i sometimes sell prints to ppl but have come across to quite different methods on how to determine cost.
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I print stuff for ppl randomly, i am NOT a company…if that makes sense. i do small batches for ppl from time to time
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This question is for generic 3D prints, for stuff you did not design yourself from scratch but download.
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If you need to design X item, yourself, then you should add valve to that. Charge $40/hr for designing time or whatever
Option 1 - Use a long formula to get price.
Material used + power usage + printing hrs + printer cost + other factors
While looking online for different formulas, i found that ppl consider “their printers as another person.“
For example, if u in the real world make $20/hr, you should charge $20/hr for your printer.
- i get it, i want to pay off my printers myself but
Imagine someone wanted me to print a Pickacu or whatever, and it takes 4 hrs to print.
Going by the “their printers as another person.“ logic, i need to charge ($20*4) = $80 plus materal costs.
I dont know about you but NO WAY! I dont expect anyone will pay be $80 for a 3d print i randomly download
Option 2 - (Materal cost + power cost ) * Multiply by whatever factor makes you happy
For one of my customers, i had to print small 3d whistles. The cost for the was, maybe under .06 cents each (material cost + power)
I decided to charge .50 cents for each one.
Thus for 1 whistle, i made a profit of (.50-.06) = $ .44
For this order, i had to make 150 total. (150 * .50 cents) - (150* .06 ) = 75 - 9 = $66 profit
The client was happy to pay the $75 for it. I have been lucky enough to now have printed over 6,000 of them.
However, if i had to include “their printers as another person.“ (charge $20/hr) then i would expect my client to have gotten these whistles from amazon or whatever because the price i would give them but be HUNDREDS of $$ instead of just $75