How much you think it’s worth

[ilikefish69]

I was at LFS store today to get carbon and it was more expensive than last month, and I am pretty sure it went up November or December. I could have sworn Diet Coke bottles used to be 20 ounces?

There was also 7 stage RODI unit for $459.99. I’ve made 10,000 gallons of 0 TDS water, I’m sure that thing had some awesome bells and whistles but at the end of the day you can get 4 stages(ideally 6, but still can swing 4), run water through them into 5 gallon buckets or a large container.

So everything is expensive blah blah sure. I am curious what the price for this pile of stuff is. I AM NOT looking for “nenenene boo boo” or even to Bash, Put Down, Brag, Belittle , anyone or anything, what they spend or don’t spend, have, don’t have. If nothing nice to say simply move on there are plenty of threads to click. I am looking for honest real “safe behind your keyboard” answers because I want to compare my notes.

What would you Guess this transaction cost the buyer?
What would you Expect as a buyer to have paid?
What do you think it cost in production, time, materials, expertise of the seller?
What would you expect the Seller to want as a Return on Investment?

There are only 2 fully functional boxes with magnets, the others are without magnets just free standing.

Example cost $1 sell for $2 so 100% return on cost. Time, energy, expertise left out of the equation because we all value time and expertise differently. Leave it at real numbers.

 

[twentyleagues]

I dont know a lot about printing so I am probably not the best person to answer.
Once you have the printer, filament, and files I have been told it really only costs "pennies" to make stuff. But a lot of time and $ goes into startup costs and time the printer is working. I know in retail if you are getting around 43% gp you are doing pretty good. Not sure what a manufacturer thinks is a good gp%, probably somewhere in the 50-75% range.
As for what i have seen similar items listed on different sites lg boxes $20, mushroom cages $8ish, cuvette stands $30-40, skulls $10-30 depending on size that one looks big, magnet boxes $30-50 easy, adjustable skimmer stand $30. I will guess around $300-350 total is what the buyer paid, and I guess that is what I'd expect the price to be.
I have some people at work that have printers. I casually asked one how much do you think this item would cost you to make and what would you charge me ( cuvettes stand)? They looked at it for a minute and said if I can find a file probably cost me $5 I would charge you maybe $10 if you get me the file I'll do it for what it costs. I showed them the price on the website they said get me the file if there is a market for them I'll make you a couple free. I dont know anything about the files where to get them or any of that. The point is they think they understand it enough and can make good money off of making them.

 

[ilikefish69]

It is amazing what these printers can do. If you can get the right person behind one or four of them, some peace and quiet after a chapter of Harry Potter and bedtime routine. I think at some point a person is asked that casual but very serious question of “how much does that cost” and the answer is $0.35 , fully well knowing they can charge $30 for it. This to me is extortion , change my mind. It’s hard to do this for some people, maybe only people with mental illness but that’s another conversation. Some people break after only 2-3 times, dreaming of Ferraris. I don’t care for Ferraris but I am upset at literally every single item that I needed for my fish tank, to the point where I could not afford it. I am fish tank-less. The companies who made me spend $30 on an adjustable skimmer stand, or $30 on a simple pipette stand, 150 for ability to run water through carbon, 700 for filter socks, are going to turn into my competition. Where does overhead get so high these prices are justified? I already said I will not “nenenene boo boo” anyone or anything but I have paid off all of the credit cards (created from reefing and a hot wife), bought 8 printers, in the process of buying a nice house, etc... And I did not charge 300. For perspective it took me 3-4 days, and the cuvettes were simply an after thought I said sure yeah let me work something up real quick I’ll just throw In 2 YOLO. Mushroom cages are $0.46 of plastic. My printer is paid for in profit cash. I will keep buying printers. Magnets from Amazon, $1 each, holds great on 3/4” glass and large items on 1/2”. Im hoping to work something out with K&J for bulk pricing to even lower that. Someone I was 3D printing artist, I liked that, but more recently I got a “Robin Hood” of the reefing community. I will not use this forum to advertise in a sketchy way but thank you for the insight. I’m currently working on a large sectioned off mushroom cage to place in a frag tank and keep separate mushrooms together safely. The .stl file I will put on thingiverse and hope others do not try to sell it. I want to encourage self-sufficiency in this hobby!

 

[twentyleagues]

It is amazing what these printers can do. If you can get the right person behind one or four of them, some peace and quiet after a chapter of Harry Potter and bedtime routine. I think at some point a person is asked that casual but very serious question of “how much does that cost” and the answer is $0.35 , fully well knowing they can charge $30 for it. This to me is extortion , change my mind. It’s hard to do this for some people, maybe only people with mental illness but that’s another conversation. Some people break after only 2-3 times, dreaming of Ferraris. I don’t care for Ferraris but I am upset at literally every single item that I needed for my fish tank, to the point where I could not afford it. I am fish tank-less. The companies who made me spend $30 on an adjustable skimmer stand, or $30 on a simple pipette stand, 150 for ability to run water through carbon, 700 for filter socks, are going to turn into my competition. Where does overhead get so high these prices are justified? I already said I will not “nenenene boo boo” anyone or anything but I have paid off all of the credit cards (created from reefing and a hot wife), bought 8 printers, in the process of buying a nice house, etc... And I did not charge 300. For perspective it took me 3-4 days, and the cuvettes were simply an after thought I said sure yeah let me work something up real quick I’ll just throw In 2 YOLO. Mushroom cages are $0.46 of plastic. My printer is paid for in profit cash. I will keep buying printers. Magnets from Amazon, $1 each, holds great on 3/4” glass and large items on 1/2”. Im hoping to work something out with K&J for bulk pricing to even lower that. Someone I was 3D printing artist, I liked that, but more recently I got a “Robin Hood” of the reefing community. I will not use this forum to advertise in a sketchy way but thank you for the insight. I’m currently working on a large sectioned off mushroom cage to place in a frag tank and keep separate mushrooms together safely. The .stl file I will put on thingiverse and hope others do not try to sell it. I want to encourage self-sufficiency in this hobby!

I like the way you think! I knew it wasn't super expensive to make the items. IMO my time and your time is worth something. Yes $300 is outrageous for that even if I didnt know, but I do and couldnt bring myself to buy any of those even though I thought what a great idea. I did spend $29 on a resin packing kit. I go through a lot of resin with my well water. I really need to start recharging it. The packing kit is fine did I need it no but it did help simply because of the stand and the screw on funnel didnt really need the tamper tool but it came with so why not use it.

 

[ilikefish69]

I like the way you think! I knew it wasn't super expensive to make the items. IMO my time and your time is worth something. Yes $300 is outrageous for that even if I didnt know, but I do and couldnt bring myself to buy any of those even though I thought what a great idea. I did spend $29 on a resin packing kit. I go through a lot of resin with my well water. I really need to start recharging it. The packing kit is fine did I need it no but it did help simply because of the stand and the screw on funnel didnt really need the tamper tool but it came with so why not use it.

Crap that reminds me I was gonna throw in a green and black resin packer in this box. Thank you for the heads up lol! I think my design is nice, has two different pieces on the handle for some contrast , looks nice enough to leave out and display. $29!!!!!!!!!!!!! If you need like 5 of them instead, can you return it

 

[twentyleagues]

Crap that reminds me I was gonna throw in a green and black resin packer in this box. Thank you for the heads up lol! I think my design is nice, has two different pieces on the handle for some contrast , looks nice enough to leave out and display. $29!!!!!!!!!!!!! If you need like 5 of them instead, can you return it

Lol thanks. I would love to hit you up for the what I call cuvette holder though!

 

[robinm]

"The .stl file I will put on thingiverse and hope others do not try to sell it. I want to encourage self-sufficiency in this hobby!"

Others will try and sell it, I've a few designs on Thingiverse and regularly come across people selling them.

 

[homer1475]

If I'm not mistaken, a certain "loc-line" type end nozzles were stolen from thingiverse, and are now patented and sold.

 

[ilikefish69]

So at least in my case, I’ve put everything on there as non-commercial. My understanding is that means that anyone who considers themselves a true hobbyist, I am not trying to make you give me money, I am trying to provide your tools to become extremely more self sufficient. A lot of people have learned how to make a 3d printer make their lives go from bad to not bad. We are all fighting each other about who has the best .stl files, forgetting that an .stl file is nothing more and nothing less than someone who has taken the design, said here world, what do all of you think? Except anyone who would consider themselves a commercial entity. What about my understanding would need redirected?

 

[ilikefish69]

"The .stl file I will put on thingiverse and hope others do not try to sell it. I want to encourage self-sufficiency in this hobby!"

Others will try and sell it, I've a few designs on Thingiverse and regularly come across people selling them.

These are, unfortunately my people, and what I’m trying to do, is alert you to what it is we are all doing . Every single one of you in this wonderful hobby. What is happening. That is all.

 

[robinm]

In my case I'm not really fussed, I put my designs onto Thingiverse knowing full well that others would take them and attempt to make money printing them. If I wanted to keep them to myself I wouldn't have put them up in the first place. It would be nice if they printed the attribution as they're supposed to do under the creative commons license but it's not a big deal to me. As far as I'm concerned a bunch of reefers have appreciated my designs and that's enough for me.