Interest 3d racks and stackers (2 Viewers)

[Sparkynutz]

This may or may not turn into a group buy depending on rules but trying to figure that out here.

I have been printing racks and other items for my personal storage and gaming needs.

I would love to offer my products for sale on pcf but the requirement of vendor status fee up front is making me question the leap.

So far I have already invested approximately $800 in one 3d printer and another $600 in a large quantity of filaments.

Typically a real vendor is able to charge enough to make a profit to pay for their time on top of material costs.

I personally don't think the market exists in these products at that profitable price point and probably why the need is still there yet today. I average $40-45hr at my day job and know that nobody in their right mind would pay more than even a fraction of that for my time supplying them with 3d printed products.

This is my passion tho and not supplying overpriced flexi dragons to kids at flea markets like the rest of the local profitable 3d printer businesses.

My idea is to try and go about this a few different ways to try my best to meet in the middle to fill that need by keeping the lowest possible price.

1. Run a small sample of products as a group buy with a specific deadline. All are shipped out same time a few weeks after order is closed.

Depending on rules of doing so I still may have to cover this upfront vendor fee cost on top of materials, shipping, and anything more than pennies per hour printing, packaging, and driving to ship them.

I don't know how typical group buy managers come out in the end but would venture to guess it's most likely way better than I would expect to myself in order to provide my products to the pcf community at the lowest cost. Many of these group buys I see are ran by members without Vendor status. What makes their profit any different than someone trying to cover their own overhead costs and to provide community with a service not make a living off it like real vendors many times do?

2. Print a bunch of items and trade them for other products to possibly avoid need for vendor status?

3. Sell on other free no fee platforms.

4. Give items away free plus shipping cost hoping they'll donate a few extra $?

Thoughts?

 

[Sparkynutz]

Reserved 1

 

[Sparkynutz]

Reserved 2

 

[BPTDirector]

I’d take a set of stackers if this goes live. 39 and 43mm if possible.

 

[harrysallout]

In for a set of stackers for 39mm if this GB goes live as well.

 

[Machine]

Many of these group buys I see are ran by members without Vendor status. What makes their profit any different than someone trying to cover their own overhead costs

People who run Group Buys are not suppose to make a profit, covering cost is speculative at best.

 

[FestiveKnight]

People who run Group Buys are not suppose to make a profit, covering cost is speculative at best.

Yes, there’s a differentiate between those who run traditional GBs like you’d see on any forum that are at cost and often end up losing the manager some small amount of money in thinks like packing materials etc.

As compared to the folks who are acting as intermediaries with manufacturers and taking a cut for making the products easier to access and supplying some amount of (debatably) original IP

 

[Tonystark137]

Got any pictures?

 

[Sparkynutz]

Hmm. Some of the products I've seen in group buys have been passed on to buyers for 25-50c more per item than advertised price on the website of the place manufacturing them. Some times even bigger discount is given for larger quantity yet not passed along to these buyers. Also many times there are free extras delivered with the products later sold or kept too. Then there's royalty fees for art. I'd bet the time and wasted material cost to make and tweak some 3d prints is way above what it took to make some of the chip art. I can't believe some artists that nickle and dime the community for a few hours of their work making money off them years later because they designed the original or refuse to let anyone use or modify any of it to their liking and personal use.
Thankfully there are great artists that don't do this and happily help and share their work.

I'm not saying there isn't a reason and there's lots of work involved but most of the times isn't very transparent to rest of those involved and actions seem shady at best.

It's upsetting that practices like this are the norm yet someone like myself trying to provide a similar service seems to be frowned upon solely for the fact I'm the one manufacturing vs buying from a 3rd party. If I had said I was buying such and such products at such and such price then didn't say where I was getting it besides some 3rd party name with no verifiable details on prices nobody would bat an eye buying it up if the price was low enough to meet any product demand.

The fact I'm trying to be transparent instead of shady is what would take away most if not all of any marginal profits to be made selling the first 50-100 products to covering additional vendor status cost which may also be the market saturation point or demand leaving no profit to be had at all.

There's gotta be a way to ethically offer a product at a low as possible reasonable price and not be penalized for being transparent about it.

 

[GreekRedEye]

I am interested in the stackers if this gets off the ground.

 

[BNads86]

I'm intrigued but need some idea of what this product looks like?

 

[Tonysquander]

I'm intrigued but need some idea of what this product looks like?

Rack stackers are incredibly helpful in lining up full racks of chips. I think this was the version made by 3D3P: