a lot of much larger ecommerce sites implement.
Ultimately I think the goal for your site in terms of online sales experience should be to try to equalize the buying opportunity of all interested parties who make the effort to be at the site during the time of sale. And along those lines prospective customers who are less technical shouldn’t be in effect penalized for that via a purchasing user flow that encourages race type conditions.
For instance I use some software to automatically fill out my credit card information, I also have a pre-existing account on the site so my billing and shipping info is already easily and automatically populated for me. Should I necessarily get posters because of these reasons over someone who was just as eager AND clicked add to cart 30 seconds before me but doesn’t use these same tips and tricks? If these tips and tricks are required should there be a FAQ listing them? That shouldn’t be necessary.
I think it benefits everyone to have a better cart and it’s certainly best if a less-tech-savvy-non-genre-nerd-newbie-to-the-site can get posters just as easily and fairly as a me. This expands the reach for your site to new customers and the reach of your featured artists to new appreciators.
People will still miss out on things sure and complain about limited quantities/ebay but at least things will more or less be fair from a purchasing standpoint.
I also got kicked at the last stage of ordering the Olly Moss SW prints, but that’s nowhere near as infuriating as the flippers on Ebay!
Bumping up those production runs won’t hurt anyone apart from resellers in my humble opinion.
Season’s Greetings!
Hey there Justin,
I was rather bummed to hear of the news but understand.
When it comes to dealing with Lucasfilm, I’m well aware of all the license restrictions they impart unto their commissions for whatever reasons they might be. I may be mistaken but I believe that they’re the ones responsible for the print runs. Anyhow, I’m admittedly quite new to your site and was just recently turned onto it through a chain of clicks that started with a friend’s facebook post and instantly fell in love with those Olly Moss SW prints but gotta say you have GREAT stuff on here!
Any chance at all that you might at least post them on here as nicely sized hi-res jpeg images as a consolation prize so that we could at least have some nice wall papers to look at??
Despite the mayhem, it’s pressurized moments like what was experienced that help the coal become a diamond. Keep up the great work and may this find you all well!
Cheers!
Dan
Well I think there are a couple of problems, neither of which Mondo can really do much about.
1) Mondo is becoming a victim of its own success, more and more people are finding out about you guys and want to buy prints, with the small print runs (which personally I think you should not change, their limited for a reason) this naturally makes it harder for everyone to get one.
2) Flippers, which everyone hates, but again not really something that can be stopped easily.
I was lucky enough to grab a couple of prints this year that I really wanted and never intend to sell. I understand the frustration of missing a print however at the end of the day they are “Just Prints” and missing out doesn’t kill anyone. I find some of the reactions from people way over the top.
Keep up the good work Mondo!
Hey Justin
Please don’t start doing higher runs, its the beautifulness and the exclusivity that makes these posters so sought after in the first place. I managed to get the set but if I hadn’t, I didnt get the two tron posters, it would be annoying but not the end of the world.
I understand why people feel aggrieved when they see them on ebay 30 seconds after they have sold out for loads more money but that just tell me that these are some really rare and coveted posters.
Keep up the good work and all the best for 2011!
Maybe I’m a bit jaded, but to me it seems like feigned surprise.
Of course you knew it was going to sell out when the preview rolled through the interwebs like wildfire. You knew exactly how popular it was going to be (especially when you factor the time of year). Go to any site that features limited runs on anything remotely cult (especially Star Wars) and it’s going to go like gang busters.
I was a bit put off by the reaction (via Twitter) “We are never going to print more or raise editions. That totally beats the point of limited editions.” You don’t want to address customer needs beyond a token adjust your approach. No matter what, the likelihood that ANYONE has a chance at buying something from you is extremely low. I might as well buy a lottery ticket.
The whole thing is manufactured to create intense demand and I won’t be a part of it.
You guys should track down who the flippers are on eBay and cancel their orders. I’m sure that would make fans happy and give them a second chance at acquiring the posters. Of course this will never happen but it makes me feel good thinking of ways to get back at those damn flippers.
Oh no. The old e-mail timing worked really well for me. It went directly to my phone which sounded an alarm. I always knew when to attempt a purchase. I get that I’m not the only one buying prints though. Just hope I can set up my phone to buzz with Twitter.
HI Justin,
I too was incredibly gutted at not getting the Olly Moss posters, despite sitting at my computer for two hours, but when the test came, I just coudn’t get my Firefox browser to refresh and then like everyone else and I guessed something was afoot. It was frustrating not getting the On Sale text but I understand that the traffic was on this occasion quite phenomenal. Congratulations on such a fantastic release.
However, I do agree with some of the other comments that you didn’t really need to do such a marketing push in this particular release, that really was insane for what was going to be such a successful sale anyway: ‘Olly Moss’ and the fact that these are the only ones in the release so far to mention the film titles. It was bound to be a bigger ‘must have’ than any of the other SW releases put together, particularly as here you are crossing over into the ‘original movie poster’ collectors as in addition to SW geeks and Art print geeks. Massive!!
Anyway, I wanted to add that, wasn’t there some problem with the Tweet for TRUE GRIT? I only received that at 20.11 (GMT) which was two hours later than a normal drop and when I went straight to the site it was already sold out. Was it an unusually late drop or was it a Twitter problem or combination of both? I had similar problems with TRON, when I received the message they were already sold out. Seems it has been a bad last three drop problems for me.
Can I just clarify what you say above about the tweets, are you going to continue to continue to send out a tweet saying “On Sale Now” or some type of pre-advance tweet – which you have done on a few of your recent releases – or are you stopping to do that now? That is pretty important to me as I’m often in transit at the time of your drops.
Incidently, desptite signing up to your newsletter two times with two of my email addresses I have never received a newsletter and notification from your about forthcoming drops either the day before or at anytime at all. Is there something wrong with your newsletter system? I can assure you that I have no newsletters going into to my spam/junk folder.
Finally, I’m really envious of what you guys do over there we have nothing like this in the UK, Have you any jobs at the Alamo – I’d love to move over there and join you….
Keep up the great work.
Justin – While I understand the frustration of people who miss out on much-wanted releases, I have to agree with the posters who suggest that any increase of the print run would be a mistake. Limited edition means just that, and anything over 500 isn’t exactly limited. The limited print run is a big reason for your success, and I hope that you don’t bow to pressure to either increase the runs or to offer unlimited lesser quality releases of any of your work. It’s limited-run art, and should remain as such. Keep up the awesome work.
Justin,
I just want to say that I think you and your gang are doing a fine job and have never had an ordering issues. The only issues I’ve had ever was my stuff shipping out, and you guys were perfectly honest with me over issues causing my order to not ship right away. It was totally professional. There’s always gonna be star wars nerds who are butthurt over not getting some new star wars merchandise that they can joylessly stare at in their house. Ignore them. Keep up the good work and have a happy holiday.
The fact is, anyone who has ever collected anything “limited” and “sought after” has gone through this exact thing. No apologies are needed – something incredible sold out in no time. People have no right to complain or whine about it. The empty threats of “Well, I’m just not going to buy anything from Mondo anymore” are ridiculous, and really, good riddance if that’s the case. We’re all adults here, lets not throw a tantrum after missing a print run. Be stoked for those that got it. Yeah, flippers suck, but it is the nature of the collecting beast.
I think it’s great you did this blog post to let everyone know what happened, but I really don’t think it was needed. I’m excited to see what is in store for the upcoming year.
Cheers!
Appreciate all the effort Justin, but one comment. I’d like to see the email go out just before release as usual. There are many who don’t use twitter, myself included and it should be a level playing ground. Sending out a email/blog/twitter and FB “then” launching the sale would be the way to go. Without the email prior it puts those that use just email at a disadvantage. Just think it should be fair for all.
Keep up the great work and Merry Xmas to you and all at Mondo!
My advice?, get yourself a half decent photo printer and a few frames.
You got no chance here anymore.
No one will know the difference.
Since I don’t work for Mondo and I’m nowhere near as nice as Justin I’d like to just say for those who keep asking (over and over and over) for the edition sizes to be increased to quadruple digits or for reprints or open editions or a goddamn personalized telegram every time a poster they want is about to go on sale…
IT IS NOT GOING TO HAPPEN!
I get that a lot of you are new to this whole thing but a good portion of you folks are coming off as total assholes. Sincerely. Justin is a complete and total sweetheart of a dude who seems to spend half his time literally trying to make everyone happy. It’s nuts. I don’t know how he maintains the level of compassion he does but I’ll tell you what kids you have most likely NEVER dealt with a business that gives a shit about you and your temper tantrums more sincerely than Mondo does.
I have never in my life decided to get into some new hobby and the first goddamn day I participate in it start yelling at everyone involved to change the way they’ve been doing things for years to accommodate me and my friends. It’s like when I’m in a line that snakes around a building for tickets to some show and a bunch of goofballs just waltz up to the front of the thing as if there weren’t a thousand people already there.
If anyone could be slightly peeved at how difficult Mondo drops are these days it would be US! Those of us who’ve been buying Mondo posters for YEARS and once upon a time had a goddamn week to make up our minds! Yes, a week. It used to be that way. Same stunning posters, same caliber of artistry, WAY less people crowding up drops and a very small aftermarket. You know what though kids? We ain’t complaining! We’re just hangin around watching you guys jump in line and piss and moan at how cold it is outside. We’re not mad though. Oh no. We’re more in love with Mondo today than we’ve ever been. We’ve even got plans to erect a Justin Ishmael bronze statue in Philly where the old Rocky Balboa one used to stand (he’ll be holding a big shoe.. it’s very weird).
Yes yes Justin solicited feedback and you’re just giving it just like he wanted it… yes yes Mondo is more popular now and they’ve gotta grow to your new standards or else… yes yes you’re customers and the loud ass customer is ALWAYS right… yes yes they’re a business and potentially losing BILLIONS of rupees by not producing a zillion of each print… yes yes you’ve been perfectly civil this whole time and how DARE I speak to you this way and how DARE… oh.. right… this isn’t pointed at anyone who’s been civil… yes yes Iron Jaiden is just a bitter old flipper who missed out on the Star Wars posters and STILL can’t go to bed without a warm glass of blue milk (actually blue milk is wonderful but I did score the SW posters, I’ll trade ‘em for a working flux capacitor)… yes yes and double yes. We get it. No really, it’s got. *Tatata!*… Got.
*sigh* That felt good
So anyways, to those of you new to the fine world of poster junkie-ism, welcome! If you’ll please check your righteous indignation at the door and have a seat over there on the Big Proof pile and we’ll be on our way shortly
Sincerely,
The Breakfast Club
*Don’t yoooou…. forget about meeeeee… I’ll be alooooone.. dancin.. you kn….*
Hey Justin,
For those of us who were lucky enough to grab a poster.. when do you expect they will ship?
These sound like good steps forward. The main issue I had taken with previous posts was the attitude (or, at least, the attitude that comes across in the written word) that things were perfect and were not changing.
We all realize that no one is perfect and one of the most admirable things a person can do is publicly work towards a better solution and solicit advice from those who may not necessarily be better, but whose experience is different and can add something to the solution. As an engineer, I realize how hard it is to change what you think is right and adopt pieces of someone else’s solution but trust me, it’s for the better. Honestly, even the willingness to try something unknown is an incredible undertaking.
It may seem silly to relate these things to a poster release on a website, but for the people who make it their hobby and/or their job, it is a very important decision!
Does the Sideshow Collectible partnership mean large runs of posters in the future? The stuff here is amazing, just want to have some hope that I’ll be able to buy something from here one day
Am I the only one that will miss the email informing us of the posters going on sale?
At my work I don’t have access to Facebook or Twitter. I have been relying on the emails to know when the sales are about to start.
How hard is it to make sure that emails from Mondo don’t go into your spam folder?
Anyways, I love your site and keep up the good work in 2011.
Justin -
As a long time fan and avid collector, all I have to say is thanks for the update and great work coming out of Mondo recently. I can’t wait to see more! You rule!
-Whitney from Austin
Your efforts to improve the system are appreciated. I too have watched Mondo’s popularity grow for years. However, there are numerous ways to prevent the flipping (no disrespect to Iron Jaiden) and get more posters into the hands of fans and collectors: increase run numbers, pre-sales, lottery, increase price-point, more variants, etc. Any of these could work for the artisits and Mondo, and make more money for both, while helping support the fan base better. “Do or do not. There is no try.”
Dear Mondo,
I have to say: I am impressed. Based on the madness of this week, the whole thing could have turned into a great case study in how to lose new customers and alienate existing ones.
I don’t know the back story but this blog sounds like a business growing up. I also hear the business reaffirming what it stands for. And the business is also listening to the customers and trying to adapt. Awesome.
This is my first experience with Mondo. Before this I have collected and I bought from galleries and/or from artists directly. Neither of those purchase experiences come without some kind of baggage. I like what Mondo is standing for, where my money doesn’t buy me a place at the front of the line and massaging egos isn’t a requirement to securing some seriously good work. Just happens there’s a different price to pay and that’s not to everyone’s taste. Fair enough.
As a new customer I made the effort to set up my account. I set up a Twitter account. I was soooo ready and even managed to get posters in my basket. The site failed on the second purchase step. I blame the company. If the tone of the communication back to newbies and existing customers alike was ‘like it or lump it’ I think I would have walked away from Mondo and not looked back.
@Justin: I really apprecaite there’s a person behind the business – that someone actually puts their name out there and talks to the customers. I think a lot of people are yelling at you, not realizing how stupid and hurtful this is. As customers we should be mature enough to understand the business (infrastructure, server configuration, hold music, decor, inventory, etc) is not the same as the people behind it. I may have had hard feelings for the business, but your post above gives me a reason to believe and come back.
I wish you and the team at Mondo the best of the holidays. As a customer I look forward to seeing the business improve and grow… and as a result I am hopeful I’ll be able to secure myself some great work in the future.
- Aaron
@Iron Jaiden – great post!
What happens if Twitter is not working and there is no email? Yesterday, the only way I knew the True Grit posters dropped was because of the email that was sent a few moments before. I received the tweet about the sale AFTER both versions had sold out! (supposedly because of Twitter overload). If you move that email to the day before, and rely only on twitter, then it will result in there being NO announcement of when the sale starts. I only see this as making the “system” worse, rather than better.