Now you are conflating an individual entity’s business strategy with the regulating of an entire market place. If you don’t understand that BASE PRICE = PRICE FIXING, and that this kind of thinking is counter productive and destructive anytime it has been implemented in history, then I don’t know what else to say other than I’m thankful you are not in charge.
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Hello Miaviator!
Thank you, this is a great contribution.
Without saying that you are backing our proposal of a minimum price, your calculations are a great way to show that there is indeed an operational cost and that there should be a base price that no one should be able to go below.
Thank you for the time you have taken.
Regards,
José
Hello Miaviator!
Thank you for https://puu.sh/qr4Xi/6258c10ee4.png
The limits are unrealistic: who prints at $500 per cm3?
That $0.01 is what allows Hubs to put very low prices and it should be raised to something that reflects true operational costs.
I just hope that all of this has been read by someone at 3D Hubs.
Thank you for your inputs.
Have a great weekend!
Part of the problem with this whole discussion is people trying to put apples and oranges in the same basket. A hub operator who spends $3000 on equipment, will obviously have a much higher cost structure than the one who spends $400. Do you expect the price of a print to be the same? No. Quality? Possibly, but unlikely. Either way, how can you expect the lower cost hub to charge more just so the other can “cover costs”?
This brings up another point. Hobbyist versus business. Do you treat your hub as a business? IS IT a business? Operating a business is apples to the hobbyists oranges when looking at a hub. As a hobbyist, if I just want earn a little extra to support running my printer, and am unconcerned with “operating costs”, why should I be forced to charge more?
Businesses and hobbyists aren’t competitors, they are separate worlds in the 3D printing universe. As such, setting a base price that favors the higher cost hubs, will severely hamper the rest of a community like 3DHubs.
To the OP: You wrote 2 thing I think undermine your position.
1. “If he would charge the correct price…” correct according to who? Correct according to what criteria? “Correct” is a very subjective term.
2. “Regardless, a client should pay a fair price for the work that it takes to deliver a 3d print.” Again, fair according to who?
Overall, the 3d printing market is being flooded with people and companies willing to sell their services and products. There are too many options out there to think a business-like hub could, or should, be compared to (or operated like) a hobby one. Apples and oranges.
A product is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it. It is up to the seller to determine if producing the product is worth the price.
I agree with this, but you can’t blame people. They don’t know good quality from bad quality prints. Most people would choose a mediocre print from a low-cost FDM machine for $15 vs a super high resolution print from a top of the line SLA machine for $30. I have 7 reviews on my hub, but ever since hubs near me starting doing cheap prints for $5 - $15 the orders stopped.
OK… There is a lot of going back and forth on this thread… There are a lot of good points that we should all take under consideration…
With th this in mind and to satisfy both the hobbyist and the pro, I suggest splitting 3D Hubs into 2 separate entities… Keeping 3D Hubs as it is for hobbyist and create a secondary sister site, something like “Pro 3D Hubs” that ONLY OFFERS AND ACCEPTS high end equipment, top of the line materials and people that run their Hub as a business…
This is way a customer can choose from the get go if they want to run their part through a hobby hub or a professional business Hub that has tons of experience, and that offers guarantees and top of the line service…
As as it was earlier portrayed, mixing apples and oranges, makes it more difficult for a customer to correctly choose between hobby or pro, creates anger and commotion between hubbers as we have seen in this post, and reduces the chances for order for both hobby and pro hub. Not to mention all hubs that have been “generically” setup, that have no tangible description, project images, reviews, or links to other social media, negatively impact the overall image of 3D Hubs… The quick fix for this would be that any hub that has been inactive for more then 60 days is automatically disabled until it is either fully populated with the above mentioned info, or otherwise confirmed to be active by its owner…
I have 7 running printers. One is a $5,000 fusion 3d F400 within 90 days I’ll likely add a Markforged. I offer guarantees, refunds if a customer is not satisfied or if I’m not satisfied, free reprints, free advice and settings, bulk discounts, emergency prints, on site training and free printer repairs. I’m a hobbyist with several years experience and spend at least 4-8 hours a day with the printers. I also have 4 part time helpers with 3D printing experience. I offer prints starting at $.10 per cm3 and maxing out around $.25 with a $1 startup fee. As of now I’m not losing money. I’m also not a teenager living with my parents, my last few jobs were CEO, General Manager, Director of IT. All for international companies. Am I a hobbyist hub because this is a hobby? Or a professional hub because I stand by my work have experience and use high end FDM printers?