Announcement: (Dutch) Webshop Launched

This article is a quick “announcement” that I launched my own webshop. I’ll keep it short, as the online store contains mostly Dutch merchandise and isn’t very tightly related to games. (Which is what this website and this blog is all about.)

You can visit the online store here.

The official Dutch name means “Tiamo sells his soul”. Because that’s what it feels like. If you’ve followed me for a while, or seen any of my work, you know that I have absolutely no income, I give everything away for free, and I hate money and all systems attached to it. Obviously, this has the downside of being broke, which means I can’t survive!

So … I considered all my options for years, and as much as I dislike it, starting my own webshop to actually sell my work was the best choice left to me. I have made tons of things, both digital goods and (what could be put on) physical goods. And I will hopefully keep making more of that. Actually providing a safe, reliable, streamlined place to SELL it (instead of giving it away for free wherever) was the most logical step towards getting an income.

Creating your own online store from scratch is, however, a huge task. Even my hyperactive and improvisational brain, which likes to just jump into things without planning ahead, took a step back and made something resembling a plan.

I realized I still had my oldest Dutch website. It used to be the home for my blog and writing work, until all of that moved to TiamoPastoor.com. I’d paid for hosting in advance, so it would still be in the air for some time before it was actually removed.

And I thought …

Why not use that existing Dutch domain as a playground to learn about running an online store (using pre-existing ecommerce systems)?
And then, some time later, use the lessons learned to actually launch the actual webshop (which would be custom-built, from scratch, to suit my needs and products far better and be easier/cheaper to maintain)?

And so I did.

I used WordPress + WooCommerce to rapidly get my first webshop up and running. The first few weeks, I learned so much by making mistake after mistake, overhauling the website (and its pricing, shipping, policy, etcetera) five times, until I got a handle on things. While doing so, I created lots of merchandise to actually test the system and sell.

I think some of that merchandise turned out good enough to actually be its own brand and stay around. (When I switch to my bigger, actual webshop, those products will be copied over.) Some of it were quick sketches/test ideas that were never supposed to be permanent. They’ll be gone at some point, but for now they fill the webshop nicely and allow me to test a few more things.

In general, that Dutch webshop really is a “small feasability test”. I learn as much as I can from it. I create merchandise of aaaall different types, at many different platforms, trying different marketing/selling/design strategies.

If that seems viable, and I know how to move ahead, the webshop probably disappears and we switch to my actual webshop. The actual webshop will be about games (a lot of the time). I have a few ideas for merchandise that hopefully interests gamers. Most of all, though, these will be digital goods. I’ve already made so many board games (printable PDFs) and video games, and I’ve been expanding into other game-related areas as well (such as educational activities or printable escape rooms) the past few months, and I plan to make such digital goods the majority of that future online store.

At least … that was the plan.

As I write this, the thing happened again. The thing that always happens to me. To any hyperactive person, or hypercreative person, my experience tells me.

When I go for something, I really go for it :p

As such, that Dutch webshop is actually quite clean, polished, and full already. I made tons of nice products. The interface is clear, it supports loads of useful things, it is now verified in all the right places, etcetera. It has quickly gone from a mock/test webshop to something that I actually want to keep running for a bit longer. By now, it would be a waste (of all previous time/effort/designs) to build this large and promising Dutch webshop only to suddenly remove it.

I write this announcement to let everyone know what I’ve been up to, and to allow Dutch people to check out that store and maybe buy something nice.

I also write it to give an updated plan/timeline of the “actual, international webshop”. So you know what’s coming, and you know what I’ve been doing (and will be doing) when it comes to game-related work.

The current target for the international webshop is “Summer 2025”. This is a very tight deadline. Some things are already set up really well (thanks to lessons learned from the Dutch webshop!), other things still need to be 100% figured out.
It will probably launch with a wide array of digital goods to purchase, which will partially consist of previous work I’ve already done and partially consist of new work. (I am sorry, some things that were free before will be paid in the future. But I’m limiting the impact of this as much as possible. It’ll probably be “base game free, buy the expansions/extras in my store”.)
And it will launch with a smaller number of physical goods. Some merchandise will simply be transferred from my Dutch webshop (the ones that are not language-dependent), some merchandise will be new and use logos/designs/ideas from established work of mine.
It should support international customers. (All text written in simple and clear English, shipping and costs clearly handled for all zones, etcetera.)
Besides that, it will be the usual things you expect from me: a very fast, minimalist, streamlined experience that does what it needs to do and nothing else. No trickery. No sleezy sales tactics. No ads. A colorful design, a hint of fantasy and story and magic around the webshop, but otherwise just a storefront for my best (purchaseable) work and that’s it.

When it’s done, several much longer articles will be published about the entire process. Similar to the devlogs or diaries I write for all projects anyway. Because, as stated, it has already been a MOUNTAIN of work and there has been so much to learn (and so many mistakes to make …)

For now, you can check out the existing (mostly Dutch) webshop called “Tiamo Sells His Soul”. Because I don’t want anyone, for even a second, to wrongly assume I like having to sell stuff or will ever care about money :p And also because it’s simply true. An artist puts their heart and soul into their work, so commercializing pieces of it … is literally selling your soul.

As usual, I tried to make the best of it. The main “brand” of the webshop is one that playfully introduces a devil character that’s saying naughty things, or merchandise related around selling your soul or buying superpowers from that devil in exchange for something. Yes, even that online store has a thematic presence running through it. Doing anything else just feels bland and like the webshop is a dime a dozen.

That was the announcement,

Pandaqi