ilovefuzz.com

That seems to be a bit like the Seppuku way of doing things, I never buy Seppuku because you never know whether he'll come up with something cooler sooner rather than later and you'll end up with a harder to sell older one trying to upgrade for the newer one.
I like the strange and mysterious things bit though, but I guess that will mostly survive based on whether there's some good soundclips available to be able to actually hear what it does.

For us Eurodudes the older way of doing things with retailers and everything was a much better situation, if you're reconsidering the way you're handling your business it might be recommendable to take going back to the older business model into consideration.
Maybe you could first determine which custom features and which custom finishes you'll be offering for the current line of pedals and go from there.
I don't know man, I love your stuff but right now it's difficult over here in the EU with no retailers where you can try it all out.
So yeah, that's kinda my vision on it, for what it's worth.

Thanks for your feedback. I do understand the deal with international orders and dealers. Unfortunately I found that given the complexity and expense of my pedal designs, if I kept selling through dealers I would have to raise prices by a large amount or else go out of business. So it wouldn't actually work out any better for anybody but the dealers. Doing things this way allows me to stay connected to customers, actually hear their thoughts and be able to react to them. FWIW I charge a chunk less for intl shipping than it actually costs me to ship those orders. This is one way I'm trying to make intl purchasing a good experience.

By the way, just to be clear, I will be making those new things in addition to the standard pedals. Nothing is being discontinued. I won't be making multiple minor variations on the same pedals so you don't need to worry that an IE pedal you buy today will be useless in a week. As far as special features, e.g. consider an Oxide. If I make a special edition Oxide variant it would likely be twice as big, with extra footswitches and cost more. So the regular Oxide would remain preferable for people who don't want the extra features, size, and cost, whereas this new one would appeal to those with different needs. I see this as a good thing for customers.

This could easily turn into a discussion of economic/political ideas which obviously we should avoid, but the following is just my view on my own company and life: like most people who start a business, getting bigger and selling more volume seemed like what I was supposed to be doing. I made business deals with people around the world, hired employees to work in the shop with me, etc. I realized this year though that I don't want to be a mogul. Neither business nor money are that interesting in themselves to me, and I don't want the pursuit of such things to become all-consuming. I just want to make cool stuff and keep it as affordable as I can, not get rich. IE is now back to being a one-person shop for the first time in years, and though the business people I know think I'm crazy for negating their suggestions, my goals just aren't the same as theirs.

I respect the shit out of you and your business philosophy. Everyones idea of success is different. If you can continue doing what you love on your own terms, you are successful. Im excited to see what happens.

neonblack wrote:I respect the shit out of you and your business philosophy. Everyones idea of success is different. If you can continue doing what you love on your own terms, you are successful. Im excited to see what happens.

Echo this. excited to see what you have up your sleeves

Hey Taylor, thanks for your reply, understood, I totally agree with what neonblack said, for us eurodudes it's a bit of a bummer but hey, things are the way they are.
I'm curious what you'll come up with.

It's almost always cheaper for me to buy direct than in a store in Sweden.
Can't wait to see more new finishes!

goroth wrote:It's almost always cheaper for me to buy direct than in a store in Sweden.
Can't wait to see more new finishes!

yeah same for aus dudes usually too

I personally don't mind buying pedals from the US, trying them out for myself at my own home in my own time and then selling anything that I don't want to keep. You may lose money, but it's a fun experience, and others benefit too. I know that takes potential business away from the original producer, but the more products in people's hands the more likely they are to spread the word and encourage others to purchase directly. Of course, that doesn't work so well with amps or guitars, but for pedals it's a functional system that I have taken advantage of a few times. In fact, I sold a Xero DLX after owning one for a couple of months that I bought from jskadiang in Singapore. I sold it for what I paid for it and I didn't have to travel in order to do it. I don't know if I would have known not to buy it if I only had an hour or so with it in a shop. It needed to be in my shed with all my gear before I knew it wasn't for me.