Hi all, I am in the Atlanta HuB area and have lowered my price to the bottom of the heap just to see if price was the issue. After several weeks running at or near the lowest priced hub in Atlanta i have still not had a single order. Are any of the hubs in the Atlanta area getting orders or is it just a function of something i am not doing correctly?
I’ve taken a quick look at your hub and you might want to extend your material portfolio. I made the experience, that people, that are new to 3d printing, show much interest in material composites (wood and metal). Also special-effect materials, like colorchanging, glow-in-the-dark or flexible materials gain popularity. Maybe this will help you.
Good tips indeed! Also, Atlanta can still use some work on the customer side I’ve seen from our data. In communities where this is the case, old fashion marketing techniques, like Worth Of Mouth about your Hub to family and friends tend to work very well. Cheers!
It’s great you showcase some 3D prints with pictures and what you can achieve with post-processing. I would recommend adding more details about what you can do with post processing in your Specialities and About description as you seem really good at it.
Where are you located in Atlanta? With what @ stated it sounds like there isn’t a lot of 3DHubs activity in Atlanta yet at all, at least not to support all the Hubs. Perhaps if you are in a less-densely populated area there just aren’t customers in that area yet.
What is your goal for 3DHubs and 3D Printing? To pay off your printer, to generate decent second income, to make it your primary source of income, etc? If you want to take some time to discuss I’d be happy to consult further.
I think with any industry, a race to the bottom with pricing can sometimes increase revenue but that doesn’t mean it will increase income. It takes time and experience to handle a 3D print job professionally and at the lowest available rate allowed I question whether any profit can be gained on the small jobs after you consider the time it takes to set up a job and communicate with the customer, not to mention the cost when prints fail, etc.
Thanks for the tips! I have some of these filaments but would not consider myself an expert at printing with them so i did not list them. I feel like if someone is going to pay for a print they should get a very professional item, so i guess i need to practice laywood and laybrick printing more.
Also, perhaps i need to be investing in some unique filaments such as ninjaflex though i understand that to get good results with it you may need to modify your printer.
For those Hubs in Atlanta that are getting orders, would you say you get more prints for prototypes from businesses and inventors or general items/toys for consumer use?
I Live in the northern part of Gwinnett county which has over 1M residents. granted the part i live in is likely the least populated area however in a 15 mile radius of my hub you find no other hubs and a lot of people.
As to my goal, i just want to take on interesting projects. my own company utilizes the printer and i have written it off as a business expense so the printers cost os of no real concern for me. It would be great to do an order or 2 a week at least to keep the thing busy when it is not working for my company. In all i would be happy for 3D Printing to order to become another facet of my company however i do not have direct plans for it currently. I guess i am testing the waters to see if further investment in print as a service is worth my time, effort and resources (Buying different types of printers, hiring new staff, etc…) As of now it is definitely not.
The low ball pricing was to see if anyone was shopping for printing services in the area and to test if price was the issue which i am now pretty sure it was not. Protecting margins is something i am acutely aware of for my primary business so you can rest assured that i will not be the one leading the race to the bottom. It was simply a test to see if business could be had at any price with the product i had on offer in my hub’s page.
Never the less thank you all for the advice and help. lets keep this thread going and see if we can grow together.
Just a quick update: I have seen my first order and several more to go with it. I have averaged about an order a week for the past 4 weeks. Not “keep the lights on” money, but then that was never my intention. This is mostly about helping others as i am not a part of a hacker space and also about helping folks with challenges to expand my skills.
