Commissions/Printing Services

[Bloxxer]

Hey guys,

The sales/commissions channel on Discord is gone so I figured I would bring it here so I can more easily reference it in the future.

I'm considering starting to print (potentially finish) and sell items for profit. I have a Bambu P1S and I may be picking up a lightly used X1C from someone local in the near future. Knowing how easy they are to use, I am looking to use them for my benefit instead of letting them idle between projects.

Does anyone have any suggestions regarding how to get started with this kind of thing? As well as avoiding any copyright troubles? I've been eyeing Galactic Armory's and Oddwork's Patreon pages. I would love to eventually build and sell helmets and props, but I feel like I might want to start out with something a little smaller.

Thanks in advance.

 

[SgtSaint]

A - I don't think the sales channel is gone from Discord. Its just renamed "Marketplace" and you tag your item with either `Sell` or `Buy` and now you can even tag it with your country which you couldn't do before.

B - Bambu printers are pretty darn good, no argument there. I have two X1C with AMS to confirm that.
However - and this is a personal opinion and we all have them and they are all correct even when they differ because they are opinions - they are tiny in this context of armor with a print area the same as an Ender3 which makes them suitable only for the smaller parts of armor like biceps and forearms and boot parts. Everything else is carved up and has to be pieced back together.

By definition if someone is charging for parts, product or service that is "professional". I personally don't find it professional to sell an ODST chest in 4 parts... a MK-VI back in 12 and so on. Now sure you can make the argument that multi-print items can be seamed flawlessly but honestly I bet you see less than 5% actually achieve it and the rest are obvious. Plus someone is paying for parts that they have to invest massive amounts of extra labor hours in to just for seaming like the rest of the sanding etc wasn't already a lot of work. I'm really not a fan of doing that to customers. Its not offering them anything special they can't do themselves; to me.

C - Every man and his dog has a Bambu these days. If you are into this genre of cosplay you already have one or are thinking about one and just need a nudge. Half of this group's membership has them and the other half is waiting for the rumors of a larger Bambu to materialize then they are going to jump on that like free donuts. If you are buying the machines for personal use whether you open a shop or not, then great. But I would advise that buying more machines (especially the current crop of 240mm machines) with the **expectation** that the additional machines are going to turn a profit; is an unwise gamble.

 

[Bloxxer]

Thanks for your input.

(There used to be a channel for discussing affairs regarding sales and commissions rather than strictly buying or selling items. That is what I was referring to.)

No expectations of success, the machines are purely for personal use at this time, but the potential for a little profit to help pay for the hobby is there.

There are plenty of other things to print and sell other than large armor parts - I’ll leave that for those with the “big guns”. Sure, I mentioned helmets, but like you said unless they are designed to be printed in smaller parts (take Aguilar, for example), then there will be fusing involved. That could be considered unprofessional if not done correctly, and I agree with you. I would never consider selling raw prints in that sort of state, and would instead sell ready-to-paint or ready-to-wear helmets if I were to even sell them at all. With enough time and effort it is possible, however. I am in the middle of making a ready-to-paint example for a fellow 405th member (printed in two parts).

Ideally the goal would be to sell prints of smaller props, themed toys, trinkets, etc. in fun colors/filaments. Things that can be printed cleanly by a Bambu-sized printer, do not need to be finished, and can catch the eye of people say at a comic-con or similar events. Not everyone has a printer, and those are the people I am looking to appeal to. I’m not looking to print flexi-dragons though. There’s already enough of those vendors in the world lol.

I guess the advice I’m looking for is how I might get started with opening a “storefront” of sorts. What are the first steps? Where is a good place to look for files I can legally use? How do I make a name for myself? That kind of thing. Just trying to see if this is something that can be done. If it helps pay rent and fund some fun projects, then I want to give it a try.

 

[SgtSaint]

(There used to be a channel for discussing affairs regarding sales and commissions rather than strictly buying or selling items. That is what I was referring to.)

I suspect the goal was to get the one-on-one business chatting out of the public channel. This way someone can offer an item or service, or post they need a commission for XYZ... Then they can have PM chat about the details and not make everyone's private business public.

Trinkets etc.

Yeah, you're not wrong about that being a pretty common/saturated market. I see a couple booths for it at the monthly night markets here. They bang out everything from dragons to fidget spinners, toys for toddlers etc. in all the silk PLA of the rainbow.

Three Cheeky Monkeys Designs

Three Cheeky Monkeys your gift giving destination. We have a gift for everyone from our cute 3D critters to our cheeky tumblers.

threecheekymonkeys.com.au

With so little margin per piece because every man and his dog is doing it they have to make it up in volume like WalMart. Their 9m² booth must have 1,000+ items in it. The other one I notice gaining in popularity is printed unique Lego people. That booth probably has 2,000 different figures ranging from vampire to construction worker: The goal being everyone can find something they identify with.

Hey this fireman looks like dad.

I guess the advice I’m looking for is how I might get started with opening a “storefront” of sorts. What are the first steps? Where is a good place to look for files I can legally use? How do I make a name for myself?

Turthfully, if didn't already have the investment in 15 machines, and shop full of gear, a long line of my own unique designs that I modeled, from having been in this genre since 2010... If I was looking to start doing it today... I wouldn't do it. I'm watching this sector die the same death that professional photography did when cell phone cameras got good. It used to be a pro photographer could make an honest living: Now its only the top 2% that actually grasp color theory, composition and so on because the average Joe Smith can take really good "happy snaps" with a fully auto-everything A.I. power cell phone. Well, the same is happening in 3d printing. Years ago you literally built your printer from the ground up and understood all of it and had to be able to model your own stuff because there wasn't a million things already modeled and out there. Today you buy a Bambu and hit 'print' on something someone else made: You can search anything from 'chainsaw' to 'batman' and find models so no skill is required. And every year the prices go down on good machines-YouTubers for unrelated sectors are putting up videos about "A 3d printer is the next tool for your woodshop." etc.

Of any advice I could give you it would be this:

• Walk into a new business with your eyes wide open.
• Understand that a machine is not a business. You should understand business to open a business. Doesn't matter if its printing or running a food truck, you still need to understand concepts like true production cost including hidden costs, profit margins and so on. The printer is just a manufacturing tool: you still need a product line.
• Everyone else has access to those same public products/patreons you do. And they all have the same printers you do. So those 10,000 people doing it years before you are your competition: Sorry but's that just business. Learning to model and make your own unique things is the only way to not be competing with every 10 year old who's daddy bought them a printer so they can get ahead in technology and is paying for their material and electric so they have not cost of overhead (no really I've seen several of these "I've just set up my kids to do 3d printing as the modern version of a lemonade stand. They were on Etsy in less than a day" kinda posts.)
• If you're thinking trinkets like you said: Go to the markets, sales, flea markets etc. and look at the 5 other booths doing it. Anything you see, is a sector that's already being done if not over-done. Don't copy them, find something to set yourself apart from them. What is your real passion outside of the oversaturated cosplay market? Drones? Telescopes? Camping? Piano? Think about the things you wish you had and make those because the next guy into scale model guitars or whatever probably wishes he had it too. What do you need at work that would be nice? A better sorter for labels? A stand that held a part the right way while you work on it? And extension to your monitor arm so it would be higher and not turn your back in to a question mark? There's 1,000 things around every job to get your feet wet on and if you make a good widget for that you can sell them to your employer. "Hey boss, how would the company like a bunch of custom blah blah to make the employee happier and more productive? Only $15 each and saves the worker 2 hours a day: That's pure profit on the company books every day."
• Get a TRUE handle on costs. Open a checking account just for your business, even if its not a business account: just an account you dedicate to it. Run all the purchases through that account. Deposit all your profits to that account. Pay yourself a living wage otherwise what's the point? You are an employee to the business. If you work 10 hours on a commission helmet you can't sell it for $50 over cost of material or you're in the red because you're not getting paid but $2/hour and not accounting for power, machine wear (depreciation), air con to combat the machine generated heat, the increased rent you pay to have a 4 bedroom because you want a dedicated "shop room" (that room has a financial cost of 1/4 of your 4 bedroom house for example), sanding machines, consumables, and and and and. All those hours spent scrubbing the internet for ideas and customers: You'd pay someone to do that. All those hours on inventorying product, bagging, pricing, lugging to and from the markets, the gas to and from, tubs/crates for goods, shelving, the meals at the markets, the booth fees, the required insurance on the booth at the market, the cost of the popup & tables & battery lights, etc. That's all start-up costs that have to be recovered through sales or again you're in the red.