Hey /r/smallbusiness, I’ve been having a discussion with my wife and a good friend regarding a shipment that came in, and I’d appreciate you all’s take on the topic.

I’m starting an e-commerce sport accessory brand. I wanted to make hats and shirts, even if only for me and some local players, so I went ahead and pulled the trigger on 50 hats at roughly $10 per hat. I worked with a manufacturer and the sample etc seemed solid. Embroidery was good, the other details were nice, but upon receiving the full 50, the logo placement is “off”.

Shortest explanation, the logo is technically centered but because of the left side being “heavier” it looks off center. That’s not the only thing though… the logo is about 1" off of the brim vs closer to 5/8" of the sample.

This makes the logo look pretty wonky on the hat (universal opinion). At some angles it isn’t awful but front on it looks a bit weird. The material is also a fair bit stiffer than expected. Ultimately because I received the hats and the embroidery itself is solid, and I should have been clearer in my placement directions after even receiving the sample, there isn’t much in the way of recouping money there. That’s okay, I made a mistake and will learn from it for if I pursue a larger batch of hats again.

So with all this said, I don’t feel comfortable selling the hats at what I’d banked on, I don’t actually think I feel comfortable selling them at all.

So what do I do with the hats? My friend says use them as a sales tactic for if you buy x you get a free hat. I was thinking they would be free promo items at an upcoming tournament in sponsoring. My wife thinks sell them close to cost.

But even with these 3 thoughts, I can’t help but feel that even giving away a suboptimal product will actually hurt me in getting my yet to be established brand off the ground. I’m at literal 0 exposure so it’s a blank slate. Do I eat the $550 and the hats get trashed? Does even donating them to goodwill/Salvation Army/schools in the area cheapen my brand at the local level due to the quality? What do you think?