06-13-2009, 12:57 AM
The only mask I had take more than two weeks was a custom "do-it-however-you-want.. along-THESE-lines, and-take-whatever-time-you-need" kinda deal. That one took about 2 months, had such a killer discount on it, and was from a friend, so I wasn't concerned in the least..(though my GF had a fit, lol)But then, I don't pre-buy, and tend to buy masks after they're made.. so typically they're second hand.I don't do that because of the risks involved, it just seems to work out that way.. I'll stare at something for months before acting on it, and it's usually gone by the time I decide to do something about it. Easy come, easy go.. Eventually it shows up again at a huge savings and I go for it. If it doesn't.. oh well I can do without because I've gone this long without having it.I dunno though.. I worked with a guy selling full plastic vacuum-formed costume suits and turnaround time was always two weeks, even if it meant a lot of extra midnight oil hours to get it done. I hate holding someone's money when they're waiting for something. I'd much rather be the one waiting in that situation. The exception being I'd hold money in Paypal for someone concerned that they might not have the money ready when I was ready to sell.. the difference between that and presale is the knowledge that there is NO SALE AGREEMENT and I'd refund at a second's notice... So in effect, they still had their money and it wasn't spoken for.I used to put-up my own money to get the suits started ahead of sales time, to make it easier to meet the deadlines, and then repay myself that extra bit when it sold. My buddy used to get mad at me for that though, warning that they might not sell, and sometimes they didn't, but then again, I had my fulltime day job to support me, and the hobby costs were just hobby costs, so.. whatever.. I watched my buddy get to almost a year behind on metal stuff, and I just have too much respect to do that to anyone unless I absolutely had to. I mean, seriously.. it drove me nuts thinking someone was waiting and I had their money in my bank. I always saw it as a loan, and when you're desperate enough to convince someone to invest in you, I always felt you really gotta take that same effort you took selling the item, to get it made for the folks counting on you.Different strokes for different strokes, but (Dern, I done gone and growed another head).. it used to keep me up at night unless I knew I'd be at least a couple of days ahead of my self-imposed one or two-week deadlines... He'd go months without touching the project, and then rush it all near the end.. cutting corners and everything.. It makes me a lousy salesman, I guess, but I refused orders if I even had an inkling I might have too much on my plate to do a timely turn-around, he'd just pile it on and sell as much as he could.. figuring he'd just play catch up and only lose a few customers in the process. I just can't do that, and I look out for that in the folks I buy from.